Almost the “hot months” here in East Texas. During June through the end of September, going outside can be a miserable task because it’s usually 80 F by 9:00 AM and the heat doesn’t really break until after sunset. 100-105 is not uncommon to these parts and it may not break under 85-90 till past … Read More
Before we get into the “really useful stuff” – a word or so about the headlines this morning. The “usual media hysteria” has been ratcheted up as people are becoming aware “News doesn’t matter.” I mean, think about it: Up west of OKC (*Oklahoma City, for those who have never been south of I-80) there … Read More
It has been almost 10-years since we heard about Climategate. That was the story of the jiggered-data that went into the global warning data tossed around in 2009 (November) at Copenhagen. As Wikipedia sums it: “The Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as “Climategate“) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server … Read More
Pop Quiz: What’s a drier experience: a) Living on a sailboat for 10-winters in Seattle, or… b) Getting the mail in mid-May in East Texas? Correct Answer: B People seem to have a vision of Texas – if they’ve never been here before – that it’s a land of coyotes and sage brush. Sure, true, … Read More
For your Reading File: Before we jump in to this morning’s notes on superior prepping and living the ideal “strategic life” there are two books you ought to have on your reading list because they are great values. One is Gaye Levy’s “Prepper’s Guide to Food Storage: A Practical Guide to Storing Food For the … Read More
Last weekend, the lowland lakes trout season opened up in Washington State. Surprisingly, many states “back east” (like Pennsylvania, for example) have already been open a while. The story in Washington State (at least in local fishing lore) is that the reason for the late opener is that if fishing opens before Easter, then church … Read More
Raise your hand, quick, if you know where the most famous statue of legendary wood-cutter Paul Bunyon and his Blue Ox Babe are located. (Hmmm…no hands going up…) Well, this is one of the reasons why Ham Radio is such a cool hobby during times when the End of the World (EotW) is in sight. … Read More
Cast Members Only time: We covered this (and more) in a recent Peoplenomics column about how we are “Imagineering” our home. That discussion also went into the “Imagineering processes” used by “Walt Disney Imagineering” (WDI) and how those processes can be applied easily to business model design. Today, for the less drill-down oriented, I wanted … Read More
I won’t spend much time of today’s column because it’s too logical and sensible: I believe our whole, planet-wide understanding of time is screwy and uselessly complex. Tonight, at 2 AM, we will “spring ahead” to 3 AM instantly. You and I will both get screwed our of an hour of sleep. What happens is … Read More
I’m big on using templates and thinking-models in order to short-cut a lot of mental effort. Being lazy, as I am. Simply put, you can take a successful product and, by cloning the processes and using existing templates you can skip all kinds of wasted time. In my “George the Consultant” life, I’m going exactly this with … Read More
It’s getting on toward that time of the year when things begin to sprout and when we face the sometimes-daunting task of keeping ahead of our 28.82 acres, more-or less. As I recently reported, I became hell-bent on fixing two Poulan PP126 Weedeaters that have failed over the years. Looking back, I think there two … Read More
You never know when disaster will strike. I mean, most days you will only need to really think at work for a few minutes a day. The rest of the time, you’ll be in the process mode. That’s when you do the “same old thing” over and over and (is it quitting time, yet?)… Without … Read More
I got to thinking about yesterday’s column and, honestly, I had a “guilt pang.” It occurred to me that new visitors to this site would think me quite daft for spending time on (potentially age-reversing) projects like light crowns, and such. The premise is simple: When humans began to use fire was approximately coincident to … Read More