Have you ever listened to the radio?
Since it’s 2024, I need to tighten up that question a bit: have you ever listened to terrestrial radio on a device that was picking up the signal out of thin air? Today is National Radio Day, and today, terrestrial radio is getting kind of quaint as people choose satellite radio services, streaming music services, and apps designed to play any kind of radio - terrestrial included – anywhere you are, on whatever device you choose.
127 years ago, radio was born, and about 45 years ago, my career in terrestrial radio began. No one person is credited with the invention of radio – three inventors working independently followed and built upon the emerging science of wireless electricity and voila! A radio signal was first broadcast by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 using discoveries made by Nicola Tesla and Heinrich Hertz.
Broadcast radio made the world feel smaller and more like a community. Two decades after the very first successful...
Have you ever thought about belief? We think of our own beliefs as correct and even judge others based on whether they believe the same way we do or not. Our beliefs feel so real, and so true, that we can’t imagine how others could possibly believe differently.
And yet they do. And they always will. And that’s not just OK, it’s what keeps life interesting.
Today is the 13th anniversary of the end of the world. Well, except for that one small detail – it didn’t actually end 13 years ago. Harold Camping predicted the end of the world would happen in 2011, with the rapture occurring on May 21st and the physical world coming to an end five months later. He was a darling of the media, appearing on any and every news outlet that would have him, and focusing the programming on his Family Radio Network around the mathematical and theological certainty of his predictions. He believed. He believed with such fervor that he torpedoed his own reputation and spent...
Unless your eyes are just now opening for the very first time today, you already know today is Giving Tuesday. Today’s newsletter is short and sweet – if you’ll be giving today, please share the link to the organization you’re supporting. If you give at other times of the year, share the link. If you’ve got a group you’d like to give to and are waiting for the perfect time, share the link.
If you're on Linked In, share your links here: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6983192207608479744/
If you're on Facebook, share your links here: https://www.facebook.com/SandyJWeaver
Whether you give time, talent, or treasure, please share the group, organization, or cause you support. And on this Giving Tuesday, please remember to give to yourself, too. Here are three episodes of the world’s second-shortest podcast to help you remember that you matter, too.
Are you giving away your own power? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
Need to stop...
Full disclosure – today’s post is just for fun. OK, you’re right – fun is important for team cohesion, stress relief, and for mental wellbeing, so today’s newsletter might be useful, too.
And it’s mainly for fun, and yes, there’s a prize involved!
Do you love Halloween? I love Halloween – always have. Mom made our costumes because she loved Halloween, too. My two brothers and I were all sorts of craziness as we headed off to school on costume day, and as soon as I was old enough, I helped Mom with the make-up and accessories. There was that one year when I was sent home because my I Dream of Jeanie outfit was deemed too risqué for 5th grade, so I put on a pink t-shirt under the top, tucked it into the harem pants, and went right back and won a prize in the costume contest.
Fast-forward to adulthood, when Halloween got even more fun when the candy came with a side of adult beverages and semi-suggestive fun. (Yes, the leopard...
What do they do, these vet’s assistants?
They have the best job ever!
All day with kittens and puppies they play
Getting wags and kisses – so clever!
You’d almost pay to have their day
It just sounds so life-giving…
Vet technicians are almost magicians
Turning snuggles into a living!
What you don’t realize with those stars in your eyes
Kisses aren’t all they are getting.
Listen up, listen well – get a clue
And you’ll find out what techs really do!
Welcome to Veterinary Technician Week, a week that recognizes those who support veterinarians in caring for pets. There's a lot of misunderstanding about what vet techs do - let's clear that up, shall we?
Vet technicians – what people think they do:
Vet technicians – a partial list of what they really do:
Quick – think back to your early school days – were you bullied or were you the bully? Yes, those are the only two choices I’m giving you.
“But wait,” you might be thinking, “I wasn’t the bully and I wasn’t bullied.” OK, I hear you. Did you know someone who was being bullied? Did you do anything about it? No? Then you assisted the bully, putting you on Team Bully.
This way of thinking about bullying may feel very harsh to you, and you’d be right. It is harsh. It’s unrealistic to expect children to automatically step in to protect someone from a bully, because as humans we have a strong pull toward self-preservation. Plus, children’s brains aren’t fully developed and they don’t have the variety of life experiences, not to mention the confidence level, that would help them spot and report, or stop, a bully.
But we’re all adults here – let’s talk about the bullying that goes on in your...
Are you a rule-follower or a rule-flaunter? Most of us are firmly in the “it depends” category. Most rules we follow, some of them to the letter, and some we think don’t even apply to us or shouldn’t be rules at all. So why are there rules and why do we follow them?
A pair of researchers, Sven Steinmo and Celine Colombo, set about to understand why people follow rules, why the impulse or need to have and follow rules exists, and how well it’s working for humanity. They found that norms of trust and cooperation need to be an intrinsic part of members of society in order for that society to thrive and prosper. You don’t have to look very far to see where rules came from – religions, races, and governments have been the impetus for complex sets of rules intended to govern and control the behavior of the people in their sphere of influence.
Why do people choose to be part of something that seeks to control their behavior, even to the point...
Today, can you focus on spreading joy? Can you find ways to delight people you don’t know, probably won’t ever be friends with, and show them you see and appreciate them?
Why, you ask? Hang on – I’ll spill the beans. First, full disclosure – one of my current dogs is a therapy dog, the third one I’ve had the privilege of living with in my 40+ years of owning dogs. There’s something quite special, calming, and joyous about a therapy dog that they’re born with. You can train behaviors – therapy dogs are born with a heart and ability to connect that’s stronger than the normal dog.
There’s a holiday today inspired by a therapy dog. Since 2017, August 22nd has been designated as “Never Bean Better Day,” named after Bean, a medium-sized Golden Retriever who lived and warmed hearts in Morgantown PA. If you saw the Animal Planet show “The Haunted” Bean played Riley, the dog who could...
Today is National Relaxation Day and this week is National Aviation Week. What do those two have to do with each other and why should you care? This will tie them together, ease your stress, and give you wings, so read on.
Wilbur and Orville Wright didn’t have pilot’s licenses, and no one needs a license to chill.
The same year that the first states – Massachusetts and Missouri – began requiring drivers licenses of anyone who wanted to operate a car on public roads, Orville and his older brother Wilbur made the first powered flight. They didn’t even have drivers’ licenses, and certainly didn’t have pilots’ licenses because those hadn’t been invented yet. Neither brother had a high school diploma, neither attended college, and yet with their fascination for aviation, their insatiable desire for experimentation, and their commitment to manned flight in a heavier-than-air motorized vehicle, they made discoveries and...
Caution: cliché alert!!!
Yes, you’re right – this edition of the newsletter is about self-care. July is Self-Care month and yesterday was International Self-Care Day. And if you’re like nearly everyone else, me included, self-care isn’t at the top of your to-do list each day, and it needs to be, for both of us.
Why? Don’t make me point you back up to those cliches, ok? The reason phrases become repeated so often that they become trite and clichéd is because – drum roll please – they’re true. They resonate, and have resonated for decades, if not hundreds of years. And yet here we are, talking about how we neglect our own self-care.
How can we make our own care a priority? First, give yourself credit for the things you already do for yourself:
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