On this day...

Even within the most beautiful landscape, in the trees, under the leaves the insects are eating each other.
--Francis Bacon

Today, the phlox came up throughout central Pennsylvania, as they mark Memorial Day every year. Today, Memorial Day in the United States, was an especially beautiful day. Not especially sunny, but bright and full of color and shadow. A woodpecker tapped on a limb in my yard. I watched through my field glasses. Birds sung as though tuning their instruments, each type in its own spring leitmotif. A breeze threw all around the yellow pollen from the wide oak trees that surround my house.

I rode my bicycle this morning. I had a beautiful ride alongside the woods and, then, through neighborhoods in which lawnmowers droned their spring bagpipes to wake lazy neighbors. I was rewarded at the end of the bike path with a rest and absolute pure fuel for my soul. The remainder of the day was quiet and filled with reflection.

How, on such a day, could memories arise so cruel that many cannot feel the spring warmth, cannot see the new, seasonal light, cannot soak in the color of the wind? Cruel memories of loss. Cruel memories of strife. Cruel memories of war.

Something to be remembered from a song in popular during the Second World War:

Sweetheart, the night is growing old.
Sweetheart, my love is still untold.
A kiss that is never tasted,
forever and ever is wasted.

So, please, no kisses withheld, no time ever lost, no love untold. Nevermore. 

Henry Varnum Poor at Penn State Old Main Administration Building...

Portion of Old Main frescos highlighting student activities. Chris Koleno, photographer.
The frescoes in Old Main are always fascinating works of art.

Becoming a big fan of ThinkingRock and GTD...

I have become interested in the Getting Things Done (GTD) process organized by David Allen. GTD rests on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them somewhere. That way, the mind is freed from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks. The GTD process is summarized in this graphic from a great, free, crossplatform, Java application, ThinkingRock:

Click on graphic for a PDF copy I am a big fan of this software and the GTD process.

Some recent media activity on public radio and in Wall Street Journal...

Rose Baker and I were interviewed on a National Public Radio affiliate, WITF-FM, about our research on the economic impact of the pending layoffs at Hershey Foods in Hershey, Pennsylvania (see our Economic and Workforce Brief product). Here is the summary:

New report shows ripple effect of Hershey job cuts in the midstate 05/15/2007, Scott Gilbert
(University Park) -- Plans by The Hershey Company to cut as many as 900 jobs at three plants in Derry Township could impact nearly 1,600 additional jobs across Dauphin and Lebanon counties. That's according to research conducted by the Workforce Assessment Center at Penn State University. The report was co-authored by Education Professor David Passmore, who says layoffs in one industry impact several others.
Passmore sound snippet
Passmore notes that, for every 100 workers it employs, the confectionery manufacturing industry creates $10.5 million worth of compensation in Dauphin County’s economy. Researchers say the numbers demonstrate the need to set aside more career development funds to deal with the ripple effects of mass layoffs.

Also, the Wall Street Journal carried as today's lead story in the "Weekend Journal" section an article, "The Rise of MeMail," which contains an interview with me about the signature line in my e-mail. For as long as the link lasts, see the online version at the WSJ web site or see the PDF copy I made.

Now, for a cup of coffee!