Angel Investor - Geopolitical - Mobile - Parenting - Race to the Bottom - Timely

Ding. Look at me.

Digital addiction has gripped society in less than a decade. The smartphone era dates from Apple’s introduction of the iPhone in 2007… before that, the closest thing to a digital pavlovian response was hearing AOL’s goofy “You’ve got Mail”. Either way, it is a nanosecond in human evolution. No matter what we think we know now, we simply don’t know what the long-term effects of digital devices/smartphones are or will be, any more than generations past could glean the effects of all of those earlier technologies on moods, relationships, and cognitive development. Americans check their devices 80 times per day, which is more often than men think about sex (34.2 times according to Psych Today… I promise). Why? The secret is in the glowing notifications, likes and shares. Psychologists at […]

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Family and Friends - Parenting - Parenting - Social - Timely - Uncategorized

Fortnight and the next great Battle for Screentime

It seems the big parenting battle of the summer might be over FortNite. This survival-action game developed by Epic Games and People Can Fly is a bit like what you’d get if you combined a sandbox-building game like Minecraft with an action shooter like Call of Duty. On one hand, it’s getting major points with kids and parents alike for building teamwork and thoughtful collaboration. On the other hand, it’s a combat-based game with tons of guns and violence. And the designers were brilliant in the way they weave the elements of addiction into the action- thanks guys! So whats a Father to do? Here are a few ideas I’m working on: Set limits. Establish media-free zones and weekly screen-time amounts. Aim for a balance of activities throughout the week: reading, playing, exploring, and so on. Choose age-appropriate, high-quality media. Not […]

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Angel Investor - Cuba - Family and Friends - Family Office - Havana Culture - Incubator - Innovadores - Innovadores Foundation - Interns - Leadership - Parenting

Fire and Fury? Well, Havana’s safe as ever, guys. (IMHO)

I don’t know much about the current book dominating the headlines, except for how it applies to my personal experience in Cuba. Last year, much was made about travel to Cuba being suddenly suspect or dangerous. With nearly a year to look back now, I see a few main themes that may explain 2017: Roll back on any Obama initiative one can find. Lob an unprovable grenade as justification. Even though “Sonic Attacks” sounds more like “Remember the Maine” each day, it got the job – confusion- done well. Exert pressure on Havana citizens by closing the US Embassy and closing off visa applications. This isn’t much fun. Poke the Cuban Military by blacklisting hotels and travel business they control. Since the State Department published it’s “no-go” list in November, […]

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Cuba - Entrepreneur - Family and Friends - Leadership - Parenting - Timeless - Uncategorized

An Entrepreneur’s Life

Honestly, it’s been hard to understand it [entrepreneurship] myself, let alone explain it to others.

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Family and Friends - Parenting

A man never forgets where he ran as a boy

A man never forgets where he ran as a child. I heard this quote somewhere in my teens, and it stuck with me. It stuck with me enough to be aware of it when I was running, and that this place, this run, this feeling may be a moment I remember later. That fact added a sense of self-awareness that I otherwise lacked. My first recollection of running as a child was in my front yard in Beaver, PA. It was unique because I would run alone, for hours I am told, on snowy winter days in a patch of grass left bare by a gas leak. It left a perfect miniature football field for me, and during half-time of any Steelers game I would throw the ball to myself, avoid tacklers, and dive […]

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Angel Investor - Business Tricks - Creative problem Solving - Entrepreneur - Family Office - Good Story - Leadership - Parenting - Portfolio - Timely - Uncategorized

Vaux Founder Profile- Theresa Claire of “Mixed Emotions”

Today, I couldn’t be happier to feature Theresa Claire, Founder of the Mixed Emotions Game. In her first pitch to me, even on the first slide, she told me all the reasons I should not get involved… I’m a solo entrepreneur- and Mom! I’m not the first mover. I don’t have a PhD. to my name. I need a side hustle to make this all work. To which I responded; so what. I tested the game with my kids, their friends, their parents, their teachers… and it totally rocked! Which is not the first reaction you would expect when discussing the subject of card games that teach kids emotional awareness. But here we are, launching a Kickstarter less than a month later and crushing it on social media. Because it […]

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Family and Friends - Legends and tales - Parenting - Timeless - Uncategorized

Oh Father, my Father… this is your success.

  I looked through some family pictures on my Birthday, and this one made me think of what my father has given me. He’s given me something more permanent than good hair, and more powerful than money. He’s given me values and meaning, though it took me years to discover that. And when I did, I was drawn to the story of what his father gave him. And the father before him, and the father before him, all the way back as far as Spencer legend will go. This is quite far when you are a Spencer, and you don’t let too many facts ruin a good story, which is the what is about to happen here…   It is was actually deSpenser to start, which means the steward or butler […]

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culture - Family and Friends - Parenting - Race to the Bottom - Timeless - Uncategorized

Santa is the Ultimate Marshmallow

I love the marshmallow theory and practice it with my kids wherever possible.

Marshmallow refers to an set of experiments on self control by Walter Mischell at Stanford in the 70’s. In these studies, a child was offered a choice between one small reward provided immediately or two small rewards

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Creative problem Solving - Entrepreneur - Parenting - Timely - Uncategorized

What I learned from teaching @Hour of Code

And this is Alexa, you can use it to order Legos! There’s something really powerful about presenting to 5 year olds- you have to get their attention, and then you get 20 seconds to get your point across! I just completed my Hour of Code bit for the week, teaching a kindergarten class about “how to talk to computers”. We got through Ethan Gamer-TV, Roblox, MineCraft and how each of them teach us- secretly- to speak to machines. We then went through the machines themselves- I used Amazon Echo, Nest, a drone and Tesla as examples of how humans and machine interact. What impressed me the most was how these kids see the world, machines, and the code that allows them to communicate. There is no fear of robots taking their jobs. […]

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Family and Friends - Parenting - Uncategorized

No David? No Thanks!

Kids test. Yeah and so… I got the book No David to check out myself. It’s a quick read… like less than 20 words. Kids are said to love the pics and I agree. I send my compliments to the illustrator. But thats the sum total of my kind words; the message of the book is crap. What a huge teaching opportunity is lost with this book. Yelling at them does next to nothing. Hearing their name next to a negative over and over builds nothing. It’s the same reason we never tell a customer no in business, instead we give them data and observations and we show them options. Telling them you love them is fine. Hopefully, that’s a message that is repeated dozens of times each day, no matter […]

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