Genghis Khan has always seemed to me a prime example of Realpolitik despite never being associated as such. Not only in the organization of the army, legal system and carriers, but in overall military decisions. The Mongolians were very few in number, riding into faraway lands. When they took over a Muslim city they couldn’t […]
Category Archives: Business/Finance
Thoughts on “Networking”
The 100 history of the House of Medici reminds me of today’s over focus on networking the expense of everything else. In their rise to power they kept a keep eye on the numbers, and it was through their accounting methods that they became rich along with carefully placed networking and power moves. The generations […]
Management Practices Must Adapt to System Type It’s Operating Under
One of the most annoying arguments I must endure is listening to people complain that X management style or practices is a scam or failure because it doesn’t apply inside a context it wasn’t supposed to operate. When I try to explain there’s different types of systems a business department may find itself in, and […]
Games Exercise Complex Mental Skills Hard-Wired in Our DNA That We Don’t Fulfill in Daily Lives
One of my hypothesis on why games are not only useful as learning tool for mammals (lion cubs practice hunting skills by play fighting for example) but that serve as entertainment to children and adults, specially in the modern world, is that they activate exercise neurological pathways for problem solving that we don’t normally come […]
Baking Calculator
A friend of mine going to culinary school asked me if I could make a calculator for one of his recipes. The goal was that based on the amount of bread used the rest of the ingredients would auto-populate. I just worked one out in a few minutes, this is what it looks like: […]
Quick Thoughts on Instructional Software Design
One of the big problems with the instructional software design that has bought into “gamification” is it’s reliance on video game design theory from the entertainment industry. This is the LAST place you want to base your design on, yet this is almost exclusively where they focus. Most video games aren’t developing a real skill. […]
Thoughts on Amazon: Rebuttal to the Recent Attacks and the Supposed Cheating and Effects Amazon Has on Small Businesses
At the moment Bezos and Amazon is being attacked by all sides as a destroyer of small businesses and retail. The is happening through two methods: The business model is just too damn effective. As it grows it can start leveraging economy of scales. For example: Maybe the profit margin is reduced by giving free […]
Logic: A Forgotten Process
I’ve often noticed no one seems to understand what the hell logic is. You can quickly find this by simply asking “what’s the method you’re using to draw your conclusion? What type of logic are you applying?” and they’re dumbfounded. Often times they avoid giving a straight answer because they simply don’t want to look […]