history pragmatic historian

History in Numbers

Within organizations, there are people who enjoy playing with numbers, and then there is everybody else. Those in the Everybody Else category react to financial statements with a glazed look at best or utter terror at worst. Often, people who feel they don’t have a hope of understanding financial statements are disconnected from the source of the numbers on those statements. The numbers are merely theoretical to them, which makes them difficult to grasp. Here’s…

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challenge history pragmatic historian

Challenge: Finding Patterns in History

It feels like I’m stating the obvious, but history teaches all sorts of thinking skills. One of these is that it enhances our ability to see patterns. When you’re just going through your day-to-day life, it’s easy to miss larger patterns, particularly when you don’t compare what’s happening locally to events on a statewide, national or global level. It’s the myopia of living in the now. When you take the time to investigate an historical…

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art design ideas thought fodder

Sustainable Creativity

As an artist who cares about the environment, I am keenly aware of all the stuff I put into the world when I make things. I am also aware of the resources I consume in making those things. We have reached critical mass with over-consumption and over-production in society, especially American society. Visit any antique store and look at all the useless crap that sits on shelves, of no real purpose other than having something…

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