2019-11-30 Saturday night

Had a peaceful and relaxing Shabbat, with the phone and computer powered off all day. That's a detail of observance I haven't been entirely regular about keeping, but I'm glad I did it this week and going to try to stick with it.

Have a few more notes on Genesis chapter 4 that I want to post before going on to chapter 5.

Project for tomorrow it to get down to my storage locker, drop off a few things, hunt for a few things, and spend a little time organizing the place.

Project for the coming week is to get the car sold. I don't care about getting a lot of money for it, I mainly just want it off my hands. I've listed it on Peddle, so we'll see how that goes.

Next weekend I've scheduled Friday and Monday off from work, for no particular reason except that I'm ready for a little time off. A nice 96 would be great.

Team players and ego freaks.

Sometimes you get the guy who's the rock star performer in the workplace, but he likes to hog the spotlight at the expense of the rest of the team. That's another example of the mentality of "others must fail so that I can succeed."

In the Marines we had it drilled into us from boot camp on: "Keep your buddy locked on!" You don't gain anything from the other guy messing up. Often just the opposite: collective punishment is still seen as a perfectly valid discipline tool in the military! One guy fails a barracks inspection or a rifle inspection, the whole unit has to stay late. It's a strong incentive to help the other guy stay locked on. And that's as it should be - on the battlefield, one guy screwing up could get everybody killed. In the military, you really are your brother's keeper.

Same in the workplace, if somebody's a great performer as an individual, but they feel like they have to undermine their co-workers, or if they just bring a lot of drama and dissension to the workplace, then it's going to impact the operation negatively.

If you want to grow personally and professionally, my guess is that the thing to do is seek out a workplace where people keep each other locked on - where you're going to be surrounded by competent people who will push you harder, demand more of you, and challenge you more.

Now it can be told ...

... my friend and political comrade Alyssa is running for a spot on Portland City Council.

Linkage

London: Rabbi attacked by anti-Semites.
https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/Senior-London-rabbi-brutally-attacked-by-antisemitic-teenagers-609508
A rabbi in the Amhurst Park area of Stamford Hill, London was attacked by two unidentified teenagers and left bleeding on the ground over Shabbat. The incident took place at around 9:45 p.m. on Friday, when Orthodox Jews don't use telephones. According to reports, the two teenagers allegedly shouted "Kill Jews" and "F*** Jews" while beating the victim. The rabbi, who is currently unidentified, was flown to Israel.

London: London Bridge stabbing terrorist Usman Khan was released last year.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/272484
Usman Khan, 28, a British man of Pakistani origin, who carried out the stabbing attack on London Bridge on Friday, murdering two people and wounding three others, was released from prison less than a year ago. Khan was convicted in 2012 for terrorism-related charged and was released early without an assessment of his danger to the public, despite his sentence's mandatory requirement of a parole board assessment before being released.

London: Attacker thwarted by good guy with narwhal tusk.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/good-guy-with-narwhal-tusk-foils-jihadists-london-bridge-attack/

Netherlands: Three wounded in stabbing attack in The Hague.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/272476
Police are searching for a male perpetrator aged between 45 and 50 who was wearing a shawl and a grey tracksuit. The knife used by the attacker has reportedly been located.
UPDATE:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/479746

Morocco: Israeli killed in bus attack.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/272486
Around 3.30 p.m., a group of Israelis attending a celebration to mark the passing of a Rabbi, exited their hotel in Casablanca to board the two buses waiting outside for them, according to a Channel 12 News report. At one point, one of the bus drivers accelerated and hit two Israelis crossing the road. One was killed at the scene and the other was seriously injured and was evacuated to the hospital.