Is So! Is Not!

Mitch HobishGrowth, Innovation, Leadership, Productivity

Too often, I find myself in situation where I argue something that I know to be the case, only to find out afterward—in the face of incontrovertible evidence— that the opposite was true. How did I ever end up thinking one way, and finding out that what I had reported—and, worse, acted upon—was contrary to fact? A recent item may …

More Signal, Less Noise

Mitch HobishGrowth, Innovation, Leadership, Productivity

News this week included a report that planet-searchers have found a “super-Earth” orbiting a star just 42 light years from “regular “(but still impressive) Earth. [Given that distance, Bob Murphy, a colleague and friend, has suggested that we name the planet “Douglas Adams”, author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in which that number has keen significance as the “Answer …

Memories and (In)Accuracy

Mitch HobishGrowth, Leadership, Productivity

About four or five years ago, I found myself issuing caveats to others when describing something I remembered—or thought I did. The caveat was usually along the lines of, “I think I remember”, or “I’m not sure if I remember this or just think I remember this.” Call it the onset of entropic consciousness, or just aging, but there it …

Go With the Flow

Mitch HobishGrowth, Innovation, Leadership, Productivity

A recent report addresses what appears to be a long-observed phenomenon in some circles: That bubbles in stout often sink, rather than rise. No, this is not an effect enhanced by increased consumption of the imbibable under discussion; rather, it is a very real phenomenon, seen even by those who are not inclined to see what is not there. It …

Cleaning Up an Error

Mitch HobishGrowth, Innovation, Leadership

Back in September 2011 there was a report from the OPERA experiment at the Large Hadron Collider that neutrinos could travel faster than the currently universally accepted limit of the speed of light. I described my own reactions to this report here. As noted then (and to cite Carl Sagan’s popularization of the phrase and concept), “extraordinary claims require extraordinary …

Prejudiced? Me?

Mitch HobishGrowth, Leadership

I like to think of myself as an equal-opportunity everything.  Despite too many experiences to the contrary, I go into every new relationship thinking that I will be accepted for who I am, and that I will extend the same courtesy. Not. I was listening to the radio while making a cup of coffee to support my next task effort …

Do You Care If Big Brother (or Anyone Else) is Watching?

Mitch HobishGrowth

I just read an interesting analysis by Cory Doctorow, known to some (many, perhaps) as a blogger, columnist, and science-fiction author, with perspectives on the so-called information society that I find worth considering. The piece in question deals with why in/on-the-street security cameras (known generally as CCTV) don’t deter criminals generally, and those who were involved in the recent mobs …

Being Prepared

Mitch HobishGrowth, Leadership

I’d been having a long-term conversation with a friend, largely about his ongoing state of anxiety.  He came to realize that he was concerned about not being prepared to deal with things–not when they arose, but before they arose.  He’d spend hours, perseverating about things as they are, and projecting an infinitude of possible futures.  I tried to get him …