golB yM tuobA thgiR t'niA gnihtemoS

Long, long ago, David Rothman, of David Rothman fame, spoke to my group or organization about blogs and their usefulness to society. I, being the studious type, took notes. Included in the notes was a definition Mr. Rothman used for blogs. Blogs are a web page with "dated entries in reverse chronological order." Seems pretty simple, until you get to my other blog. For some reason, the blog has postings in reverse reverse chronological order, or, as I like to call it, chronological order. I see three parts to the definition. My blog missed by only one.

I thought it was funny, but I still wanted it corrected. (My first post wasn't so great, you see.) So I went to wordpress' web page for help (as it is a wordpress blog). They blame my web host service--specifically, the host's version MySQL or something. Their suggestion, since someone else noted that the host (which we share) had a response of "it ain't my problem," was to ask for a refund and get a new web host.

So, anyone with my web host be ready to ask for a refund, move to a new host, read backwards, or fail Mr. Rothman's simple definition.

And have a nice day.

Governor Heckles Library

According to an article in the Rochester Post Bulletin, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty "scoffed" at the idea of a grant to the Chatfield Brass Band & Music Lending Library. The library collects and loans sheet music. Pawlenty is quoted as saying a sheet music library "might be a nice idea, but is that a priority relative to zeroing out the Veterans Home?"

Perhaps someone might want to suggest to Pawlenty that both veterans' homes and libraries are valuable projects. He could try to fund both.

And have a nice day.

A Fine Description of Baseball

Now that March Madness has become the Final Four and, for some reason, very few people are talking about their "brackets," we turn to the start of the baseball season.



Minneapolis Star Tribune sports columnist Jim Souhan tells us in the April 2, 2008 print edition that Opening Day is not the best day in the baseball season. The best day is day 2, after all of the socialites have left and those who are actually baseball fans fill the stands--and will fill the stands for 6 months. He says "Among all of the entertainment options available to the American public, perhaps only baseball offers the prospect of a pleasant form of boredom." Well said.

So to all you baseball fans out there, enjoy the boredom.

And have a good day.

Shared Cognition and Group Satisfaction

Another article came through on my groupthink RSS feed:

Park, Hee Sun. "The Effects of Shared Cognition on Group Satisfaction and Performance." Communcation Research. 2008 Feb; 35(1):88-108.


Okay, this article isn't about groupthink. In fact, it doesn't even mention groupthink. But it is still a good article and I learned from it.


I have two thoughts on it. First, it discusses two "conversational constraints: politeness and efficiency." In polite conversation, you are "mannerly, courteous, and respectful." In efficient conversations, you are "direct, immediate, and to the point, not wasting time, energy, effort, or steps." This may be not be news to people reading this, but it is news to me. I'd put this almost on par with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as an important tool for communication. Just as an INTJ needs to understand that an ESTP is going to go about communication differently; a polite conversationalist needs to understand the difference with an efficient conversationalist.


Second, the author goes on for several pages talking about how the study was probably inaccurate and why. I love that! Perhaps I spend too much time following politics, where saying you're wrong is not in the playbook, but I love that scientists openly admit being wrong. Even when there are no indications of being wrong, they still say, "this warrants further study."

There's a certain level of being comfortable in your skin when you can say, "yeah, I believe this is correct, but double-check my work if you like."


A good read, and I learned a lot. But, rather than read this article, you might be better off reading the text on polite versus efficient conversation.


And have a good day.

State of the Union Address

I'll be honest. While I follow politics a bit, I tend to skip the speeches because they tend to not tell us anything. It's all show. So, I didn't watch last night's state of the union address. However, I did read about it in the newspaper. Two quotes caught my attention.

First, about taxes.

Others have said they would personally be happy to pay higher taxes. I welcome
their enthusiasm, and I am pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks
and money orders.

This demonstrates the immaturity of Bush which will be a major part of his legacy. Of course, an uncoordinated and unpredictable influx of money will be of little use to the government. You can always do more as a group than as an individual. Some people are suggesting we, as a society, look at ways to improve lives. Bush can't understand that idea; thus the sarcastic remark toward those who have an ability to understand.

The second quote is about trust:

So in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise
decisions, and empower them to improve their lives and their futures.

Certainly not a bad philosophy. One thing gnaws at me whenever I read Republicans preaching about trusting the people. Trust never comes up when talking about abortion or same-sex marriage. In those two instances, suddenly it's the government's job to step in, regulate, and tell the people what to do. Oh yeah, and write up amendments to the Constitution. And the trust keeps rolling in.

Yeah, after reading about the state of the union address, I feel secure in my decision to not watch political speeches. I'll listen to music, watch a television show, read a book, ... okay, okay, I'll surf the web.

And have a good day.

Groupthink and People Who Don't Get It

An unfortunate article came through my groupthink RSS feed today.
Butler M. Our HR columnist: Work is a team sport--but beware of 'group think' that ignores the needs of the organization. People Management. 2007 Nov 29;13(24):43.

This article is frustrating because Butler comes to the correct conclusion--beware of groupthink--even though every step on the way to those conclusions is just a bit off. Instead of acknowledging groups need to be cautious, he suggests that teamwork can be hazardous. No one, to my knowledge, is warning against teamwork. We are warned that group dynamics need to be monitored.

So, while Butler advises correctly that we need to be "eternally vigilant," I would not suggest promoting this article as ignorance seems to be the skeleton of the piece.

If you don't have access to this article, feel comfortable in keeping it that way.

And have a good day.

Groupthink and Citizen Juries in The Netherlands

A month ago, this article came across my groupthink RSS feed.
Huitema D, van de Kerkhof M, Pesch U. The nature of the beast: are citizen's juries deliberative or pluralist? Policy Science. 2007;40:287-311.

To be honest, this article is over my head, but here is what I got out of it. Citizens' (as opposed to penal) juries are minipublics. The conclusion of the article is that you need to design a citizens' jury based on what you want to get out of the jury. Deliberative juries would need to be formed and processed one way while pluralistic juries would need to be formed and processed another way.

Since juries are groups, precautions need to be taken to prevent groupthink. In a deliberative jury, special precautions need to be taken because there is a strong desire to build consensus. In a pluralist jury, there is a strong sense of authority which sends up a groupthink red flag.

A good and interesting read, even though I didn't understand all of it. Some day I'll learn enough to keep up. I suggest giving the article a read.

And have a good day.