So here I was, waiting for my test FEMA alert and all this time it was because I wasn’t opted-in to receive them? Luckily I wasn’t solely focused on this over the last few weeks.

Turn-off Voicemail Transcription, Mate – As I mentioned I have been setting up a new iPhone and I seem to keep finding more settings to change. One is voicemail transcriptions, which are useless to me. Though there is no switch to turn them off, if you change the language of your device to one that doesn’t support transcription – like Australian English – that will do the trick.

Here’s Apple Looking At You – News broke on how tech giant Apple is going to run algorithms on photos stored in its iCloud for potential child pornography and of course both outrage and indifference ensued. I have used similar technology in the process of evaluating parental control apps for my kiddos phone (more on that in a future post) and the technology has been mediocre to poor at best with all being false positives. Of course you don’t have to store your photos in iCloud, as using a Synology NAS or Nextcloud as more technical but viable options.

Identity Issues – New to me... do you remember, or maybe years later heard of, the Keep America Beautiful commercial from the 1970’s featuring an Native American who sheds a tear at the end in response to pollution? It turns out the main character of the commercial, Iron Eyes Cody, was actually an Italian American named Espera Oscar de Corti.

Active Avenue – The typically quiet downtown of my fair city was alive the long weekend of the 5th thru the 8th for Mile of Music, a free music festival held at various venues along the almost 5,280 feet of College Avenue, the city’s main strip and thus the name. It was great to see the activity – people, music, commerce – return after a year off.

Library Reimagined – Previously I mentioned I was chosen to be on my city’s Library Building Project Advisory Committee. As part of this, I got a sneak peek at the architect’s plans for it, and wasn’t supposed to say anything publicly at first. Now the preliminary plans for the library have been released and wider public opinion is flowing. Personally I think this is an amazing approach to reimagining the facility and purpose of the library, and can’t wait for the groundbreaking.

Revisiting the Big Book – A few years ago I looked into tools to help with documenting my life and my family... you know, in case something happens and someone wants to know where the key to something is kept, among other things. I then found The Big Book of Everything, but didn’t do anything with it. I am revisiting this and found there’s a new version. The tool is free but he accepts donations, which I will likely get to when I finish it.

Friendly Weed Killer – On a recent episode of the news analysis podcast No Agenda I listen to, there was a mention of a friendlier way to kill weeds using Dawn dishwashing liquid. I tried the mixture of it with Epson salts and vinegar and it worked very well. Now to find a similarly simplistic way to pick-up the dead weeds.

The New Local Way the Cookie Crumbls – I was recently made aware by my kiddo of Crumbl Cookies a chain of boutique cookie shops where they change the varieties on a weekly basis on their large, delicious product. In a roundabout way I found out they are opening near me as Crumbl is hiring for a general manager. Unfortunately said kiddo is not qualified for the job, but likely qualified to be a customer.

Serial Stealers – Oops, someone did it again, as when I went to rent a Redbox DVD (yes, I still work with physical media on occasion) the disc was not in the box, but someone had peeled off the label on it and stuck it to the case, as shown above. Now it’s not like they can’t track who last had the disc, but I digress. It happened to me onetime before, and after a lengthier-than-hoped call, I was taken off their Most Wanted List and got credit for the incident.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Where definitions can vary, the word tyranny generally means the oppression of people by others, whether an individual, system or both. The oppressor is called a tyrant, and thus the relationship to the word. Tyranny was mentioned in the US Declaration of Independence twice in reference to the then King of England. In more modern times, Adolf Hitler has been aptly labeled a tyrant.

The book On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, subtitled “Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century,” was recommended to me by a wise person. It digests the previous 100 years into things to consider and think about as we move through this current century. The book came out in 2017, and by tone and references, it talks to the politics of the US and world at that point in time, and one politician in particular.

As I read through On Tyranny, there were a lot of reminders for me, as well as a few takeaways.

Does history repeat itself? – I have heard this over and over and over throughout my life. Some have made catchy phrases around it, but the common theme centers around no matter what is done, outcomes to events are similar to those in the past. I pondered this one a lot as I was reading this book and once I was finished. I take away this – hindsight is 20/20, and when we’re in the midst of things we usually have no clue how something will be in the end. It is this end result that may seem like something that happened before, and could be, but the steps that lead to it likely weren’t exactly as previously acted out.

Be aware – The topics explored in On Tyranny were not completely new to me. As a self-described political geek from my school days in the 1980’s, I was the one who paid attention to the world around me, and well as around the corner. Today, I don’t believe these topics are taught in the schools (or taught well), and it’s up to parents to teach them to their kiddos, which I believe happens in my household to some success. If nothing else, we should all be aware of what’s happening, ask questions if we don’t understand it, don’t take everything for face value and make our own educated opinions.

Timing is everything – About half way through the book is the first mention of former US President Donald Trump. He is referred to again as both a candidate for the office and as the sitting president, however not by name. At the time there were accusations of foreign influence on his election and on him himself. Based on this, I assume Trump’s election may have been the primary or partial catalyst for the author writing this book?

Fast-forward 4 years, and there are similar accusations on current US President Joe Biden. Personally I think this book could have a greater reach if the Trump references were left out, allowing the reader to make their own conclusions based on their beliefs and educated opinions. As a non-partisan, I was able to see beyond politics and to the points made in the book.

On Tyranny is a small book that can fit in your hip pocket and a quick read at 128 pages. I enjoyed the book – again much of it was nothing new to me personally, but there was a lot I was glad to recall and a lot I agreed with. I recommend anyone to read this, from middle-schoolers on up, if for any reason to spark questions and conversations on the world today. My copy of the book is off to a colleague who was curious about it, who said he will read it in the morning one day.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Observations... older, Budweiser.

The World According to Him – The other week comedian Jackie Mason left this mortal coil at age 93. I was first aware of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin native from his comedy album based on his Broadway show, The World According to Him. He went on to star in movies and his career got a boost from that time. Years later I was walking along Michigan Avenue in Chicago when Mason was walking towards me. I stared at him, and he stared back at me. I should have thanked him for the laughs.

All History Is Local – As someone who grew up in New England and often would say you can spit from one historic site to the next, I naturally became interested in local history, not just there but wherever I have lived. Serendipitously my wife and I came across the Appleton Historical Society. I had seen the unique building but had no idea what was in it. There’s a plethora of pictures, memorabilia – even a recreation of a old hat shop – all chronicling the history of this city which, interestingly, was named after a New Englander.

Take Your Shot – Benshot is a unique business that makes glassware with things stuck in them. They got their start by putting bullet shells into glasses and can insert just about anything… including a referee whistle. The coaches and officials gifts for this year’s Bird Bath Invitational swim meet were custom designed, etched and had a whistle embedded into it. An added touch to these glasses is that Benshot is located a few miles from where the meet was held.

Stop Drinking Coffee and It Could Happen Anyway – In the on-going study battle if coffee is good for you or not, the latest is on the bad side that high coffee drinking could cause dementia. I’ll be holding out for the next study, providing I remember to.

Anchors Away – Anchors are hyperlinks within a Web page that used to easily navigate you up or down the content on the page. Here’s a good HTML anchor tutorial if 1) you didn’t know what the heck I was talking about and 2) want to know how to create them yourself.

That’s Haaahgan To You – I finally got around to watching the independent comedy Captain Hagen’s Bed and Breakfast. It had been on my watchlist as my good friend and member of my one-time improv group Andrew Cornelius was one of the stars. It’s a cute comedy and I highly recommend it!

Less Beer to Cry Over – A friend in the Boston area shared with me the Boston Beer Works chain of brewpubs has permanently closed their doors. Beer Works opened across from Fenway Park shortly after I moved to the Boston area and was a year-round stop destination for me. Among other memories it was where this radio spot I was in was recorded. On stops back to the Hub I would always make a stop and have a blueberry ale when I went to stock up on Red Sox gear. It will be missed and hopefully someone can bring this tradition back to life.

I Got It The First Time Apple – I am manually setting up a new iPhone as this is how I roll with any technology. One thing I discovered was whenever I got a text and did not unlock my device to view it (I usually read the notifications on the Lock Screen) I was getting a second audio notification. Fortunately you can extend or turn off a second notification on iPhones.

Say No to Business Algos – Lately on LinkedIn I realized I was seeing the same posts in my timeline over and over. I then noticed this little drop-down selector, highlighted below, where you can select Top or Recent posts in your timeline feed.

I quickly changed this to recent and I then saw all new content. On subsequent visits to the networking site, I had to keep resetting it to recent. Look for this option to bypass the Microsoft algorithms and see what is truly new with your business network.

Scribble to Quality – I learned that scribble is the term for the first matter that comes out of a 3D printer. I also learned 3D Scribble is an amazing business that makes high-quality 3D printed items and is owned by my good friend and serial entrepreneur Steven Benjamin. The business also has a wicked cool logo to go along with the cool things they make and how they make them.

Flying for Eyes – This past weekend I went to EAA AirVenture a global gathering of aviation enthusiasts that happens to be about 20 minutes from me in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Over 600,000 people attended this year, plus over 7,000 flights in and out of the airport, making it the busiest airport in the world for the week. Among the experimental and vintage aircraft was the above-pictured MD-80 converted to a flying eye hospital for Orbis a global non-profit which brings eye surgery skills and equipment to people in need. The plane is literally a flying classroom and surgical hospital. I was impressed by the work this organization brings to people around the world, and have added them to my support circle.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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For years I was familiar with what I remember as the “battle” of Dunkirk. Memories recall a battle and evacuation from the French city during World War II. To be completely honest, the main reason why I remember this at all is because I was born in Dunkirk, New York, which gets its name from the French city. An opportunity to truly learn what happened then and there would complete this connection.

Receiving the book Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture as a gift was very much welcome. A few pages into it I quickly learned this was not a book based on the movie, rather the story of what happened in Dunkirk, France in 1940 that was the basis for the movie. The author, Joshua Levine, was a historical advisor to the movie Dunkirk which was written and directed by Christopher Nolan and came out in 2017.

As you might guess, this book widened my eyes to the real story of what happened in Dunkirk and other related fronts of the war in Europe. Featured were many stories of what really was a rescue of thousands of British and some French troops from the beaches of Dunkirk. Where greater context of the overall state of the war was presented, the focus of this book – as well as the movie – is what happened on the ground in and around Dunkirk.

Where there are many lessons to be learned in wartime, I had a few specific takeaways from this book and the story it told.

Last Chance at First-Hand Accounts – The book was written about 5 years ago, just before 80th anniversary of the rescue at Dunkirk. Fortunately there were still some surviving soldiers and participants in the rescue effort alive who were able to tell their story. This added greatly to the stark reality of the war and the enormity of the rescue effort.

Newly Invented Degaussing Aided The Rescue – Degaussing is the process of removing a magnetic field, and is often referred to as demagnetizing or wiping. It was a relatively new process that came out of research during World War II, and played a great role in the rescue. Hundreds of ships were degaussed in order to reduce the chance of magnetic mines being drawn to them and blowing them up.

The Term “Dunkirk Spirit” Is Still Used Today – The term Dunkirk Spirit came from the effort of many to rally around the cause of rescuing the soldiers from the shores of the French city. I occasionally see the phrase in use today in reference to any collective of people rallying around a cause. It’s good to see that even today some good comes from the tragedy of war that led to the need for the rescue.

Dunkirk is a very well-written and engaging story on the rescue. At some points it is hard to follow all of the soldiers and military leaders, but I tried not to focus on individuals instead on the monstrous rescue effort. The book concludes with backstory on the production of the movie itself, from Nolan’s script and creation of characters and the challenges of recreating the rescue scenes. With an eye towards authenticity over computer-generated imagery, the level of effort to recreate some scenes was near equal to was done during the rescue itself. One such example was to create a “pier” out of military vehicles, which included sinking them into the water so soldiers could pass over them.

If you enjoy history or simply like stories of overcoming the odds, I highly recommend Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture. As I pass along all books I read, this one goes to my Father-in-law, a military veteran himself, who also enjoys such stories.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Business, tech and sports made the list this week, but it was far from bland.

Be a Certified Mentor – The University of Wisconsin Green Bay (yes, that Green Bay, and for those outside of Wisconsin, there’s a lot more there than football!) is offering a virtual certificate in mentorship program. Over the years I have unofficially served in this role, namely as people have told me they consider me a mentor, something I was always proud to hear. This university certificate will take me through a formal process of being a mentor, and I am looking forward to taking it.

Ducking Email – A new message appeared on my DuckDuckGo home page in my browser (yes, DuckDuckGo is search engine of choice) promoting a new email protection service they are offering. It looks like you get an email address something like .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), and you can use it to filter your own email thru their servers, where it will remove tracking, ads, etc. I signed up for the beta of this free service, though I doubt I can get .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), but that would be a cool email address nonetheless as I experiment with this service.

Tom the Troll – Being the GOAT has its privileges. Twice this week I saw signs of Tom Brady being Tom Brady, no matter who is around him, even the President of the United States at his own house. First the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team visited the White House after winning the Super Bowl over the winter. In his remarks at the 18 minute mark of this video from C-SPAN the 21-season quarterback cracked jokes about President Biden’s election victory and nickname from the former president. He then appeared in a commercial for the revamp of Subway sub shops’s menu even though he likely won’t eat there.

Getting Back in the Saddle On Stage – I caught the live broadcast of “So What?” a videocast by Trust Insights on the topic of returning to live presentations at events after over a year of webinar after webinar after webinar after... well you get the point. My good friend John Wall, who is as much of a marketing genius as he is a marketing realist, talked about his recent in-person conference with his colleagues among other marketing insights.

Get Out of My Building! – First Amazon wanted access to your car trunk to deliver packages, now they want access to your apartment building. Amazon Key for Business is going a little too far for me, but for others it may be just what they want.

Google Says Now Do This – Just when you thought owning a Web site was enough work, the search behemoth Google has rolled out Core Web Vitals. What is this? They are now saying page performance measurements will be taken into consideration with page ranking in search results. For example if your Web site has ginormous images and loads slow, you will rank lower. Note Core Web Vitals is a subset of Web Vitals, which contains more requirements. Talk to your Web consultant about this, and if you don’t have one – get one!

Go Bucks! – Congrats to the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team for winning the NBA Championships, their first in 50 years. Where I admit I don’t follow the sport that was invented about 5 miles from where I grew up as much as I used to, being in-state it’s hard to miss the coverage, namely of their exciting star Giannis Antetokounmpo. It was nice to see Bucks players from my childhood, namely Kareen Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson, at the games.

Even Tom Hanks Can't Sell Me on This One – The Cleveland Indians baseball team is rebranding as the Cleveland Guardians. From the response I heard, the expression “meh” seemed universal. It will certainly drive sales of new merchandise, but will it bring back a World Series to the city on Lake Erie? Apparently Hanks’s tie to Cleveland goes to when he was starting out in his acting career.

A Different Take on BOGO – In what people call a tight real estate (or any) market, salespeople need to do what they can to stand out. Even if it means free animals, I guess? I saw this car when stopped at a light this past week and was so shocked I almost didn’t get the picture. Interestingly it was at the same intersection I got this picture of a few weeks ago of Jack. Let’s see what else this magic crossroad yields in the future.

Let the games begin!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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