Beyonce. Thoughts. Growing Cartilage. Question of the Week Unbridled. Pure Talent.
Keep Yourself Level Set. Comments/Questions. Regeneration. Bathroom Please. Eminem.
Quote of the Week: “Never let success go to your head, never let failure get to your heart.” – Beyoncé
How can we maintain emotional and mental balance through life’s inevitable highs and lows? Why do some people let success disrupt their families, careers, or daily lives? And while some recover quickly from failure, others never fully regain their footing.
While enjoying your victories make sure to acknowledge the hard work, timing, or support systems that helped you get there. In other words…maintain humility. Everyone has disdain for arrogance, especially that exaggerated sense of one’s own importance.
Beyonce’s quote also tells us to not allow failure to “get to your heart.” Do not allow a mistake to dissolve your confidence, paralyze your ambition, or make you feel inadequate. There is no reason to allow failure to define your future. Use the mistake or failure as a lesson learned and move on. Along with Beyonce’s quote, I have always enjoyed this one: “Don’t let compliments go to your head and criticism go to your heart”. – Timothy Keller
THOUGHTS FOR OCTOBER 11, 2026
- Thoughts and prayers to all of you in the Southeastern U.S. who endured Hurricane Isaias, and to those whose lives have been altered due to the massive earthquakes in Panama.
- SEC football. Yesterday’s Texas – Oklahoma game and last night’s Georgia – Alabama game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Fantastic stuff.
- Regarding sports and American football, Mike Ditka, a former star in the National Football League, and the coach of the famous 1985 Chicago Bears championship team, passed away last week at the age of eighty-six. Legendary does not come close to defining Mike Ditka. A well-deserved member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- What is your take with Pentagon officials announcing that the Army officer convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting will be executed in public, a practice that ended in the United States nearly a century ago and is most commonly carried out in a handful of countries, including Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.
- Would a strategic alliance between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia work well with taking out the area of Northern Yemen and the Houthis? There are former military personnel on the JustMyTake distribution list. Your take would be interesting…just saying.
- The Cornell University case. As parents, we should be alarmed by the behavior of these young adults…or am I very naive?
- It is inevitable that SpaceX’s Starlink will launch its own standalone cellular network along with its direct-to-cell services. Are existing providers including Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T concerned? They should be.
- Is the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) an overused description, discussing someone who excels at something? In this case, no. Lionel Messi, after this summer’s World Cup, announced that he was retiring from the Argentina national team. He will still play for his club, Inter Miami, but no more international matches representing his country. It is a tradition with soccer that a country or club’s greatest players are given a send-off game to honor their excellent performance and dedication. Here was a very fitting scene from last week’s send-off match honoring Lionel Messi:
According to Stanford Medicine, there are approximately 300,000 knee joint and cartilage surgeries performed annually in the United States. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear is an injury we are familiar with, along with worn knee cartilage and osteoarthritis. There may be good news with eliminating some of these surgeries by regrowing the damaged knee cartilage. Stanford University scientists report that “they have found a way to regrow knee cartilage by blocking a protein that becomes abundant with age.”
The initial testing was done on older animals, with the approach not only reversing naturally occurring cartilage loss but also protecting the animal/patient from developing arthritis. Unfortunately, many patients who have had knee surgeries develop osteoarthritis, which leads to surgery to relieve the sometimes-severe pain.
For healthcare professionals, the protein is called 15-PGDH, which is the instigator of knee and shoulder joint issues. Blocking the amount of 15-PGDH with a small molecule increased muscle mass and endurance in the tested animals (mice, etc.) Osteoarthritis, or degenerative joint disease affects one in five adults in the U.S. totaling an estimated $65 billion in direct health care costs.
Here is a simple video discussing 15-PGDH, mitochondria, and geonyms. 🙂
Question of the Week: I assumed we would receive some interesting answers to last week’s Question of the Week regarding your way of leaving a boring situation early. My assumption was correct:
- I ardently strive to avoid boring situations and want to move on rather quickly when inadvertently getting stuck in one. If really stuck, snoring and yawning usually will get you out.
- Play 18 in my mind😂
- I have to wake up early tomorrow.
- I’ve had explosive diarrhea lately- usually works:)
- Just leave. Life’s too short.
- I would say I have diarrhea and have to “go”🙃
- Quite fact dependent — For work situations: multitask while the boring situation goes on. Social situations: the bathroom is always a safe excuse. Otherwise, dishing boring back can also do the trick. For example if I’m in a boring situation with women of my age who aren’t NFL fans, turn the conversation to the 49ers first downs in the red zone. Relationship situations: be clear and say that’s boring. Let’s talk about something else.
- Uh oh – need a bathroom quick.
- A phone call.
Here is this week’s Question of the Week: (note: this question definitely resonates with me as I do not like or enjoy unnecessary business ‘speak’): What’s your least favorite business buzzword or phrase?
Pure Talent.
Sometimes labeled controversial. Sometimes labeled a white man in a black man’s world. No matter how you describe Marshall Mathers, a.k.a. Eminem, he is regarded as the best rapper of all time. His estimated sales of over 220 million records, 11 number one albums, and 5 number one singles have other hip-hop/rapper artists and Rolling Stone calling him one of the greatest artists and songwriters of all time. In general, I do not listen to rap except when I hear Eminem. Along with Jay-Z and Snoop Dog, 50 Cent provides his take on Eminem and his impact on the hip hop/rap genre. Eminem is Pure Talent.