On this day in 1934 - The strongest surface wind gust in the world, 231 mph, was measured by the staff of the Mount Washington Observatory on the summit of Mount Washington. That same year Bill W. got sober and started what eventually became Alcoholics Anonymous. Coincidence?

Is there a “best blog” competition? If so, I nominate www.amybrevard.com (click on "blog"). Amy just made a very though provoking post on negative thoughts, and I made a comment. Take a look. And why not post a comment while your there. If you get inspired, email this to a friend or post a comment about AmyBrevard.com on your blog. Your friends will thank you, and so will Amy and I if you’ll let us know what you’ve done.

Here’s a post Amy made to her blog from a few days ago:

When we know who we are, we will no longer live our lives in conflict with our parents, our beloved, or our children. Everything becomes so wonderful, because we are no longer afraid to Love. And that is the most precious thing that can happen to anyone — the return to Love. Because when we return to Love, life becomes so wonderful and so beautiful. Everything is so romantic! And we see everything through the eyes of Love. We become so relaxed. And we are no longer afraid to express who we really are and what we want to say. We no longer say yes when we want to say no. We live our lives with integrity again, because we are no longer afraid to be rejected. We don’t need anyone. It’s a wonderful way to live. It will improve every relationship that we have, beginning with the relationship with ourselves. Then, a romantic relationship becomes a wonderful thing because we are not afraid to be ourselves and ask for what we want. We no longer take anything personally. We no longer have the need to control our beloved or be controlled by them. And we become a teammate — not competing with each other. It is completely different. When we discover that most of the conflicts we have are because we believe in many lies, we can choose not to live any longer with these conflicts. Then a battle begins within our head between the lies and the truth. To change lies into truth is what we call Transformation. And this leads to the third mastery, the Mastery of Love. When you no longer believe the lies, then the Light comes and chases the darkness away. You become the way you used to be, with the innocence of a child. This has been called the return to Paradise, or Heaven. I call it the return to Love. It is miraculous. When we live our lives in Love, everything we do becomes a ritual of Love, and life becomes so wonderful. Don Miguel Ruiz

Thanks to Amy for inspiring me to put just a bit more energy into this. Objective: Comments. From who? From you, the person who is reading this right now.

If this becomes a meaningful conversation, I’ll keep going. If not, well I’ll probably keep going anyway. We’ll see.

What do you think?

--To Be Continued--

On this day in 1970 - Apollo 13 was launched. A few years later I had the priviage of playing 18 holes of golf with the command pilot Jack Swigert. I didn't fully realize what a great privilage this was until I saw the movie Apollo 13 a few years later.

On this day in: 1912 - The RMS Titanic leaves port in Southampton, England for her first and only voyage. 1916 - The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City. 1925 - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in New York, New York by Charles Scribner's Sons.


"In the past, we've always seen the big eat the small. In the new knowledge-based economy, the fast eats the slow. Speed is the new big… Technology has made it possible for human communities to behave like swarms of our own. We are more in touch and more attuned to our peers than ever before. (Creativity is the tool) to ignite and motivate the swarm." Chuck Brymer, president-CEO DDB Worldwide

In the new book Groundswell, two of Forrester Research's top analysts show how to turn this new force of customers connecting to your own advantage.
Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff show how leading companies are gaining insights, generating revenues, saving money, and energizing their own customers using the new tools of social networking.

From The Writer’s Almanac:

It's the birthday of Hugh Hefner, born in Chicago, Illinois (1926). He was brought up by strict Methodist parents. He was writing promotional copy for Esquire magazine when he got the idea for a new men's magazine that would be similar to Esquire but more daring.

Hefner financed the project with $600 of his own money, all the money that he had. He also raised about $10,000 by the sale of stock to friends. The result was Playboy magazine. The first issue featured a nude calendar photograph of Marilyn Monroe, which Hefner had bought from a calendar company for $200. It reached the newsstands in December of 1953 and sold out its press run of 53,991 copies at 50 cents a copy.


This article about CEO peer advisory groups was featured on the AOL front page today:
Voices of Experience Entrepreneurs are helping one another cope with the challenges of starting and growing a business.


I’m forming a new Franklin Circle peer advisory group for entrepreneurs, business owners, and creative managers. It is similar to other groups, but uses modern adult learning theory so that members learn more, faster, and have fun doing it. Ask me for an invitation to the next information session.

"Write about what you're afraid of." Writer Donald Barthelme, who was born today.