Potpourri and Miscellany

It strikes me that most of my readers probably enjoy the posts that are more self-created than collected (feel free to drop me feedback on that front - this blog could use some more comments). Who needs me to give them more things to read/watch/listen to, in addition to what I'm writing about here? I tend to agree with that analysis, but one of the purposes of the blog, for me, is a running diary of what's going on in my head - an intellectual journal. As such, sometimes I feel like there are a few too many tabs in my Firefox browser (23 at last count) and I either don't have the time or energy to write about each of them, on the one hand, or they don't merit their own posts (I think I've been pretty good these past few weeks at posting substantive stuff, while keeping up this two-posts-a-day pace). So, on occasion, and not only as a procrastinating tool so as to not deal with the substantial and impressive lists of serious posts formulated and waiting to be written, here goes again.
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Wexner sage Marty Linsky (co-authoring with Cambridge Leadership Associates colleague Alexander Grashow) has an article on HuffPo (aren't I suave) about leadership "reset:"

Resetting means bringing closure to the past, deciding what of all that you value is worth preserving, then using the turbulence as an opportunity to change the rules of the game and invent the future. Reset is operating as if nothing is certain except uncertainty.

Marty argues that, like FDR, BHO is a reset President, fearlessly moving forward. Not sure if Marty, who seems to be a "commie- and homo-loving lefty pinko" (to paraphrase Sean Penn) based on my interactions with him, would feel this way if the resetter-in-chief were a member of the GOP, but I like giving Marty the benefit of the doubt. The HuffPo article also links to Marty's leadership blog.

I have a post-in-the-works about my experiences with the Wexner Fellowship and leadership, so I won't go on for too long, but I like Marty's ability to create compelling language around leadership styles and actions, if the transfer of the theory to practice still (in my life at least) leaves a bit to be wanted.

Props to my Google Desktop links that showed me Marty's article which I never would have found on my own.
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Thanks to KER for directing me towards this article that describes how former West Wing heavyweights Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Schiff are lobbying in Washington for a passage of a pro-union bill.

With all due respect to this douche -

California Rep. Buck McKeon — a GOP critic of the bill — says the Hollywood endorsement is like asking doctors on the TV show “E.R.” for their thoughts on health care reform

- we all know that both health care reform and labor politics are mostly dealt with by politicians who know just as little about everything as actors.
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I haven't blogged about Fresh Air in a while, but I keep listening. I'm currently inching up to the Election Day (I wonder who's gonna win?) and was treated to two phenomenal interviews the last few days.

One was a long chat with Seth Meyers, talking about being the head writer at SNL, the Tina Fey/Sarah Palin phenomenon, and the politics of the show. Laugh-out-loud funny and that's-how-they-do-it revealing.

For something completely different, check out Cynthia Gorney talking to Dave Davies about the politics of abortion. Again, lots of high-level analysis here - fascinating.
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On a brief shout out note, best man JAR has started his own blog (when he keeps posting I promise a bigger shout out down the road). This among a very difficult week for him.
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Yesterday saw the news break that Star Trek 12 has been given a green light, over a month before Star Trek 11 even hits theaters.

Things I infer from this:
1. J. J. Abrams is Valeria-Golino's-stomach-in-the-sex-scene-in-Hot-Shots-hot right now.
2. Star Trek 11 is as good as trailer, trailer, and trailer make it out to be.
3. My father's year might get even better (this after a stunningly successful capital project at his shul, a heartfelt e-mail from my sister, and the Grateful Dead show in Wilkes-Barre on April 22).

And, little teaser, check back at the blog Friday morning (Israel time) for a fun post about another long-awaited movie sequel (though not quite the dodecaquel that Abrams will work on).
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Great kick-ass quiz on Sporcle today: the abbreviations for the 118 elements on the periodic table. Not to brag, but I got them all right in 3:33 (i.e., w/ 1:27 left on the clock). It is worth noting that there are many elements on which you can guess your way to the correct answer but a good number that you can't. (Antimony was quite tough to dig out of the cobwebs of Mark Schuermann's [yeah, that's spelled right, not your Jewish Sherman, that's for sure, man] AP class in '98-99 [the one that gave me the T-shirt I love to wear].)