I never went to kindergarten. In first grade at the age of 5, I didn't have that chance to do the "crayon, cutting, folding, coloring" things most kids do.
Maybe that's why I keep playing as much as I do. And I've had more fun than most adults I know.
"The authors conclude that policing and intelligence, rather than military force, should form the backbone of U.S. efforts against al Qa'ida. And U.S. policymakers should end the use of the phrase “war on terrorism” since there is no battlefield solution to defeating al Qa'ida."
Here's the book that makes that astoundingly obvious and irrefutable conclusion. The murderous moron in the Oval Office should have it read to him in jail.
I write science fiction (been published), I write about technology (being published) and I write about speculative matters (ditto.) Here's something that may appeal to about 10% of you, but that 10% will love it. (And it trumps something I wrote in eRevista PoRtal a few years ago...)
Here's an interesting visualization of the blending of economic and political freedom in countries around the world. Political freedom is an ideal state (pardon the pun), whereas economic freedom has proven to be less-than-ideal. The graphic here plots one with the other and the winner is...
I find this hilarious. The "American Dream" was once to rise by self-effort to success and prosperity; now the dream is to be so pathetic someone takes pity on you and drops craploads of goodies all over you. From plastic surgery to sunken bathtubs, the whole mess is shallow and self-defeating. A round of applause for the not-smart-enough-by-half Georgia freeloaders!
I've briefly whacked the notion of corn-based ethanol in these pages, while I'm preparing a post on The Jenius about vertical farming. So here, in combined form, are both concepts wrapped in algae. (Better solutions aren't necessarily prettier...)
Funny how I said this to a potential client late last week and he turned My advice--and Me--down flat. Said he was "Looking for true solutions, not textbook theory." When I asked him what textbook he had read that included this advice, he got huffy.
Maybe that's what soured him on Me...
Op-Ed Columnist - The Biggest Issue - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com
The same observation. minus the "world power" aspect, applies to Puerto Rico. By making education "entertaining" or "rewarding to self-esteem" We've forgotten/ignored that learning is not easy, that making it easy almost always leads to dumbing down every topic and that those who teach must be better-prepared than average, not less.
Notice how the "system" actually creates (or more accurately, exacerbates) the problem of dumping people in the emergency room. Welcome to health care in the once-richest country of the world (where the rich get richer, naturally.)
I was against this idea at first, but then pondered it for another moment, noting that it seeks to balance due process with the reality of the kind of non-stop warfare that is modern terrorism. So let Me say I approve it, for now. And deplore the fact that a twice-unelected president brought Us to this point.
Note the "limitation" to military families and families that fall below state poverty lines...
"...there is no wording in the Education Begins at Home Act requiring parental permission for treatment or ongoing care once the family is enrolled..."
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
There are some people--known colloquially as "economists," "neo-cons" and "spluttering morons"-- who think that national debt means nothing. Okay, let's just say it's a game, a simple game. Even in that case, the murderous moron has lost more than ten trillion points, an amount all other presidents combined cannot match.
Shades of 2000...and We know how that ended up. More here, if you like that sort of "early warning that so few listen to until it's too late."
Cuyahoga County. Never heard of it, right? Here's what's going on: "A NewsChannel5 source said this is the biggest federal raid in the city since the 1970s, when federal agents took down the Cleveland mob."
Wow. Sounds serious. Especially when you note that Cuyahoga County is the home district of one Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Who filed an impeachment bill against the murderous moron.
Oh, that Cuyahoga County...
And yet We turn millions of tons of corn into an amount of ethanol that barely fills the tanks of a couple of million cars... Yes, food is badly distributed. Isn't that something We can fix?
This trend is a fact, bolstered by two more: The number of people over 60 in the U.S. of part of A. is at an all-time high, and the bulk of personal wealth is in their hands. Tons of older people with tons of money who need tons of health care... Sounds like tons of business plans to Me.
Even with registration as a requirement, here's an overview of the different ways We choose or do not choose to read. No single activity is more linked to learning, so whether We read or not, and how or what We choose to read or ignore, is at the basis of Our capacity to thrive and compete in the modern world, both as individuals and as societies.
"...what the writ of habeas corpus has always ensured: that an independent court can inquire into the legal and factual bases for the Executive's assertion of its power to imprison. This guarantee has always included a meaningful judicial evaluation of the law and facts that underlie the Executive's asserted basis to detain."
The Constitution clearly--clearly--limited government powers as subordinate to the citizenry. That's what made the American Revolution's result such a watershed moment in human history. Habeas corpus gives the people the protection from arbitrary incarceration and empty accusations. No wonder the murderous morons sweaty pack of hyenas hates it: It demands a standard they cannot and choose not to uphold.
"Economists and members of Congress are now on the prowl for new ways to stimulate spending in our dreary economy. Here’s my humble suggestion: Cash for Clunkers, the best stimulus idea you’ve never heard of.
Cash for Clunkers is a generic name for a variety of programs under which the government buys up some of the oldest, most polluting vehicles and scraps them. If done successfully, it holds the promise of performing a remarkable public policy trifecta — stimulating the economy, improving the environment and reducing income inequality all at the same time. Here’s how."
Okay, you've got the gist. Find out how it works, though registration may be required. Someday The New York Times will grow a (cyber)brain.
People often ask "What's the point of studying? What's the point of learning stuff?" Here's the reason: To best make a difference. Read how a fish that swam with dinosaurs can someday soon swim with divers protected against things much more deadly than teeth.
"I fully recognize the significance of holding Impeachment Hearings, and I have not come to this position lightly – but when the President of the United States takes actions that amount to high crimes, we are left with no other option than to seek his impeachment and removal from office.
Our government was founded upon a delicate balance of powers – whereby one branch carefully checks the other branches to prevent a dangerous consolidation of power. President Bush's actions have totally destroyed this careful balance. Without these checks and balances, the President could run roughshod over any law and turn us into a nation...
...where wars can be waged based on lies...and laws can be rewritten without the input of Congress or the American people.
Congress must end this disturbing pattern of behavior, and in these circumstances, the only option left is impeachment."
Congressman Robert Wexler is no sheep.
Oh this is going to to be like a drop in an ocean of sewage in terms of how much angst it's going to cause the sheep-like masses of the U.S. of part of A.
"Americans are furious about the state of their country." So what are they doing about it, aside from whining like harried sheep?
Most of Us give about as much thought to where Our food comes from that We give to the weather in Myanmar. But here's a truth: The simple act of buying an consumind food is mired in huge entanglements worldwide. And the situation is getting worse, what with biofuels and decreasing agriculture in major food producers. Take a few minutes to see how agroeconomics serves as the underpinning to major geopolitical issues.
Sir Winston had My vote as "Person of the 20th Century" for his 45+ years of sterling activity on the world stage. Eminently quotable (check out his definition of democracy, not included in this list), many of his ideas deserve to be placed on the table..again. (Many. Not all.)
In a society where comedians mocking the news provide greater insight than network anchors and their other sycophants, here's a strangely accurate prediction couched in satire. Make sure you read both "sides" of the argument...
Here's a wake-up call many, many people would rather not receive. So they ignore their overall financial situation until it comes crashing down on them. Welcome to the American Nightmare.
I am not--thank heavens--an economist. Never even played one on TV. Never played "economist" as a kid. But what I learned about economists was that (a) They traditionally base their assumptions on a mythical "rational decision-maker" and thus (b) They are often spectacularly wrong.
But over time, behavioral factors were added to get closer to "actual person" and now, neuroscience jumps into the breach. Like all the soft sciences, (psychology, anyone?) economics needs this truly scientific grounding to turn massive amounts of vague mush into a few hard nuggets of truth.
If there's a undeniable benefit of the Internet it has been the extended capacity to do research, especially in topics related to health and medicine. Now comes Medpedia, a focused effort to make the best possible medical reference site possible.
"Boys are just better at math..." That old chestnut's been rattling around for some time, and now that it's been placed under a microscope, whadayaknow? It turns out that it isn't "a given." (More information over here.) The difference-maker could be career expectations, with parents and society pushing girls away from math, physics and engineering.
If you don't know who Randy Pausch was, take a few minutes to find out. Please. His courage and vision have touched millions, and though this day was expected, it pains Me that it arrived so soon.
If you're interested in education, parenting, the development of work ethic or just looking to see someone take an axe to standardized testing, homework and "grade gifting," take a look at this extensive list of articles by 11-book author Alfie Kohn.
"Some poor people see playing the lottery as their best opportunity for improving their financial situations, albeit wrongly so... The hope of getting out of poverty encourages people to continue to buy tickets, even though their chances of stumbling upon a life-changing windfall are nearly impossibly slim and buying lottery tickets in fact exacerbates the very poverty that purchasers are hoping to escape."
The article notes that feeling poor has a lot to do with lottery ticket purchases and that win-win solutions are available to break the vicious cycle of the government feasting on many of its poorest citizens.
The reason humans have stereotypes is because they are generally right enough to be useful. (Or perceived to be right often enough to be useful.) Doesn't mean they are true and certainly not true in every case.
But beneath stereotypes is another word: expectation. However, in this article, expectation takes on another meaning, that of creating an image of the present and future that leads to enhanced results.
Very simple list with very deep and extensive implications on how you go about your career and lifestyle. Preparing for the future is what you do every day, whether you realize or not.
I despise, loathe and abhor "presenters" who flash PowerPoint slides up on a screen and then proceed to read the damn things. I have openly walked out of such "presentations" and will continue to do so, happy to avoid wasting My time.
Solution: Look at Tom Peters' presentations or even Stephen Colbert's "The Word" segments. They both use slides to augment well-prepared material, not as crutches that treat the audience like idiots. Well-prepared presentations and respecting the audience: Those go hand-in-hand, you know.
The entire news item: "The Senate approved a bill that effectively grants Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution during his term, the ANSA news agency reported. The law grants immunity to Italy’s four most powerful elected officials, the prime minister, the president and the speakers of the two chambers of Parliament, while they are in office. The lower chamber had already approved it. The most immediate beneficiary is Mr. Berlusconi, who had been awaiting trial, accused of paying his British lawyer, David Mills, $600,000 to give favorable testimony in two trials."
Eat shit, Italians.
Tell Me this isn't absolutely bad for any country's future. Go ahead, liar. Or moron.
The overwhelming evidence suffuses and permeates Our daily lives, whether We live in Norfolk, Nazca or Nuremberg. And speaking of Nuremberg, check this out: Conservatives want Bush to issue "pre-emptive pardons" to officials involved in illegal programs.
Hell, the murderous moron's already pardoning himself: Might as well spread the wealth!
Nothing like beng a mother, except being a father, so here's How to Be a Great Dad, too. When I was in My 20s, I was terrified of becoming a father. I was afraid I'd fail My child(ren) and didn't want any part of that.
I now have an 8-year old son and though I often wonder if I'm doing the best I can and if I'm letting him down, I wouldn't trade the experience of being his Dad for anything else.
Yoiks. I bet every teacher that reads this gets ticked off. I am assuming that teachers know how to read, so I might be considering a larger audience than reality can provide...
"Friedman's great conservative principles have been commandeered by myopic ideologues whose idea of leadership is balancing the demands of self-interest lobbyists with the need for campaign donations. Unfortunately, a new "change" president won't be enough; there are 537 elected officials in Washington controlled by 42,000 special interest lobbyists."
And in this article, "socialist" equals "failure." All jail the murderous moron!
People would rather drift or "go with the flow" as mindless drones instead of making choices. Well, they can at least point out that making choices means thinking and that gets tiresome. Boo-hoo.
No, not Mine: Emo Phillips', he of the strange garb, awkward hair and offbeat delivery. Funny as all get out. And like all great jokes, it has plenty of Truth in it.
I occasionally write about financial independence because (a) It's a major step towards satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness and (b) It emerges directly from the power of choice, another of My occasional topics. Here, in 90-second form, is the way to break out or--better yet--avoid the credit card swamp.
Project Sunlight: "Through the power of its clearly presented data, the website shows how special-interest lobbyists, campaign contributors, and beneficiaries of pork-barrel spending dominate state government."
Oh ho ho!! Now here's an idea well worth pursuing! And for you feeble-brained apologists of all things political, the website is not a private initiative: It was created by the New York State Attorney General's Office... with legislative and gubernatorial approval.
I'm about to have kittens...
The case against the murderous moron is, as Vincent Bugliosi has detailed, as close to open-and-shut as impeachment can get. It's a travesty of historical proportions that he and his hyena horde are still ravaging the nation.
A good friend of Mine sees conspiracy everywhere. My take on that kind of thinking is that it is sloppy, that the people who engage in it are seeking the empty and equivocal satisfaction of "I believe I know something you don't know" and that they are the spiritual evolution of Dark Ages superstition.
"It’s no wonder that the few students who are passionate about ideas find themselves feeling isolated and confused. I was talking with one of them last year about his interest in the German Romantic idea of bildung, the upbuilding of the soul. But, he said—he was a senior at the time—it’s hard to build your soul when everyone around you is trying to sell theirs."
I've occasionally advocated "education for productivity," but in this essay on the suffocating and life-draining effect of "elite schools" education, My usual "Swim against the tide" mentality is duly honored.
From The Atlantic, an eye-catching title that implies that the on-hand information universe We have dumbs Us down. I read dozens of webpages a day, read dozens of magazines a month and average 125 books a year. The Web isn't "dumbing" down the people: Many of Us choose to change what, how and if We read.
A butterfly flaps its wings and causes a storm on the other side of the world...
Variations on that phrase, coined by the recently-deceased Edward Lorenz, are used to illustrate chaos theory. Most people think it means We can connect the two events. Chaos theory--like quantum theory--suggests We won't really know. And that's Our current reality.
"In truth, today’s system of news delivery is an enterprise whose procedures, protocols, and underlying assumptions all but guarantee that it cannot succeed at its self-described mission. Broadcast journalism in particular is flawed in such a fundamental way that its utility as a tool for illuminating life, let alone interpreting it, is almost nil."
I frequently lash out at the incompetence of newsmedia, especially the dumb (mad?) sheep on My island. Here's a well-presented critique of what's wrong with modern journalism.
Widely-mentioned on the Web, and despite My support for the concept, it seems clear that taking food to make fuel is a "Starving Peter to move Paul" proposition. Kudzu, anyone?
I write a lot about choices in The Jenius. Here's a study that casts new light on how We choose, and may even cast doubt on whether We choose.
"Research indicates that high (income) inequality reverberates through societies on multiple levels, correlating with, if not causing, more crime, less happiness, poorer mental and physical health, less racial harmony, and less civic and political participation. Tax policy and social-welfare programs, then, take on importance far beyond determining how much income people hold onto."
This isn't surprising. To see what's surprising, check out where the U.S. of part of A. ranks in life expectancy and what's happened to income inequality since the late 1970s.
"If we really want to help poor kids, whether in Romania, sub-Saharan Africa, or America's housing projects, we may want to focus on approaches that provide structured, supervised access through after-school programs or subsidies that bring technology into low-income schools."
Guess what I'm working on...
The non-punishment of trangressors--letting miscreants "get away with it"--hurts the group. So why do We let it happen? Hell, why do We tend to cheer some of them on?
“It is not as in the Bible, that God created man in his own image. But, on the contrary, man created God in his own image.” -- Ludwig Feuerbach
I believe that religion's primary--if not only role--is to provide mental comfort, that the "God concept" is more security blanket than anything else. Here's science trying to prove Me right.
"...(C)ountries where workers reported having little voice in decision-making had higher levels of unrest, and that as measures of workplace satisfaction improved, over time, indications of contentment with civic life rose, too."
Think you--or your business--can't make a difference? Think again.
Okay, here's some bad economic news leavened by a pinch of not-so-bad forecasting. Registration may be required because the weenie-heads at The New York Times haven't a clue.
Having read Ayn Rand's Capitalism and found it to be very enlightening, here is a long example of irony, from once-Randian disciple Alan Greenspan, later Chairman of the Federal Reserve and cohort in the economic plunge his own writings once deplored.
The world flattening? The meek inheriting the earth? Waters reaching their level? Justice at last? (Add your own aphorism...)
More proof the murderous moron in the off-White House and his raving hyenas are hacking away at Our rights... and Our future.
I keep telling My fellow Americans they are eating shit. Here's a succinct overview of just a tiny fraction of the reason why. And the closing line may have come from The Jenius Himself.
Here's an example of having to look at information straight up and accept what is there. Unless that's done, the solution will never emerge, for denying reality--if it is reality--is to waste time and effort. Caveat for Puerto Rico: We're not immune to this at all.
Now really: Is there anything on this list that you object to? (I objected to #11, but I see the point.) So why aren't you doing this? If you are, why aren't you teaching it to others? And if you're doing that, I want to meet You!
I keep telling this to My brethren on this Island, but most of them act like it's treason. Zero-sum mentality is so limiting...
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