Hope You Had A Good “Veek”

So I was asked do you spell week with a “W” or a “V.”

I guess sometimes it does sound like we say veek.

Someone else told me that they are divorced and that person is still a “dark force” in their life.

They said they have to pay child support but can’t afford it. 

It’s not like I still earn $55,000 like I used to.

But if they don’t pay…

Well my ex will just refuse to let me see my son!

People have tough lives. 

So when you think about your week, hopefully in context, you can resolutely say that you had a good veek. 

Shabbat Shalom! 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

That’s How You Make A Green Deal

Wow, thought this painting was awesome. 

The table and chairs in all the green. 

And the green seat cushions works with it as well. 

I love the perspective on this. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Things Look Different Up Close

So this was interesting. 

I was coming up the highway. 

In the distance, there looked like there was a large tractor-trailer heading towards me.

I had to take a double take, because this truck was on my side of the divider…Oh shit!

It was only as I got closer that I could see that the truck was really being towed in reverse by a tow truck. 

Yes, “seeing is believing!”

This is a lesson in life:

Things may look one way from a distance, and very different up close. 

Sometimes, my wife tells me:

“Andy, don’t look too close!” lol

But the truth is that you may not really see what you heading towards until it’s right in front of your eyes.

So it’s important to look out over the horizon and study what is coming your way. 

But don’t take your eye off the ball (or Mack Truck as it may be). 

Things can change your perspective the closer you get to it. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

When You Need To BLUF

Most professional (and even personal) communications should start with…

________________________

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front).

This means that you start with the ending–in mind, on paper, verbally, and in digital format. 

You provide the conclusion and/or recommendations right up front.

Rather than first wadding through all the details–context, analysis, considerations, assumptions, risks, etc. 

Let the reader know right away what it is you want. 

Generally, this is different than an abstract or summary that provides a synopsis and leading evidence for the argument put forward. 

Tell me what I need to know and get right to the point! 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

How Great Are You?

INDISPENSABLE?

      Sometime, when you’re feeling important,

      

      Sometime, when your ego’s in bloom,

      

      Sometime, when you take it for granted,

      

      You’re the best qualified in the room.

      

      Sometime when you feel that your going,

      

      Would leave an unfillable hole,

      

      Just follow these simple instructions,

      

      And see how it humbles your soul.

      

      Take a bucket and fill it with water.

      

      Put your hand in it, up to the wrist;

      

      Pull it out; and the hole that’s remaining, 

      

      Is a measure of how you’ll be missed.

      

      You may splash all you please when you enter,

      

      You can stir up the water galore,

      

      But stop, and you’ll find in a minute,

      

      That it looks quite the same as before.

      

      The moral in this quaint example,

      

      Is just do the best that you can,

      

      Be proud of yourself, but remember,

      

      There’s no indispensable man.

            

      – Saxon White Kessinger

(Thank you to my daughter, Minna Blumenthal, for sharing this)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

See The World Through The Eyes Of Others

It’s not only important what we think, but also what and how others see things. 

 

One the things, the folks that work with me frequently hear from me is “Let me put myself in the other person’s shoes for a moment, and give you feedback on that.”

 

We are what we are and not as our customers are, and while we may strive for excellence in customer service, our customers may have completely different notions of what that means.

 

For example, I may think a 24-hour turnaround on something is pretty good given everything on our plate, but when I imagine myself in the customer’s shoes for a moment, I may change that expectation to “We need to get this done by noon today (or sooner)!”

 

People are different, our experiences, our cultures, our context and the way we interpret things. 

 

So when it comes to work or family or even social issues, being compassionate often means seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. 

 

There was an interesting article in the New York Times called “Imaging The Lives Of Others” by psychologist, Paul Bloom. 

 

While he notes the importance to “behold the universe through the eyes of another,” he also says how difficult this really is. 

 

If you haven’t done something, how can you really imagine what it was like, let alone know what it was like for someone else to experience it?

 

Without the access to the particular significant life experience, the duration, the controls (so you can’t just say stop like in an experiment), perhaps a person can never fully know what it’s like. 

 

For example, if you haven’t been through a devastating war, can you truly know what it’s like to be in a foxhole and have the bullets whooshing by your head and the tanks rumbling over it?

 

Yes, we can imagine, but that is probably a far cry!

 

Yet, to really empathize with others, do right by them, and to make good leadership decisions, we most certainly need to at least try to see and experience the world the way others do. 

 

Thinking about the over 805 million hungry people in the world today, it is much more impactful to imagine myself hungry and starving, then just to say the mere fact that these poor people exist.

 

We can probably never know someone’s else pain and suffering the way they do, but through our own experiences, extrapolation from them, and our imagination, we can at least try to elevate ourselves for a purely self-centric universe of one that is of billions (under one G-d), and who need our understanding, compassion, support, and help. 😉

 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Doctor In Context

I took this photo in the doctor’s office. 

No, this is not my doctor, but a statue of one on the countertop.  

What’s funny to me is how he looks in context of the bottles and anatomical models all around him.  

Either the doctor has shrunk or the other things are really huge.

My dad used to tell me that doctors only know what G-d tells them, so we should pray that G-d gives them the wisdom to help us. 

And my grandfather used to say in German that “G-d is my doctor.”

Maybe that’s why the image of the doctor is looking up–to get the guidance from the one above to help us. 

That’s the intersection of medicine and faith–where truly big things can happen. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

What If They Can Read Our Redactions?

The New Yorker has a fascinating article about technology advances being made to un-redact classified text from government documents.

Typically, classified material is redacted from disclosed documents with black bars that are technologically “burnt” into the document.

With the black bars, you are not supposed to be able to see/read what is behind it because of the sensitivity of it.

But what if our adversaries have the technology to un-redact or un-burn and autocomplete the words behind those black lines and see what it actually says underneath?

Our secrets would be exposed! Our sensitive assets put at jeopardy!

Already a Columbia University professor is working on a Declassification Engine that uses machine learning and natural language processing to determine semantic patterns that could give the ability “to predict content of redacted text” based on the words and context around them.

In the case, declassified information in the document is used in aggregate to “piece together” or uncover the material that is blacked out.

In another case prior, a doctoral candidate at Dublin City University in 2004, used “document-analysis technologies” to decrypt critical information related to 9/11.

This was done by also using syntax or structure and estimating the size of the word blacked out and then using automation to run through dictionary words to see if it would fit along with another “dictionary-reading program” to filter the result set to the likely missing word(s).

The point here is that with the right technology redacted text can be un-redacted.

Will our adversaries (or even allies) soon be able to do this, or perhaps, someone out there has already cracked this nut and our secrets are revealed?

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Newspaper Club)

Listening Beyond The Superficial

“I know you hear me, but are you listening to me?”

That’s something one of my teachers used to say to the class back in yeshiva day school.

The New York Times reports on a company that is pioneering the study of “Emotional Analytics.”

Beyond Verbal is helping to “reach beyond the verbal” and listen for mood, attitude, and personality of the speaker.

The point is that if you listen carefully, you can decode a person’s mood–almost like a “human emotional genome.”

Beyond Verbal can already identify “400 variations” of emotions not based on the words chosen, but rather based on the tone and frequency of use.

For example, is the person telling you over and over again about a products problems–and are they getting annoyed that you aren’t getting it!

Through a speech analytics engine that examines patterns of verbal use, we can classify whether a person is dissatisfied, escalating, and so on.

This can be extremely useful, for example, in call centers that service (perhaps some irate) customers.

Also, speech analytics could help us with uncovering deception from terrorists or moles in the government by detecting threatening or nervous emotions that the subjects are trying to hide.

Potentially, this software could be helpful in our personal lives as well in terms of identifying the context and providing the E.I. (emotional intelligence) to understand what a person is r-e-a-l-l-y saying to us, rather than just perhaps the superficial words themselves.

If we can not only hear someone else, but listen better and perceive more precisely what they are trying to tell us and what they are feeling, then we can problem-solve and resolve situations better and more quickly.

Software like this could definitely help keep me out of the doghouse at home. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

No Such Agency (NSA) Listening To No Such Information (NSI)

The National Security Agency (NSA) frequently referred to by the secretive surname of No Such Agency is at the forefront of our signals intelligence (SIGINT) and in protecting America–they are amazing!

Recently, there is a lot of controversy about the PRISM program for sifting through communications looking for terrorist contacts, plans, and imminent attacks to be foiled.

Is this necessary for security or a violation of our privacy?

Of course, we value our privacy and generally wish we had more. (For me growing up in the busy and crowded city that never slips, I craved a little more quiet and secluded life and that’s how I ended up in the Washington D.C. suburbs).

Anyway, if your an average hard-working Joe or Jane, what do you fear about PRISM?

For me, if “they” are tracking calls or listening–this is what they hear:

– The occasional squabble with my loving wife (yes, we drive each other nuts sometimes).

– My teenage kids hanging up their phone on me, not wanting to hear my brilliant (in my own mind) parental advice and guidance.

– My elderly parents lecturing me and telling me that I should go to synagogue more often.

– The daily life transactions with the plumber, the cable service, and the credit card company.

If your honest and loyal, and the system works fairly, the way it’s supposed to, your communications are just some transmission packets travelling through cyberspace to carry out your life’s goings on.

Then again, if you’re crooked, a traitor, or planning to or have hurt someone, well then your up against some very powerful technology tools and (hopefully) your going to get caught and get what’s coming to you.

The big concern then is not when the system works well and fairly, but when it’s used corruptly, fraudulently, or for political ends.

Then it’s not what someone overhears you say or sees you do that’s a real concern, but rather, with all the advanced electronics and technology, what can be made up about you to address personal or political gripes, grievances, or just settle a score.

You don’t have to be afraid (generally) of what you do honestly, instead you need to fear the dishonesty of those who can or are apt to misuse the technology for their own ends.

Then what you really did or said, can be taken out of context, exaggerated, edited, spliced, or otherwise doctored to something else entirely.

This is why the integrity and ethical backbone of those who run the country and our vital institutions are of paramount importance.

With honesty, ethics, and justice–a surveillance system can greatly enhance national security. Without these things, they can be a tool of corruption. The best protection is not unplugging the system, but hooking in lots of internal and external controls to keep it honest. 😉

(Source Photo: here by LittleBirth)