The piece about Virgina Tech, Virgina Tech Struggles to Recover From Shootings, was well written and thoughtful. It must e, after all, people died. Quotations were used sparingly which I believe to be the result of the lack of hard information. Many of the students interviewed had difficulty saying any solid idea that was not completely predictable. The information about gunman is relatively obscured. Compared to other mass killers this guy seemed to have expressed himself very little.
The article does provide an interesting perspective regarding something that has been talked about and written about many thousands of times over, already.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victums.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
New Idea for Profile
I have decided to speak with Dr. McKinney, the mayor of Kalamazoo, about the economic growth and change of the city. This will be the basis for my profile.
Personal Essay Revised
“Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art.”
-Andy Warhol
I have always had a passion for thinking of creative businesses.
For as long as I can remember my conscious thought, I have spent a sizable portion of my time thinking creatively about ideas for changing the way business is done and the products businesses produce. As I have learned more about the way business works, I have increasingly realized the economic and social benefits of these ideas.
Even at a young age my business ideas were quiet good and usually feasible. A few ideas that I have had were my own internet company, a gum company and a design for a faster computer system. These ideas represent a small sample of the many that I have had and are ones that are no longer feasible. They do highlight my ability as a creatively minded businessman. Most importantly, thinking back on these ideas gives me encouragement to continue to strive for my goal of having my own independent company that is capable of innovative change.
The first idea came after my mother signed my brother and me up for America Online. She also took me to a community college class on the internet so that I could better understand the intricate workings of the newly created and relatively unknown technology. I had been familiarized with the workings of the internet and I had a drive to utilize it to the fullest extent. I also had an increasing desire to get a high speed internet connection which drove the thought process of one of my ideas.
I worked out a scheme to get a faster internet that involved selling internet to local subscribes while purchasing high speed internet for myself. I was too young at the time to actually implement my plan despite its high probability of success. Approximately a decade after my idea there were nearly 5000 companies in the
Another idea that I had had in conjunction with the internet idea was one for providing people with a game database that would have hundreds of game titles available. Eventually there were companies that also filled this niche in the market, dashing my plans of creation. My idea for such a company came thirteen years before anyone actually implemented such a company.
Another idea that I was excited about was a gum company. The unique aspect of my gum would be additives such as caffeine. This idea was, unfortunately, patented by Wrigley’s gum company in 2001. Wrigley’s Gum Company had patented this type of gum before I had the innovative idea but it was still promising to me that I thought of it independently.
When IBM unveiled a microprocessor which used light rather than electric binary code, thereby, using another one my ideas that I had saved for the future I was disappointed but encouraged. To create a business that produced such a technologically advanced system would have been infinitely more difficult than creating gum with a little caffeine mixed in or an internet company. Nevertheless, it is representative of my creative ideas aimed at innovation that I had independently from outside influence.
I am continually having ideas like this as it is what I enjoy to think about. I like thinking about how I could improve something so that I would be happier after modifications to the system, organization, or design. During college I have learned that these innovative businesses also greatly benefit consumers and the best means for providing consumers with the innovations.
With many hundreds of ideas saved up, I hope to one day be able to create my own company. One in which I can innovate products but this is an extremely risky endeavor. Many businesses fail soon after being started, such a risk is one that my parents encouraged me not to take. It is, however, my passion.
When I entered business as my chosen major, which is in a way saying that I will be in business in 15 years, I was very hesitant. I knew that there was a significant possibility of ending up at a cubical job with an ass hole idiotic boss and very little financial breathing room. What kind of life would that be? Maybe my dad was right, maybe becoming a doctor is the way to go. It is not so bad being worked to death in the educational system until you are 32 to get a doctorate in nuclear medicine. It would not be so bad being on call for 36 hour shifts occasionally. At least I would be able to be independent and not really have a boss.
I just have to trust that my intellect, creativity and knowledge are enough to set me apart in the business world.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Profile Update
I have been made aware that I can not make up a character to give a voice for my profile. I was extremely excited about writing in the first person for a soldier recently drafted and sent to fight in the Vietnam War. O well, I will have to save that for one of my personal writing adventures.
My new character has not been picked but I think that it is extremely important to give a voice to someone that would either be interesting to read about or has no way of expressing their voice. After a chat with Roger (http://professorrog.blogspot.com/), who was extremely helpful in getting the creative ideas flowing, I have identified a few options for the people I would like to write about.
The first possible character would be a Kalamazoo homeless person. There are so many homeless people in Kalamazoo relative to anywhere that I have ever been and I believe that all of them have an interesting story. Interviews would be easily obtained but the truth of such interviews would be extremely questionable. Having spoken with homeless people on numerous occasions, as they followed me to and from local parties, I, like so many others in Kalamazoo, have heard numerous interesting stories from homeless folks. Stories of past boxing careers that ended with a knock out punch from Mike Tyson or of honorary college degree bestowed for unbelievable accomplishments. I hope to wade through the interesting nonsense to find the true, "uncut," stories of what actually happened in their lives to bring them to where they are today. It is likely that many interviews would have to be done but each would be easily obtained in exchange for a few cigarettes and some attention.
The second possible character would be a Kalamazoo high school teacher. The Kalamazoo educational system has been given a unique opportunity with the Kalamazoo Promise to provide its youth with the highest levels of education beyond secondary school. I would like to discover if there has been a change in the drive of students and teachers to achieve more by utilizing the Kalamazoo Promise. The future of the United States’ economic system is a highly educated labor forces and the seedling for the tree of knowledge that will come to symbolize the new economic might of the United States is being planted in Kalamazoo.
The third possible character would be a specialized doctor. I would like to increase the knowledge the general population has about the changes in medicine. First, technological changes are abound as medicine reaches new heights increasingly more quickly. Second, the nature of the economic structure of medicine is changing and the general population should be aware of these changes when problems become apparent in health care issues and government intervention. Third, the general mentality of doctors has been shifting with each successive generation that graduates from medical school. Forth, the pandemic problem of health care in the United States has reached deplorable levels, despite, general economic prosperity, unsurpassed levels of technology and previously unimagined levels of efficiency.
All of these characters would provide interesting and educational stories. Please leave feedback of what would be most interesting and beneficial.
My new character has not been picked but I think that it is extremely important to give a voice to someone that would either be interesting to read about or has no way of expressing their voice. After a chat with Roger (http://professorrog.blogspot.com/), who was extremely helpful in getting the creative ideas flowing, I have identified a few options for the people I would like to write about.
The first possible character would be a Kalamazoo homeless person. There are so many homeless people in Kalamazoo relative to anywhere that I have ever been and I believe that all of them have an interesting story. Interviews would be easily obtained but the truth of such interviews would be extremely questionable. Having spoken with homeless people on numerous occasions, as they followed me to and from local parties, I, like so many others in Kalamazoo, have heard numerous interesting stories from homeless folks. Stories of past boxing careers that ended with a knock out punch from Mike Tyson or of honorary college degree bestowed for unbelievable accomplishments. I hope to wade through the interesting nonsense to find the true, "uncut," stories of what actually happened in their lives to bring them to where they are today. It is likely that many interviews would have to be done but each would be easily obtained in exchange for a few cigarettes and some attention.
The second possible character would be a Kalamazoo high school teacher. The Kalamazoo educational system has been given a unique opportunity with the Kalamazoo Promise to provide its youth with the highest levels of education beyond secondary school. I would like to discover if there has been a change in the drive of students and teachers to achieve more by utilizing the Kalamazoo Promise. The future of the United States’ economic system is a highly educated labor forces and the seedling for the tree of knowledge that will come to symbolize the new economic might of the United States is being planted in Kalamazoo.
The third possible character would be a specialized doctor. I would like to increase the knowledge the general population has about the changes in medicine. First, technological changes are abound as medicine reaches new heights increasingly more quickly. Second, the nature of the economic structure of medicine is changing and the general population should be aware of these changes when problems become apparent in health care issues and government intervention. Third, the general mentality of doctors has been shifting with each successive generation that graduates from medical school. Forth, the pandemic problem of health care in the United States has reached deplorable levels, despite, general economic prosperity, unsurpassed levels of technology and previously unimagined levels of efficiency.
All of these characters would provide interesting and educational stories. Please leave feedback of what would be most interesting and beneficial.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Idea for Profile
Main Character: Robert Jones
Age: 20
Character Introduction Job:
Development Job: Artillery Job
Leisure Preference: Getting high and chilling
Hometown: Rice Lake, Wisconsin
Economic Class: 38th %tile
Opening Setting: Wisconsin
Time Period: January, 1964
Ending Opening Scene: Naslam Training Base Nevada
Time Period: February, 1964
Middle Setting: Vietnam
Time Period: End of March, 1964
Closing Setting: California
Time Period: 1972
Lesson: First, a disillusioned society that is in disagreement with its governments policies can lead to the destruction of those that are required by duty, legality, or morality to support that government. Second, present new ideas about the fighting of
Unique goals: Have a story line that provides points to supporters of
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Blog I Enjoy
I enjoy reading tuckermax.com
Many people probably have never heard of this blog but if everyone in the class has I would be willing to bet a lot of money that the majority of people would not approve of it. I don't care though, I enjoy the stories. Most of the stories that he tells are things that I would probably do. In fact, the way that I found out about the blog was when friends of mine, on spereate occasions, told me that Tucker Max reminded them of me. SO I checked it out and I liked it. When I read the stories I often feel as though I am reading about myself if I were placed in this Tucker Max's evironment.
tuckermax.com
Many people probably have never heard of this blog but if everyone in the class has I would be willing to bet a lot of money that the majority of people would not approve of it. I don't care though, I enjoy the stories. Most of the stories that he tells are things that I would probably do. In fact, the way that I found out about the blog was when friends of mine, on spereate occasions, told me that Tucker Max reminded them of me. SO I checked it out and I liked it. When I read the stories I often feel as though I am reading about myself if I were placed in this Tucker Max's evironment.
tuckermax.com
When I Write
When I write...
First: I learn about the subject matter.
Second: I consider what I want to leave my audience with.
Third: I write about the subject matter while continually considering my audience.
Forth: I check my work so that I don't sound dumb.
Fifth: I present my work.
For me the majority of the writing that I do is done in the academic field and I normally hate the subjects that I am forced to write about. This has trained me to write from perspectives that I do not really sympathize with and has resulted in a jaded mentality that does not really concern my true beliefs on the subject matter.
When I do write for leisure it is usually about things that I feel must be said to friends or collegeauges about a change in the system in which we are attempting to improve. These letters are usually filled with citations, factual information and a few subtle jokes that normally mock those that are acting as a hinderance. Most of the time, these letters are meant to bring about change in thought that I feel is long over due, and, as a result, they tend to be extremely forceful and not something most people would prefer to read for pleasure.
First: I learn about the subject matter.
Second: I consider what I want to leave my audience with.
Third: I write about the subject matter while continually considering my audience.
Forth: I check my work so that I don't sound dumb.
Fifth: I present my work.
For me the majority of the writing that I do is done in the academic field and I normally hate the subjects that I am forced to write about. This has trained me to write from perspectives that I do not really sympathize with and has resulted in a jaded mentality that does not really concern my true beliefs on the subject matter.
When I do write for leisure it is usually about things that I feel must be said to friends or collegeauges about a change in the system in which we are attempting to improve. These letters are usually filled with citations, factual information and a few subtle jokes that normally mock those that are acting as a hinderance. Most of the time, these letters are meant to bring about change in thought that I feel is long over due, and, as a result, they tend to be extremely forceful and not something most people would prefer to read for pleasure.
Writing How I Feel Right Now
A hoard of rings am I, but no fit gift for a bride; I await a sword's kiss.
Telling True Stories Blog
"Stories are the connective tissue of the human race..."
-Katherine Lanpher
The section in "Telling True Stories" describes very well why stories are so important. They allow people who were not present during certain events to experience those events. Therefore, people who are willing to tell stories are the individuals that bind people together through thought.
The effects of binding people through stories may not occur due to a disagreement with the conveyed knowledge or ideals but for those that are receptive there can be many affected aspects. People that are listening to the story may gain a moral insight, historical understanding, realization of perspective, or greater understanding of factual information.
Jesus told parables to his followers to teach them morality. This was done with increased efficiency through the use of stories. It provided an entertaining aspect to a serious subject that would be better received by listening to another individual's experiences. It is human nature to feel an empathetic connection to others.
When historians discuss the events of the past they almost always site specific examples that are accompanied by stories that are representative of the events that occurred. These help the average human's empathetic connection to be more willing to receive the knowledge that the story teller is attempting to convey. The history of the events will then be better received and less likely to be forgotten. The knowledge of the history will then be continued.
One of the most important aspect of story telling that plays into the deepest aspect of the human connection is the understanding of perspective. For some the understanding of perspective is automatic, but, for those that are less aware, stories provide the perfect tool to force people to see a varied perscpective. The story can force people to visualize the events that others endured. Stories are "the connective tissue" that links one human mind to another.
Factual information is often glossed over and seen without due appreciation when it is presented without an accompanying story. For a would be conveyer of factual information, a well told story is one of the best means to achieving the necessary thought process in the recipient of knowledge for the acquisitition of factual knowledge.
Stories are the primary reagent for catalyzing the thoughts that create "the connective tissue of the human race."
In "The Narravtive Idea," by David Halberstam, there is, what i perceived to be, a competition between print journalist and television news. I do not feel that there should be such a competition. Television is just more efficent and quicker. It is not as though journalism has been taken out of the news realm or that it is no longer effective. The role has just been changed. It is time for story tellers to utilize the television aspect more as the first step in conveying knowledge. A picture is said to be worth a thousand words, let that hold true. Let the writen word be used as a means of response and communication for less pressing information. Let the written word be used as the leisure entertainment for those that never really stop thinking when the relax.
-Katherine Lanpher
The section in "Telling True Stories" describes very well why stories are so important. They allow people who were not present during certain events to experience those events. Therefore, people who are willing to tell stories are the individuals that bind people together through thought.
The effects of binding people through stories may not occur due to a disagreement with the conveyed knowledge or ideals but for those that are receptive there can be many affected aspects. People that are listening to the story may gain a moral insight, historical understanding, realization of perspective, or greater understanding of factual information.
Jesus told parables to his followers to teach them morality. This was done with increased efficiency through the use of stories. It provided an entertaining aspect to a serious subject that would be better received by listening to another individual's experiences. It is human nature to feel an empathetic connection to others.
When historians discuss the events of the past they almost always site specific examples that are accompanied by stories that are representative of the events that occurred. These help the average human's empathetic connection to be more willing to receive the knowledge that the story teller is attempting to convey. The history of the events will then be better received and less likely to be forgotten. The knowledge of the history will then be continued.
One of the most important aspect of story telling that plays into the deepest aspect of the human connection is the understanding of perspective. For some the understanding of perspective is automatic, but, for those that are less aware, stories provide the perfect tool to force people to see a varied perscpective. The story can force people to visualize the events that others endured. Stories are "the connective tissue" that links one human mind to another.
Factual information is often glossed over and seen without due appreciation when it is presented without an accompanying story. For a would be conveyer of factual information, a well told story is one of the best means to achieving the necessary thought process in the recipient of knowledge for the acquisitition of factual knowledge.
Stories are the primary reagent for catalyzing the thoughts that create "the connective tissue of the human race."
In "The Narravtive Idea," by David Halberstam, there is, what i perceived to be, a competition between print journalist and television news. I do not feel that there should be such a competition. Television is just more efficent and quicker. It is not as though journalism has been taken out of the news realm or that it is no longer effective. The role has just been changed. It is time for story tellers to utilize the television aspect more as the first step in conveying knowledge. A picture is said to be worth a thousand words, let that hold true. Let the writen word be used as a means of response and communication for less pressing information. Let the written word be used as the leisure entertainment for those that never really stop thinking when the relax.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Turning Nothing into Something
“Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art.”
-Andy Warhol
I have always had business on the mind.
The first memory I can recall having for a viable business plan came when I was in second grade. My mom had just signed us up for America Online, the internet access program.
In 1992, very few people really understood what the internet was. So my mom made me take a class at the community college with her to learn about the internet.
At first, my brother and I just used the internet to go into sex related chat rooms and tell 25 year old ladies that we wanted to “cyber”. After a few months, the Cybercool (me) and Cyberfire (my brother) screen names were banned from just about every AOL chat room.
Then we discovered computer games. We thought that these were just the most amazing things ever made but they were terrible to play on the slow dial up connection. We began to scheme and plan to get a high speed internet connection.
In 1992, there were no commercial DSL or cable internet connections available. If someone wanted to get something faster than dial up they had to invest in a T1 connection that would cost $1000 per month (too much for video games).
Our solution to this dilemma was simple, be the people that sell internet. We knew that there were only two companies selling internet in our region at this time, America Online and Prodigy and they charged $19.99 and $12.99 per month, respectively, in 1992. We knew that we could sell internet for $5 per month and easily find at least 20 people to purchase the internet connection from us.
A T1 connection is capable of supporting 28 dial up users, all downloading at maximum speed, at once. Not everyone would be online at the same time and people would not be constantly downloading. Therefore, this was a viable business plan.
There were numerous advantages gained from purchasing dial up internet access from a local provider rather than a large corporation. First, the majority of the decreased speed of dial up was caused by the distance that the connection needed to travel over the dual copper wires that made up the old phone network. If that distance was only across town rather than across the state the connection would be much faster. Second, paying $5 per month is better than pay $12.99 or $19.99 per month.
All that was required to give someone internet access at this time was to have a phone line that people could dial into and a computer that was already connected to the internet that could answer the phone call with a modem.
My brother and I subscribe to the mentality “if we like it then everyone will probably like it”. While examining our goals we realized the reason we had thought this entire thing out was to play video games. We added the final change to the plan, the cherry on top, a game database.
A game database would make more money. It would attract customers that would want access to thousands of games and they could be charged a small fee for each game they downloaded. At this time games were tiny, even on dial up they could be downloaded in less than an hour or so.
In 2002, ten years after our plan, there were approximately 5,000 businesses that followed the exact business plan of purchasing high speed internet and selling it to dial up users. In 2006, three companies were created that allowed people access to a database of videogames. An example is gamefly.com.
This was intended to be a personal essay but my brother and I are very closely related on the subject of business. Both of us are constantly having innovative plans for businesses that are not necessarily spawned out of the goal of making money but from the need to fix a problem that we have.
I am continually having ideas like this as it is what I enjoy to think about. I like thinking about how I could improve something so that I would be happier after modifications to the system, organization, or design.
For most of my life my thoughts have gone back to this type of thought process without a conscious decision. When I was in college and I began learning about the way the business world actually worked and grew, I knew that was what I wanted to do.
When I entered business as my chosen major, which is in a way saying that you will be in business in 15 years, I was very hesitant. I knew that there was a significant possibility of ending up at a cubical job with an ass hole idiotic boss and very little financial breathing room. What kind of life would that be? Maybe my dad was right, maybe becoming a doctor is the way to go. It is not so bad being worked to death in the educational system until you are 32 to get a doctorate in nuclear medicine. It would not be so bad being on call for 36 hour shifts occasionally. At least I would be able to be independent and not really have a boss.
I just have to trust that my intellect, creativity and knowledge are enough to set me apart in the business world.
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