Monday, January 19, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Immigration: The Miseducation of the Planet
It takes a nation of millions to hold people back...
The United States is a nation of immigrants. Regardless of whether you grew up in a Caribbean Island (e.g. Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, etc), somewhere in South America (e.g. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, etc) or even in Asia (e.g. India, China, etc) more than likely you grew up amidst an environment of scarcity rather than abundance (limited admission opportunities at good colleges, scarce jobs in good companies, scarce seats in public transport etc).
Immigrants over a period of many generations have systematically developed a mindset where they want to keep as much as possible to themselves. In order to satisfy that ambition, they try to deprive those weaker than themselves instead of challenging those perceived to be above them. For example, how many times, do they challenge the prices in shopping malls or posh restaurants BUT always haggle with poor rickshaw driver, poor cobbler etc who are struggling to make their ends meet.
The other day, I was in a restaurant and heard an unpleasant comment regarding the tipping practices of folks that may work for such firms as Wipro, Satyam, Infosys, Cognizant and so on. One part of my brain believed that the particular individual should have left a tip as this is the practice within America. When in Rome, do as the Romans. I thought about the economic aspects of working in a restaurant and how wait staff don't even get paid minimum wage in many places and the IRS automatically assumes that 40% of their income is derived from tips. In my usual way of thinking about how the Bushitler oppresses the masses, I wondered whether this is something used to systematically cause harm to other cultures within our borders?
Think for a moment, if the government assumes you are receiving a significant portion of your income via tips yet you are a waiter in an ethnic community whom by culture didn't grow up with the notion of tipping, this has a serious economic impact that others may not have noodled. The other side of my brain says that us American's need to be sensitive to the thought processes of immigrants and shouldn't necessarily resort to judging other cultures when they aren't observing the cultural norms of their host country. Maybe, they are blissfully ignorant and simply need to be pulled aside to understand best practices while in America. Maybe it is a failing of outsourcing firms to provide guidance to their employees or even it is just a matter of resetting unrealistic expectations regarding what service means in 2009.
Should a waiter look down on a foreigner who doesn't tip? I bet many amongst us desire for others to understand our culture but ignore the economic aspects of our behavior? If one culture tips better than another and you are deriving your income from tips, which would you serve? Are we being ignorant when we want others to understand our culture without taking steps of making our own cultural habits align with others?
This answer to this question is getting a lot harder. Maybe, the better answer is to encourage those amongst us who are immigrants to help change the mindset of others from our home country. In order to change the mindset, we need to be aware of our privilege, the role we can play towards cascading the wealth and most importantly recognize that while doing so we would not lose anything. It is not necessarily win-lose, it can be win-win. The mindset we developed over generations cannot change overnight and unfortunately our generation has to sometimes live with the embarrassment...
The United States is a nation of immigrants. Regardless of whether you grew up in a Caribbean Island (e.g. Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, etc), somewhere in South America (e.g. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, etc) or even in Asia (e.g. India, China, etc) more than likely you grew up amidst an environment of scarcity rather than abundance (limited admission opportunities at good colleges, scarce jobs in good companies, scarce seats in public transport etc).
Immigrants over a period of many generations have systematically developed a mindset where they want to keep as much as possible to themselves. In order to satisfy that ambition, they try to deprive those weaker than themselves instead of challenging those perceived to be above them. For example, how many times, do they challenge the prices in shopping malls or posh restaurants BUT always haggle with poor rickshaw driver, poor cobbler etc who are struggling to make their ends meet.
The other day, I was in a restaurant and heard an unpleasant comment regarding the tipping practices of folks that may work for such firms as Wipro, Satyam, Infosys, Cognizant and so on. One part of my brain believed that the particular individual should have left a tip as this is the practice within America. When in Rome, do as the Romans. I thought about the economic aspects of working in a restaurant and how wait staff don't even get paid minimum wage in many places and the IRS automatically assumes that 40% of their income is derived from tips. In my usual way of thinking about how the Bushitler oppresses the masses, I wondered whether this is something used to systematically cause harm to other cultures within our borders?
Think for a moment, if the government assumes you are receiving a significant portion of your income via tips yet you are a waiter in an ethnic community whom by culture didn't grow up with the notion of tipping, this has a serious economic impact that others may not have noodled. The other side of my brain says that us American's need to be sensitive to the thought processes of immigrants and shouldn't necessarily resort to judging other cultures when they aren't observing the cultural norms of their host country. Maybe, they are blissfully ignorant and simply need to be pulled aside to understand best practices while in America. Maybe it is a failing of outsourcing firms to provide guidance to their employees or even it is just a matter of resetting unrealistic expectations regarding what service means in 2009.
Should a waiter look down on a foreigner who doesn't tip? I bet many amongst us desire for others to understand our culture but ignore the economic aspects of our behavior? If one culture tips better than another and you are deriving your income from tips, which would you serve? Are we being ignorant when we want others to understand our culture without taking steps of making our own cultural habits align with others?
This answer to this question is getting a lot harder. Maybe, the better answer is to encourage those amongst us who are immigrants to help change the mindset of others from our home country. In order to change the mindset, we need to be aware of our privilege, the role we can play towards cascading the wealth and most importantly recognize that while doing so we would not lose anything. It is not necessarily win-lose, it can be win-win. The mindset we developed over generations cannot change overnight and unfortunately our generation has to sometimes live with the embarrassment...
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Why most martial arts programs are a big fat joke...
While Taekwondo is the most popular martial art in America, it is also the least effective (with the exception of shaolin kempo karate)...
OK, so I know folks will come out of the woodwork with my opening remarks, but it is vital to understand the difference between a sport and a martial art and no, a style cannot be both!
Independent of the style and its ability to be considered a complete fighting system, many schools themselves are really McDojos in disguise. On my side of town, I would most certainly classify Fred Villari and his chains in this category. Others can be considered of marginal quality but suitable for the soccer mom crowd such as Avon Kempo and Aikido.
Anyway, here is why/how martial arts in America is starting its rapid decline into being highly ineffective...
plane loads of Koreans came to the U.S. to open martial arts schools. This was because they saw an opportunity to make money. Again the public was lied to in many cases. Many of the so called masters that are now famous here were low ranks in Korea. The term Airplane Promotion was used often to describe the fact that many Koreans left Korea as low ranked black belt only to get off the plane as high ranked masters.
Many martial arts schools realized the it was very hard to keep the schools from going broke. To combat this they used the business model used by health clubs. This meant that they began to require contracts.
The contracts began to evolve into the black belt contracts seen often today.
NOTE: If someone can predict how long it takes to get a Black belt in advance, then you are most certainly attending the wrong school
Martial arts schools began to lower the minimum age for students to join.
NOTE: Some schools will take students as low as 3 to 4 years old under the guise of teaching principles at an early age when reality is more about revenue and structured babysitting.
Requirements were lowered because many people would drop out.
NOTE: This is especially true with Gracie Jiu-jitsu
9) As the requirements for age and testing were required more belts were added to allow schools to promote more often.
NOTE: Taekwondo has almost twice the belt colors of traditional Japanese Jujutsu. They also pile on stripes (up to seven) per belt
10) More belts and more promotions allowed the schools to charge more for testing.
11) Some schools began to have mandatory seminars between testing, which they could charge for.
NOTE: Royce Gracie and family are especially notorious for this but are probably running a strong second to Fred Villari
12) Black belt clubs became popular as another marketing method, as did leadership clubs, and competition teams.
NOTE: Fred Villari milks the soccer mom's with the leadership stuff
13) Martial arts schools began to start allowing all kinds of uniforms and colors to sell more items.
NOTE: Be fearful if you see the instructor with fancy colorful Gi's
These are just some of the problems. Less and less real self-defense is being taught. Now schools push the idea of having your child become a black belt. Such other things as fitness, weight loss, and flexibility have become more important than learning real self-defense...
OK, so I know folks will come out of the woodwork with my opening remarks, but it is vital to understand the difference between a sport and a martial art and no, a style cannot be both!
Independent of the style and its ability to be considered a complete fighting system, many schools themselves are really McDojos in disguise. On my side of town, I would most certainly classify Fred Villari and his chains in this category. Others can be considered of marginal quality but suitable for the soccer mom crowd such as Avon Kempo and Aikido.
Anyway, here is why/how martial arts in America is starting its rapid decline into being highly ineffective...
9) As the requirements for age and testing were required more belts were added to allow schools to promote more often.
10) More belts and more promotions allowed the schools to charge more for testing.
11) Some schools began to have mandatory seminars between testing, which they could charge for.
12) Black belt clubs became popular as another marketing method, as did leadership clubs, and competition teams.
13) Martial arts schools began to start allowing all kinds of uniforms and colors to sell more items.
These are just some of the problems. Less and less real self-defense is being taught. Now schools push the idea of having your child become a black belt. Such other things as fitness, weight loss, and flexibility have become more important than learning real self-defense...
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Culture of Tipping...
It takes a nation of millions to hold people back...
The United States is a nation of immigrants. Regardless of whether you grew up in a Caribbean Island (e.g. Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, etc), somewhere in South America (e.g. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, etc) or even in Asia (e.g. India, China, etc) more than likely you grew up amidst an environment of scarcity rather than abundance (limited admission opportunities at good colleges, scarce jobs in good companies, scarce seats in public transport etc).
Immigrants over a period of many generations have systematically developed a mindset where they want to keep as much as possible to themselves. In order to satisfy that ambition, they try to deprive those weaker than themselves instead of challenging those perceived to be above them. For example, how many times, do they challenge the prices in shopping malls or posh restaurants BUT always haggle with poor rickshaw driver, poor cobbler etc who are struggling to make their ends meet.
The other day, I was in a restaurant and heard an unpleasant comment regarding the tipping practices of folks that may work for such firms as Wipro, Satyam, Infosys, Cognizant and so on. One part of my brain believed that the particular individual should have left a tip as this is the practice within America. When in Rome, do as the Romans. I thought about the economic aspects of working in a restaurant and how wait staff don't even get paid minimum wage in many places and the IRS automatically assumes that 40% of their income is derived from tips. In my usual way of thinking about how the Bushitler oppresses the masses, I wondered whether this is something used to systematically cause harm to other cultures within our borders?
Think for a moment, if the government assumes you are receiving a significant portion of your income via tips yet you are a waiter in an ethnic community whom by culture didn't grow up with the notion of tipping, this has a serious economic impact that others may not have noodled. The other side of my brain says that us American's need to be sensitive to the thought processes of immigrants and shouldn't necessarily resort to judging other cultures when they aren't observing the cultural norms of their host country. Maybe, they are blissfully ignorant and simply need to be pulled aside to understand best practices while in America. Maybe it is a failing of outsourcing firms to provide guidance to their employees or even it is just a matter of resetting unrealistic expectations regarding what service means in 2009.
Should a waiter look down on a foreigner who doesn't tip? I bet many amongst us desire for others to understand our culture but ignore the economic aspects of our behavior? If one culture tips better than another and you are deriving your income from tips, which would you serve? Are we being ignorant when we want others to understand our culture without taking steps of making our own cultural habits align with others?
This answer to this question is getting a lot harder. Maybe, the better answer is to encourage those amongst us who are immigrants to help change the mindset of others from our home country. In order to change the mindset, we need to be aware of our privilege, the role we can play towards cascading the wealth and most importantly recognize that while doing so we would not lose anything. It is not necessarily win-lose, it can be win-win. The mindset we developed over generations cannot change overnight and unfortunately our generation has to sometimes live with the embarrassment...
The United States is a nation of immigrants. Regardless of whether you grew up in a Caribbean Island (e.g. Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, etc), somewhere in South America (e.g. Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, etc) or even in Asia (e.g. India, China, etc) more than likely you grew up amidst an environment of scarcity rather than abundance (limited admission opportunities at good colleges, scarce jobs in good companies, scarce seats in public transport etc).
Immigrants over a period of many generations have systematically developed a mindset where they want to keep as much as possible to themselves. In order to satisfy that ambition, they try to deprive those weaker than themselves instead of challenging those perceived to be above them. For example, how many times, do they challenge the prices in shopping malls or posh restaurants BUT always haggle with poor rickshaw driver, poor cobbler etc who are struggling to make their ends meet.
The other day, I was in a restaurant and heard an unpleasant comment regarding the tipping practices of folks that may work for such firms as Wipro, Satyam, Infosys, Cognizant and so on. One part of my brain believed that the particular individual should have left a tip as this is the practice within America. When in Rome, do as the Romans. I thought about the economic aspects of working in a restaurant and how wait staff don't even get paid minimum wage in many places and the IRS automatically assumes that 40% of their income is derived from tips. In my usual way of thinking about how the Bushitler oppresses the masses, I wondered whether this is something used to systematically cause harm to other cultures within our borders?
Think for a moment, if the government assumes you are receiving a significant portion of your income via tips yet you are a waiter in an ethnic community whom by culture didn't grow up with the notion of tipping, this has a serious economic impact that others may not have noodled. The other side of my brain says that us American's need to be sensitive to the thought processes of immigrants and shouldn't necessarily resort to judging other cultures when they aren't observing the cultural norms of their host country. Maybe, they are blissfully ignorant and simply need to be pulled aside to understand best practices while in America. Maybe it is a failing of outsourcing firms to provide guidance to their employees or even it is just a matter of resetting unrealistic expectations regarding what service means in 2009.
Should a waiter look down on a foreigner who doesn't tip? I bet many amongst us desire for others to understand our culture but ignore the economic aspects of our behavior? If one culture tips better than another and you are deriving your income from tips, which would you serve? Are we being ignorant when we want others to understand our culture without taking steps of making our own cultural habits align with others?
This answer to this question is getting a lot harder. Maybe, the better answer is to encourage those amongst us who are immigrants to help change the mindset of others from our home country. In order to change the mindset, we need to be aware of our privilege, the role we can play towards cascading the wealth and most importantly recognize that while doing so we would not lose anything. It is not necessarily win-lose, it can be win-win. The mindset we developed over generations cannot change overnight and unfortunately our generation has to sometimes live with the embarrassment...
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wall Street Debacle and Jobs in America...
I am announcing team OWASP, on Kiva, a non-profit website that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world. You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay the loan, you get your money back.
Check out the OWASP lending team, and learn more about lending teams on Kiva in general, by clicking here...
Check out the OWASP lending team, and learn more about lending teams on Kiva in general, by clicking here...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
US anti-kidnapping expert abducted in Mexico
A U.S. anti-kidnapping expert was abducted by gunmen in northern Mexico last week...
U.S. security consultant Felix Batista — who claims to have helped resolve nearly 100 kidnap and ransom cases — was in Saltillo in Coahuila state to offer advice on how to confront abductions for ransom when he himself was seized, local authorities said. Unknown assailants grabbed him on Dec. 10, said Charlie LeBlanc, the president of the Houston, Texas-based security firm ASI Global LLC., where Batista is a consultant.
U.S. security consultant Felix Batista — who claims to have helped resolve nearly 100 kidnap and ransom cases — was in Saltillo in Coahuila state to offer advice on how to confront abductions for ransom when he himself was seized, local authorities said. Unknown assailants grabbed him on Dec. 10, said Charlie LeBlanc, the president of the Houston, Texas-based security firm ASI Global LLC., where Batista is a consultant.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Team OWASP
I am announcing team OWASP, on Kiva, a non-profit website that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world. You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay the loan, you get your money back.
Check out the OWASP lending team, and learn more about lending teams on Kiva in general, by clicking here...
Check out the OWASP lending team, and learn more about lending teams on Kiva in general, by clicking here...
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