Posted on November 1, 2006 by Robert Ringer
I recently saw an interview with the legendary Yanni (Yiannis Chrysomallis), a giant in the entertainment industry. It was another reminder of the efficacy of going against conventional wisdom. Yanni had no formal training and, as a result, could not even read music. Nevertheless, he became a world-famous composer by developing a sort of musical […]
Posted on September 7, 2006 by Robert Ringer
Life is filled with paradoxes. Example: You spend decades learning the rules of the game. Then, just about the time you’ve managed to accumulate some meaningful wisdom, the game ends. Example: Children are one of the greatest joys known to mankind. But raising children takes more time and effort, and brings more grief, than perhaps […]
Posted on July 10, 2006 by Robert Ringer
Today, while looking through some old boxes, I happened across a newspaper clipping titled “Common Mistakes that Cause Business Failure.” Judging from its condition, I would guess it’s been in the box for at least 35 years. The list includes 17 items, most of which I agree with. But one that I’m not so sure […]
Posted on April 26, 2006 by Robert Ringer
The “don’t be evil” mantra that Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have long used as an obvious poke in Bill Gates’ eye is looking just a bit suspect of late. By going along with the Chinese government’s insistence on censoring Google in China, the search-engine prodigies suddenly look remarkably the same as every […]
Posted on April 15, 2006 by Robert Ringer
Regarding my article last week titled “Converting Years into Months,” reader Dan Stuenzi of Omaha, Nebraska wrote: “I’d like to offer a different perspective about working on our weaknesses. Let me first say that I am in 100 percent agreement that a writer needs to be fluent in Microsoft Word or some other word-processing software. […]
Posted on April 14, 2006 by Robert Ringer
I feel morally obliged to constantly remind you — and myself — that the world continually changes. And it’s now changing at a rate that no one could have dreamed of as recently as the 1970s. The cellphone is one of an endless number of hi-tech toys that are changing at an accelerating pace. Most […]
Posted on April 5, 2006 by Robert Ringer
It’s funny how things work out in life. Sometimes, you end up with a positive result from something that appeared to be a complete failure. My evolution as a computer user is a good example. I go back to the days of the Xerox 860, which was considered to be the premier dedicated word processor […]
Posted on March 29, 2006 by Robert Ringer
The infamous Debra Lafave’s case is kind of unusual because the prosecutor dropped charges against her for “allegedly” having sex with a fourteen-year-old student. The reason, we are told, is that the boy (now sixteen) didn’t want to testify. To parody the cunning words of that sly old fox Paul Van Der Sloot: No witness, […]
Posted on March 14, 2006 by Robert Ringer
Though every death is equally important and painful to the deceased person’s family, perhaps the most difficult death for the average person to comprehend is that of Dana Reeve, who died on March 6. Not only was she young (forty-four), she was one of a growing number of nonsmoking women who have been afflicted with […]
Posted on March 7, 2006 by Robert Ringer
A friend of mine related a different kind of sad tale to me last week. He had built an opt-in list of more than 60,000 people, which was being managed by an outside vendor. Recently, he had been having problems with the list manager, and finally told him that he had decided to bring his […]
