now i suppose there is a good reason why Obama, who has been silent in public on his reasoning and authority to committ the US to another war in the Middle East, has now decided, in the face of pressure to address the nation. The most obvious reason, ie the latest tap on the knee, […]
Category: leadership
Knee-jerk meets policy
this is the very definition of a knee-jerk reaction. What does our Libyan policy havein common with a knee-jerk? it’s autonomic: without conscious thought or reasoning it’s an uncontrolled spasm it could trigger an uncontrolled, uncontrollable series of equally uncomcious responses it’s unconnected to a strategy, a plan, a vision of the future it’s a […]
what exactly is our policy and position on Libya?
take your pick: we either will or wont insert ground troops the fighting will be over in either days weeks or months NATO will or wont lead the coalition the US will or wont lead thanks for clearing that up Related articles Nato takes over Libya no-fly zone (bbc.co.uk) Nato takes over Libya no-fly zone […]
the predictable consequences of failure to lead
Enjoy the spectacle of the dissolution of the West, a political, military, economic, cultural alliance that was held to gether through constant attention and nurtured/cared for by professionals. How fraghile was it? Fragile enough that a couple years of Berkeley inspired radicals with no business being entrusted with the keys to the car have brought […]
Reflections on food and education in geopolitical ju-jitsu
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_re_us/us_wisconsin_budget_unions continuing discussions over the role of funding & negotiating teacher salaries in Wisconsin And after the quote below, one must wonder why the parents of Wisconsin school children should be so eager to get these teachers back In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the […]
Futsal season concludes with our best games of the season
really proud of our girls as they finished the season with a couple very well played, competitive games. even at age 12 they are becoming more mature and focused in practice. they get rewarded by participating in what we will do in each practice, provided they bring energy to the game. They usually like to […]
The power of water, and reflections on critical thinking
Image via Wikipedia A testimony to the power of water, in recent Australian floods. www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=kYUpkPTcqPY Water level in rivers follows the Log-Pearson 3 probability distribution(see attached picture) Tightly clustered around the mean, with little variation, and a limit on how far the left hand tail can go (ie “dry”) The right hand tail though is […]
Reflections on Starobin’s Five Roads to the Future
Paul Starobin’ s biography (from the author), from NationalJournal.com Related Link: http://www.afteramericabook.com Paul Starobin is a staff correspondent for National Journal and a contributing editor to The Atlantic Monthly. He is author of the new book “After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age,” available in soft cover as “Five Roads to the Future: Power […]
Reflections on “Sonic Boom” by Greg Easterbrook
Commentary on Sonic Boom by Gregg Easterbrook His reasons for believing that an explosion in globalization is coming: ease of communication freedom of speech and democracy markets tend to consumer demand rising education levels chip-based electronics equality of women reduced military spending and interlinked nations My concerns after reading his introduction: will he be addressing […]
Innovation as a function of R&D investments? not so much; check your network first
Image via Wikipedia Some excellent insights into the power of quality connections and the network effect with respect to R&D, innovation and open borders Hard times call for new solutions and we are starting to take a good hard look at how innovation really works and what we can do to improve performance. Recent reports […]