Regression can be a good thing. In software and statistics, it's a technique used to find mistakes, "regression to the mean" can be an elegant way of saying "cut down to size," and in our work, we're always looking back through history for inspiration and guidance. An old song, (or two) (or three) revived, repurposed, and put to good use can bring joy on a dark day. But when 99% of the population is going in reverse in their daily lives, comfort is not often the result...
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"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood..."
--Robert Frost
 War-Time Presidents, Precedents
There's ample war-time precedent for what it takes to be a war-time president, and Donald Trump is falling short in every conceivable way... Read More...
bit.ly/wartime_p
 Areas Of Repression
COVID-19 often kills by quietly destroying your lungs; by the time you start feeling pain and find yourself gasping for breath, it's too late. Let that not be the same for our country... Read More...
https://bit.ly/trump_repres
 Areas Of Regression
You know you've regressed when words spoken nearly eighty years ago seem to be a dream and plagues illuminate the landscape like an asteroid streaking across the sky... Read More...
https://bit.ly/trump_regrep
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"The only thing we have to fear...is fear itself..."
--Franklin D Roosevelt
 Linear regression is the crown jewel/magic wand of statistics, and with media literacy at a premium, a movement is growing to require it in high school, maybe even middle. It would likely replace calculus, which it may turn out, is better suited to the elementary grades... Learn More...
https://bit.ly/statsv_calc https://bit.ly/regress_less (lessons)
https://bit.ly/elem_calc
 You can't regress if you've never moved forward. Welcome back to the 18th century, before America was even a twinkling in our eyes, and the unique village of Waterford, Virginia, the land that time has been kicked out of, for better and, occasionally, worse... Learn More...
 Just doing your job can be 21st century citizenship if you're in public service, pandemic optional. This year's Sammies, which honor the nation's best civil servants, have taken on a poignant air, but expected to be amazed and inspired by their stories, ripples of hope for what lies ahead... Learn More...
https://bit.ly/sammies_stories https://bit.ly/covid_service
 COVID has left us seeking more meaning and measure; one victim may ultimately be GDP (and good riddance). There are a cornucopia of alternatives being put forward, and several are building themselves--and their cases--online, including the Happy Planet Index, the Social Progress Index, the UN's Human Development Index, and the OECD's Better Life Index...
https://bit.ly/hap_planet https://bit.ly/un_hdi
https://bit.ly/social_prog https://bit.ly/bet_life
 In the last month, COVID has been increasingly compared with the Depression, with a focus on Trump and Hoover--e.g. we've learned much about uncanny similarities between them and what the former could learn from the latter (lol). Hoover was particularly infamous for repeatedly declaring that "prosperity is around the corner" (sound familiar?) but in fairness, most Americans expected a "return to normal" that never came... Learn More...
https://bit.ly/hoover_spin https://bit.ly/trump_learn
https://bit.ly/after_shocks |
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More from Frank: Get access to the newsletter archives here, and check out the full Pivot Points blog & archive (July 2010-June 2013 here), as well as our Working The Pivot Points and Renewing the Dream websites.
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