Blog Archives

THE MINDSET LIST® HITS THE ROAD: NASA, NCAA, & MORE

by Tom McBride

The next three months will be well-traveled ones for us here at THE MINDSET LIST®. *On October 24 we’ll be speaking to the Goddard Space Lab (NASA) in Maryland; *on October 25-26 to the Chicago Historical Society; *on November 3 to the JumpStart Coalition’s Annual Convention on Financial Literacy in Chicago, and *on January 18, 2013 to the NCAA Annual Convention in Dallas What, you might ask, could such a diverse series of groups want to do with us? The answer resides in a simple fact: the generation gap touches nearly everything, from the workplace at NASA to the way museums present history; from the way today’s teens understand financial literacy to how this generation has grown up with an   Read on »

THE BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST FOR THE CLASS OF 2016

by Tom McBride

 Beloit College Releases the Mindset List for This Year’s Entering Class of First-Year College Students, The Class of 2016…. Beloit, Wis. – This year’s entering college class of 2016 was born into cyberspace and they have therefore measured their output in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and bauds.  They have come to political consciousness during a time of increasing doubts about America’s future, and are entering college bombarded by questions about jobs and the value of a college degree. They have never needed an actual airline “ticket,” a set of bound encyclopedias, or Romper Room.  Members of this year’s freshman class, most of them born in 1994, are probably the most tribal generation in history and they despise   Read on »

THE MINDSET LIST® FOR THE CLASS OF 2016: OFFICIAL “TRAILER”

by Tom McBride

THE BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST® FOR THE CLASS OF 2016: Official “Trailer” The latest official Mindset List® is out here this coming Tuesday the 21st.  Since it first appeared in 1998, the Mindset List® has become an acclaimed book (The Mindset Lists of American History), a Facebook site (The Mindset List), a Twitter address (@MindsetList), a coming public radio series (Mindset Moments), and a series of speaking engagements (this fall, for example: NASA and NCAA). But the crown jewel has always been our annual Lists. Here’s a little trailer for the next big one: The class of 2016 was born in 1994. *What world famous figures have always been dead?  *What famed class members might be in first-year orientation?  *When   Read on »

THE HONOR ROLL OF WHAT AMERICA HAS ALMOST TOTALLY FORGOTTEN

by Tom McBride

HERE’S ANOTHER ITEM ON THE HONOR ROLL OF WHAT AMERICA HAS ALMOST TOTALLY FORGOTTEN!  Singing Telegram…. Inspired Guess by the Young and Restless: Probably some sort of phone app that that gives you text messages set to music…. The Ancient Truth: Singing telegrams go back long before smart phones, but it was another type of phone—a regular old telephone (even with low-tech dial-up mechanisms)–that put the singing telegram out of business. The first singing telegram occurred in the early 1930s when a Western Union public relations guy—Western Union was the nation’s major telegram company—got the idea of having a telegram operator sing a message (over the phone) to the then famous entertainer Rudy Valle. At first everyone snickered at Western   Read on »

TONTO HAS ALWAYS HAD TIRED BLOOD: Stuff That Every American Knew–Once Upon a Time!

by Tom McBride

Here’s Another Item from the Honor Roll of America’s Nearly Forgotten: Singing Telegram…  Inspired Guess by the Young and Restless: Probably some sort of phone app that that gives you text messages set to music… The Ancient Truth: Singing telegrams go back long before smart phones, but it was another type of phone—a regular old telephone (even with low-tech dial-up mechanisms)–that put the singing telegram out of business. The first singing telegram occurred in the early 1930s when a Western Union public relations guy—Western Union was the nation’s major telegram company—got the idea of having a telegram operator sing a message (over the phone) to the then famous entertainer Rudy Valle. At first everyone snickered at Western Union, but soon   Read on »