Nine Shift

Education: Big news for personalised learning!

The kids at MySpace and Facebook are creating software that will personalise learning.

Well, they are creating personalized online ads for their members, according to a New York Times story.  So if you say you like sailboats, you'll get an ad from a sailboat company.  And I'm hoping if you say "I'm married and happy" they won't spam me with single dating service ads.

The implication for education?  Using the same software technology, teachers will be able to personalise learning for each of their students.  It's a huge breakthrough for education. Nice going guys.

My favorite link: skip ad

Good news: The New York Times has made its entire web site free. 
And this has positive implications for the freedom of intellectual property in this century.

The New York Times found out they could make more money selling online ads, and generate more viewers, by making all their articles free.  Subscribers paid $10 million a year to see selected articles.

We're hoping that the links to NYTimes articles, which used to be unavailable after a day or so, are now permanent, just like the BBC articles. Let's see: click on this NYT story and see if it is available.

Are Area Codes meaningless?

Just got a call from a guy from Maryland - - with a Minneapolis area code.
Then got a call from Willie in Oregon - - with a Wisconsin area code.
Cell phones. Kids.

Are Area Codes meaningless now?  And with people travelling more, having two or more homes, will street addresses be meaningless next?

Working on Vacation: what's the point?

Last week I got a phone call from a client who was on vacation. I couldn't understand why he would make a work call while on vacation.  Seems counterproductive.

I usually don't tell people how much vacation I get.
And it took me 32 years of working 50 weeks a year to get to this point.  But I take vacations like the Europeans do - - six weeks during the summer. 

I claim it makes me more productive the rest of the year. (photo of paper or white birch trees along the road near our cabin) How much vacation do you think people should have?

Summer's over: still need vacation?

From NineShifter Suzanne Kart of Bay City, Michigan (thanks Suzanne!), a story on vacation and burnout from CNN.  Excerpts:

Consider these statistics:

• The American worker has the least vacation time of any modern, developed society.

• In 2005, 33 percent of workers said they would be checking in with the office while on vacation.

• One-half of workers reported they feel a great deal of stress on the job.

• Forty-four percent of working moms admit to being preoccupied about work while at home and one-fourth say they bring home projects at least one day a week.

• Nineteen percent of working moms reported they often or always work weekends.

• Thirty-seven percent of all working dads said they would consider the option of taking a new job with less pay if it offered a better work/life balance.

• Thirty-six percent of working dads reported they bring work home at least one day a week and 30 percent say they often or always work weekends.

These statistics, taken from CareerBuilder.com surveys of American workers, demonstrate the pressures employees in the

U.S.

are under to be available to the office, despite responsibilities -- or plans -- away from work.  (photo of wild flowers at our cabin)

Do you take vacation? As much as you need?

 

Prestigious Mayo Clinic supports universal health care

From the New York Times:

"The Mayo Clinic jumped today into the national debate on improving health care, calling for every individual to have basic universal insurance as a step toward gradually replacing the current employer-based system.

      

"But Mayo, in a proposal hammered out over 18 months by a panel of more than 400 health policy experts, is not advocating a government-run single-payer system. Instead, it suggested that private insurance companies be required to offer standard plans with many options, like the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan available to government workers." When do you think (if ever) America will get universal health care?

Revising our financial infrastructure

Read Floyd Norris of the New York Times for the best info on the financial crisis right now.

He doesn't address it directly, but his coverage provides some clues about what the current financial and banking crisis means for the long run. 

If history is any guide, and Nine Shift maintains it is a terrific guide, then the current financial crisis, like the Panic of 1907, is based on an out of date financial structure for society. 

Yes, there will be borrowing and debt in the 21st century.  But stop bombarding us with credit card appeals to extend rather than limit debt.  Get rid of hedge funds.  And make better loans, better risk analysis.  If the American society continues to be based on debt (trade imbalance, federal government debt, individual credit card debt, make believe Social Security funds, etc.) it won't work in this century.

Photo does not indicate a local bank is in trouble.  Just coincidence and interesting timing about the sign falling down. Thanks to Jason Coates for photo.

Should you panic?

This is a perfect time to panic.
The Fed is panicked. Banks all over the world are worried. But should you panic?

The answer is "Yes," if the alternative is being complacent.  I'm not a banker, not a financial advisor, not a lawyer.  But I'm checking to confirm my mortgage is a fixed rate, not adjustable.  I'm moving my organization's money into FDIC guaranteed accounts. I'm reducing debt. And  I'm making sure I can pay off debt instantly if I have to.  They are not using the terms "anxiety," "crisis" and "panic" in the media for nothing.  I'm devising a strategy to make my own finances more secure, any debt entirely manageable.

My favorite cartoon.  There's two characters and they are falling off a cliff, the bad guys are closing in, it looks bleak.  One says to the other, "This is no time to panic."  And the other responds, "This is the perfect time to panic."    What are you doing during the panic of 2007?

The Panic of 2007 - from credit to debit cards

Here's another big financial transition that needs to take place. We switch from credit cards to debit cards.

The problem with credit cards. Do I really need to explain this?  Go online. Click, click, click. Buy, buy, buy. The seller in Singapore has no idea whether you can pay, your signature is worthless. 

With debit cards, the money gets transferred. There's real money there. 

Accumulating huge credit card debt just is too risky.  For buyer and seller. Individually, and collectively. 
What do you think?

The Panic of 2007 - from accrual to cash

Here's one big implication for finance for the 21st century - switch from accrual to cash.

"Cash" accounting means you measure your profit, and reserves, by how much liquid assets you have (cash, stocks, bonds, CDs, anything that can covert to cash immediately).

"Accrual" accounting means you measure your profit, and reserve, not just by how much liquid (cash) assets you have, but also other supposedly valuable assets.  Like inventory, furniture, buildings, computers, etc.

In this century, switch from accrual to cash accounting.  In the last century, it made sense to say my organizaiton's furniture, inventory and computers could be sold and were worth something.  Maybe they were. They aren't now. 

Example: Say you sell Cabbage Patch Dolls. At the beginning of the craze, you end your fiscal year and have a bunch of dolls still in inventory. It makes sense to count them as assets, because you will sell them soon.  But now the craze is over.  It makes no sense to say my inventory of dolls is worth anything, because realistically I can't sell them.

Well, that's the situation with my organization's inventory, furniture, and computers.  Realistically, they aren't worth anything.  Keeping books based on an accrual basis looks like it artificially inflates profit and reserves. You can get into big trouble. Change accounting.   What do you think?