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AI: Writing Still Counts, But Rarely as Stand-Alones, Employers Only Willing to Pay for Good-Enough

  With exceptions - there are always exceptions - the art of writing no longer provides a platform for earning a living and overall career enhancement. The exceptions range from thought leaders like Brad Karp at law firm Paul, Weiss to seasoned mystery weavers such as Stephen King. But given trends especially the embrace of AI, that skill, which used to be drummed into youth from the early grades, is a tough sell as a stand-alone. Those young people and their parents who contact me The Intuitive Coach about "becoming a writer" I tell: Only as a tool such as for editing what AI generates or job-search materials.  In addition, it's a great hobby, as proved out by the variety of personal-enrichment writing courses offered by a community college such as Owens in Toledo, Ohio. I have lectured at senior centers about putting together a memoir for family. Also, that mode of self-expression can provide effective therapy. I do pro-bono outreach training for those in recovery to op...

Epstein's Sprawling Network: Not Only Elite Lawyers, Professors But Also Medical Doctors

Drs. Eva Dubin, Jess Ting, Bruce Moskowitz and more. All elite medical doctors and all embedded in Jeffrey Epstein's network serving not only the monster's needs but also those of "the girls."  As The New York Times documents, as with his dealings with lawyers and university types, the ethics were questionable. Moreover, the networks were overlapping. Lawyer Kathy Ruemmler not only received pricey four-figure gifts from Epstein and career mentoring. She also was able to loop into quality healthcare, thanks to Uncle Jeffrey. BTW, that included his reminding her to schedule her annual mammogram. After this expose from the Times, one wonders if Ruemmler will be able to hang on at Goldman Sachs until June 30th, 2026.  Maybe it was naive: Some of us tended to think of medical doctors as toiling selflessly on behalf of humanity. As one medical doctor told me: If I were out for wealth I would have gone to Wall Street. Sure, he made enough for his family to be financially co...

BoomerVille: Smug Is So Yesterday

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  Yesterday I took a three-hour road trip to take in the last of winter at Geneva on the Lake in Ohio.  Shopped. Nice meal out for dog Bentley and myself.  Obviously, I was smug about my financial situation. That was yesterday. Today the Dow shifted down more than 700 points. As CNBC reports: "Stocks slipped on Friday after the  latest producer price index data  came in much hotter than expected, adding sticky inflation to a list of concerns that has caused market turbulence this month." What's reality is that no one knows what will happen next. There are the opinions. But they are just that - opinions.  At the Buddhist Temple of Toledo there was a talk Wednesday evening on how to remain present and calm, no matter what life throws at you. That followed formal training in meditation. Should Boomers take to the cushion? Success is a mental game. Failure comes from being done in by the “committee” in your head. Together, we liberate your thinking. Then we c...

Not Hired Because of Your High Intelligence? Maybe

Academia establishes and keeps reinforcing showcasing high intelligence. For example, you are encouraged to challenge with thoughtful questions. But even there, as I observed during my time in that system, it's not unusual to wind up being penalized for being, well, too smart for your own good. Recall the old adage: Would you rather be right or successful? Outside academia, this seems to be standard. That is, sidelining professionally the highly intelligent. Reddit introduces the subject: "Factoring out experience, wages, etc. Have you ever been rejected or you know someone who has because your/their intellect might be too good or perceived as problematic?" The more than 250 replies tend to 1) Agree this happens and 2) Explain why that might be a pattern. I second: This happens and frequently. I have experienced those smarter than I - even Mensa smart - get turned down for jobs and contract assignments. Overall, the reason seemed to be that they were obnoxious. Always run...

Prestige: Should It Be Taken Off the Market?

  Academics such as Leon Botstein, Noam Chomsky and David Gelernter usually don't acquire extreme wealth like Leon Black and Bill Gates. But, as The Wall Street Journal reports, Jeffrey Epstein nurtured them just as he did billionaires. That was to enhance his prestige aura. Not only did he use them for name-dropping. And he did plenty of that. He needed to extend his reach. That included landing an office in Harvard. And it was available to him after his conviction. It was located in the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics in Harvard Square. The same Epstein drill went on with many in branches of professional services, such as practicing law. Those primarily turn out millionaires, not billionaires or trillionaires. Name drop, Epstein did. And legal thought leaders such as Brad Karp at Paul, Weiss certainly did their part in generating stimulating dinner-party conversation.  So, scrutiny about what went very wrong that could create a global public menace like Epstein now include...

Radical Surrender: Irrelevant How Fallen Friends of Jeffrey Got into Mess

  Bill Gates does the mea culpa at the Foundation's town hall. Melinda was right to dump him. Larry Summers will never be associated with Harvard again. Remember when he was president of Harvard. Harvard will probably never be Harvard again. Nobel Prize winner Richard Axel resigned as co-director of Columbia University's Mind Brain Institute. That's just the latest reputational ruin and more from being a Friend of Jeffrey. So many other careers have collapsed. More will be in tatters. How will Bard College president Leon Botstein wind up in the WilmerHale investigation? Who knows, Woody Allen could also get roughed up. As if the Farrow family didn't cause him enough trouble. What to do? For the rest of their lives they might play out in their heads and over too many drinks with someone trusted how they became so embedded in the Epstein web. But there they are. It's documented in the emails, videos, photos and more.  There's no going back. There could be a way fo...

BoomerVille: End of an Era with Death of "Father Knows Best" Kitten (Lauren Chapin)

How many of us Boomer females wanted to be Kitten! Just like we had wanted to be Caroline Kennedy.  Kitten was that cute younger daughter on "Father Knows Best."  Played by Lauren Chapin she seemed to hold a special place in Jim Anderson's heart. And unlike our working class fathers who chowed down food at all hours in the kitchen because of shift work, Kitten's wore a suit as an insurance salesperson, was always home for dinner in a dining room and listened. Anderson even smiled when she said something cute. Most of our own fathers were too bone tired to notice we were there. At the time I didn't realize Kitten was my age. Starting at nine years old. Back then, with the darkness of Depression-era parents ever present (mostly fearing another economic collapse), we offspring tended to be born old. Never be young.   Well, Chapin has died, at the age of 80. My age. Like so many of us she did run into health problems. For her it was cancer. As the saying goes, life in...