New Snow Marquette Mountain Open with $99 Season Pass

After coming up to Marquette for an early AM dance class and some quick Christmas shopping I made my way over to Marquette Mountain. Normal passes are around $250 but they asked if I was a teacher or student. I said, "yes I'm a professor", and sometimes a student....they gave me the season pass for $99!!!!!!

Well, it is important to note that daily passes are around $25 so obtaining a season pass that can be paid back with 4 visits is awesome. It wouldn't make sense everywhere but if Iron Mountain has the same deal I have really done well.

The powder was awesome the first day. It was soft and fluffy after a few days of snow. Marquette received somewhere around 12 inches and is ready for people to ski. There were people trying out their new gear and getting themselves back into season practice.

Thinking of Delta County Shipping, Rails and Manufacturing as Business Improvement Opportunities

Rural counties like Delta County don't have a lot of population and attracting businesses is difficult. It is necessary to use the current infrastructure and environment to determine potential avenues of economic growth that can result in greater prosperity. Delta County, including Escanaba and Gladstone, have a powerful transportation system that could be used to support manufacturing.

There are two ways to look at this....1.) transportation as an industry and 2.) transportation as a support industry.

1. Transportation as an Industry: Transportation acts as an industry when that is the major employer and not used as a support to other businesses in the area. In such a case, Delta County it would be a reshipping, packing, and redistribution center for flights coming from KI Sawyer, Rail, or Road. Such a place would need to be ideally and strategically located in a way that makes it a feasible location to distribute items. Sometimes places can consider modifying the products in some way or providing superior warehousing and distribution processes.

2. Transportation as a Support Industry: Transportation as a support industry means that it is distributes products being built or modified in the area. Delta County has a base of small manufacturing businesses that could find it fairly easy to distribute and export from the area to the global market. This would mean encouraging more small manufacturing industries to open up within the county and in turn take advantage of ports, roads, railways and flights within the area.

In many cases it is possible to encourage both 1 and 2 at the same time. For example, encouraging more small manufacturing businesses to move into the region would improve opportunities to modify products from other companies. Attracting distribution companies moving products from Chicago, Milwaukee, etc... to Canada may also be helpful.

Building a Christmas Snowman and Candy Cane Yard Decorations

The joy of the holidays returned swiftly after Thanksgiving rushing in a discount sales and Christmas decorations. I haven't owned my house for a long time and don't have a lot of decorations so I opted to build a few yard decorations for fun. It wasn't that hard it just took a little time if you keep coming back to it, letting the paint dry, and making it look good.

I saw this within the store and thought to myself, "I could make this" and....."for much cheaper". No matter what I figured it would be a very fun project! So I bought some plywood and paint and started working.

Basic Steps:

1. Outline what you want to cut.

2. Use a jig saw to cut around the outline.

3. Spray paint white.

4. Outline painting areas.

5. Paint your stripes, eyes, bow, etc....

6. Using two colors together helps highlight.

It didn't turn out perfect but if I was to do it again it would be a little better. I might get something to create perfect circles. A nail and string would work well.

Projects help balance out your life and improve skills so that you can do other types of work. For example, more experience with wood working would eventually lead into furniture and boat making as a hobby.  Fingers crossed.

An Old Book that Teaches Human Traits and Their Social Significance

The 1920 book Human Traits and Their Social Significance by Dr. Irwin Edman gives a comprehensive overview of the human being within the environment in which we live. It covers two major aspects of life that include the social aspects and the reason aspects. It views man as a total creature surrounded by lots of influences that play upon him/her the whole of their lives. Understanding these influences encourages students to think widely about their life and choices.

What I like about some of these old books is that they were made in a time of nation building where the development of the human being was an important part of societal interest. Governments looked for ways to improve and compete in the world and relied heavily on the human being to do so. Learning how to advance people was part of that competitive nature.

The work covers 1. Types of Human Behavior; 2. Instincts, Habits and Emotions; 3. Reflection, 4. Human Activites; 5. Social Nature; 6. Culture Traits; 7. Individuality; 8. "Self"; 9. Differences; 10. Language; 11. Religion; 12. Aesthetic Experiences; 13. Science and 14. Morality.

Humans make up much of the world around them and it is important to understand that which belongs to them and that which belongs to their social development. Because they live in a society it is important to understand how they define themselves and their world. Much of the book is about human behavior within the context of a greater society.

There is a benefit to this book for students. While newer versions are beneficial it does sort of put in place a context of a meaningful life in terms of work and contribution to society. Their behaviors and beliefs are put within an appropriate framework that allows students to better comprehend their place within the world. As educators, it is often beneficial to to help students understand work, life, and productivity.

Dance for Quality of Life and Health

Sometimes I like to engage in dance as an exercise and art form. It is one of those sports that takes some commitment. What I have found is that if you engage in multiple sports, dance is a good augmentation in a way that leads to greater flexibility and health. Today is a ballet show Nutcracker I am part of through a dance company in Marquette. As an art form it should be encouraged and supported in local communities.

You will learn to be coordinated. Dance is about coordination. You will learn to use your body in a manner that leads to a specific outcome. As you become more coordinated, it is also likely that you will increasingly improve your complexity.

Likewise, it is also possible that you will find your body becoming more flexible in nature and capable of taking on more complex positions. In essence, your muscles will need a certain amount of stretching to handle some of the moves.

Furthermore, you will gain strength in parts of your body that you can't imaging. Certainly your legs will get stronger but also your core and inner thighs. To push your body to move in new ways requires the gaining of new strength and abilities.

You will find that most dancers are in shape and have a positive outlook on life. The activities and movement promote sound physical and mental health. The overall development of a full life requires the ability to use your body and abilities to their fullest extent.

Why Students Don't Like to Read in Online Classrooms and How to Improve It?

Students are like everyone else and see to balance their time and energy between the various aspects of their lives. Reading is slow and clunky and takes considerable cognitive energy and time. They must cut out distractions in their environment and spend time focusing. That is a tough thing to do in a world of sound bites and fast paced streaming information.

There are a few things professors can do to help the student when designing their class.

1. Refer to the Reading: Make sure that discussion and assignments require a level of reading and referral.

2. Use Video and Recordings: You can break up the reading by using video and other voice recordings.

3. Use Smaller Articles and Text: Not everything needs to be 20 pages long. Consider shorter text.

4. Use Weekly Reading Summary: Instead of a DQ the student discusses the weekly reading summary.

Reading is a part of higher education but it isn't the main point. The main focus in education, of which reading is important, and therefore the use of text can change. That doesn't mean we shouldn't push students to read and focus for long periods of time but we can fight reading boredom by doing some other things.

Continuing to Improve on Painting

Today I get to bring a few paintings up to a coffee shop in Marquette. It is nice because it may be the first establishment that is willing to post them. It feels a little like recognition that you are now "good enough" to put something in public. That doesn't mean I don't have a lot to learn but that I can display some of these and try gain some money for charity.

This picture is just of a beach with some foliage to the right.

Dropped them off but the owner wasn't available but will check back another day once he had a chance to review.  You can purchase at https://www.ebay.com/itm/173667010250

The Diligent Students that Make Tomorrow's Leaders

Students will develop into tomorrow's economic drivers. Leadership is part internal and part external in its selection of those it hopes to advance. The external environment may be social drivers and financial influences that are outside the control of future leaders. However, the right personality can create its own solutions to influencing the market. Tomorrows leaders are being incubated in schools today and discovered through diligence!

Diligence separates those who are likely to be successful from those who are not based on their ability to keep going despite the odds. They don't allow the world around them, or its circumstances to derail them from where they want to go.

You can find these students working on their programs day in and day out without missing work or skipping class. They push toward their goals every day as though it is the most important thing on the planet.

They have emotional intelligence and know how to work on their goals without allowing their emotions to derail their work.

They have a bigger vision of themselves and make an effort to achieve that vision through how they see themselves. Their education is part of who they want to become.

They can provide insight and help others even when it doesn't immediately help them. They can see the bigger picture of community and needed support.

Problem Solvers: They are problem solvers that find new and innovative ways of solving problems.

Professors should keep an eye out for tomorrow's leaders and help them when they can. Leaders are not always the ones with the highest grades but the ones who keep going despite the odds. They solve problems and focus on the bigger picture. Our nation need brighter leaders for tomorrow and should start the process of discovering them wherever they lay.

Creating Customer Feedback Loops

Customer information should feed and sustain your business like a bright star navigating an open ocean. Attracting new customers is vitally important in much the say way as retaining current customers. By researching your existing customers you can important knowledge about your product/service and how to improve upon your offerings in a way that leads to more sales.

Customer feedback loops can come in many forms but surveys, reviews and customer complaints are some of the most common methods. Lets look at each one and see what the advantage or disadvantage of each may be.

Surveys: Asking purposeful questions from a sample that represents your target market.

Customer Reviews: Scanning online for your product in virtual marketplaces like Amazon will often provide customer reviews companies can investigate.

Complaints: Angry and upset customers will call in and offer opportunities to learn from them.

Companies should seek to create loops that take in information, put it together into a comprehensive report, and then adjust their product/services. The better they are able to do this, the more their products will adjust to meet market needs. Meeting market needs leads to higher revenue as products rise in value and demand.

Is it Possible to Have Economic Growth While Slowing Global Warming?

People view economic growth and environmental protection as opposed to each other. While this is true when we discuss the cost of pollution, regulations, and limitations on natural exploitation it doesn't need to be true in the development of sustainable cities. Developing stronger economic hubs we have greater ability to understand and manage the entire supply chain network leading for less pollution. With economic hubs we can better concentrate on developing "clean living" within cities.

A government report on CNN says hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives will be destroyed without some large scale action. Here is the link to the report released https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/

I'm conducting some research and review on the process of creating global economic hubs that lead to perpetual and sustainable economic growth. One of the ways in which they can do that is through implementing efficient green technology in growing cities through understanding some of the economic benefits of doing so. Consider....

-Economic clusters are tightly woven and reduce carbon footprints from shipping.

-Economic clusters innovate quickly and innovation leads to more efficient processes with less pollution.

-Livable and clean cities draw Millennial's and higher talent. Designing healthy cities leads to more available skilled labor and reduced health costs. One leads to growth and the other reduces costs.

-Data driven clusters help industries understand the total costs and benefits of working together on important issues such as climate change and sustainable cities.

-Successful economic hubs influence smaller hubs in other countries through supply requirements that will likely put pressure on other countries to deal with global climate change to tap into the "international business networks".

-Clusters foster stronger industry-government research and coordination on important issues.

A larger percentage of people will be moving to cities in the next decade and it becomes an opportunity to innovation, improve the environment and strengthen the economy. While global warming may impact sales it doesn't have to within the U.S. It can be an opportunity to create export oriented cities that lead to wealth and prosperity. This is not the first or last time society faced threats but how we act upon determines our ability to resolve such issues.

http://www.academic-capital.net/2018/04/theory-of-transactional-clusters-and.html