With many consumer names facing stark criticism, do professional services firms face naming risk? Jeff and Jason explore the topic with naming consultant, Laurel Sutton.
Naming. What is it Good For? An Interview with Laurel Sutton of Catchword podcast, Rattle and Pedal, 09 July 2020
“For some, working from home is distracting and draining. But one pioneering study that has new relevance found that working from home one day a week boosted output by 13%.”
The remote work experiment that upped productivity 13%, by BBC Worklife, July 2020
“If for some reason the Electoral College hasn’t acted or the electoral votes haven’t been certified by Congress, Trump’s term ends on Jan. 20, according to the 20th Amendment. So there’d be an acting president, who would be the Speaker of the House per the order set out by the Presidential Succession Act — assuming congressional elections occurred. But of course, that’s how it’s written, not how it might go.”
Trump Can’t Postpone The Election, But He Can Delegitimize The Results, by 538, 30 July 2020
“In 1965, it was the third-most-popular baby name in the United States. In 2018, it was the 635th — and today it’s even less popular. How did Karens fall so far?”
A Brief History of ‘Karen’, by Henry Goldblatt, NY Times, 31 July 2020
“Prostitute License of Anna Johnson dated Nov. 24th, 1863.”
U.S. Army Prostitute Licenses, by Archives.gov
“Japan has reacted angrily to statues in South Korea that appear to depict the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, prostrating himself before a young woman who represents tens of thousands of wartime sex slaves.” ~snip~ “The comfort women controversy has soured ties between the two countries since the first survivor went public with her story in the early 1990s. In recent years Japan calling on the South Korean government to remove similar statues, including one installed outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul.”
‘Unforgivable’: Japan decries wartime sex slave statue likened to PM Shinzo Abe, by Justin McCurry, The Guardian, 29 July 2020
Heh.
“That’s when Finnegan got the idea of combining the (Zoot Suit) riots with the efforts to drive Latinos out of their Chavez Ravine homes, as well as a significantly lesser-known myth from L.A. history: underground Mayan lizard people. OK, there were no actual lizard people, but geophysicist/mining engineer George Warren Shufelt did get permission from the city in the early 1930s to explore an old legend: under the city of L.A. were supposedly tunnels — and treasure — allegedly left behind by a race of… well, lizard people. Shufelt had promised that any treasure he found would be split with the city 50/50, and the effort was approved amidst the depths of the Great Depression.”
The Zoot Suit Riots Meet Underground LA Lizard People In This Graphic Novel, by Mike Roe, LAist, 03 August 2020
“The government was unable to stop publication of former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton’s bestselling book The Room Where it Happened, but in filings last week the Department of Justice moved to seize the author’s royalties—including his reported $2 million advance.”
DoJ Is Going After John Bolton’s Royalties—and His Advance, by Andrew Albanese, PW, 03 August 2020
It’s a horse race on who I detest more in this story: Bolton or the DOJ. Maybe a tie.
“By transforming this ritual, the players woke us up. Our amygdalae activate as soon as our brains spot deviations from routine, social norms, and in-group tendencies. We want to know what’s happening and why. We need to know if the deviation poses a threat to us or our group. This may start to explain why so many Americans reacted with such fear and rage to a few athletes kneeling on the field in the midst of a national ritual.”
The Psychology of Taking a Knee, by Jeremy Adam Smith and Dacher Keltner, Scientific American blog, 29 September 2017
We would benefit to waking our national amygdalae more often. Get that amygdalae some hot strong coffee stat!
“Israa Seblani was posing for her wedding photographs when the huge explosion shook the nearby port.”
Beirut: The bride being photographed in wedding dress as blast hit, by BBC News, 06 August 2020, Video
“In mid-March, as businesses shuttered, hospitals filled up and Americans hunkered down at home, election officials faced a difficult question: Was it even possible to hold safe and accessible elections in the age of COVID-19? More than four months later, we’re not that much closer to answering that question.”
There Have Been 38 Statewide Elections During The Pandemic. Here’s How They Went, by Nathaniel Rakich, 03 August 2020
“Once Isohata learned of the deception, she angrily attempted to break off the relationship with Kuwabara. Unwilling to let her go, he strangled her with a piece of string. The following year, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.”
The saboteurs you can hire to end your relationship. In Japan, you can pay private agents called ‘wakaresaseya’ to seduce your spouse or their partner, by Christine Ro, BBC Worklife, 02 August 2020
15 years? Really? That’s all the prison time for a man murdering a woman in Japan? Words, they utterly fail me.
“It also turned out that firing this selfish and difficult ‘superstar’ had financial benefits, as the total sales volume in the store increased nearly 30% after he left. No single salesperson sold as much as the departed ‘star,’ but the store as a whole did better. Apparently, dysfunctional competition and the unpleasant customer experiences generated by this jerk brought out the worst in everyone.”
No Asshole Rule, by Robert I. Sutton
Reading:
Djbot Baghostus’s Run by Nathaniel Mackey
Quotes:
In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
Albert Camus
In the face of an obstacle which is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid.
Simone de Beauvoir
In the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening, only with his legs.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Instead of working for the survival of the fittest, we should be working for the survival of the wittiest – then we can all die laughing.
Lily Tomlin
Integrity has no need of rules.
Albert Camus
It ain’t no sin if you crack a few laws now and then, just so long as you don’t break any.
Mae West
It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money.
Albert Camus
It is better to be looked over than overlooked.
Mae West
