Just the Facts, Ma'am

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Joe Friday never said it. If you are old enough to remember the TV show "Dragnet" then you know the catchphrase "Just the Facts, Ma'am"

But he never said it. Not on the show. A PARODY of the show first used the phrase. But not Joe Friday.

I learned of this fact, because I Google the word "facts" and "Just the Facts, Ma'am" was the number one hit. 

[No, it was not really the number one hit on Google. But you won't check it out for yourself, so who cares, right?]

My search took me to the Snopes.com website, which covered the topic. Is it not amazing that a website like Snopes even exists? 

We read things on the Internet, on social media, and then after liking the posts and sharing the posts and re-tweeting the posts, we find out that the post was false. Or less than factual. But it is too late. Truth and facts lose out to speed and volume. 

I was about to say "A lie can travel around the world before the truth can put on it's shoes" ~ Mark Twain. But it looks like it was Winston Churchill who said it, and it was pants, not shoes. 

USAfacts.org is a cool website founded by former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer. It is all about the facts. The truth. It is a very useful website (especially at election time). You should check it out.

But I have no idea if Steve Ballmer is actually even connected with, or has anything to do with the website. Truth. Facts. What does that even mean any more, when lies travel at the speed of light?

We always say that we want the truth. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But can we handle the truth?

Last one:  What percentage of people vote?

Google says about 60% of the eligible voting population votes during presidential election years, and about 40% votes during midterm elections. 

Is that true? Is that a fact? How do we fact check the fact checkers?

When we VOTE on November 6th shall we vote with our hearts or with our heads? 

Where is Detective Joe Friday when we need him.....

Two packs a day? EVERY DAY???

Is Reading Still Fundamental?

Who remembers growing up with the commercials for www.RIF.org?  I remember how "reading" and reading comprehension scores were a major part of our education. But is reading still such a big deal?

My friends Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (aka DHH) of Basecamp fame have blessed us with a new book. Just go buy it. Seriously, buy it, read it, and then live it. 

But this blog post is not so much about their new book. It is about reading, in general. 

I was born in 1960. Growing up, we had......books in school. And film strips. And movies. Who remembers watching MOVIES in grade school? It was such a big deal. Secretly, I think it was a mental health break for our teachers when they could run a movie or film strip, and keep us crazy kids occupied for a few minutes. 

I bought Jason and David's new book on Amazon, as an eBook. And I opted for the audio version as well. It took me around 2 hours to read the book on my Kindle. But having the audio version allows me to "re-read" the book while driving.

And then it hit me. We now live in the world of podcasts, and YouTube, and multimedia, trans-media, TBLS (Technology Based Learning Systems). 

Penmanship is no longer taught in school. But experts claim that it should be. 

When you BUY a book, you proactively take the steps necessary to purchase, read, and process the contents of a book. You are PULLING the information into your brain. You set the pace. You decide when to start, stop and restart reading. YOU are in control of the flow. You can pause and re-read a section. You can highlight sections. And, you can buy books that resonate with you, and give them to friends, colleagues and staff. 

So, here is what I think. I think we need to read more. All of us. We need to PULL more information into our brains, rather than having information PUSHED at us. If we read more, there would be less "fake news" and there would be less confusion, and less chaos in the world. 

So that's it. RIF.org had it right all along. We all need to read more books. And if you are in business (of any size) start with THIS one. 

NYDLA.org members: email me the receipt from your book purchase 

and you will receive a matching credit on your NYDLA account. 

Email: CEO@NYDLA.org