Jonathan Miller's Blog, page 39

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Great Opportunity!

If you are interested in splitting $8.2M with John Robart, ESQ, please go for it. (See below)

I just received this really nice email from Mr Robart, ESQ, even though we have never met. He is offering me a lump sum of $4.1M in money that he has access to in Benin, wherever that is.

Unfortunately for me, I have conflicts next week due to several business meetings and a dentist appointment I have already rescheduled twice –so next week is just a terrible week for me to try to get to Benin to help...

Lauren Mayer: From Whence Cometh Creativity

As I approach the 2-year anniversary of my weekly song project, it’s fascinating to look back on how my writing process has developed, and to see what lessons I’ve learned. So here are a few tips to share with any readers who are either contemplating a creative venture (or who would enjoy a vicarious peek at something they’d rather not experience first-hand . . . .)

- Writing is frequently 1% inspiration and 99% putting-your-rear-in-a-chair. In other words, the best way to learn to write is to...

Brooke Masters: The Leverage Story Banks Want to Hide

Slowly, ever so slowly, banks are being forced to clear away the fog and mirrors that have protected their balance sheets from the prying eyes of investors and sceptics.

Last month, UK banks became the first in the world to disclose their total borrowing, known as leverage ratio, on a standardised basis.

They haven’t done this willingly – the Bank of England insisted – and their disclosures are all surrounded by lots of hemming and hawing about how the leverage rules are still changing.

The resu...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Diet Update

Done!

Almost…

A little over six months ago I saw a friend, Kent Oyler, and told him I had just started a diet. He asked me my weight goal and I said I didn’t have one yet and he thought that was a mistake. I agreed and then asked Kent, since he was my height and in great shape, what he weighed. He told me and I said that was my weight goal. It was 27 lbs for me to lose.

Last night I reported to Kent that I was actually only 3 lbs away from my goal of reaching his his weight. But Kent then report...

John Y. Brown, III: Robin Williams

The life of a comedian is rarely a funny matter.

The deep source of humor for the professional comic almost always seems to be a survival mechanism that just happens to work better than all the other survival mechanisms tried before it that came up wanting.

Sometimes that defense mechanism —that life antidote— stops working, too. And there may be no back-up fortification for when a joke doesn’t work anymore. And that deep source of humor can cruelly transform itself into an all-encompassing dar...

Erica and Matt Chua: Hiking the Routeburn Track

This was our second Great Walk in New Zealand. Click here to read about the Milford Track, New Zealand’s most famous hike.

Inscribed on almost every “World’s Best” hikes list is the Routeburn Track in New Zealand. All too often the reality fails to meet the hyped expectations, but Routeburn does not disappoint. From start to finish the trail wow’s you so much that the work of hiking is forgotten.

The sun rising outside the Routeburn Falls Hut, a fine start to our final day on the track. This is...

Dave Goldberg: How I Hire: Why Good References are the Key to Success

“He’s got pretty persuasion. She’s got pretty persuasion. Goddamn, your confusion.” Pretty Persuasion – REM

Interviews can be deceiving and confusing. When you meet a candidate in person, you can get a lot of false positives. The candidate is on her best behavior, well prepped and aiming to sell you on herself as a great hire. Often, you will find yourself enjoying your conversation enough that you get persuaded to hire someone who really isn’t the right fit for the role. That is why I believe...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Technology

My cell phone –an ATT Android–has a visual voicemail feature that tells me when I have a new voice mail message.

But wait, there’s more.

The visual voicemail app also, with some voicemails, will delay the notification for several hours. Or even a day.

I know what you are thinking. It must not work right. But I figured out what really must be going on.

This feature, I have to assume, somehow measures the enthusiam of the caller and will delay notifying me of the call accordingly –to the extent the...

Saul Kaplan: This Is Why Religion Is Just a Technology

Irwin Kula is an eighth-generation rabbi known for his fearless attitude about change — a rare quality among religious leaders who tend to adhere closely to tradition.

Kula, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL) in New York and the author of Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life, has dedicated himself to opening up the wisdom of his 3,500-year-old faith to be in conversation with the world.

Kula preaches the “highest possible institutional barrie...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Marvin Gaye

It is easy to poke fun at the decade of the 1970s but there is a two word answer that is sufficient, in my mind, to shut down every critic of that decade.

Marvin Gaye

Is there any situation or mood that this song –or entire album– can’tmake a just a little bit better? (Especially on a Saturday afternoon)

I don’t think so.

Yeah, the 70s were an important and soulful decade. If you don’t believe me, just listen to Marvin.