We were having a discussion about reforming the military acquisition system around the watercooler today, and the subject came up: what kind of lens should we use to look at the problem? Engineering? Political? Scientific? Metaphorical? As we circled around the politics of reform I observed: “…If acquisition is a political process (and it should […]
Category: Planning
Time management: benefitting from the commute
a good friend asked for some advice on how to best use her 30 minutes of mass transit commute time: reading vs meditating vs podcasting etc. I recommend podcasting and/or audio books, because they come in bite size chunks, and there are plenty of them avail for free at the library (i have a ton […]
Hearing the Voiceless- Part 2
In the ongoing conversation re: Action research into an entreprenurial curriculum for middle school and high school age students, one of our fellow students offered a detailed set of interventions based on the initial readout from the first exploratory meeting, a reported by the “insider”. While the ideas were excellent and interesting, I felt moved to […]
Reflecting on unbridled competition: a relic from the Pleistocene?
One of my fellow students posed the following question to me after reviewing some comments I made in the chapter we are co-editting re: socialism and unbridled competition: Ken, Your argument on unbridled competition looks solid, but some may disagree that it is THE cause for disharmony and mutual survival. I not sure if you […]
Asking good questions vs :”knowing where you want to go” in participatory action research (PAR)
In the very beginning of a PAR (participatory action research) project, I would draw a distinction between asking good questions and “knowing where you want to go”. Going into the PAR with a preconceived notion of a certain outcome or of a preferred method of proceeding, particularly as a researcher, can lead to advocacy. It may […]
Interesting twist to prop up markets
Congress and President Bush signed legislation that suspends the rule requiring retirees over 70 ½ to take withdrawals (RMDs) from tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. This suspension currently lasts for one year, 2009. The intention is to give retirement accounts time to rebound from the difficult economy/market conditions. Please note that you […]
Almost 1T in state pension shortfalls
Observed earlier that 5 large states were requesting 1T from Obama for combined medicare and pension shortfalls; Its now up to almost 1T just for the state employee pension funds alone, to say nothing of the medicare costs of an aging population determined to give voice to its feelings of entitlements. I can almost hear […]
Tactical trading: maxpain strategy in oil pays off within a week
closed our tactical trade in oil, using the 2x leveraged oil ETF (DXO). we bought at $2.20 with a .2 initial stop, after oil closed below $30/barrel, and closed the tactical portion of the trade today at $3.45. Thats a little over a 6R win in a week. here are some of the supporting slides […]
Historical responses to financial meltdowns (buckle up, it will be a bumpy ride)
Reinhart and Rogoff (2008b), in a recent paper entitled “The Aftermath of Financial Crises.”, demonstrate that banking crises in rich countries and emerging markets have a surprising amount in common. “… Broadly speaking, financial crises are protracted affairs. More often than not, the aftermath of severe financial crises share three characteristics. First, asset market collapses are deep […]
Challenges for education in the network age
I am taking a close look at a school of thought on modern network-based education called “Connectivism”. It aligns very closely to my primitive and naive thoughts as expressed in this short video i made in 2005 as i was making my first efforts in moving my department from an Industrial Age curriculum and paradigm […]