Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Twin Cities Summer Music Opportunities: Get Out and Enjoy!
This year, the Minnesota Orchestra said goodbye to its music director, Osmo Vänskä, who led the orchestra for nearly two decades and has been a pillar in our arts community. During his farewell tour, many fans have shared stories of Vänskä performing throughout the cities and prioritizing our community, reminding me of how lucky we are to have this flourishing community.
Friday, June 17, 2022
Is that the Real McCoy?
The fake items were sold by street vendors to persons who might not be likely customers for the genuine products, so actual “lost sales” to the brand owner were questionable. In most of these situations, purchasers would have (or should have) a fairly good idea that they were not purchasing a genuine product, so lack of quality would not be a surprise or blamed on the brand owner.
Friday, June 10, 2022
Digital Assets: Lathrop GPM Takes on Consensus
Author: Julian Sansano
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
A Hawaiian Sojourn
Author: Dara Alvarado
As we are getting into warmer weather here in Kansas City, and, finding myself hard at work inside, it’s hard not to reminisce about my time in Hawaii last October. I was lucky enough to visit Maui in October. My husband and I went for about a week.It was our first time traveling to Hawaii and we had a connecting flight through LAX. We went through security, got to our gate, checked our tickets (awesome, a two-hour flight), engaged in some people-watching, and had some snacks while waiting for the plane. Fast forward—we are onboard and flying. One hour passes. Two hours pass. At three hours, I begin to wonder. I turn to my husband and ask, “Why are we still in the air?!” Yes, you’re right—the flight was actually six hours instead of two. We did indeed land in Hawaii two hours after our departure from Los Angles, but we forgot about the time difference.
We were exhausted from our supposed two-hour flight, but seeing this scenery definitely made the six-hour plane ride worth it. We drove to our first stop where we had an Airbnb for a few days. We stayed on the north side of the island – more remote and more scenic than the west side. Below is the view from our window.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
Brian Klaas, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us (Scribner, 2021)
It’s a view of human nature that we all accept. It tends to shape how we view our political affairs, our economic institutions, our business practices, and really any realm of human endeavor. It is expressed as an aphorism of only two words: “power corrupts.”
Political Scientist Brian Klaas—a Minnesotan, a contemporary of one of my daughters at a local high school, a graduate of two institutions of higher learning with which I am familiar, and now a professor at the University of London—has set out to examine this idea in light of the question, “Does power corrupt or are corrupt people drawn to power?”
The answer, it seems, is yes—both are true. While Klaas’s analysis focuses on obviously nefarious activities, he includes some aspects of corporate endeavor and business behavior along the same spectrum. His focus is on people who have wielded “enormous power,” be they “cult leaders, war criminals, despots, coup plotters, torturers, mercenaries, generals, propagandists, rebels, corrupt CEOs, [or] convicted criminals.”
Thursday, April 21, 2022
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming? Or Maybe the FTC
In a meeting with business leaders on March 21, Joe Biden gave the following warning:
“This is a critical moment to accelerate our work to improve domestic cybersecurity and bolster our national resilience. I have previously warned about the potential that Russia could conduct malicious cyber activity against the United States, including as a response to the unprecedented economic costs we’ve imposed on Russia alongside our allies and partners. It’s part of Russia’s playbook. Today, my administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks…….
If you have not already done so, I urge our private sector partners to harden your cyber defenses, immediately implementing the best practices we have developed together over the last year. You have the power, the capacity, and the responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of the critical services and technologies on which Americans rely. We need everyone to do their part to meet one of the defining threats of our time — your vigilance and urgency today can prevent or mitigate attacks tomorrow.”