#health #nutrition #bpa #FDA
Wow. Following on from my bpa post the other day on canned food here's a few more things to worry about in your food supply and your health. Food is medicine and our nutritional source's are in many cases bad medicine. They are affecting our health.
Food Horror!!
It is hard to understand how we can end up with so many threats in our food supply. When you consider how long some of the technologies we use have been around why the effects on nutrition and health haven't been better studied and reported is a mystery that opens us all up for serious health risks.
Take the example in the article of microwave popcorn releasing a chemical into the popped corn that causes infertility. We know this and the microwave popcorn is sold without any kind of warning label? Even though companies are voluntarily phasing the chemicals out by 2015 so they obviously know about the health issues? All this with an FDA watchdog who should be protecting us?
The mind really does boggle. I guess it is time to get more serious about forming a local food coop to source fresh groceries from local farmers who grow organically.
Theoretically the best health move you can make is to eat plenty of fresh living food like vegetables and fruits that haven't been treated with tons of chemicals and pesticides. But eating vegetables from a can is obviously now out. Fresh vegetables can be contaminated like the recent Lysteria outbreak here in Denver from Rocky Mountain grown Cantelopes.
At the point we are at with the technology and knowledge we have why is it so hard to come up with a guide on eating for health and protection of the nutritional values of our food?
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
A green car and some entrepreneurial lessons learned
#eco #green #electric #design #entrepreneur
It's a few years off but this looks like a pretty cool concept for an electronic car.
Concept electric car for $7000
I particularly like the fact that it is a _collaborative_ project built around modular design. We need more of that in the world and it's a good lesson for those of us who are entrepreneurs.
Sometimes it is easy to fall into the trap of trying to do it all yourself. I just spent way more trying to build a website for my business on the cheap than going with the 5k price I was quoted from someone a year ago to do it for me. I'm still trying to do my own manufacturing here in the US despite massive challenges and in the last year I've turned down an abundance of opportunities to outsource it all back overseas.
I think I'm ready to admit defeat and give up. The local suppliers I source my raw materials from are changing their colors and lines which has a massive knock on effect for my business. In light of that I will probably go back offshore next year.
I'm still a huge proponent of American made and of vertical integration (where you own the supply chain and the distribution chain as well as the manufacturing like Henry Ford did with the model T) but realistically I'm trying to get there too soon in my companies life cycle.
So my advice to all the other entrepreneurs out there is to do the bits you do really well and partner for the bits you don't. While stubbornness is a good trait for a business person if something proves really really hard then you should probably start to look for a path of less resistance.
It's a few years off but this looks like a pretty cool concept for an electronic car.
Concept electric car for $7000
I particularly like the fact that it is a _collaborative_ project built around modular design. We need more of that in the world and it's a good lesson for those of us who are entrepreneurs.
Sometimes it is easy to fall into the trap of trying to do it all yourself. I just spent way more trying to build a website for my business on the cheap than going with the 5k price I was quoted from someone a year ago to do it for me. I'm still trying to do my own manufacturing here in the US despite massive challenges and in the last year I've turned down an abundance of opportunities to outsource it all back overseas.
I think I'm ready to admit defeat and give up. The local suppliers I source my raw materials from are changing their colors and lines which has a massive knock on effect for my business. In light of that I will probably go back offshore next year.
I'm still a huge proponent of American made and of vertical integration (where you own the supply chain and the distribution chain as well as the manufacturing like Henry Ford did with the model T) but realistically I'm trying to get there too soon in my companies life cycle.
So my advice to all the other entrepreneurs out there is to do the bits you do really well and partner for the bits you don't. While stubbornness is a good trait for a business person if something proves really really hard then you should probably start to look for a path of less resistance.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Gamification
#gamification
For those of you who aren't familiar with the topic, Gamification is the act of applying game mechanics to non game arena's. Examples include Nike+ (fitness), Mint (finance), and Chore Wares (relationship / household chores).
Loyalty schemes have been around for ages and are crude examples of gamification. If you google Sebastian Deterding, Jane McGonigal, Bigdoor, Bunchball, Gamify, Gabe Zichermann, or just gamification itself you will be overwhelmed by how much content is out there for such a new topic.
We now have an annual Gamification Summit organized by Gabe Zichermann. I have attended the last couple of years through ForaTV although the last one had technical issues and I had to just watch the recorded elements when they were available.
We also have the first Gamification MBA course run by Kevin Werbech and Dan Hunter. They also organized a symposium of gamification back in August of this year. They have been kind enough to publish the course notes etc online for anyone who is interested.
Coursekit from Gamification MBA course
The reason I am so excited for the gamified future is that I see a huge potential to engage people in big issues using gamified solutions. If we can get people to focus on some of the challenges that we face as a species by using game mechanics then I am all for the concept.
I am working on a platform to give people the tools to bring game mechanics to the areas of their life that they think need improving. Until I get it built we'll have to just pretend it is all a game.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the topic, Gamification is the act of applying game mechanics to non game arena's. Examples include Nike+ (fitness), Mint (finance), and Chore Wares (relationship / household chores).
Loyalty schemes have been around for ages and are crude examples of gamification. If you google Sebastian Deterding, Jane McGonigal, Bigdoor, Bunchball, Gamify, Gabe Zichermann, or just gamification itself you will be overwhelmed by how much content is out there for such a new topic.
We now have an annual Gamification Summit organized by Gabe Zichermann. I have attended the last couple of years through ForaTV although the last one had technical issues and I had to just watch the recorded elements when they were available.
We also have the first Gamification MBA course run by Kevin Werbech and Dan Hunter. They also organized a symposium of gamification back in August of this year. They have been kind enough to publish the course notes etc online for anyone who is interested.
Coursekit from Gamification MBA course
The reason I am so excited for the gamified future is that I see a huge potential to engage people in big issues using gamified solutions. If we can get people to focus on some of the challenges that we face as a species by using game mechanics then I am all for the concept.
I am working on a platform to give people the tools to bring game mechanics to the areas of their life that they think need improving. Until I get it built we'll have to just pretend it is all a game.
We live and die in interesting times
#environment #population #singularity
The singularity is the concept that technology will eventually exponentially accelerate to the point where we as humans can become immortal. Ray Kurweil first suggested it I believe. Based on an extrapolation of Moores law of doubling computing power.
The form the singularity might take is up for debate. How will we live forever? Will it be as ghosts in a digital machine or will it be through maintenance of the meat sack we currently reside in? Will there be some combination of the two or various options people will be able to chose?
There are numerous issues that we are going to have to contend with. What happens if the deaths stop? Or even slow to an absolute trickle? Will immortality be available to billions of people in the world before they even get regular supplies of clean water? I doubt it. Companies who invent the technology are going to want to get paid and immortality that really works is going to be able to command a huge price tag. There will be all sorts of discussions and arguments about who gets it and who doesn't. There will be ethical, legal, and logistical issues on hundreds of different topics. Everything from multi generational legacies already in place to resource management to motivating people who have forever to accomplish what they need to get done.
If the singularity takes the form of digitizing humans in a virtual world then food and other physical resources would cease to be a problem for those who went with it. But if we are to continue on living here and exercising our species need to have children then where does that leave us? Will parent / child relationships be defined the same way if you are 1000 years old and your son is 975? How much of a relationship do you have with your great great great great great great great great grandparents?
There are ton of issues once the technology is here but I for one am excited at the idea of getting multiple life spans to experiment, play and learn in.
We live and die in interesting times.
If you watch this video and imagine the flow of deaths diminished or flowing to a trickle you will see a visual representation of a world where no one dies looks like.
The birth and death flow
Here's to a lot more good years for all of us.
The singularity is the concept that technology will eventually exponentially accelerate to the point where we as humans can become immortal. Ray Kurweil first suggested it I believe. Based on an extrapolation of Moores law of doubling computing power.
The form the singularity might take is up for debate. How will we live forever? Will it be as ghosts in a digital machine or will it be through maintenance of the meat sack we currently reside in? Will there be some combination of the two or various options people will be able to chose?
There are numerous issues that we are going to have to contend with. What happens if the deaths stop? Or even slow to an absolute trickle? Will immortality be available to billions of people in the world before they even get regular supplies of clean water? I doubt it. Companies who invent the technology are going to want to get paid and immortality that really works is going to be able to command a huge price tag. There will be all sorts of discussions and arguments about who gets it and who doesn't. There will be ethical, legal, and logistical issues on hundreds of different topics. Everything from multi generational legacies already in place to resource management to motivating people who have forever to accomplish what they need to get done.
If the singularity takes the form of digitizing humans in a virtual world then food and other physical resources would cease to be a problem for those who went with it. But if we are to continue on living here and exercising our species need to have children then where does that leave us? Will parent / child relationships be defined the same way if you are 1000 years old and your son is 975? How much of a relationship do you have with your great great great great great great great great grandparents?
There are ton of issues once the technology is here but I for one am excited at the idea of getting multiple life spans to experiment, play and learn in.
We live and die in interesting times.
If you watch this video and imagine the flow of deaths diminished or flowing to a trickle you will see a visual representation of a world where no one dies looks like.
The birth and death flow
Here's to a lot more good years for all of us.
Wealth distribution by age
Wealth Inequality has something to do with age
#economy #occupy #income #inequality
This backs up some of the comments I've made on various occupy movement and income inequality posts.
You have a large concentration of wealth in the hands of an older demographic. They are already relatively risk adverse as a demographic and they have just gone through 3 scary years watching a lot of their accumulated wealth and income evaporate. The are now very focused on trying to make that wealth last them for the rest of their lives. That is one of the reasons the free market approach and top down economics are not ideal in this situation. You can tax them a lot less if you like but you won't see a rise in jobs as a result. They are not going to risk the capital they have accumulated in the kind of investments we need to stimulate growth and they are not going to radically increase their spending levels as a result.
The financial sector is bruised as well and still recapitalizing. They are not lending out the amount the way they once were. Criteria for getting loans off them are tighter in the more risk adverse world we live in. Loans to Businesses that fail contribute to the economy but they don't look good on shareholder reports.
So in some ways Government spending has to be the spark that ignites the economy and encourages risk and wealth creation. Particularly in the younger demographic. If not the Government then who?
If they were to open the borders up and offer visas on a point system where age and wealth factored into the granting of a Visa it would go some way to giving an injection in the arm of the capacity and capability of the middle class to prime the economy.
But until people start spending and banks start lending it's the Government or stagnation. Yes it is a redistribution of wealth in the form of taxes but if people and businesses won't spend voluntarily then the economy will grow anemically, stagnate, or even shrink. That isn't good for anyone except those betting against the US.
If people in power could just agree on that we could stop a lot of pointless debate and focus on the really important question. How should the Government be spending to stimulate the economy and get us back on a path to prosperity? Where would they get the best bang for their buck?
#economy #occupy #income #inequality
This backs up some of the comments I've made on various occupy movement and income inequality posts.
You have a large concentration of wealth in the hands of an older demographic. They are already relatively risk adverse as a demographic and they have just gone through 3 scary years watching a lot of their accumulated wealth and income evaporate. The are now very focused on trying to make that wealth last them for the rest of their lives. That is one of the reasons the free market approach and top down economics are not ideal in this situation. You can tax them a lot less if you like but you won't see a rise in jobs as a result. They are not going to risk the capital they have accumulated in the kind of investments we need to stimulate growth and they are not going to radically increase their spending levels as a result.
The financial sector is bruised as well and still recapitalizing. They are not lending out the amount the way they once were. Criteria for getting loans off them are tighter in the more risk adverse world we live in. Loans to Businesses that fail contribute to the economy but they don't look good on shareholder reports.
So in some ways Government spending has to be the spark that ignites the economy and encourages risk and wealth creation. Particularly in the younger demographic. If not the Government then who?
If they were to open the borders up and offer visas on a point system where age and wealth factored into the granting of a Visa it would go some way to giving an injection in the arm of the capacity and capability of the middle class to prime the economy.
But until people start spending and banks start lending it's the Government or stagnation. Yes it is a redistribution of wealth in the form of taxes but if people and businesses won't spend voluntarily then the economy will grow anemically, stagnate, or even shrink. That isn't good for anyone except those betting against the US.
If people in power could just agree on that we could stop a lot of pointless debate and focus on the really important question. How should the Government be spending to stimulate the economy and get us back on a path to prosperity? Where would they get the best bang for their buck?
Global Warming, Local Warming, or Just regular Warming?
#climate #environment #contingency #weather
Is Global Warming a real trend? Leaving aside all the pro and anti scientific debate this well researched paper about the mineral rights of the arctic circle and how many countries are working to lay claim to them is a strong suggestion to me that the arctic cap is melting and opening up access to the area in the process.
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/stdg/gwilr/PDFs/41-3/41-3-
That would indicate Global Warming is definitely real even if you want to argue the semantics of what is causing it.
Not to mention the pictures circulating of polars bears with no sheet ice to head out on.
You can argue that humans aren't causing the warming or have any way of slowing it but I believe it is going to get hotter over time and local climates are going to change as a result. Contingency planning is a smart idea regardless of whether you believe or not. Just don't go nuts and spend a fortune or do anything extreme like put your future on hold or inconvenience yourself as part of your contingency plan. Moving to the North or South Pole just because you think it will be temperate beach front and in high demand when people can no longer live anywhere else on the planet is not a good idea. Unless you are right in which case you'll be worth billions. But if you are wrong you might need to pray for Global Warming and wrestle polar bears for seal blubber for your dinner.
I think the 'normal' climate has changed in odd ways several of the places I've lived in. The climate seems to be warming to me. I'm only 40 years old and I've lived in quite a few places around the world so my opinion might be from flawed experiences and analysis. But it definitely feels like there are more extreme weather events in northern and southern hemispheres.
The attached article on Snowtober discusses some of them.
Snowtober hits the USA
There are some interesting arguments in the comments mostly against the idea that Global Warming has anything to do with the extreme climate events we've experienced this year.
The good news is that over time the climate events may be getting more extreme but it appears less people are dying from them.
http://www.csccc.info/reports/report_23.pdf
The interesting thing is that whether we believe in something as a species is mostly irrelevant as to whether it happens or not.
I have a question for any geological scientists reading this. We have a planet with a layer of liquid around a solid core and then a crust floating on top if it. As the glaciers melt and the polar ice turns liquid is there any danger of the increase in the volume of liquid in the seas moving around on the surface and causing different stress points on the plates and generating more earthquakes than in the past? Global Warming may well rock the house around the globe if that is the case.
As a disaster recovery planner and someone who grew up on the ring of fire in New Zealand I am quite enjoying the lack of earthquakes here in Denver. I also like the place because other than extreme snow storms and tornado's there are relatively few natural threats here (unless you decide to go hiking with a large quantity of raw meat perhaps?). Also if Global Warming does cause massive shifts in land masses then I'm well prepared by being a mile above sea level.
Is Global Warming a real trend? Leaving aside all the pro and anti scientific debate this well researched paper about the mineral rights of the arctic circle and how many countries are working to lay claim to them is a strong suggestion to me that the arctic cap is melting and opening up access to the area in the process.
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/stdg/gwilr/PDFs/41-3/41-3-
That would indicate Global Warming is definitely real even if you want to argue the semantics of what is causing it.
Not to mention the pictures circulating of polars bears with no sheet ice to head out on.
You can argue that humans aren't causing the warming or have any way of slowing it but I believe it is going to get hotter over time and local climates are going to change as a result. Contingency planning is a smart idea regardless of whether you believe or not. Just don't go nuts and spend a fortune or do anything extreme like put your future on hold or inconvenience yourself as part of your contingency plan. Moving to the North or South Pole just because you think it will be temperate beach front and in high demand when people can no longer live anywhere else on the planet is not a good idea. Unless you are right in which case you'll be worth billions. But if you are wrong you might need to pray for Global Warming and wrestle polar bears for seal blubber for your dinner.
I think the 'normal' climate has changed in odd ways several of the places I've lived in. The climate seems to be warming to me. I'm only 40 years old and I've lived in quite a few places around the world so my opinion might be from flawed experiences and analysis. But it definitely feels like there are more extreme weather events in northern and southern hemispheres.
The attached article on Snowtober discusses some of them.
Snowtober hits the USA
There are some interesting arguments in the comments mostly against the idea that Global Warming has anything to do with the extreme climate events we've experienced this year.
The good news is that over time the climate events may be getting more extreme but it appears less people are dying from them.
http://www.csccc.info/reports/report_23.pdf
The interesting thing is that whether we believe in something as a species is mostly irrelevant as to whether it happens or not.
I have a question for any geological scientists reading this. We have a planet with a layer of liquid around a solid core and then a crust floating on top if it. As the glaciers melt and the polar ice turns liquid is there any danger of the increase in the volume of liquid in the seas moving around on the surface and causing different stress points on the plates and generating more earthquakes than in the past? Global Warming may well rock the house around the globe if that is the case.
As a disaster recovery planner and someone who grew up on the ring of fire in New Zealand I am quite enjoying the lack of earthquakes here in Denver. I also like the place because other than extreme snow storms and tornado's there are relatively few natural threats here (unless you decide to go hiking with a large quantity of raw meat perhaps?). Also if Global Warming does cause massive shifts in land masses then I'm well prepared by being a mile above sea level.
Food as Medicine
#health #environment
It is probably not news to those of you who have been following me for a while that I have way too many ideas and not enough time or resources to implement them all.
One is to create a budget medicine website. The idea being that you take the easily available natural products and you document what conditions / ailments they help people with. You invite in a community to weigh in on the recommendations, to talk about side effects or their own personal experiences, and to provide advice and help for those who are looking into using these alternatives.
Before a lot of the drug companies came along there were natural remedies passed down from generation to generation and used with some success. In some cases drug companies are using elements of those natural remedies in their drugs.
For example red yeast rice has the same effect as lovastatin does on cholesterol and has somehow ended up being banned in the US. I use a hot drink made from cayenne pepper, honey, and lemon to cure my sore throats instantly. I take tumeric and cayenne to help fight inflammation in my body and I read studies have shown tumeric works almost as well as ibuprofen . I take gin soaked raisins which seem to help me with arthritis pain (psychosomatic?)
We are at a point in America where way too many people can't afford medication. In other parts of the world the medications just aren't available. A lot of folks don't realize that there are some cheap alternatives to drugs. In some cases I am convinced that after paying for their meds people don't have enough let to buy food to eat right which means their health conditions are just going to compound over time. Wouldn't it be great if they could alter their diet and gain a lot of the benefits they currently experience from their meds without the costs? It may not be possible for every medication but at least having options makes people a little better off.
Anyway this article made me think once again about that goal.
This extinction will have a big impact on us as a species as well
A project about 12 down my list of things to do. Maybe one day to have the funds to rigorously test natural foods and herbs against big pharma drugs and quantify the results. No one is throwing tons of money around to determine exactly what impact asparagus and other foods have on disease.
An Ayurvedic Doctor once told me 'food is medicine and medicine is food'. Everything we take into our body has an effect on us. One of the keys to good health is to understanding what that effect is. It will be different from one person to the next but there are certain common results that are observed and can be leveraged. If we take the time to capture and analyze the data and share it.
Stay healthy.
It is probably not news to those of you who have been following me for a while that I have way too many ideas and not enough time or resources to implement them all.
One is to create a budget medicine website. The idea being that you take the easily available natural products and you document what conditions / ailments they help people with. You invite in a community to weigh in on the recommendations, to talk about side effects or their own personal experiences, and to provide advice and help for those who are looking into using these alternatives.
Before a lot of the drug companies came along there were natural remedies passed down from generation to generation and used with some success. In some cases drug companies are using elements of those natural remedies in their drugs.
For example red yeast rice has the same effect as lovastatin does on cholesterol and has somehow ended up being banned in the US. I use a hot drink made from cayenne pepper, honey, and lemon to cure my sore throats instantly. I take tumeric and cayenne to help fight inflammation in my body and I read studies have shown tumeric works almost as well as ibuprofen . I take gin soaked raisins which seem to help me with arthritis pain (psychosomatic?)
We are at a point in America where way too many people can't afford medication. In other parts of the world the medications just aren't available. A lot of folks don't realize that there are some cheap alternatives to drugs. In some cases I am convinced that after paying for their meds people don't have enough let to buy food to eat right which means their health conditions are just going to compound over time. Wouldn't it be great if they could alter their diet and gain a lot of the benefits they currently experience from their meds without the costs? It may not be possible for every medication but at least having options makes people a little better off.
Anyway this article made me think once again about that goal.
This extinction will have a big impact on us as a species as well
A project about 12 down my list of things to do. Maybe one day to have the funds to rigorously test natural foods and herbs against big pharma drugs and quantify the results. No one is throwing tons of money around to determine exactly what impact asparagus and other foods have on disease.
An Ayurvedic Doctor once told me 'food is medicine and medicine is food'. Everything we take into our body has an effect on us. One of the keys to good health is to understanding what that effect is. It will be different from one person to the next but there are certain common results that are observed and can be leveraged. If we take the time to capture and analyze the data and share it.
Stay healthy.
Google TV acquires Disney Content
#Cable #Television #Googletv
So the first big brand deal with Google although a small one. I can see more of these happening and I think it will probably snowball quickly.
So the first big brand deal with Google although a small one. I can see more of these happening and I think it will probably snowball quickly.
Disney and Google up a tree...
They have a compelling argument for content owners. The existing model has the content owners capped to whatever rights fees they can negotiate with the carriers who are in turn capped by their subs and eyeballs. On the other hand Google can bring a potentially worldwide viewing audience, better quantified value numbers (actually people watching rather than just number of homes they are in), and an unlimited earning potential. Ultimately the desire for bigger profits will drive content owners on to the platform.
I don't have any evidence but I think Google will build a GoogleTV box based on their existing Google TV devices but on Motorola hardware.
Once they have content on Youtube, and the hardware to easily view it on, they move cord cutting from something that people who are early adopters with some technical skills do, too a mainstream trend. At that point the content will start to move quickly as well.
If I was Comcast or Time Warner I would be doing a deal with Google. I think it is the best chance to maximize value for their shareholders in the long run. Cable companies will either become internet providers or they will become content producers. Or both. Cord cutting will result in lost subs, Googles superior reporting to advertisers will see advertisers shifting to GoogleTV, and the social elements Google will be able to incorporate will be a huge draw card for sports and other real time events.
At the same time competition for rights fees is higher than ever, particularly in sports. So cable companies are squeezed on both sides.
If they partner with Google and start dropping Google boxes into peoples homes they give Google what it wants and perhaps protect their legacy business a while longer. Google wants a presence in as many living rooms as it can get. Aggregated and specific data on what people are watching so it can tailor advertising to them. The years of experience that the Cable Companies have in delivering a TV service would be valuable to Google and their customer support infrastructure would provide a piece of the puzzle that I am not sure Google is addressing or interested in addressing.
If the Cable Companies do not partner my money will be on Google to come out ahead and cable TV to eventually disappear as a service. I give it two years before the Google effect really starts to kick in. In the mean time expect Google to get aggressive in the field of negotiating on sports rights and all sorts of other content rights.
They have a compelling argument for content owners. The existing model has the content owners capped to whatever rights fees they can negotiate with the carriers who are in turn capped by their subs and eyeballs. On the other hand Google can bring a potentially worldwide viewing audience, better quantified value numbers (actually people watching rather than just number of homes they are in), and an unlimited earning potential. Ultimately the desire for bigger profits will drive content owners on to the platform.
I don't have any evidence but I think Google will build a GoogleTV box based on their existing Google TV devices but on Motorola hardware.
Once they have content on Youtube, and the hardware to easily view it on, they move cord cutting from something that people who are early adopters with some technical skills do, too a mainstream trend. At that point the content will start to move quickly as well.
If I was Comcast or Time Warner I would be doing a deal with Google. I think it is the best chance to maximize value for their shareholders in the long run. Cable companies will either become internet providers or they will become content producers. Or both. Cord cutting will result in lost subs, Googles superior reporting to advertisers will see advertisers shifting to GoogleTV, and the social elements Google will be able to incorporate will be a huge draw card for sports and other real time events.
At the same time competition for rights fees is higher than ever, particularly in sports. So cable companies are squeezed on both sides.
If they partner with Google and start dropping Google boxes into peoples homes they give Google what it wants and perhaps protect their legacy business a while longer. Google wants a presence in as many living rooms as it can get. Aggregated and specific data on what people are watching so it can tailor advertising to them. The years of experience that the Cable Companies have in delivering a TV service would be valuable to Google and their customer support infrastructure would provide a piece of the puzzle that I am not sure Google is addressing or interested in addressing.
If the Cable Companies do not partner my money will be on Google to come out ahead and cable TV to eventually disappear as a service. I give it two years before the Google effect really starts to kick in. In the mean time expect Google to get aggressive in the field of negotiating on sports rights and all sorts of other content rights.
They want to be in the living room with you when you decouple from the web for 5 or so hours each day.
Some advice on Job's from someone who has a dayjob that costs him money
#work #jobs #economy #education #self
Unemployment levels in the US are too high. Is that a safe statement that everyone regardless of political views can agree on? I am assuming no one hankers for them to be higher?
The reasons for this include;
1. The recent recession
2. Technology trends
3. A lack of the right skills available for the jobs that are here and a lack of the jobs for the skills that are available
Technology trends is something we need to take seriously for a couple of reasons.
First we know that computing power is accelerating exponentially due to Moores law. This is resulting in a situation where the technology is becoming less and less of a limiting factor and where amazing capabilities are available to be developed into solutions and opportunities. The side affect of that is less jobs. We're also building higher level coding languages that allow fast prototyping and development of applications and software. The end result is massive disruption to jobs in the historical business models like retail, hardware development, and software development. When robotics really hits it's stride we are going to see another significant round of jobs disappear.
The second part of this trend is remote work and freelance work becomes easier to carry out. The remaining pool of jobs migrate to where people will work for less. This article talks about the growth in oDesk and elance. Freelancer Growth
They are just a couple of services that allow people to get jobs or work on projects from anywhere on an as needed basis.
So what does that mean? It means that a lot of jobs that are currently in the USA will be offshore in a couple of years. The lower cost of labor overseas will be as irresistible a draw card for other industries as it was for manufacturing. Jobs will move as a result. Especially since the USA market place has less capability to spend than it once had so price is still a defining factor in purchasing decisions. Companies that drive down their costs will be able to meet the needed price point to deliver a product or service here. There is less hassle with moving your knowledge analysts, your virtual personal assistants, your call center staff, and your technology teams overseas than there was in moving an entire manufacturing floor. Yet we did it en masse for the manufacturing.
Of the jobs that do remain onshore we will get a ton of work done with less resources thanks to improvements in technology. Technology will replace jobs in America at an ever increasing rate over the next 10 years.
If your career is in one of those fields that are vulnerable, then now is the time to consider looking to protect your future employment prospects.
After my layoff in 2009 I began retraining myself as an entrepreneur. The skills I'd developed in the corporate world fit nicely into that field. From a macro trend point of view being an entrepreneur is not a job that can ever be lost. Failure is common but as long as you dust yourself off and try again you never lose your job.
Jobs that have some protection i.e. that will be slower to be taken offshore or that need more technology development than others include in the services or experiences industries. Particularly those that cater to retiring baby boomers who have wealth and are not particularly tech savvy compared to the younger generation. If I had the cash or the time I would launch a competitor to best buys geek squad who have some of the worst service I've ever experienced as a customer. Focused exclusively on servicing the needs of an older demographic. They don't need the latest and greatest but they do want the technology that makes their lives easier. It is an area where you could build the most easily deploy-able and repeatable solutions. Apple is eating up that demographic because that is what it does. It deploys a solution that it finds easy to support since it restricts the variances possible in the solution.
I was told a couple of years ago by a franchise coach that the two biggest franchise growth areas were business to business and business to home services companies. More companies are looking to outsource some of the areas where their business is not strong and focus on their core business competencies. Technology makes service providers in this area much more efficient at doing that. Examples include virtual personal assistants, legal, accounting, marketing, sales and basically any of those generic type of areas that every small, medium, and large business has. On the business to home services it is pretty difficult for an Indian service provider to mow someones lawn, hang their Xmas lights, clean up dog poop, or maintain their property from offshore. At least until remote controlled robotic maintenance drones become more commonplace.
Also as people have more and more free time due to tech they will want to take advantage of leisure pursuits. So that is a growth area in the future.
There will be jobs in the future but you need to be smart. If you haven't already run up a massive college debt don't go out and do that now. The old rule "it isn't what you know but who you know" still applies. Rather than spending three - four years and going into debt to get a degree you might be better on focusing on developing your people skills and building networks of people who know and trust you. Technology is going to be a bigger part of every job so don't be afraid to learn as much of it as you can.
You have to be flexible and you may end up with a job that isn't your dream role for a while. You may have to get way out of your comfort zone on occasion. If you can do it and stay positive and learn from the experience no matter what it is (even if the learning is just a powerful motivation to get the hell out of whatever you are doing) you'll do better in the long term. But any job will teach you something. Even if it is just the virtue of working your ass off and getting home feeling like you accomplished something.
So in summary;
1. Be very thoughtful in choosing what you want to do and where you put your time. 2. Don't spend a lot of time and resources locking yourself in for a career unless you really have an almost certain in route to that type of work.
3. Technology is the enemy but also the friend. Embrace it.
4. Leisure and service jobs have better long term prospects. Basically anything with higher barriers to off shoring or technology solutions.
5. Watch the industry you are in for signs of significant disruption due to tech, outsourcing, or off shoring and make sure you have a contingency plan when you see the trend hit it.
6. Be happy with whatever you do end up doing and take it as a learning opportunity.
At the end of the day the sweet spot in life is finding something that you are good at, that you are passionate about, that fills a needed (wanted) demand. That is where the happiness and the money are.
Go out and find your sweet spot and if you haven't found it yet don't get stuck and forget to keep looking. If you ever need a pick me up I recommend Doctor Seuss' Oh the Places You'll go. There's alot of people in a slump right now but hopefully I won't ruin the surprise if I tell you it ends well.
If you have time on your hands and are looking to work for someone for free for the experience on your resume or to get your foot in the door drop me an email or give me a call. I have a million ideas and not enough resources to get them up and running. Off the top of my head I need lots of hackers (in the coder sense), game designers, web designers, ux designers, psychologists, educators, videographers, legal (patent and regulatory), graphical designers, 2D & 3D artists, HDR and regular photographers, hardware designers, electrical and mechanical engineers (automotive, vending, and frozen yogurt experience a bonus), seo, branding, marketing, clothing designers, T shirt designers, sourcing agents, social media reps, researchers, accountants, data analysts, writers, and sales.
You don't need to be elite. You just need to be willing to work, to learn, and to keep iterating until it is right. I'm based in south Denver but fully behind remote working especially since I already have 5 of us working part time out of my basement.
Unemployment levels in the US are too high. Is that a safe statement that everyone regardless of political views can agree on? I am assuming no one hankers for them to be higher?
The reasons for this include;
1. The recent recession
2. Technology trends
3. A lack of the right skills available for the jobs that are here and a lack of the jobs for the skills that are available
Technology trends is something we need to take seriously for a couple of reasons.
First we know that computing power is accelerating exponentially due to Moores law. This is resulting in a situation where the technology is becoming less and less of a limiting factor and where amazing capabilities are available to be developed into solutions and opportunities. The side affect of that is less jobs. We're also building higher level coding languages that allow fast prototyping and development of applications and software. The end result is massive disruption to jobs in the historical business models like retail, hardware development, and software development. When robotics really hits it's stride we are going to see another significant round of jobs disappear.
The second part of this trend is remote work and freelance work becomes easier to carry out. The remaining pool of jobs migrate to where people will work for less. This article talks about the growth in oDesk and elance. Freelancer Growth
They are just a couple of services that allow people to get jobs or work on projects from anywhere on an as needed basis.
So what does that mean? It means that a lot of jobs that are currently in the USA will be offshore in a couple of years. The lower cost of labor overseas will be as irresistible a draw card for other industries as it was for manufacturing. Jobs will move as a result. Especially since the USA market place has less capability to spend than it once had so price is still a defining factor in purchasing decisions. Companies that drive down their costs will be able to meet the needed price point to deliver a product or service here. There is less hassle with moving your knowledge analysts, your virtual personal assistants, your call center staff, and your technology teams overseas than there was in moving an entire manufacturing floor. Yet we did it en masse for the manufacturing.
Of the jobs that do remain onshore we will get a ton of work done with less resources thanks to improvements in technology. Technology will replace jobs in America at an ever increasing rate over the next 10 years.
If your career is in one of those fields that are vulnerable, then now is the time to consider looking to protect your future employment prospects.
After my layoff in 2009 I began retraining myself as an entrepreneur. The skills I'd developed in the corporate world fit nicely into that field. From a macro trend point of view being an entrepreneur is not a job that can ever be lost. Failure is common but as long as you dust yourself off and try again you never lose your job.
Jobs that have some protection i.e. that will be slower to be taken offshore or that need more technology development than others include in the services or experiences industries. Particularly those that cater to retiring baby boomers who have wealth and are not particularly tech savvy compared to the younger generation. If I had the cash or the time I would launch a competitor to best buys geek squad who have some of the worst service I've ever experienced as a customer. Focused exclusively on servicing the needs of an older demographic. They don't need the latest and greatest but they do want the technology that makes their lives easier. It is an area where you could build the most easily deploy-able and repeatable solutions. Apple is eating up that demographic because that is what it does. It deploys a solution that it finds easy to support since it restricts the variances possible in the solution.
I was told a couple of years ago by a franchise coach that the two biggest franchise growth areas were business to business and business to home services companies. More companies are looking to outsource some of the areas where their business is not strong and focus on their core business competencies. Technology makes service providers in this area much more efficient at doing that. Examples include virtual personal assistants, legal, accounting, marketing, sales and basically any of those generic type of areas that every small, medium, and large business has. On the business to home services it is pretty difficult for an Indian service provider to mow someones lawn, hang their Xmas lights, clean up dog poop, or maintain their property from offshore. At least until remote controlled robotic maintenance drones become more commonplace.
Also as people have more and more free time due to tech they will want to take advantage of leisure pursuits. So that is a growth area in the future.
There will be jobs in the future but you need to be smart. If you haven't already run up a massive college debt don't go out and do that now. The old rule "it isn't what you know but who you know" still applies. Rather than spending three - four years and going into debt to get a degree you might be better on focusing on developing your people skills and building networks of people who know and trust you. Technology is going to be a bigger part of every job so don't be afraid to learn as much of it as you can.
You have to be flexible and you may end up with a job that isn't your dream role for a while. You may have to get way out of your comfort zone on occasion. If you can do it and stay positive and learn from the experience no matter what it is (even if the learning is just a powerful motivation to get the hell out of whatever you are doing) you'll do better in the long term. But any job will teach you something. Even if it is just the virtue of working your ass off and getting home feeling like you accomplished something.
So in summary;
1. Be very thoughtful in choosing what you want to do and where you put your time. 2. Don't spend a lot of time and resources locking yourself in for a career unless you really have an almost certain in route to that type of work.
3. Technology is the enemy but also the friend. Embrace it.
4. Leisure and service jobs have better long term prospects. Basically anything with higher barriers to off shoring or technology solutions.
5. Watch the industry you are in for signs of significant disruption due to tech, outsourcing, or off shoring and make sure you have a contingency plan when you see the trend hit it.
6. Be happy with whatever you do end up doing and take it as a learning opportunity.
At the end of the day the sweet spot in life is finding something that you are good at, that you are passionate about, that fills a needed (wanted) demand. That is where the happiness and the money are.
Go out and find your sweet spot and if you haven't found it yet don't get stuck and forget to keep looking. If you ever need a pick me up I recommend Doctor Seuss' Oh the Places You'll go. There's alot of people in a slump right now but hopefully I won't ruin the surprise if I tell you it ends well.
If you have time on your hands and are looking to work for someone for free for the experience on your resume or to get your foot in the door drop me an email or give me a call. I have a million ideas and not enough resources to get them up and running. Off the top of my head I need lots of hackers (in the coder sense), game designers, web designers, ux designers, psychologists, educators, videographers, legal (patent and regulatory), graphical designers, 2D & 3D artists, HDR and regular photographers, hardware designers, electrical and mechanical engineers (automotive, vending, and frozen yogurt experience a bonus), seo, branding, marketing, clothing designers, T shirt designers, sourcing agents, social media reps, researchers, accountants, data analysts, writers, and sales.
You don't need to be elite. You just need to be willing to work, to learn, and to keep iterating until it is right. I'm based in south Denver but fully behind remote working especially since I already have 5 of us working part time out of my basement.
Would you like BPA with that?
#health #nutrition #bpa
I replaced all our plastic storage containers and dishes a year or so ago with glass and silicone lids. Specifically to discard the risk of BPA. BPA stands for Bisphenol_A which is either harmless or deadly depending on who you believe.
Bisphenol_A
Pro BPA site
Another Pro BPA .org site
I don't really care if it is bad or not. I'd just rather not be exposed to it if I can avoid it.
It turns out it didn't make a bean of difference since we didn't stop eating canned food over that time and this study shows some mind blowing levels of BPA in people who do eat a lot of canned products.
BPA levels in people who eat canned food
We've been canning for more than a hundred years although I don't know when they added the plastic lining on the inside. I am assuming this lining is leaching the BPA into the food. I guess I can't complain too much since before the lining we were dealing with botulism and listeria and other fun goodies from the canned goods. But with the BPA issue being known for years and given the longevity of canning as a food preservation technique, you would think someone would have looked at the process at some point and asked 'is there any health risks associated with what we are doing here?'
Why wouldn't BPA be checked for? Perhaps more importantly why would there be non profit websites protesting that BPA is perfectly safe?! Does it strike anyone else as odd that a non profit would make a mission out of protecting a version of plastic?
Now I am wondering at the logistics of creating some sort of home BPA test. Either on the products or on BPA levels in our own blood streams. Like a skin prick test.
My gut feeling tells me BPA is not good for anyone and with two little boys in the house the last thing I want is to expose them to it. So why not go down the glass route over plastic storage and limit family exposure to it where possible? I haven't heard many people say glass was toxic or potentially gave prepubescent kids hormonal development earlier than they should.
One of the ways I want to eventually change the world is to build a company that simply independently monitors and reviews products and brands that are in our food chain. The government doesn't do a good enough job. Not just on BPA but on a whole variety of food issues.
Definitely time for us to limit canned foods in our home. What about you?
I replaced all our plastic storage containers and dishes a year or so ago with glass and silicone lids. Specifically to discard the risk of BPA. BPA stands for Bisphenol_A which is either harmless or deadly depending on who you believe.
Bisphenol_A
Pro BPA site
Another Pro BPA .org site
I don't really care if it is bad or not. I'd just rather not be exposed to it if I can avoid it.
It turns out it didn't make a bean of difference since we didn't stop eating canned food over that time and this study shows some mind blowing levels of BPA in people who do eat a lot of canned products.
BPA levels in people who eat canned food
We've been canning for more than a hundred years although I don't know when they added the plastic lining on the inside. I am assuming this lining is leaching the BPA into the food. I guess I can't complain too much since before the lining we were dealing with botulism and listeria and other fun goodies from the canned goods. But with the BPA issue being known for years and given the longevity of canning as a food preservation technique, you would think someone would have looked at the process at some point and asked 'is there any health risks associated with what we are doing here?'
Why wouldn't BPA be checked for? Perhaps more importantly why would there be non profit websites protesting that BPA is perfectly safe?! Does it strike anyone else as odd that a non profit would make a mission out of protecting a version of plastic?
Now I am wondering at the logistics of creating some sort of home BPA test. Either on the products or on BPA levels in our own blood streams. Like a skin prick test.
My gut feeling tells me BPA is not good for anyone and with two little boys in the house the last thing I want is to expose them to it. So why not go down the glass route over plastic storage and limit family exposure to it where possible? I haven't heard many people say glass was toxic or potentially gave prepubescent kids hormonal development earlier than they should.
One of the ways I want to eventually change the world is to build a company that simply independently monitors and reviews products and brands that are in our food chain. The government doesn't do a good enough job. Not just on BPA but on a whole variety of food issues.
Definitely time for us to limit canned foods in our home. What about you?
Leonardo's to-do list
#davinci #self #observation #curiousity
This will be an interesting book I've added to my reading list for next year.
Link to article on Leonardo's to-do list
I resemble that long dead man. Except my art skills are not in his league, I can't write backwards, I used Springpadit and bookmarks for a lot of my observations, and of I'm not a genius. Well definitely not as much of a genius as he was ;)
Back to focusing for while.
This will be an interesting book I've added to my reading list for next year.
Link to article on Leonardo's to-do list
I resemble that long dead man. Except my art skills are not in his league, I can't write backwards, I used Springpadit and bookmarks for a lot of my observations, and of I'm not a genius. Well definitely not as much of a genius as he was ;)
Back to focusing for while.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Google TV, Television Content, and Network Profitability
#cable #television #tv #googletvThis article is interesting for a couple of reasons.
Second it points to the fact that the existing TV environment rewards the networks and the content producers handsomely. Which explains part of the reason for the challenges in rights negotiations with the channels and networks that companies like Netflix, Google, Apple, and other disruptive forces to the television industry are having.
I believe that Google TV will be a platform that ultimately offers even better opportunities for networks and content producers. For a start it will be distributed internationally giving the content and network owners a bigger reach than any of the platforms in the US can accomplish. But until Google get their Google TV platform widely distributed the highly paid and in high demand content producers and networks don't really have any incentive to come. And until they get the high demand content producers and networks on the platform they will have trouble getting the platform widely distributed.
My advice to Larry Page and Sergey Brin is that Google should build or acquire it's own content production house and launch a couple of Google TV branded networks in addition to the 100 odd channel partnerships it has already announced. Plus Google should also implement / improve tools for indie producers to make content.
In the past I've suggested that Television Networks that I've worked for offset the cost of any dedicated Disaster Recovery premises by using them as 'R&D' facilities for content. They should offer the use of the facilities to local schools or anyone with a concept for quality content that sounds half by feasible. Combine that with implementing a support group and networking opportunities so that people can partner up with the skills they don't have to complete the production equation. So far none of them have gone for the idea.
But I believe there are a lot of people just looking for the opportunity, for a hand up. If you give it to them they will come. The next Simpsons is percolating somewhere in someones brain. If you offer them inexpensive and assisted ways to make it into a reality and distribute it you build a relationship early on in someones success curve that is based on mutual growth and that will ultimately benefit all the parties involved.
Google already owns the biggest indie content showcase platform on the planet. Youtube is the perfect testing ground for new content before it can be massaged into something more professional looking for networks or channels already in place or for a new dedicated launch network. Mining that for creative talent you can take to the next level should be a no brainer.
There was a recent leak of the Honeycomb upgrade to the Logitech Google TV box.
First it shows that right now owning and producing a network or content to play on a television network is the place to be if you want to make money.
I believe that Google TV will be a platform that ultimately offers even better opportunities for networks and content producers. For a start it will be distributed internationally giving the content and network owners a bigger reach than any of the platforms in the US can accomplish. But until Google get their Google TV platform widely distributed the highly paid and in high demand content producers and networks don't really have any incentive to come. And until they get the high demand content producers and networks on the platform they will have trouble getting the platform widely distributed.
My advice to Larry Page and Sergey Brin is that Google should build or acquire it's own content production house and launch a couple of Google TV branded networks in addition to the 100 odd channel partnerships it has already announced. Plus Google should also implement / improve tools for indie producers to make content.
In the past I've suggested that Television Networks that I've worked for offset the cost of any dedicated Disaster Recovery premises by using them as 'R&D' facilities for content. They should offer the use of the facilities to local schools or anyone with a concept for quality content that sounds half by feasible. Combine that with implementing a support group and networking opportunities so that people can partner up with the skills they don't have to complete the production equation. So far none of them have gone for the idea.
But I believe there are a lot of people just looking for the opportunity, for a hand up. If you give it to them they will come. The next Simpsons is percolating somewhere in someones brain. If you offer them inexpensive and assisted ways to make it into a reality and distribute it you build a relationship early on in someones success curve that is based on mutual growth and that will ultimately benefit all the parties involved.
Google already owns the biggest indie content showcase platform on the planet. Youtube is the perfect testing ground for new content before it can be massaged into something more professional looking for networks or channels already in place or for a new dedicated launch network. Mining that for creative talent you can take to the next level should be a no brainer.
There was a recent leak of the Honeycomb upgrade to the Logitech Google TV box.
I personally purchased the Sony Google TV bluray player at Best Buy in the recent Black Friday event. The Logitech is cheaper through amazon.com if you are looking to buy now. I was disappointed when I open the box on the Sony today and discovered it has no composite video connections. Just HDMI. Because I have a dated amplifier with no HDMI inputs this means I am going to need to think more carefully about how to connect it. I don't want to take it back because Black Friday doesn't come but once a year and because it is now an open box. Besides I think the Sony design looks not too bad. Not in Apples league but certainly not ugly either.
There is now a
Get in with your Google TV apps if you are a developer. I think with their purchase of Motorola Home Google have made a pretty public announcement of where they are aiming to be. In the living room of everyone on the planet if they have their way.
The Evil Corporations have us pinned down
#Occupy #Self #Goals #Morality #Success #Money
So the Occupy movement first targeted the banks as evil. I struggle with the concept of true evil. Even partly evil is bad enough and maybe working for so many years for banks has colored my perception. But hard to think of anyone I've worked with over the years as evil. Maybe self absorbed or arrogant in a few cases. Maybe quirky and anti social in others. But evil? I don't see it. No one on any of the boards or in the executive team seemed to be subtly manipulating other than for internal political purposes. Most people were doing the job they were paid to do in a system they contributed too but didn't design.
Then the movement targeted publicly traded retailers as evil. I have plenty of friends in retail. They are mostly exhausted rather than evil as far as I can tell.
I struggle to see companies as evil because of that. Misguided, poorly managed, and flawed. Dishonest perhaps. Manipulative definitely. But not evil.
I don't think it is corporatism itself that is the issue. But rather the people running certain companies or working for them that cause the underlying problems. Google has 'Do no Evil' as part of their corporate doctrine but that was defined by people not by the company itself. Once it was defined it became clear to the individuals working for the company that they need to consider that moral stance in their daily work practices and they will adjust those practices accordingly. If Google's doctrine was 'maxmise profits at any cost' it would change the entire culture of the company and the resulting business practices. It would change their products and the way people felt about the company.
There are some amazing companies out there which enrich the lives of the people that work for them, their customers, and the wider societies that they are members of. Or for some bigger ones they change the entire world by their existence. Whether a company changes things for better or for worse depends on how the people running them direct them.
I've seen first hand how leadership and culture and the people who work for a company define what it is. As a consultant trying to help businesses plan on how to recover from catastrophic events I have had the opportunity to follow work flows and analyse business processes of multiple companies around the world. Business Continuity practitioners get to learn a lot about the companies they are creating strategies and plans for.
In every case the people were the toughest thing to build recovery strategies for. In most cases companies think it is too hard generally and just hope they wont have a disaster that takes out key people. But in every organization there are a few key people who are absolutely critical to the core business practices. During events where a lot of lives are lost in a specific company e.g. 9/11, the Oklahoma city bombing, the Tsunami in Asia, many companies go under and never recover because they lose those key people.
When you get a CEO change the entire company changes as a result. Just look at the last few years at HP and the ongoing debacle.
There are some amazing companies out there which enrich the lives of the people that work for them, their customers, and the wider societies that they are members of. Or for some bigger ones they change the entire world by their existence. Whether a company changes things for better or for worse depends on how the people running them direct them.
I've seen first hand how leadership and culture and the people who work for a company define what it is. As a consultant trying to help businesses plan on how to recover from catastrophic events I have had the opportunity to follow work flows and analyse business processes of multiple companies around the world. Business Continuity practitioners get to learn a lot about the companies they are creating strategies and plans for.
In every case the people were the toughest thing to build recovery strategies for. In most cases companies think it is too hard generally and just hope they wont have a disaster that takes out key people. But in every organization there are a few key people who are absolutely critical to the core business practices. During events where a lot of lives are lost in a specific company e.g. 9/11, the Oklahoma city bombing, the Tsunami in Asia, many companies go under and never recover because they lose those key people.
When you get a CEO change the entire company changes as a result. Just look at the last few years at HP and the ongoing debacle.
When you think about it a business is really no more than a vehicle for people to work together for a common purpose. The head or owner of the company sets that purpose and then hires people to come in and help them achieve it. So often the company culture will be reflective of the ethics and personality of the senior executive(s). If they have questionable morals then that will tend to flow downwards through the incentives and policies they set for the employees.
A culture of greed and excessive profits realized by making your work force compete with each other for bigger and bigger deals, usually goes hand in hand with excessive risk taking and unethical deals to maximize profits. If we had companies in general, and investment banks in particular, instead recognizing the impact their business and employees have on society, and rewarding or reprimanding employees accordingly, you would have a very different relationship between main street and wall street. More of a symbiotic one instead of a parasitic one. Think about that for a second. Deals that make a profit for the company but also generate jobs in the community being recognized and well rewarded within the culture of the bank over deals that generated huge profits with a net job loss to the community.
At the moment people have more power than they realize to change the culture of the corporations that they support with their hard earned money. With social networking companies now more than ever are inviting feedback. Use those channels. Make them realize the kind of behavior you demand if they are going to receive your hard earned cash. At the moment one of the biggest issues is still transparency and visibility of the companies we shop with. What are they like? Are the good environmentalists? Do they treat their staff well? Those things don't turn up in the product reviews and customer service feedback assessments that are all over the web.
I'm hoping to launch a non profit at some point which acts as an independent assessor of all companies. We'd create scores to indicate the impact a company has in all areas and publish them so consumers understood whether their dollars were supporting businesses that had a net positive or net negative impact on the world from the customers moral viewpoint.
Rather than try and figure out what the weight should be for the various categories like taxation contribution, job generation, and environmental impact we'd just report on those and let customers decide. Same way some people are happy to buy shares in oil companies, tobacco companies, and firearms manufacturers while others refuse to on ethical grounds.
A lot of the information is already available in the public domain but your average person isn't going to read through hundreds of annual reports for companies before they go out and buy a pair of shoes. But if there were ratings or numbers on the shoes I believe this would affect their purchasing decision. Same way nutritional information does have an impact on what gets purchased in a grocery store.
In my view transparency = honesty. There will always be spin doctoring but at least its a start. It's one of the reasons I am pro real names policy on Google+. If someone can't stand behind their words under a public spotlight then these are probably words they need to think more about before they say them.
Rather than try and figure out what the weight should be for the various categories like taxation contribution, job generation, and environmental impact we'd just report on those and let customers decide. Same way some people are happy to buy shares in oil companies, tobacco companies, and firearms manufacturers while others refuse to on ethical grounds.
A lot of the information is already available in the public domain but your average person isn't going to read through hundreds of annual reports for companies before they go out and buy a pair of shoes. But if there were ratings or numbers on the shoes I believe this would affect their purchasing decision. Same way nutritional information does have an impact on what gets purchased in a grocery store.
In my view transparency = honesty. There will always be spin doctoring but at least its a start. It's one of the reasons I am pro real names policy on Google+. If someone can't stand behind their words under a public spotlight then these are probably words they need to think more about before they say them.
It all comes back to individual responsibility and accountability. A good ethical person will make things work in a broken system or environment. They will do what it takes to combat the inequality they see before them. They won't fall prey to greed and avarice or try to game the system to their own advantage. They'll take the higher road. But a broken system can wear a good person down. And it can give the less ethical more power than they should have which ultimately leads to an even more broken system.
There's hope though. Most people are fundamentally good.
Make sure you are one of the good ones and don't be afraid to stand up to the evil if you see it. As English philosopher Edmund Burke said,
‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’
It's not about the Government, It's not about the Corporations, It's about you stupid!
#Occupy #Self #Independence #Responsibility #Levelup #Change #Thanksgiving
I am only 40 years old. Some days I leave out the only because I really feel being 40 years old and it is much less pleasant than I remember 22 feeling. But 40 years is still pretty young in the grand scheme of things. You know when you compare yourself to the entire Jurassic Period for example.
Anyway in my short 40 years on the planet we seem to have gone from societies that embraced rugged individualism and demanded accountability and responsibility from everyone, to societies based mostly on blame and fault. When I was kid if I tripped and skinned my knee my parents would scold me for not being more careful where I put my feet or for running when I should be walking, wipe away the tears, give me a sympathetic hug and tell me to shake it off. Now days it seems like for every skinned knee there is a parent just waiting to sue whoever laid the pavement unevenly or failed to pad it adequately to provide impact resistance.
Maybe this is why we have the Occupy movement? The belief that the current lousy situation so many American's and people around the world find themselves in has nothing to do with themselves at all. That the responsibility lies with a shadowy cabal working in the background to keep them right where they have ended up in life. Faceless individuals or CEO's of big corporations colluding with the Government to keep the people pinned down in poverty and debt slavery.
You know there really might be a shadowy cabal for all I know. But I can promise you they are not the reason you are where you are in life. How do I know that? Well because the only person who is where you are in life is you. You are absolutely and totally unique. Warren Buffett, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Steve Job's and thousands of other people who are in the 1% wealth wise had pretty much the same opportunities that you have right now. They took those opportunities and built amazing companies from scratch.
While it might feel reassuring to think that someone else is responsible for you ending up where you are, try taking some accountability and accepting the blame yourself. Because until you do that you don't have a hope in hell in moving from where you are to where you should be. You'll also waste way too much of your precious time dealing with the past and that won't move you into the future it will keep you stuck right where you are in the past. And it continues to give the people who you think wronged you all this power over you. Until you move on and let it go you will not move on and let it go!
Now that doesn't mean the deck isn't stacked against you. With some having a much tougher stack than others. That doesn't mean people won't game the system to give themselves an unfair advantage if they have the opportunity to and that we shouldn't call them on that when we catch them. Punish them and make an example that stops others in the future from doing the same.
But it means you have far more power and control than you are currently giving yourself credit for. You really do get to define in life where you want to be. The first step is appreciating what you have and it is kind of appropriate that we are here on the tail end of Thanksgiving right now. Take a moment to really take stock in what you have. In the blessings you have been given. Every day wake up and spend a few minutes with your eyes closed just counting your blessings. Every night when you close your eyes try to put the distractions of the day out of your mind and appreciate just how good you have it. If the only positive thing you can come up with is that you survived another day that still puts you ahead of the game compared to all those people that didn't!
Friday, November 25, 2011
War of the bargains - Occupy materialism
#Occupy #Black #Friday #violence #2011
The Occupy Movement started an occupy retail movement to boycott publicly traded retailers and to have people not use their credit cards on Black Friday.
There was also rumors that the Denver chapter would be turning over carts full of products during the Black Friday sales at big box retailers causing as much disruption and attention as they could. The only evidence I saw of protesters down south was someone screaming out a window in a Kohl's parking lot at 3.30 in the morning telling everyone to go home and driving erratically and aggressively around the parking lot.
I don't agree with some of the Occupy tactics. I actually do think Black Friday has become a pretty extreme example of materialism and we could all take a breath and a look at ourselves when we are in the Black Friday throes of bargain seeking. It isn't just the big Black Friday headlines but in every store you will see conflict and argument and raised tempers. It is such a contrast to me to see that sort of thing going down when I've not 6 hours earlier been sitting at a table filled with bounty and surrounded by people I love. Speaking to each other about what things we have to be thankful for and focusing on our blessings and not our challenges.
But while I think we could tone it down, not go into debt for it, at the end of the day it should be people's choice how they spend their money. And they are helping the economy by spending. That's why I also put my money behind my belief that we are all part of a symbiotic equation that is currently unbalanced but represented by the flow of cash within the economy. I'd like to see more balance in the equation, I'd like to see the money flow thread it's way to people most in need, but I don't think destroying the current system by stagnating or slowing the economy, promoting a bank run, or causing violence and conflict is the best approach to generating the changes we need to see.
If America was a human body then I see the income inequality, the profits above all else mentality in some elements of the corporate world, and the corruption and manipulation of Government and laws to promote protectionism and anti competitive behavior as a cancer affecting an otherwise healthy body. It will grow if left unchecked and it will eventually bring things so far out of whack that it will kill the patient.
When the patient is sick with cancer you don't kill the patient to cure the cancer which is the impression I am getting on their strategy lately from the Occupy movement. They seem to believe the system is so far gone that only total collapse will get us from where we are at to where we need to be.
I disagree. I think we have a ton of tools at our disposal to facilitate the changes we need to make. I think the changes start with each and every individual out there. I think the Occupy movement has done an awesome job of raising awareness and attention to some of the issues. What we need now are action plans and solutions to those issues. We need cooperation between those with wealth and those without, between corporates and individuals, between the Government and the Public. Basically we need to get off our arses as a Nation and pull together to make some significant changes.
But I don't think it is fair to take the protests to the bank tellers in branches no matter how angry we might all be at the inept management and out of control risk taking that got us here in the first place. I don't think it is fair to take the protests to retail clerks and store workers who's only crime is that they work for a company that the Occupy movement has declared a villain. Every publicly traded retailer is not evil and out to take advantage of the 99%. Most of them are acutely aware they need the 99% to survive. Also not fair to put retail staff under extreme pressure situations on the day of the year that already has a huge amount of pressure for them. I think some of the proposed tactics sounded like they would inflame an already volatile situation. Luckily the violence, bad as it was, hasn't degenerated into a full scale route in any of the stores Black Friday events. Although Black Friday seems to continue onto Saturday in many locations so I guess we aren't out of the woods yet.
Some violence sadly did occur.
Here on Black Friday there was a shooting in a Walmart parking lot
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45434817/#.TtCJrGMr2nC
There were also Black Friday incidents in the form of a pepper spraying incident and riots within stores plus an overzealous arrest that injured a man allegedly trying to free his hands to pick up his grandson but mistaken as attempting to shoplist. You can read more about the violence here.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/26/us-usa-retail-violence-idUSTRE7AO15H20111126
Stay safe if you continue to shop over Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The Occupy Movement started an occupy retail movement to boycott publicly traded retailers and to have people not use their credit cards on Black Friday.
There was also rumors that the Denver chapter would be turning over carts full of products during the Black Friday sales at big box retailers causing as much disruption and attention as they could. The only evidence I saw of protesters down south was someone screaming out a window in a Kohl's parking lot at 3.30 in the morning telling everyone to go home and driving erratically and aggressively around the parking lot.
I don't agree with some of the Occupy tactics. I actually do think Black Friday has become a pretty extreme example of materialism and we could all take a breath and a look at ourselves when we are in the Black Friday throes of bargain seeking. It isn't just the big Black Friday headlines but in every store you will see conflict and argument and raised tempers. It is such a contrast to me to see that sort of thing going down when I've not 6 hours earlier been sitting at a table filled with bounty and surrounded by people I love. Speaking to each other about what things we have to be thankful for and focusing on our blessings and not our challenges.
But while I think we could tone it down, not go into debt for it, at the end of the day it should be people's choice how they spend their money. And they are helping the economy by spending. That's why I also put my money behind my belief that we are all part of a symbiotic equation that is currently unbalanced but represented by the flow of cash within the economy. I'd like to see more balance in the equation, I'd like to see the money flow thread it's way to people most in need, but I don't think destroying the current system by stagnating or slowing the economy, promoting a bank run, or causing violence and conflict is the best approach to generating the changes we need to see.
If America was a human body then I see the income inequality, the profits above all else mentality in some elements of the corporate world, and the corruption and manipulation of Government and laws to promote protectionism and anti competitive behavior as a cancer affecting an otherwise healthy body. It will grow if left unchecked and it will eventually bring things so far out of whack that it will kill the patient.
When the patient is sick with cancer you don't kill the patient to cure the cancer which is the impression I am getting on their strategy lately from the Occupy movement. They seem to believe the system is so far gone that only total collapse will get us from where we are at to where we need to be.
I disagree. I think we have a ton of tools at our disposal to facilitate the changes we need to make. I think the changes start with each and every individual out there. I think the Occupy movement has done an awesome job of raising awareness and attention to some of the issues. What we need now are action plans and solutions to those issues. We need cooperation between those with wealth and those without, between corporates and individuals, between the Government and the Public. Basically we need to get off our arses as a Nation and pull together to make some significant changes.
But I don't think it is fair to take the protests to the bank tellers in branches no matter how angry we might all be at the inept management and out of control risk taking that got us here in the first place. I don't think it is fair to take the protests to retail clerks and store workers who's only crime is that they work for a company that the Occupy movement has declared a villain. Every publicly traded retailer is not evil and out to take advantage of the 99%. Most of them are acutely aware they need the 99% to survive. Also not fair to put retail staff under extreme pressure situations on the day of the year that already has a huge amount of pressure for them. I think some of the proposed tactics sounded like they would inflame an already volatile situation. Luckily the violence, bad as it was, hasn't degenerated into a full scale route in any of the stores Black Friday events. Although Black Friday seems to continue onto Saturday in many locations so I guess we aren't out of the woods yet.
Some violence sadly did occur.
Here on Black Friday there was a shooting in a Walmart parking lot
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45434817/#.TtCJrGMr2nC
There were also Black Friday incidents in the form of a pepper spraying incident and riots within stores plus an overzealous arrest that injured a man allegedly trying to free his hands to pick up his grandson but mistaken as attempting to shoplist. You can read more about the violence here.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/26/us-usa-retail-violence-idUSTRE7AO15H20111126
Stay safe if you continue to shop over Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday Deals 2011
#Cyber #Monday #2011 #Technology #Bargains #Toys
Following on from my early post I decided to do a little research on where the Cyber Monday deals were this year.
It seems that the 4 days are just going to blur together with Black Friday running into Cyber Monday.
A google search on Cyber Monday Deals 2011 yields almost 4000 hits. I'll leave it up to you to trawl through what makes a good Cyber Monday deal and what doesn't although this article from hawtwired highlights a few of the things you can expect to find good deals on.
http://hawtwired.com/blogs/news/archive/2011/11/25/954.aspx
Video games like Battlefield 3 were on sale in Best Buy on Black Friday and it looks like you will also find deals on them for Cyber Monday online. Also Sk
Amazon.com is obviously the king of the online deal. Since earlier on in the week they launched a Black Friday like deal platform and will continue those deals through to Cyber Monday. It is fascinating watching the crawl of the deal counter scroll across as a frenzy of buying goes on across the web. Much safer than the crazy videos of stampedes on Black Friday at Walmart's around the country.
Even my own little niche retail apparel store www.swimsweats.com has been doing our part. We have been offering pretty big discounts in the lead up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We'll go back to regular pricing on Tuesday next week so if you need towel pants to put on after swimming, or even just to lounge around in because of how massively comfortable they are, you should check out the bargains before they disappear. We're already almost out of stock in most color combinations and sizes sorry. But we should have some more in before Christmas.
One of the other things you could consider as a strategy is to download the Amazon app to your smart phone, go back out into the stores that have reassembled their shelves and products from the Black Friday chaos, and look for the products you truly need or want.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000291661
http://www.amazon.com/gp/anywhere/sms/android
Scan the barcode using the Amazon app and it will tell you the price and the deals available online for the product you are looking at. That way you can see if something you have a justifiable want for is a bargain on Cyber Monday instead of dealing with the addictive scroll of opportunities and finding yourself like me with your third digital camera (Sony cybershot secured at Walmart on Black Friday) because it was just too good a deal to pass up!
Of course there are some ethics involved. You are using a store with considerable overheads and costs to evaluate a product. Then if you purchase it online at a cheaper price you are cutting that store who assisted you in your final decision to buy the product out of any monetary reward for the sale. The way I rationalize it is that if the difference in price between the online Cyber Monday or Black Friday deal is small compared to the in store price, I'll buy the product in the store. But if the difference is huge I figure the store is looking to milk their customers for a substantial margin so they can live without my purchase in this case.
Today I used the app with a pair of Asics Gel Running shoes. Dick's had a Black Friday deal on them but I got in the store after 2pm and didn't get the discounted price or the ability to use the coupon they offered. The difference in price was $14. They were $79 in store and $65 online through Amazon. So I decided to buy them in the store. I figured by the time I went home and ordered them, paid for shipping, and then waited for them the difference in price wasn't worth the hassle. But if the price had been more than $20 different I probably would have put up with the headache of doing the online deal.
There is also the possibility that some of the Black Friday merchandise will still be available because it was misplaced in the chaos and ends up back on the shelf after the event. Although I notice today at Dick's that once the window of Door Buster opportunities was finished they didn't hold the cheaper price but put them all back up to regular price and also refused to honor any expired coupons.
So in some cases it's good for a window, some it's good until gone, and some it's good just until you come to your senses.
Happy shopping, wishing you successful bargains and deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and don't go into debt for anything you really don't need.
Following on from my early post I decided to do a little research on where the Cyber Monday deals were this year.
It seems that the 4 days are just going to blur together with Black Friday running into Cyber Monday.
A google search on Cyber Monday Deals 2011 yields almost 4000 hits. I'll leave it up to you to trawl through what makes a good Cyber Monday deal and what doesn't although this article from hawtwired highlights a few of the things you can expect to find good deals on.
http://hawtwired.com/blogs/news/archive/2011/11/25/954.aspx
Video games like Battlefield 3 were on sale in Best Buy on Black Friday and it looks like you will also find deals on them for Cyber Monday online. Also Sk
Amazon.com is obviously the king of the online deal. Since earlier on in the week they launched a Black Friday like deal platform and will continue those deals through to Cyber Monday. It is fascinating watching the crawl of the deal counter scroll across as a frenzy of buying goes on across the web. Much safer than the crazy videos of stampedes on Black Friday at Walmart's around the country.
Even my own little niche retail apparel store www.swimsweats.com has been doing our part. We have been offering pretty big discounts in the lead up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We'll go back to regular pricing on Tuesday next week so if you need towel pants to put on after swimming, or even just to lounge around in because of how massively comfortable they are, you should check out the bargains before they disappear. We're already almost out of stock in most color combinations and sizes sorry. But we should have some more in before Christmas.
One of the other things you could consider as a strategy is to download the Amazon app to your smart phone, go back out into the stores that have reassembled their shelves and products from the Black Friday chaos, and look for the products you truly need or want.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000291661
http://www.amazon.com/gp/anywhere/sms/android
Scan the barcode using the Amazon app and it will tell you the price and the deals available online for the product you are looking at. That way you can see if something you have a justifiable want for is a bargain on Cyber Monday instead of dealing with the addictive scroll of opportunities and finding yourself like me with your third digital camera (Sony cybershot secured at Walmart on Black Friday) because it was just too good a deal to pass up!
Of course there are some ethics involved. You are using a store with considerable overheads and costs to evaluate a product. Then if you purchase it online at a cheaper price you are cutting that store who assisted you in your final decision to buy the product out of any monetary reward for the sale. The way I rationalize it is that if the difference in price between the online Cyber Monday or Black Friday deal is small compared to the in store price, I'll buy the product in the store. But if the difference is huge I figure the store is looking to milk their customers for a substantial margin so they can live without my purchase in this case.
Today I used the app with a pair of Asics Gel Running shoes. Dick's had a Black Friday deal on them but I got in the store after 2pm and didn't get the discounted price or the ability to use the coupon they offered. The difference in price was $14. They were $79 in store and $65 online through Amazon. So I decided to buy them in the store. I figured by the time I went home and ordered them, paid for shipping, and then waited for them the difference in price wasn't worth the hassle. But if the price had been more than $20 different I probably would have put up with the headache of doing the online deal.
There is also the possibility that some of the Black Friday merchandise will still be available because it was misplaced in the chaos and ends up back on the shelf after the event. Although I notice today at Dick's that once the window of Door Buster opportunities was finished they didn't hold the cheaper price but put them all back up to regular price and also refused to honor any expired coupons.
So in some cases it's good for a window, some it's good until gone, and some it's good just until you come to your senses.
Happy shopping, wishing you successful bargains and deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and don't go into debt for anything you really don't need.
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