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Quote Challenge

Remember that question from last week’s Quip? Well, the answer is below.

“A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a  medieval study hall.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the famed Green Bay Packers football coach admitted to a slight bias in the offering of this quote.  Vince Lombardi

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“Common sense is the set of prejudices acquired by  age eighteen.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the inventor of the world’s best known formula: E=mc2, by age 15, had read Immanuel Kant and written On the investigation of the state of ether in a magnetic field.    Albert Einstein

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“I learned law so well that the day I graduated, I sued the college and got my tuition back.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the radio comedian who got most of his real education at the Boston Public Library, maintained a mock feud with fellow funster Jack Benny.

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“If future generations are to remember us with more gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just miracles of technology.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the the 36th President and legendary lawmaker pushed through the Civil Rights act.  Mr. Lyndon Johnson.

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“Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the American President who saw us through the Civil War believed that war, like conversation, should be completed “with malice towards none.”    Abraham Lincoln

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“Why doesn’t the fellow who says, ‘I’m no speechmaker,’ let it go at that, instead of giving us a demonstration?”

Author: Those words were spoken by the Indianapolis News cartoonist and journalist created the “Abe Martin” drawings that appeared in over 200 U.S. papers weekly.    Kin Hubbard

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 “Self-made men tend to be a little too proud of the job.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the 19th century humorist, noted for his truly original spelling, came by his trade honestly – being the son and nephew of Congressmen.    Josh Billings

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“Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.”

Author:  Those words were spoken bythe American President who saw us through the Civil War believed that war, like conversation, should be completed “with malice towards none.” Abraham Lincoln

* * *

“Why doesn’t the fellow who says, ‘I’m no speechmaker,’ let it go at that, instead of giving us a demonstration?”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Kin Hubbard

* * *

 “Self-made men tend to be a little too proud of the job.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Josh Billings

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“Seriousness is stupidity sent to college.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by none other than Razor-tongued journalist of America’s politics and well-foibled culture – Mr P.J. O’Rourke.

  * * *

“Washington D.C. is a city of southern efficiency and northern charm.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by  John F. Kennedy

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There is a vast difference between the savage and the civilized man.  But it is never apparent to their wives until after breakfast.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Helen Rowland,  This New York Times Journalist wrote a column “Reflections of a Bachelor Girl” and the wittily truth-laden book “A Guide to Men.”

  * * *

“Nothing gives us courage more readily than the desire to avoid looking like a damn fool.

Author:  Those words were spoken by this Pennsylvania-born, wildly best-selling novelist of suspense thrillers penned “Demon Seed” and “The Key to Midnight.”. Dean Kootz.

* * *

“Maturity comes when you have the first real good laugh at yourself.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by “The First Lady of the American Theatre”, Ethel Barrymore

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“Women have always been the guardians of wisdom and humanity which makes them natural, but usually secret rulers.  The time has come for them to rule openly, but together with and not against men.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by the Polish-born psychotherapist wrote the groundbreaking 1977 book “Bisexuality.”  Dr. Charlotte Wolff

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“The bitterness of poor service remains long after the elation of low prices is forgotten.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Ben Franklin

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“Credit cards are like snakes – handle ‘em long enough and one  of them will bite you.”

Author: Those words were spoken by Elizabeth Warren

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“The chief value of money is that one lives in a world in which  it is overestimated.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by H.L. Mencken

* * *

“The only difference between death and taxes is that death  doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.”

Author:  Those words were spoken by Will Rogers.

The Harmonies of our World – From Costa Rica’s Bellbird To Joshua Bell

‘Twas a dizzyingly moveable feast of music.   Within barely more than one brief rotation of our terrestrial orb I have had my soul opened to the finest music that we humans and the Divine have to offer.

The morning sun’s lifting over the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica once again orchestrates a fugal flood of God’s most elegant song birds.  Our guide Abraham slings his scope and tripod over shoulder, leading Lorraine and me down slender trails through the leafy jungle.  Somewhere, amidst this dense ramage, bellbirds cello, pink-legged woodrails trill, tanagers staccato, and the clay-colored thrush lets loose the sweet stab of a call that has won him the honor of Costa Rica’s National bird.  Thousands join the chorus – even sun-dappled pairs of macaws lend their raucous cries to this symphonic surge of life.

Compared to Abraham, Lorraine and I cannot find a lion in our living room, but with his tutelage and our binoculars we try to poke our eyes where bodies could not possibly penetrate – to spy the sources of this symphony in the bush.  With each bird sighted comes an almost disenchanting ease at their songs.  Such magnificent rhapsodies so effortlessly, so spontaneously brought forth – and yet enchanting beyond telling.

Then, suddenly – thanks to the near-magical mechanics of today’s travel, and scores unseen assisting hands –  here Lorraine and I sit: a mere tanager’s swoop from virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martins in the Fields Orchestra performing Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1.  (After landing at Newark airport, a friend raced us home with enough time to pick up our tickets and arrive back at Newark’s NJ Performing Arts Center for the 8 p.m. curtain.) Poised concentration etched Bell’s face and passion poured through his agile fingers and on into the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius which delivered his mastery.  That same awe of the Avian’s morning’s symphony returned.  Again, we paused, still, amazed that such beauty was ours for the hearing…reveling in the sounds and letting our souls crescendo and descend with the moment of the music.

But with this second concerto an additional emotion kept creeping in: admiration.  Joshua Bell had labored admirably, astoundingly, to achieve this pinnacle of performance.  The untold thousands of hours of practice, the hundreds of thousands of hours of his fellow musicians in the orchestra, had prepared them for this soul-enriching experience we were sharing.  And even during the performance, each measure of music hung precariously on that instant’s expertise.

The entire house rose to its feet and applauded the artists – none more enthusiastically than Lorraine and I.  To compare the morning’s vs. the evening’s symphony would be ludicrous.  Both transformed and uplifted me.  Both were divinely inspired.  Yet walking out of NJPAC into the evening air, the truth of this beauty became clear: whatever the source we are better for seeking it; we should accept it with gratitude; and while beauty’s creation comes with easy spontaneity for some and only with sweat for others, it always God’s best within us.

             – Bart Jackson

Cyber Threats & Defenses

“China is a company masquerading as a country,” stated Alfred Berkeley former NASDAQ CEO and Board Chair of Security First.  Recently, I attended the Nassau Club meeting in Princeton, NJ where Al and three FBI security specialists outlined potential cyber-threats and cyber warfare tactics, including China’s clear plans to dominate several global industries, by any means available.  Chatting with Al and the FBI agents afterward I picked up two fascinating news bits: Good news –  we now have chips large enough to automatically encrypt data (e.g. stock transactions) as they occur, thus protecting data immediately.  Unsettling news: China subsidizes its manufacturers with a 17 percent rebate on each deal. Thus Chinese makers can bid and produce at a 10 percent loss and still turn a profit.

 

Nomination Call for Prometheus Awards

The Prometheus Awards recognize those exceptional individuals who by their personal example and their inventive enterprises enrich the human community and shed light into our world.

Right now Prometheus publishing is conducting a call for Nominations – so if you know an

individual – an idealist who is putting his or her creative sweat and energy into a project that is enriching some corner of the human community, for-profit or non-profit we invite you to share their rays of hope and nominate them as candidate for a Prometheus Award.

You may  nominate a candidate by visiting https://bartsbooks.com/businessess-best/ and complete the short nomination form.  Or you may email info@bartsbooks.com sending your name and contact info, the candidate’s name and a brief description of their accomplishments.

For further details on the Awards ceremony,  what honorees receive etc. or to – or to nominate a candidate – we invite you to write to Info@bartsbooks.com

Prometheus was the ancient Greek Titan who defied the gods and brought to humankind the gift of fire.  From that light onward, there was no going back.

 

 

Negotiating Hardcore: Bullies, Bluffs & Paper Tigers

listen in at: https://www.theartoftheceo.com/

The Master Negotiator Greg Williams examines the POTUS-Congress-Party Leaders recent debates and reveals tactics you need to learn.

So who is winning the “negotiations” between the U.S. President – Congress – and the party leaders?  Who committed the masterful blunders and who employed that subtly clever tactic which you need to be copying in your own business negotiations?  Host Bart Jackson brings on The Master Negotiator Greg Williams to tease apart the political chess games employed by America’s leaders, to tell you what worked, why it worked, and what moves we might expect in the future. Globally renowned negotiator and body language guru Greg Williams is sought after to both instruct C-suite executives and to handle Fortune 100 corporate mergers.  Tune in and get the expert’s take on the art of these political deals.