Independence Day should always be the first Wednesday of July....That is, if you absolutely want to kill American productivity in the third calendar quarter....A midweek July 4th is always a blessing and curse -- while it is great for the commute, people always end up taking book end days off (like a 5 day weekend), making it near impossible to get anything accomplished for almost a week and a half.  And with August now completely dominated by extended vacations, particularly if you do global business, it really only gives you about 8-10 total weeks to be productive in Q3.So given all of that, I am quite certain this week's FoD email is finding most of you either on a beach, in transit, or in the middle of catching up from a few days off.  Doesn't mean we are going on hiatus though -- always time to learn something new.Scan the abridged link section below -- it's shorter than normal, but I promise still some good stuff there.  And stay tuned this summer, Friends.  It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you....XOXODave