To the right, you’ll find a convenient Table of Contents. Click it to navigate to a particular section. As you read, it will always be available. =>=>=>
Hidden
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sword Tip of the Week
Featured Article …
What They Said …
What’s So Funny?
Business Brief
Geeking Out …
The Holidays are Here!
What I’m Watching
What We’re Reading
I read something the other day that got me thinking about how we approach our work and our desire to be productive.
Most of our systems are designed to remind us of what’s undone so we stay on task to get it done.
Rather than scouring what remains unfinished, maybe at the beginning of each day, we should ask ourselves, “What Do I Want to Accomplish Today?”
That may be a much better question. Don’t let what hasn’t been done be the driver of today’s agenda. Focus on what you want to accomplish even though it may not be connected to what’s undone from previous days.
I like that concept so I’m going to test drive it for a while and see how it works.
Why don’t you try it out yourself and let me know if it helps you get the right things done.
Hmmm. I wonder how much the 12 Days of Christmas costs this year?
I examine this every year … just for fun … and for the last 5 years, the total cost of the basket was approaching $40,000.
The cost of the fanciful mix of gifts described in the classic carol has been tracked for over a quarter of a century.
PNC Wealth Management has carefully tracked these costs for more than 25 years. Each year, they expand the offerings with gifts, activities and associated crafts.
Take a look at this update … and for the fun activities for kids … when you read, Hmmm. What do the 12 Days of Christmas cost in 2021?
🎄🎄Gratitude? Joy? How are you feeling this season?🎄🎄
With the Christmas holiday just a few days away, it’s easy to get all wrapped up in shopping, Christmas gifts and increasing our bounty of material things.
There’s a bounty of wonderful quotes there that highlight the best qualities in all of us.
A Christmas Gift from my Father.
My father passed away more than 20 years ago, but the vestiges of his humor remain. This is one of his Christmas gifts to me which, yea, is a cow sitting in an outhouse.
When open the stall, it you’ll hear a medley of Christmas carols. He thought it was hilarious. Click on the video to the left to see what I mean. (You can read about his fascinating career path and his satirical take on the art world in The Prizefighter and the Preacher.)
There’s a bottomless pit of articles today about the workplace and the short and long-term effects of the pandemic on employer and employee expectations. In Working From Work Is Harder Than It Sounds, the challenges of being productive in an increasingly distracting workplace, coming to focus. Methinks that if we stack up the articles about the value of returning to the workplace vs. the advantages of working from home, we would have no place to work at all! (Wouldn’t that be great if we could get paid anyway?)
Also, read American Workers Are Burned Out, and Bosses Are Struggling to Respond.
NOTICE: In some instances, you may run into an internet paywall when you access a particular article. Since they don’t affect everyone equally, it’s difficult to provide uniform access. Let me know if you’re having problems and I’ll see that you get the full article as we continue to seek better, more permanent solutions.
If You’re the Family IT Department, Follow this Tech To-Do List
I don’t know about you, but I’m the family tech guru (and in an extended family of friends as well) who know me as an incurable Apple fanboy.
Here are some suggestions you can share when your friends and family get together over the holidays. In the spirt of fairness and equality, I’ve also included the Android directions for the same issues.
iPhone Users Here
leave blank
Add a digital shortcut to their vaccine card
Most establishments will accept a simple photo of a vaccination record, but those get quickly buried in the photo library. Adding the card to their digital wallet is the fastest way to pull it up on the go. iPhone users with a record from a supported pharmacy or state immunization system can point their camera at the record’s QR code, and it will be pulled into Apple Wallet.
You can also pin a photo of the card to the top of Apple’s Notes app.
Turn on device location tracking
Device tracking helps locate phones, tablets, laptops—even AirPods—should they be lost or stolen. On Apple devices, your loved ones can do this in the Find My app. If they have an Apple Watch, show them how to remotely ping their phone by swiping up; tap and hold the phone icon to force a sound and flash.
Add an emergency contact
Have they already set up Favorites contacts? Be sure they also add an emergency contact. On iPhones, these contacts—which can be added in the Health app within the Medical ID section, or in Contacts under a particular person’s entry—will receive a message with the phone’s location when the Emergency SOS function is activated. (While you’re at it, recommend adding a legacy contact, who can access their Apple account data after they die.)
Create more storage
“I don’t have any more space on my phone!” is the most common complaint I hear.
- Do an audit of their apps and delete any they say they haven’t used in six months. If they really need them in the future, they can always download them again.
- Then look for other bloatware. For iPhone users, head to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. You can [manage and delete](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201656) apps’ data from this page.
Check app subscriptions
Subscriptions have gotten out of hand, and your loved ones may be on the hook for recurring payments they’ve forgotten about.
Open Settings, tap your name and then Subscriptions. On Amazon, go to your Account and click Memberships and Subscriptions.
When you’re poking around, also look at the permissions granted to apps. For example, a shopping app doesn’t need access to the microphone or camera.
Manage spam and avoid scams
If they’re getting lots of robocalls and texts, adding their number to the [FTC’s Do Not Call Registry](https://www.donotcall.gov/) could help cut down on unwanted calls. Also tell them NOT TO CLICK on links or respond: By answering the phone or texting “STOP” or “NO,” they could help scammers confirm the number is active.
Diverting texts from unknown senders could also help. On iPhones, go to Settings > Messages to turn on Filter Unknown Senders, which sends texts from people who aren’t in your contacts to a separate tab. Block people by tapping on their phone number and scrolling down to Block This Caller.
Android Users Here
LEAVE BLANK
Add a digital shortcut to their vaccine card
Android users first need to access their digital record from their health provider via email or text. Once the vaccination information is visible on screen, scroll down and press “Save to Phone.” Then, when prompted, choose to save it to Google Pay.
You can also pin a photo of the card to the top of Google Drive.
Turn on device location tracking
On Android phones, it’s available in Find My Device. Show them “Hey Google, ring my phone” using a Google Home speaker.
Add an emergency contact
Android users can add emergency information to their lockscreens.
Create more storage
In Android’s Settings, [select Storage](https://support.google.com/android/answer/7431795?hl=en). Tap on an app to clear that app’s cache or the storage it uses. You may also see a “Free up space” tool, which suggests big files to delete.
Check app subscriptions
Subscriptions have gotten out of hand.
Your loved ones may be on the hook for recurring payments they’ve forgotten about.
Go to the Play Store, tap Menu and select Subscriptions. (On Amazon, go to your Account and click Memberships and Subscriptions.)
When you’re poking around, also look at the permissions granted to apps. A shopping app doesn’t need access to the microphone or camera.
Manage spam and avoid scams
If they’re getting lots of robocalls and texts, adding their number to the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry could help cut down on unwanted calls. Also tell them NOT TO CLICK on links or respond: By answering the phone or texting “STOP” or “NO,” they could help scammers confirm the number is active.
Diverting texts from unknown senders could also help. On iPhones, go to Settings > Messages to turn on Filter Unknown Senders, which sends texts from people who aren’t in your contacts to a separate tab. Block people by tapping on their phone number and scrolling down to Block This Caller.
Christmas Music for every mood.
Mariah Carey’s Christmas Classic, ABBA’s Festive Return and 2021’s Best Holiday Songs.
No matter how you’re feeling about the holiday season, you’re going to need a soundtrack. Here are the best wintry tunes for every mood, whether you’ll be laughing all the way to New Year’s or saving yourself from tears after last Christmas.
Elf on the Shelf? Eggnog, candy canes and gingerbread houses?
The Christmas Pickle? Where did all these holiday traditions come from? Oh, did I mention ugly Christmas sweaters or groups of strangers caroling door-to-door? And what’s up with the “Christmas pickle”?
Discover it all … and much more … in The Surprising Origins of Ugly Christmas Sweaters, Gingerbread Houses, and 10 Other Holiday Traditions.
How does Larry David celebrate Christmas?
If you’re a Seinfeld fan … and even if more so if you watch Curb your Enthusiasm (HBO and HBOmax), you’d know that Larry David is a curmudgeon of the first order.
Ornery as a junkyard dog when confronted with the absurdity of life, you’ll get a kick out of his take on the holidays in A Very Larry David Christmas and his annual holiday traditions.
At our house, we recently watched Love Actually. My wife loves this Christmas movie, which features Hugh Grant as the new Prime Minister of England, a confirmed bachelor who falls in love with his maid.
It is a fun movie … and if you’re a fan, you’ll want to look behind the scenes and read At Christmas, You Tell the Truth, a conversation with the man behind it all, the writer and director Richard Curtis.
”Since its release, in 2003, this British romantic comedy has nestled itself comfortably among the immortals like It’s a Wonderful Life and a Christmas Story. Today, this Advent calendar of a Christmas movie with multitudes of story lines and stars—Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson—is a holiday classic beloved by audiences around the world.”
Based on a true story—P. T. Deutermann’s Trial by Fire is a dramatic WWII novel of attack, survival, and triumph on board an aircraft carrier in the Pacific.
One unmistakeable sign of a terrific writer is when you pick up one of their novels … in which you have limited interest … and despite that, start reading and can’t put it down until you’re done.
I just finished Trial by Fire, #9 in his World War II naval series. I don’t think I’ve missed any of his 23 novels … and while each of them has told a great story, I’m still reluctant to dive into the next one. I’m usually thinking something like … “Welll, it’s about the Navy… I was in the Army … and I don’t typically read WWII fiction … and yet every time, I’m glad I started reading the next one.
You can find more great novels in the Mystery-Thriller-Suspense genre by clicking this link.
Accordion #1
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Keep Reading about Trial By Fire
P.T. Deutermann is one of the unsung luminaries in the Mystery-Thriller-Suspense world.
I was introduced to him in his four novels featuring Cam Richter, starting with The Cat Dancers more than 15 years ago. I liked that unique series a lot, but it stopped in 2009 as Deutermann migrated to a series of stories about World War II set in various navy environments. (Deutermann served in the United States Navy for 26 years, earning 19 medals and decorations and retiring with the rank of captain; his father was a rear admiral and the family has had an active member of the Armed Forces at all times for the last 100 years, so he bears a depth of unique knowledge and experience.)
In Trial by Fire, it’s March 1945 and the war in the Pacific is approaching its apocalyptic climax. The largest wartime armada ever assembled, Task Force 58, is closing in on Okinawa; once taken, it will finally put American B-29 bombers in comfortable range of the home islands of Japan—and victory.
At the heart of the fleet are 14 Essex-class aircraft carriers, including the USS Franklin, known as “Big Ben”—a 27,000-ton behemoth, home to 3,600 crewmen and 100 aircraft. Just after dawn, while crewmen prepare for battle, a single Japanese Yokosuka D4Y bomber breaks through the clouds and drops a 500-pound semi-armor piercing bomb on Big Ben.
Trial by Fire is fascinating on several unique levels. First, it’s a fictional accounting of the largest loss of life on a warship at that time, second only to the battleship, USS Arizona that was sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1945. The USS Franklin was an aircraft carrier, 50% longer and with a component of 3600 men onboard, more than triple the number on the USS Arizona. The Franklin was almost sunk by Japanese torpedos which killed 798 men aboard the ship with another 474 wounded sailors.
The USS Franklin is also the source of the controversial Big Ben 704 Club. (Check out that amazing story.) The real captain was a bully, realistically reconstructed in the novel, who issued membership cards to the Big Ben 704 club which he created for those sailors who, in his opinion, we’re NOT GUILTY of desertion and remained on the ship through the entire ordeal. This desire the catastrophic damage to the ship, the raging furs and explosions which resulted is a huge loss of like and led to an order for those whose lives were at the greatest risk, to leave the ship by any means necessary. It’sa longer Story but a widely acknowledged failure of leadership.
It’s also super interesting to look inside the structure and enormous complexity of an aircraft carrier which displaces over 27,000 tons (essentially, it’s weight.) … how it’s powered, how it’s 100+ plans are managed, the enormity of the fuel requirements … it’s an engineering marvel on all ways.
He’s a great storyteller and I’d you pick it up, or start with Pacific Glory, the first novel in the series, you won’t put it down.
