Archive for the ‘Cultures’ Category
Monday, March 8th, 2010
The United States of America enjoys many riches, inherent capabilities and positive attributes, as well as shortcomings, unresolved issues and a converging set of existential threats.
The challenge is to be aware of the upsides of the United States without becoming defiantly hostile to any discussion of specific shortcomings or ways ...
Posted in Cultures, Econ / Finance, Outside the Fishbowl, US Politics | No Comments »
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
“…our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are … testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” – Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
*******
The United States ...
Posted in Cultures, Econ / Finance, Geopolitics, Outside the Fishbowl, US Politics, health care reform | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
More than 9 out of 10 patients do not change their lifestyles in response to their doctor’s recommendations.
More than 70 percent of corporate change efforts fail.
Humans hate change.
It’s a simple fact of life. There isn’t any easy way around it. In general, humans hate change.
That rule extends beyond individuals into ...
Posted in Business, Cultures, US Politics | No Comments »
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
In my book, How The World Works, entry 512 is Priorities vs. Budgets.
It reads:
“As a business management consultant I heard a lot about priorities. In the introductory meeting and group management team interviews, senior executives would drone on endlessly about the organization’s priorities. Top priority this and critical priority that; it ...
Posted in Cultures, Econ / Finance, US Politics | 4 Comments »
Monday, December 21st, 2009
Back in 2004 I wrote a holiday message about our Christmas tree titled The Seekers.
It turned out to be one of the most popular essays of that era.
We put up a Christmas tree last week for the first time since then. It was amazing to realize it had been five years since we'd either ...
Posted in Cultures, Religion, Travel | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 21st, 2009
This essay is available in PDF form here: http://www.hackneys.com/docs/myworldview.pdf
“Your world view is, well, wrong.”
Those were the last words I ever heard from a guy I’d been friends with for more than 30 years.
That was back in late 2004. At the time, I was sitting in Beijing, China, and had recently ...
Posted in Cultures, Geopolitics, Outside the Fishbowl, US Politics | No Comments »
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
In traveling through 43 countries across six continents, we’ve seen quite a few ancient stadiums. From Rome’s definitive Coliseum to lesser known examples scattered around the world, we’ve explored many.
All share a sense of grandeur that matches the contests staged there, and as you wander about the stones, if you ...
Posted in Cultures, Travel | 8 Comments »
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Adult Americans
Between 1989 and 2007 Americans knowledge of current events dropped by 8.3%
93% know Arnold Schwarzenegger while 36% know Vladimir Putin
32% know Sunni and Shia as two branches of Islam
41% know the name Muslims use to refer to God and the name of Islam's sacred text
33% believe that Iraq carried ...
Posted in Cultures, Geopolitics, US Politics | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Americans don’t get out much.
That should come as no surprise considering that, according to the U.S. State Department, only 27 percent of Americans hold a valid passport. That means that 73 percent of Americans couldn’t get out to see the rest of the world even if they wanted to; even ...
Posted in Cultures, Geopolitics, Travel | 6 Comments »
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Reentering the grid is a challenging experience when planned and voluntary. When unexpected, arbitrary and not of your own making, it is doubly so.
At times, the pragmatic aspects are overwhelming in their breadth, requiring an entire life to be reconstructed and assembled out of sometimes moving parts. But those challenges ...
Posted in Cultures, Motorcycles, Travel | 3 Comments »
