Nine Shift

New Nine Shift YouTube Video

The classic, original "wow" Nine Shift speech.
Condensed to just 14 minutes.
Filmed last month before 1,600 people at TEDxNASA in Newport News, Virginia.
Over 1,050 people have seen the YouTube video already!

   

Breaking news: Latest problem with electric cars

Here's the latest problem with electric cars you have not read in the media.

A source has told Nine Shift that electric car people met secretly with federal officials in Washington DC recently and discussed the latest problem with electric cars.  The energy grid will not support electric cars.

Apparently, the grid can support a few electric cars here and there, but plugging in a lot of them at the grocery story or downtown at work - - well, that won't work.  We have documented all the reasons electric cars won't dominate our transportation.  Electric cars have all the problems of gas powered cars, and solve none of the critical issues. Here's one USA Today story this month on other problems with electric cars.

PREDICTION: Electric cars will have a short boom in the next 3-5 years, then have a small following. They may even replace gas driven cars, but trains will continue to replace cars.

Wikipedia now has Nine Shift entry

We are delighted to announce that Wikipedia now has an entry on Nine Shift! 

 

Check it out here.

Over 2,000 people hear Nine Shift for 2011

Over 2,000 people heard Nine Shift for 2011 in just one week last month.

In addition to 200 at an adult education conference in Tampa and over 1,500 at TEDxNASA in Virginia, another 300-400 Nine Shift fans stayed to the Closing Session of the big LERN conference in Chicago to hear an original new Nine Shift for 2011: The New Era Begins. 

They also received our new special 12 page report with 90 predictions for the second decade of the 21st century.

This is our best fan group. They come every year. They hear a brand new Nine Shift each time. And they keep Nine Shift going with our research, predictions and blog posts.  Photo: Jay Stockslader, left, and Greg Johnson, right, play Keystone Cops and arrest Draves in this year's Nine Shift skit.

Even Barbie doll showing up late for work

Even the new engineering Barbie doll is showing up late for work.

In a recent post, we revealed Julie Coates' brilliant research showing that women are 2-3 times more absent from work than men, according to 3 different studies, the most recent a 2010 study by the Department of Labor. 

Last week I got an email from Mattel, saying the new engineering Barbie doll I ordered, the doll that is supposed to solve America's engineering shortage, will be showing up late for work as well - - it won't be delivered til next month.  Even Barbie is showing up late for work.  LESSON: stop the anti-male bias in our schools and let smart boys graduate and become engineers.

The Shift Has Begun

Suzanne Kart sent me this tweet from a person at Harper College who attended this year's all-original Nine Shift presentation:  HarperInZone10 The icing on a great LERN conference..traveling home by train. The shift has begun, get onboard #LERN10”

Women absent from work more than men

Women are 2-3 times more absent from work than men.

While teachers insist they are "teaching responsibility" in penalizing boys grades for late work, the evidence is just the opposite.  Boys are more responsible in the workplace than girls, not less. 

There are at least 3 studies on this, the latest was published this year by the Department of Labor, under Secretary Hilda Solis.  The DOL report clearly discounts any illness, family, childcare, maternity leave and other caregiving duties from the absenteeism rates.  At every age, ethnicity, marital status, and family situation, men are less absent from work than women.

THE LESSON: Teachers are not "teaching responsibility."  Stop grading students based on behavior, start grading solely on learning and knowledge.   Photo: Hilda Solis, Secretary of the Department of Labor

BBC Beats NPR Again

5 am this morning, I'm listening to live BBC coverage of the release of Burmese civil rights advocate and Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in Rangoon.  There are two reporters there, one in the middle of thousands of supporters. 

You can't hear anything but a roar, and yet it was such an incredible event you felt more from the confusing noises than a straightforward news story. Plus BBC had a Burma expert back in the BBC studio in London. 

9 am this morning, I"m listening to live NPR coverage of the same event:  from neighboring country Thailand, and get this: with a BBC reporter.   NPR is nowhere near the event. 

LESSON: if you want to be a successful society, you have to have the best information. NPR loses again to BBC. 

Everyone knows Gen Y Driving Less

Now everyone knows Gen Y is driving less. Last month Nine Shift was famous for 15 minutes, the first to discover Gen Y is Driving Less. Our discovery made national online news all over.  

Here's another story on it from this week.

And then after just one week, my brilliant co-author Julie Coates showed me a story, without data or facts, just stating Gen Y is driving less, like everyone knew it.  And here's another story that assumes everyone knows Gen Y is driving less.

Both stories quoted car experts, leading me to suspect that auto people have known about Gen Y not driving for years, they just hid their data.  Only when the DOT and Nine Shift exposed the data did they admit Gen Y is driving less.