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April 2024
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DISCO DUCK4/19/2024 My husband hated drivers who disco-ducked into the gas station just to get ahead. If there's a vacant station, in front of another vehicle gassing up, the next one in the line will not wait but maneuver its way, however dangerous, to the vacant station. Drivers these days risk banging other vehicles causing mayhem by not giving just a few minutes for both stations to be free. Looking at these maneuvers as a spectator could cause a senior person to have a heart attack. The utter disregard for civility and respect is just out of this world. Civility and decency, folks are surely becoming rarified virtues these days. It's not that you will actually be ahead of others, you just want to prove the point that you're too busy (or important) to be waiting for your turn, properly. This is played out, unfortunately, in larger arenas of life, career, and business. People wanted to be ahead without putting the work and energy into it. People want to dismantle the systems so that they will feel truly uplifted and made equal with the rest. That folks, is the recipe for anarchy, disorder, through revolution without a just cause. I was the real Diversity worker from 2010-2015. I was in the trenches working with diverse elements of my community to bring harmony and connections among these groups. At that time, people scorned the idea that diversity could be a staple form of service under human resources. The words 'Diversity and Inclusion' weren't sexy enough to harbor more visible support than an implicit understanding that this practice helps the bottom lines. Nowadays, DEI experts mushroomed in matters of two to three years. The battle cry is to topple anyone or any symbol that goes against the current standards of morality and ethics. This is like saying, "We know what happened in the past, thus we declare you all guilty of being complicit to the reason our current lives are miserable." On their moral high-horse, this is an emblematic of a generation who are fed by social media thinkers and intellectuals, who don't know any better. I'm very sad that DEI has become a billion-dollar industry run by revolutionaries who bought houses and expensive cars, and hired their relatives when they received vast sums of corporate money. I lament how this had turned out and the miseries of people of color, immigrants, and those living in marginalized conditions continue, unaddressed. I suspect that this hijacking of this practice is all about wanting to get ahead of the line, getting power (and all that comes with it), and believing in their hearts of hearts that they can get away with it. That they truly deserve to be elevated. My husband hated disco ducks. I don't blame him at all. PS. Disco Duck is a popular song in the 70s with a catchy tune and comical lyrics. Google it out!
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BEST-SELLING, SERIOUSLY?4/16/2024 I was stalking some of my competition online (Yes, we do check who was doing, what??) and there was a lot of best-selling titles being thrown around. One author/consultant claimed her book is a best-seller, one that is self-published, autobiographical, and utterly unheard of. The other one is a high-flying speaker with a best-selling book at a prestigious publishing firm. It looks like a great book, but even a 10,000 sales would not make it a best seller. When I learned about being an author and being commercially published, the word "Best-selling" became clear to me. You can game the system, buy all your books and get the title. The Amazon best-seller scheme is totally a farce. There is editorial bias (of course, this is hidden right?) in every publication or press holding these coveted titles. Authors who want to get instant credibility but not quality and hard work that go with authorship are too many now to mention. There's so much fakery in these that it becomes seriously hollow and vain. I'm not a best-selling author but I'm commercially published by a reputable press. They vouched that my work and ideas are top-notch enough to support me in this journey. A third-party serious press is the gold standard but of course, I can aim for the next tier of publications next time. But seriously, in the first few years of my book launch, I got hundred sales from people that get to know me and my work. I just got my first cheque last year. Not much, but it's great to know that people are behind me and in what I do. That's very rewarding in itself. My book and future ones will be long-term products of quality, hard work, and passion to share knowledge and help people as a result. Promotions will continue for quite a long time and the new books will definitely resurrect those preceding it. In matters of business honesty, fellow entrepreneurs, be real. Public, it's all a lie. Don't buy the lie.
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KNOCK KNOCK AI4/8/2024 AI who? Artificial Intelligence? No, its Anti-Intellectual. There is a hype on AI and anything AI. Those people that are not into AI or tech by profession are suddenly AI experts. Most of the conference themes are focus on AI and Machine Learning in various trades. Almost all of the industries or sectors are bracing the impacts of AI and what changes it might force them to make and what would be the risks/benefits for early adoption. I consider myself an AI novice but I pay attention to what is not being said about AI. A year ago, some of my students cheated on their essays using some ideas from ChatGPT and passed them as their own. It wasn't a pleasant experience but it's all lessons learned. Using ChatGPT for academic purposes should be girded with guidelines or rules or else there's no distinction between real scholarly work and getting Google to do all the job for you. We live in precarious times where ethics and integrity take a second fiddle over growth, success, and worldwide domination. I fear that this AI hype will only fuel ignorant adherence that will create more mistakes and misapplications in many sectors. We all need to study more and ask better questions. There is no shortcut with an emerging technology such as this. |