Gary Begnaud: An Overview of Establishing an Emergency Fund

Emergency fund

Key Takeaways

  • An emergency fund is a dedicated cash reserve for true financial disruptions like job loss, medical bills, or urgent repairs.
  • Most households should aim to save three to six months of essential living expenses, adjusted for income stability and risk.
  • Emergency funds should be kept in liquid, insured accounts such as high-yield savings or money market deposit accounts.
  • Using cash reserves instead of credit cards prevents interest costs and reduces financial stress during a crisis.
  • Beyond covering expenses, an emergency fund provides psychological security and preserves long-term financial plans.
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Stephen Reeder: Lessons in Leadership Reflected Through Scouting Values

Scouting

Key Takeaways

  • Scouting emphasizes character, service, and self-reliance – values that closely mirror effective leadership principles.
  • The founding story of the Boy Scouts of America highlights how small acts of integrity can have lasting societal impact.
  • Scouting programs build confidence and resilience by helping young people overcome social, emotional, and physical challenges.
  • Personal achievement in Scouting often comes through mentorship, teamwork, and disciplined effort.
  • The stories demonstrate how values learned early in life can shape ethical leadership in business and community roles.
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Thomas Guglielmo: What Lean Looks Like in Daily Work

Lean practices at work

Key Takeaways

  • Lean becomes visible in daily work through habits, layouts, and routines that reduce waste and prevent interruptions.
  • Standardized steps, checklists, and shared formats reduce variation and limit ambiguity in routine tasks.
  • Physical layout and point-of-use storage minimize searching, waiting, and unnecessary movement.
  • Visual systems expose problems early and enable faster handoffs and quicker corrective action.
  • Continuous small improvements by frontline teams make operations more stable, predictable, and resilient over time.
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Tracey L. McNeil: Best Practices for Business to Business Partnerships in Finance

B2B

Key Takeaways

  • Successful B2B partnerships in finance start with a clear strategic purpose and well-defined business objectives.
  • Choosing partners requires structured evaluation of technology, culture, financial stability, and regulatory readiness.
  • Strong governance models are essential to manage decision-making, risk, accountability, and operational execution.
  • Clear commercial, legal, and technical foundations reduce misunderstandings and align incentives between partners.
  • Ongoing compliance, security, and disciplined execution are critical to scaling partnerships sustainably.
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Jeff Scafaro: How Pete Sampras Redefined All Court Coverage

Pete Sampras

photo credit: Levg / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Key Takeaways

  • Pete Sampras redefined all-court tennis by combining a dominant serve with exceptional speed and net attacking instincts.
  • His shift from a baseline style to a serve-and-volley game under coach Peter Fischer shaped his championship career.
  • The 1990 US Open final against Andre Agassi demonstrated Sampras’ ability to control both baseline rallies and net play.
  • Unlike many contemporaries who emphasized side-to-side movement, Sampras used a north-south approach to court coverage.
  • His movement style and success on fast surfaces, especially grass, influenced both opponents and later court design changes.
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Father Horacio Medina: Exploring Aristotle’s Ethics and Moral Virtue

Ethics and moral values of Aristotle

Key Takeaways

  • Aristotle defines the highest human good as eudaimonia, or living and doing well across a complete life.
  • Human goodness depends on reasoning well and performing one’s proper function with excellence.
  • Virtue reflects stable character and disposition, not merely outward behavior or isolated actions.
  • Moral virtue is found in the mean between extremes, avoiding both excess and deficiency.
  • Other schools like the Cynics and Stoics developed different ethical views, but all emphasized reason and character.
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Eugene Saltzberg MD: Emergency Simulation Training for Early Medical Learners

Medial emergency simulation training

Key Takeaways

  • Simulation introduces medical students to emergency decision-making in realistic, high-pressure but risk-free environments.
  • Early simulations focus more on clinical reasoning, prioritization, and communication than on finding a single correct answer.
  • Structured debriefs turn mistakes into learning opportunities and strengthen reflective, evidence-based thinking.
  • Simulation helps students learn to manage uncertainty, limited resources, and rapidly changing clinical conditions.
  • Team-based scenarios develop coordination, task management, and adaptability alongside individual clinical skills.
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Douglas Charney: Understanding Permanent Estate And Gift Tax Rules

Calculating tax benefits

Key Takeaways

  • The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), enacted on July 4, 2025, permanently extends key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
  • The federal estate and gift tax exemption remains high and will rise to $15 million per person starting January 1, 2026, with no sunset.
  • The generation-skipping transfer tax exemption is aligned with the estate and gift tax exemption, simplifying multigenerational planning.
  • Top marginal income tax rates and capital gains tax structures from the TCJA are now permanent.
  • The law introduces new planning considerations, including enhanced standard deductions, the repeal of the personal exemption, and the new “Trump Account.”
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Camp Quinebarge: A Few Tips for Hiking with Children

Hiking with children

Key Takeaways

  • Children can start hiking at almost any age, but trails should match their physical ability and interests.
  • Frequent breaks, hydration, and healthy snacks are essential for keeping young hikers comfortable and energized.
  • Combining hikes with activities like swimming makes trips more enjoyable and helps manage heat and fatigue.
  • Giving children leadership roles on the trail builds confidence, responsibility, and engagement with nature.
  • Proper preparation, including sun protection, suitable clothing, and a first-aid kit, is critical for safety.
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Van Hipp: The Siege of Ninety-Six and the Southern Campaign

American Revolutionary War

Key Takeaways

  • Van Hipp highlights the Siege of Ninety-Six as a crucial but often overlooked episode of the American Revolutionary War.
  • Ninety-Six served as a key British frontier outpost supporting control of South Carolina’s interior.
  • The Star Fort at Ninety-Six was a well-designed 18th-century fortification that proved difficult to capture.
  • Although the Patriot assault failed, the siege contributed to the British decision to abandon the fort and retreat to the coast.
  • The events at Ninety-Six helped set the stage for the eventual British defeat at Yorktown later in 1781.
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