Please sign the petition below to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis currently in Kentucky’s Capitol Rotunda, and replace it with a tribute to Muhammad Ali, “the Louisville Lip” and “the Greatest of All Time.”
I just heard from the Ali family: It is the Champ’s belief that Islam prohibits three-dimensional representations of living Muslims. Accordingly, I have adjusted the petition to call for a two-dimensional representation of Ali (a portrait, picture or mural) in lieu of a statue.
UPDATE (Tuesday, December 2, 2014)
In this interview with WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold, Governor Steve Beshear endorses the idea of honoring Muhammad Ali in the State Capitol (although he disagrees with removing Davis). Arnold explores the idea further on his weekly show, “The Powers that Be.”
Click here to check out WDRB-TV’s Lawrence Smith’s coverage of the story.
And here’s my op-ed in Ali’s hometown paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal.
UPDATE (Saturday, June 4, 2016)
In the wake of the 2015 Charlestown tragedy, in which a Confederate flag-waving murderer united the nation against racism, all of the most powerful Kentucky policymakers — U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Governor Matt Bevin, Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo — called for the removal of the Davis statue from the Rotunda. Today, as we commemorate last night’s passing of Muhammad Ali, there is no better moment to replace the symbol of Kentucky’s worst era with a tribute to The Greatest of All Time.
UPDATE (Wednesday, June 8, 2016):
Great piece by Lawrence Smith of WDRB-TV in Louisville on the petition drive to replace Jefferson Davis’ statue in the Capitol Rotunda with a tribute to Muhammad Ali.
UPDATE (Thursday, June 9, 2016):
Excellent piece on the petition drive by Jack Brammer that was featured on the front page of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Highlight of the article:
Miller said he has received a few “angry comments” on his call to honor Ali.
“One of them encouraged me to kill myself,” he said. “You can quote me that I have decided not to take their advice.”
UPDATE (Friday, June 10, 2016)
The petition drives continues to show the Big Mo(hammed): check out these stories from WKYU-FM public radio in Bowling Green and WKYT-TV, Channel 27 in Lexington:
UPDATE (Saturday, June 11, 2016):
Still not convinced? Check out this excerpt from today’s New York Times:
In today’s edition of That’s What She Said, I interview recording artist Ms. Williams on men’s style.
Click here or on the image below to watch our interview. You’ll hear her take on the matter, including the ONE accessory that makes her run the other way when a guy wears it.
After you’re done watching the interview, make sure you take my style quiz to see how you rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jan 1, 2015 at 12:00 PM ET
One of the most common ways we talk to ourselves —or are supposed to —is through “Positive Self Talk” I discovered this idea about 25 years ago. We say positive things to ourself in the bathroom mirror each morning before starting our day. It puts us in a better frame of mind and helps us to have a better day.
But lately I have to admit that positive self-talk in my bathroom mirror in the mornings is getting harder. And I think my real self is finally on to my positive self-talking self. In fact, my positive self-talk affirmations are turning into dialogues with my real self. And at times has been getting a little tense. What happened this morning should not have come as a surprise to me.
Positive Self-Talk Self (PSTS): “Good morning there, fella. Alright. OK. Not bad. Really not bad at all.”
Real Self (RS): “That’s all you got for me this morning? ‘OK’ and ‘Not bad?’ Come on. ”
PSTS: “Well, it’s good. It’s good. It is. Certainly it could be worse. I mean…What do you want me to say?”
RS: “I don’t know. It would be nice to hear something good but I don’t want you to just lie to me. I don’t want you to even exaggerate. In fact, I want you to start shooting straight with me from now on. OK? No more with just this happy talk. Man to man. OK? If I am not doing alright, just say it. I’m 51 years old and can deal with it. ”
PSTS: (Gets quiet before answering) “Ok. OK. Yeah, John. I hear you. I admit, I have been laying it on a little thick lately. What do you want me to do? If I just tell you the truth, you will get mad and leave abruptly. And sometimes not talk to me for several days. And that’s not going to work for me anymore?”
RS: “What? ‘That’s not going to work for you anymore?’ You aren’t even a real full person. You are just some part of myself that is supposed to deliver good news to me, give me pep talks, and say encouraging things to me in the mornings. You know…. Help me see things from their most positive perspective and make me think that is the way they really are.”
PSTS: “Yeah, I know, John. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. For a while there —-through your 30s and 40s —I could do that with a straight face. But it’s getting harder with each passing year. I don’t know how much longer I can do this without losing touch with reality —and eventually losing my mind.”
RS: “Wait. Wait! PSTS, are you telling me that the last few yeas of positive things you’ve been saying to me were total BS?”
PSTS: “No, John. I didn’t say that. Not ‘total BS.’ Just…I am just not feeling it any more with you. I think I probably need to move on to a different person who I can say positive things about and really mean it. Or just not say anything at all.”
RS: “You know what? Get out of my bathroom. I mean it. Right now. This is the last time we are ever talking in the bathroom mirror –ever. Or any kind of mirror for that matter. Understand?!. Just GET OUT!” (mumble to myself “Phony poser wandering around my bathroom every morning. That’s not right. That’s just weird. I cannot believe that i.have let my PSTS in my bathroom every morning while dressing for the past 25 years. That’s crazy!”
That’s it. PSTS left. And now I feel terrible. I was way too hard on him. And, deep down, I know he is right and just didn’t know how to communicate it to me.
I hope he comes back tomorrow morning. I really feel awful now and could use one of his corny pep talks. Heck, I miss the little guy.
It is January. You are out at night holiday shopping with your kids. It is cold and you are starving. You worked all day and rushed home to pick up the kids so you could go shopping. Traffic is awful. It is 9 pm at night and you have not eaten since your noon lunch break. You have screaming, hungry kids. You do not have protein powder because you left it at home and there is no where to get a Quest bar. What do you do?
The above happens all the time. It has happened to me (minus the kids) and I am sure it has happened to all of you. The options are stop somewhere and eat or not eat at all. I do not believe in starving yourself just because you forgot to prepare orange roughy and green beans. You need to eat. You also need something fast. Therefore you may need to stop at a “fast food” restaurant.
Now before I go any further, this newsletter needs to come with a disclaimer. I am not advocating eating fast food on a regular basis, nor am I encouraging anyone to eat food that could be classified as “non food.” If at all possible we should prepare our own food and eat organic products. However, I understand this is not practical all the time (as my lovely client likes to tell me). So…I have compiled a list of better options to eat at several popular fast food joints if you had to eat there. So lets start with some rules on fast food dining:
Rule 1: Be cautious of condiments
Some fast food restaurants add a lot of fat and excess calories to their foods via condiments. Say no to the mayo and ranch.
Rule 2: Do You Want Fries With That? No!
Beware of anything that is fried like onion rings and french fries. Substitute fruit or a salad if at all possible.
Rule 3: No Liquid Calories
Say no the regular coke and sprite. At least order a diet coke (not advocating just saying) or even better a bottle of water.
Side note: Chicken Nuggets are never made out of chicken…At McDonald’s it takes 38 ingredients to make 1. Food for thought.
So now what? What can I eat if I absolutely need to eat something and fast food is my only choice? Here is a list of “better” alternatives at popular fast food restaurants (again refer to the PSA above):
Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich
270 calories
3.5 grams fat
1 gram saturated fat
65 mg cholesterol
940 mg sodium
3 grams fiber
33 grams carbohydrate
28 grams protein
Wendy’s Ultimate Grill Sandwich
320 calories
7 grams fat
1.5 grams saturated fat
70 mg cholesterol
950 mg sodium
2 grams fiber
36 grams carbohydrate
28 grams protein
Taco Bell Fresco Style Bean Burrito
330 calories
7 grams fat
2.5 grams saturated fat
0 mg cholesterol
1,200 mg sodium
9 grams fiber
54 grams carbohydrate
12 grams protein
McDonalds Grilled Snack Wrap with Honey Mustard OR Grilled Snack Wrap with Chipotle BBQ Sauce. Each:
260 calories
8 grams fat
3.5 grams saturated fat
45 mg cholesterol
820 mg sodium
1 gram fiber
27 grams carbohydrate
18 grams protein
Arby’s Santa Fe Salad With Grilled Chicken — not including dressing
(includes cherry tomatoes, red onion, corn and black beans, cheddar, and lettuce)
283 calories
9 grams fat
4 grams saturated fat
72 mg cholesterol
521 mg sodium
6 grams fiber
21 grams carbohydrate
29 grams protein
KFC Oven Roasted Twister (without sauce)
330 calories
7 grams fat
2.5 grams saturated fat
50 mg cholesterol
1,120 mg sodium
3 grams fiber
39 grams carbohydrate
28 grams protein
Chipotle Naked Chicken Burrito: No tortilla, sour cream, cheese, or beans with salsa, light rice and lettuce.
390 calories
11 grams fat
3 grams saturated fat
125 mg cholesterol
935 mg sodium
3 grams fiber
39 grams carbohydrate
36 grams protein
So this gives you choices from popular fast food restaurants on where to eat if you ABSOLUTELY had too. Use this knowledge with care. This should only be used on an as need basis. Also, if you are going to eat at a fast food joint, make sure the next day’s meals are clean and nutritious. You lose a lot of nutritional value not preparing your own food, especially if it is not organic.
Let me know your thoughts! And if you like this edition please share on your Facebook page or forward it to a friend who may gain some wisdom from it.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Dec 31, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
I am mad at my wife right now –at 12:50am — and am going to write about it on Facebook.
I am mad at Rebecca because she got a little exasperated with me for asking her a question again —and said I had asked her that same question 20 times and the answer was the same for the 20th time — that she didn’t know.
Then I decided I wouldn’t be talked to like that and pretended to go to sleep until Rebecca settled down and apologized for hurting my feelings.
For one thing, I didn’t really ask her that question 20 times. I only asked her 3 or 4 times. Or 5 times, maybe, tops. But definitely not 20. So she is exagerating about that. And she didn’t tell me she didn’t know the answer 20 times either. Just 3 or 4 times. Or 5 times, maybe, tops.
And to make matters worse, after I pretended to go to sleep waiting for Rebecca to apologize, she never even apologized. Or said anything at all. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. And then I waited a little more. Finally I said, “Good night,” to let her know I was serious about going to sleep and that she better hurry up and apologize fast before it was too late.
But she never did. She just said “Good night” back and went to sleep herself!! And now is in a deep dern sleep and I don’t know what to do because I never did go to sleep like I was pretending I was about to.
It sure doesn’t look like Rebecca is going to apologize to me tonight. And she probably won’t remember this whole episode tomorrow morning — and the need to apologize to me unless I remind her. But when I do that it usually doesn’t work out well for me —and somehow before it is all over I am the one apologizing to her. And I don’t want that to happen again.
I am thinking about coughing or stirring in bed to wake Rebecca up to give her one last chance to apologize. But the last time I did that Rebecca didn’t apologize at all and told me to quit coughing and quit moving around and go to sleep. Which made things even worse for me. And I don’t want that to happen again either.
So this time I am not going to wake up Rebecca but just write about her a little bit on Facebook — like I am now and calmly lay out my entire side of the story all factual-like and rationally and remind her how I didn’t wake her up or bring it up in the morning like in the past. I am simply going to tag Rebecca on this post.
If things go as planned, Rebecca will wake up and read this post and realize how she overreacted and what a great guy I am for not waking her up or reminding her about it the next morning and feel really bad about the whole thing. Bad enough to apologize to me for getting a little huffy with me and then tell me she knows I really didn’t ask her that silly question 20 times but only 3 or 4 times. Or 5 times, maybe, tops.
Oh…And after I forgive her and tell her not to worry about it she will tell me how much she loves me and what an amazing person and husband I am.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Dec 30, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
I am not doing this to brag. But I just considered, in my mind, running a 5K race —someday. And meant it. Not for sure. But meant it in the sense of “I’m kinda serious this time. I could actually see it maybe happening. It’s only, like, 3.1 miles.” In that sense.
Admittedly, this isn’t a definitive proclamation. And, no, it is not a Facebook announcement about something significant I recently achieved. But it is about something. In the past when I would think about running a 5k race one of these days, I never seriously believed it would ever happen. But this time, just now tonight, when I thought about one day running a 5K race —sometime in the next few years—I could see it “possibly happening.” Not for sure. Not even “more likely than not.” Heck, maybe only a 5% chance of actually occurring. But that is something. And maybe even closer to a 7% or 8% chance of running a 5K. And that was enough to get me excited. Excited enough to think seriously about it and knowing that even though it is unlikely, it is still possible that it could happen.
And that is what I am announcing tonight on Facebook.
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Tue Dec 30, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET
The center of Da Lat is mostly accommodations, with a huge variety in quality. There are places from $5 to $200 per night, so you should be able to find anything you want. The backpacker area is near the market where the going rate is $10-12 a night, but there is a huge variation in quality. Make sure you check out several different hotels as price doesn’t dictate the quality of rooms.
We headed downhill on Đường 3 Tháng 2 from the market with a Canadian couple. After viewing rooms in 4 places we found that there was little variation in prices, until we found a great little place that charged $6 a night. It was difficult to figure out the price due to their total lack of English. Finally they called a friend who spoke English and had me speak to them. The room was equivalent to the $10/night rooms in hotels surrounding it and had good Internet access.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Dec 29, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
At Dave Chappelle show at the Palace with Rebecca.
Great show…sitting in a sea of white people —each of whom is thinking “If Dave looks at me he will probably realize I am not as ‘white’ as the other white people around me.”
Until we look at each other in the audience. And realize Dave probably won’t think that.
===
The lowlight, for me, of the Dave Chappelle performance last night.
It was during the warm-up.
The DJ was trying to get the audience going and pumped up to cheer on Dave taking the stage.
He shouted, “How many 90’s babies do we have out there?” There was a big cheer.
“How ’bout let’s here it for the 80’s babies out there tonight.” Another big roar.
“All you 70’s babies in the crowd tonight, stand-up and let me heaaaar youuuu.” More cheering though a diminished amount.
And as I waited eagerly to stand up and rock it out for 60’s babies in the house, the DJ stopped at the 70s.
Asshole DJ. What are we? The grandparents driving the rest of the audience home?
Oh well. The joke was on him. I was too tired to stand up again anyway.
As an innovation junkie and geek wannabe I’ve been paying attention to 3D printing and the exploding maker movement. When I say paying attention, I mean reading about it, watching hackers and hobbyists make stuff, and wondering if there is more to the technology than the brightly colored plastic tchotchkes cluttering my desk. 3D printing really hasn’t affected me yet. That is until I recently chipped a tooth and with the bothersome pea-sized chip in hand had no choice but to visit our family friend and dentist, Dr. Robert Serinsky. Sometimes disruption has to hit you right in the mouth before you pay attention.
Now, I was no stranger to restorative dentistry. About seven years ago I had chipped another tooth that required a crown and don’t remember the process fondly. It required multiple, drawn out, not to mention expensive, visits to Dr. Serinsky. He first had to make a physical mold of my damaged tooth. The mold was then sent out to a local dental lab to cast a permanent crown while I was sent home with the inconvenience of a temporary crown made of a cured composite secured with temporary cement. Not pleasant! Weeks later, when my newly manufactured crown was back from the lab, I was summoned to the office for yet another lengthy dentist visit to secure it in place.
So you understand why I wasn’t a happy camper, facing the same fate again seven years later, while heading toward my dentist’s office with a similar sized chunk of tooth in hand. However, times have changed. This time instead of a physical mold that had to be shipped out to a lab for casting Dr. Serinsky inserted a digital camera in my mouth and the next thing I knew a digital image of my damaged tooth immediately appeared on a computer screen positioned right next to my dental chair. Dr. Serinsky knows I’m an innovation junkie so he went out of his way to demonstrate his new high tech capability. I watched my damaged tooth rotating in all of its 3D glory while he ran the design software to quickly and magically fit a digital crown on top of my chipped digital tooth. Voila! He even made a few manual tweaks to the digital crown using the computer aided design software, a little bit off the side here and a little smoothing there. I think the software had designed the perfect crown and he was just showing off in front of me!
It’s what happened next that blew me away and convinced me that 3D printing is a capability that will truly change the world, democratizing design and manufacuring. Dr. Serinsky pushed send on the computer keyboard and said come with me. He took me into another room in his dental office where he proudly pointed to a piece of equipment the size of a large microwave. The digital design of my new crown had been transmitted to a CNC (computer numerical control) milling machine. I have come to learn the difference between a 3D printer which deposits layers of material building up to form an object and a CNC milling machine which takes a block of material and carves out the desired object. I watched in awe as my crown was sculpted from a block of dental composite right before my eyes.
In about ten minutes, with my new crown in hand, it was back to the dental chair where it was expertly put in place permanently. Well, I hope permanently! I asked Dr. Serinsky if this new capability put the dental lab that he had routinely used to make crowns out of business. He told me he had just reviewed his budget and that his spending at the lab had actually increased. It turns out the lab is busier than ever focusing on non-routine higher value restorative work, it’s hard to get an appointment with Dr. Serinsky who is delivering better value to his patients, and I got a new crown in a single visit and a life lesson in disruptive innovation. Talk about a win-win-win! Disruption doesn’t have to have winners and losers if we get better faster at reinventing ourselves, and our business models.
I saw first hand the disruptive power of 3D printing. It enabled my dentist to be both a designer and a manufacturer. It has the potential to turn all of us into designers and manufacturers. It will change the world and create enormous economic value when we realize that design and manufacturing aren’t industry sectors, they are capabilities. Capabilities that when combined and recombined to create exciting new business models will unleash unlimited adjacent possibilities and enable us to co-create a better future. Sometimes disruption has to hit you right in the mouth before you pay attention.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Dec 26, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
There comes a moment in every man’s life when he has to admit that he is no longer a bad ass. Mine just came now.
I just got my very first flu shot ever at the age of 51. And I am already feeling a slight fever coming on.
And about 15 minutes after that moment of realizing you aren’t a bad ass anymore, you are forced to admit that you probably never were a bad ass in the first place. That moment just happened to me now, too. (Actually about 15 minutes after the first realization.)
While Googling to see if “bad ass” is one word or two before making a Facebook post about not being a bad ass anymore — or maybe ever.
Blog this!
