It is exciting to see how biology and engineering converge to benefit people.
From Business Insider:
Google is in the early stages of creating tiny, magnetic nanoparticles that will be able to search the human body for cancer and other diseases, The Wall Street Journal's Alistair Barr and Ron Winslow report.
Google's goal is "an early heads-up" on disease to ultimately facilitate more effective treatment by making medicine proactive instead of reactive.
Google's particles will be less than 1/000 the width of a red blood cell and will attach themselves to specific cells, proteins, and other molecules inside the body, depending on what they're "decorated" with. For example, Google could coat its nanoparticles with a specific antibody that would recognize and attach to a protein on the surface of a tumor cell.
Google is also working on a small wearable device that would attract and count the particles. In that way, the system would be used for testing and monitoring health: You could be alerted through the wearable if a lot of the particles were attaching to tumor cells. Google admits, however, that it still needs to better understand what constitutes as a healthy level of disease-carrying molecules in the blood and what would be a cause for a concern (Google's "Baseline Study" is already trying to define what a healthy human looks like). The idea is that people would be constantly monitoring their bodies, so they wouldn't wait until they felt physically sick to go to the doctor.
Google would likely let people consume its nanoparticles through a pill, but is reportedly at least five to seven years away from a product that would be approved by doctors.
“Every test you ever go to the doctor for will be done through this system,” Andrew Conrad, head of the Life Sciences team at Google X and the man leading the project, said at The Wall Street Journal’s "WSJD Live" conference. “That’s our dream.”
Conrad told The Wall Street Journal that Google would not collect or store any medical data itself, but would license the technology out.
"We’re going to be inventors that work on the technology— disruptive, innovative technology—and then we’re going to look for partners who will bring it forward," Conrad told Backchannel's Steven Levy.
More than 100 Googlers — with backgrounds including chemistry, astrophysics, and electrical engineering — are working on this nanoparticle project. The company is also collaborating with MIT, Stanford, and Duke.
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-x-nanoparticles-to-find-disease-2014-10
Friday, October 31, 2014
Gold Falls, Stocks Record Highs as Japan Goes ‘Weimar’, “Here Be Dragons”
The Korean policymakers may need to pay close attention to what has been going on in Japan, as Korea follows Japan's monetary policy to a significant degree. It would be a long process and the path looks obvious.
From Gold Core:
Stocks globally surged, while gold fell sharply today despite renewed irrational exuberance on hopes that the Bank of Japan’s vastly increasing money printing will fill some of the gaps left by the apparent end of Federal Reserve bond buying.
The BOJ decided to increase the pace at which it expands base money to a whopping 80 trillion yen ($726 billion) per year. Previously, the BOJ targeted an annual increase of 60 to 70 trillion yen.
From Gold Core:
Stocks globally surged, while gold fell sharply today despite renewed irrational exuberance on hopes that the Bank of Japan’s vastly increasing money printing will fill some of the gaps left by the apparent end of Federal Reserve bond buying.
The BOJ decided to increase the pace at which it expands base money to a whopping 80 trillion yen ($726 billion) per year. Previously, the BOJ targeted an annual increase of 60 to 70 trillion yen.
The BOJ sailed into deeper uncharted monetary territory with the announcement that they would triple annual purchases of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and Japanese real-estate investment trusts (REITS) to 3 trillion yen and 90 billion yen respectively.
The Nikkei surged 5% in minutes to a seven year high after the Bank of Japan decision, while gold fell.
These unprecedented monetary events remind us of the old English mapmakers who used to write on uncharted territories on their maps - “Here be Dragons”.
The BOJ claimed the surprise action was due to concerns that a decline in oil prices would weigh on consumer prices and delay a shift in sentiment away from deflation.
BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda portrayed the decision as a preemptive strike to the ‘lost decade’ economy, rather than an admission that his plan to reflate the long moribund economy has so far failed.
The prime reason for the extraordinary monetary policies is likely that the Japanese economy remains very weak and risks tipping over into a depression. Bankruptcies more than doubled to 214 in the first nine months of 2014 compared with the same period a year ago.
Japan has introduced quantitative easing to stimulate the economy and to spur inflation. But it may backfire and lead to stagflation and in a worst case scenario a German ‘Weimar’ style hyperinflation.
Japan has introduced quantitative easing to stimulate the economy and to spur inflation. But it may backfire and lead to stagflation and in a worst case scenario a German ‘Weimar’ style hyperinflation.
The yen's real effective exchange rate has dropped to its lowest level since 1982. With Japan easing likely to deepen, the yen may fall to an unprecedented level. Though the fall of the yen may promote exports - energy, food and raw material costs will rise, especially imports.
Looking for a Good Education at a Low Price, Perhaps Free? Head to Europe
From Mish's blog:
On June 7, 2014 I wrote Looking to Drastically Reduce College Costs? Study Abroad!
Yesterday, a writer for the Washington Post expressed the same opinion.
Please consider 7 countries where Americans can study at universities, in English, for free (or almost free).
I believe it's near-crazy to pay $30,000 (or far more) in the US for what can be had in Europe for free.
Eventually costs will crash in the US for the simple reason, they must. Online education ensures that outcome.
For details, please see Future of Education is At Hand: Online, Accredited, Affordable, Useful
Here's my more recent followup post: Teaching Revolution: Online, Accredited, Free; Start Learning Now!
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.kr/2014/10/looking-for-good-education-at-low-price.html
On June 7, 2014 I wrote Looking to Drastically Reduce College Costs? Study Abroad!
Yesterday, a writer for the Washington Post expressed the same opinion.
Please consider 7 countries where Americans can study at universities, in English, for free (or almost free).
Since 1985, U.S. college costs have surged by about 500 percent, and tuition fees keep rising. In Germany, they've done the opposite.That excellent information (more in the above link) is from Washington Post foreign affairs writer Rick Noack.
The country's universities have been tuition-free since the beginning of October, when Lower Saxony became the last state to scrap the fees. Tuition rates were always low in Germany, but now the German government fully funds the education of its citizens -- and even of foreigners.
What might interest potential university students in the United States is that Germany offers some programs in English -- and it's not the only country. Let's take a look at the surprising -- and very cheap -- alternatives to pricey American college degrees.
Germany
Americans can earn a German undergraduate or graduate degree without speaking a word of German and without having to pay a single dollar of tuition fees: About 900 undergraduate or graduate degrees are offered exclusively in English, with courses ranging from engineering to social sciences.
Finland
This northern European country charges no tuition fees, and it offers a large number of university programs in English. However, the Finnish government amiably reminds interested foreigners that they "are expected to independently cover all everyday living expenses." In other words: Finland will finance your education, but not your afternoon coffee break.
France
There are at least 76 English-language undergraduate programs in France, but many are offered by private universities and are expensive. Many more graduate-level courses, however, are designed for English-speaking students, and one out of every three French doctoral degrees is awarded to a foreign student. "It is no longer needed to be fluent in French to study in France," according to the government agency Campus France.
Sweden
This Scandinavian country is among the world's wealthiest, and its beautiful landscape beckons. It also offers some of the world's most cost-efficient college degrees. More than 300 listed programs in 35 universities are taught in English. However, only Ph.D programs are tuition-free.
Norway
Norwegian universities do not charge tuition fees for international students. The Norwegian higher education system is similar to the one in the United States: Class sizes are small and professors are easily approachable. Many Norwegian universities offer programs taught in English.
Slovenia
About 150 English programs are available, and foreign nationals only pay an insignificant registration fee when they enroll.
Brazil
Some Brazilian courses are taught in English, and state universities charge only minor registration fees. Times Higher Education ranks two Brazilian universities among the world's top 400: the University of Sao Paulo and the State University of Campinas. However, Brazil might be better suited for exchange students seeking a cultural experience rather than a degree.
I believe it's near-crazy to pay $30,000 (or far more) in the US for what can be had in Europe for free.
Eventually costs will crash in the US for the simple reason, they must. Online education ensures that outcome.
For details, please see Future of Education is At Hand: Online, Accredited, Affordable, Useful
Here's my more recent followup post: Teaching Revolution: Online, Accredited, Free; Start Learning Now!
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.kr/2014/10/looking-for-good-education-at-low-price.html
The Lab in the Classroom
From Makezine:
3D printers are coming to schools. How do we make the most of them?
What Lipson was asking is: How can emergent technologies be deployed to create new opportunities for effective and engaging learning in schools? As professors and faculty at the University of Virginia, we responded, collaborating with local schools to establish a K-12 Design Laboratory. It was to be a test bed for developing curricula based on digital fabrication, including 3D printing.
The promising results led to a joint venture between the Charlottesville and Albemarle school systems and the University of Virginia, established with support from grants from the National Science Foundation, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and local government. Two middle school sites, the Buford Engineering Design Academy and the Sutherland Engineering Design Academy, were launched at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.
It was here, with the help of curators from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, that two Lab School students, Jenn and Nate, reconstructed the Morse-Vail telegraph and relay. They used Alfred Vail’s 1845 description of the device to design a modern version using digital fabrication technologies.
The work of makers such as Samuel Morse, Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Henry, and Alexander Graham Bell illuminates the process of invention and innovation. Their seminal discoveries are more accessible and easier for novices to understand than many modern techniques. The functions of the electromechanical systems of this era have tangible components that can be deconstructed and understood. During the initial years of the U.S. patent office, submission of a working model as a proof-of-concept was required for a patent. A selection of these patent models are now housed in the Smithsonian.
So the Smithsonian is collaborating with the Lab School to digitize key inventions for young makers like Jenn and Nate to reverse engineer. The Smithsonian’s 3D explorer (http://3d.si.edu) allows students to measure every angle and even analyze cross sections of objects. As the Lab School inventions — from the telegraph to Charles Page’s early electric motor and more — get digitized, the site will provide 3D files and supporting materials to help other schools replicate the process.
The goal is not an exact physical replica, but a reinterpretation of the device using modern manufacturing technology. The three-dimensional scans of the artifacts are inspiration for the students’ own designs, allowing them to create a product that is uniquely their own.
The reconstruction helped Jenn and Nate understand the relationship between science and engineering. They applied the principles they learned in science class to the design of the telegraphic relay to determine how much current in the primary coil was needed to activate the secondary circuit.
They enjoyed the process of scientific exploration and discovery. They learned, contrary to what they thought, that there are many things scientists do not know or understand. They saw that Vail and Morse experienced problems parallel to their own, both in science and engineering. In science: Neither the scientists (in 1840) nor the students (in 2014) fully understood the properties of electricity. In engineering: Both the inventors and the students had difficulty fabricating a reliable relay with a three-point connection.
A pilot cadre of students from the Laboratory School participated in an Engineering Design Academy this summer. The student engineers learned about telegraphic relays, solenoid engines, and linear motors. Teams were challenged to design and fabricate an electromechanical tone sequencer capable of playing a tune, and the students combined the relays, solenoids, and linear motors to create an electromechanical sequencer that reproduced the chimes of London’s Big Ben, and presented their invention at the Smithsonian. In the future, exemplary inventions will be showcased in a Museum of Electronic and Moveable Objects in each school.
This work with electromechanical inventions serves as a springboard for inventions that incorporate modern technologies. For example, an interactive mural is being designed for each school that will incorporate circuit stickers — peel and stick electronics for crafting circuits — to recreate the students’ electromechanical music machine.
The Lab School has already affected the educational directions of at least two students: Jenn has decided to become a biomedical engineer, and Nate has chosen to focus on mechanical engineering.
However, the point is not that all students should select careers in engineering; the goal is to ensure all students can explore desktop fabrication technologies. Like any other tools, they can be applied in myriad ways that enrich children’s lives and make learning more engaging.
As the Lab Schools enter their second year, advanced manufacturing technologies are being incorporated throughout the physical science curriculum. Students are creating their own inventions, and sharing their work through FabNet, a network of schools collaborating to co-construct new ways of teaching and learning in this shared space.
http://makezine.com/magazine/make-41-tinkering-toys/the-lab-in-the-classroom/
3D printers are coming to schools. How do we make the most of them?
What Lipson was asking is: How can emergent technologies be deployed to create new opportunities for effective and engaging learning in schools? As professors and faculty at the University of Virginia, we responded, collaborating with local schools to establish a K-12 Design Laboratory. It was to be a test bed for developing curricula based on digital fabrication, including 3D printing.
The promising results led to a joint venture between the Charlottesville and Albemarle school systems and the University of Virginia, established with support from grants from the National Science Foundation, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and local government. Two middle school sites, the Buford Engineering Design Academy and the Sutherland Engineering Design Academy, were launched at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.
It was here, with the help of curators from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, that two Lab School students, Jenn and Nate, reconstructed the Morse-Vail telegraph and relay. They used Alfred Vail’s 1845 description of the device to design a modern version using digital fabrication technologies.
The work of makers such as Samuel Morse, Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Henry, and Alexander Graham Bell illuminates the process of invention and innovation. Their seminal discoveries are more accessible and easier for novices to understand than many modern techniques. The functions of the electromechanical systems of this era have tangible components that can be deconstructed and understood. During the initial years of the U.S. patent office, submission of a working model as a proof-of-concept was required for a patent. A selection of these patent models are now housed in the Smithsonian.
Patent model of the 1854 Page motor, US Patent #10480.
An 1885 reproduction.
So the Smithsonian is collaborating with the Lab School to digitize key inventions for young makers like Jenn and Nate to reverse engineer. The Smithsonian’s 3D explorer (http://3d.si.edu) allows students to measure every angle and even analyze cross sections of objects. As the Lab School inventions — from the telegraph to Charles Page’s early electric motor and more — get digitized, the site will provide 3D files and supporting materials to help other schools replicate the process.
The goal is not an exact physical replica, but a reinterpretation of the device using modern manufacturing technology. The three-dimensional scans of the artifacts are inspiration for the students’ own designs, allowing them to create a product that is uniquely their own.
The reconstruction helped Jenn and Nate understand the relationship between science and engineering. They applied the principles they learned in science class to the design of the telegraphic relay to determine how much current in the primary coil was needed to activate the secondary circuit.
They enjoyed the process of scientific exploration and discovery. They learned, contrary to what they thought, that there are many things scientists do not know or understand. They saw that Vail and Morse experienced problems parallel to their own, both in science and engineering. In science: Neither the scientists (in 1840) nor the students (in 2014) fully understood the properties of electricity. In engineering: Both the inventors and the students had difficulty fabricating a reliable relay with a three-point connection.
An example of artwork created with circuit stickers.
A pilot cadre of students from the Laboratory School participated in an Engineering Design Academy this summer. The student engineers learned about telegraphic relays, solenoid engines, and linear motors. Teams were challenged to design and fabricate an electromechanical tone sequencer capable of playing a tune, and the students combined the relays, solenoids, and linear motors to create an electromechanical sequencer that reproduced the chimes of London’s Big Ben, and presented their invention at the Smithsonian. In the future, exemplary inventions will be showcased in a Museum of Electronic and Moveable Objects in each school.
This work with electromechanical inventions serves as a springboard for inventions that incorporate modern technologies. For example, an interactive mural is being designed for each school that will incorporate circuit stickers — peel and stick electronics for crafting circuits — to recreate the students’ electromechanical music machine.
The Lab School has already affected the educational directions of at least two students: Jenn has decided to become a biomedical engineer, and Nate has chosen to focus on mechanical engineering.
However, the point is not that all students should select careers in engineering; the goal is to ensure all students can explore desktop fabrication technologies. Like any other tools, they can be applied in myriad ways that enrich children’s lives and make learning more engaging.
As the Lab Schools enter their second year, advanced manufacturing technologies are being incorporated throughout the physical science curriculum. Students are creating their own inventions, and sharing their work through FabNet, a network of schools collaborating to co-construct new ways of teaching and learning in this shared space.
http://makezine.com/magazine/make-41-tinkering-toys/the-lab-in-the-classroom/
Thursday, October 30, 2014
HP Unveils Their 3D Printer: Multi Jet Fusion
I worked at the corporate office of HP in Palo Alto, California. As I worked with the printer divisions, I seriously developed my interest in innovation.
From Makezine:
HP had previously mentioned that they would be entering the 3D printing market with their own hardware. Today they announced what that hardware will be. Targeting the commercial 3D printing industry, they’re showing off their Multi Jet Fusion Printer.
HP, who is no stranger to printing, brings their own technology and ideas to the field. Their printer uses the typical binder+powder method, though their multi jet system supposedly used multiple types of binders to create the rough structure and the surface details. They should be able to print in full color and are exploring options for multiple materials.
They are claiming to be much faster than the competition, in some cases even 10x faster. In the article released by 3Dprint.com HP states that they have a print that would have taken 83 hours on a typical extrusion based machine, 38 hours on a laser sintering machine, and only takes 3 hours on the HP multi Jet.
HP state that they are getting 20 micron precision as well. In comparison they state that typical laser sintering machine will be in the range of 200-400 microns in precision.
The printer should be available in 2016
http://makezine.com/2014/10/29/hp-unveils-their-3d-printer-multi-jet-fusion/
From Makezine:
HP had previously mentioned that they would be entering the 3D printing market with their own hardware. Today they announced what that hardware will be. Targeting the commercial 3D printing industry, they’re showing off their Multi Jet Fusion Printer.
HP, who is no stranger to printing, brings their own technology and ideas to the field. Their printer uses the typical binder+powder method, though their multi jet system supposedly used multiple types of binders to create the rough structure and the surface details. They should be able to print in full color and are exploring options for multiple materials.
They are claiming to be much faster than the competition, in some cases even 10x faster. In the article released by 3Dprint.com HP states that they have a print that would have taken 83 hours on a typical extrusion based machine, 38 hours on a laser sintering machine, and only takes 3 hours on the HP multi Jet.
HP state that they are getting 20 micron precision as well. In comparison they state that typical laser sintering machine will be in the range of 200-400 microns in precision.
The printer should be available in 2016
http://makezine.com/2014/10/29/hp-unveils-their-3d-printer-multi-jet-fusion/
Samsung Electronics Q3 net down 49 pct
Samsung seems to know that the era of IT has peaked. That's why they got interested in biotech in the first place as a next growth engine.
From Yonhap:
Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top smartphone maker, said Thursday its net profit fell 48.7 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, as its faltering smartphone business dragged down overall sales.
Operating profit plunged 60 percent on-year to 4.1 trillion won, from a record high of 10.1 trillion won in the same quarter of 2013.
The operating profit marks the lowest in three years, since Samsung logged 3.75 trillion won in the second quarter of 2011.
It is also the first time in three years that the company saw operating profit decline for two consecutive quarters.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2014/10/30/56/0501000000AEN20141030001200320F.html
From Yonhap:
Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top smartphone maker, said Thursday its net profit fell 48.7 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, as its faltering smartphone business dragged down overall sales.
Operating profit plunged 60 percent on-year to 4.1 trillion won, from a record high of 10.1 trillion won in the same quarter of 2013.
The operating profit marks the lowest in three years, since Samsung logged 3.75 trillion won in the second quarter of 2011.
It is also the first time in three years that the company saw operating profit decline for two consecutive quarters.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2014/10/30/56/0501000000AEN20141030001200320F.html
The Fallacy of Stimulus: "재정적자 늘려서라도 경제 살린다"
Korea is not on the right path. without revamping the economy, stimulus would not work. The cases of the U.S. and Japan have demonstrated that. Korea is following their failed monetary policy.
중앙일보로부터:
박근혜 대통령의 29일 국회 시정연설은 경제 살리기에 집중됐다. 올해 연설에선 공무원연금 개혁 문제를 뺀다면 사실상 처음부터 끝까지 경제 이야기만 했다. '경제'라는 단어만 59번이나 언급됐다. 박 대통령은 한국 경제가 위기라고 진단하고 내년도 국정운영의 최우선 목표를 경제활성화에 두겠다고 강조했다.
지난 7월 최경환 부총리 겸 기획재정부 장관의 취임 이후 정부는 46조원 규모의 재정 확대 조치를 하고, 재건축 등 부동산 관련 규제 완화를 했다. 한국은행도 8월과 이달 두 차례 기준금리를 내렸다. 그러나 3분기 제조업 생산은 전기 대비 0.9% 감소했고, 투자와 수출도 부진하다. 저성장, 저물가, 엔저 등 신 3저(低)에다 미국의 금리인상 가능성 등 세계경제의 불확실성도 커지고 있다.
박 대통령은 "지금은 도약과 정체의 갈림길에서 우리 경제를 다시 세울 수 있는 마지막 골든 타임"이라고 강조했다. 이를 위해 꺼내든 것이 올해보다 20조원 늘어난 376조원 규모의 내년도 확장예산이다. 민간의 지출 여력이 없는 상황에서 정부마저 지갑을 닫아버리면 저성장의 악순환에서 헤어나기 어려우니 재정적자를 늘려서라도 경제를 살려야 한다는 것이 박 대통령의 설명이다. 최 부총리가 지금까지 추진한 경제 살리기 대책에 힘을 실어준 셈이다.
그러나 야당은 적자를 감수하고 돈을 풀어 경제를 살리자는 최경환식 경제 살리기에 거부감을 갖고 있다. 여당 내부에서도 재정적자로 인한 국가채무의 확대를 우려하는 목소리가 있다.
http://media.daum.net/issue/707/newsview?issueId=707&newsid=20141030011503124
중앙일보로부터:
박근혜 대통령의 29일 국회 시정연설은 경제 살리기에 집중됐다. 올해 연설에선 공무원연금 개혁 문제를 뺀다면 사실상 처음부터 끝까지 경제 이야기만 했다. '경제'라는 단어만 59번이나 언급됐다. 박 대통령은 한국 경제가 위기라고 진단하고 내년도 국정운영의 최우선 목표를 경제활성화에 두겠다고 강조했다.
지난 7월 최경환 부총리 겸 기획재정부 장관의 취임 이후 정부는 46조원 규모의 재정 확대 조치를 하고, 재건축 등 부동산 관련 규제 완화를 했다. 한국은행도 8월과 이달 두 차례 기준금리를 내렸다. 그러나 3분기 제조업 생산은 전기 대비 0.9% 감소했고, 투자와 수출도 부진하다. 저성장, 저물가, 엔저 등 신 3저(低)에다 미국의 금리인상 가능성 등 세계경제의 불확실성도 커지고 있다.
박 대통령은 "지금은 도약과 정체의 갈림길에서 우리 경제를 다시 세울 수 있는 마지막 골든 타임"이라고 강조했다. 이를 위해 꺼내든 것이 올해보다 20조원 늘어난 376조원 규모의 내년도 확장예산이다. 민간의 지출 여력이 없는 상황에서 정부마저 지갑을 닫아버리면 저성장의 악순환에서 헤어나기 어려우니 재정적자를 늘려서라도 경제를 살려야 한다는 것이 박 대통령의 설명이다. 최 부총리가 지금까지 추진한 경제 살리기 대책에 힘을 실어준 셈이다.
그러나 야당은 적자를 감수하고 돈을 풀어 경제를 살리자는 최경환식 경제 살리기에 거부감을 갖고 있다. 여당 내부에서도 재정적자로 인한 국가채무의 확대를 우려하는 목소리가 있다.
http://media.daum.net/issue/707/newsview?issueId=707&newsid=20141030011503124
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Finding Starter Projects: Teacher to Teacher
From Makezine:
Scratch has reached well over a million users internationally in part because it has a great community of support, and it is backed up by the founding team’s firm commitment to helping teachers get kids into creative coding through Scratch Ed. If you love Scratch, look for Scratch Educator Meetups on the discussion forums; or take the Creative Computing free online workshop at your own pace; or plan to attend the biennial Scratch@MIT Conference in 2016; or take part in Scratch Day, a worldwide network of gatherings of Scratchers.
The Exploratorium has long been a powerhouse of teacher PD, but we’re especially enthusiastic about the online courseTinkering Fundamentals: A Constructionist Approach to STEM Learning. Spend six weeks learning from Mike Petrich, Karen Wilkinson, and Luigi Anzivino, three true masters! Take a look at the Exploratorium’s other PD offerings, especially theExploratorium Teacher Institute (TI), which has supported middle school and high school math and science teachers for over three decades! In TI’s Re-Engineering Your Science Curriculum, master science teachers Paul Doherty, Julie Yu, and Eric Muller share practical how-tos for infusing curriculum with NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) engineering practices using TI’s trademark hands-on STEM activities. Once you’ve been a part of TI’s Summer Institute, Beginning Teacher Program, or Teacher Leadership Program, you can also benefit from Pinhole, TI’s very informative discussion group. The Exploratorium’s Institute for Inquiry (IFI) trains educators in inquiry-based science: exploring the natural or material world by asking questions, observing, investigating, testing, discussing and debating. IFI’s online PD curriculum covers Fundamentals of Inquiry and Assessing for Learning. Take a gander at IFI’s library of resources too.
Sometimes the best way to get started with making in the classroom is to go make friends outside of it! In that spirit, today’s edition of our series on Finding Starter Projects shares some of the many professional development (PD) opportunities out there available to teachers who want to meet other like-minded teachers — those who know they want to be a part of the Maker movement and bring their kids into it too. We find that when we get a few teachers together, one of the first things they do is compare notes to talk about cool projects they’ve seen and done. Sure, you may also learn a thing or two in these sessions, conferences, camps, meetups, MOOCs, newsletters, and microblogging sites, but we all know that the pursuit of professional development is about reconnecting to allies, exposing yourself to new ideas and people.
Special thanks to Jessica Henricks, Clint Johns, Aaron Vanderwerff, Sherry Hsi, and Stephanie Chang who contributed to this list.
CONFERENCES
The Maker Education Initiative regularly hosts meetups and runs video sessions, and last May held its first Making Possibilities Workshop at Intel’s Headquarters in Silicon Valley. A full day on the importance of making, its impact on learning, getting started and more, this free-to-attend conference was very thoughtfully put together by Maker Ed and generously supported by one of its founders, Intel. We have heard from our friends at Maker Ed that people have been asking them from all over the country about replicating their model. Some mini Maker Faires have added an Education Day and expanded education content to their programs. (Maker Faire Orlando, we’re looking at you!) Every maker-educator should be sure to go to the minis(or megas) near them, with or without students.
Speaking of this, be sure to put Maker Faire Bay Area and World Maker Faireon your calendar. Our staff, crew, and Makers are all deeply committed to supporting teachers in bringing the Maker movement to their students, and so you’ll find that the schedule is always chock-full of talks relevant to the classroom. It’s a design-it-yourself education conference hidden inside the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth. Our most recent MakerCon, right before World Maker Faire 2014, included a track on education and some of the full-conference sessions were also learning themed. The videos are all available to watch in our archive. We want you there! Sign up for our education community to keep abreast of our news and offers.
While FabLearn sold out weeks before it began, it promises to live-stream on October 25–26 “as much of this year’s conference as possible.” Stanford’s Paulo Blikstein started this conference out of a related network,FabLab@School, which connects educational digital fabrication labs that put cutting-edge technology for design and construction, such as 3D printers and laser cutters, into the hands of middle and high school students around the world. Take a look, too at Blikstein’s Transformative Learning Technologies Lab(TLTL). It develops low-cost tools, assessments, curriculum, and teacher prep. Europeans will be pleased to hear that Aarhus University hosted a second FabLearn in Europe
Constructing Modern Knowledge holds its eighth “minds-on” summer institute “for educators committed to creativity, collaboration and computing” in July. If you don’t have time to make it to New Hampshire for a week, take a look at theabundant supply of writings and manifestos on its website.
Interaction Design & Children has been running since 2009 to bring together researchers, designers and educators who want to create better interactive experiences for children, with sponsorship from Intel and the Lego Foundation. You can relive the IDC 2014 on its theme of “Building Tomorrow’s Technology – Together” through the archived live stream.
ISKME’s annual Big Ideas Fest “focuses on transformational change in K–20 education.” Aimed at “creative doers and thinkers” I’ll let them speak for themselves here: “The participants are inspirational. The work is dynamic. And the results are revolutionary.” The format includes some unique elements: RapidFire talks and Action Collab design-thinking labs.
Roughly every other year, the Design Science Symposia celebrates the legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller’s “comprehensive anticipatory design science.” Past themes have included Synergetics and Morphology: Explorations into the Shapes of Nature (2007), Design Science: Nature’s Problem Solving Method (2009), Nature, Geometry, and the Symmetry of Space (2011), STEM to STEAM thru Synergy: Bridging Morphology, Biomimicry, Sustainability, and Synergetics (2014).
Enjoy 300 sessions and workshops and more than 700 speakers at SXSWedu in Austin this March. SXSWedu had its roots as a Texas-focused K-12 event three years ago, now it attracts attendees from more than 35 different nations around the globe and includes special features like eduFILM, the Policy Forum, and the Playground (originally Makerspace). Its accompanying free and open-to-the-public Education Expo celebrates lifelong learning in central Texas. Of course there are plenty of teachers who loyally attend the main SXSW festival of music, film, and interactive design as well.
The annual Digital Media and Learning Conference focuses on the theme of “Equity by Design” (this June in L.A.). Past conferences have been on the themes of Connecting Practices (2014), Democratic Futures (2013), Beyond Educational Technology (2012), Designing Learning Futures (2011), and Diversifying Participation (2010). Supported by the MacArthur Foundation, the conference is organized by the Digital Media and Learning Hub located at the UC Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine. Go to DML Hub for more info on its other offerings: the Make-to-Learn community, Connected Courses (a free course on creating open college courses), Reclaim Open Learning (a loose network for those developing online learning experiences), Alternative Credentialing (a dynamic public conversation), DML Summer Institute (for grad students and postdocs), working groups, workshops, and more.
You’ve just missed Project Zero Perspectives: Making, Thinking, Understanding, a conference organized by Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education (CASIE) and hosted at Lick-Wilmerding, a wonderful maker-friendly high school in San Francisco. Fortunately, you can review some of its presentations and handouts, posted online. Project Zero will have a related conference Think-Create-Innovate in Atlanta in early May.
Scratch has reached well over a million users internationally in part because it has a great community of support, and it is backed up by the founding team’s firm commitment to helping teachers get kids into creative coding through Scratch Ed. If you love Scratch, look for Scratch Educator Meetups on the discussion forums; or take the Creative Computing free online workshop at your own pace; or plan to attend the biennial Scratch@MIT Conference in 2016; or take part in Scratch Day, a worldwide network of gatherings of Scratchers.
One could get lost in the alphabet soup of the large (and even larger) conferences like AERA, ISTE, NSTA, NCTM, ITEEA, ASTC, ECSITE,NAEYC, AAAS, AAPT, ASEE, CUE…. shall I go on? All have had or are starting to have sessions that touch on the Maker movement and makerspaces. You can even find quite a bit of maker-related education content at more generally technical conferences like IEEE FIE, SIGCHI, SIGGRAPH, CSCW, ICLS and CSCL, or just go to one of those to have your mind blown by the future-minded presentations by hungry grad students and pre-tenure profs.
I imagine if I look at Dale Dougherty’s speaking calendar, I could add another 50 great conferences all maker-educators should consider. Tell us which conferences you attend (or dream of attending) by adding to the comments below.
COURSES, WORKSHOPS, & MOOCS
Make: is proud to support The Startup Classroom’s Maker Certificate Program at Sonoma State University in conjunction with the Sonoma County Office of Education. It features teachers we’ve been working with for years as well as some new friends eager to mentor teachers new to making. Participants gain an understanding of the core values and principles of Making and the pedagogy behind the Maker mindset. The first certificate program of its kind, we’ve been wanting something like this for years!
We’ve been working with Lighthouse Community Charter School in Oakland for a long while now, so imagine our delight when Lighthouse teacher Aaron Vanderwerff told us that the school’s Creativity Lab would start offering professional development for educators. Sessions vary from the “idealistic to realistic,” including the two-day Designing Making Experiences workshop, tours, space and program planning session, “Learn to Make” skill builders.
Well known for its industrial castoff reuse utopia, RAFT (Resource Area for Teaching) has been a leader in PD in the San Jose area for decades. CheckRAFT’s resource page for links to their tip sheets and tailored training sessions, workshops, and summer institutes.
I mentioned Engineering is Elementary in an earlier post, but it is much more than just the curriculum. EIE offers PD too! They host Collaborator Workshops, Everyone Engineers workshops for elementary teachers, the two-day “Linking the E & M in STEM”, and “Engineering Adventures”. They even have PD to turn you into someone who provides PD to your region through their Teacher Educator Institutes. You can attend these workshops on-site in Boston or invite the EIE team to lead one in your school or district.
Nearby, the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach at Tufts (CEEO) improves engineering education kindergarten through college and got a shout-out from one of our teachers.
We’ve already mentioned the projects and resources on the Stanford d.school’s K12 Lab Network site earlier in our series, but you should also know that they hold a DTK12 (Design Think in K-12) Curriculum Summit and workshops in Design Thinking for Educators. I also like the spirit of “Two-Minute PD.”
The DTK12 folks also reminded me of The Nueva School‘s Design Thinking Institute near San Francisco, Henry Ford Learning Institute near Detroit, andFUSE from the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation held in Atlanta in 2015.
Not too many high schools operate a graduate school of education on the side, but why not teach in the most relevant context to the learning at hand? High Tech High (HTH) offers residencies, institutes, and workshops. They also publish a journal called UnBoxed.
The Exploratorium has long been a powerhouse of teacher PD, but we’re especially enthusiastic about the online courseTinkering Fundamentals: A Constructionist Approach to STEM Learning. Spend six weeks learning from Mike Petrich, Karen Wilkinson, and Luigi Anzivino, three true masters! Take a look at the Exploratorium’s other PD offerings, especially theExploratorium Teacher Institute (TI), which has supported middle school and high school math and science teachers for over three decades! In TI’s Re-Engineering Your Science Curriculum, master science teachers Paul Doherty, Julie Yu, and Eric Muller share practical how-tos for infusing curriculum with NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) engineering practices using TI’s trademark hands-on STEM activities. Once you’ve been a part of TI’s Summer Institute, Beginning Teacher Program, or Teacher Leadership Program, you can also benefit from Pinhole, TI’s very informative discussion group. The Exploratorium’s Institute for Inquiry (IFI) trains educators in inquiry-based science: exploring the natural or material world by asking questions, observing, investigating, testing, discussing and debating. IFI’s online PD curriculum covers Fundamentals of Inquiry and Assessing for Learning. Take a gander at IFI’s library of resources too.
The MIT Media Lab’s new Learning over Education (#L_ED) initiative promotes creative learning. Go to its page on Learning Creative Learning to join the next cohort participating in the LCL online course, or start by yourself whenever you like. The six modules cover the intiative’s excellent set of four guiding principles: Projects, Peers, Passion, and Play. The initiative’s Unhangoutplatform takes an open-source and large-scale approach to online un-conferencessuch as the annual Edcamp.
Make Summer has had a whole lot of stuff around the topic of Connected Learning that you may find useful, including:
- Maker Party, through which 130,000 people came together to “make” the web
- Making Learning Connected a MOOC that ran last year so it may again in summer 2015. Stay tuned.
- its associated Making Learning Connected G+ community and Twitter feed (@clmooc)
- Make Bank for “Makes”
- “Makes could include something you write (a story, poem, play, etc.) or draw (painting, comic, etc.) , a web page or app you create, something you bake, or a social network or connection you form.” (None of this was anything that came from us at Maker Media, in case you are wondering, but nonetheless we like what we see! We’re pretty happy with anything our pals at the National Writing Project do, and this section in particular really has their fingerprints on it.)
- Make Cycles
- Make A Case
IISME Fellow Colette Marie McLaughlin spent her summer at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. Courtesy of The Gilroy Patch
FELLOWSHIPS
Through the eight-week IISME Summer Fellowship, K-16 teachers of all subjects learn from “high-performance work sites” in science and tech for the summer. They both complete a project for their hosts and spend 10% of their time planning to transfer their experience back to their students and colleagues. How much does it cost? That’s the best part! For participating in this great program, teachers are paid $8,200!
The d.school fellows are “restless experts” who come together to “grow creative and resilient organizations [and] to accelerate systems-level impact in their areas of expertise.” in the fall they focus on learning and leading, winter on leading and doing, and spring on doing. They do this through coursework, workshops, events, studios, and by working through design thinking cycles.
MakerState engages “passionate makers” as MakerState fellows. It kind of sounds more like a job than a fellowship, but the idea is that the fellows serve as part-time instructors and curriculum developers for makerspace workshops around NYC (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Riverdale, Newark, New Haven) and in El Cerrito and Sunnyvale, California. (Side note, they are also hiring Assistant Maker Fellows at the high school level.)
NEWSLETTERS, FORUMS, AND SOCIAL MEDIA
EdSurge, started in 2011 by Betsy Corcoran, Matt Bowman, Nick Punt and Agustin Vilaseca, scours the world of edtech (education technology) so you don’t have to. It sends detailed weekly reports on the latest news and trends in the industry to entrepreneurs, educators, investors and others. They also host a job board and and event calendar.
Edutopia has provided great public service to the PBL community since 1991. Run by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, it focuses on “innovative, replicable, and evidence-based strategies” especially in these areas: comprehensive assessment (portfolios and other “authentic” forms of it), integrated studies, project learning, social and emotional learning, teacher development, and technology integration.
We’ve been fans of the Tinkering School and its offshoot Brightworks for years. Not everyone can come visit them to see these renewably, constantly unique learning environments in action, but luckily their leadership has been generous with documenting and sharing what they do. Check out theTinkering School’s Blog for educators. I especially appreciate their use of “Plus” and “Delta” for their project reviews (rather than pros and cons), moving creative work and creative teaching onward and upward. There are blog posts on tool training and then just general framing and philosophical reflections. Give the whole thing a read. You won’t regret it!
ASTC (the Association of Science and Technology Centers) hosts a number ofCommunities of Practice. Many of our colleagues in the museum world participate in Making & Tinkering Spaces in Museums, open to members of ASTC and other Informal Science Education (ISE) partners.
Make to Learn (M2L) hosted by Indiana University advocates “for placing making, creating, and designing at the core of educational practice.” While many of the projects originally supported by the Digital Media and Learning Hub at the University of California, Irvine and the MacArthur Foundation wrapped up last year. Kylie Peppler and the Creativity Labs at Indiana University, Bloomington continue to lead this effort and maintain a public listserv for educators like you. Send a blank email to maketolearn-l-subscribe@indiana.edu to subscribe.
Here are a few Google+ communities to bookmark:
- Maker Ed
- 21st Century Notebooking
- Making Learning Connected (#clmooc)
- Learning Creative Learning
- NOVA’s MAKING STUFF Outreach
- Maker Camp (designed for teens, but lots of facilitators post regularly)
Twitter hashtags to follow: #makered, #dtk12chat, #stemchat, #PBLchat
Serve up your lingering electronics-related questions on the For Educators forum or on Adam Kemp’s Ask an educator, both on Adafruit.
OTHER RESOURCES
Many teachers who have told us they are excited to get making in the classroom have also introduced Design Thinking to their students. The Design Thinking Toolkit for Educators will help you get started with d-thinking techniques. This toolkit is the real deal, created by Riverdale Country School in New York City and IDEO, a firm known the world over for its human-centered approach to design.
The Curiosity Kit on Iridescent‘s educator page has some helpful resources. for working with students on engineering design challenges. And stay tuned! They recently started offering online trainings for educators, and you can email them at curiosity@iridescentlearning.org to schedule one for your site.
Project Zero: Agency by Design is a multiyear research initiative at Project Zero investigating the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning experiences. Its site doesn’t have much in terms of PD yet, but take a look at their excellent set of book reviews.
TED-Ed has many resources, including guides for transforming “any useful educational video, not just TED’s” into a customized lesson around the video. It also has tips for starting a TED-Ed Club with your students.
SKILL BUILDERS
For specific skills, make sure to look for makerspaces for workshops.
In the Oakland area, consider Workshop Weekend which offers 1-3 hour workshops on science, technology, engineering, art, and more.
Down in Santa Cruz, Makers Factory steps up to offer making workshops for teachers.
Many companies have gotten into the game, too. SparkFun runs workshops, always centered around some of their most popular products: the PicoBoard, Digital Sandbox, LilyPad, and Inventor’s Kit for 20–30 students, and they come to you wherever you are in the U.S.
Teacher Clint adds, “I’d also add in courses/workshops at any regional Tech Shop, at The Tech Museum, and at The Crucible in Oakland. There’s also a rise in the number of “unconferences” popping up in the Bay Area.”
Hackerspaces aplenty, the map at hackerspaces.org
Connect locally! You can find other resources and like-minded makers and educators with the maps and directories below:
- Nation of Makers map from the National Day of Making
- The White House’s maps for participant in its Maker Faire and twitter #NationofMakers
- Makerspaces
- hackerspaces
- STEMtoSTEAM‘s global map
- Cities of Learning
- The Maker Map
- Mini Maker Faires
- Maker Camp locations
WHAT DID WE MISS? TELL US!
Once I got started this list kept growing and growing. There are a few heavy hitters in education technology sphere I decided not to officially list above, excepts as sponsors of other PD programs: LEGO, Google, Intel, PBS, to name a few.
Lastly, we’d like to put a special plug out there for seeking out the PD opportunities at the museums near you. Museums are built and run by people who have been learning by making their whole lives and who care deeply about teaching others to do the same. Not to generalize or anything, but museum educators are the absolute experts in project-based learning, tinkering, making, whatever you want to call what we do. Be sure to check out the professional development offerings of all your favorite museums near where you teach.
Check out our earlier posts in this series:
Be sure to check out the growing resource library built by our friends at theMaker Education Initiative.
Nomi Prins: Why the Financial and Political Systems Failed
From Jesse's Cafe:
Nomi Prins calls out the policy error deluxe that has been the topic of so much commentary at Le Café over the past few years.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/10/nomi-prins-why-financial-and-political.html
Nomi Prins calls out the policy error deluxe that has been the topic of so much commentary at Le Café over the past few years.
What is perhaps most striking is that this failure is so bipartisan in a time of contentiousness. It crosses not only parties but professions, from academics to politicians.
As you know I have featured several articles and videos of hers as she introduces her latest book, All the President's Bankers which is insightful, well-founded and researched, and essential to any understand of what is happening today.
As you know I have ascribed this to the credibility trap. Insiders never speak ill of insiders, if they which to remain a part of the power elite. This is reinforced in the Ivy League and the halls of power. And so leaders and potential leaders are hopelessly compromised and entangled in a self-serving system of abuse of power and corruption.
It is part of a general failure of moral conscience and leadership in the country. It has been or is being repeated in England and other countries in Europe. It is the reason for the long stagnation of the Japanese economy.
This is a very brief excerpt. You may read this insightful commentary in its entirety here.
"The recent spike in global political-financial volatility that was temporarily soothed by ECB covered bond buying reveals another crack in the six-year-old throw-money-at-the-banks strategies of politicians and central bankers.The premise of using banks as credit portals to transport public funds from the government to citizens is as inefficient as it is not happening. The power elite may exude belabored moans about slow growth and rising inequality in speeches and press releases, but they continue to find ways to provide liquidity, sustenance and comfort to financial institutions, not to populations.The very fact - that without excessive artificial stimulation or the promise of it - more hell breaks loose - is one that government heads neither admit, nor appear to discuss. But the truth is that the global financial system has already failed. Big banks have been propped up, and their capital bases rejuvenated, by various means of external intervention, not their own business models..."
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2014/10/nomi-prins-why-financial-and-political.html
This Has Never Happened Before Without A Massive Bubble Bursting
From Zero Hedge:
As the chart demonstrates, there has never been a time when the all important leading indicator that is the San Fran housing market (see herefor the reasons why) has posted such a steep slowdown in annual price increases without a bubble of some sort, be it the dot com, the first housing or the European sovereign debt bubble, having burst. Will this time finally be different?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-28/has-never-happened-without-massive-bubble-bursting
As the chart demonstrates, there has never been a time when the all important leading indicator that is the San Fran housing market (see herefor the reasons why) has posted such a steep slowdown in annual price increases without a bubble of some sort, be it the dot com, the first housing or the European sovereign debt bubble, having burst. Will this time finally be different?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-28/has-never-happened-without-massive-bubble-bursting
Michael Pettis: A Chinese Soft-Landing Will Inevitably Lead To A "Very Brutal Hard Landing"
From Zero Hedge:
"If we have what everyone would hail as a soft landing, with growth remaining above 6-7% for another two years, it would just mean that credit was still growing too quickly. And once we reach debt capacity constraints, the so-called soft landing would be followed by a very brutal hard landing... Growth miracles have always been the relatively easy part; it is thesubsequent adjustment that has been the tough part."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-27/chinese-soft-landing-will-inevitably-lead-very-brutal-hard-landing-pettis-warns
"If we have what everyone would hail as a soft landing, with growth remaining above 6-7% for another two years, it would just mean that credit was still growing too quickly. And once we reach debt capacity constraints, the so-called soft landing would be followed by a very brutal hard landing... Growth miracles have always been the relatively easy part; it is thesubsequent adjustment that has been the tough part."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-27/chinese-soft-landing-will-inevitably-lead-very-brutal-hard-landing-pettis-warns
韓 개인, 기업, 국가의 채무 모두 임계치 넘었다"
연합뉴스로부터:
가계, 기업, 국가 등 한국의 모든 경제 주체의 빚이 국제기구의 채무부담 임계치 기준을 모두 초과한 것으로 나타났다.
28일 새누리당 이한구 의원의 분석 자료에 따르면 지난해 말 현재 개인과 기업, 국가의 명목 국내총생산(GDP) 대비 부채의 비율은 세계경제포럼(WEF) 기준의 채무부담 임계치보다 10∼46% 포인트 높다.
이 의원은 기획재정부와 한국은행, 산업연구원 자료를 분석했다. 개인 부채는 한은 자금순환표상의 개인으로 가계와 비영리단체 채무를, 기업부채는 비금융 민간기업 채무를, 국가 부채는 공식 국가 부채와 공공기관 부채, 공무원·군인연금 충당 부채를 각각 더한 것이다.
공식 국가부채는 지난해 말 기준으로 490조원이지만 공공기관 부채, 공무원 및 군인 연금 충담금까지 더하면 1천641조원으로 늘어난다.
이한구 의원은 "내수가 부진한 상황에서 과도한 부채 부담에 따른 부채 조정이 이뤄지면 소비와 투자의 둔화가 심해진다"고 우려했다.
그는 "생산가능인구(15∼64세) 감소와 부채 조정이 동시에 진행되면 성장 둔화, 소비·투자 부진의 상호 상승작용으로 큰 위기를 초래할 수 있다"고 지적했다.
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=101&oid=001&aid=0007212363
가계, 기업, 국가 등 한국의 모든 경제 주체의 빚이 국제기구의 채무부담 임계치 기준을 모두 초과한 것으로 나타났다.
28일 새누리당 이한구 의원의 분석 자료에 따르면 지난해 말 현재 개인과 기업, 국가의 명목 국내총생산(GDP) 대비 부채의 비율은 세계경제포럼(WEF) 기준의 채무부담 임계치보다 10∼46% 포인트 높다.
이 의원은 기획재정부와 한국은행, 산업연구원 자료를 분석했다. 개인 부채는 한은 자금순환표상의 개인으로 가계와 비영리단체 채무를, 기업부채는 비금융 민간기업 채무를, 국가 부채는 공식 국가 부채와 공공기관 부채, 공무원·군인연금 충당 부채를 각각 더한 것이다.
 |
공식 국가부채는 지난해 말 기준으로 490조원이지만 공공기관 부채, 공무원 및 군인 연금 충담금까지 더하면 1천641조원으로 늘어난다.
이한구 의원은 "내수가 부진한 상황에서 과도한 부채 부담에 따른 부채 조정이 이뤄지면 소비와 투자의 둔화가 심해진다"고 우려했다.
그는 "생산가능인구(15∼64세) 감소와 부채 조정이 동시에 진행되면 성장 둔화, 소비·투자 부진의 상호 상승작용으로 큰 위기를 초래할 수 있다"고 지적했다.
http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=101&oid=001&aid=0007212363
Sunday, October 26, 2014
"Brothers and sisters: I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still it is kind whenever you share in another's distress."
Philippians 4:12-14
Philippians 4:12-14
What Unilever just Said About Consumers Around the World: “It’s Really Tough out There”
From Testerstrone Pit:
What is it with these consumer-products companies that need to sell a lot of cheap stuff to a lot of consumers in a lot of countries? Over the last few days, one after the other reported what are more or less unvarnished quarterly revenue and earnings debacles.
At McDonald’s, global revenues fell 5% and net income plunged 30%. At Coca-Cola, international volume was up a measly 1%, but in the US, volume declined 1%. Revenues were down fractionally for the quarter and 2% year-to-date. Net income in the quarter dropped 14%. Revenues at third largest beer-giant Heineken, which brews its stuff in 70 countries, dropped 1.7%. People are scratching their heads: are consumers actually cutting back on beer? Other companies too have reported disappointing results.
On Thursday it was Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch giant maker of shampoos, deodorants, laundry detergents, ice cream… that warned in its quarterly report about what it looks like “out there,” not in the stock market, but in the real economy around the world.
“It is really tough out there,” said CFO Jean-Marc Huët. “We have been at pains to say that for a long period of time.” Consumers are in trouble and are cutting back across key markets, leaving the company with price pressures and crummy sales.
Revenues fell 2%. “Underlying sales,” which are adjusted for a variety of things, rose 2.1%, but it was the worst growth since Q4 of crisis-year 2009, and down from 3.8% in the prior quarter.
Unilever warned of a slowdown in all the right places, in the emerging markets, in Europe, and of stagnation in the US. Like other consumer-products companies, it complained about currency issues, political unrest, bleak economies, the wrong kind of weather, and other uncertainties that perplex consumers to no end and cause them to get stingy.
“We expect markets to remain tough…,” CEO Paul Polman said.
In the emerging markets overall, where nearly 60% of its revenues come from, underlying sales managed to increase 5.6%, down from 6.6% in the prior quarter, with Turkey, Indonesia, and the Philippines being particular bright spots. But Brazil is sliding into recession, Russia is slowing down as well, and China, oh my!
As China is entering its worst slowdown in many years, consumers are reacting by closing their wallets. Retailers and wholesalers are reacting to the newly prudent consumers by “de-stocking,” the company reported. The result was a “sharp slowdown.” Underlying sales plunged 20%!
Then there’s the problem in the developed markets: sales dropped 2.5%, while they were still growing fractionally in the prior quarter. In North America, sales inched up a barely visible 0.6%. And Europe – which had been fixed not long ago, based on the hype being propagated ceaselessly – has become unfixed again. Unilever bravely blamed “poor summer weather” across Europe for the lousy performance of its ice cream category. Whatever the reasons, sales dropped 4.3%.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-24/what-unilever-just-said-about-consumers-around-world-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%99s-really-tough-out-there%E2%80%9D
No Recovery: Longest Sustained Fall In UK Real Wages In Recorded History
From Jesse's Cafe:
Why is there no sustainable recovery?
Because of the policy errors of the West to save the corrupt financial system, but abandon the people whom 'the system' is intended to serve.
You may read the story about why the Bank of England is likely to keep interest rates low, which accompanies this graph, in the Financial Times.
Because of the policy errors of the West to save the corrupt financial system, but abandon the people whom 'the system' is intended to serve.
You may read the story about why the Bank of England is likely to keep interest rates low, which accompanies this graph, in the Financial Times.
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