Posted on by Steve Howard

S1 E170 — Isn’t This Good-Bye?!

But, what about for our Patron Saint, Mr. McQueen? I’m liking the experiment reference and telling a story in my own style.  What could be a better fit for a 1-year experiment as it nears its conclusion?

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Your story is yours to tell and yours to style, too.  Experiment with the way you see it.” Aries

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 170 in the first season of “My 1-Year Natural Experiment” on this 14th day of February in winter of 2020.

Context

I’ve been focusing of what I’m calling “Volume Two” of the Knowledge Path, and like the first volume I anticipate it will consist of a 5-book series too. Over the years I’ve posted research articles to my knowledge bank describing challenges facing employers at specific stages of growth.

Here is an example of an organization in the Decline stage — McClatchy Co. seeking bankruptcy protection written about by Michael Hiltzik — latest in the newspaper industry controlled by a hedge fund, Chatham Asset Management, tied to American Media’s National Enquirer which figured in Trump’s scandals.

What triggered the topics I worked on today was Alvin Toffler’s quote, “In the ‘Transient Age,’ when people, places, things, organizations and information accelerate as they pass through our lives … transience, novelty and diversity stretch and mutate our limits of adaptability.”

His prescription?

Time and emotion forecasts; intelligent strategies may well prove the only adaptive response to life stress.

So, that prescription triggered working through time frames.  Something like:

    • Short (6 to 9 months) — Reactive, defensive. 
    • Medium (1 to 2 years) — Building career equity, waiting, timing, pursuing opportunities.
    • Long (3 to 5 years) — Taking calculated risks, weighing major life trade offs, investing in your future.

Oh, I visited a specialist again to determine why I’m experiencing balance issues which kept me from joining in the yearly family ski trip to Mammoth Mountain.  

With Emma the Baroness at my side we reiterated my symptoms. Still puzzled he referred me to a more robust MRI in Huntington Beach for clues — a pinched nerve, anything in my head?  

Evidence

Any motivational or inspirational TauBits for Emma the Baroness and me given that this is Valentine’s Day?  Nope, not legitimately.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

What about for our Patron Saint, Mr. McQueen? I’m liking the experiment reference and telling a story in my own style.  What could be a better fit for a 1-year experiment as it nears its conclusion?

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Your story is yours to tell and yours to style, too.  Experiment with the way you see it.” Aries

Well, sure I see where you musicians are headed with the Holiday Tau hand crafted for you.  Fun, that’s a good thing.

“4”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69: “The best way to have fun with another person is to loosen the reigns on control a bit.  Do the things you think are fun.”  Taurus

I love the turn of a phrase in your Holiday Tau Smithy — a bit of chaos inside and internal weather.  I feel it fits nicely with how the age of transience stretches our adaptability limits. 

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “Each person has a bit of chaos inside.  Sometimes the internal weather is more severe.  Whether you run from or chase the condition, it’s not hard to see the remarkable beauty in it.” Gemini

Do I make you horny? was Austin Powers’ catch phrase.  It is Valentine’s Day and Emma the Baroness and I have been separated for a few days, so your saying I should concentrate on the mood of the evening, then?

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41: “Attraction isn’t strictly about the essence of two people.  This is why filmmakers employ set and light designers.  These vibes don’t conjure themselves.” Sagittarius

For instance …

“4”  Steve Nash, 45: “You can be thoughtful in the moment because you took the time to consider the moment before it arrived.”  Aquarius

Seems like I saved the best of three Steves for last …

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “You don’t exactly believe that love is a single soul in two bodies, but you cannot deny the connections with certain people.  On this holiday, celebrate loves’s depth.” Pisces

End of the Week “Knews” for FOSs

Trends — 

Short-Form — Headlines and Highlights from Fresh from the Labs

Long-Form — 

    • Tau is also used in some contexts to represent the golden ratio, defined as half of 1 + the square root of 5. This number, about 1.618, has shown up all over art and nature, including in defining the shapes of nautilus shells and plants with spiral forms in their leaves or petals. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-tao-of-tau/ 
    • Exulting in his impeachment acquittal, President Trump took a scorched-earth victory lap Thursday, unleashing his fury against those who tried to remove him from office while looking ahead to his reelection campaign.Trump, speaking to a room full of supporters at the White House, declared the impeachment proceedings a “disgrace” and complained anew that it was “a very unfair situation,” echoing his broadsides hours earlier that stunned the crowd at an annual prayer breakfast.“It was evil, it was corrupt,” Trump declared at the White House. “This should never ever happen to another president, ever.”

Progress and Procrastination — 

    • Procrastinate while feeling empty after trying to figure out what this nation has become by watching the Senate acquit Trump without calling any witnesses.  What’s up with that? 
    • Every time I get notified about a new software update I feel panic about what it will do to my inspiration files, where my next manuscript is mapped out,  like it did to my hypercard files.  The manuscript is now mostly upgraded to .isf formats, which will not be supported with the upgrade.

Speaking Volumes — 

    • Treating  “11 Simple Steps for Finding the Authentic Quality-of-Life You Deserve” as a missing chapter from Volume One, the first 5-book series and a bonus offer, for example. 
    • There’s the quote today from Kevin Parker on Tame Impala, “The feeling that time has passed and you didn’t even realize it — that’s the driving emotion of this record.”  He spoke about being able to see “exactly which chapter I’d finished and which chapter was just beginning.” And, about a recent success that has given him a platform for artistic leeway to do only what he wants. 
    • The what’s-in-it-for-me in Volume Two is you’ll be able to choose the next organization that offers the right degree of challenge and opportunity in a work culture that brings out the best in you.  And, maybe just as importantly when you’re choosing between job offers which one to take and which one to avoid and why.
    • From Alvin Toffler’s classic book, “Future Shock” about the pace of change and turnover of people, places, things, (nouns)  lead to a hunger for the past nostalgia. “Time and emotion forecasts; intelligent strategies may well prove the only adaptive response to life stress.  Life stress is here to stay.  In the ‘Transient Age,’ when people, places, things, organizations and information accelerate as they pass through our lives.  Transience, novelty and diversity stretch and mutate our limits of adaptability.” 
    • Refreshing chapters from co-authored book scenarios for Work and Investment Decisions — Chapter 11* How to Thrive in an Age of Accelerating Uncertainty*A previous version originally appeared as “Why Careers are like Real Estate Markets” in the Wisdom and Strategies section of “Adapt! How to Survive and Thrive in the Changing World of Work”, co-authored by Steve Howard in 2009

Banking and ATMs — 

    • So it helps if you are a founder or a comedian?  How does that work on a crowdfunding platform like Patreon? 
    • Encountering technical struggles with Patreon similar to the frustrating challenges I fought through with building my six WordPress websites.
    • Sobering plateauing of digital magazine followers (1215 to 1216) may be serious or a blip?  LinkedIn analytics (502 views) feel promising.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

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