Quote of the day: Ignorance by Choice
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.”
Mark Twain
Every once in awhile you run across a quote that hits something that you have been thinking about right on the head. Literacy is a trick thing to quantify. Depending on what numbers you want to look at USA has a 98% literacy level or an 87% literacy level. The second reflects whether someone can truly grasp what they are reading. Let me attach a number to that for perspective. 39.5 million. That means about 39.5 million people in the US are illiterate. Another number for you to ponder. 8.0 million. That would be 13% of US children under 15 who would be illiterate. Why do I point this out? Two reasons.
- If we are supposed to be leader of the free world we need to figure this out. I know it is unreasonable for me to think this way but having one illiterate child is unacceptable. And don’t anyone give me some crap about today children not wanting to work at learning. There isn’t a child under the age of 10 who isn’t steeped in 360 degree curiosity in life. Shame on us if we don’t feed that curiosity.
- People who don’t read (books or online). What a waste. I didn’t even attempt to showcase the the good and bad literacy numbers for a variety of other countries globally. Doesn’t matter. If you don’t read you have wasted an opportunity life has given you. Shame on you.
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here an insight, there an insight, where an insight?
February 9, 2012 - 7:22 am
Tags: actions today make who i am tomorrow, affecting people’s conflict behavior, aligning generational attitude and technology and consumer trends, broadcast, building character, business, Business Thoughts, change begins in the head, change forces prioritizing, change takes remarkable effort, character, communication, conflict and people, content dissemination trends, conversations, creating the next generation of thinkers, creating the next generation of thinkers using the web, crowd clout, crowds providing unsolicited feedback, curiosity is the enemy of ignorance, decision making, developing cross cultural skills, developing minds of next generation of thinkers, developing social and emotional competencies, discovery, dreaming is not just for kids, education to enlighten, encouraging curiosity, encouraging understanding of choices, enlightened conflict, exploration not ROI, facebook, failure of imagination, finding what is possible from impossible, finding your way is tough, freedom of choice, generation of measurement, generational ideation, generations, global collaboration, global respect, Hubble, ignorance, ignorance is the enemy, imagination, influencers are still influencers, influencing purchases, insights, insights are about truth, insights don't exploit, it has become uncool to do simple things in business, leadership, learning, lessons, life, life is a winding road, life lessons, making the simple complicated, marketing, maslow and marketing, maslow needs, measuring exclusion from primary education, measuring generational attitudes, measuring generational behavior, measuring global education, meeting the challenges of concentration, more honest online, most people cannot recognize simple solutions, most things in life are not black or white, mtv europe awards, NASA, NASA budget shrinking, net enabled education, no one believes in simplicity anymore, online friends, only few find the way, organizations, predictions, project global generation, pursuing the way, quality versus quantity online, quotes, rare to make complicated simple, research, respect, respect for individual choice, responsibility, ROI versus imagination, self actualization, short term concentration capabilities, simplicity has gone the way of the dodo, simplicity takes remarkable effort, six impossible things before breakfast, social media, strategy, strength of character to make change, strip away the undoable and identify the doable, Stuff I Like, success of ROI, telling the truth, that i will be tomorrow, there are a lot of insights, thinking, thinking impossible things, thinking is good, this i am today, to slay a dragon you need to believe in dragons, trendwatching, truth, truth in marketing, truth should be simple, Twitter, twitter triumph of humanity, use your imagination, web based global education
Posted in Business Thoughts, Rants and Observations | No comments
So. Every once in awhile in the ad/marketing business we talk about “what’s the insight that will help us create the big idea?” Ok. Not every once in awhile. Actually ad nausea. So often your head hurts. In fact it may be the reason why people in the industry drink as often as they do. [...]
rome & atlanta have something in common
February 8, 2012 - 8:43 am
Tags: atlanta snowstorms, cities with no snowplows, do your own shoveling, enlightened conflict, freak snowstorms, giving shovels away, life lessons, making the vatican envious, no snowplows, olymipic torch, rome italy and atlanta, shoveling snow, snow in rome, Stuff I Like, words
Posted in Personal & Nonsensical | No comments
So. Whoda thunk Rome and Atlanta would have something in common. Not a Bernini statue (although Atlanta has a rusting Olympic torch). Not a square… albeit it is really a circle <St. Peters> (although Atlanta has a dome that would make the Vatican envious). Nope. Snowplows. Neither of them has any snowplows. This week Rome [...]
friends, feedback, influencing & a new economy
February 7, 2012 - 8:37 am
Tags: a generation of concerned citizens, a net education platform, actions today make who i am tomorrow, affecting people’s conflict behavior, aligning generational attitude and technology and consumer trends, broadcast, building character, business, Business Thoughts, careful tweeting, change begins in the head, change takes remarkable effort, character, children and critical thinking, children out of school, children’s education, communication, community individualism, conflict and people, content dissemination trends, conversations, creating innovation attitude in children, creating the next generation of thinkers, creating the next generation of thinkers using the web, crowd clout, crowds providing unsolicited feedback, curiosity is the enemy of ignorance, decision making, developing cross cultural skills, developing minds of next generation of thinkers, developing social and emotional competencies, educating using the net, education to enlighten, effective teaching globally, encouraging curiosity, encouraging understanding of choices, enlightened conflict, facebook, freedom of choice, generation after millennials, generational ideation, generations, global collaboration, Global generation, global generation sociological platform, global respect, ignorance, ignorance is the enemy, influencers are still influencers, influencing purchases, leadership, learning, lessons, life, life lessons, marketing, mass mingling impact on Global Generation, measuring exclusion from primary education, measuring generational attitudes, measuring generational behavior, measuring global education, media, meeting the challenges of concentration, mobile technology impacting education, more honest online, mtv europe awards, net enabled education, new economic model, nietzsche, online friends, online has quality communication, peace on facebook, pop up schools, predictions, project global generation, quality versus quantity online, redefining children’s education with a global initiative, research, respect, respect for individual choice, responsibility, short term concentration capabilities, social media, strategy, strength of character to make change, Stuff I Like, that i will be tomorrow, the economist e-communication and society, the f-factor, this i am today, trendwatching, truth, Twitter, twitter triumph of humanity, using cell technology for education, web based global education
Posted in Business Thoughts, Stuff I Like | No comments
So. My thoughts on this topic were inspired by a trendwatching’s briefing called “The F-Factor.” Their briefing (another excellent one by the way) discusses focuses how the impact of influencers’ on purchasing has increased because of the web (and the dynamics associated with the web). By the way. Trendwatching has another excellent briefing called Crowd [...]
survival
February 6, 2012 - 8:29 am
Tags: a full life, actions today make who i am tomorrow, architects of fate, be who you are, business, change begins in the head, change forces prioritizing, change takes remarkable effort, changing objectives to make change, character, choices, choices leading to full life, choices we make or do not make, communication, creation means destroying something, decision making, destroying the personal baggage you carry, every one is an architect of life, every one plays a role in fate, fear, fear of choices, gain some new identity aspects, generations, getting a new start means destroying some old things, good people, hope, identifying who you are, inaction, intentions, just this once, lacking hope, learning, lessons, letting go is difficult, letting go is not simple, lies, life, life lessons, making changes personally, making choices, managing perceptions, motivated by a desire to achieve, ordinary people don’t think they are remarkable, organizations, personal creative destruction, quotations, quotes, relationships, resiliency, resiliency and character, respect, responsibility, see your own reality, self truth, smallest actions contribute, strategy, strength of character to make change, Stuff I Like, that i will be tomorrow, there is no formula for good choices, this i am today, trust, truth, trying to preserve will lead to stagnation, words
Posted in Favorite Quotes, Rants and Observations | No comments
“it is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin I love this quote. Mostly because those with ‘brawn’ scoff at those with ‘brains’, and vice versa, when survival (and that doesn’t have to mean life & death but rather success [...]
let the din of battle begin
February 5, 2012 - 8:19 am
Tags: actions today make who i am tomorrow, architects of fate, awaiting glory in silence, being in the battle, brady and stillness, character, competitiveness, flat wave brain stillness, gathering adrenaline but still, imaging the brain for the moment before the moment, leadership, let the din of battle begin, maybe it is me moment, more aware of yourself, pooh and Brady, quotations, quotes, resetting the brain, respect, responsibility, stillness in leadership, Stuff I Like, super bowl stillness, that i will be tomorrow, the moment before the moment, there was a moment just before, this i am today, thriving in the moment, tom brady, truth
Posted in Favorite Quotes, Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like | No comments
“We await glory in silence, oh, let the din of battle begin” – A midshipman on Collingwood’s flagship wrote this in his diary as his ship sailed into battle at Trafalgar Tom Brady (yup … this is about him – in honor of the super bowl – and I am going to use this quote). [...]
the unAmerican american tradition
February 4, 2012 - 12:38 pm
Tags: 8th biggest beer day, america has lost its beers, american beer, american beer connoisseurs, beer, beer and bonding, beer is good, brand, Bud isn't american, budweiser, business, Business Thoughts, champagne of beer, coors, learning, life, life lessons, no high falutin micro brews, Stuff I Like, super bowl beer tradition, the character of beer, truth, unamerican beer
Posted in Personal & Nonsensical, Rants and Observations, Stuff I Like | No comments
Ok. This is about the American tradition (the super bowl) and an un-American aspect (the fact there just aren’t that many American beers left). The super bowl (according to Nielsen sales studies) is the 8th biggest beer day of the year. It is behind the 4th of July, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Christmas/New [...]
wonder of birds
February 3, 2012 - 8:43 am
Tags: addictive songs, bright as yellow, fragile music, fragile voice, great listening music, husband and wife musicians, karen peris, life lessons, music, songs that are nice to listen to, Stuff I Like, the innocence mission, wistful alt pop music, wistful storyteller, wonder of birds, write songs like conversations
Posted in Music, Stuff I Like | No comments
So. I just heard another song and it made me think about “couples bands” … like Over the Rhine or Weepies (a post to follow on their new cd) … and going back maybe K’s Choice (brother & sister) … but the song I heard made me want to spend a minute talking about the [...]
my thoughts on education inspired by The Wire
February 1, 2012 - 8:06 am
Tags: a generation of concerned citizens, a global education kids initiative, a net education platform, actions today make who i am tomorrow, affecting people’s conflict behavior, aligning generational attitude and technology and consumer trends, beating the system, building character, business, Business Thoughts, change begins in the head, change takes remarkable effort, children and critical thinking, children out of school, children’s education, communication, community individualism, conflict and people, content dissemination trends, creating innovation attitude in children, creating the next generation of thinkers, creating the next generation of thinkers using the web, curiosity is the enemy of ignorance, decision making, developing cross cultural skills, developing minds of next generation of thinkers, developing social and emotional competencies, educating using the net, education and collaboration, education is not always equal, education to enlighten, effective teaching globally, encouraging curiosity, encouraging understanding of choices, enlightened conflict, every child deserves a chance, free your mind, generation after millennials, global collaboration, global collaboration and learning, Global generation, hope in learning, ignorance, ignorance is the enemy, imagining a better education system, impacting kid's education, jared leto, jared leto free your mind, leadership, learning, learning by lurking, lessons, life lessons, many good kids fail, mass mingling impact on Global Generation, measuring exclusion from primary education, measuring generational attitudes, measuring generational behavior, measuring global education, mobile technology impacting education, mtv europe awards, next generation of thinkers, peace on facebook, pop up schools, pre school global education, project global generation, redefining children’s education with a global initiative, respect, responsibility, strategy, strength of character to make change, Stuff I Like, teaching kids globally, that i will be tomorrow, the economist e-communication and society, the global generation, The wire and education, there are excuses for not getting an education, this i am today, truth, twitter triumph of humanity, UNESCO children out of school, using cell technology for education, web based collaboration education, web based global education, young children collaborating online
Posted in Rants and Observations, project global generation | No comments
So. Every time I walk into a high school I have a feeling that education … well … that it could be better. For everyone. Teachers & all kids (no matter their socioeconomic status or whether they live in an urban or rural environment). Shit. Not could … that it should be better. And I [...]
never interrupt the enemy
January 31, 2012 - 8:10 am
Tags: action and consequences, actions today make who i am tomorrow, affecting organization thru actions, aiming high, architects of fate, art of staying, brand, builders versus renovators, business, business lessons, Business Thoughts, change begins in the head, change forces prioritizing, change takes remarkable effort, character, communication, company of adventurers, creating positive touchpoints, decision making, depth of character to face everyday life, difficult lessons, dynamic beyond our own purposes, easier to recognize when you don’t suck, events are meant to be commanded not feared, every one is an architect of life, finding your way is tough, going with your gut, greatest danger is aiming too low, leaders and character, leadership, learning, lessons, let someone suck as long as they want, life, life is a winding road, life lessons, managing perceptions, michelanglo, most things in life are not black or white, napoleon and business, never interrupt the enemy, oblivious to sucking, one foot in history one foot in future, only few find the way, patty griffin, pursuing the way, quotations, quotes, reach for the stars, respect, responsibility, safer to stay then go, seek out events without fear, smallest actions contribute, stay or go, stop on a high note, stop when you suck, strategy, strength of character to make change, stressful decisions, Stuff I Like, suckedness, sucking is like quicksand, that i will be tomorrow, thinking too much, this i am today, thrive on dreams and possibilities, transformational people, trapped by fear, truth, what do you do when you get what you want, words
Posted in Business Thoughts, Favorite Quotes, Rants and Observations | No comments
“Never interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte This is a follow up to yesterday’s “when you start to suck, stop.” Why? Well. Because that one was focused on your suckedness and this is focused on someone else’s suckedness. Simplistically. If your enemy is starting to suck … don’t interrupt. [...]
knowing when to stop
January 30, 2012 - 8:51 am
Tags: action and consequences, actions today make who i am tomorrow, affecting organization thru actions, aiming high, architects of fate, art of staying, brand, builders versus renovators, business, business lessons, Business Thoughts, change begins in the head, change forces prioritizing, change takes remarkable effort, character, communication, company of adventurers, creating positive touchpoints, decision making, depth of character to face everyday life, difficult lessons, dynamic beyond our own purposes, easier to recognize when you don't suck, events are meant to be commanded not feared, every one is an architect of life, finding your way is tough, going with your gut, greatest danger is aiming too low, leaders and character, leadership, learning, lessons, life, life is a winding road, life lessons, managing perceptions, michelanglo, most things in life are not black or white, oblivious to sucking, one foot in history one foot in future, only few find the way, patty griffin, pursuing the way, quotations, quotes, reach for the stars, respect, responsibility, safer to stay then go, seek out events without fear, smallest actions contribute, stay or go, stop on a high note, stop when you suck, strategy, strength of character to make change, stressful decisions, Stuff I Like, suckedness, sucking is like quicksand, that i will be tomorrow, thinking too much, this i am today, thrive on dreams and possibilities, transformational people, trapped by fear, truth, what do you do when you get what you want, words
Posted in Business Thoughts, Favorite Quotes, Rants and Observations | No comments
“when you start to suck, stop” – Kristen Hersh So. This is so explanatory it needs no explanation. However. What I would suggest to everyone is that, in general, people don’t stop when they start to suck. And they don’t for one of two reasons: They are oblivious to their sucking. They recognize their suckedness [...]
March 12, 2010 - 5:23 pm
Right on! But I also think it’s important to have a well-rounded reading diet. Too many of those “literate” folks out there are filling up on junk food (romance novels, comic books, Nicholas Sparks, etc.). Not sayin’ you have to attack War and Peace, but still…
Check out Harold Bloom’s book, How to Read and Why for a nice argument for reading!
March 18, 2010 - 2:29 pm
ah. as we have debated one on one. i am happy when people read anything … if not just to absorb writing styles and phrasing as well as thoughts (no matter how warped they may be in People magazine or Teen Beat). do i wish more people would snag a New Yorker or Economist? sure. Da Vinci Code? at least it makes you think (although dan brown does use run on sentences and lots of ‘yikes!’). regardless i hope someone picks up something and just gets addicted to reading. plus. i couldnt hack my way thru war & peace myself.