Episodes
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
In May 2022, Wisconsin legislators Robin Vos and Kevin Nicholson conveyed that they were open to the idea of arming teachers. Wisconsin isn’t a state that embraces the practice of school staff carrying firearms, but that makes it an exception to the norm. Per usconcealedcarry.com, 32 states allow teachers and staff to “effectively protect children with concealed carry of a firearm.” What are the variables to consider when making the decision to arm school staff? When we think about guns and schools, we might overlook the growing sport of high school trap shooting. What are the benefits of high school clay target shooting teams? In Wisconsin, more than 85 high school teams feature with more than 2,000 student athletes competing in clay target leagues. This show’s guest is a long-range, pistol, and 3-gun firearms shooter who has competed on national-level circuits for 15 years and coaches youth interested in competitive shooting. Joining us from the rolling hills of Kentucky to unpack these questions is Bending Ballistics. ARMING TEACHERS. The matter of teachers carrying guns in school is multifaceted, including culture, safety, training, and liability. A popular argument supporting this position is that armed staff would be able to immediately confront an armed intruder. Most school shootings concluded in under 10 minutes, and for some schools - especially in rural areas, police might be 20 minutes away. The loudest opposition to arming educators is that arming staff sends a stark message that schools are no longer “safe” places. By arming staff, the school is implicitly expecting an armed intruder. Second, in a moment of extreme duress and confusion, it’s unrealistic for a teacher to be expected to transform into a specially trained law enforcement officer. What if a teacher shoots an innocent student by mistake? BENDING BALLISTIC’S THOUGHTS ON ARMING TEACHERS. He doesn’t think teachers should carry at school. Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) respond to an active shooter situation seeking the individual with a firearm. What happens when an LEO enters an active shooter call to a school and happens upon an armed teacher running around a hallway corner? Another consideration is a local LEO deputizing staff, which might require them to complete specific firearms training and competencies. That includes range time, classroom studies, and figuring out school policies and procedures for carrying and using a firearm in a school. Who pays for ongoing training? While Bending Ballistic feels this is an OK idea, it would also place a burden on the local LEO - which is running tight on staff and budget. BENDING BALLISTICS ATTENDED A SCHOOL WITH 4 SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS AND PRIVATE SECURITY. Despite that high level of overt security, Bending Ballistic noted that his school was “pretty violent.” Is adding more security personnel an answer to violence prevention and safer schools? HIGH SCHOOL CLAY TARGET LEAGUES. From wiclaytarget.com, “The USA High School Clay Target League is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and is an independent provider of shooting sports as an extracurricular co-ed and adaptive activity for high schools and students in grades 6 through 12. The organization’s priorities are safety, fun, and marksmanship – in that order. The League attracts student athletes that have earned their firearm safety certification to participate in shooting sports while creating a “virtual” competition among high school teams at no cost to the schools. Family travel costs are minimal because practice and competition are conducted at a shooting range near the school’s location. The league is also the safest sport in high school, with no reported injuries since the inception of the League in 2001. BENDING BALLISTICS COACHES YOUTH ON SHOOTING SPORTS. From teaching the safe handling of firearms to the rules and strategy of shooting sports, Bending Ballistics has observed youth increase their confidence and skills - setting and achieving goals. Some receive college scholarships. ZERO TOLERANCE SCHOOLS AND CLAY TARGET LEAGUES. Doc noted that a barrier to schools having Esports teams was that a character using a cartoonish gun or inflicting violence, as in Super Smash Brothers, violated the district’s zero tolerance policy for firearms or violence. Have clay target teams been denied due to similar interpretations of school policies? Doc shared that his school district has a trap shooting team and he doesn’t feel that it contradicts a safe school environment. IMAGES: Avatar and target provided by Bending Ballistics. Target sights #28139 by Clker-Free-Vector-Images / 29539 Free for commercial use, no attribution required Pixabay license. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE, BLOG & BOOKS: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David P. Perrodin, PhD. This podcast and blog post represent the opinions of David P. Perrodin and his guests to the show. This is episode 192 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 10-29-2022.
Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Books:
- School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times. www.velocityofinformation.com
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
What motivates people to seek and maintain fitness and wellness? How do expectations for fitness and wellness differ for younger people and older people? Do chaotic events, such as a pandemic or health scare, catapult people toward action to increase fitness and wellness? What feedback or rewards help people to stay motivated and act in ways to promote fitness and wellness? In this show, fitness professional Megan Usui helped us to understand and find answers to those questions. In addition, Megan and David time travel to March of 2020 to inform a hypothetical national fitness campaign. ABOUT MEGAN USUI. Megan Usui has worked as a fitness director, personal trainer, weight loss coach, gym designer and group fitness instructor at health clubs, weight loss and biofeedback centers in California, New York, Virginia and Washington State, including the Washington Athletic Club in downtown Seattle. WHAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE TO SEEK AND MAINTAIN FITNESS AND WELLNESS? Megan begins by asking, “How can I help you?” She also guides people to define the concept of “fit.” Most of her clients aren’t seeking to improve their time running a mile. Megan educates clients about better eating habits. What are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats? She made a color-coded food type and portion wheel for her sons. HOW DO EXPECTATIONS FOR FITNESS AND WELLNESS VARY FOR PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT AGES? Megan shares that BOOMERS want to do basic things like get down on the floor and play with their grandkids or walk up the driveway without huffing. Megan talked about “Silver Sneakers,” a program available from Medicare at no cost for adults age 65+ and honored by most gyms. GEN X wants to stay active. These are people in their 40s or early 50s and want to look better and keep up with their now-in-their-20s children. MILLENNIALS tend to plug into whatever app or fitness equipment is available to them. They buy expensive Peloton bikes and are happy to stay at home. TEENS associated fitness with ‘coolness,’ although that doesn’t seem to be true today. Megan shared that frustrated parents come to her asking for ways to get their screen-addicted kids out of their rooms. Teens are interested in their virtual presence. DO CHAOTIC EVENTS, SUCH AS A PANDEMIC OR HEALTH SCARE, CATAPULT PEOPLE TOWARD ACTION TO INCREASE FITNESS AND WELLNESS? At the onset of the pandemic, some people hid under a blanket when their gym closed. Other people bought all the fitness equipment that they could. Are we a fighter? Or, are we someone that flees? Surprisingly, chaotic events don’t motivate the populace toward fitness. WHAT FEEDBACK OR REWARDS HELP PEOPLE TO KEEP MOTIVATED AND ACT IN WAYS TO PROMOTE FITNESS AND WELLNESS? As for FitBits, wearables, and online fitness leaderboards, Megan believes those appeal to some people, but are incomplete. And, who are you accountable to? An app? So, they might get 10,000 steps a day, but are they improving their overall health? And, individual rewards mean more than a mass-produced fitness patch. FITNESS AND FORTITUDE CAMPAIGN. How might the American government introduce a civilian fitness program designed to encourage people of all ages and abilities to improve their health and fitness through formal physical exercise training and other wellness activities? What was possible in March and April of 2020? (The following excerpt is from ‘The Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times’ (2022). “We know fitness and nutrition are good for everyone, for all living creatures. Not just good for the body, but good for the mind. [T]he COVID-19 fitness research was falling into place, too. In a July 2020 study published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, researchers wrote, ‘The practice of physical activities strengthens the immune system, suggesting a benefit in the response to viral communicable diseases. Thus, regular practice of adequate intensity is suggested as an auxiliary tool in strengthening and preparing the immune system for COVID-19.’” Megan noted that music is a motivator in group exercises. She suggested that a contemporary national fitness campaign might be similar to the 1985 charity song “We Are the World” that was played around the globe with a message to prompt the listener to make a decision to give support and save others’ lives (famine) because in doing that, they are indirectly saving the whole human race. Recording artists, celebrities, and influencers could partner with Nike for a “Just Do It” type of song about moving and in that song, demonstrate squat, push, pull. Merely listening to the song might evoke some volitional muscle contractions! The tune could be called “The Pandemic Shuffle.” SAFETY DOC WEBSITE, BLOG & BOOKS: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David P. Perrodin, PhD. This podcast and blog post represent the opinions of David P. Perrodin and his guests to the show. This is episode 190 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 10-12-2022.
Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Books:
- School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times. www.velocityofinformation.com
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
What is comorbid chaos, how is it different from other types of chaos, and what are its consequences for societies and individuals? Doc explains the markers of uncertain times and reads an excerpt from his book, The Velocity of Information: Human Thinking During Chaotic Times. COMORBID CHAOS. (Pages 144-45) “This fourth state of chaos includes qualities of Extended and International chaos events with the addition of one or more secondary, population-level chaos events that are intermediate and regional or extended and international. The secondary event happens concurrently with some or the entire primary event. In addition, chaos at this level oscillates in intensity. For example, there may be civil unrest affected by weather patterns (e.g., protests taper off on rainy days). Populations exhibit a lack of trust in government and authority. There is a corresponding loss of credibility by those in authority due to changing narratives.” EXAMPLES OF COMORBID CHAOS. Examples of comorbid chaos include The Great Depression from 1929 to 1939 confounded by the 1931–1939 Great Plains Dust Bowl and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in conjunction with racial justice protests. THE GREAT DEPRESSION. The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. In 1932, many politicians, businessmen, and journalists started to contemplate the possibility of massive revolution in the United States. In fact, thousands of the most desperate unemployed workers began raiding food stores (1). By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its lowest point, some fifteen million Americans were unemployed and nearly half the country’s banks had failed (2). Economic stability gradually returned in 1939 due, in part, to government New Deal projects that reformed financial systems and put people back to work. Many people who lived through the era distrusted banks and would no longer buy goods using credit. THE DUST BOWL. But before the economic improvement, the Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression. In 1931, severe drought hit the Midwestern and Southern Plains of the United States. As crops died, crumbling topsoil from over-plowed and over-grazed land led to powerful dust storms that pummeled the region (3). “Residents crawled to safety in the dust (summer) storms and ‘snust’ (winter) storms. Many towns were abandoned (4)” Hundreds of people succumbed to what doctors at the time called “dust pneumonia,” a respiratory illness caused by tiny inorganic particles in the windblown dust (5). Famine gripped the region as it was impossible to sustain livestock. “Cattle went blind and suffocated. When farmers cut them open, they found stomachs stuffed with fine sand (6).” RECENT EXAMPLES OF COMORBID CHAOS. Since March 2020, there have been two instances of comorbid chaos in the world. PANDEMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE PROTESTS. The epoch of March 2020 through January 2022 was marked by the pandemic as the primary event with episodic anti-racism demonstrations serving as the secondary event. INFLATION AND WORLD CONFLICT. The consumer price index climbed 7% in 2021, the largest 12-month gain since June 1982, according to Labor Department data. Gasoline prices also approached $5 a gallon in many parts of the United States. Inflation, which many pundits speculate to be higher and more severe than official statistics, brought further instability to the roaring housing market and faltering supply chain. On February 24, 2022, Russian invaded Ukraine, leading to military conflict, over 2 million people fleeing Ukraine, and widespread sanctions applied to Russia. The world was brought closer to the first use of nuclear weapons since World War II. CITATIONS: (1) Marx, Jerry D. “American Social Policy in the Great Depression and World War II.” VCU Libraries Social Welfare History Project. 2011. http://socialwelfare.library .vcu .edu /eras /great -depression /american -social -policy -in -the -great -depression-and -wwii. (2) History.com Editors, Great Depression History. (3) American Experience. “Surviving the Dust Bowl. Timeline: The Dust Bowl.” PBS. n.d. https://www .pbs .org /wgbh /americanexperience /features /dust -bowl -surviving-dust -bowl/. (4) Gordon, Dan. “When Deadly Dirt Devastated the Southern Plains.” The Denver Post. May 12, 2011. https://www .denverpost .com /2011 /05 /12 /when -deadly-dirt -devastated -the -southern -plains. (5) Williford, James. “Children of the Dust. The Dirty Thirties as Witnessed by People Who Were Actually There.” Humanities 33, no. 6. National Endowment for the Humanities. November/December 2012. https://www .neh .gov /humanities /2012 /novemberdecember /feature /children -the -dust (6) Gordon, Deadly Dirt. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David P. Perrodin, PhD. This is episode 173 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 03-15-2022.
GET DOC’S BOOKS. Purchase the preeminent book of scholarship for an uncertain epoch from your favorite bookstore or online retailer and recommend it as a purchase for your local library! The Velocity of Information: Human Thinking During Chaotic Times (2022) by David P. Perrodin.
Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Books:
- School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times. www.velocityofinformation.com
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Doc calls our attention to the strange disappearance of civic organizations in America. Peaking in the 1960s, tiny villages and big cities bustled with volunteers of all ages to build parks, serve as crossing guards, hold free throw shooting contests for kids, work voting stations, and pass local knowledge from generation to generation. There was a time when people prioritized the time to gather at local restaurants to discuss ways to volunteer and improve their community. HISTORY. Civic organizations in the US were closely tied to church-affiliated groups (Knights of Columbus), fraternal organizations (Freemasons), and also unions. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is an organization of U.S. war veterans. And while VFW posts were practically in every community in America following WWII, membership is dwindling and posts have been closed and consolidated. “Per a 2021 article by Faith Bottum of the Wall Street Journal, “The VFW has around 1.5 million members, a drop of a million from 1992. The average age is 67, with 400,000 members over 80. The largest organization of veterans' clubs, the American Legion, has two million members, down from 3.3 million in 1946.” POPULAR CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS. Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Jaycees, and Optimists are among the well-known volunteer groups of the latter half of the twentieth century. Most have been reduced to a small fraction of their halcyon days. According to a 2020 article by Payal Gangishetti of Nonprofit Sector News, “The Jaycees, founded in 1920, is a leadership training and civic organization for people between the ages 18 and 40. [It’s] peak membership was 360,000 in 1976 and today has just 12,000 members in the United States. Doc recalls the village Jaycees chapter building a playground near the river in the community of 1200 where he was raised in northern Wisconsin. “The park is still there,” noted Doc. “The Jaycees and other civic organizations' names and logos adorn the ‘Welcome to Town’ signs, but for practical purposes, the organizations are extinct. Maybe their endowment funds their fee for the placards on the main roads heading into town?” LOSS OF VESTING TO BUILD COMMUNITY CONNECTEDNESS AND PERSONAL PURPOSE. As Doc researched the relationship between volunteering in civic organizations and community safety, the literature review was similar to driving a car that was out of alignment. Everything pulled in the direction of how the individual benefited from volunteering and much less was written about the collective benefit of society or of the community. Doc interprets this as false-memory solipsism. In other words, the core value of a civic organization (as written in numerous articles) is the fulfillment of each member. What’s in it for me? Simply put, the literature review doesn’t match Doc’s experiences with civic organizations. BENEFITS TO VOLUNTEERS. The Mayo Clinic Health System says volunteering reduces stress levels and the risk of depression. Volunteers often learn valuable life and job skills while staying physically and mentally active. The Mayo Clinic cites a Longitudinal Study of Aging that concludes volunteers even live longer. Volunteers who have chronic or serious illnesses often experience less pain. HealthyPeople.gov -- a part of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion that is tasked with providing science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans -- agrees. Healthy People points out that clubs offer emotional support and create a sense of community. BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY. Beyond enriching each individual volunteer, projects benefit the greater community in the manifestations of parks or mentoring. Groups might focus on raking leaves at somebody’s house. Build relationships - rally around people in need. A Lions Club in Windsor Locks (pop. 12,613), Connecticut ran the volunteer ambulance service in 2019! WHY THE DECLINE? The Loki argument is “The Internet” wiped out the organizations. But, this is recited by people who don’t recall the days before the Internet. The across-the-board declines in membership appeared in the 1980s. Most recently, remote work mobility and pandemic cocooning might have sealed the fates for many civic organizations. These organizations have adapted to social media platforms, but that isn’t a substitute for in vivo community enrichment activities. DOC’S CIVIC VOLUNTEERING. From 2004-2009, Doc served as a volunteer tour guide and handyman at historic Fort Winnebago Surgeons’ Quarters in Portage, Wisconsin. With his Dad, he re-built the split rail fence and the well. Doc also volunteered in various roles for the monthly community lunch at Couper Hall. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE, BLOG & BOOKS: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David P. Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. This is episode 167 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 01-18-2022.
Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Books:
- School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times. www.velocityofinformation.com
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
Sassed1 2Many works in the IT Field as a mainframe technician. He’s an avid shooter, rides motorcycles, and flies radio-controlled airplanes. And all of that was almost ripped away when early on life’s journey he was spun and strewn with obstacles that forced him to literally rethink everything. In this episode, Sassed discusses his career and the constant companion of the post effects of traumatic brain injury. Additionally, as a father, Sassed explains the disconnect between television narratives and proclamations by so-called experts and his search for authentic information. TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI). Per Mayo Clinic, “Traumatic brain injury usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. An object that goes through brain tissue, such as a bullet or shattered piece of skull, also can cause traumatic brain injury. Mild traumatic brain injury may affect your brain cells temporarily. More-serious traumatic brain injury can result in bruising, torn tissues, bleeding and other physical damage to the brain. These injuries can result in long-term complications or death.” At the age of 21, Sassed was involved in a violent motorcycle accident, launching him over a stationary vehicle, and inflicting a serious traumatic brain injury into the aspiring tradesman’s life. His face was smashed into the pavement and his mouth, numerous bones were shattered or dislocated, muscles torn, and nerves damaged. His mouth was wired shut and he was near metal snips as vomiting with a wired-shut mouth put him at risk for suffocating. Dizziness was nearly a constant experience and for years it was precarious to simply stand up from a chair without losing his balance. VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION. Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapy are common for persons recuperating from TBI. Sassed didn’t receive these therapies, but did partake in extensive hands-on training to rebuild motor memory and coordination. During recovery, he worked at a famous Japanese restaurant as a dishwasher - and later trained as a Tempura chef. Two years after the accident, Sassed enrolled in a state-sponsored vocational rehabilitation program which guided him into a career in computer operations. His first computer-related job, in 1984, centered on decollating six part computer printouts for $4.50 an hour. WHAT’S IN A NAME: SASSED1 2MANY. Sassed = past tense: to be cheeky or rude to (someone). 1 = one: the lowest cardinal number. 2 = to͞o: to a higher degree than is desirable, permissible, or possible many = innumerable, countless. Sassed1 2Many is a state of mind actualized from constant exposure to innumerable amounts of un-thoughtful impetuous impertinent and disrespectful content in the public and social digital communications age, resulting in a singularly sarcastic existence. BEHIND THE MEDIA CURTAIN. It was as a father of young children that Sassed found himself recoiling from the nightly news and the abrasive social-shaping of commercials. He disconnected from contemporary media and immersed in personal research and engaging in thought-provoking discourse and debates. Doc and Sassed lamented on how even BIG news events receive perhaps ninety seconds of coverage on TV and are posted, with superficial information, on websites. The era of investigative journalism seemingly went extinct in the 1980s. Today, prominent media mouthpieces are well-compensated to read teleprompters and to not ask questions. Eventually, even they arrive at a crossroads of dissonance with what they speak and what they observe - and are quickly replaced by the long line of talking heads that want their shot at being a news celebrity. CANNONBALL RUN. In 1989, Sassed roared across the eastern seaboard in his 1988 Isuzu Impulse while averaging over 140MPH. In what many call the real-life remake of the famous 1981 movie starring Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, Sassed acquired a six pack, carton of donuts, and a first class postage stamp (25 cents at the time). FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David P. Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. This is episode 161 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 12-07-2021.
Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Books:
- School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times. www.velocityofinformation.com
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
On Friday, November 12, 2021, classes were canceled for many public school districts in North Carolina. The intended purpose of the motion was to offer a mental health day for teachers and students experiencing burnout from the pandemic and the cumulative stress of contemporary education. Doc, with 25 years experience as an educator, describes the sudden popularity of mental days for school staff and why mental health days will both increase and also compound teacher burnout. WHAT HAPPENS ON MENTAL HEALTH DAYS? Staff and students are typically given vague guidance on how to focus on their mental health during days off. When Doc asks educators what they do on mental health days, they respond, “catch up on work,” instead of yoga, journaling or anything related to self care. Some note that the days off actually add to their workloads - and that makes sense. Instead of covering a planned lesson in 5 days, now they have 4 days, or 20% less time. Let’s be honest, a “day away from school” isn’t a magical elixir. This is trendy, but ineffective. Teachers are still burning out. MENTAL HEALTH DAYS DISRUPT ROUTINES. The school calendar provides consistency - especially now. Students have been out of school or toggled between hybrid and in-person instruction the past two years. Mental wellness days disrupt the continuity of routine. A human’s predictable routine can be called the torus - a concept Doc wrote extensively about in his book School of Errors. FIVE WAYS TO SOLVE TEACHER BURNOUT. Here are five ways to counter teacher burnout. Note that some call for disrupting long-held practices, such as the summer-off school calendar. (1) OBEY PARKINSON’S LAW. Humans function efficiently with defined start and end routines to daily activities. It wasn’t just the teaching profession that seemingly went 24/7 during remote learning, but schools have maintained one foot in remote learning and the other in the brick classroom. This has mushroomed the prep and planning for teachers. Schools can’t saddle teachers with planning for online, hybrid, and in-person learning. (2) YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL CALENDAR. In The Velocity of Information, Doc wrote about the groundbreaking work of World War II Army psychiatrist Dr. John Appel. Appel studied burnout in combat soldiers. He discovered that frontline warfighters would be killed, wounded, captured, mentally collapse, or found to be missing in action by 200 days. Increasing pay or championing “Why We Fight” didn’t offset the burnout. By that account, increasing teachers’ compensation, even doubling it, would likely have minimal effect on burnout. It might increase retention, but retaining a burned-out teacher is a bad idea. Back to Appel, he found that the British got 400 days out of their soldiers on the Italian front lines. How? The British would pull fighters out of duty within twelve days and then rest them for four days. In overlaying this thinking to K-12 schools, a year-round calendar creates rest periods - true “breaks” versus a periodic mental health day. Furthermore, year-round schedules lessen the impact of summer learning loss. Summers off goes back to when we were an agrarian society and then a recreation society. Most educators that talk with Doc are ready for year-round calendars. Beware, the school calendar is a sacred cow. (3) EMBRACE CROWD-IN MINDSET. There is zero sense that we are in transitory chaos. When people are convinced that chaos will continue for months or years, they surround themselves with comfort items. Remember the Michael Keaton movie Mr. Mom? In it, a fictional company called “Schooner Tuna” was steered away from advertising gimmicks by Keaton’s wife. In a surprise move, Schooner Tuna reduced the price of its tuna by 50 cents a can to convey empathy during the economic crisis of the time. Schools are overloaded with initiatives - and these initiatives are baking teachers. (4) CRACKED BOARDS. Recon Sniper Clay Martin spoke of “cracked boards” when Doc interviewed him about dealing with long periods in high stress settings. In short, it’s OK to tacitly acknowledge that you are frustrated - it’s the last fuse before burnout. (5) QUIT ZOOMING. Former Microsoft executive Linda Stone is an expert on human attention. In The Velocity of Information, Stone mentioned that she advises clients that Zoom calls are exhausting and a phone call places less demand on attention. Not every conversation requires a Zoom call. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 158 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 11-16-2021.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
One lesser-mentioned reason for the sustained and worsening supply chain disruption is that manufacturing has entered the “transfer portal” between JIT and 3D printing. In other words, an old technology is being usurped by a new technology. The pandemic hastened the process and the question centered on in this episode is how the baton pass will occur as the race track is quaking. WAREHOUSE to JIT to 3D PRINTING. In the 1990s, manufacturing experienced an evolution from warehouse manufacturing (or creating excess product and to ship as needed), to Just In Time (JIT) manufacturing - which meant products would skip the warehouse and go directly from the manufacturer to the store / business / consumer. JIT was clunky at first, but as computers improved, RFID to quickly track and improve asset management, and sophisticated transportation logistics, the JIT system was proven, and improving, by the early 2000s. 3D-PRINTED HOUSES GO MAINSTREAM. (Yahoo News’ Joann Muller, Monday, October 25, 2021) Doc shares a story about 3D-printed cement houses. Instead of conventional materials like steel, aluminum and lumber, 3D-printed structures are built by a robot squeezing a cement mixture out of a nozzle, layer upon layer, like a soft swirl ice cream cone. It's the same additive manufacturing process used to make everything from dental implants to airplane parts — just on a much, much larger scale. Texas-based ICON has delivered two dozen 3D-printed homes in the US and Mexico and has raised $207 million to expand. The homes are printed on-site. While something as disruptive as 3D printed houses seems far-fetched, Doc noted that from 1908 to 1940, you could choose from over 400 styles of homes to purchase through Sears, Roebuck and Co. mail-order catalog. HOW 3D-PRINTED FOOD COULD CHANGE THE WAY WE COOK AND EAT. General Electric's GE Additive Manufacturing branch released a report in 2020 describing 3D-printing of food as entering mainstream testing. “At one gourmet restaurant in the United Kingdom, everyone is eating 3D-printed food because that is all that is served. The enterprising entrepreneurs at London’s Food Ink decided to push additive manufacturing to its logical extreme. Everything is 3D printed, including the utensils, plates, tables and chairs. At Miramar, a gourmet restaurant in Spain, food printers take on more mundane tasks, freeing chefs to better focus on their creative cuisine.” BENEFITS OF 3D PRINTING (Statsys.com) (1) Advance time-to-market turnaround; (2) Save on tooling costs with on-demand 3D printing; (3) Reduce waste with additive manufacturing; (4) Save weight with complex part designs; (5) Eliminate shipping of finished products, along with packaging. ISSUES WITH 3D PRINTING (1) Need for raw materials - you won’t be able to harvest from your backyard; (2) Intellectual property enforcement - while some open source and public domain, it’s most likely 3D printers will have a subscription service like Amazon; (3) Unclear as to how 3D printed items will be recycled; (4) What is liability if you 3D print something that fails - like a part for your car; (5) Ransomware and hackability. What prevents 3D food printers from being corrupted? FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 156 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 10-26-2021.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Doc returns from sabbatical for this Master Class and delivers updated interpretations of Finite Voltage, Crowd-In Behavior, and his newest concept of "Failure to Regress to the Mean" to describe the current condition of society. Read the full blog post for episode #149 at safetyphd.com TACTICAL WISDOM. David begins with sharing a recent post by Joe Dolio at tactical-wisdom.com. Joe offers a heavy dose of face validity in sharing his observations of the greater Detroit area including photos of a WalMart that removed all guns and ammunition as a “precaution” in the event the store was compromised during election-related civil unrest. Increased outward-facing lighting at a power substation was another image that warned that corporations and municipalities are anticipating a collapse of law and order in the coming weeks. PRAIRIE FIRE. Author Clay Martin, a previous guest on The Safety Doc Podcast, released another “essential reading” book on October 15th. Per Clay, “Prairie Fire is a guide for Red Counties to survive and thrive during what looks to be another Civil War brewing. Drawing on his experience in Special Forces with counter insurgency, the author creates a step by step road map to making it out alive.” Doc will review the book in a future podcast. WHAT IS REGRESSION TO THE MEAN? It’s a concept (actually a tendency) from statistics and means that things tend to return to “average” over time. Doc describes that American’s expectation for similarity, or that their days tend to be the same, was interrupted in mid-March with COVID19 lockdowns, exacerbated with civil unrest in the summer, and will be even further distorted with pending Presidential election protests, riots, and potential legal battles. There is no evidence that Americans’ lives are regressing to the mean - or returning to some form of similarity. This is a precarious, unsettling situation that is already amplified by Finite Voltage and Crowd-in Behavior. Dr. Perrodin notes that while we are accustomed to life “bouncing back” in a matter of days, we need to prepare for many months, or even years, until our lives regress to the mean - something last experienced by Americans in the latter 1930s. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED JINX. One example of regression to the mean is the infamous Sports Illustrated cover jinx. The jinx states that whoever appears on the cover of SI is going to have a poor following year (or years). But the “jinx” is actually regression towards the mean. Player’s make the cover after an exceptional year and it’s statistically unlikely that they will either repeat that performance or improve upon it. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 149 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 10-30-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America www.schooloferrors.com
Friday Aug 14, 2020
Friday Aug 14, 2020
Chad Elkins, CPA, discussed bewildering and draconian ways people scrambled their finances during the pandemic. While many small business owners suffered losses and experienced great personal distress, others actually thrived and even doubled their incomes! Read the full blog post for episode #147 at safetyphd.com. ABOUT CHAD ELKINS. Chad has over ten years of tax experience, including positions and engagements with the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Tax Court, and U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division, and Co-Author of the Elkins' Comprehensive Tax Guide. He’s the oracle of Chicago finance with a penchant for observing nuanced trends in how humans manage the fiscal aspects of their lives. SOME PEOPLE BAILED OUT IMMEDIATELY. Chad noted that some of his clients, mainly hair stylists, quit paying rent, broker their leases, and liquidated their assets. They didn’t have enough reserve cash to ride out the economic collapse and succumbed to panic-driven decision making. Chad encouraged them to consider suspending their businesses or waiting a few weeks for the forthcoming government relief programs. Even businesses that were established for multiple years and that had been performing well prior to the pandemic were dissolving, to Chad’s disappointment, as owners simply wanted out of the churn of safer-at-home and essential business decrees. TELEHEALTH-BASED THERAPISTS “ARE THRIVING BETTER THAN THEY EVER HAVE BEFORE” Once limited by regulation, telehealth therapy was quickly advanced by regulatory agencies and Chad’s clients that provided mental health or other counseling services were experiencing a combination of factors that swelled their incomes. First, the demand for mental health and counseling services substantially increased due to pandemic-driven anxiety in the population. Second, therapists don’t need specialized, localized machines or equipment to do their jobs. When you go to the dentist, for example, the dentist’ office has hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment that is not designed to be portable. There isn’t a “teledentistry” service to address your root canal. A mental health therapist, on the other hand, is easily location independent given a secure, private Internet connection. And, telehealth has built-in social distancing! CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG - REMOTE WORK IS HERE TO STAY. Chad believes that the pandemic-driven rapid move to remote work, such as work from home, has set the precedence that traditional office-based work isn’t necessary to maintain continuity in businesses. This likely means there will be a massive purge of office space and business-dense metropolises, such as Chicago, will lose appeal for employers and employees. PPP AND SBE LOANS WORKED - WITH CONSEQUENCES. The PPP was rolled out as a way to keep employees on payroll, even if they weren’t working - as long as owners proved that they used 80% of money for salaries. But, it caused problems as many employees were laid off and went onto unemployment - which was paying them $600 weekly ABOVE the unemployment payment they received from the state. For many people, they were now receiving as much or more money they were when they were employed. Hence, when asked to return to work - employees balked. As restrictions eased and businesses re-started, employers struggled to lure employees back to their jobs so had to recruit new employees. REDLINE VIRTUAL REALITY LOUNGE - NOW RENTING OFFICE PODS. Opened and thriving for four months before the pandemic closures, Redline Virtual Reality Lounge in Chicago is an example of a small business that had to pivot several times in order to adjust to new market trends. Aaron, the owner of Redline, shared his lounge survived on carry out orders and renting VR equipment between April 18th and June 11th. When he re-opened at limited capacity, business was very slow - and very different. People showed up with laptops and asked to rent a 9’x9’ VR pod for the day to serve as a portable office. Some lived in hot apartments or had poor wifi. So, for $15 a day, they could rent a cool work area with excellent wifi and social distancing. Aaron noted that small groups of 3-4 people rented a pod to conduct in-person business for a few hours. David noted that Parkinson’s Law is the adage that people seek clear routines to start and end the work day. Perhaps going to the VR pod met that need? FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 146 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 8-13-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Chad Elkins, CPA website: https://www.elkinscpa.com/
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
SDP146: Survival Expert Morgan Rogue | Subtle Signs of Chaos | Livestream 8-7-2020
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
Morgan Rogue’s mantra is to conquer tomorrow by preparing today! She lives on 40 acres of land in the southern United States with her husband, two daughters and two dogs. She is the owner and founder of Rogue Preparedness, a website dedicated to emergency preparedness and survival skills. Morgan has published extensively in crisis preparedness and response including Preparedness For Busy People, and Prepare & Survive Economic Crisis - which is a primer to help people understand bartering, valuable items, and controlling fear. She has a fast-growing YouTube channel with diverse content including: hunting, survival, camping, hiking, guns, prepping, urban survival, family preparedness, bug out bags, gear reviews, prepping on a budget, dogs, homesteading, and all things outdoors and adventure. New videos and blog posts are published weekly! WHY MORGAN WAS INVITED TO THIS SHOW. Morgan is an authentic person seeking knowledge. She doesn’t hesitate to post a first-take video of attempting to build a solar-powered food dehydrator. Don’t get me wrong, she presents as a tremendously competent person. Her videos and posts are concise, personable and interesting without massive editing or saturated with promotions. Morgan reveals that life and preparedness have bumpy first takes. After reading Morgan’s posts, watching her videos, and exploring her website, I discovered, or perhaps re-discovered, an appreciation of preparedness and immediately re-visited the things I could do to increase my survival skills. In an infamous Tweet, I wrote, “Her [Morgan’s] contributions to safety stand out as curated and calibrated with easements for people new to preparedness as well as experienced preppers.” That sums it up - and I hope that makes it onto the praise page of one of her future best sellers. PREPAREDNESS AS A PARENT OF YOUNG KIDS. Are kids a liability during a crisis? Some people think so, but not Morgan. She’s noted that there is no magic age to introduce children to survival and self-reliance skills. Her kids are with her when she hikes, her daughter has used a survival straw to drink from a creek, and Morgan published a brilliant blog post of 45 outdoor activities for kids in a time when parks and theaters were closed due to the pandemic. One recommendation was to have kids draw a map of their house, neighborhood, or a trail. Spatial orientation. Distance. Landmarks. Planning. What Morgan shares isn’t data you offload until a disaster - instead, it’s vetted advice on how to make yourself better - right now. SUBTLE SIGNS OF CHAOS - SEWING MACHINES. The early days of the coronavirus stay home orders sparked scarcity buying - toilet paper, pasta, and cleaners. When people anticipate that a chaos event will last months, other items begin to disappear from the market. Morgan shared that she was unable to find a new or used sewing machine in May. Locating a freezer was equally challenging, despite searching stores and secondary online sites such as Craigslist. LEARN A SKILL TODAY. Morgan identified several ways that people could improve their self-reliance today. Everything takes practice, but most people can learn to sharpen a knife, make basic sewing repairs or grow food - even if in a container inside their house. Also, get fit! Fit people are better able to get to safety, recover from trauma, help others, and be easier to be aided by others. COMMUNICATIONS - CONSIDER HAM RADIO. Should you consider a landline (in case the cell towers fail)? Morgan noted that a landline is valuable, and added that there are still payphone locations in some areas and those might be an option if cellular communications are disrupted during a crisis. She encourages people to learn more about HAM radio. Morgan and her husband use HAM radios and communicate with people hundreds of miles away. Every year, HAM radio conducts a Field Day which is an amatuer radio experience to demonstrate temporary transmitting stations in public places - with an emphasis on emergency communication preparedness. A basic HAM radio receiver (listen only) is $50. Morgan notes that the HAM radio community has always been essential and reliable during crisis events. She identified a few organizations to visit to learn more about obtaining a HAM license. HAM’s more than survival, it’s a wonderful hobby. Many colleges, for example, have HAM radio clubs. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 146 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 8-7-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Rogue Preparedness website: https://roguepreparedness.com/