The National Speakers Association has a web page from 2023 for their Council of Peers Award for Excellence [CPAE] which has a link for a free download of a very useful 118-page-pdf ebook titled 50 Years of Speaking Advice.
The speaker and lectern was adapted from Openclipart.
At KTVB7 on September 13, 2024 I saw an Idaho Today article titled Cardboard kayak races? The Indian Creek Festival begins tonight! It has a five-minute video showing the creek and racers enjoying paddling furiously. There is another two-minute video from Idaho News 6 titled Cardboard kayak races showcase the evolution of the Indian Creek Festival in Caldwell.
A Wikipedia page on Cardboard boat race says the first was held back in 1974, and that there even is a Cardboard Boat Museum in New Richmond, Ohio.
I was not familiar with cardboard boat races, but knew about concrete canoes raced by university civil engineering students. The Wikipedia page for them says concrete canoes typically are more sophisticated than cardboard kayaks.
An image adapted from Wikimedia Commons shows a 2012 cardboard boat regatta on Lake Accotink, Virginia.
There is a YouTube video at Jimmy Kimmel Live on September 10, 2024 titled Jimmy Kimmel breaks down the presidential debate between Donald Trump & Kamala Harris. Of course, the ABC News moderator fact-checked Trump. And on September 11, 2024 an article at BBC News by Merlyn Thomas & Mike Wendling agreed that Trump repeats baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets. And yet another article by Kayla Epstein and Sam Cabral at
BBC News on September 12, 2024 titled Ohio leaders dismiss claims of migrants eating pets described how:
“‘This is something that came up on the internet, and the internet can be quite crazy sometimes,’ Ohio [Republican] Governor Mike DeWine told CBS News, the BBC's US partner.”
Still another article by Adam Shaw at Fox News on September 11, 2024 titled Focus group reacts to Trump claim that migrants are ‘eating the dogs’ in Ohio town discussed how when Trump made the claim, approval from all groups — Republicans, independents and Democrats — dipped, with the strongest dips coming from independents and Republicans [~75% to 50%], while Democratic approval remained low.
And an article by Jasmine Garsd at NPR on September 11, 2024 titled The stereotype of immigrants eating dogs and cats is storied – and vitriolic as ever said that Asians previously had been disparaged with that false claim.
My cartoon was adapted from images of a dog and plate at Openclipart.
From the public library (in Garden City) I checked out a new 32-page picture book for ages 4 to 8 by Malcolm Newsome titled Sydney’s Big Speech. A description on the author’s web site says:
“Sydney learns to conquer her fear of public speaking at school in this affectionate father-daughter story referencing inspiring role models who dealt with similar issues. Sydney wants to be a great leader when she grows up. There’s just one problem – when she tries to speak in front of the class, she gets nervous, and the words just won’t come out. Readers will cheer for Sydney as ‘No, I can’t’ changes to ‘Yes, I can!’ Sydney’s journey includes practice; encouragement from her loving dad; and a dose of inspiration from such luminaries as Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun, Condoleezza Rice, and Kamala Harris.”
Sydney’s speech begins:
“When I grow up I will dream big things and do big things. I will be a great leader who helps people and becomes the President.”
The silhouette came from Openclipart.
Yes, he did. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (August 29, 1809 to October 7, 1894) was a physician and poet. That quote comes from an extremely long poem (over 5,900 words) titled A Rhymed Lesson (Urania) which you can read here. It was delivered before the Boston Mercantile Library Association on October 14, 1846. The entire 39th stanza (out of 62) says:
Once more: speak clearly, if you speak at all;
Carve every word before you let it fall;
Don't, like a lecturer or dramatic star,
Try over-hard to roll the British R;
Do put your accents in the proper spot;
Don't, - let me beg you, - don't say "How?"
for "What?"
And when you stick on conversation's burs,
Don't strew your pathway with those dreadful urs.
The length of that poem fits the definition for a megillah, a twentieth century slang term for:
“a long, involved story or account”
Megillah is the Hebrew word for scroll and originally was used to refer to the Old Testament Book of Esther that has 10 chapters, 167 verses, and 5,637 words. It explains how the feast of Purim came to be celebrated.
The 1879 portrait of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. came from Wikimedia Commons.
On the New Books shelves at my friendly local public library I found and have enjoyed reading the 2024 book by Eric Weiner titled Ben & Me: In search of a founder’s formula for a long and useful life. Chapter 11 is titled Social Ben, and beginning on page 85 he discusses the art of conversation in some detail:
“…The Age of Enlightenment was also the Age of Conversation. These gabfests took place in the coffeehouses of London and the salons of Paris, in the learned company of the Royal Society, and in the rough-and-tumble dockyards of Glasgow, where Adam Smith developed many of his economic theories.
A good conversationalist doesn’t necessarily make a good public speaker. Awkward and faltering, Benjamin Franklin was not a gifted public speaker, and he knew it. In larger groups or among strangers, he hardly uttered a word.
But Franklin was a superb conversationalist. On this point, everyone agreed. Chatting with Ben ‘was always a feast with me,’ recalled James Madison, who was young enough to be Franklin’s grandson. ‘I never passed half an hour in his company without some observation or anecdote worth remembering.’ No frivolous anecdotes, either. Franklin’s stories and jokes were intended not only to entertain but to illuminate.
While still in his twenties, Franklin wrote a brief essay about the art of conversation. I’ve read it and reread it and every time I marvel at how relevant and contemporary it feels. Franklin was writing at a time before telegraphs and telephones, Facetime and Zoom, Slack and Snapchat. Yet his observations about the art of conversation are just as applicable as when he wrote them nearly three hundred years ago – a reminder that despite our many technological advances, conversation still amounts to one person talking to another, hoping to connect.
Most people believe they excel in conversation, he said, but they deceive themselves (just as today most people claim to be above-average drivers, a statistical impossibility). In conversation, people tend to go to extremes, either focusing exclusively (and annoyingly) on themselves or mercilessly probing their hapless conversant for some dirt. Some people wrangle and dispute incessantly; ‘thus every trifle becomes a serious business.’ Some people dwell on one topic too long, while others ‘leap from one thing to another with so much rapidity … that what they say is a mere chaos of noise and nonsense.’
The biggest mistake people make, Franklin thought, was ‘talking overmuch, and robbing others of their share of the discourse.’ I love that phrase, talking overmuch, and plan to use it the next time I find myself straining to get a word in with an overtalker. A good conversationalist is a good listener. ‘Observe, the precept is hear much, not speak much,’ he declared from behind his Poor Richard mask. The mask was no act, though. Franklin was genuinely interested in people, and that’s not something that can be faked, not even by the Old Conjurer. No matter how busy, he always had time to talk, recalled a medical student who knew Franklin during his stay in France. ‘Whenever one found him, he was available … he always had an hour to devote to you.’
Franklin knew Westerners had no monopoly on good conversation hygiene. He expressed admiration for the ‘profound silence’ observed by Native Americans when someone else was speaking. Compare that, he said, to the raucous British House of Commons or the so-called polite company of Europe, ‘where if you do not deliver your sentence with great rapidity, you are cut off in the middle of it.’
A good conversationalist doesn’t simply master a bundle of clever techniques. He possesses a generosity of spirit, a genuine willingness to better, not best, the person at the other end of the table. This demands a ‘readiness to overlook or excuse their foibles,’ Franklin said. Overlooking is different from not seeing. You see and hear your interlocutor’s flaws, but choose to move past them, for now, so the conversation is freed to elevate both of you.
Being a good conversationalist doesn’t mean swallowing your opinions and beliefs. Franklin had many but never used them as a cudgel. They arrived Bubble-Wrapped. If asked what he thought about a subject, Franklin typically replied by asking a question or raising a doubt, engaging his interlocutor rather than alienating him. You could surmise where he stood, but he never allowed opinions, even strong ones, to come between people. Preserving a friendship was more important than scoring points, a useful truth that argumentative people fail to grasp. ‘They get victory sometimes,’ he said, ‘but they never get goodwill, which would be of more use to them.’ For Ben, the relationship was always more important than the problem.”
Eric Weiner didn’t specifically mention the title of that essay or where it appeared (even in his Notes at the back of the book). It is On Conversation, and was printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette on October 15, 1730. You can find the full text in a web page at the National Archives, Founders Online titled On Conversation 15 October 1730. Ben’s use of Capitalization, italics, and spelling differs from ours. After a Latin quote he begins:
“To please in Conversation is an Art which all People believe they understand and practise, tho’ most are ignorant or deficient in it. The Bounds and Manner of this Paper will not allow a regular and methodical Discourse on the Subject, and therefore I must beg Leave to throw my Thoughts together as they rise.
The two grand Requisites in the Art of Pleasing, are Complaisance and Good Nature. Complaisance is a seeming preference of others to our selves; and Good Nature a Readiness to overlook or excuse their Foibles, and do them all the Services we can. These two Principles must gain us their good Opinion, and make them fond of us for their own Sake, and then all we do or say will appear to be the best Advantage, and be well accepted. Learning, Wit, and fine Parts, with these, shine in full Lustre, become wonderfully agreeable and command Affection, but without them, only seem an Assuming over others, and occasion Envy and Disgust. The common Mistake is, that People think to please by setting themselves to View, and shewing their own Perfections, whereas the easier and more effectual Way lies quite contrary. Would you win the Hearts of others, you must not seem to vie with, but admire them: Give them every Opportunity of displaying their own Qualifications, and when you have indulg’d their Vanity, they will praise you too in Turn, and prefer you above others, in order to secure to themselves the Pleasure your Commendation gives.
But above all, we should mark out those Things which cause Dislike, and avoid them with great Care. The most common amongst these is, talking overmuch, and robbing others of their Share of the Discourse. This is not only Incivility but Injustice, for every one has a natural Right to speak in turn, and to hinder it is an Usurpation of common Liberty, which never fails to excite Resentment. Beside, great Talkers usually leap from one thing to another with so much rapidity, and so ill a Connection, that what they say is a mere Chaos of Noise and Nonsense; tho’ did they speak like Angels they still would be disagreeable. It is very pleasant when two of these People meet the Vexation they both feel is visible in their Looks and Gestures; you shall see them gape and stare, and interrupt one another at every Turn, and watch with the utmost Impatience for a Cough or a pause, when they may croud a Word in edgeways; neither hears nor cares what the other says; but both talk on at any Rate, and never fail to part highly disgusted with each other. I knew two Ladies gifted this Way, who by Accident travelled in a Boat twenty Miles together, in which short Journey they were both so extreamly tired of one another, that they could never after mention each others Name with any Temper, or be brought in Company together, but retained a mutual Aversion which could never be worn out.”
When I read the phrase “mere Chaos of Noise and Nonsense” I instantly thought of numerous statements made by Donald Trump in conversations!
A portrait of Franklin by Joseph Siffrein Duplessis came from here at Wikimedia Commons.
Asking open-ended questions is an important skill for conducting conversations. From the Nampa Public Library I found and enjoyed skimming a 2022 book by Phil M Jones titled Exactly What to Say: Your Personal Guide to the Mastery of Magic Words. An earlier 2017 version instead is titled Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact. The cover for the 2022 book has the abbreviation EWTS vertically, while the 2017 one spells out Exactly What to Say.
Both sets of words are shown above, with numbers in brackets for the [2017 version].
Peter Kang discussed the earlier book on August 6, 2017 in an article titled Thoughts on “Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact” by Phil M Jones. And there is an even earlier 26-page pdf of an article by Phil M. Jones at ReSound on September 2014 titled Magic Words: 17 ways to influence, persuade and encourage people to take action.
There is a useful 44 minute YouTube video from Meny Hoffman at PtexGroup on April 1, 2024 titled Learn the Magic Words, Become a Sales Master: A Conversation with Phil M. Jones. An example Phil uses begins with What Do You Know, followed by What is Your Experience, and Would It Help If.
On August 29, 2024 I blogged about Thirty questions to engage someone, beyond How Are You?
Images of a questioning man and woman were modified from those at Openclipart.
At the LinkedIn Public Speaking Group on September 1, 2024 I saw that Tony DeMeo had featured the following quotation from Elbert Hubbard (which also is at BrainyQuote):
“The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.”
Wikipedia says Elbert Green Hubbard was a writer who lived from June 19, 1856 to May 7, 1915. He died on the ocean liner RMS Lusitania when it was torpedoed off Ireland.
Where did that exact quote appear? I looked on Google and at Google Books, and found it first turned up in the June 1953 issue of Coronet magazine (Volume 34, number 2, pages 36 to 38) in a republished article by Elbert Hubbard titled Get in Line – or Get Out!. You can find that magazine at the Internet Archive. But that was 38 years after Mr. Hubbard died! In this century the quote has turned up repeatedly, without a discussion of when or where.
Where did the article appear during his lifetime? The original was titled Get Out or Get in Line. It was in the April 1902 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, and it also was reprinted as a twenty-page booklet which you also can find at the Internet Archive. The paragraph containing the quote has a word changed – originally it said contumely rather than criticism, and it begins:
“The man who is anybody and who does anything is surely going to be criticized, vilified and misunderstood. This is a part of the penalty for greatness, and every great man understands it; and understands, too, that it is no proof of greatness. The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure contumely without resentment….”
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines contumely as:
“harsh language or treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt”
A 1900 portrait of Elbert Hubbard came from Wikimedia Commons.
Fast foods are one of the guilty pleasures to consume at a fair. This year my wife and I were on diets, so we skipped sampling them. Some foods are local to Idaho. One is the Ice cream potato (shown above) which Wikipedia describes as:
"Vanilla ice cream is molded into a potato shape and coated
with cocoa powder to mimic brown skin. The ice cream potato is then topped with
whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and chocolate syrup."
Others sold by the Oinkari Basque Dancers to raise funds include chorizo and solomo sandwiches, and croquetas (aka croquettes).
There also is the local invention, finger steaks (breaded steak fingers).
And there are pizzas from Idaho Pizza Company, which has a dozen locations - 11 in the Boise metro area and one in Twin Falls.
Of course, there are more generic fast foods like Onion Burgers, Hawaiian Teriyaki, Italian Sausage, Foot Long Hot Dogs & Pound O’ Fries.
There are desserts like Funnel cake, and a variety by Paradise Ice.
And there is Fry Bread, and different types from Coconuts.
Every year or two my wife and I visit the large Western Idaho Fair for a few hours to a half day. It’s a state fair held at Expo Idaho in the Garden City suburb of Boise since 1967. The fair usually held from the third Friday of August, until the fourth Sunday of August. There are carnival rides, fast food, and both outdoor and indoor exhibits. As shown above, you can read the rules before deciding whether to enter. On August 23rd we just saw inside exhibits for a couple hours. I’ll cover fast food in another post.
There always are foods like the cakes shown above.
There are interesting crafts. Some are static like the gourd. Another has many moving steel balls.
There are some amazing quilts.
And there also are floral arrangements.
I have been enjoying reading a 2024 book by Guru Madhavan titled Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World. It also has a preview at Google Books. For two decades I conducted failure analysis projects to solve what he describes as hard problems.
In the book he discusses four types of problems: hard, soft, messy, and wicked. Beginning on page 7 he says:
“Call the first type ‘hard problems.’ They are bounded and boundable, and scientific principles, market pressures, and sponsor requirements neatly specify them. The outcomes are directed – even dictated- by customers, consumers, and clients….Such problems can be mathematically manipulated, chemically configured, and materially improved. Ultimately, they can be ‘optimized’ by applying available knowledge and experience with the idea that the best possible outcome exists and is achievable.
The second class, call it ‘soft problems,’ is in the area of human behavior, which is complicated by political and psychological factors. Because their endpoints are unclear, and thorny constraints complicate their design, soft problems cannot be solved like hard problems; they can only be resolved. There are no easy fixes to a problem like traffic congestion….Since soft problems fuse technology, psychology, and sociology, resolving them yields an outcome that’s not the best but only good enough. As Ackoff characterized it, the results are based not on optimizing but on ‘satisficing,’ an approach that satisfies and suffices.
The third class, ‘messy problems,’ emerges from differences and divisions created by our value sets, belief systems, ideologies, and convictions. A disease outbreak may involve hard problems with solutions such as barcode-tracked supplies or antibiotic deliveries. The outbreak’s soft problems might require resolutions like mapping infectious disease spread or retooling the indoor environment to prevent the propagation of infection. Neither resolution is exact, but both are good enough. By contrast, a messy problem can involve a pathogen gaining antibiotic resistance or intersecting with delicate religious rituals, as we’ll see with Ebola…..Messy problems can be reframed out of existence not by optimizing or satisficing but by ‘idealizing.’ In Ackoff’s words, this entails getting the matter ‘closer to an ultimately desired state, one in which the problem cannot or does not arise.’
If they were works of art, hard problems would be photographs, offering clarity and directness. Soft problems are like blurry brushstrokes of impressionism, and messy problems are spilled and splattered abstractions. A wicked problem emerges when hard, soft, and messy problems collide. Think of them as a cubist collage where the truth is simultaneously sharp, shaky, and squiggly. All three are required for wickedness. Hardness is nestled in soft problems, and hardness and softness reside within messy problems. By extension, a solution can be within a resolution, and a dissolution might contain resolutions and solutions.”
Chapter three of the book discusses the failure of a fifty-foot tall, ninety-foot diameter steel molasses tank that occurred on January 15, 1919 – when it had been filled for the first time. It killed 21 and injured 150. Wikipedia has an article about it titled the Great Molasses Flood. On page 114 Dr. Madhavan says:
“Based on the technical manuals of the time, the Purity tank’s safety factor should have been at least four times the strength chosen. The tank’s thin walls, selected as a cost-savings measure, proliferated a rapid fracture. Since the 1850s, when steel production ramped up, low-temperature brittleness has been a problem. Microscopic analyses from the Boston Navy Yard showed that the tank’s fractures were herringbone, a zigzag damage pattern. The breakdown of riveted constructions remained common well into the mid-20th century; during the winters of 1943 and 1944, World War II Liberty ships literally broke in half, embrittled.”
But he is wrong about the Liberty ships, which were welded rather than riveted. The textbook example for failure was the tanker SS Schenectady, which broke in two on January 16, 1943 while she was moored at a dock in Portland, Oregon.
Another tanker, the SS Pendleton, broke in two during a gale south of Cape Cod on February 18, 1952. 32 sailors on one half were heroically rescued by four men in a 36-foot Coast Guard motor lifeboat from Chatham, as depicted in the 2016 film, The Finest Hours and above in a sign at the Chatham station. You can watch a nineteen-minute YouTube video titled The Daring Sea Rescue That Shocked the World.
There was another horrible failure involving a tank storing liquified natural gas in Ohio. The Cleveland East Ohio Gas Explosion on October 20, 1944 killed 131 people.
A ten-pointed image from Openclipart represents a wicked problem.
