Jonathan Miller's Blog, page 40

Julie Rath: How Your T-Shirt Should Fit

For most of my clients, Summer means t-shirt time. How does yours fit? Don’t laugh — even though it’sjust a t-shirt, it should fit you as well as all of the other items in your wardrobe.Below are 4 key points to watch for when determining whether to buy that next beefy-t:

1) The shoulder seam should hit directly on the edge of your shoulder.When a t-shirt is too big, these seams hang off your shoulder and make you look sloppy. But wearing a shirt with the seam right on the edge of your shoulde...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Designer Jeans

Now I find out!

I finally lose enough weight to buy a pair of designer men jeans–as opposed to “Dad jeans” –and find out almost all have a button-fly instead of a zipper. I am serious!

What is happening to the male population? C’mon guys. What self-respecting male would prefer button-fly over a zipper? And if they did, what would the reason be?

It isn’t for practical reasons or to impress women. I am pretty sure my wife couldn’t care less about my fly stylings. Is it to impress other men like wo...

Josh Bowen: Living to Die or Dying to Live: 5 Steps to Being You

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else, is the greatest accomplishment.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Recently I was reading an article I found on Facebook called“5 Regrets of Dying,” and the first regret was “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” This got me thinking about life in general and how I see people who live their lives for someone else and not for themselves.

I can be accused, justifiably so, f...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: TMI

TMI? (Too much instruction?)

I just tried to look up on YouTube “How to whistle using a blade of grass” to prove to myself how incredibly exhaustive “How to” videos are on YouTube.

And I found one!!


But what really caught my attention is that 45,459 people had “viewed” the video.

Including me.

(It’s actually an excellent instruction video, you know, if you are interested and don’t already know how to.)

And I will point out that to date no one has yet put out a “How to” video on how NOT to whistle u...

Lauren Mayer: Truth Is Weirder Than Children’s Fiction

One of my favorite college classes examined children’s literature through the lens of cultural attitudes towards childhood. For example, the Brothers Grimm wrote all those dark, scary tales of witches & evil forests because in their day (early 19th century), childhood was just a smaller version of an awful adulthood. Poorer kids had to work on farms or in factories, even wealthier kids succumbed to disease, and stories had to prepare them for the general dangers of the world. In the Victorian...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Skydiving

My son just went skydiving…And didn’t tell me until after the fact.

“My son?!” I exclaimed when my wife and daughter told me. “I cannot believe my son—my flesh and blood–could muster the nerve to jump out of an airplane! I could never do that!”

To which my daughter Maggie wryly replied, “At least he’s not doing the kinda things you did when you were his age!”

Game, set, match to Maggie.

A good and loyal sister –and best family comeback of the year.

And, yeah, super proud of my boy!!

Erica and Matt Chua: Hiking the Milford Track

What makes a “Great Walk”? This question haunted me after reserving our spots on the Milford Track. Reputedlyone of the world’s best hikes, reservations are required months in advice at the cost of almost $250 USD per person for the four day, three night, hike. What kind of public park hike requires you to carry all your stuff, cook your own food,andcosts over $50 a day? After a year of traveling on less, paying that much to hike uphill seemed absurd. That said, having made the payment, we’d...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Math Rude

I have decided that people in NYC aren’t really rude. They just aren’t very people smart and don’t know how to handle it.

Like the kid in high school who strughled with math and would say things like “Math is stupid!” or “No one will ever use this stuff. What a waste of time!” He wasn’t being rude but what we will call “Math rude” because he was confused about how to do math and was afraid othersmight notice.

I know this happens for a fact because I was “Foreign languages rude” myself. And “Che...

Saul Kaplan: This Is the Antidote to the Dark Side of Technology

John Hagel speaks with satisfying precision. He has kind eyes and stern glasses, which together dominate the screen during a Sunday-afternoon Skype conversation.

As co-chairman of Deloitte’s Center for the Edge, Hagel hunts for unexploited capability on the “edges” of business and makes the case to include them on the CEO’s agenda. “The edges are most fertile areas for innovation,” he says. They are an important place to watch, because what happens at the edges transforms the core.

Hagel’s rese...

Carlton Weddington: Living with a Serial Killer

Our newest contributing RP, former Ohio State Representative Carlton Weddington, is currently serving a three-year sentence at theAllen Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohiofor chargesof bribery, election falsification and filing a false financial disclosure statement.

Read his full bio here.

Read part one of “The Caged Bird Sings“

Here’s Part Two:

Columbus seems to be unfortunately well represented in protective custody (PC), but fortunately, very few people recognized or know who I am.

I am a...