How the Republican Tempest Over the Affordable Care Act Diverts Attention from Three Large Truths

This is one of the best and most concise articles I have read on what the Republicans have been doing to try and destroy the implementation of the Affordable Care Act from Robert Reich's blog.

This blog entry titled, How the Republican Tempest Over the Affordable Care Act Diverts Attention from Three Large Truths, and the large truths are the wreck of private insurance, the Affordable Care Act is a modest solution, and the moral imperative.

Robert Reich is someone we should all be listening to on this subject and many others. I follow all his blog entries.

Bill Moyers Essay: On the Sabotage of Democracy

This is one of the best summaries that I have heard about the shutdown of our American Democracy. It is titled, Bill Moyers Essay: On the Sabotage of Democracy.

While this "ransom", as Bill calls it, is currently being carried out by the Republican Right, it could just as easily be by any extreme interest with enough funding.

I believe that as citizens, it is time that we take back our country from special interests and call for a constitutional convention. Our democracy is not working and it is time to heed the words of one of our great Republican Presidents, Abraham Lincoln. He said in his Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 "...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

We have a lot of work to do!

17 Stunning Seconds Give Blackhawks The NHL's Stanley Cup

Ok I have to admit that I watched no hockey on TV this year preferring instead to participate in sports rather than being a couch potato. Even harder to admit because I have been a Detroit Red Wings fan since my childhood and remembering going to games at the old Olympia Stadium in Detroit with my father.

Last night I was talking to my son Alex after my yoga class and with him at the gym working out. He said, "Dad, you have to turn on the Stanley Cup as Chicago could take it all if they win." So I did turn on the TV to find out there are 2 minutes left with Boston up 2-1.

Low in behold the Blackhawks scored twice in the span of 17 seconds then proceeded to take the game and the Stanley Cup. All I can say is Wow, and glad I was talking to Alex and turned on the game. Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks!

See the story and highlight video on this NPR story titled, 17 Stunning Seconds Give Blackhawks The NHL's Stanley Cup.

Group rates Minneapolis as top U.S. city park system

Well Minneapolis is Number One in yet another category! This time in the Trust for Public Land's second annual ParkScore index where Minneapolis was rated has having the top city park system in the United States.

My last blog post was on how the Twin Cities were the fittest in the United States and perhaps the two are linked because people have several place to go and be active.

The article says that the Minneapolis system, which includes 197 parks covering 6,744 acres, is visited annually by 20 million people. ParkScore does their rating on three factors.

1. Park Access - Measures the percentage of residents living within about a half-mile of a park.

2. Park Size - Based on a city's median park size and the percentage of total city area dedicated to parks.

3. Services and Investment - a combination of the number of playgrounds per 10,000 city residents and per capita spending.

Minneapolis scored strongly in all three categories as this article titled, Group rates Minneapolis as top U.S. city park system, from USA Today details.

And America's Fittest City Is...

The Twin Cities is the answer! Yes, for the third year in a row the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area is the fittest city in the United States.

From living here for a year and a half now I can understand why! We have great bicycle trails and marked street bike-ways, wonderful kayaking and canoeing with all the lakes, and incredible Nordic skiing on groomed trails right within the city limits.

It just seems like people are out doing things all the time. For me the Twin Cities is by far the best area of the country that I have lived in. The full article is titled, And America's Fittest City Is..., from US News & World Report.

Bald Eagles Make Strong Comeback Along Mississippi

It is great to see that bald eagles, who were nearing extinction, have made a strong comeback along the Mississippi River here in Northern Minnesota.

I don't know if I quite agree with this story that I can see a bald eagle every day here in Minneapolis, but I can say that seeing an eagle is not as rare as it once was, even a few years ago.

We first started seeing them more frequently further north when Nordic skiing in Northern Wisconsin at the American Birkebeiner ski race and I saw my first swarm of them fishing over an area of the Mississippi River south of La Crosse, Wisconsin two winters ago. This story titled, Bald Eagles Make Strong Comeback Along Mississippi, from WCCO CBS Minnesota is a nice read.

Notre Dame holds No. 1 in AP poll

Wow, what a season from what used to be perennial favorites in earlier decades.

The Fighting Irish have come back and have an excellent shot at the Bowl Championship Series title. Of course, Notre Dame does not have it all wrapped up as yet even with their Number One Associated Press final end of season ranking. They play Number Two, Alabama on January 7, 2013 for the overall BCS championship. If the Irish go on to win it would be there first title since 1988!

Being an alumnus from both Michigan State and Michigan I don't have a great love for Notre Dame but I do congratulate them for a wonderful season and wish them well in seeking their 14th overall NCAA Football title. Interestingly enough they are tied with Alabama at thirteen NCAA titles each.

The article, titled Notre Dame holds No. 1 in AP poll, from Sports Illustrated is written by staff.

Bill Self to receive the Wooden’s Awards ‘Legends of Coaching’ honor in 2013

Congratulations to a great coach on being chosen to receive the prestigious 2013 John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award for his outstanding work for the University of Kansas Jayhawks basketball program.  A class act!

See the article from staff writers at KUSports titled, Bill Self to receive the Wooden’s Awards ‘Legends of Coaching’ honor in 2013.

James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change

I subscribe to the TED Podcast (TED.com) which has very interesting 15 minute talks on Technology, Education, and Design.

This TED Talk video, titled Why I must speak out about climate change, is by James Hansen, a top climate scientist and Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. He tells of his involvement in the science and debate on global climate change over his long career and outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried and that we must do something now.

Professor Hansen offers a solution which basically says that we need to subsidize or provide tax credits for alternative energy rather than continually doing so for fossil fuels which are creating a blanket around the earth and thus warming the planet.

Regardless of your opinion on global climate change this video is well worth watching. Thanks to TED and James Hansen for making this video available.

Green Tea Protects Against Functional Disability Linked To Aging

This article, titled Green Tea Protects Against Functional Disability Linked to Aging, by Christian Nordquist in Medical News Today talks about additional benefits of regular green tea drinking.

In this case green tea drinkers have a lower risk of developing functional disability.  The research is out of Japan.

While I drink green tea every day even the authors are cautious about accepting the research. They "...stressed that their study in no way proves that it is just the green tea that protects against functional disability as people age. They also noticed that the heavy green tea drinkers also ate more fruit and vegetables, consumed more fish, were less likely to smoke, had fewer strokes and/or heart attacks, and tended to have a higher level of education. They were also found to have sharper cognitive function."

The article also mentions the many varieties of green teas in Japan.

5 Leadership Tips for 2012

This is an excellent article for leaders at all levels.  It is titled, 5 Leadership Tips for 2012, and is by Mike Myatt a contributor to Forbes.

He talks about Family, White Space, Listening, Unlearning, and Engagement. A bonus item is Reading!

I know I need to pay more attention to these points and hope to do so in 2012!

Finding and cleaning out your smartphone's Carrier IQ poison

This is quite concerning that Android, Apple, and Blackberry smartphones have secretly had spyware rootkit software installed by manufacturers and telecom providers called Carrier IQ.

Even though there seems to be push-back on what exactly is being recorded and reported this article provides some links to turn off Carrier IQ on your telephone. With iOS 5 on an iPhone it is a very easy turnoff while other phones are a bit more difficult.

The article by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, titled Finding and cleaning out your smartphone's Carrier IQ poison, was published by ZDNet.

I vs. we: Individuals perform better when focused on team's effort

Some interesting sports research published by the Department of Kinesiology at my alma mater on team work. Even with non-sports teams there is a lot to the Power of We!

The study showed that individuals perform better when they practice motivational techniques focused on the team.

The article is titled, I vs. we: Individuals perform better when focused on team's effort, by Michigan State University in MedicalXPress.

Live Longer With Fewer Calories

This is an interesting article about some research published in the scientific journal, Molecular Cell, that shows that caloric restriction increases the production of the enzyme, Srx1, which repairs another enzyme called Prx1. The study reveals that repair of Prx1 consequently emerges as a key process in ageing and possibly the delay or development of cancer.

Of course I like to reduce caloric intake for weight control and health so this is a nice benefit.  My adage is that "the more you eat the more you eat" and we, especially Americans with our high fat, sugar, and salt diet, need to drastically reduce the amount and kind of foods we eat.

This article titled, Live Longer With Fewer Calories, was published in Medical News Today.

Fit 50-Year-Olds As Fit As 20-Year-Olds Who Don't Exercise

This article titled, Fit 50-Year-Olds As Fit As 20-Year-Olds Who Don't Exercise, is great news for us older athletes and something I suspected all along given the lack of exercise by, not only 20 year olds, but all ages. It was published in Medical News Today.

The lesson here is get out and start exercising.  My favorite activities are Nordic skiing, bicycling, kayaking, Nordic walking, and if I have to work out inside, NordicTrack or an elliptical trainer if I am traveling.

U.S. Healthcare Gets Bad Grades on Scorecard

Not new news in this article titled, U.S. Healthcare Gets Bad Grades on Scorecard, but certainly we continue to head in the wrong direction with our healthcare spending. The article is by Emily P. Walker, the Washington Corespondent for MedPage Today.

We spent the highest of any other nation in the world but have these poor scorecard grades. It is time we move in a different direction. The scorecard measures healthcare systems across 42 indicators including healthcare quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives, and compares U.S. averages to other countries.

Healthcare reform only solves who has insurance which, unfortunately, still does not address all the core cost and access issues. A start nonetheless!

8 Reasons Your Employees Don't Care

This is a very good article published by CBS News on why employees don't care but then also how to engage them no matter what your business.

The eight reasons are no freedom, no targets, no sense of mission, no clear expectations, no input, no connection, no consistency, and no future.

The article by Jeff Haden is titled, 8 Reasons Your Employees Don't Care.

10 Travel Tips for Protecting Your Privacy

These travel tips from Mashable! for protecting your privacy while traveling are fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, excellent ones.

Not broadcasting your travel, whether for business or personal reasons, on social networking sites is an excellent one unless you have "lists" or "circles" setup for family or close friends, for instance.

I really have an issue that border agents have sweeping authority to search and download information on your computer and smart phone, unless there is a court order. This is a real privacy right that has been taken away just because we are traveling out of the country and if there is sensitive business information, a problem for your company or even HIPAA Rights if you have sensitive patient information on your computer.

The article by Fran Maier is titled 10 Travel Tips for Protecting Your Privacy. In addition to not broadcasting your travel she talks about using secure WiFi and https whenever possible, tracking apps for your digital devices, logging out of public computers, leaving your laptop at home, monitoring your financial statements, password protect your devices, locking sensitive documents devices in your hotel safe, that cameras can be a risk, checking your privacy settings before sharing photographs.

12 ways to keep your employees motivated, engaged and unified

This is an excellent blog post by Art Nathan, a veteran Human Resources Professional that I read this morning on "Smart Blog for Leadership".

Good advice for all those in leadership positions. I am very fortunate to have a great team that I work with.

The article is titled, 12 ways to keep your employees motivated, engaged and unified, and talks about the following 12 items.

1. Clearly define your vision
2. Give employees what they want and need
3. Communicate often and well
4. Get everyone engaged
5. Stay the course
6. Practice random acts of kindness
7. Coach for success
8. Act fairly
9. Inspect what you expect
10. Give respect and create trust
11. Don't be a jerk
12. Make work fun

Duke holds off Michigan for Coach K's 900th win, 73-71

Even though I was cheering for my Wolverines in this game, and boy was it a good one right up until the end, Duke is my ACC team as I worked at Duke University for several years.

Thus I was not totally devastated with such a close loss.

A big congratulations to Coach Mike Krzyzewski on his 900th win! Well deserved for a class guy. I felt very honored to be at Duke when they won their 4th NCAA Tournament in 2001 and was lucky to go to many games, including my first one against Michigan, in Cameron Indoor Stadium. One of the best college basketball venues in the United States.

I also have picked up Kansas as my Big 12 Team since my oldest son started there and then I also had the good fortune to be in Lawrence to celebrate their NCAA victory in 2008. Allen Field House is steeped in history not only of Kansas but college basketball in general.

While my bracket is toast I still have Duke and Kansas going to the Final Four! Let's hope I am right on that account as my Michigan State Spartans, had a rough year, and Michigan is looking much better than in recent past years.

This article titled, Duke holds off Michigan for Coach K's 900th win, 73-71, is by True Jersey writer, Conor Orr.