A total blank

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John
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Location: Cambridge, MA USA
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A total blank

Post by John »

My mind is a total blank. I can't get excited about writing about
anything. I've covered the Iran situation. There are new suicide
bombings in Pakistan, but I have nothing new to say. The financial
crisis is deepening, but on the surface everything looks great. The
world is drifting along in a "steady state," waiting for something to
happen. Well, maybe someone on the Sunday news shows in the morning
will inspire me.

I hope everyone out there is enjoying a nice weekend!

John

wvbill
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:46 pm

Re: A total blank

Post by wvbill »

John wrote:My mind is a total blank. I can't get excited about writing about
anything. I've covered the Iran situation. There are new suicide
bombings in Pakistan, but I have nothing new to say. The financial
crisis is deepening, but on the surface everything looks great. The
world is drifting along in a "steady state," waiting for something to
happen. Well, maybe someone on the Sunday news shows in the morning
will inspire me.

I hope everyone out there is enjoying a nice weekend!

John
Could be the "Calm before the storm."

Bill

John
Posts: 11478
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: A total blank

Post by John »

Dear Bill,
wvbill wrote: > Could be the "Calm before the storm."
That's the real question, since there's so much going on, in Iran, in
Iraq, in China, in North Korea, in Pakistan, in India, in Gaza, in
eastern Europe finance. But it's all just below the surface, while
the surface seems calm.

Will the calm extend through the summer into the fall? Or will some
chaotic-type event break through soon?

Sincerely,

John

The Grey Badger
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 11:50 pm

Re: A total blank

Post by The Grey Badger »

Good question! Me, I'm not holding my breath. The other shoe will drop. I just don't know when. But I'm still getting things taken care of while I may, including (ugh) a root canal repair tomorrow before the benefit resets Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I tracked a post by the Microtrends columnist to a Prepper website. He calls Prepeprs "Mattrress Stuffers on steroids.". I say they are halfway between survivalists and plain old recessionistas. For those interested. The New Mexico blog had a recipe for homemade bread made with the juice from cooking pinto beans. That should tell you, eh?

Anyway, "Nothing is Going On" continues to be the order of the day.

Pat

gerald
Posts: 1681
Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 10:34 pm

Re: A total blank

Post by gerald »

From a different perspective and for what it is worth, --- may be something may be nothing.

I am almost being harassed by commercial real estate brokers wanting to sell my apartment buildings, good location nice cash flow, until /unless the country self destructs.
I get a sense that sophisticated and moneyed buyers want to get out of cash, their problem is very little desirable property is available, and it is over priced.
However, there is lots of junk in the market in undesirable areas at fire sale prices. Property such as, bank owned, wants to unload, make a us an offer! I have also heard others are buying and taking possession of gold bars, a million dollars at a crack. Hmmmmm

Julle
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:24 pm

Re: A total blank

Post by Julle »

Hi John,

I have enjoyed reading your blog for a while now.

If you need some inspiration, why not go to the movies?. The new Star Trek movie and Transformers 2 are very interesting from a generational perspective.

Here´s why.

The main characters are millennials
The hero in Transformers, Sam, is technologically savvy and works well with grown-ups. The same is true of Kirk and Spock in Star Trek. They accept adult authority and instruction without hesitation.

They live in a crisis era
Sam has to team up with the good autobots in order to stop the decepticons from destroying the Earth. Kirk and Spock have to face a madman who wants to blow up their home planets.

The main characters have to fulfill their destinies and become heroes
Rather than doing their own thing or arguing like xers or boomers they have to fight for the greater good. In other words, they are team players like millennials. Both movies also portray the armed forces in a positive manner.

The movies are light-hearted
Even though there is a lot of destruction and action both movies are very funny and entertaining. I remember that you wrote earlier this year about the fact that this kind of entertainment is very popular in a crisis era.

Star Trek and Transformers are written by the same duo: Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci who are x:ers. They seem to be familiar with millennials since they mainly write summer blockbusters for teens and people in their twenties. The directors Michael Bay and JJ Abrams are also x:ers that are very popular among younger audiences.

Jack Edwards
Posts: 117
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:47 pm

Re: A total blank

Post by Jack Edwards »

John,

I greatly enjoy your website and have for months, along with your e-books. Like many people, I usually read opinions and articles that tend to affirm things that I already believed. You’re articles have caused me to look at things completely differently – and often as not – disagree with pundits I used to agree with. Thanks for opening my eyes to a different perspective.

If you’re wondering what to write about, here are some thoughts:

Further explain a statement in one of your articles
“In a Crisis era, like Iran in 1979 and in the 1980s, civic unity is regenerated, and political bickering decreases and tapers off.
In an Awakening era, like Iran today, civic unity deteriorates, and political bickering increases.”
Is the United States in a Crisis era yet – or just quickly approaching one? It doesn’t seem to me that civic unity is being regenerated right now and political bickering is as bad or worse than it’s been in a while.
Does civic unity regenerate because the society recognizes that if it doesn’t put aside its differences and come together that the whole society can fall apart?
What causes the political bickering to taper off? I imagine the same political leanings are still there, do the opposing sides just agree to disagree?

Bills being rushed through
It seems like we’re having a flurry of activity in Congress and the Senate right now, from TARP, Stimulus, Cap and Trade, Health Care. It happened at the end of Bush’s tenure and the Obama administration. It seems incredible to me that bills with this amount of influence and cost are being rushed through with out any time to actually read and digest what’s in them.

Is this in any way related to the present Crisis era we’re entering? Is this generational in anyway? Has it always been like this? Or is this something new?

Honduras

Do coups happen more often during certain eras? Since coups are militarily driven, do they have anything to do with generational attitudes?


Natural Disasters

Can having a really large natural disaster (like a Tsunami that kills 200,000 people) take the place of a crisis war or financial collapse in changing a generational era?

The role of age distribution of young men and a nation’s propensity to go to war

It would seem to me that nations that have excess young males or a high concentration of young men (like the Palestinians) have a higher propensity to go to war than those populations with few young men. Before finding your site, I had always assumed that war with Russia simply wouldn’t happen because they lacked enough young men to really support a large war. It also seems to me that mothers with only one male child would be extremely anti-war. But does it really work that way or are my musings off-base?

The importance of individual rights and group rights through different eras

It seems that I read somewhere on this site that during crisis periods the rights of groups take precedence over the rights of individuals and that as we move away from crisis periods that the rights of individuals take more and more precedence. I’ve gone back and looked, but haven’t found where that was stated – am I remembering this concept incorrectly? If this is correct, what kind of individual rights will be sacrificed during the upcoming crisis period.

Just go to a movie

Julles recommendation above is probably the best though. We’re just in a temporary lull right now. Sure as anything in a short period of time there will be too much to write about and little of it good. Take the quiet time to enjoy some scenery or do a favorite activity of some kind.

Thanks for all you do John,

Best Regards

J. Edwards

John
Posts: 11478
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: A total blank

Post by John »

Dear Julle,
Julle wrote: > I have enjoyed reading your blog for a while now.

> If you need some inspiration, why not go to the movies?. The new
> Star Trek movie and Transformers 2 are very interesting from a
> generational perspective.

> Here´s why.

> The main characters are millennials

> The hero in Transformers, Sam, is technologically savvy and works
> well with grown-ups. The same is true of Kirk and Spock in Star
> Trek. They accept adult authority and instruction without
> hesitation.

> They live in a crisis era

> Sam has to team up with the good autobots in order to stop the
> decepticons from destroying the Earth. Kirk and Spock have to face
> a madman who wants to blow up their home planets.

> The main characters have to fulfill their destinies and become
> heroes

> Rather than doing their own thing or arguing like xers or boomers
> they have to fight for the greater good. In other words, they are
> team players like millennials. Both movies also portray the armed
> forces in a positive manner.

> The movies are light-hearted

> Even though there is a lot of destruction and action both movies
> are very funny and entertaining. I remember that you wrote earlier
> this year about the fact that this kind of entertainment is very
> popular in a crisis era.

> Star Trek and Transformers are written by the same duo: Alex
> Kurtzman and Roberto Orci who are x:ers. They seem to be familiar
> with millennials since they mainly write summer blockbusters for
> teens and people in their twenties. The directors Michael Bay and
> JJ Abrams are also x:ers that are very popular among younger
> audiences.
Like any good Boomer, I've always been a Star Trek fan, but I really
don't want to go by myself. My son Jason, who lives in Atlanta, will
be visiting his mother (a few miles away) in August. Perhaps I'll go
to see one of these movies with him when he visits.

Sincerely,

John

John
Posts: 11478
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: A total blank

Post by John »

Dear Jack,
Jack Edwards wrote: > I greatly enjoy your website and have for months, along with your
> e-books. Like many people, I usually read opinions and articles
> that tend to affirm things that I already believed. You’re
> articles have caused me to look at things completely differently –
> and often as not – disagree with pundits I used to agree with.
> Thanks for opening my eyes to a different perspective.

> If you’re wondering what to write about, here are some thoughts:

> Further explain a statement in one of your articles

> “In a Crisis era, like Iran in 1979 and in the 1980s, civic unity
> is regenerated, and political bickering decreases and tapers off.

> In an Awakening era, like Iran today, civic unity deteriorates,
> and political bickering increases.”

> Is the United States in a Crisis era yet – or just quickly
> approaching one? It doesn’t seem to me that civic unity is being
> regenerated right now and political bickering is as bad or worse
> than it’s been in a while.

> Does civic unity regenerate because the society recognizes that if
> it doesn’t put aside its differences and come together that the
> whole society can fall apart?
The "regeneracy" occurs because some event frightens everyone. We've
actually already seen this after 9/11. Do you remember when
President Bush hugged the Democratic majority leader (whose name
escapes me at the moment)?
Jack Edwards wrote: > What causes the political bickering to taper off? I imagine the
> same political leanings are still there, do the opposing sides
> just agree to disagree?
No, but everyone is too frightened to disagree.

Here's how Strauss and Howe described it:
Strauss and Howe wrote: > Every Fourth Turning starts with a catalyst event that
> terminates the mood of Unraveling and unleashes one of Crisis.
> Chapter 4 explained how sparks of history -- sudden and startling
> events -- can arise in any turning. Some sparks ignite nothing.
> Some flare briefly and then extinguish. Some have important
> effects but leave the underlying problems unresolved. Others
> ignite epic conflagrations. Which ones ignite? Studying the
> sparks of history themselves won't help answer this
> question, because what they are is far less important than how a
> society reacts to them. That reaction is substantially determined
> by the season of the saeculum -- in other words, by the turning in
> which they are located. Sparks in a High tend to reinforce
> feelings of security; in an Awakening, argument; in an Unraveling,
> anxiety. Come the Fourth Turning, sparks of history trigger a
> fierce new dynamic of public synergy.

> The catalyst can be one spark or, more commonly, a series of
> sparks that self-ignite like the firecrackers traditionally used
> by the Chinese to mark their own breaks in the circle of time.
> Each of these sparks is linked to a specific threat about which
> the society had been fully informed but against which it had left
> itself poorly protected. Afterward, the fact that these sparks
> were foreseeable but poorly foreseen gives rise to a
> new sense of urgency about institutional dysfunction and civic
> vulnerablity. This marks the beginning of the vertiginous spiral
> of Crisis.

> Once this new mood is fully catalyzed, a society begins a process
> of regeneracy, a drawing together into whatever definition
> of community is available at the time. Out of the debris of the
> Unraveling, a new civic ethos arises. One set of post-Awakening
> ideals prevails over the others. People stop tolerating the
> weakening of institutions, splintering of the culture, and the
> individualizing of daily behavior. Spiritual curiosity abates,
> manners traditionalize, and the culture is harnessed as
> propanganda for the purpose of overtly reinforcing good conduct.
> History teaches that, roughly one to three years after the initial
> catalyst, people begin acknowledging this new synergy in community
> life and begin deputizing government to enforce it. Collective
> action is now seen as vital to solving the society's most
> fundamental problems.
Jack Edwards wrote: > Bills being rushed through

> It seems like we’re having a flurry of activity in Congress and
> the Senate right now, from TARP, Stimulus, Cap and Trade, Health
> Care. It happened at the end of Bush’s tenure and the Obama
> administration. It seems incredible to me that bills with this
> amount of influence and cost are being rushed through with out any
> time to actually read and digest what’s in them.

> Is this in any way related to the present Crisis era we’re
> entering? Is this generational in anyway? Has it always been like
> this? Or is this something new?
This is still the frenetic activity characterized by an Unraveling or
post-unraveling era -- before the regeneracy has occurred. All of
this stuff is crazy. None of this stuff -- TARP, Stimulus, Cap and
Trade, Health Care -- has a snowflake's chance in hell of working.
It's all nonsense.
Jack Edwards wrote: > Honduras

> Do coups happen more often during certain eras? Since coups are
> militarily driven, do they have anything to do with generational
> attitudes?
During a crisis civil war, you may get a military coup. During an
Awakening era, you get a "velvet revolution" or some kind of
Awakening era climax that establishes a political victory of either
the younger or older generation. Even in America, you can think of
the resignation of President Nixon as a kind of coup.
Jack Edwards wrote: > Natural Disasters

> Can having a really large natural disaster (like a Tsunami that
> kills 200,000 people) take the place of a crisis war or financial
> collapse in changing a generational era?
No, I don't believe so. A tsunami, for example, occurs in a period
of 24-48 hours, but there's no "regeneracy." A true regeneracy event
must threaten the existence of a society or its way of life.
Jack Edwards wrote: > The role of age distribution of young men and a nation’s
> propensity to go to war

> It would seem to me that nations that have excess young males or a
> high concentration of young men (like the Palestinians) have a
> higher propensity to go to war than those populations with few
> young men. Before finding your site, I had always assumed that war
> with Russia simply wouldn’t happen because they lacked enough
> young men to really support a large war. It also seems to me that
> mothers with only one male child would be extremely anti-war. But
> does it really work that way or are my musings off-base?
Speaking in generalities, a crisis war tends to kill off more men
than women, leaving a preponderance of women. However, standard
peace time birth rates are generally 51-49% male to female, so by the
end of the Awakening era, there are more young men than young women.

Saying that women are more anti-war than men is feminist nonsense.
Jack Edwards wrote: > The importance of individual rights and group rights through
> different eras

> It seems that I read somewhere on this site that during crisis
> periods the rights of groups take precedence over the rights of
> individuals and that as we move away from crisis periods that the
> rights of individuals take more and more precedence. I’ve gone
> back and looked, but haven’t found where that was stated – am I
> remembering this concept incorrectly? If this is correct, what
> kind of individual rights will be sacrificed during the upcoming
> crisis period.
During a crisis era, individual rights are subordinated to the
survival of the society and its way of life. During the Awakening
era, the riots and demonstrations of the new Prophet generation cause
the pendulum to swing back, and individual rights to be restored.

** 'It's going to be the 1950s all over again'
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/cgi ... 11#e041011

Jack Edwards wrote: > Just go to a movie

> Julles recommendation above is probably the best though. We’re
> just in a temporary lull right now. Sure as anything in a short
> period of time there will be too much to write about and little of
> it good. Take the quiet time to enjoy some scenery or do a
> favorite activity of some kind.

> Thanks for all you do John,
You're welcome.

Sincerely,

John

jdcpapa
Posts: 190
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:38 pm

Re: A total blank

Post by jdcpapa »

This is a test.

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