Nine Shift

Even Michigan turns from GM

"The sooner GM gets taken over by Toyota, the better off our country will be."

That's what Thomas Friedman wrote in NYT on May 31. General Motors used to be the icon of American industry, the do-no-wrong, 'what's good for GM is good for the country'  company.  No more.  GM's destroy-the-planet- with- Hummers- and- 10 mpg-gas strategy is turning off an increasing number of Americans ("air huggers" Steven Colbert calls us). 

Now even Michigan is allowing its communities to invest in mass transit.  NineShifter Suzanne Kart's husband sent us the press release.  "I believe it's really significant considering this is Michigan, the automobile capital of the world. Typically, mass transit is a huge no-no in our state," she tells us.   

Are feminist editors 'killing' the boys story?

Well, after colleague Julie Coates told me about the growing anti-feminism among younger women, I asked New York Times Education Editor Allison Mitchell about that.

Mitchell was taking emails from readers all week. John T. Dexter of Tarrytown, New York, wrote to ask whether the New York Times was embarrassed by its claims that girls were underserved by schools. "Now the real numbers appear, showing that the opposite is true. Boys are underserved by schools."

Mitchell replied to Dexter, ending, "When I was in college (I'm dating myself) girls were far from a majority in college, and there were not many women in the nation's newsrooms either." Mitchell is obviously a Boomer.  So I looked up the age of Mary Beth Marklein, the USA Today reporter who interviewed us and then abruptly decided not the cover the story.  She's a Boomer too.
A Boomer female reporter from another newspaper was so sceptical/subjective she even pointed out in print Julie and I were married, as if the relationship somehow reduced the validity of our research.

On the other hand, I've been interviewed by several college women writing for their university newspapers. They show no bias, and are quite open to reporting on all our data. I have long thought feminist teachers were not the problem, even when education professors have told me that is the problem.  Now I'm not so sure.  What do you think? 

High Tech, Under the Skin

That's the New York Times headline of an Anna Bahney story about William Donelson, maybe the first person to implant a computer microchip under his skin.

"The needle pierced the fleshy webbing between his thumb and forefinger and a microchip was slid under his skin.  By inserting the chip, a radio frequency identification device, Mr. Donelson would literally have at his fingertips the same magic that makes security gates swing open with a swipe of a card, and traffic flow smoothly with an E-ZPass.  His new chip, complete with a miniature atenna and enclosed in a glass ampoule no bigger than a piece of long grain rice, has a small memory...."

What do you think? Are you ready for a little microchip under your skin? 

Not will, but "should" baby boomers retire?

Succession planning. Succession planning. Succession planning.

That's all I'm hearing these days.  Baby Boomers (how many we don't know) are starting to retire, and well before age 65. So here's the debate raging in my mind:  Should the Woodstock-Aquarius generation retire so soon?

Yes.  Make way for a new generation of leaders. Give Gen X, then Gen Y a chance. Boomers earned it. Retired spending creates jobs. It's an individual decision, not yours or mine.

No. Boomers have another 10-15 years "left in the tank."  They have valuable expertise and wisdom that cannot be replaced.  There's a job shortage.  Society cannot pay for the health insurance and benefits for an extra 30 years. 

What do you think?  (picture of Nine Shift co-author Julie Coates in the 1960s)

New ways to get 150 mpg

Are you cutting down on driving?  Finding ways to save fuel?  Here's the latest.

1. Build a whole new city. China, working with a British consulting firm, is building a whole new city that is eco-friendly and will not contribute to global warming, CO2 pollution, and so on.  No gas guzzling cars.  No petrol/gasoline. It will be mandatory for people to work in the same community in which they live  (Nine Shift becomes the law!)

2. Reconsider electric cars.  Two of my great aunts had electric cars. My mother remembers the great leg room available (no engine), plus how quiet they were.  Shelby Anderson of The Lakeland Times did a story recently on one electric car owner.  He can drive 100 miles on $2 worth of electricity. That translates to 150 miles per gallon! 
   This week Julie tried out her brother's new hybrid auto. Lots of computer-ish dials, she reports.

3. Share a car. Join a "car club" for $50 a month. Get a car off the lot anytime you need one, just $8 an hour. You don't pay for insurance, not even gas!  One shared-car takes 15 other cars off the highway (combine errands, only important driving done). Photo of electric car, courtesy of Shelby Anderson

Are you changing your driving habits? Tell us your thoughts on saving fuel - - and the world.

What Thomas Friedman gets right

Here are my picks for the three most important new things in Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat."
1. The industrializing world (read China) creates a bigger market for knowledge products.
   This is a great insight.  As Chinese workers earn more, they will buy more knowledge products from knowledge workers in the post-industrial countries, like the U.S. On page 228 he writes, "Sure, some of the knowledge workers in America may have to move horizontally into new knowledge jobs....But with a market that big and complex, you can be sure that new knowledge jobs will open up at decent wages for anyone who keeps up his or her skills." 
   He also feels (I agree) that China essentially is no economic threat to the U.S.

2. Create new economic slices.
   It is not just selling existing knowledge products and services to the rest of the world, but creating new ones.  In response to the whole anxiety over China having zillions of scientists and engineers compared to the U.S., he writes on page 211 that the key "is to have a really smart population that can not only claim its slice of the bigger global pie but invent its own new slices as well." 

3. Research budgets need to grow 10-12%.
  On page 268 he gets specific, citing a 2004 study by the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, that "there must be a 10 to 12 percent increase each year for the next five to seven years in the budgets of key research funding agencies." 
  We need more specific numbers and targets, so this is a good contribution.

Thanks to NineShift fan Cem Erdem for giving me the book. More on The World is Flat later......  What else do you like about the book?

Segways 'faster' than cars

We think it is the "last mile" in the train-lightrail-segway transportation system of the 21st century. Segway sales are growing, modestly. But police are buying segways like crazy, according to news reports.

The police say segways are "faster" than cars.  I think what that means is they have more flexibility, can get in and out of alleys, sidewalks, buildings, narrow spots, more quickly.  They also keep our finest closer to people, and that has always been a positive thing for the community (the walking beat patrol officer has always had better community relations than squad car officers).

We saw some civilians on segways in Hawaii last month. Segway sales will grow when light rail takes hold and people get rid of their cars.

NineShifter gets rid of his car!

A friend and colleague, Aaron Donsky of San Francisco, got rid of his car over a year ago.

No parking fees, no gas bills, no car insurance.  You might think San Francisco is mass-transit heaven, but not yet.  Aaron says some of the biggest traffic jams in the country occur in San Francisco.  He doesn't just get by without a car, but thrives without it.  Walking, buses, BART light rail, occasional taxi cabs, rare rental cars, and airplanes. He also has share-a-car services in his area if he needs it (but says renting a car for a day is cheaper).

While we're talking San Fran, Donsky also reports they are spending $2 billion to rennovate a central rail road station, preparing for high speed train from SF to LA.  Yes!  If you're looking at options to driving, let us know.

Everything I know about mentoring

For the last 5 years, I've been mentoring Tristan, a low income minority kid from a single parent family.
Tristan graduated from high school this week!

African American males are the most discriminated students in school these days, so every graduation is cause for celebration.   I'm now 2 for 2 in mentoring (two students, both graduated).

I did almost nothing. Gave each kid about 5 minutes a week.  But I did give them support, praise, and express confidence in them.  And I said two things to both Tristan and Sammie each and every time I saw them:
1. How was your day?
2. You're a good kid.
   The last comment is so important. I remember dropping Sammie off at home once, and I forgot to say it. He just stayed in the car, not getting out. Then I remembered, said it, and he jumped right out.

I met Tristan through Big Brothers, but we soon dropped out because I could only see him after school, in school. That's the last place a boy wants to be after school.  So we did the mentoring on our own.  We would talk for ten minutes, then he would work on the computer because I have high speed access, and he didn't even have a computer.  The whole deal for me was to provide emotional support, continuity, caring.  He was smart enough to do the homework himself. 
(Tristan, left; and his brother Devon) Got mentoring tips? Share please.

Growing anti-feminist attitude detected

Julie Coates has detected a growing anti-feminism attitude among younger women.

Sometime around 1980 (we guess) feminism switched from gender equity to a more sexist women-are-better-than-men  and "raise boys like girls" (Gloria Steinem quote) ideology. This better-than-males ideology is almost exclusive to the Baby Boomer generation.

Julie says many Gen X women aren't buying the sexist approach, because:
* Too many Gen Xers were brought up without their Baby Boomer mother
at home, and have determined to provide their children with a better family environment.
* Gen X women are the best educated women in history. Enormous numbers have not only college degrees but masters degrees. There are no barriers to getting a great education.
* Many Gen X women feel they have choices: work or stay at home and be a mom.
* Many Gen X women ARE staying at home and being mothers.
* Gen X women feel that after they raise their children, they can enter or re-enter the workforce with few problems. 

What do you think?  Is anti-feminism growing? Got a better term for the latter day boys-should-be-girls "feminism"?