Yesterday I stopped by a well known supermarket in the afternoon and was shocked to see how many people were riding around in motorized shopping carts. I counted six just in the fresh groceries area. What was amazing is how fast and aggressive people were driving as they tried to scoot up to the various produce counters. You would think there was a shortage of apples or peaches. New business idea: sell advertising on the sides and backs of these carts: “Let us insure your liability for shopping cart mayhem.” Also provide seat belts.

I highly recommend a book called “Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning” by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2014.

I was impressed with the opening quote by Aeschylus from Prometheus Bound that “memory is the mother of all wisdom.” I wondered, will this book help me remember where I parked my car when I go to a mall?

It’s more than just that. If you need to learn material for school, business or just for personal education it describes what works and doesn’t work based on cognitive psychology.

If you have ever used the Pimsleur method of learning a language which uses immediate feedback, interactions with recorded native speakers where you need to respond to their questions or ask them questions, regular review of words you have encountered before over gradually increasing periods of time…you will get the gist of this book. Tests are a good thing! Mindlessly repeating study material, rereading without seeing if you can recall what you think you have learned is inefficient and not as successful over the long term for truly understanding and being able to recall facts and ideas.

Check it out.

I went to our local clip joint (probably not the name of the franchise) for a haircut and was pleasantly surprised. Nothing to do with the ambiance or quality of the service or the results (a barber can only do so much after all).

It was her dedication to her craft. She viewed it as not just a 9 to 5 job but as a profession. I learned that she constantly reviews You tube videos about how other barbers cut hair. Like my wife who watches home renovation shows on television to learn about prices, quality, design, etc. my barber told me she learns about shapes of heads, type of hair, best way to cut tops and backs to enhance her client’s (not in her view just customers) appearance.

“Well,” I asked “what do you recommend for me?”

“Oh,” she said while shortening my sideburns “I haven’t seen anything yet that will help you. But I’ll keep looking.”

Then she smiled.

I was listening to a podcast about the origins of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. While the panelists who are all historians said there was no parallel between 1945 through 1990 (generally the accepted dates for the confrontation between the West and USSR and their allies) and today’s Russia I am not so sure. The Russian population is being indoctrinated by an anti-Western media controlled by Putin. Dissenting viewpoints are harshly punished. Journalists are threatened, beat up, jailed and murdered. The rules of private enterprise are regularly violated and the Russian government uses coercion ranging from targeted inspections of Western companies to harass them to outright expropriate of their assets through forced sales. This centers more and more power and wealth into a central clique that has announced its intention to reverse the collapse of the USSR. Sounds like Hitler using the Versailles treaty ending World War ! in order to stir up anger against the West for his own purposes. We have had a clear demonstration of Russia’s methods of using excuses of protecting Russian minorities to install AND THEN ARM their proxy armies. Now not so proxy because they have been openly moving tanks and other heavy weapons into the parts of the Ukraine they have infiltrated and are in the process of carving out a Russian Ukrainian state.

What to do?

1) Ratchet up the sanctions even further including targeting any offshore monies that Putin has.
2) SUPPLY ANTI-TANK AND ANTI-AIRCRAFT WEAPONS TO THE UKRAINIANS AS WELL AS SMALL ARMS AND SUPPLIES
3) Reassure our Baltic allies and Poland that we will not tolerate any further Russian aggression.
4) Europe needs an alternative to Russian gas energy supplies so we should immediately allow the export of oil and gas from the US even if we have to pay a few more cents at the gas pump.
5) When we have clear and convincing evidence (such as the pictures of tank columns) we should not hesitate to go public in a massive way condemning this aggression and should in fact clearly and plainly call the spokesmen (be they military or political) for the Russians that they are liars, are violating international norms and that we are prepared to cut the Russians off from the world banking system. This at a time when the price of oil is so low it is already affecting their currency and the population is just beginning to buy consumer goods before the prices go up as calculated in dollars.

In my earlier post I realized I did not include a direct link to our client East Coast Capital’s web site. Here it is: http://eastcoastcapitalholdings.com/

As Atlantic City casinos go out of business and people lose their jobs we are trying to help them out by preparing card dealers, croupiers, craps mavens for new careers. Part of the process is preparing them for interview questions from prospective employers. Here is a sample of a typical conversation which led to a logical but unexpected conclusion.

“So what did you do in the casino?”

“I mostly handled dealing our cards for guests playing 21.”

“Oh, so how are your math skills?”

“I’m OK up to 21 and not bad up to 30. Sometimes you would get stupid players who would draw another card even if they had 20. What jerks. That’s how I could count to 30 you see.”

“Oh, really. Well how about your programming skills?”

“It depends on which hotel I was living in. Some had direct TV, others cable or the phone companies. I can program from say 5 to 15 shows. Movies too. At different times. So yes, I know how to program.”

“Interesting response. What would you say your best and worst interpersonal skills are? Your people skills?”

“My smile. See.”

“It’s like a beam from a light house!”

“And my hand shake.” He pumps my hand like he is pumping water from a well.

“Wow, impressive! And if the employer was to ask what your worst people skill was – what might that be?”

“Let me think about that…To be honest when people are losing their life savings – gambling and losing – I can still smile at them and deep down not really care as long as I got my job. You know what I mean? Its a terrible thing to say but its the truth.”

“I understand.”

“Since you’re being so helpful, let me ask you a question – what kind of job do you think I should be going for?”

“”Well, let’s review what I’v heard. You have a great smile, a bone crushing handshake, somewhat – and excuse me for saying this -somewhat limited abilities in handling large numbers and not grasping intangible concepts like programming. And if things go wrong for others but the dough keeps rolling in for you, you really don’t care what happens to other people.”

“I’m ashamed to admit it but you got that right pal.”

“It’s obvious. You’re destined my friend to become -and I must say you’re a natural for it – a politician.”

We just launched our Equity Crowdfunding web site platform called USEquity. Check it out: http://usequity.com

Our first investment opportunity is with our friends and colleagues at East Coast Capital Holdings, Ltd (ECCH).

For this blog post I will just give the highlights but if you are an accredited investor please go to USEquity for details.

East Coast Capital Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 1983. It is a Specialized Small Business Investment Company (SSBIC) licensed by the Small Business Administration. ECCH invests in Community Banks and small business which hopefully result in the creation of jobs and the strengthening of low-income and minority communities. An investment into EECH would be considered to be a “Socially Responsible Investment” (SRI). Another acronym sometimes used today is Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing.

In addition to the economic impacts of investment there are tax advantages for investing in ECCH for individuals and corporations:

• Individual investors can defer up to $50,000 in capital gains taxes generated from their 2014 public securities trading profits as long as they hold ECCH stock
• Corporate investors can defer up to $250,000 in capital gains taxes
• If ECCH shares are held for five years – there is a complete and permanent elimination of 50% of any capital gains tax – even if ECCH stock is then sold
• Managment has made a commitment to become a publicly listed company no later than 36 months after this round of up to $5.0MM in financing 
• A minimum investment is $50,000

Ken Watanabe’s bestseller from 2009 Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People is just over 100 pages of how to make decisions. Applies to kids as well as adults. There are decision trees and cartoons overlaid with advice from a former McKinsey & company management consultant.

The other book is from Mr. Peabody’s way back time machine: The Mind Map Book by Tony and Barry Buzan. I like the 1993 full pictures full colors (free) version from the library. It was a great refresher as I was mind mapping several new projects and wanted a reference to see how other people have used this technique.

The combination of the two books should help get any project off to a good start.