R.I.P. Pelé

The Brazilian legend, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, helped his country win the World Cup in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and he remains the national team’s co-scoring leader, with 77 goals in 92 matches.

Thank you, Pelé for teaching me back in 1962 how to become a top professional soccer player.

R.I.P. my friend.

General Sherman

Russia’s war on Ukraine, now well into its 10th month, is shifting into a new phase. For the first several months, Russia was fighting what President Vladimir Putin insisted on calling a “special military operation.” A combination of hubris, bad Intel from his ranks of yes men, and being hornswoggled by his own propaganda convinced Putin that most Ukrainians would offer little resistance and many would actually welcome the Russians as liberators—with flowers and cheers. Most Russians thought this too. So they fought with a force limited to 190,000 troops and expected to capture Ukraine’s capital in days or weeks, decapitate the West-leaning government, and install a puppet regime. Easy as AБЖ.

Read more at “Has Putin Found His General Sherman?”

Screen Addiction

In our world of touch screens and endless scroll, the inability to focus is pandemic. We touch our phones an average of 2,617 times every 24 hours. We are part of one of the most significant cultural phenomena in human history: “screen addiction.”

Our minds are being rewired to use, rely upon, and crave screens and the superficial world they display to us. Moments of peace, solitude and focus are few and far between. The quality of our thinking, the way we absorb and digest information, and the very nature of our lives is changing.

Read more at “How to Crush Screen Addiction”