We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
radical changes taking place around us now
One study is quantifying the increased productivity of on-line classes for professors. The analysis didn’t consider the reduced space needs or savings from students not having to commute to class. Both of those factors would contribute to the productivity improvement.
Conclusion was a reduction in time of between 36% and 57%.
Continue reading “Indications of productivity improvement for on-line education starting to appear”
Orbital Sciences Corp. had a successful test of their privately designed, funded and built spaceship. Their lifting vehicle made it to orbit and the cargo pod successfully separated. See Private company succeeds in test launch of rocket that will carry cargo ship.
They are one of two companies that will be providing lift capability to NASA: Continue reading “2nd private company gets space cargo ship operating”
When Amazon conceded on collecting tax on sales to people in California in 2012 they gained a phenomenal advantage – they could finally open up distribution centers in the state.
Previously, they didn’t have any warehouses in California. Now there is one in San Bernardino, at the eastern edge of the huge Los Angeles metropolitan area. There are others further north.
What can they do now? Have next day delivery. Do you suppose they will move toward same day delivery? Can you picture the bold type comment “Order in the next 2 hours for delivery today” on the screen as you shop early in the day?
Privacy on the Internet is gone. It’s toast.
That is the point of Bruce Schneier’s post, Our Internet Surveillance State.
We leave crumbs of data spread around every time we use our computer or smart phone. With the cost of storing data essentially zero, every provider keeps a record of everything you do. And why not? The cost is zero to record your last Internet search or which cell tower has connection to your phone this moment.
Our privacy is shot when you put huge numbers of crumbs together.
Continue reading “Surveillance society, or, there is no privacy on the ‘net”
Drones are becoming quite popular for individuals and governments. I haven’t spent enough time talking about drones – their popularity is growing rapidly.
Cheap drones for individuals
For a few hundred dollars you can buy an easy-to-fly drone that can stream HD feed to your smart phone. That according to the video at Spying eyes or a bit of fun, drones fly off the shelves at Sydney Morning Herald.
Continue reading “Lots of drones for lots of individuals and lots of governments”
Latest news from Cyprus is banks will be closed all this week and reopen next Tuesday (3-26-13) at the earliest.
After the parliament voted down the plan to take 9.9% of all large deposits and 6.75% of smaller deposits, the government is working on an alternate plan.
Current ideas appear to include some combination of: Continue reading “Cyprus government pondering how much private wealth to seize to save banks”
Status as of this moment is the Cyprus legislature voted down the plan to tax all bank depositors in the country to bail out two banks. Background here.
That does not revoke the idea that lots of regulators think your deposits belong to them and the only issue open for negotiation is what percentage of your money they are going to take.
Remember this is a deal to bail out the two largest Cyprus banks. The plan didn’t just hit the uninsured depositors and bondholders of those two banks. If that were the case, this would have been the normal liquidation of a bank. That would be fine.
Instead, here was the status over the weekend: Continue reading “Even with Cyprus’s parliament voting “never mind” to the plan of taking depositor’s money, an invisible line has been crossed”
There is danger in the air.
Over the weekend, the Cyprus government levied a one-time ‘tax’ on all bank deposits. The rate is 9.9% on accounts over €100,000, which is about $129,000. Tax on accounts under that amount is 6.75%.
Why the tax?
Their national banking system needs a major bailout. Conditions imposed by the European regulators require depositors to take a hit in order to fund the bailout.
What’s the danger?
Loss of depositor confidence.
Continue reading “Raiding customer’s bank accounts in Cyprus is very dangerous”
For a breakthrough on data storage capacity, think about storing bits and bytes on DNA.
I have no idea what the technology is, but scientists have written data to DNA and read it back successfully.
There are rapid changes in the format of delivery of education. I’ve not had anywhere near enough time to comment on them in this blog.
One area I have pondered is taking a recorded lecture and turning it into a course. A while back I finished listening to The American Civil War, by Prof. Gary Gallagher from Great Courses. Had a lot of fun listening to the CDs. Learned a lot.
I commented on this idea here.
As I finished this series, I thought again how this and similar courses would be a great way to create a college-level course. Continue reading “The frontier is open in education – recorded lectures”
Possibly.
A Pew Research report suggests people are starting to disengage from Facebook – Coming and Going on Facebook.
A tidbit that struck me:
20% of the online adults who do not currently use Facebook say they once used the site but no longer do so.
If I read that right, one out of five people who go online and aren’t using Facebook used to be active. How’s that for a chill on your growth prospects?
Here’s a couple of things that ought to be keeping Facebook’s management and investors awake at night:
No, there isn’t a new gold rush in California.
There is a stiff penalty to be paid for employers who have any person working more than 29 hours a week. There is also a serious penalty paid for hiring the 50th employee.
Why?
29ers
Employers with a staff person working 30 hours or more must provide health insurance to the employee or the company must pay a penalty. The insurance will cost several thousands of dollars a year. The penalty will be $2,000 if health insurance is provided.
Yeah. Today they can.
As Alex Tabarrok says at Marginal Revolution, Acrobatic Quadrocopters, image a micro-drone, specifically a quadrocopter, that can balance a pole, toss it in the air, and have another micro-drone catch the pole in the air.
Check out this video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pp89tTDxXuI#t=17s]
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pp89tTDxXuI#t=17s
The catching ‘copter recalculates the exact position to make the catch 50 times a second. It positions itself at the exact point so the pole will balance and right itself.
Here’s the question – how long do you think it will be until you can go to your local hobby story and buy one of these for under $200?
If you thought zero documentation and 120% loans were good for the economy, you will love capital appreciation bonds.
Here’s the deal – what are schools and local governments in California to do once they have run out of cash to pay even the interest on bonds, can’t cover the principal on the cost of new buildings, and face huge voter resistance to any increase in spending? What to do when you just want to keep spending?
How about issuing capital appreciation bonds. That allows the government agency to keep spending whatever they want.
You can borrow money, make no payments for 20 years, compound the interest into principal, and burden the adult children of current students with the huge payments.
The change overwhelming us is simultaneously exciting, frightening, thrilling, unsettling, clear, and confused. We have a scary and exciting future with incredible opportunities that we can only vaguely see.
How to make sense of it?
Two writers more than all others have helped me as I slowly sort things out: Seth Godin and Walter Russell Mead.
I’d like to highlight a few articles from Mr. Mead to give a sense of the major trends facing us. He regularly refers to the breakdown of the “blue model.”
The way we’ve done things since World War II isn’t working anymore. None of us have any idea today what the replacement way of doing things will look like.
Previous post provided a deep introduction from one of Mr. Mead’s articles..
For a very long read that provides deep explanation, check out The Once and Future Liberalism.
The article goes into great detail about the factors that have collapsed the ‘blue model’ in the private sector. The government sector has yet to deal with this: Continue reading “Making sense of the radical change surrounding us – a long-term perspective – 2”