What can we learn from a potato

Frederick the Great of Prussia saw the potato's potential to help feed his nation and lower the price of bread, but faced the challenge of overcoming the people's prejudice against the plant. Farmers and urban workers regarded potatoes with extreme distaste. When he issued a 1774 order for his subjects to grow potatoes as protection against famine, the town of Kolberg replied: "The things have neither smell nor taste, not even the dogs will eat them, so what use are they to us?"
Trying a less direct approach to encourage his subjects to begin planting potatoes, Frederick used a bit of reverse psychology: he planted a royal field of potato plants and stationed a guard to protect this field from thieves. Nearby peasants naturally assumed that anything worth guarding was worth stealing, and so snuck into the field and snatched the plants for their home gardens.

20 rules for an Entrepreneur

1. It’s rare when someone is their word; treasure it in others, cultivate it in yourself

2. Call AND email – the squeaky wheel does get the grease

3. Hold yourself to a standard of behavior and business

4. Pay attention to detail

5. It truly is win/win – don’t work with folks who think about it any other way

6. Focus

7. Don’t bang your head against the wall – go with what works, but that doesn’t mean you don’t continue to innovate

8. Be kind but firm

9. Adopt the Cindy Crawford motto and never point out your flaws but do admit to your mistakes

10. FEAR: False Expectations Appearing Real

11. You always have a choice

12. People will fight you on everything – stick to your guns

13. Perception is reality - you’re always creating an impression

14. Everything is a negotiation, even if you don’t think it is

15. People hear what they want to and usually only remember the negative

16. Generosity looks good on

17. Have the difficult conversations – they’re always worth it

18. It goes by fast and your health is the most important thing - take care of it/make it a priority

19. Those old business axioms are true, e.g., take time to hire and be fast to fire

20. The path to hell really is paved with good intentions

Taken from 20 Things I've Learned as an Entrepreneur

Viva Las Vegas

I just returned from Las Vegas. The last time I was there was almost 20 years ago. Either vegas or my self has become a little more upscale. I highly recommend the Aria. From an architecture standpoint the strip is amazing. It is best described as an assault on the senses. The remainder of the city is simply urban sprawl. The food is top notch.
Over all very entertaining but the city has no soul. All though I am not in a hurry to go back I would like to get back before the next 20 years.

Justifiable Homicide ?

I was in tuscon earlier this week and it was hot. It was insanely hot. My questions is if someone one says “yes but it is a dry heat” am I allowed to shoot them?

Awa the smugness …

I am amazed at the sense of self superiority that comes from finding a spelling mistake in others work.

I have never been a good speller and I have always been turned off by the arbitrary and inflexible nature of the rules that under lie the rules of modern English.

If the only meaningful criticism that you can offer is a misspelling. Recognize that you are announcing to the author and perhaps the larger world. I myself am lacking in creativity and do not have the ability or desire to produce anything meaningful on my one. What is more I do not have the intellect or insight necessary to understands or criticize your work as a whole or its component parts. I am going to claim what glory I can by demonstrating my knowledge of and adherence to an arbitrary set of rules. This arbitrary set of rules was originally established as a concise of monks. None of whom had more than four years of what we would call formal education.

see Spelling Bee Champs: Where Are They Now?

A digital regret.

It is a shame. When I went to school I made a decision that I did not want to be a computer guy. I did not realize that all on the interesting problems in genetics, biology, chemistry, medicine, physics, and geology are all being approached by computer models. The interesting problems in history, economics, psychology and sociology are all dependent on analysis of mammoth quantities of information. Now we are all computer guys and I do not have the skills to back it up.

How can you tell when someone is lying to you?

I have a list of 10 conversation starters from http://www.gettoknowu.com/


How can you tell when someone is lying to you? I would like to say it is a gut reaction but I am terrible at telling when I am being lied to. It is usually a cognitive process where I notice what the person is saying is contradicting something else they have said.
Not counting your religion, which religions do you find interesting? Why? The thing I find interesting is these prosaliting atheist. There is a who group of atheists that are militant about converting anyone to their why of thinking. They are more aggressive than even the most hardened evangelical.
What makes you jealous? As I get older I need to jealously guard my time.
Do you feel you have a purpose or calling in life? I am still trying to find it.
Who taught you to cook? My mother and television.
Who do you admire as a leader? Churchill
What story from history inspires you? The Mormon Pioneers
Do you believe in God? Very much so.
When was the last you where caught in a lie? “let me call you back”
If you could repeal one law what would it be? Tax Laws, need I say more.