Archive for May, 2009
Renegade: the making of a president
Thursday, May 28th, 2009Breakthrough ideas for 2009
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009Stop listening to opinions. There is no shortage of stupid people saying stupid things. There is no shortage of intelligent people saying stupid things.
Stop discussing your opinions.
Stop buying things Show the economy and yourself whos boss.
Stop watching the news. It hardly ever offers anything positive, its not exceptionally informative, and it often has been compromised with elements of commercialism. You can exist without it.
Stop thinking, or rather, stop giving attention to all the useless thoughts in your mind that clamor for attention.
Be more loving each day. Brotherly love extends to people you dont know and people you dont like. Place the focus on giving love to all individuals rather than on receiving, besides, hasnt it been those people in your life who have made positive influences?
The limits of autonomy
Monday, May 25th, 2009We expose ourselves to needless stimuli so that we can avoid critical thinking, silencing our minds, or bearing the burden of our freedom. The question to keep in mind, “What woke me up today?” – then see if you can simulate those conditions again to return to that state or find a way to be aware a little longer. What Im saying is – we manage ourselves very poorly.
Just do it, slogan of waste
Sunday, May 24th, 2009We do a lot of relatively meaningless things. Just do it holds nothing significant when everyone is capable of doing the exact same relatively unimportant things. Just stop yourself Embracing your identity from a massive corporate structure diminishes your stature and ability to think clearly. If James Dean consistently wore a corporate logo to express himself he wouldnt be an icon.
From nowhere to nowhere
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009The self-help gurus got it wrong didnt they? The financial self-help hucksters followed the media machine that promoted the concept of buying stocks for your financial wellbeing. So, there was never a filter, that knowing when not to buy investments is supremely important, and that the average retail investor doesnt really make much money because the odds of the game are against him or her from the industry and insiders to the stock game.So if you listened to Losie Orman and those like her who said to make stocks and other investments part of your retirement plan you are in worse financial shape and are left hoping that youll get your money back after possibly many years waiting around for your particular stocks or mutual funds to rebound. But the investment sellers still did well. And Losie, if she followed her own advice, is losing.
Another sad thing is that the self-help gurus got by in relatively good times by selling advice saying to visualize yourself being successful but in a protracted downturn no amount of positive self-talk is going to pay the bills, or prepare you for those really tough days. I never heard any of the folks who went through the Great Depression say, “We just visualized ourselves being more successful, confident, attractive, and prepared through lifes worst moments.”
Self-help wants to take away pain but life is pain. It is part of an experience. Even if confidence comes before success, all these gurus can sell you on is to be confident no matter what the situation. Sure, if that were so then you wouldnt need them, right?
Self-help sickness
Friday, May 22nd, 2009When I was young
I searched for love
I wasnt dumb but I was so naïve
Stuck in self-imposed darkness
I wasnt thinking clearly
It was like a panicking sweat gripped my body
Mistakes men make that women hate
Thursday, May 21st, 2009Style tips for men:
Pocket full of pens
Tinted glasses indoors
Too long necktie
Unbuttoned or missing button-down shirt buttons
Jacket collar not anchoring
Alligator tie clips/bar (works well with uniforms)
Old, worn-out, broken-down but comfortable shoes
Dark dress socks with shorts
Ornate belt buckles (outside of office is fine)
Spitting in public
Hairline tricks
How to keep your teenager out of trouble and what to do if you cant
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009How teenagers get into trouble:
Gradual, multiple frustrations, often including weakened family connections and an inability to acquire the skills needed to negotiate adolescence.
Criticism and rejection can trigger overwhelming feelings of inadequacy and anger, while a simple compliment can elate and inspire. Teens lack experience, and therefore perspective.
The way teens negotiate new responsibilities and challenges contribute to their identity.
Teenagers want to be thought of as individuals who can make their own decisions, and their struggles to be independent take many forms. They experiment and challenge their parents preferences and values. But they continually look over their shoulders to see what their peers are doing because they need reinforcement from others like them.
Problems that can lead to trouble:
Depression
Alienation
Anger
Experience of abuse and neglect
School difficulties – academic deficiencies, failure to adjust to school, handle academic demands
Neurological problems
Experience of criticism and rejection
Parental problems:
Overindulgence
Overpermissiveness
Overcontrol
Inconsistency
Set limits, hold them, in cases where you choose to make an exception clearly state that you are making an exception and that another infraction will definitely result in punishment/consequences.
Not negotiable:
Drinking
Helping around the house
Using drugs
Attending school
Treating others with politeness and respect
Dangerous situations
School dress codes
Reasonable limits are a ladder you build for your children to climb. Be firm and considerate.
Avoid threats and put-downs.
Its 11:30 on a school night and your child is still watching TV:
“David, last week you told us that you would get eight hours of sleep each night if we didnt bug you. So we want to give you a chance to prove yourself.”
Offer an explanation for the rules you set but dont apologize for the limits you set.
Virtual classroom
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009Evidence based guidelines for synchronous e-learning:
What instructional modes, methods, and architectures will best achieve my goals?
What are the most important features to consider in any learning environment?
Communication modes
Overt rehearsal options
Control over pacing
Social learning facilities
Visualize your message
The whiteboard predominates underutilization of the board is an implementation flaw.
Use screen shots before using animation or application sharing. This prepares the student for a sequence of events, offers guidance and engages appropriate processing before application sharing or an animated sequence of illustration.
The power of a good fight
Monday, May 18th, 2009How to embrace conflict to drive productivity, creativity and innovation: I think the book fails to deliver the power of a good fight is the excitement and unpredictable nature of a contest. What the book misses may be that the way to embrace conflict is not to fight it at all; otherwise the fight is a distraction from learning, sharing and improving where we are now to where we could be in a relationship with the other party. Where the author perhaps gets credit is the expression of her September 2001 commentary (written in January 2002 at the back of the book) which makes a point about what can we learn from those events.
So, the commonsense approach to embracing conflict to drive productivity, creativity and innovation is to do whatever will lead to a meaningful improvement in the relationship/situation/environment be it psychological principles like letting the other party obtain a psychological win or simply finding the one thing that is holding the other party back from cooperating and addressing that concern.