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Freed Hostage Gadi Mozes: Walks 7 kms. Daily In a 2 sq meter cell
By Shlomo Maital
80-year-old Gadi Mozes, held hostage by Hamas for 14 months, agronomist, leading member of Kibbutz Nir Oz – has been released. Held in darkness, without his glasses for 70 days (broken), he recounted on his release that he walked 7 kilometers daily, despite being held in a tiny cell. How? He counted the floor tiles, knew the dimensions of each tile (about four to a meter) — and daily, made sure to walk 7 kilometers, keeping track by counting the tiles and pacing back and forth over the tiny floor area.
Why did he do this? I am roughly his age. I get it. I would have tried to do the same. Maybe with pushups as well.
Elderly men and women tend to suffer from sarcopenia: “a type of muscle loss that occurs with aging and/or immobility. It is characterized by the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass, quality, and strength. The rate of muscle loss is dependent on exercise level, co-morbidities, nutrition and other factors.”
In short: Seniors, use it or lose it. And all around us, well-meaning family and friends are solicitous of us, e.g. offering me seats on the train. Even when I choose to stand.
Sarcopenia is insidious. After you lose muscle mass, getting it back is really hard. I just now walked several kilometers, half of it uphill, and it was pretty hard, after a doctor-prescribed pause following cataract surgery.
So, seniors. Work out. Walk. Lift things (with bent knees). Resist pampering yourself. Use those muscles. You need them. Hard to get ‘em back when they weaken.
And, for Gadi Mozes. Incredible admiration for his resilience. First thing he said on returning: I will rebuild (my kibbutz) Nir Oz.
And he will. Anyone who can walk 7 kms. daily in a tiny dark cell can do anything.
Choosing Breakfast Cereal: Help!!!!
By Shlomo Maital
Remember the days when the choice of breakfast cereals was, basically, Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies?
Well, let’s do the math. An average supermarket these days allocates at least 35 linear feet of shelf space to breakfast cereals, comprised of 5 shelves each 12 inches high, or 60 inches in total in height, times 84 inches (7 feet) long. That is, 7 feet long times 5 shelves.
An average cereal box is 12 inches high and 8 inches in width. That means a 7 ft. shelf can hold up to 10 boxes per shelf, times 5 shelves, or 50 boxes. Some could be the same type and brand – say, half. So, there can be 25 different types of breakfast cereal on the shelf.
And this is a huge underestimate. 25 different cereals to choose from! Worldwide, there are an estimated 1,000 types of breakfast cereals. Perhaps half of those in the US alone.
Do we really NEED 25 different breakfast cereals on the shelf? Do we need KrustyO’s and Green Slime? (those two didn’t last long, for good reason!).
The breakfast cereal shelf in a supermarket is a microcosm of capitalism gone wild. It offers us a vast range of choices, that long ago ceased creating real value. Part of the breakfast cereal dynamic is the use of ‘sharp elbows’ to gain more shelf space, because that means selling more product. So, companies have a keen interest in proliferating brands, just to get more space on the shelf.
Let’s say, like me, you prefer Corn Flakes. You still have to search through 25 different kinds of cereal, just to find the one you usually like and buy. And it may be hard to find – because the sugary ones are the most profitable. So Corn Flakes may get the bottom far right shelf…Siberia. The science of product placement on shelves is very well developed.
So, if you shop at the same supermarket each week, can you get to know the placement of what you usually buy – and save cognitive energy? Sure – except, those diabolical shelf stockers keep mixing things up and changing locations. Mainly, to feature prominently more profitable, or newer, products. Sometimes, the stocking is done by the companies’ sales reps themselves…and they are diabolical!
The New York Times just published a neat article by Kashmir Hill, who used AI to help her make daily choices and simplify life. Worth reading… but, alas, not much help when it comes to finding Corn Flakes hiding under big boxes of Green Slime. *
Kashmir Hill. “I took a decision holiday and put AI in charge of my life”. NYT Nov. 1 2024.
Pile-On Meetings: How to Fight ‘Stovepipes’
By Shlomo Maital
Kathleen Finch
Kathleen Finch is the chief programming officer for several cable TV channels: HGTV (Home & Garden Channel), Food Network and Travel Channel. Her job requires a great deal of creativity, in keeping programming fresh, relevant and lively for viewers.
Interviewed in today’s International New York Times, she reveals some of her methods for maintaining creativity. One of them is called “pile-on meetings”. I believe this is a remedy for stovepipe management – that is, narrowly defined management responsibilities, vertical ones, with very little interaction or overlap for creative ideas. Stovepipes are one of the reasons that big organizations with detailed vertical organizational charts struggle to innovate.
“I have a meeting every few months that I call a pile-on meeting,” she told the NYT. “I bring about 25 people into a room and go over all the different projects that are coming up in the next 6 months and the goal is that everybody piles on with their ideas to make those projects as successful as they can be. The rule walking into the meeting is that you must forget your job title. I don’t want the marketing person just talking about marketing. I want everyone talking about what they would do to make this better. It is amazing what comes out of those meetings!”
Another key insight? “I love when things don’t go right, because it’s a good time to talk about taking smart risks. If everything worked all the time, that would mean we’re not trying anything crazy, and it’s the crazy ideas that end up being the really successful ideas.”
Again, another reason big organizations fail to innovate. Who would attempt anything, in the corporate world, that could well fail?
TIMnovate 