His hand in team relocations begs the question
Dallas Cowboy fans know Jerry Jones as the egotistically meddlesome owner who has driven their once-proud franchise into the ditch of mediocrity. But Jerry’s reach doesn’t end with his own team. Despite his squandering of the Cowboy’s on-field legacy, he has had considerable influence on NFL business affairs. His lobbying ability within league circles is persuasive to the point that he is already in the NFL Hall of Fame. While his business acumen has not helped his team on the field, it has been notably effective in furthering his commercial interests.
Jones and Patriots owner Bob Kraft are shareholders in…
Constant change makes for uncertainty
The last change in the algorithm sent shockwaves through the Medium world. Suddenly, luminaries like Shannon Ashley, Tim Denning, Zulie Rane and Tom Kuegler saw their views and incomes slashed by up to seventy five percent. The very people who were showing us that it could be done were having the rug pulled out from under them. Medium told us they were seeking a more “relational” platform.
So far, no one has publicly deciphered how to convert this change into income stability. What got you here could no longer sustain you. Just how many members were going to start their…
Apparently something requiring explanation
I am much mocked by friends and family alike for having a George Costanza wallet. I seem to go through wallets quite quickly as a result my abusively overstuffing them. They tend to get filled until they explode in a blizzard of coins, credit cards, and receipts. Afterward, nothing is left but an overstretched leather corpse. My family gifts me new ones for birthdays and Christmas, seemingly out of sympathy. I’m always grateful.
Recently, I made the mistake of leaving my wallet in the bathroom. My full financial cyclone was on display for all to see. There stood the all…
So much time, so little reward
After over a year on the platform, there is an aspect of Medium that still defies my understanding. Why would anyone work as an unpaid editor? Since the algorithm change that substantially lowered writer incomes, it is even more astounding to me that people would continue in this unpaid capacity. Isn’t every hour spent editing another hour that you could use for writing?
If you are starting a fledgling publication, I understand that as a one person gang, you are the sole editor until you convince others to join you. But even the concept of a publication seems fraught with…
And I’m just fine with that
Disclaimer: the writer has made so much money from heeding all the great advice on Medium, he didn’t bother to pursue any affiliate relationship with the companies in the enclosed links. :-)
As a football junkie, I came to learn of the trivia website Sporcle while on a Buffalo Bills fan forum. Sporcle bills itself as the leading provider of trivia entertainment on the web. I joined in 2010 and have since played over four thousand quizzes. I’d prefer not to calculate what that has meant in hours for fear of what it may reveal. …
Time to shut these tropes down, fast and hard
In the spirit of Christine Stevens’ classic post “Can We Please Stop Saying “Can We Please Stop?” I’m bringing the cudgel down on these overused article tropes. The pencil-in-mouth girl wrote me to say these are beyond stale.
Humility is my name, don’t wear it out
As the pandemic rages on, my thoughts turn to how I can make a difference in the lives of others. The loneliness and mental health toll casts as long a shadow as the disease itself. Fears are that we will have to relearn how to relate to one another in order to form binding relationships again. I have already written about the effect of the lockdowns on our sex lives.
Seeking ways to make a difference, I heard heart wrenching stories of families affected by organ failure. Pleas of donations and signing organ donor cards urge us to think of…
Belies an undercurrent of humanity
The supremely confident championship athlete has become an archetype in popular culture. When we see a triumphant winner in sports, we project our insecurities onto their moment of glory. We silently compare ourselves to them, telling ourselves that we could never be confident enough to perform in front of cameras or paying audiences.
As a former member of Toastmasters, the public speaking club, I used to receive the members' magazine. One issue stood out for me about a pitcher for the San Diego Padres who joined a local chapter. Here he was performing his occupation on live television before a…
Texas Longhorns theme song defies cancel culture
Societal movements come in waves. When the momentum is strong enough, that wave can become a tsunami, taking out everything in its path. Such is the revolutionary force of outrage in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020. Every major American city held a related protest complete with destruction of property and tearing down of statues associated with figures from the colonial past.
Only a hardened sociopath could watch the footage of Floyd’s life being extinguished and fail to come away profoundly and viscerally disturbed. The virality of this reaction went…
Medium’s answer to the Dunning Kruger effect
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in fifty five years of living, it is that there are very few entitlements in life. Over those years, I can tell you that I have experienced my requisite share of failure. I have had many a gallant plan end in a proverbial faceplant. In my younger years, I took these failures as though they were the…
