Archive for April 29, 2010

MarkEdwardBrown | April 29, 2010
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The New York Times, Microsoft Power Point and the Enemy

I read an incredibly insightful article yesterday in The New York Times  The article written by Elisabeth Bumiller was about the Microsoft Power Point software program and how it can create an illusion of understanding and control of a situation when there really is none to be had in that point in time.

One of my favorite quotes from the article came from a Marine Corps General who said “PowerPoint makes us stupid,” Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. (He spoke without PowerPoint.)”

Military officers who have become experts at using the Power Point program have been named “Power Point Rangers” for their skill and efficiency at creating charts, graphs and special effects that are sometimes called “dancing balony”

One of my favorite military leaders had this to say “Gen. David H. Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and says that sitting through some PowerPoint briefings is “just agony,” nonetheless likes the program for the display of maps and statistics showing trends.”

I have to let it be known that I am a Power Point Ranger, the Microsoft application is not all bad however I have been in organizations where it is used entirely to much and if viewed too often, power point briefings cause extreme drowsiness most often caused by the briefer however the software application is the tool that is an extention of the person giving the briefing so briefers beware.

What kind of positive or negative experience have you had with Microsoft Power Point and do you think it is the “Enemy”?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

Mark Edward Brown

Category: Leadership | Tags: , , , , , , ,
MarkEdwardBrown | April 15, 2010
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Mark Edward Brown travels on Korean High Speed Train

   This past week I had the opportunity to travel across the Korean peninsula on the high speed “KTX” train.

This train is reported to go up to 300 kilometers per hour, that is about 186 miles per hour.

I can honestly tell you that I saw the speed displayed on the screen in the car that I was in and it did say “300 km/h”  I was impressed because this was the first time in my life that I have been a passenger on a high speed train.

It is true, I have never had the experience of riding on an Amtrack train and after riding the KTX I think it is something I could get accustomed to.  The ride was impressively smooth, in fact on my return trip to my destination I took a nap for about 45 minutes so there is no question that the seats were comfortable as well.

I would like to see the United States of America better develop it’s infrastructure of inter continental train travel however with the current state of regulation in America and all the politicians that have their hands in anything that even has a hint of profit in it, that is not likely.

What are your thoughts on high speed train travel?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

With my best regards from Korea,

Mark Edward Brown

Category: Leadership | Tags: , , , , , ,
MarkEdwardBrown | April 4, 2010
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Why Mark Edward Brown Got Mad This Week

Mark Edward Brown Mad

Every Sunday I reflect on the past week and stratagize on how I can make the upcoming week better.  This past week was a challenging one which made me angry because some low life hacker first hacked my  i-tunes account and bought  several items with my credit card that was on file at i-tunes.  This was  Monday morning, did you know that when I tried to reach their customer service I found out that you  have to pay them to assist you or resolve the problem you are calling them about?

I don’t know who the genius customer support dictator is over at apple but their definition of customer  support is un-American!  So finally when I do get an e-mail response from them they told me all sales are  final no matter what and I will have to initiate a charge back through my credit card company.

I immediately removed my credit card and froze my account with it-tunes and don’t plan to use their service again – they really ticked me off!

The very next day my yahoo e-mail account had been hacked into and I had to request the password and reset it.  Mr. Hacker got into my personal e-mail account, changed settings, deleted all my folders and sent a nasty e-mail to my wife and who knows who else.  The Yahoo customer service staff was very helpful and they recovered all of my data to my satisfaction – I am a big fan of Yahoo now, even bigger than before!

I informed my wife that these nefarious actions were taking place and as a result we had to cancel our debit cards, what a pain in the butt that was.  Now, I’m stuck in Korea with no access to my money until I get my new debit card.  Oh don’t worry, I always have a contingency plan and will be just fine.

I further discovered that that dirty, low life hacker hacked into my member accounts at the two Traffic Exchanges that I own and deleted my accounts out of there as well – arghhhhh….

My good friend and web wizard Dan Moses was able to recover my accounts quickly so that I did not lose any time in marketing and advertising my blogs or other websites.

All in all I was busier then a one legged man in a butt kicking contest so when the weekend arrived I was one happy dude.  I did a video conference with my wife and kids, wished them a Happy Easter, told them how much I Loved and missed them and I have been working away feverishly behind my key board ever since.

I don’t like to dwell on the negative aspects of life but what is one of the times when you had a memorably tough experience?  Leave me a comment and tell me how you got through it or got over it, I’m all ears.

To Your Success Always,

Mark Edward Brown

Category: Success, Connection & Networking | Tags: , , , , , ,