James D. Winslow

I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news…The good news is that much of official Washington remains away from the city on recess…the bad news is that they’ll be back right after Election Day for a hectic lame duck session that will run right up to the holidays. Earlier this week, the good news was that I took advantage of Maryland’s early voting period…the bad news is that I’ll have to wait nearly a month to find out who wins.

I know it’s a little more than 9 months out, but where are you on your New Year’s resolutions? Did you already meet them, stick with them; do you even remember them? To be honest, I started mine—to get in better shape—late; made some really good progress early; but have since plateaued. Sure, I’ve still got about three months left, and who’s really counting, right?

The counter-culture author, and original gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson is credited with the quote, “Half of life is just showing up.” Actor and director Woody Allen put his own spin on the quote, saying “80% of success is showing up.” I had my own “just showing up” moment last week on a business trip to Nashville. No, it wasn’t the presentation I gave; I actually put in quite a few hours constructing, tweaking, and practicing it

It’s that time of year…many of us spend our Fridays under the lights, Saturdays in college towns, or Sundays at tailgates melding with our football fan tribes. Our team is our team; our coach is our coach; and our quarterback is our quarterback…until they’re not.

A recent National Journal poll found that 67% of Washington insiders believe that Vice President Harris will win the popular vote but lose the Electoral College (see graph; the Washington office participates in the poll). On five previous occasions, including two of the last six elections, candidates have won the Electoral College, and the presidency, despite losing the popular vote.

Official Washington is still on its unofficial month-long August recess. While members of Congress, congressional staffers, administration officials, and federal bureaucrats will begin to trickle back into the city after Labor Day, Congress will not reconvene until September 9.

This past weekend, I stood in the middle of the third fairway and found myself facing golf’s equivalent of a microeconomic dilemma.

To look at me today you might not know it, but there was a time when I was an avid distance runner. Over a nine-year period, I trained for seven marathons, ran in and finished five; ran two half-marathons; completed a dozen 10-milers and an equal amount of 10ks; and regularly logged 25-28 miles a week.

This past week, my daughter had her—ahem—birthday. Together, my wife, son, daughter, and I all went to dinner. It sounds simple, but it’s something we don’t do often enough since the kids moved on, we sold our home, and downsized into a condo. While I knew I was getting the bill at the end of the meal, for the most part, I just sat back and enjoyed the good-natured ribbing my son and daughter gave one another.

I’ve been wanting to write for some time about the link between Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in business; it just hadn’t completely come together for me until this past week. My wife and I were sitting on the couch, watching the Olympics, and we saw something that shocked us.