Topics For Think Tanks To Consider This Week

We have all heard about companies or non-profit groups, which go by the dubious title of Think Tanks. There are think tanks for nearly every industry, topic or crisis that plagues mankind. Some Think Tanks are multi-talented and cover a broad spectrum of thought, they provide solutions, concepts, innovations or inventions to propel achievement over the challenges we all face in human civilization and society.
To illustrate this point and to show the diversity of potential topics - I rounded up some of the topics under discussion this week at the Online Think Tank and have listed them below:
1. Vibrational Energy Satellite Beam to Incite Rogue Nation Underground Uranium or Plutonium Enrichment.
2. Government needs to send out a mass mailing to all homeowners; 25 Ways to Save Water - The Conservation Key to Survival.
3. Fat Tax on Foods is Okay - Taxation Discount for Exercising Even Better - Reduce strokes, heart attacks and diabetes too.
4. Why Does CNN and Al Qaeda Arrive Before Relief Efforts?
5. Sedentary Life Damages Health Do Not Let Buddha Fool You
6. Carbon Nano Tube Pancake Agriculture Fields - 8.58 Hz - Over water drip irrigation
7. Are You Wicked Smart? - What does that phrase really imply?
8. Average Summer Heat 2 Degrees Less Than Normal - Must Be Global Cooling
9. Calorie Counters Needed for US Military Recruiting Centers
10. Solar Panels that can be paints on sheet of plastic - What are the potential applications?
11. Elliot Spitzer and His Exploits will Put 400,000 Financial Planners Out of Business, now we find out he has not maintained the integrity level touted. Should these laws now be taken seriously?
12. Market Correction of 12,800 Dow - long overdue.
13. New Tax on All Chinese Goods to Handel Inspection Costs - 10% should be sufficient and that money should be used for what exactly?
14. Electronic Calorie Counters - Those little plastic red calorie counters - apparently judging by fat Americans, no one is using them anymore, we need a better solution and we need it fast.
15. AUV Parasail Windrider Sea Mine, Paravane Device - a A paravane is a device that were used in WWI and WWII to find underwater mine explosives. The look like an aircraft and they are towed by a ship. Think of it as an underwater kite, where the kite line is able to cut the cable holding the mines slightly under the surface. Once the mines float to the top they are destroyed by the ship's guns. Torpedo shaped body that lends itself very well to AUV or Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Designs.
16. Vibrational Medicine with embedded RFID Chips using UF makes sense and some Universities are working on it now.
17. New book coming out; "Obsession on Security" - Book About Vice President Dick Cheney. Will people read it and give our Vice President the benefit of the doubt and consider the implications of what he is saying?
What else did the Online Think Tank do this week? Well, all Think Tanks take in information and we considered the following books and reviewed the implications of their author's points of view on our over all society. These books included such topics as:
A. We Sure Have Had a Lot of Wars in the Last 40 Years - "Six Presidents, Too Many Wars - the 40 year memoirs of a Washington correspondent" by Bill Lawrence. Although this book was written in 1972 and therefore does not discuss the present period wars, it is a very interesting book on the policies and geo-political impasse that leads to war.
B. Seamanship and Navigation Considered - Two books, which I believe are basic towards and understanding of boating and seamanship are the Time Life Books in the Time-Life Library of Boating. The titles are "Seamanship" and "Navigation" and should be read by those who own a boat or are interested in any Marine Industry profession.
C. Entering Space and The Future of Our Species - "Entering Space - An Astronaut's Odyssey" by Joseph P. Allen and Russell Martin. Imagination and Speculation are Essential to Science, but this alone can be no substitute for actual data or observational duplicated proof. If we throw away imagination then everyone will be copying everyone else and nothing new will ever get done and few new innovations will be there for our chance to make the next big leap.
D. Making That Customer Connection - Ask any businessman about customer service and they will have an answer for you, however in reality one has to ask if they walk-the-walk or if they merely lip sync the standard lines about customer service that are in every issue of Entrepreneur Magazine and in every MBA text book. Customer Service is critical no matter what level your business. Customer Service in small business is your edge against the competition, while customer service in a large corporation makes or breaks a brand name. One book I would like to recommend is; "Customer Connection - A Novel that Reveals the Link to Profit and Success" by Terry L. Mayfield.
E. The Psychology of Perception by William N. Dember - For those interested in Psychology, may I recommend a well-written classic? The Psychology of Perception by William N. Dember, published in 1960 by Henry Holt and Company in NY. Why is this book so great? Well, it was written long before all the political correctness and debate over perception and as soon as you read it, you will be able to spot a bogus Politically Correct argument from a real legitimate one.
F. Time Infinity and All Things Discussed - "Space - Time - Infinity" by James S. Trefil - Smithsonian Books. How can you truly make your society better if you do not know your place in the Universe?
G. Quality Project Management Considered - "Quality Project Management" by The Bureau of Business Practices. Forget the Buzz Words, true quality is a lot more than attitude, it is more than strategy, more than just a goal. Think on it.
H. "Managing Team Performance - Evaluation, Measurement and Rewards" by The Saratoga Institute and sponsored by the American Management Association. How to remain efficient even considering the human element in this day and age of persnickety-ness, one-ups-man-ship and legal whistle blowers. Whose team are you one, and do you really belong there?
I. "Considering the Business of Education - The Business of Education for Retail Music Stores" by Raymond M. Williams, Ph.D. - Specifically what role does small business play in education? A bigger role is better and it is much more than you think.
J. "How to Talk Marketing Real Good" by Steve Ende. Every good innovation or concept needs a spokesman, and the World's greatest idea, does not get any traction unless everyone knows about it.
K. "The Cultural Foundation of Education" by Young Pai. Are diversity programs in America working or is their still and undercurrent of glass ceilings and prejudice?
L. "Flattened Fauna - A Field Guide to Common Animals of the Roads, Streets and Highways" Are we forgetting the wild life that mankind literally runs over?
M. "Train - Eyewitness Books" by John Coley 1992. In over 200 years trains have come a long way, so why is the United States with such an advanced civilization so far behind in train technologies? Why, the Online Think Tank asks?
N. "Tennis - Steps to Success" by Jim Young 1949 - 1995. Why are more people not playing such sports as Tennis anymore, is it because Americans are too fat and might sprang and ankle or injure themselves? Tennis is a perfect sport for the Middle Class and anyone can play, why not more, all classes? What happened to Tennis?
O. "Tapping the Earth's Natural Heat" by John H. Sass and Michael L. Sorey. We could potentially use GeoThermal heat to power up 6-8% of our Nation's energy needs? Is it worth pursuing? What will it cost?
P. "Identity Theft in America" an online eBook. The questions are is the Chief Privacy Officer of the Federal Trade Commission capable of doing its job? Will they be the next scapegoat? Who will take the fall for the FTC's failures to curb identity theft, are we really safe?
The Online Think Also pondered several questions this week involving philosophy. Here is one of the more interesting topics:
1.) Are We Missing the Boat in Teaching Mathematics? You know mathematics are a lot like that. Mathematics are really easy to understand if you take all the "letters" and put the words by them. For instance instead of writing "C" you write out; The Speed of Light. I believe this is why Chinese students who learn 35,000 symbols by age 13 have a much better time with higher math, not smarter, just formatted brains for memorization of symbols, that is all. We could over come that in mathematics teaching and improve science scores by making the symbols actual pictures of what the "letter" stands for. The student would move their cursor over it and it would have a picture of what it is. For instance, a "light ray" with a word "speed under" it. The students would learn much faster this way.
2.) Concerns with our Air Mobility Commands and the old aircraft we have in the fleet - not only the "flying gas stations" or the older C-130's with wing-spar box issues that are now mothballed, but the C-17s, C-5s, etc. but we also need to upgrade this stuff. Those airframes are tired and we need to replace much of the aircraft with new materials, check the superstructures and see what we can salvage for another 100,000 hours and figure on a way to save these high-dollar tax payer aircraft and upgrade the fleet too. Then the Navy has P-3s and we just have a lot of old stuff still flying around and we have shortages of fully trained mechanics in the military - actually in commercial aviation as well.
In reading through some of the Air Force manuals it seems they know what to do, as they schedule when to do it, but I wonder if the maintenance is up to snuff and everything is getting done correctly? When these aircraft are half way around the world, operating under military power take-offs due to heat, loads, they are not getting things done as much as they should, probably flying with 3 dozen squawks, but during mission critical and shortages, that is kind of asking for problems of course. Look how long they flew the B-52s? Sure, it can be done, we need to do it, but we also need to upgrade the fleet, add aircraft, ditch the "dogs" and consider ALL the costs and then work to make sure that these aircraft are not flying accidents waiting to happen.
3.) Indeed, we have all heard the saying by George Santayna; Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it and well, it was Nietzsche who said; Those who do not anticipate the future are doomed to resent it. Very wise statements, no doubt. Now let me throw another one at you: