Safe at home!

I don't know if there is a more thrilling moment in sports. They say that baseball is a boring game, with lots of time between the action. But I think that is exactly what makes it so special. At any moment, from out of nowhere, there can be a play at the plate. SAFE! Safe at home is what makes the game of baseball so special.

  www.joetorre.org

Joe Torre, for­mer pro­fes­sional base­ball player and man­ager of the New York Yankees and the Los Ange­les Dodgers, grew up the youngest of five chil­dren in Brook­lyn, New York. His father was a New York City police detec­tive and revered in his com­mu­nity. He was the cop that made every­one feel safe. Every­one except his own family.

Joe, Sr. ruled his home with an iron fist. He was a phys­i­cally abusive hus­band and an emotionally abu­sive father. The vio­lence that had besieged the Torre house­hold for so many years was a well-kept fam­ily secret and stayed a fam­ily secret for gen­er­a­tions. How­ever, in Decem­ber of 1995, Ali and Joe Torre attended a sem­i­nar called Life Suc­cess.  As a result of Joe’s participation in that sem­i­nar, he began to talk openly of his childhood experience with domes­tic vio­lence. He went pub­lic with his fam­ily secret in his auto­bi­og­ra­phy, Chas­ing the Dream: My Life­long Jour­ney to the World Series.

Ali and Joe Torre wanted to edu­cate chil­dren about the issue of domes­tic vio­lence. In 2002, they cre­ated the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foun­da­tion. The mis­sion of the Foundation is “educating to end the cycle of domestic violence and save lives”.

Ini­tially, the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foun­da­tion focused its resources on aware­ness build­ing through a local and national mul­ti­me­dia cam­paign. How­ever, the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foun­da­tion quickly determined that they wanted to edu­cate chil­dren about vio­lence so that chil­dren under­stand that they are not alone and that there is hope.

In 2005, the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foun­da­tion opened its first school-based pro­gram­ming ini­tia­tive, Margaret’s Place, at Hostos-Lincoln Acad­emy, Bronx, NY. Margaret’s Place, a trib­ute to his mom, is a com­pre­hen­sive pro­gram which pro­vides stu­dents with a safe room in school where they can meet with a pro­fes­sional coun­selor trained in domestic-violence inter­ven­tion and pre­ven­tion. Cur­rently, the Joe Torre Safe At Home® Foun­da­tion has ten fully funded and oper­a­tional Margaret’s Places in New York City, Los Ange­les, Westch­ester County and New Jer­sey.The sites are fully funded and have a minimum commitment of three years.

Technology can play a supportive role. 

I am the Executive Director of the www.NYDLA.org and the Director of Sales and Marketing for the www.USDLA.org Together, we donate technology on a nationwide basis to allow children to receive free professional counseling via "virtual safe rooms" where in-person professional counseling is not available. 

  

Please donate to www.joetorre.org 

as every kid deserves to be "Safe at Home"

The Cool Table

 

Last night we all went out for dinner with the family and friends. There is a cool “All You Can Eat” Sushi Bar called Mr. Sushi.  Well, if this is the place that Sushi is named after, it must be great, right?

My job (beyond financing the meal) is to torture the waiter / waitress whenever we go out to dinner. I let them know that I am good tipper straight up, so that we don’t get kicked out before the food arrives.

When we go out to eat, there is always good food, lots of laughs, and lots of snarly and snarky comments. No one asked last night for us to “keep it down” which has happened on several occasions.

The place had a policy - you can order all the Sushi that you wanted - but - if you WASTE any food, they will charge you FULL PRICE for anything that you don’t eat.

Scene I

The waiter told us that the place will soon get busy, so if we want to order MORE food, we might want to order the 2nd round - now - otherwise we might have to wait. “Oh, sure, let me double down right now, so we don’t have to wait! Thanks for the advice, Mr. Waiter!”

The girls all ordered WAY MORE than they could possibly eat. So, the boys had to eat what they could not, otherwise the bill at the end of the night (according the to fine print on the menu) COULD be 2x.

So, the scene turned from happy and silly, to “EAT THAT DAMN SUSHI!”  Why the hell did you order so much food!  We are gonna have to pay double you fool!  I can’t eat another bite! Does anyone have a purse? Put it in your purse!

It ended well. We only had one or two pieces go begging, and we were able to break them apart and spread the rice around, destroying the evidence. REMINDING the waiter that I am a good tipper, we all said how much we loved the place and how we would be back again soon!

We are never going back.

This was not just an Sushi Bar, it was an ALL YOU CAN EAT Sushi Bar. The ALL YOU CAN EAT was the hook. The ALL YOU CAN EAT made them stand out from the rest. We drove an extra 10 miles to see Mr. Sushi, because HE was going to let us be gluttons!

This morning all of our house guests - we all KNOW what we did last night. We all did the walk of shame. Let’s just say that we all used the Febreze® in the bathroom this morning. Too vivid? Sorry.

Scene II

As I sit here thinking about ALL YOU CAN EAT things in other areas of life, how do they really work? At the end of the day, are there any ALL YOU CAN EAT things where people are truly glad and more happy due to the fact that they made pigs of themselves?

All you can eat data plans on cell phones. All you can eat voice and text. All the movies you can download and watch in the month. All the books you can read for a flat fee. Is there anything in business or in life where UNLIMITED really makes it better? We know that UNLIMITED makes it MORE, but does it make it any better?

Last night, my first bite of Sushi was amazing. In fact, the first few bites made me say the frequently uttered line “Oh, this is the best Sushi I have ever had - ever.” And then, bite after bite, piece after piece, I was slowly starting to wish that Mr. Sushi would commit hara-kiri.

“That bastard Mr. Sushi is running a scam!” was the general consensus at the cool table, less than an hour after we all sat down.

The things in life that we have unlimited access (Social Media, for one) do not get better because of quantity.

Quality does not come from quantity. But our brains see ALL YOU CAN EAT and we will drive further, and wait in line longer to get it. Lemmings, all of us.

Bigger is not better.  Better is better.  

With that being said, I would not say no to one of the kids running out and buying the LARGER size bottle of Pepto-Bismol this morning.

We DO love the VALUE PACK, however....

Lemonade Antidote

  

Entrepreneurship is the process of starting a business or other organization. The entrepreneur chooses/develops a business model, acquires the human and other required resources and is fully responsible for its success or failure. Entrepreneurship operates within an entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Entrepreneurship within an existing firm or large organization has been referred to as intrapreneurship and may include corporate ventures where large entities spin off subsidiary organizations. Entrepreneurs are leaders willing to take risk and exercise initiative, taking advantage of market opportunities by planning, organizing, and employing resources, often by innovating new or improving existing products. More recently, the term entrepreneurship has been extended to include a specific mindset resulting in entrepreneurial initiatives, e.g. in the form of social entrepreneurship, political entrepreneurship, or knowledge entrepreneurship.


This was the scene that I saw when I left my driveway yesterday around noon. Six adorable girls, doing a well choreographed dance with pom poms and umbrellas, getting people to slow down, stop, and then buy Lemonade for $0.50 per cup. And, with 1/2 of the profits from their enterprise going to charity - Animal Rescue no less. I asked the father who was in charge of quality control and supervising (my neighbor who I had yet to meet) if I could take few pictures for my blog, since this week's topic would be...wait for it....Entrepreneurship. 

It turns our that our new neighbor works for one of my largest clients. I am so glad that I already gave a big tip to the girls BEFORE learning this fact.

According to Paul Reynolds, founder of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, "by the time they reach their retirement years, half of all working men and women in the United States probably have a period of self-employment of one or more years; one in four may have engaged in self-employment for six or more years. Participating in a new business creation is a common activity among U.S. workers over the course of their careers." In recent years, entrepreneurship has been claimed as a major driver of economic growth in both the United States and Western Europe.

There are many definitions for Entrepreneur, but one is as follows: an individual who organizes or operates a business or businesses. Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to lead a business in a positive direction by proper planning, to adapt to changing environments and understand their own strengths and weakness.  These adorable six girls having a blast on a Saturday afternoon - while doing great work for our society - they are the future of business in this country. 

I am an Entrepreneur. I know that my greatest strength is in sales, marketing and in business development. I can wear many hats, but some hats fit better than others. And, some hats make me look like a fool (like a beanie with a propeller on top).  The key is to know your weakness, and to find others who can complement your weakness. Walt had his brother Roy Disney. Hewlett had his friend Packard. Very few people make it alone. And the sooner an Entrepreneur can figure this out, the better the chances of success. 


Yes, I have many weaknesses.  And one big one is that I can never, ever say no to Girl Scouts selling cookies, or say no to little girls twirling umbrellas (no matter WHAT they are selling). 

Let's just say that here are some very happy dogs and cats at 11th Hour Rescue.  

Left to right, Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google, which is 

sometimes cited as an example of entrepreneurship and disruptive innovation.

Sergey and Larry needed help, and they hired Eric. Google it!

TED knows best

Sugata Mitra is the winner of the 2013 TED Prize: 
Build a School in the Cloud, where children can explore and learn from one another.

 Education is a self-organizing system, where learning is an emergent phenomenon.

 The Victorians were great engineers. They engineered a [schooling] system that was so robust that it's still with us today, continuously producing identical people for a machine that no longer exists.

   It's quite fashionable to say that the education system's broken — it's not broken, it's wonderfully constructed. It's just that we don't need it anymore. It's outdated. 

Ever watch a TED.com talk?

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan: "Ideas Worth Spreading".

TED was founded in 1984 as a one-off event. The annual conference began in 1990, in Monterey, California. TED's early emphasis was technology and design, consistent with its origins in the Silicon Valley. Since June 2006, the talks have been offered for free viewing online, through TED.com. As of April 2014, over 1,700 talks are available free online. By January 2009 they had been viewed 50 million times. In June 2011, the viewing figure stood at more than 500 million, and on Tuesday, November 13, 2012, TED Talks had been watched one billion times worldwide. TED's mission statement:

We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

The TED Prize was introduced in 2005. Until 2010, it annually granted three individuals $100,000 and a "wish to change the world". Each winner unveils their wish at the main annual conference. Since 2010, in a changed selection process, a single winner is chosen to ensure that TED can maximize its efforts in achieving the winner's wish. For 2013, the prize amount was increased to $1 million.

Here is his prize winning 2013 TED.com talk

Now, here is your homework assignment:

• Watch this prize winning TED.com talk
• Think
• Spread

Why? Because "Everything is Distance Learning"

The Google Godin Apocalypse

If there is one thing that "The Walking Dead," "World War Z" and the slew of other zombie-related TV shows and films have recently taught us is that a person’s day can go from mundane to a post-apocalyptic nightmare in a matter of seconds.

As the media shows, most people are totally unprepared for the onslaught of flesh-eating undead and bands of armed surviving humans trying to survive in a crashed society.

Zombie Apocalypse: The film begins by showing the previous six months in flashbacks. In June 2011 a plague called the VM2 virus is first discovered in a French woman. Within the next 28 days, 83% of the population of Europe was infected. The virus becomes a global pandemic as it eventually reaches Japan and the United States. Six months later, the zombie plague has wiped out ninety percent of the population of the United States.

There are lots of movies with a similar theme: some “virus” (sometimes man-made) infects just one person, who infects others, who infects others. This summer’s hit Dawn of the Planet of the Apes continues on the theme of a bad virus causing bad things: trouble ensues.

What if getting infected by a virus was a good thing?

What if instead of a virus causing a strain of genius apes, or flesh-eating undead, a virus caused everyone to become empathetic, compassionate and sympathetic? If a virus can cause the entire planet to become a living hell, why can’t we have a virus that creates a heaven on earth? This was today’s blog from Seth Godin:

Go first. Before you're asked. Before she asks for the memo, before the customer asks for a refund, before your co-worker asks for help. Volunteer. Offer. Imagine what the other person needs, an exercise in empathy that might become a habit.

Seth Godin blogs daily. His blog is read (and then shared, and shared again) daily. I am guilty of helping to spread the Godin virus. When I cut and paste his words, when I re-tweet his blogs, when I post his links in Facebook, I am helping his words, his thoughts to spread. Fast. 

Hollywood does a great job giving us a glimpse of a horrific, post-apocalyptic world. A nightmare world that in many screenplays, we created for ourselves. What if instead of the VM2 virus, the *SG3 virus became reality? What if instead of the virus causing genius apes or flesh eating zombies, it made everyone on the planet - a better person?

No more wars. No more terrorists. No more pain or suffering caused by greed or selfish behavior. No more crazy 1% wealthy or poor or homeless. The SG3 virus spreads, and spreads fast. It is perfectly cool to be a Billionaire, because they are revered for their humanitarian deeds.

A plague called the SG3 virus is first discovered in a Indian woman. Within the next 28 days, 83% of the population of Asia was infected. The virus becomes a global pandemic as it eventually reaches Europe and the United States. Six months later, the SG3 virus has changed the behavior of ninety percent of the population of the United States.

I don’t see why Hollywood can’t take a shot on a screenplay where being infected by such a virus is a good thing. I have seen enough flesh eating zombies and genius apes. If a virus can release such a terrible plague on humanity, why can’t such a virus be the cause of something wonderful?

And now I ask you: Is Google some form of a technology powered virus? It seems to have infected 7 Billion people to date, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. And if it is a technology powered virus - is it a good virus or a bad virus?

******

*SG3 is the Seth Godin Virus.  It’s good for ya.

https://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/

I'll be with you shortly

Snapple Real Fact #944: Napoleon Bonaparte was not short. At 5' 7" he was of average height for his time.

So, he has been getting a bum rap. Had I not picked Snapple as my beverage of choice yesterday, I would have continued to think erroneously about shorty. I don’t know what compelled me, but I then decided to grab my Nexus 5 and I said:

“OK, Google. How tall was Napoleon Bonaparte?”

Napoleon Bonaparte the French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the French Revolution and its associated wars in Europe was 5’6” tall.

Snapple Real Facts vs. OK Google   FIGHT!

The myth that he was short stems primarily from the fact that he is listed as 5 feet 2 inches tall at the time of his death.  However, this is 5 feet 2 inches in French units.  In modern international units, he was just shy of 5 feet 7 inches. Now I know you are saying “well that is still pretty short”. That is true by modern day standards in certain places in the world, such as the United States. However, at the time in France, the average height for an adult male was about 5 feet 5 inches in modern international units. So in fact, he was quite tall for his day.

Despite this fact, Napoleon is primarily remembered for two things; being a master tactician and being short. The so called “Napoleon Complex” named after him, describes men who have an inferiority complex or more aptly “Short Man Syndrome”.

Interestingly, there is evidence that Napoleon was already considered short at the time of his death, despite being above average height among his fellow Frenchman. This likely stems from the fact that his personal bodyguards were all very tall and broad; there being height requirements for his guard. So wherever he went, people saw him with his guards who were all much bigger than him and thus he looked small in comparison, earning him the nickname “Le Petit Caporel” or in English “The Little Corporal”, though in his day this was typically used as a term of affection for him and not as an insult.

This “more than I needed to know” post led me down the online learning Rabbit Hole:

All of the Snapple Real Facts are here!

History of DPS

The company now known as DPS has evolved from a combination of discovery, invention and collaboration. This rich history includes the very birth of the soft drink in 1783, when Jean Jacob Schweppe perfected the process for carbonating water and created the world's first carbonated mineral water.

Did you know this? Jean Jacob Schweppe is the Pop of Soda!

Hence the phrase Soda Pop?

The History of Soda Pop!

If Snapple Real Facts and OK Google came back with the same answer, I would have resumed eating my Sesame Chicken without any further incident. But this could not be left alone - the two oracles of modern day learning with differing “facts” - we must know who to trust!  Or is it whom to trust?

OK Google: is it who or whom?

I think the next time I eat lunch, I’ll leave my phone in the car. And order water. Make that tap water. These distractions during lunch are giving me agita.

OK Google: what is agita?

Teachers gotta teach

A Teacher is a person who provides education for students.

The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional qualifications or credentials from a university or college. These professional qualifications may include the study of pedagogy, the science of teaching. Teachers, like other professionals, may have to continue their education after they qualify, a process known as continuing professional development. Teachers may use a lesson plan to facilitate student learning, providing a course of study which is called the curriculum.

A teacher's role may vary among cultures. Teachers may provide instruction in literacy and numeracy, craftsmanship or vocational training, the arts, religion, civics, community roles, or life skills.

A teacher who facilitates education for an individual may also be described as a personal tutor, or, largely historically, a governess.

In some countries, formal education can take place through home schooling. Informal learning may be assisted by a teacher occupying a transient or ongoing role, such as a family member, or by anyone with knowledge or skills in the wider community setting.

Religious and spiritual teachers, such as gurus, mullahs, rabbis, pastors/youth pastors and lamas, may teach religious texts such as the Quran, Torah or Bible.  

Some Synonyms for Teacher:

• master
• dry nurse
• don

• trainer
• tutor
• coach
• governor

• instructor
• director
• grinder
• bear leader

• institutor
• Corypheus
• crammer
• governess

A Learner is a person who is learning a subject or skill.

Some Synonyms for Learner:

• apprentice
• tyro
• eleve
• inceptor
• fellow-commoner
• freshman
• senior
• questionist
• remove
• apostle

• scholar
• prentice
• abecedarian
• recruit
• catechumen
• debutant
• junior soph
• sophister
• undergraduate
• pupilage (learning)
• proselyte

• student
• articled clerk
• alphabetarian
• novice
• probationer
• schoolboy
• junior
• sophomore
• class
• disciple
• fellow-student

• pupil
• beginner
• alumnus
• neophyte
• chela
• fresh
• senior soph
• soph
• form
• follower
• condisciple

Now, throw TECHNOLOGY into the mix. The technology of today has “flipped the script” as far as all of this goes. In today’s world, anyone can research, explore, investigate just about anything. 

A student with a solar powered laptop in Africa can access information that just a few years ago required Ivy League campus access. If a “teacher” is doing their job (professional or volunteer) is it possible to teach any topic or subject without the teacher becoming the learner?

Instructors can hand someone a textbook (or video series, or eBook, or Podcast) and say “here you go” you should be all set. Anyone can host a webinar, or give a lecture. But the true teacher must flip the script. A true teacher must receive data and information BACK from the learner. The most successful teachers are both senders and receivers of information - constantly getting feedback FROM from the students. Just like flying a plane or steering a ship, constant course corrections are necessary. Get the pun - course corrections? Ahem.

When I went to college (Purdue, Rutgers) the professors gave lectures. Many times these same professors wrote the textbooks that we used in class. Then there were TAs or “Teaching Assistants” who were there to “help us understand” what we just heard in the lecture. Remember playing the game "broken telephone" where the true message gets distorted as the message goes from kid to kid? It was always so funny to hear a simple sentence get mangled. Knowledge flow: Professor > TA > Student. The "best" lecturer in the world is lucky to have 80% of the knowledge transfer. So, 80% of 80% is 64% if my math is right.

You could see the Professor during scheduled office hours, twice a week. But for a class of 300 or more (in a big school) it would be impossible for more than a handful of students to see their professor for one-on-one sessions. Information was “pushed” out to us, and it was up to us to catch it. If we did not fully comprehend the material, if we were getting it wrong, if we were lost, it was up to us (the student) to seek out the additional help necessary to pass the course.

We don't know what we don't know, and that is the problem. By the time you take the exam and get the grade, it's too late to go back and find out. Grades are posted, time to move on. Next!

College textbooks have now become eBooks read on iPads. Live lectures have become TED.com talks. Sprawling college campuses with dormitories like Purdue and Rutgers have become entities like the University of Phoenix.

In my humble opinion, teaching without receiving and processing the feedback from the students is not teaching.  It might be presenting, lecturing, pontificating, promoting, or any other word that involves the pushing of data “out” to the world. Unless the teacher becomes the learner, seeking the feedback, looking for the clues, making the observations FROM the students back to the source for analysis and re-engineering, we might as well just Google it or watch a video on Khan Academy. To be a successful teacher in today’s world, you need to flip the script.

Check out www.cmasas.com to see the future of "teaching" via technology.

Agree with me? Think I’m nuts? Either way, your feedback is welcome.

Email me: Tom@NYDLA.org or TCapone@USDLA.org.  I reply to all emails.

Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices via TED.com