the Good Badger archives

About the Good Badger

Zach Davis is a dude who writes blog posts and occasionally a book. One time he ran a marathon without any training. Another time he walked from Georgia to Maine without any training. Get special discounts on nothing by liking the Good Badger Facebook Page. Also find Zach on Google.

Redefining Community

As a business, if you don’t seem as if you’re giving back to your local community, your customers will find a competitor that does.  I say “seem” because, as it should come to no surprise, companies are much more interested in what their public image is rather than a strong sense of compassion on behalf of the company’s owner(s).  You don’t believe me?  Try Googling “company community involvement”.  The result will be an infinite list of companies detailing each specific instance they’ve ever contributed to their community.  We come to expect this as common knowledge…If they give back to the community, they’re more compassionate, less of a wall street centered/soul sucking sort of company (alliteration really drives a point home).  But when Kathleen donates her time to The Childrens’ Hospital fund raiser, she doesn’t make a webpage detailing how many smiles she put on the faces of the less fortunate.  Sure, she might add it to a resume; more likely she’s already volunteered more times than you could fit on resume paper.  Well, why then, must a company demand some sort of public recognition for each dollar or hour donated?

I’m being somewhat sarcastically critical.  Of course a business is going to advertise their goodwill.  It would be an extreme sense of ineptitude if they didn’t.  This business is still, after all, a business… Read more →

Health, Insurance: An Oxymoron?

First, a quick little side tangent of health care humor from one of my favorite comedians, Lewis Black. 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Back in Black – Health Care Reform
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

Now that we’ve lightened the mood at little bit, let’s take a look at the more depressing reality. 

The following is a link to an interview of with Wendell Potter, a former insurance executive with CIGNA.  I won’t giveaway too much about the interview, because I think you should take some and watch it for yourself.  But there was one part part that especially grabbed my attention…

As Mr. Potter points out, these publicly traded health insurance giants have made their most important customer Wall St.  One of the measures investors most closely analyze is how much of each dollar paid by the policy holder is applied directly to providing health care.  Over the last decade and a half this number has dropped 15% and shows no real sign of changing course.  In other words, insurance companies are actively seeking ways to not spend your money on your health. 

That’s not okay.  I don’t think it makes me socialist to say so either.

Really, take the time to watch this interview.  If it you don’t find it to be eye opening then I’ll assume you’re eyes have been sewn shut:

Bill Moyers Interview with Wendell Potter

The Greatest Present of All

If you could develop a Pie Chart of what your brain is consumed by on the average day, what would it look like?  I took the liberty of providing mine…:graph22

A couple items to note:  1) Yes, that says “ninja tactics” and 2) no slice of the pie is dedicated to “passive observation”.

Lately, one of my most reoccurring thoughts has been to spend less time thinking, as ironic as that may sound.  That doesn’t mean I aspire to be more like Paris Hilton.  Instead, I realize I spend far too much time wrapped up in my own thoughts.  On average, all but 2-3 minutes a day are spared from processing some bit of information: “what I should make for dinner,”, “what time to set my alarm for,”, “who I need to call back,”, “words that rhyme with raspberry,”  etc.   I can mentally prepare an entire conversation with someone, with their physical presence being entirely optional (I know, I’m crazy).  My brain is hyperactive – every second I can direct my attention elsewhere is like providing water to someone crossing the Sahara. Read more →

Obama = Clinton 2.0?

And I don’t mean in any political or governance sense.  I mean in the overactive hormonal variety.

Okay so maybe Obama knows when it’s appropriate to check out another woman (if married…then never).  But I think the real issue here is what the public chooses to focus their attention on.  Whether it be a Democratic Governor or Republican Governor, President, or gay Senator, we sure give a lot of attention to politicians unfaithful sex-lives.  To clarify, I think that all of these acts are horrible and most likely not mistakes.  A mistake is when you accidently step on your friends toe while playing soccer.  I don’t think you can accidentally pick up a hooker, but I guess I wouldn’t have enough experience to know for sure.  The fact of the matter is, with the exception of Bill Clinton, names like Spitzer, Sanford, and Larry Craig would be largely unknown by most of the public if it were not for their highly flawed personal lives.  These are the same people who decide where our taxes are directed, help process laws, and keep our overall political stability in check, and their names don’t become familiar with the public until they misuse their privates.

We should choose to hold the news to a higher standard.  When CNN continues to force feed us a story about Mark Sanford’s ridiculous affair, they assume we care more about a politician’s personal rather than professional lives.  If I wanted real romantic drama, I would turn on the Real World.  At least the people on MTV are attractive.

As a slight bit of publicity, if you are interested in more pressing issues than who’s kissing who, then may I recommend The Huffington Post.  It’s way less bad then the majority of our alternatives.

The Top 4 Reasons Why People Like Lists

Party on Wayne

We are nation of ADD/ADHD beings.  We like microblogging sites such as Twitter because anything longer than 140 characters is a homework assignment.  In fact, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve already given up reading this post, probably somewhere in the ADHD to the microblogging range.  With so much information at our disposal, it’s no wonder we’ve developed mechanisms to try and filter out the fluff.  Nowhere is this more apparent than the abundance of lists available online.  Every site that you see has a “7 Fastest Ways to Lose Weight“, “The Top 4 Worst Best Man Speeches“, “The 15 Creepiest Vintage Ads of All Time” or the “Top 100 Chuck Norris Facts” (this actually exists).

As a service to you, I now present, the 4 Reasons Why We Like Lists:

1) Improved Organization

If I were to write a non-list post about why people enjoy lists, chances are after reading, you’d be able to recite a couple of the reasons, and maybe one of the ridiculous links.  Most likely, you’d skim through the text, try to grab what was valuable and then breeze through the parts where I reference my own personal life, like that one time where I…..

By incorporating a list two things are accomplished (a list within a list): 1) You give the reader a simple outline of the message you’re attempting to convey 2) You let the reader know how many important items your message consists of.   In other words you let the reader know which pieces are most valuable, and how many to remember.  A list helps to organize larger context into a structure that’s similar to how our brains will store the information.

2)  We’re Stupid

Attempting to explain why we like lists so much is like trying to describe why anyone ever enjoyed LOLcatz, The Pet Rock, Carlos Mencia, Reality TV, Vin Diesel, Second Life, or Bon Jovi.  People are dumb.  Assuming that complex answers can be broken down into a simple numerical construct is a cheap attempt to get your attention and more often, your cash.  If I’ve got a proven money making method, which book are you going to buy: “How to Become Wealthy with Rigorous Research, Long Hours, High Financial Risk, and Patience,” or “6 Simple Steps to Earning 7 Figures”?  These two books could consist of the same exact text differing only in their titles, and book # 1 wouldn’t sell 10 copies while book # 2 could land on the NY Times top 10.  People want to hold onto the hope whereby great achievements can be broken down into few easy-to-follow steps, so other people, smarter people, take advantage of this.  Everyone is aware of the 2 step program to lose weight: 1) eat better, 2) exercise more.  Unfortunately, this requires self control and patience.  I think I’ll go with the 10-day grapefruit and mustard diet instead.

Read more →

Hodgman: Obama, a Nerd President

The White House Correspondents Dinner has been a source for entertainment over the last few years.  First, it was Colbert tearing George W. Bush apart, from 10 feet away, in front of a large national media.  This past Friday, John Hodgman, a correspondant for The Daily Show and the PC character on the infamous Apple commercials, gave an equally entertaining speech (okay, maybe not as good, but close).  In case you haven’t already seen this.

Too Good to be Trulu

too-good-to-be-trulu2

Traditional commerce is dead.  As a quick reminder, the model went a little something like this:

Step 1) Make a good product or service

Step 2) Offer said product/service in exchange for money

Sprinkle in some marketing, and you’ve got yourself a business.

Those were the days. Read more →

A Really Horribly Bad Idea

Yesterday, I successfully ran 26.2 miles.  Today, I will not get out of bed.

There are two general lessons that I gathered from this experience:

1)  You will pay the price for taking short cuts in life

My training period was roughly 20 weeks shorter than what most programs call for.  I figured that I could push myself harder in the truncated period to compensate for lost time.  I compare it to starving yourself in place of eating a healthy diet.  Much like someone with anorexia will lose weight, but will also damage their kidneys, lose hair, and put themselves at risk of osteoporosis in the process; I finished the race, and have probably done irreversible damage to my menisci.  The point is, there’s a right way to do things in life.  I didn’t do that.

2)  The Power of Determination

Despite a serious lack of preparation, I accomplished what I set out to do.  My body decided it was done moving at about mile 22, but unfortunately for my legs,  my mind was the one calling the shots yesterday.

The night prior to the run, I had spent six hours performing manual labor at work, and followed that with less than 4 hours of sleep.  I started the race feeling about as fresh as I would after a 8 mile run.  If it were a training day, I would have opted for rest knowing that running would only do more damage than good.  Unfortunately, this was the day of the marathon.  I had already told people I was going to run a marathon.   I wasn’t just fighting my body, I was fighting expectations.  Soon after crossing the finish line, as the determination loosened, my body started to give into its own sensations.  I began feeling nauseous, light headed, and had difficulty supporting my full body weight.  Basically I was dying.

But I digress….

We’ve heard the cliché “mind over matter” so many times that its meaning has been compromised.  Yesterday, more so than ever, I learned its significance.  In fact, I learned that lesson #2 is more valuable than lesson #1.  I don’t recommend taking shortcuts in life.  Had I trained properly and been determined to run more competitively, I would have finished with a better time and  still be able to walk today.  But I was able to offset preparation with determination.

I think the next time I try something along these lines, I will combine the two.

A Really Good Bad Idea

So far my promise for more frequent updates has been about as successful as a promise to make US politics more transparent.

Regardless, my inspiration for any sort of well thought out, opinion based post, has been buried beneath a layer of anxiety, excitement, and mostly insanity.

This Sunday I will be attempting to run my first ever marathon. Read more →