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Articles by Mark Dixon
Why Frank "Home Run" Baker Spent a Season in Delaware County
In public, business leaders love the choices offered by a free market. Behind the scenes, though, they prefer that the choices are theirs—especially when dealing with employees. That’s how Frank “Home Run” Baker spent a season playing for a semi-pro team in Delaware County in 1915. It was about money. The Philadelphia Athletics player was one of the biggest stars in baseball. Starting in 1911, he’d led the American League in home runs for four seasons.
N.C. Wyeth's 'The Giant' Is a Moving Tribute to a Friend
The young are remembered differently than the old. Adults who have died are recalled for their work, their heroic deeds or the families they created. The young? Mostly for lost dreams. And so it is with “The Giant,” a 1923 oil painting created in memory of a young artist who’d intended to paint something like it himself. Instead, William Clothier Engle died of tuberculosis only a few years after graduating from the Westtown School in 1910.
5 years on: How Covid redefined the future of work Original
Humanity has encountered countless crises, and many have led to profound and sometimes unexpected change. As the economist Milton Friedman once said, “Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change.” In 2020, a crisis that would change many things forever hit the world. Offices stood empty. Cars, previously stuck in motorway jams on the daily commute, idled on driveways. Trains and buses ran empty, if at all. Planes were grounded.
This is COVID-19's most lasting legacy on the way we work
As the economist Milton Friedman once said, “Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change.” Humanity has of course been faced with countless crises, leading to profound and often unexpected change. These crises define and differentiate generations and leave lasting impacts for years to come. In 2020, a crisis that would change everything hit the world seemingly overnight. Everyone remembers where they were the day the world shut down. Offices stood empty.
How a Havertown Author Made the Amish a Tourist Attraction
Why do we gawk at the Amish? After all, it’s not like they’re new in town. The Anabaptist sects of Lancaster County—the Old Order Amish and the similar-looking Mennonites and Brethren—have lived in Pennsylvania since the 1720s. But they only became a tourist attraction maybe 80 years ago. For this, much of the credit goes to Havertown native Marguerite de Angeli, whose 1936 children’s book, Henner’s Lydia, put the Amish on the national tourist map.
Big Inch: The Main Line Area Oil Pipeline That Aided the WWII Victory
Business innovates—and government creates the conditions that make innovation possible. Here in Pennsylvania, most residents heat their homes with natural gas. Why? Because, in the early days of World War II, U.S. taxpayers built a 1,400-mile pipeline from East Texas to Phoenixville, where it branched out to oil refineries in Delaware County and New York.
Inside Isaac Wayne MacVeagh's Role in the 1876 Election Race
People working toward a goal can easily develop tunnel vision. Perhaps it was like that for local attorney Isaac Wayne MacVeagh, who was recruited to help settle the disputed 1876 election. MacVeagh’s goal was to keep the presidency in Republican hands. He saw his party as one of reform and Democrats as the party of the Confederacy. Born in Phoenixville, MacVeagh was the middle of three sons and often compared unfavorably to his older brother.
Yet another reason to ditch the RTO mandates: the traditional commute defies logic
When was the last time someone sat in endless gridlock or rushed to catch the train as part of their long, stressful morning commute to work and thought “Oh, this is nice?” When so many can now choose how and where they work, a long daily commute to a faraway office no longer makes sense. In fact, it defies logic. The traditional daily commute from the suburbs to city centers drains workers’ productivity and wallets.
Stand Up, Thrown Out
The memory of public ridicule sticks with a person. It surely stuck with Henry Joel Cadbury, a professor of religion at Haverford College who lost his job in 1918 for criticizing the hysteria of World War I. Remembered for his gentle wit and self-effacing modesty, he went on to be a leader in civil rights, peace and justice issues. He was a founder of the American Friends Service Committee, which he led through numerous triumphs and crises. Still, the Haverford episode was pivotal.
A cluster of Pleistocene hominin ichnosites on South Africa’s Cape South Coast
Abstract Seven Pleistocene tracksites and two lithic sites, identified with varying degrees of confidence and attributed to Homo sapiens, have been identified in aeolianite deposits along a 1200 m coastal stretch at Brenton-on-Sea on South Africa’s Cape south coast. Some sites contain more than one track- or trace-bearing layer, and each site is from a geological different unit. The aeolianites adjacent to the ichnosites that have been dated span an age range from 113 ± 8 ka to 76 ± 5 ka.
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Hap Arnold Was a Key Figure for the Army Air Corps During WWII
Disincentives have their place. His boss’ court-martial for insubordination taught Gladwyne’s Henry “Hap” Arnold the value of discretion. Specifically, it taught him to keep his mouth shut, salute and work within the system to achieve a goal. Arnold’s boss was Gen. Billy Mitchell, who was thrown out of the U.S. Army in 1926 for too vigorously advocating for an air force as the third branch of the military. At the time, both the Army and Navy brass saw aviation as just another tool.
Henry James Went From Free Man to Slave-and Back Again
Under duress, people do what they must to survive—kill, eat human flesh, move to Texas. In 1861, Henry James, a Black man from Chester County, even volunteered for slavery. Fortunately, his version of bondage only lasted the few weeks it took him to get out of the South. Safely back home, he enlisted in the Union army to fight the slaveholders.
Mildred Scott Olmsted of Glenolden Was an Activist & Advocate
Some children never rebel. Others never stop. Mildred Scott Olmsted was among the latter. Born in Glenolden, Olmsted was among the early advocates of birth control. She organized the first social service department at Bryn Mawr Hospital, and she worked for the YMCA and the Quakers in France and Germany during World War I, coming away from the experience a committed pacifist. Born Mildred Scott, she was the second of three daughters of Henry Scott, a lawyer, and Adele Hamrick, a high-society beauty.
A Short History of West Chester's Thomas S. Bell in the Civil War
On Sept. 20, 1862, three days after Lt. Col. Thomas S. Bell was killed at the Battle of Antietam, an uncle and a friend received his body at the train station. There, they pried open the rough coffin and looked inside. “Decay’s effacing fingers have been busily at work marring the lineaments of his fine face and features,” reported a newspaper at the time. The son and namesake of a prominent local judge, Bell was a young lawyer and one of West Chester’s favorite sons.
Chester County's Dr. Ann Preston Led the Way for Female Medical Students
In 1869, Chester County’s Dr. Ann Preston, dean of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania—the first such institution in the world—led her female students into a lab at Pennsylvania Hospital. The reaction? “The male medical students shouted insults and threw paper, tinfoil and tobacco quids,” wrote historian Margaret Hope Bacon.
Businesses cut costs as they open offices away from city centres – research
Almost three-quarters of businesses say they have cut the cost of their offices amid the continued shift towards hybrid working, according to new research. More than half of businesses have office or co-working space outside city centres, the research conducted by office and real estate firm IWG has found. Mark Dixon, chief executive officer of the Regus operator, said the days of expecting workers to make an “unproductive and expensive commute” are “long gone”.
Possible shod-hominin tracks on South Africa’s Cape coast
When and where did humans first fashion footwear? Ichnology holds the potential to answer this unresolved question in palaeoanthropology. The global record of sites from which shod-hominin tracks have been considered is sparse. Consideration of proxies for footwear use, in conjunction with areas of known Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic hominin tracksites, suggests two suitable regions in which to search for shod-hominin tracks of this age: southern Africa and Western Europe.
TikTok to Invest Heavily in SEA with Indonesia taking Priority
The short-form video streaming giant, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is in a race to dominate e-commerce in the region. Facing growing regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. — the biggest market for the app with 116 million users — TikTok is increasingly investing in its second biggest market: Indonesia, which had 113 million app users as of April, according to Statista. Outside Indonesia, it’s ramping up its focus on Thailand and Malaysia too.
Economic Strengthening May Lead to end of Cloud Business Slump
As signs of economic resilience encourage clients to increase technology spending, U.S. tech behemoths may signal the end of a nearly year-long slowdown in their cloud businesses, while an increase in digital advertising will also help profits.
6 Historic Events With Connections to the Main Line Region
Illustrations by Zakye Rothmiller A lot of historic events have taken place around the Main Line, but these six curious tales won’t be found in any history book. Backstories are backstories for a reason—and they were the focus of my Retrospect column, which ran monthly in Main Line Today from 2003 to 2019. One that really stuck with me was the tale of Nathaniel Wyeth, which is included in this collection. An engineer who spent his career with DuPont, he invented the plastic soda bottle in 1973.
COP27: recognising the value of hybrid working to the planet’s future
By Mark Dixon, Founder and CEO of IWG plc As the world’s eyes turn towards Egypt and the COP27 summit (Sharm el-Sheikh, 7 – 18 November), growing numbers of warnings continue to reverberate about the ever-increasing dangers of the climate crisis.
Go hybrid - it’s good for business
He’s spot on – and in total agreement with the findings of a recent IWG survey among 250 CFOs. It revealed that 80% of respondents believe hybrid working is an important cost saving as they prepare for the recession, which more than 90% are expecting. Unless they resize their real estate footprint, CFOs will be paying for an underused resource that doesn’t increase productivity.
COP27: Recognising the value of hybrid working to the planet’s future
As the world’s eyes turn towards Egypt and the COP27 summit (Sharm el-Sheikh, 7 – 18 November), growing numbers of warnings continue to reverberate about the ever-increasing dangers of the climate crisis.
Six Nebraska Cities May Vote to Ban Abortions, Protect Unborn Babies
On November 8, 2022, citizens from six different communities throughout the State of Nebraska will vote on ordinances declaring their communities “sanctuary cities for the unborn,” outlawing abortion within their city limits. Those six communities are the Villages of Arnold (pop. 597), Brady (pop. 428), Hershey (pop. 665), Paxton (pop. 523), and Wallace (pop. 366), as well as the City of Curtis (pop. 939).
Hybrid Work Is Valuable to the Planet’s Future. Here’s Why.
As the world’s eyes this November turn toward the COP27 summit — the United Nations Climate Change Conference — warnings continue to reverberate about the increasing dangers of the climate crisis. According to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, “Every tenth of a degree counts.” The world is heading toward 2 to 3 degrees Celsius of global warming; and, to maintain livable conditions on Earth, we must do everything possible to prevent crossing crucial tipping points.
How CFOs are reassessing their real-estate footprint in the face of the economic downturn
Stanford University professor, Nicholas Bloom, widely recognised as one of the world’s leading economic experts and visionaries on the future of work, couldn’t have summed up the value of hybrid working any better than in a recent interview with Time magazine: “As an economist, I’d point out that firms don’t do things that lose them money. They do things that make them money.
MARK DIXON: Hybrid model accelerates suburban revitalisation
As hybrid working frees people from the constraints of city life, towns and villages will undergo a transformation that will reduce commuting and have a positive impact on the environment. During London’s Great Smog of 1952 more than 4,000 residents died in four weeks. It was one of the reasons millions left the city and moved to the suburbs. That trend continued through the 1960s and 1970s.
Hybrid future is more sustainable
In those early days of 2020, as many millions changed their lives to work from home, global carbon dioxide emissions fell by a staggering 25%, according to research journal Nature Climate Change. Many of us remember the clarity of the air, probably best illustrated by pictures from cities in many countries and continents that were smog-free for the first time in decades. The reasons aren’t hard to find when you look at the data.
Governor Ivey Puts Students First with Veto of Literacy Act Delay
By Mark E. Dixon | President of A+ Education Partnership On Thursday, Governor Kay Ivey vetoed a bill that would have delayed the 3rd grade retention provision of the Alabama Literacy Act by two years. With this veto, Governor Ivey put Alabama students first, reaffirming Alabama’s commitment to ensuring that no student will leave elementary school without the basic reading skills they need to be successful in school and life.
Gov. Ivey puts students first with veto of Literacy Act delay
Mark E. Dixon On Thursday, Governor Kay Ivey vetoed a bill that would have delayed the 3rd grade retention provision of the Alabama Literacy Act by two years. With this veto, Governor Ivey put Alabama students first, reaffirming Alabama’s commitment to ensuring that no student will leave elementary school without the basic reading skills they need to be successful in school and life.
Budget Watch: Alabama Legislature PASSES 2021 Education Trust Fund Budget
UPDATE Saturday, May 9, 2020 The full Alabama Senate convened this morning to vote on the Senate version of the FY 2021 Education Trust Fund budget. The Senate unanimously passed the budget, the House concurred, and now it goes to Governor Ivey’s desk for signature. Both Governor Ivey and state legislators originally planned for a robust education budget for 2021 with an increase of over $411 million.
The Disney+ juggernaut is coming for British children’s TV
Gucci / Disney The launch of Disney+ on March 24 is inescapable. Twitter feeds, Marvel fan sites and tangentially related YouTube content everywhere is twinkling with the ‘white on blue’ sparkle of the new streaming service’s logo. Of course, we’re all already aware of Disney power. It is, after all, the basking shark of the media world, having hoovered up over $71 billion of media subsidiaries in its open-mouthed trawl of the entertainment sphere last year alone.
Teacher Adah Fulbright persevered during segregation
OPINION Mark A. Dixon Published 6:59 p.m. CT March 7, 2020 March is Women’s History Month, and as I ponder that fact, I can’t help but think of the many women who have been influential in my life. My own mother, the late Doris Price Dixon, made an indelible mark upon me that, thankfully, can never be erased.
The Greater Victory
Manners are important. Anyone knows this who’s taken a child to a baseball game and been confronted by drunk, profane, vomiting, even violent fans. In 1910, the players themselves didn’t behave much better, and an enterprising Delaware County baseball manager used that to his advantage.
Gladwyne's Hap Arnold's Fight for U.S. Air Superiority During WWII and After
Disincentives have their place. His boss’ court-martial for insubordination taught Gladwyne’s Henry “Hap” Arnold the value of discretion. Specifically, it taught him to keep his mouth shut, salute and work within the system to achieve a goal. Arnold’s boss was Gen. Billy Mitchell, who was thrown out of the U.S. Army in 1926 for too vigorously advocating an air force as a third branch of the military.
The Story of Westtown's Little-Known Civil War Camp
Camp Elder’s approximate location. The Williams’ farm had previously been selected to be the site of a U.S. Colored Troops training camp by a Union captain named James Elder. Before it could be established, however, a site was needed for a parole camp. As it turned out, the training camp was never created, though Elder’s name stuck. John Heed, a 14-year-old farm hand who was out chopping weeds, didn’t notice the mass of approaching men until they were almost upon him.
New ethane cracker factories raise climate change and pollution concerns
Plastic is not just a problem for overwhelmed landfills or the marine life that ingest it. Plastic is also a huge contributor to carbon emissions, climate change and toxic pollution. But if some of the large petrochemical companies have their way, plastic production will increase dramatically in the coming years.
Remember when we could say “Thank goodness for Mississippi?
Opinion Updated 10:44 AM;Today 10:38 AM By Mark Dixon | President of A+ Education Partnership This week’s release of the 2019 Nation’s Report Card came with alarming news: Alabama has dropped to last in the nation in math and significantly declined in reading.
Moose Mega Pass Winner!
Congratulations to our Moose Mega Pass winner Jennifer Quinn. She gets to see Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, The Oak Ridge Boys, Blanco Brown, Jimmy Allen, Cole Swindell, Chris Lane, Michael Ray, Randy Houser, Chase Rice, Aaron Lewis, Hardy, Rodney Carrington and so many more through February! Jennifer we are so happy for you!
Venetoclax and Obinutuzumab in Patients with CLL and Coexisting Conditions
33 References 147 Citing Articles Related Articles Abstract Background The BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax has shown activity in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but its efficacy in combination with other agents in patients with CLL and coexisting conditions is not known. Methods In this open-label, phase 3 trial, we investigated fixed-duration treatment with venetoclax and obinutuzumab in patients with previously untreated CLL and coexisting conditions.
SURVEY | Flexible working now a deal breaker in the war for talent
Mark Dixon | CEO and founder | International Workplace Group | mail me | New findings suggest that businesses that do not have a flexible workspace* policy risk losing out on top talent. Research shows that 83% of people would choose a job which offered flexible working over a job that didn’t, and almost a third (28%) of people value being able to choose their work location over an increase in holiday allowance.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fought for Both Abolition and Women’s Rights
During the mid-1800s, the poet and activist worked for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and gave lectures on women’s suffrage. By Mark Dixon Frances Ellen Watkins Harper began working for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in 1857. Sometimes life forces us to choose between two things, putting aside one in favor of the other. That was how 19th-century activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper approached the seemingly conflicting issues of suffrage for black men and women in the 1890s.
After Pittsburgh, We Can No Longer Cry Wolf on “Campus Anti-Semitism”
The tragic killing of 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue last Saturday has created a painful reckoning over the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the US. If there was ever any question about the threat white nationalism poses to the Jewish community, there can be no doubt after this attack, which some are calling the deadliest act of anti-Semitism in American history.
Buckboard 2018 | Conrad | B-93
The Moose Buckboard is coming to another successful conclusion, thanks to our friends at Grasmeyer Brother's Guns in Twin Lake. All the pictures have been posted. Check and make sure yours is there. Winners will be drawn on Facebook Live Thursday 1/3 after 1:30pm and announced live at 2:10pm on 107MUS, The Moose. (107.9) We will have winners in 4 categories...adult male, adult female, youth boy and youth girl. Prizes to be posted soon.
Commentary: GDPR Should Have Made Cookies Toast
On Friday, Europe will see a new law come into force: the hard-to-understand General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Its goal is to tip the balance back in favor of citizens and away from data-abusing companies by regulating what companies can do with people’s data. It’s supposed to give people control by requiring disclosure of how their data will be used and by forcing companies to get permission in advance—to get users to press the so-called ‘opt-in’ buttons.
Hagley Museum's Patent Model Collection Travels to China
In 1866, Albert H. Kennedy, an 18-year-old farm boy in Medina County, Ohio, patented a design for power-driven sheep shears. In his design, turning a crank compressed a spring which, when released, drove the clippers. As required by the U.S. Patent Office, Kennedy submitted a small model that demonstrated how it functioned. Kennedy died in 1940, and his device has been obsolete still longer. But, next year, both will find a new relevance on the other side of the world.
Two-Facedbook: Russia is Zuckerberg's decoy
Despite two days of Congressional testimony last week, 10 hours of questioning, and wide-ranging media analysis, Mark Zuckerberg has gotten away with a sleight of hand so brilliant it hasn’t yet been noticed: His testimony deployed the greater enemy theory — pointing the blame at Russia to distract from Facebook’s own manipulation. Russia is the perfect decoy because its manipulation of U.S. elections and the Brexit vote is both true and important.
Big Sister is watching you - Facebook is legally manipulating how we vote
Big Sister is watching you — Facebook is legally manipulating how we vote Voters are being manipulated legally much more than illegally. Yet our focus is on the misuse of data for manipulation — in Russiagate and Cambridgegate — rather than on manipulation itself. Put another way, even if all the rules were followed, people would still be manipulated and elections would still be stolen from them. Illegal manipulation is just the tip of the much larger manipulation iceberg.
Alice Neel Beat the Art Market by Sticking to Her Aesthetic
If “the market” knew best, it would never change its mind. But, in fact, it does. The art market, for instance, changed its mind about Alice Neel of Colwyn, who painted what interested her rather than what others wanted to buy. She rarely took commissions or sold a painting. At times, Neel survived on welfare and shoplifting. Only in her 60s did artistic assessments of her work change. And now?
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