How not to communicate on Twitter

On May 19th, shortly after of the loss of EgytptAir Flight 804,  Donald J. Trump tweeted:

“Looks like yet another terrorist attack. Airplane departed from Paris. When will we get tough, smart, and vigilant? Great hate and sickness!”

What a pile of self-serving campaign crap from DumbOld Trump! He has been justifiably slammed over it.

But it has been almost fifteen years since the 9/11 attacks. Of course we are tough, smart and vigilant. For example, right now the Idaho Air National Guard has a deployment of their A10 Thunderbolt II ground attack airplanes over in the Middle East.

And, as of today, we still don’t know if the EgyptAir loss was a terrorist attack.

TODD Talks - a hilarious parody of TED Talks

On May 8th John Oliver’s HBO television show Last Week Tonight posted a twenty-minute YouTube video about how media present results from Scientific Studies that concludes (15:50) with a hilarious parody of TED Talks: 

“Do you love science and all its complexity, but wish it could be a little less complex and a lot less scientific? Introducing TODD Talks, where the format of TED talks meets the intellectual rigor of morning news shows.”

Spouting Nonsense: Brian Tracy on the “history” of the Pareto Principle

On May 10th Brian Tracy posted a six-minute YouTube video titled 80/20 Rule for Goal Setting. It begins as follows:

“Hello, I’m Brian Tracy, and today I’m going to talk to you about one of the most helpful concepts of time and life management. It’s called the 80/20 Rule. Now the 80/20 Rule is also called the Pareto Principle, named after its founder the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1895. He noticed that people in societies seemed to divide naturally into what he called the “vital few” or the top 20 percent in terms of money, property, and influence and the “trivial many” or the bottom 80 percent.

Later he discovered that virtually all economic activity was subject to this same principle  in that 80 percent of the wealth of Italy during that time was controlled by 20 percent of the population. We can take Pareto’s 80/20 rule and apply it to almost any situation. In particular, we can apply it to goal setting and productivity. According to this principle, 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results. That means that if you have a list of ten items to accomplish, two of those items will turn out to be worth more than the other eight items put together.”

The heading for his first graphic calls it the “80/20 Rule or ‘Pareto Principal’ “ That is an amusing gaffe from someone who has posted another YouTube video preaching Everything Counts! How to make a good first impression.

How much of what Brian said in his first paragraph is right? None of it! The Pareto Principle was not stated by Pareto in 1895, and he never referred either to the “vital few” or the “trivial many.” Quality guru Joseph M. Juran stated the Principle about a half-century later. He discussed misnaming it in a 1994 article titled The Non-Pareto Principle; Mea Culpa. Also, Juran eventually shifted from saying “trivial many” to “useful many.” That latter phrase is mentioned in his 2008 obituary in the Los Angeles Times that is titled Management guru coined 80-20 rule.

In his books Brian Tracy repeated discussed the 80/20 rule as coming from Pareto in 1895. For example, a Google Books search shows it on page 13 in the 2008 2nd edition of Eat That Frog, and page 97 of his 2009 book, Reinvention: How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life.

So, Brian Tracy is awarded a second Spoutly for spouting nonsense. I gave him my very first one in October 2013 for a mythical statistic on fear of public speaking.  

Looking at flag design will change how you make PowerPoint slides

There is an interesting pamphlet titled GOOD Flag, BAD FLAG How to Design a Great Flag that was compiled by Ted Kaye for the North American Vexillological Association. It discusses the five principles shown above.

The flag of Milwaukee is so complicated that it is bad - it even contains a tiny civil war regimental flag inside the lower left quadrant of the gear.  Contrast that with the very simple  flag of Chicago.

A good flag (like the one for Amsterdam shown above) can convey its information in a space the size of a commemorative postage stamp. That is because a one-inch high rectangle seen from fifteen inches away looks about the same as a three-foot high flag seen from a hundred feet away.




There is an excellent TED Talk by Roman Mars on Why city flags may be the worst designed thing you’ve never noticed.

The civil war Confederate flags are an example of how it can take three tries to come up with aa acceptable flag. The first version (Stars and Bars) was not as well received as the Battle Flag (for Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia). The second version (Stainless Banner) didn’t work when there was no or light wind - it almost looked like a white truce flag. Their third version (the Blood-Stained Banner) fixed that by adding a vertical red stripe. 

I found my way to this topic from a blog post on How a TED Talk and a public radio host shamed Pocatello into changing its city flag.

Homer Simpson’s speech gets shot down

The Simpsons “Simprovised” episode which airs on May 15th will have Homer try improv comedy in order to rebuild his confidence after he mangles a speech at work. (In 23 seasons Homer has tried and failed at many other things, so why not public speaking?)

The last three minutes will feature the voice of Dan Castellaneta answering questions from fans who call in.

The image of a Zeppelin came from Wikimedia Commons.

I'm on vacation and will be back next week

The image of a cave came from the Library of Congress.

Survey finds more U. S. homeowners fear their home being damaged by a natural disaster, or invaded by pests, than public speaking, global warming, or a celebrity reality star running for president

A press release by Terminix at MarketWired on April 18th titled Survey finds pests are more frightening than zombies, tornadoes, or a celebrity presidential candidate described results from a survey done with over 1000 homeowners by Kelton Global. As shown above in a bar chart they found that:

“Critter infestations trump other common fears. More than one-third (36 percent) of respondents said they fear pests invading their home - nearly as many as those who fear their home being damaged by a natural disaster (40 percent). In fact, a pest invasion is a scary threat for more homeowners than public speaking (32 percent), global warming (26 percent) or a celebrity reality star running for president (25 percent).”

Click on the chart to see a larger, clearer version. Their opening sentence also said that: 

“Ninety-three percent of Americans are afraid of pests, with many even experiencing nightmares about them, according to a new survey from the pest control company Terminix.”

Pests are feared either by 93% or 36% of homeowners - depending on exactly how you ask the question. How many homeowners would have feared Donald Trump rather than just a celebrity reality star?