I have never quite understood why there are such moral standards in society and what they mean to everyone. The only thing that matters to me is survival, which in the case of humans, means that the stronger should be dominant and the weaker should be subject to their rule. I do not think morality has much to do with the survival of the weaker. We have a moral sense and some are born with it, others acquire it. We cannot survive without it.
Our society has a moral code, which we follow even when we are not aware of it. It is in the genes. The rules of the society we are born into have a big impact on what we do as adults. Our brains are hard-wired to follow the rules of society. Some of them are self-defeating.
A good example is the drug addiction. A person who is addicted to drugs will not care about what happens to him or her or her family. He is living in a state of denial of his drug addiction.
The moral sense of an individual is a function of the society he or she is born in. Morality is a human invention. Why are we moral? Moral sense is a very useful device. It is the sense that enables us to control the behavior of others. We have a right to dominate. We need to know what is good and what is evil. We need to know what is fair and what is not.
Morality is a sense that we use to judge the actions of others and to help us to control their behavior. Morality is a tool that we use to help us survive. We need to know that our actions are right or wrong. We cannot do something that is right unless it is moral. When we violate the moral sense we do not only violate the sense but we also become vulnerable to the exploitation by others.
A sense of justice is another useful tool. We cannot live in society without it. It is the sense that tells us that others also deserve the same right to live as we do. What does this tell us about moral sense and justice?
Both these senses are useful but they are different. The moral sense is a sense that we use to control the behavior of others and to help us to judge the behavior of others. It is a sense that we use to help us survive. It helps us to determine what is right or wrong in any situation. When we violate the sense, we do not just violate it but we also become vulnerable to the exploitation by others. We need to have a moral sense so that we can live as a community. The moral sense is a function of the society in which we are born. It may not be inborn in a few species of animals.
When we use the moral sense we also judge what is right or wrong. We also have a sense of justice. The sense of justice tells us that others also deserve the same right to live as we do. It is a sense that tells us that the right to live should be extended to all equally.
Both these senses are useful but they are different. One is a sense that we use to control the behavior of others and the other one is a sense that tells us that others deserve the same right to live as we do. A good moral sense will help us survive and protect us from being exploited by others. It will help us to live as a community.
A good moral sense will tell us that there are rules to society that we should follow and some of these rules are self-defeating. It will also teach us to judge what is right and wrong.
SHUT UP. That’s incredible. No way. Damn. Life is funny eh?
Me? It’s been crazy. Crazy good.
Stand up? Yeah…it’s been going well, actually. I get on stage everyday. Sometimes for hours at a time.
No, not comedy clubs…social audio.
So you know like how you can make a post to FB or IG or Twitter or Linkedin?
OK so this is a bit of.a long-winded story about how I never left stand-up…I took it with me.
Ram Dass once told a story about a guy who became enlightened and went back to selling insurance because the emotional turmoil of the workplace drama no longer bothered him.
That’s kind of how I feel right now…without the enlightened part.
When I started out this blog, I wanted to become a full-time stand-up comedian. I had plans on seeing my name in the marquee with bright lights, traveling the world, all that kind of stuff.
I learned how to write jokes, improvise, then talk to the crowd work over the course of seven years between 2011 and 2018. Quinn my mentor helped me learn more about people than he ever taught me about comedy.
Along the way, I discovered that when people were laughing they couldn’t disagree with me. I began testing comedy at work and started actually having a good time at work. Weird. I realized that I could turn every conversation I was in to a stand-up comedy show with just one audience member.
When the pandemic hit, comedy clubs were closed. I had stopped doing stand-up for awhile by that point because while I enjoyed stand-up I didn’t enjoy the lifestyle of stand-up comedy. Being out late on a daily basis just isn’t my thing.
But then something happened. The pandemic ushered in working from home…and what’s working from home but performing on a small camera on zoom?
That’s when the comedy began REALLY helping, because I realized I could use comedy at work to disagree with powerful people using sarcasm. It’s nuts. Powerful people have no idea what to do with sarcasm. They’re so used to people agreeing with them that when you disagree in the FORM OF AN AGREEMENT it short circuits their brain. Anyhoo. Read Koestler’s The Act Of Creation – just the first 100 pages – and you’ll know everything you need to know about comedy…and creativity. Carlin references it in his last interview. Memba dat; ah dat mi seh.
During the pandemic, apps like Zoom and Clubhouse and Instagram Live blew up. Twitter, not to be outdone, added a clone of Clubhouse that allowed everyone on Twitter to create little rooms people could talk in using their phone. Think of an open mic but software nerds doing argumentative Ted Talks on langchain streamlit and python for voice-powered chatbots instead of telling jokes. Imagine an open mic where 8 comedians had a mic and you’ll get a sense of the madness that occurs on these Twitter chatrooms called TwitterSpaces.
Long story short, I began as a Listener, getting my feel for the conversation. Then, I grew the courage to get on stage on TwitterSpaces as a Speaker. Eventually, I began hosting my own TwitterSpaces voice chatrooms, adding co-hosts, Speakers, and growing the room.
Two years later, we have a group of regulars that meet on a daily basis called The Syndicate. It’s a lot of tech talk, but I’ve been able to grow the community through stand up. Think Howard Stern but Tech.
And without comedy – and specifically Quinn’s help – we wouldn’t have anything.
Check us out on Twitter. And join us in a TwitterSpace sometime.
The number one thing that people misunderstand about accounting is that it is a science. I’m a practicing CPA [I’M NOT THE AI SAID IT WAS!!!], and I know how easy it is to get it wrong. Here’s why.
Here’s the secret: accounting is a science that is used in conjunction with other sciences.
Accounting is a science because it is about numbers. The numbers are all we have. And we use those numbers to determine who will get paid, and who will get fired. That’s accounting.
Here’s how accounting science works. We know a lot about a business’s financial numbers, which is why accountants are hired. We then use those numbers to make the business more profitable.
If you don’t know what makes a business more profitable, you’ll never be more profitable. You’ll never know how to keep making more money.
What I am telling you is a proven scientific process.
It’s as scientific as it is practical, and it’s what accountants do every day.
And for all of you in accounting classes: please, stop trying to find an accountant who will tell you the “right way” to do things.
It doesn’t exist.
There are too many people in accounting, and they have to be flexible and creative.
The truth is: You have to ask yourself “what are the right questions to ask to figure out the answers to what needs to be done”?
And the answer is that you have to learn how to think like a scientist.
You have to be curious about numbers, but not so curious that you’re confused.
You have to ask questions and follow up until you find the right answers.
And when you do that, you will get the answers that will let you be more successful in business.
So now we come to our point of the day.
The key to becoming a better accountant is simple:
You have to understand what the right questions are to ask.
It’s like a computer.
Every computer has its own program. When you ask the right questions, you’re going to find the answers.
You’re going to make money.
You’re going to keep your clients.
You’re going to keep your job.
You’re going to go out and earn more money.
So we’ve been learning about accounting.
But what do all of these things have in common?
They all have to do with the ability to figure out the answers to the right questions.
When you learn to think like a scientist, you’re going to make more money.
Because then you’ll be asking the right questions. And when you ask the right questions, you’ll be more successful.
So what are the right questions?
The answer is simple.
Every time you have to make a decision, every time you ask a question, you’re going to get the answers that will help you make the right decisions.
And if you don’t know what the right questions are to ask, the right answers won’t help you make the right decisions.
And when you don’t make the right decisions, you lose money.
That’s all I’m trying to tell you.
The key is to ask the right questions.
There are a lot of ways that you can ask questions.
You can ask:
What will this cost?
How will this affect my budget?
Will this make me money?
What if it doesn’t?
You can also ask:
Why did I do this?
How did this affect me?
What was I thinking?
What were they thinking?
What was the thinking of the person who did this?
Why are we doing this?
Why didn’t we do this?
Why did we do this?
How did this affect the people who have to do this now?
Who were the people who had to do this before we did it?
How did we think that they would react to what we did?
What were we thinking when we did it?
Are we satisfied with the decision?
If we do it this way, are we going to have the results that we want?
You can also ask:
What is the bottom line?
What do I want to happen?
What do I need?
What are we going to do to make it happen?
What is my goal?
What will I do about this?
Why didn’t I do it this way before?
How will I know that I did the right thing?
What is the right thing to do?
When you ask these kinds of questions, you are going to find the right answers.
If you don’t ask the right questions, you won’t know the right answers.
If you ask the wrong questions, you won’t make the right decisions.
And that will make you lose money.
So we’ve learned about the right questions to ask.
You’re ready to do something else?
Good.
Now we’re going to look at a different set of questions.
These questions will help you make better decisions.
This is how you make a million dollars.
First, you have to know where you want to go.
That’s right. You need to know where you want to go.
Why is that so important?
Because if you don’t know where you want to go, you won’t know how to get there.
That means you’re going to be lost.
You’re going to be making mistakes.
You’re going to be wasting your time.
You’re going to be going nowhere.
And that means you’re going to be lost money.
So here’s what you need to know:
You have to decide where you want to go.
Where do you want to go?
That’s easy.
You want to make a million dollars.
How do you do that?
If you didn’t know where you were going, you couldn’t get there.
So what do you do?
You ask the right questions:
Why am I going?
Why am I doing this?
Why am I taking this road?
Why do I want this money?
How will this help me?
How much money do I need?
How will I get it?
How will this affect me?
How will this affect my family?
How will this affect my business?
Who else can I get money from?
How will this affect my budget?
How will this affect my plans?
What is the bottom line?
When will I need this money?
How will I know that I’m making the right decision?
What do I want to do?
How will this make me more money?
What does this mean to me?
Why didn’t I do this before?
How will this affect me?
How will this affect my friends?
Who else is going to get the money?
How will I get the money?
How will I keep it?
What if I don’t get it?
Who else is going to get it?
When can I get it?
How can I get more money?
What will I do with the money?
Where will the money come from?
Where will the money go?
Who will I work for?
What do I want to do with this money?
How will I spend it?
Why should I do this?
What will this mean to me?
What do I need?
How will I know that I’m making the right decision?
When will I know that I’m making the right decision?
Diary of a Toronto Stand-Up Comedian 