Nine Shift

Education: What kids want to change

Lookout Mr. and Ms. Principal. Your school will change, whether you like it or not.

The kids in Gen Y have spoken, and I think they're good on their word.  Gen Y, a very social conscious generation, has its list of Top 10 causes. And the number #1 issue?  Not hunger, not AIDs, not environment, not poverty - - it's Education. (Source: 2006 Cone, AMP Insights, reported in USA Today)

Say goodbye to the current school/college-as-factory folks.
Yes, Gen Y will tackle pollution, environment, health and disease issues, because world survival depends on them finding solutions. But they also will change Education because a post-industrial society depends on it. Go kids!

Education: Priorities changing in right direction

Well, at least in Seattle there's evidence priorities are changing.

Residents defeated a multimillion dollar stadium for the Sonics, the professional basketball team. The effort was led by Citizens for More Important Things (great name huh?).  The group's priorities: schools, transportation projects and health care  (pretty much the 21st century infrastructure).

Chris Van Dyk of Citizens told the New York Times that he openly disdains welath people who buy professional teams, pay huge salaries to players and then demand handouts. Owners like that are no better than "the neighborhood crack cocaine dealer." 

Big fall for corporate chieftans from moral civic business leaders down to the level of crack dealers, we would say.  That also an indication of the growing cry for more balance in wealth distribution. Two good signs.

Business: Tailor made, key to future

This might just be a great way for small business to compete with the big box.

In our little town of just 10,000 we have had one pharmacy, Freeman's, for over 100 years.
But this month Walgreens will open, and Walmart will come soon.
So instead of giving-up-without-a-fight and going out of business, the pharmacist went to Houston and got trained on making customized drugs.(Ironically, just how they did it 100 years ago)

So now they can do different dosages, and different forms (e.g. cream instead of pill). They can even customize drugs for your pet!   

With thousands of industries and goods/services,
Customization might just be the key to survival and growth for small businesses in this century. What do you think?

San Fran goes for high speed train terminal

San Francisco will move into the NineShift 21st century with a high speed rail terminal surrounded by a dense neighborhood of apartments and shops.

NineShifter Aaron Donsky sent us this article from the San Francisco Examiner:
"The new San Francisco Transbay Terminal will begin to accept design proposals to be judged by a team of experts ranging from urban design to transportation and land use. The competition will be international.

The Transbay project will be designed to bring together regional buslines, Caltrain regional trains, and the new highspeed rail. the new terminal would be built within a new transit-centered neighborhood that would include stores, restaurants, office space, as well as 2400 new homes, more than one-third of which will be affordable. There would also be a highrise hotel. It is scheduled to begin in 2008 and end by 2014.  The cost of the project is projected at 1 billion dollars and funding has already been secured through city, state, and federal sources."

Happy birthday Al-Jazeera

Arab news service Al-Jazeera starts an English tv version this week.

And celebrates its 10th anniversary.  A BBC news story says: "Arab governments have recalled diplomats because of it, the USA has allegedly targeted its offices with bombs, but over 40 million Arabs watch it."  That pretty much says it. Click here for more on the BBC story.

Al-Jazeera has helped extend the freedom of press. Provided a different perspective for the world. Advocated for Arab peoples. And broke a lot of news stories.  Not coincidentally, Al-Jazeera was started by former BBC journalists. Click here for the Al-Jazeera English web site.

We could save the planet, but it's too expensive

It looks like the financial cost of saving the human race is just too high.  Sorry kids.

UK Prime Minister and world leader Tony Blair and his government released a study warning of the disastrous consequences coming if we don't curb pollution.  "This disaster is not set to happen in some science-fiction future, but in our lifetime," he said. "Unless we act now, these consequences will be irreversible." 

The story made page 8  (eight, called "buried" in newspaper jargon) in the New York Times. Probably did not even get a mention in most other U.S. newspapers. The American response: it is too expensive to save the world.   UK causes 2% of pollution; US is the main problem at 23%. Honk if you saw the story somewhere.

Education: Smart girls, bad grades

Are smart girls catching up to smart boys?

At a recent Nine Shift seminar in Long Beach, California, Regina Quiambao (pictured) noted that her daughter cannot write cursive any longer.  We replied that it is a sign of a smart daughter.

As smart girls increasingly adopt the behavior of the 21st century, will they start getting bad grades too? Just some anecdotal evidence out there.  Your thoughts?

Speaking engagements

If you are with a for-profit company or business, I have 5-6 openings left for 2007 for speaking engagements (corporate meetings, seminars, etc.).

If you are with a nonprofit organization, like a college, association or conference, I have dates open for 2007 in March, April, May, September, October and December for 2007.

Today did the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions convention in Atlanta. Last week did a statewide gathering of continuing educators in Georgia. And more than 1,000 people heard a NIneShift keynote in October alone.  PLUS - - Nine Shift for 2007, all new, at the LERN conference in Baltimore Sat. Dec 2.  Thanks for all your support NineShifters!

My mother wore a veil

The big controversy in Britain right now is whether to allow Muslim women to wear veils.
Let's keep things in perspective here.

* This is a protest.
   According to one Muslim scholar, only one Muslim sect, a tiny minority, encourages women to wear veils. This  scholar says the veil is a protest  against government policy and their parents. Thus it is a statement of identity, not exclusion. 

* My mother wore a veil.
   Not all societies go through the same precise changes at the same precise time. So American women used to wear veils.  At funerals, at weddings, and during the 1950's it was an alluring accessory.

   Forcing other societies with other histories and economic stages to mimic our standards is unreasonable, and maybe unwise. The new fashion standard appears to be bare midriffs......for example.  How would you resolve this issue?   

High speed rail impacts national elections

NineShift Newsflash
Well, at the time of this writing high speed rail has just impacted the make up of the entire U.S. Senate and Congress.

Gail "for rail" Parker drew only 1% of the Senate vote in Virginia, but either Allen or Webb could have won outright if either had agreed to support Parker's stance and advocate more strongly for high speed rail service.

Parker tried to negotiate her votes with whatever candidate backed high speed rail, but apparently neither Allen nor Webb took her up. It cost both candidates 25,000 votes and outright victory.

As NineShift has stated, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats support a 21st century infrastructure for America.  But they will.