United States – Page 19 – understand-culture

US Defense Planning

The RAND Corporation (from the phrase “research and development”) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed by the U.S. government and private endowment, corporations, universities and private individuals.

The company assists other governments, international organizations, private companies and foundations with a host of defense and non-defense issues, including healthcare. RAND aims for interdisciplinary and quantitative problem solving by translating theoretical concepts from formal economics and the physical sciences into novel applications in other areas, using applied science and operations research. (Source: Wikipedia)

Definition of Plan

MerriamWebster online states four definitions for the term plan. Duden, the famous German dictionary, offers almost the exact same definitions. We’re interested in the second definition: “a detailed formulation of a program of action.”

1. A drawing or diagram drawn on a plane: such as a top or horizontal view of an object, a large-scale map of a small area.

2. A method for achieving an end, an often customary method of doing something, a detailed formulation of a program of action.

3. An orderly arrangement of parts of an overall design or objective.

4. A detailed program (as for payment or the provision of some service), i.e. pension plan.

Planning habits

Andrew D. Huberman (born 1975, in Palo Alto, California) is an American neuroscientist and tenured associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine who has made contributions to the brain development, brain plasticity, and neural regenerationand repair fields.

https://youtu.be/B8aXidTUnJc

Much of his work is focused on the visual system, including the mechanisms controlling light-mediated activation of the circadian and autonomic arousal centers in the brain, as well as brain control over conscious vision or sight.

Huberman has been credited with coining the term “Non-Sleep Deep Rest” (NSDR), referring to practices that place the brain and body into shallow sleep to accelerate neuroplasticity and help offset mental and physical fatigue.

Plan a wedding in a week

It is said that American couples take 500 hours and 12 to 18 months to plan their wedding. But what if they shrunk that down to one week?

Kennedy – Eisenhower during Cuban Missile Crisis

Sound recording of a telephone conversation held on October 28, 1962, between President John F. Kennedy and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. They discuss contingencies for dealing with Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev in order to end the Cuban Missile Crisis.

It wasn’t raining

“Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” – Richard Cushing, Roman Catholic cardinal

Harvard Ph.D. 100-300 pages

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences: “Most dissertations are 100 to 300 pages in length. All dissertations should be divided into appropriate sections, and long dissertations may need chapters, main divisions, and subdivisions.”

1944 Induction of soldiers

A comment on YouTube:

“I’m 76 & all four of my uncles plus my father were WWII veterans! I went through Army Basic training, 20 years later, in 1964 & boy, was it different from this video! For example, the sergeants were screaming at you from ‘minute one’, not being helpful! Also, we had to get “skinhead” haircuts, not reasonable ones! Lastly, unless things changed drastically from the WWII era, this video was “soft soaping” entering the Army!”

Short-Term Thinking

New York Times. 2015. From Wall Street to Washington and in the towers of academia, people are buzzing about what some say is the pernicious focus in corporate America on short-term profits.

To understand the debate, it helps to understand the various forces that contribute to the pressures on companies to focus on short-term financial results. Those pressures are not just a product of one bad actor. It turns out that nearly everyone in the investment world plays a role in creating the challenges companies face in setting their sights on the far horizon.

USA. Immigration.

A state-by-state look at the history of U.S. immigration, showing the leading country of origin for newcomers in each territory, by decade. Fascinating !