I have been caught up with the idea of education lately, perhaps because my kids are headed into 7th and 9th grades and college is looming on the horizon. Combine that with quite a bit of reading on Social Media and Networking, I get that profound changes are necessary for tomorrow's children, but need today.
Here is a very good site for those interested in expanding their vision of Education, what it is and isn't today:
RSA
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Some Musings on Economics, Social Media, and Creativity
Mine eyes have been wondering far and wide over the past few days. I am amazed at the absolute flood of information that comes down the pipe every day...heck, every minute. In my own efforts of targeting specific interest groups, and being in many myself, I really 'get' the value of good writing and blogging as a filter to get to the type of information that interests me. As magazines and newspapers die, it will be important for all of us to learn how to tap into the flow of information in the pipe to learn what we must to survive.
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Doomsayers Beware, a Bright Future Beckons
As they specialized and exchanged, humans learned how to domesticate crops and animals and sell food to passing merchants. Traders congregated in the first cities and built ships that spread goods and ideas around the world.
The Phoenician merchants who sailed the Mediterranean were denounced by Hebrew prophets like Isaiah and Greek intellectuals like Homer. But trading networks enabled the ancient Greeks to develop their alphabet, mathematics and science, and later fostered innovation in the trading hubs of the Roman Empire, India, China, Arabia, Renaissance Italy and other European capitals.
Rulers like to take credit for the advances during their reigns, and scientists like to see their theories as the source of technological progress. But Dr. Ridley argues that they’ve both got it backward: traders’ wealth builds empires, and entrepreneurial tinkerers are more likely to inspire scientists than vice versa. From Stone Age seashells to the steam engine to the personal computer, innovation has mostly been a bottom-up process.
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I am a water drinker from way back having given up soda, faux beer various types of synthowater. Here is a list of the Ten Worst...no, Harmful drinks in America.
20. Worst Water
Snapple Agave Melon Antioxidant Water (1 bottle, 20 fl oz)
150 calories
0 g fat
33 g sugars
Sugar Equivalent: 2 Good Humor Chocolate Éclair Bars
While “Worst Water” may sound like an oxymoron, the devious minds in the bottled beverage industry have even found a way to besmirch the sterling reputation of the world’s most essential compound. Sure, you may get a few extra vitamins, but ultimately, you’re paying a premium price for gussied-up sugar water. Next time you buy a bottle of water, check the recipe: You want two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen, and very little else.
-----------------------------------
And if that isn't enough, check out this story on bottled water (don't get me started on this farce!) All of a sudden public water fountains have vanished and bottled water is everywhere: in every convenience store, beverage cooler, and vending machine. In student backpacks, airplane beverage carts, and all of my hotel rooms. At every conference and meeting I go to. On restaurant menus and school lunch counters. In early 2007, as I waited for a meeting in Silicon Valley, I watched a steady stream of young employees pass by on their way to or from buildings on the Google campus. Nearly all were carrying two items: a laptop and a throw-away plastic bottle of water. When I entered the lobby and checked in at reception, I was told to help myself to something to drink from an open cooler containing fruit juices and rows of commercial bottled water. As I walked to my meeting, I passed cases of bottled water being unloaded near the cafeteria.
Water fountains used to be everywhere, but they have slowly disappeared as public water is increasingly pushed out in favor of private control and profit.
-----------------------------------
Mortgages Going Bust Heck, who would of 'thunk' that?
Prime mortgages going bust at an alarming rate
WASHINGTON — Aftershocks from the nation's financial crisis continue rumbling through the housing sector as fixed-rate mortgages held by the safest borrowers accounted for nearly 37 percent of new foreclosures during the first three months of this year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.
Additionally, more than one in 10 homeowners were behind on their mortgage payments in the first quarter — a record, the association said. That's up from 9.47 percent in the last three months of 2009
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/19/94464/prime-mortgages-going-bust-at.html#ixzz0oTefPyN4
-----------------------------------
And finally, here is a wildly useless invention (but cool no doubt) from our friends at Honda, just another way to encourage obesity.
-----------------------------------
Doomsayers Beware, a Bright Future Beckons
As they specialized and exchanged, humans learned how to domesticate crops and animals and sell food to passing merchants. Traders congregated in the first cities and built ships that spread goods and ideas around the world.
The Phoenician merchants who sailed the Mediterranean were denounced by Hebrew prophets like Isaiah and Greek intellectuals like Homer. But trading networks enabled the ancient Greeks to develop their alphabet, mathematics and science, and later fostered innovation in the trading hubs of the Roman Empire, India, China, Arabia, Renaissance Italy and other European capitals.
Rulers like to take credit for the advances during their reigns, and scientists like to see their theories as the source of technological progress. But Dr. Ridley argues that they’ve both got it backward: traders’ wealth builds empires, and entrepreneurial tinkerers are more likely to inspire scientists than vice versa. From Stone Age seashells to the steam engine to the personal computer, innovation has mostly been a bottom-up process.
-----------------------------------
I am a water drinker from way back having given up soda, faux beer various types of synthowater. Here is a list of the Ten Worst...no, Harmful drinks in America.
20. Worst Water
Snapple Agave Melon Antioxidant Water (1 bottle, 20 fl oz)
150 calories
0 g fat
33 g sugars
Sugar Equivalent: 2 Good Humor Chocolate Éclair Bars
While “Worst Water” may sound like an oxymoron, the devious minds in the bottled beverage industry have even found a way to besmirch the sterling reputation of the world’s most essential compound. Sure, you may get a few extra vitamins, but ultimately, you’re paying a premium price for gussied-up sugar water. Next time you buy a bottle of water, check the recipe: You want two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen, and very little else.
-----------------------------------
And if that isn't enough, check out this story on bottled water (don't get me started on this farce!) All of a sudden public water fountains have vanished and bottled water is everywhere: in every convenience store, beverage cooler, and vending machine. In student backpacks, airplane beverage carts, and all of my hotel rooms. At every conference and meeting I go to. On restaurant menus and school lunch counters. In early 2007, as I waited for a meeting in Silicon Valley, I watched a steady stream of young employees pass by on their way to or from buildings on the Google campus. Nearly all were carrying two items: a laptop and a throw-away plastic bottle of water. When I entered the lobby and checked in at reception, I was told to help myself to something to drink from an open cooler containing fruit juices and rows of commercial bottled water. As I walked to my meeting, I passed cases of bottled water being unloaded near the cafeteria.
Water fountains used to be everywhere, but they have slowly disappeared as public water is increasingly pushed out in favor of private control and profit.
-----------------------------------
Mortgages Going Bust Heck, who would of 'thunk' that?
Prime mortgages going bust at an alarming rate
WASHINGTON — Aftershocks from the nation's financial crisis continue rumbling through the housing sector as fixed-rate mortgages held by the safest borrowers accounted for nearly 37 percent of new foreclosures during the first three months of this year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.
Additionally, more than one in 10 homeowners were behind on their mortgage payments in the first quarter — a record, the association said. That's up from 9.47 percent in the last three months of 2009
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/19/94464/prime-mortgages-going-bust-at.html#ixzz0oTefPyN4
-----------------------------------
And finally, here is a wildly useless invention (but cool no doubt) from our friends at Honda, just another way to encourage obesity.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Let's take a look at some indicators this week regarding money, Oil, and where to vacation with your teen. I suspect this upcoming week there will be more noise coming from the distressed property side of the economy, but Summer is almost here and kids will be out of school so we can look forward to those items.
Fannie and Freddie won't write down your mortgage... ...a growing number of loans backed by Fannie and Freddie are falling into default. Their delinquency rates are rising even faster than those of subprime mortgages as the weak economy takes its toll on more credit-worthy homeowners.
Oil to $100 I have been saying that the constant, unrelenting rise of gasoline prices with spikes, drops and rebounds to a higher level are all part of a sick 'Pavlovian' conditioning effort to increase oil company profits. The obscene amount of earning they report quarterly will continue. Now the refiners are pushing the prices out of the box!
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who runs the world’s largest refining complex, said the petroleum industry must be ready for oil prices to rebound to $100 a barrel or more on growing consumption in Asia.
Manage Your Time in Life like in Business...for many easier said then done!
Learn to live by the 80/20 rule. Generally speaking, only 20 percent of the things you spend your time doing produce 80 percent of the results you want to achieve. Yes, you read that correctly! To maximize your productivity, then, you need to identify the key 20 percent activities that are most effective and prioritize them.
To get started, take a look at how you currently use your time. What do you spend most of your day doing? How many things on your to-do list get checked off? Then, identify what you’d like for your 80 percent—your results—to look like. Once you know where you stand and where you’d like to go, reflow your priorities, and focus the first fruits of your time and energy on achieving them.
Aren't we all a-twitter these days about Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites? For many, it is simply unclear about why they should become involved let alone engaged.
The differences between social media and social networking are just about as vast as night and day. There are some key differences and knowing what they are can help you gain a better understanding on how to leverage them for your brand and business.
And finally, if you are wondering the best place to vacation **with** a teen, check out these hot spots.
Fannie and Freddie won't write down your mortgage... ...a growing number of loans backed by Fannie and Freddie are falling into default. Their delinquency rates are rising even faster than those of subprime mortgages as the weak economy takes its toll on more credit-worthy homeowners.
Oil to $100 I have been saying that the constant, unrelenting rise of gasoline prices with spikes, drops and rebounds to a higher level are all part of a sick 'Pavlovian' conditioning effort to increase oil company profits. The obscene amount of earning they report quarterly will continue. Now the refiners are pushing the prices out of the box!
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who runs the world’s largest refining complex, said the petroleum industry must be ready for oil prices to rebound to $100 a barrel or more on growing consumption in Asia.
Manage Your Time in Life like in Business...for many easier said then done!
Learn to live by the 80/20 rule. Generally speaking, only 20 percent of the things you spend your time doing produce 80 percent of the results you want to achieve. Yes, you read that correctly! To maximize your productivity, then, you need to identify the key 20 percent activities that are most effective and prioritize them.
To get started, take a look at how you currently use your time. What do you spend most of your day doing? How many things on your to-do list get checked off? Then, identify what you’d like for your 80 percent—your results—to look like. Once you know where you stand and where you’d like to go, reflow your priorities, and focus the first fruits of your time and energy on achieving them.
Aren't we all a-twitter these days about Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites? For many, it is simply unclear about why they should become involved let alone engaged.
The differences between social media and social networking are just about as vast as night and day. There are some key differences and knowing what they are can help you gain a better understanding on how to leverage them for your brand and business.
And finally, if you are wondering the best place to vacation **with** a teen, check out these hot spots.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
After '2012' is the World Coming to an End?
Over the weekend, I watched the movie '2012' with the family. Hocky CGI and weak story that the kids loved, and which brings up the question, 'What the heck is going on in the world this week?'
Here are some stories from over the weekend, I will let you decide;
'Rewired' Generations Small But Savvy from NPR. What will become of the 'i' Generation when we're gone?
A generation used to last 25 years or so. It was defined by shared experiences, including wars, presidents, music, movies, or various inventions. Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, says generations are now changing every few years as new technology creates substantially different experiences. Host Scott Simon speaks with Rosen about his new book, Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn http://su.pr/2WjEyz
I've been reading Michael Lewis' latest book The Big Short about the greed and avarice of Wall St. during the Housing Boom which it caused. With all of the Treasury money having been thrown at saving the bankrupt (both financially and morally) banks and trading houses that is now winding its way through the economy, here is a investment letter for the next Big Bubble or perhaps a way to avoid it.
The Roaring Teens?
"...After months of penny-pinching amid the recession, new figures — showing an improving job market, rising factory output and increased retail sales — suggest that consumers are no longer restricting their budgets to necessities like food and medicine. They are starting to buy clothes, jewelry and even cars again.
The mood has gone from panicked to cautious, and now, as Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com put it, some consumers are “almost a bit giddy.”
http://su.pr/25t3z5
Some people along the Gulf Coast might be thinking the 'end' is near what with the disasterous oil spill causing all sorts of havoc in the breeding waters of Louisiana. Will British Petroleum suffer the consequences? I see they are already blaming others, of course! In the end, it will be the American public that picks up the tab since BP doesn't have insurance, just massive profits, to cover the cost of clean up and rememdiation. Here are some photos
http://su.pr/83S4KB
Here is an update on the economic status of the American populace, where do you fit?
http://su.pr/20LNet
A friend of mine recently called to ask how he could save his home from going to sale on the courthouse steps. He had already gone through Chapter 7, that didn't resolve the issue and wondered if Chapter 13 might. Another friend was just hours away from being evicted from her house of ten years when she called. Both were able to forstall the actions they faced, for how long noboby knows. It isn't easy to negotiate, here are some helpful tips.
Top 5 Loan Modification Tips to Avoid Foreclosure
Avoiding foreclosure is a serious concern for millions of American homeowners. There is a lot of advice on methods to avoid losing your home when you are in financial difficulties. The Obama administration has an arsenal of loan modification programs, alternative foreclosure programs, forbearance periods for the unemployed programs and the list goes on and on. However, as it has been widely advertized, these programs have not obtained the results hoped. So what are the best options for a troubled borrower?
Finally, on the light side 'cause the world in my view won't end this week, here is a fun animation of Tom Lehrer's Periodic Table song.
http://su.pr/2tQmYs
Here are some stories from over the weekend, I will let you decide;
'Rewired' Generations Small But Savvy from NPR. What will become of the 'i' Generation when we're gone?
A generation used to last 25 years or so. It was defined by shared experiences, including wars, presidents, music, movies, or various inventions. Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, says generations are now changing every few years as new technology creates substantially different experiences. Host Scott Simon speaks with Rosen about his new book, Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn http://su.pr/2WjEyz
I've been reading Michael Lewis' latest book The Big Short about the greed and avarice of Wall St. during the Housing Boom which it caused. With all of the Treasury money having been thrown at saving the bankrupt (both financially and morally) banks and trading houses that is now winding its way through the economy, here is a investment letter for the next Big Bubble or perhaps a way to avoid it.
The Roaring Teens?
"...After months of penny-pinching amid the recession, new figures — showing an improving job market, rising factory output and increased retail sales — suggest that consumers are no longer restricting their budgets to necessities like food and medicine. They are starting to buy clothes, jewelry and even cars again.
The mood has gone from panicked to cautious, and now, as Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com put it, some consumers are “almost a bit giddy.”
http://su.pr/25t3z5
Some people along the Gulf Coast might be thinking the 'end' is near what with the disasterous oil spill causing all sorts of havoc in the breeding waters of Louisiana. Will British Petroleum suffer the consequences? I see they are already blaming others, of course! In the end, it will be the American public that picks up the tab since BP doesn't have insurance, just massive profits, to cover the cost of clean up and rememdiation. Here are some photos
http://su.pr/83S4KB
Here is an update on the economic status of the American populace, where do you fit?
http://su.pr/20LNet
A friend of mine recently called to ask how he could save his home from going to sale on the courthouse steps. He had already gone through Chapter 7, that didn't resolve the issue and wondered if Chapter 13 might. Another friend was just hours away from being evicted from her house of ten years when she called. Both were able to forstall the actions they faced, for how long noboby knows. It isn't easy to negotiate, here are some helpful tips.
Top 5 Loan Modification Tips to Avoid Foreclosure
Avoiding foreclosure is a serious concern for millions of American homeowners. There is a lot of advice on methods to avoid losing your home when you are in financial difficulties. The Obama administration has an arsenal of loan modification programs, alternative foreclosure programs, forbearance periods for the unemployed programs and the list goes on and on. However, as it has been widely advertized, these programs have not obtained the results hoped. So what are the best options for a troubled borrower?
Finally, on the light side 'cause the world in my view won't end this week, here is a fun animation of Tom Lehrer's Periodic Table song.
http://su.pr/2tQmYs
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