According to Wikipedia, confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that affirms one's prior beliefs or hypotheses. It's something we're all guilty of, and this post is an example of me indulging in confirmation bias. I've been a vegan for nearly 13 years, and I'll admit … Continue reading These Endurance Guys Are Literally Fueled by Plants
According to 23andMe, I am 98% "British and Irish" with the remaining 2% being classified as Broadly Northwestern European. There were no surprises there; I've always considered myself 100% Irish, with my mom being born there, and my dad's mom being born there. I grew up learning a few words of Gaelic, and more than … Continue reading Music Monday: Going Back to My Irish Roots
Yesterday, one of my colleagues (Bill O.) was giving a brief welcome speech to this year's incoming freshmen in the school of business, and one part caught my attention: "There are only seven colors in the rainbow, but look at what Michaelangelo and van Gogh were able to do with those colors. There are only … Continue reading Making Do with What You’ve Got
At the end of this past academic year, I decided to send an email to my former students, asking them to share advice on what helped them to succeed academically and what helped them to succeed socially. I sent the email to two groups of students - seniors who had just graduated, and freshmen who … Continue reading How to Succeed Academically and Socially as a College Freshman: Advice from Recent Grads and Last Year’s Freshmen
It's taken nearly 40 years, but I finally have a worthy competitor as my answer to the question, "What's your favorite movie?" Since 1981, it has always been Chariots of Fire, a British historical drama film that tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who … Continue reading Blinded by the Awesomeness
It's my favorite part of the Wall Street Journal - the A-hed story. It appears on the front page of the newspaper, prime real estate. And I've heard that for reporters, it is the most coveted place for their work to appear. Barry Kilgore, the modern Journal's first managing editor, knowing that into the world … Continue reading The A-Hed – the Quirky Side of the Wall Street Journal
I am grateful, once again, for Dan Pink and his biweekly Pinkcast. The content is short and sweet, and always contains a nugget or two of useful, actionable information. Today's Pinkcast is no different. According to Dan, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman once said that if he could wave a magic wand and eliminate a single … Continue reading How to Increase Your Intellectual Humility
I just finished reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, and to sum it up in one word, wow. Many people may have read The Jungle in high school; it seems to be a popular choice on school reading lists. Somehow, I got out of school without ever having read it. But I'm glad I read … Continue reading I’ll Never Complain about My Job, or My Life, Again
I know I'm an outlier on this one. I like commercials. I consider them to be like the tweets of the video world, short, sweet (usually), and to the point. I've featured many of my favorite commercials over the years on my blog, and I'm always on the lookout for a new one to feature. … Continue reading Another Winning Ad: Instacart and Aliens
Seth Godin notes that today is the 11th year in a row of daily posts to his blog. He estimates that this amounts to nearly 5,000,000 words since his first post twenty years ago, and he hasn’t missed a day since 2008. He writes: "Streaks require commitment at first, but then the commitment turns into … Continue reading Blogging and Streaking: Godin, Wilson, and Kanigan
Borden's Blather 