Skip to content
Image created by Bing Copilot AI. Prompt: A professor stands before a room of computer screens. 

You’ve Been Drafted into the A.I. Training Corps!

Thank you for your service! You didn’t sign up to serve? Oh yes you did! You’re here, aren’t you? I found something interesting while browsing LinkedIn the other day. (I know, right? Who in history ever uttered that sentence?) What I blundered into was the news that LinkedIn was sending user data (profile info and posts, etc.) to use in training Generative A.I. models. (Story here.) To summarize: some LinkedIn users are default opted-in to train its generative AI model. Or, as the settings option says — to “work with partners” who… Read More »You’ve Been Drafted into the A.I. Training Corps!

A king in an ornate throne room, standing before his throne, angrily pointing out of the room, ordering a messenger to leave, colorful

Mental Model Repair Shop: Remember This Before Blaming the Messenger

Today in the mental model repair shop, we’re going to discuss how we assess hypocrisy. We’ll start with a specific anecdote and expand the lessons learned for many situations. Hating Dissent in the Land of the Free Long ago, my primary cause was animal rights. I read all the books, visited vegan restaurants, and attended protests against animal cruelty. Regarding those rallies, I was shocked at the scorn we received. Not because people disagreed with us, but because they seemed to dislike protest as an idea—without even knowing our cause. Maybe… Read More »Mental Model Repair Shop: Remember This Before Blaming the Messenger

How to Use Words with Maximum Impact

Word Police on Patrol There’s this interesting video where a girl asks why we call something “man-made” (here) when women were also a part of its construction. Many explode with rage over the suggestion that we alter or update our language. I’m not one of them. People who rage at the idea that we use a new word are annoying. Equally irritating are those who attack anyone who fails to use the most modern terms. The rules of vocabulary are ever-shifting and agreed-upon by unofficial consensus of … who knows?… Read More »How to Use Words with Maximum Impact

How I Defeated a Depressing Workplace With a Tricycle

Now It Can Be Told: Why I Performed For Two Minutes On a Tricycle While Wearing My Beanie Copter In Front of Hundreds of Co-Workers and the CEO at My Old Job Many Years Ago Nervous and Sweating I was nervous, sweating, close to passing out, but I had my mission and I said to myself, I will not fail. I stepped to the front of the packed, humid ballroom. I was carrying a tricycle. I was not dreaming. The whole experience was utterly ridiculous, yes, but also horrifyingly real.… Read More »How I Defeated a Depressing Workplace With a Tricycle

A judge refuses a cup of tea

The Words I Wish I Had Said More

Personal Branding: An Annoying Exercise “What music do you like?” I asked a fellow cube-jockey. I asked this innocent question not so long ago, in the endless cubicles of The Corporation. Her response was strange. She bowed her head, shy about her answer. “Justin Beiber,” she mumbled. She even winced a little, expecting me to mock her. Lucky for her, that’s not my style. Even luckier, I had recently articulated my chilled-out approach during a corporate training. We had been challenged to design our “personal brand.” Usually when I hear such an… Read More »The Words I Wish I Had Said More

A knight in full medieval armor offers his beloved a bowl of warm soup in bed.

Hollywood Heroics Hold Lousy Love Lessons

Well, That’s One Way to Show You Care Like a lot of American kids in the 70s I learned from the TV show The Brady Bunch. Wait. Edit. Being the free thinker I am, here’s a better way to describe it. As an American kid in the 70s, I watched The Brady Bunch and learned whatever I wanted, not necessarily what was taught. Let’s review the episode where Peter saved a girl’s life by pulling her away from a collapsing bookcase. (S1. E21. The Hero.) Everyone praised his actions, he… Read More »Hollywood Heroics Hold Lousy Love Lessons