Friday Donuts

Friends, Did you know Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day? Armed with this fact, one wonders why the name was ever changed. Not only does it provide a good reminder to decorate everything from the tombs of family members fallen in the civil war to the guest room at home; it also affords us a great opportunity for alliteration–say, Decoration Day delivers dramatic Dunkin’ Donuts despite donut boy working from home today.  As we enter this Decoration Day weekend (you young whipper snappers born after the end of the 19 th century can keep your modern name to yourselves), I hope you have a peaceful, mindful, restful three day weekend. Happy Friday!

Friends, Spring has established itself. It feels good to get-up bright and early to fill your lungs with the rich morning air as the sunrise reveals a world alive with possibilities. Trees are donning fresh new leaves and green lawns soothe the psyche as temperatures regularly reach the goldilocks zone. Longer days provide more opportunities to see goslings by the lake as bunnies successfully evade cars in the neighborhood –I can’t say the same for prairie dogs. The final days of school are upon us and Summer will be here before you know it. As you consider vacation destinations, consider also what a donut might do for your mood. If getting out in the spring weather was not sufficient motivation to get you to the office today, perhaps a donut might get you off the fence. Happy Friday!

Friends, In the world of circular shapes, the sphere, cylinder and cone hog the spotlight. They need no introduction and no one has to google a description or photo to know what they are. Not so for the ellipsoid and torus. These slightly more obscure names are as common as their popular cousins, yet, somehow mainstream recognition eludes them. This lack of unaided recall is puzzling. If one were inclined to create conspiracy theories, one might suggest it’s our modern culture’s health craze that is behind this second-class citizen treatment of the aforementioned shapes. After all, a subset of society frowns on deep fried doughy treats –of course the ellipsoid (think bizmark) and the torus (think donut) resemble them. The only hole in this theory, of course, is the donut hole (which is spherical). This morning, I encourage you to show your support for circle-based shape diversity by grabbing a donut (or bizmark) from the dozen I picked-out for you. Happy Friday!

Friends, I overheard a thought-provoking joke this week. The punch line goes something like “my smart speaker stole my bitcoin and eloped with my vacuum in my self-driving car”. It’s funny because this 21 st century problem, while unlikely, does seem somewhat plausible. It speaks to the promise and threat the future holds. I don’t know how you feel about this, but my first inclination is to get a little freaked-out. Then I take a deep breath and think these changes are being driven by humans to help humans. Ideally, technologies like blockchain, machine learning and artificial intelligence will remove friction, lower cost and remove humans from job functions for which machines are better suited. Repetitive tasks, driving insights from large datasets, structured problems. Of course there are always unintended consequences. If quantum computing reaches sufficient qubits to enable artificial consciousness and humans cease to be the center of innovation, then I hope our new overlords