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Articles by Bill Cook
"On A Mission" with Rev. Bill Cook from America’s Black Robe Regiment
Rev. Bill Cook Founder and CEO at America’s Black Robe Regiment Website Address: https://abrr.us/ Each week on “On a Mission” we talk to Christian leaders who are out to make a positive impact in their area. Today, our host Donica Hudson talks with Rev. Bill Cook from America’s Black Robe Regiment. To learn more, check out https://abrr.us/.
WMTC-2016 Boao China Opens the Door to East-West Collaboration
Free Webinar | Medical Tourism: Quick Wins or Long-Term Success? → Employer Pop Quiz→ How does your organization score for health & safety? Take the 5-min. quiz and find out! Self-Funded Employer? Take this survey for a chance to win $500 → Editorial Praised as a huge success by participants, the Medical Tourism Association® recently concluded the World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress in Boao, China held June 28-30th in Boao, Hainan province, China.
Yugabyte raises $188 million Series C to make distributed SQL ubiquitous
By Bill Cook CEO We are excited to announce that Yugabyte has closed $188 million in oversubscribed Series C funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round with participation from Alkeon Capital, Meritech Capital, and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, as well as existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, 8VC, Dell Technologies Capital, Wipro Ventures, and others.
Guest Column - Where did the term ‘forty’ come from?
You are here Home » Guest Column - Where did the term ‘forty’ come from? Published by admin on Wed, 12/23/2020 - 4:06pm Owning a “forty” has been part of our common vernacular for as long as anyone can remember. The origins of this measurement harken back to Jeffersonian times. The young nation was rapidly expanding west. The usual “metes and bounds” ownership description system, inherited from Europe, was not going to work well.
Lessons: A mistake, a befuddled foreigner and a brush with the Italian law
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS For a brief moment the other day while in Italy, I could imagine what it is like to be in a foreign country, without a passport (left it in my apartment), not being really fluent in Italian, and having unwittingly done something illegal. I really was not afraid and knew somehow I could pay a fine and move on. Still, it gave me a bit of insight into what things might be like for immigrants both legal and illegal.
OPINION: Wood chip heat
As older boilers reach replacement age, it’s well worth considering systems that burn renewable and cost-competitive wood chips. Michigan is well-poised to expand this very environmentally friendly heating fuel. If you ask most heating and cooling contractors about new or replacement systems, you’ll not likely hear about wood chips or wood pellets. However, the technologies for both are well-developed and reasonably accessible. Yet, these alternatives seldom find their way to the decision table.
OPINION: Bill Cook - Getting the wood out
Loggers and logging are essential to the success of our society and forest environments. Yet, like many occupations, most people are unaware of the scope of the job and the people who do the work. Modern logging requires an amazing mix of skills and involves a high degree of financial risk. Marv Evans loves working independently in the forest. He’s not much of an office guy. He never quite knows what will happen from one day to the next.
Lessons: Unpopular speech must be protected - and challenged
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS Freedom of speech is under siege from both ends of the political spectrum. Let’s start this lesson with basics. The freedom of speech is the first of many freedoms enunciated in the Bill of Rights. Without it, most of the other freedoms will be in jeopardy. Is it an absolute right? Not quite. We have libel and slander laws that are necessary in a free society.
Lessons: Understand your place in the world, economically, and share your wealth
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS As Americans and as humans, we need to up our game. As a nation, we wallow in comfort and enjoy meaningless luxuries while most of our fellow humans have so little. We confuse wants and needs, labeling many of the former as the latter. We idolize the rich and famous, and one obvious consequence of that is that we have a rich and famous president who had no political experience and is unwilling to do even his basic homework.
Lessons: Our republic is in a fragile state
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS James Madison studied ancient Athens and realized that its democracy was fragile. Thus, he made in clear in the Federalist Papers that the United States should not have a democracy like that of Athens but rather a republic. Rome’s Republic lasted in some form for 500 years while Athens’s democracy was a brief episode of history.
Lessons: Bob Marley’s message echoes in trip through Jamaica
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS Last year I visited Kingston, Jamaica, because I had been in nearby Borgne, Haiti, on some business for the Bill Cook Foundation. I know most people go to Jamaica for the beaches and fly to Montego Bay. I went with one goal in mind: to visit places associated with Bob Marley and thus to honor him. In the mid-1970s, I became aware of Bob Marley and did not like him or his fellow Rastafarians. I was dumb.
Lessons: New Bern is nirvana for Pepsi fan
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS I am not very good at play. My most boring vacation was in 2003, when I took two of my boys for a week on St. Maarten in the Caribbean. I walked along the beach and read a lot. My idea of a good travel day is to visit eight churches. Now that I am retired, a typical day is spent at a poor school where I shake hands with a hundred or so kids (one of whom recently took his finger from his nose in order to shake my right hand).
Lessons: Experience faith in many different expressions
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS At the masses said by Father Bernard Dan in the churches of St. Luke Parish in Livingston County, the first spoken words are, “God is good” to which we respond “All the time.” Father then says, “And all the time” followed by our “God is good.” This is a gift that Father Bernard brings us from Africa, and most of us quite like it. By the way, in Kenya, where I have just been, this is not the end.
Lessons: Styling in ‘designer poverty’ is as offensive as blackface
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS Most people who know me think that I am a grumpy old man, and they are probably right. No one wants to be around me in an airport or when I am dealing with an airline. Occasionally I write about things that annoy and anger me. Most of them are rather trivial and superficial. However, I have a newly acquired gripe. It is somewhat parallel to how people have been responding to revelations of “blackface” events in the past lives of politicians.
Lessons: We must separate our wants from our needs
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS I am becoming less tolerant all the time of people’s quests for wealth and luxury. I say that hesitantly because I realize that one person’s “luxury” is another person’s “need.” In other words, the categories are not absolute and vary between individuals and cultures. Most Americans have a habit of referring to a “want” as a “need.” My kids used to say they needed new sneakers, when in fact they had several pairs.
Lessons: In Zimbabwe, finding a Blessing and offering hope
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS I arrived in Zimbabwe for the first time last Friday. Some of you old timers might still know it as Rhodesia, named for Cecil Rhodes, imperialist, racist, and creator of Rhodes Scholarships. I flew into Harare, formerly Salisbury. This country has a tough history. Independence came later than other European colonies in Africa. Zimbabwe’s first leader became a mean dictator and was finally deposed about a year ago. Still, I landed at Robert Mugabe International Airport.
Lessons: Coming to grips with a racist past
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS Like most decent people, I watched with horror the story of Governor Northam of Virginia as his 1984 yearbook page dominated the news. Two things I could not get out of my head: it was 1984, twenty years after the Civil Rights Act, and this was not a high school or even college yearbook but one from medical school. I assume Mr. Northam was at least 25 at the time and obviously highly educated.
Lessons: We can disagree, but we also must listen to each other
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS I think the Democratic priorities in our state legislature are loopy. I oppose legalizing recreational use of marijuana, in part because it will make highways less safe as we now have to concern ourselves with intoxicated and stoned drivers. I also believe that the widening of what a legal abortion consists of is wrongheaded and off the mark. And it was truly offensive for the governor to have One World Trade Center lighted at night to celebrate the new legislation.
Lessons: It’s no shame to be poor, but it might be to be rich
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS In part because I am constantly trying to raise money for the Bill Cook Foundation and in part because of the sort of place I am invited to speak, I know lots of rich folks. In fact, I write this from the home of quite a wealthy family who invited me to give some talks. I like rich folks about the same as I like normal folks. Some are great, some are horrible, and most are basically good. I hope the United States does not degenerate into a have vs. have-not society.
Lessons: How to offer world class customer service
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS There are lot of stupid people in this world, and I’m convinced that many of them make big salaries by annoying the hell out of me. These are people I never get to meet because they hide behind minimum wage people who have to talk to me and follow the stupid policies they are given. Let me illustrate. I got a call asking me to take a quick five-question survey about a group of hotels, one of which I apparently had recently stayed in.
Lessons: Why are we entertained, not repulsed, by violence?
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS We live in a world full of violence. Nothing new about that. However, I think we Americans are becoming more and more immune to the horror of violence. We see it and seek it out constantly. What percentage of television shows and movies show lots of often gratuitous violence? I can only give a qualitative answer to a quantitative question: a lot. It is our sports.
Lessons: Time for real discussion on our border security
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS I read Nicholas L. Waddy’s very long rant (“Trump proving to be one tough hombre at the border,” Jan. 3) recently on The Livingston County News opinion page and will now opine about his opinion. Let me preface my remarks by saying that I taught Nick in a Western Civilization class at SUNY Geneseo in 1990, and his mother Helena was my colleague in the SUNY Geneseo History Department for almost 30 years.
Lessons: Joy of Christmas to be found in giving a gift of charity
PREV NEXT ARTICLE OPTIONS I have had it with the way we Americans “celebrate” Christmas. Yes, it is central to my faith as a Christian to celebrate the moment in time when God humbled himself to take on human flesh, and in a stable no less! Yes, gift giving is a wonderful thing for children and adults because generosity is an all too often forgotten virtue. And those wise men brought some nice gifts to Jesus.
Lessons: South America, like almost anywhere, is quite diverse
Of the five largest continents, I know by far the least about South America. I visited for the first time in 2003 and am just completing my sixth visit. First, most Americans and others living in the northern hemisphere radically misunderstand the continent’s vastness. This is partly just good ol’ insularity, but it is primarily the result of our learning world geography using the Mercator map. Basically, the farther north things are, the bigger they appear on Mercator maps.
Lessons: The thin line between being an ambassador and being qualified
Sometimes there is a thin line between anger, a sin, and righteous indignation. This column tiptoes along that line, so read with caution. I was on a train with weak wi-fi, traveling from Chicago to Crawfordsville, Ind. I had had a long day that included a much-delayed flight and was in no mood to be serious. Thus, I was looking at what my friends were posting on Facebook. One Newsweek article was about President Trump’s choice to be ambassador to South Africa, an extraordinarily important position.
Lessons: Baffled by actions of 27th voters
What in the hell is wrong with NY’s 27th district? We (not I) just elected a crook to represent us and be our only voice in the House of Representatives. I know that in a court of law, Mr Collins is innocent till proven guilty, but the voting booth is not a jury. The evidence of insider trading is rather clear and convincing. I read Nick Waddy’s ludicrous argument for voting for a crook. I hope no one bought it.
Lessons: Change is hard, youngsters, so lend us a helping hand
In Indiana, I grew up in essentially a white world. I remember a black janitor at an apartment complex where we lived when I was a little boy. There were four blacks on my school bus for several years but only one in my school for junior high. My high school was about one-third black, but I ate in an all white cafeteria. I knew one Italian-American and a few immigrants from the Baltic republics who were as blond as I although they had much longer names.
Lessons: We need compassionate and caring leadership
By Bill Cook Lessons Tonight I walked again through Wenceslas Square in Prague. It is not a particularly beautiful square, certainly no match for the nearby Old Town Square. It is hardly a square at all, but rather a half-mile long street that had been a horse market in the Middle Ages, and now has a monumental building at one end. It is the heart of Prague and in the heart of all Czech patriots.
Lessons: It’s time to learn from our mistakes
I am depressed reading about current American foreign policy. As I grew up and as an adult, the United States chose its friends by how they viewed communism. So, we befriended and supported some of the world’s most infamous dictators including Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay, Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Suharto in Indonesia, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran and Mobuto Seko in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Lessons: England is still jolly, still old
I have been traveling by car around England for about a week. Next June I am leading a cathedral and church tour of England, so I need to see what I will be showing them, especially since I have not seen several in 40 years and a few not at all. The word of the day is “scaffolding.” Of course it is a good word because it means that these very old and magnificent buildings are getting the care that will allow them to last many more centuries.
Lessons: TV advertising sends wrong message to men and boys
I only watch two sorts of commercial television—old sitcoms on channel 1245 (ME TV) or the Buffalo Bills on network television on Sundays. The audiences are quite different, so the advertising is aimed at different demographics. On ME TV, there are primarily ads for various medicines for tough diseases, car and life insurance, weight loss, and “old people” stuff like hair loss and protection from incontinence. Watching the Bills is quite different.
Bill Cook
William Edgar Cook, 69, of Mesquite Nevada, formerly of Roosevelt, Utah, died Oct. 4, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada.Bill was born July 1, 1949, in Dayton, Ohio, to William Delmar Cook and Patricia Eileen McMahon. He joined the army after high school and left for training in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. He became a combat medic, serving three tours in Vietnam. Bill earned a silver star, two bronze stars and three purple hearts and many other medals.He was the husband of Diane Winterton Cook.
Lessons: Put core subjects ahead of school administrator salaries
I have just seen a list of the highest paid employees of Livingston County’s public schools. There are 45 who make more than $100,000. Of course we assume that superintendents are the highest paid people in each school, although it is far from evident that they are the most important people in terms of educating children. Unsurprisingly, most of the rest of the 45 are second- and third-level administrators.
The Voting Booth: Where Liberty Lives or Dies
When the earthly well-being of a pastor’s congregation is riding on Christians fulfilling their duty to vote, it’s his duty to remind his congregation of that fact. I’ve said before that Christians have an obligation to vote, if for no other reason than to counterbalance the political aims of those who would do evil. If we believe the word of God, we know that every person is either alive in Christ or dead in trespasses and sins.
Lessons: Write for truth, not fame
Last week, I taught a class at my alma mater, Wabash College. The course examined Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the section was the 15th canto or section of the first part of the Comedy, which describes Dante’s journey through Hell. It is a particularly poignant canto because Dante meets his old mentor, a fellow named Brunetto Latini, a leading writer of the generation before Dante.
Lessons: To prevent war, world leaders must appreciate its horrors
I have written about this topic before, but I want to amend and expand an idea that I feel deeply about. This is a proposal that will never be made a reality, but it is serious and vital. I believe that any new leader of a major nation ought to commit to spending two hours in Auschwitz alone — no handlers, guides, colleagues or even spouses. He/she should spend 120 minutes learning what human beings are capable of doing to one another.
Global Mrna Vaccines & Therapeutics Market 2018 - Argos Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BioNTech, Boehringer Ingelheim, CRISPR Therapeutics
The current industrial research report on Global Mrna Vaccines & Therapeutics Market which includes the detailed analysis of the market 2018. The report gives a brief overview of the Mrna Vaccines & Therapeutics Market and comprehensive analysis of all the state.
Lessons: It’s time to rethink school from every aspect
Part two of this series about education turns from education at home and schools to educational goals. It seems each day that as a society we move farther away from what education is all about. The purpose of education is for graduates to know how to analyze what they experience and how to find answers to their questions. They need some mastery of the English language so that they can read, write, and speak coherently and persuasively.
America's Churches Must Take Action To Preserve Our Liberty
For the past four weeks, I have been working on behalf of Ryan McAdams, a pastor and the leader of the Virginia Prayer Caucus, who has been called of God to run for Congress in Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District.
Lessons: Becoming educated citizens begins with parents teaching children
Why are we as a nation (and as a world) so screwed up politically? Why are the knaves (crooks) and fools (who make decisions without an understanding of evidence) in charge? In many countries, the answers often do not include irresponsible citizens. They are about coups and purges and dictators enriching themselves. Nations such as Cameroon, Venezuela, Cambodia, and North Korea come easily to mind. But how about in the democracies of the developed world?
Lessons: Learn about candidates’ honesty and courage, along with tax reform and walls
When I was a candidate for Congress in New York’s 27th district 20 years ago, I was asked by a citizen of Livonia if I can be trusted not to be a crook like so many members of Congress. I knew what the “right” answer was: I am a nice, honest guy who only wants to serve the people of the district. However, that was not the answer I gave that gentleman. I told him that I cannot swear that I will not become a crook with, at least metaphorically, my hand in the till.
Lessons: How Trump could do some good, if he wanted to
I hope you and President Putin had a nice chat and perhaps a luncheon borscht. You sure did the U.S.A. proud! I was recently in Kolkata, India (Calcutta when you and I were in school) to try to help some very poor children attend school and get good education. I was taken to an after-school program in a large area whose main activity is prostitution. I was led through the streets to see the display of women selling their bodies, in many instances so they could feed their families.
Lessons: Nature demands our respect
I have never been an enthusiastic visitor to zoos, although I have visited several of the great American zoos such as San Diego and Chicago. And I confess that I fell in love with giant pandas when I saw several of them in the Beijing Zoo a couple of years ago. However, since I have begun to travel a lot in Africa and Asia, I have profoundly enjoyed seeing animals in the wild. Seeing giraffes in Kenya is thrilling.
Lessons: Helping neighbors helps you
The greatest commentator on democracy, American or otherwise, was Alexis de Tocqueville, the Frenchman who came to the U.S. in 1831 and traveled widely, including through Lima, Avon, and Caledonia. The book that resulted, “Democracy in America,” has been described as the best book ever about democracy and the best book ever about America. Several of the phrases he coins have become part of our national discourse. He feared the possibility of the “tyranny of the majority,” for example.
Lessons: Insults should not replace intelligent discourse
President Donald J Trump is boorish and foul. His policies are dragging our nation into a period of shame and decline. His cabinet and advisers and much of the GOP delegation in Congress consists of conscienceless sycophants. But that is not my topic today. I want to complain about his opposition. It is true that both Trump and many of his most vocal supporters are crude in thought and language. They have lowered the bar to a point when no one can limbo under it.
Lessons: We live in a Plutocracy
Readers know that it is hard to find a more zealous “small d” democrat than I. I celebrate democracy’s many virtues and try to suggest ways to deal with inherent problems. Each year I attend a conference founded by the Dalai Lama, Eli Wiesel, and Vaclav Havel. All suffered from unjust totalitarian regimes. But as I look at the United States and the mature democracies in Europe, I am discouraged.
Lessons: Feeling optimistic about the world
I tell people all the time that teaching is the world’s greatest job. I spent part of most days over a period of 42 years with bright young people. Of course, I also spent time with some not so talented students and with students in crisis. I love them all, no matter how frustrated some made me.
Lessons: Local service groups offer myriad benefits
If you want to do something patriotic, join an organization. This may be a church group, a political cause, a service club like Rotary or Kiwanis or Lions, a sports group, or just about anything else. If you like cats, there is an organization for you. If you have kids in school, try the PTA. If you like to act or sing, there are several options. You need to join a real organization and not a virtual one; electronic organizations have their place, but they do not do much good for the body politic.
Lessons: Dad taught lasting lessons, good and bad
I almost gasped for breath the other day when I looked at a calendar and realized that my father has been dead for 28 years. He died peacefully, and my mom and I were with him. I learned that he would not live through the night about 6 p.m. on a Saturday. Thanks to a fortunate plane schedule, I arrived in Indianapolis six hours later, and shared his last two hours of life. It just does not seem like 28 years.
Lessons: Bite the bullet and go to the doctor
My father was a podiatrist, one of five in my family. So I was raised knowing lots of doctors of all sorts. I was for a brief period Exhibit A for my dad at a podiatrists’ convention because he had created a night splint for me to wear to make me less awkward walking. I even had a kind of ‘runway experience’ when dad had me walk barefoot on a table around which the podiatrists were gathered.
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