This page is dedicated to the exploration of ideas borne from the idle curiosity of time from on top of the Cottage. Most of these are ‘works in progress’ and most likely will never progress beyond that scope. All of these are open for comments, edits and suggestions. Please feel free to share your ideas about these ideas.
“The Death of the City that Never Was” Big Lake’s big day in October 2015 was the day the State held a referendum vote to establish, or not, Alaska’s second class city in Big Lake. It was a tumultuous event as the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns dominated the landscape with signs, meetings and hard feelings; it was an event that split the community. The embedded PDF file captures the story of the election and it’s lasting effects. But relevant to the ‘Ideas’ theme of the this site, the article also captures my List of Top Eleven ways to lose an Initiative ballot election. It’s often said that we learn most from our failures. This failed experiment in local governance offered us plenty of insights; perhaps I’ve captured a few of them in this article – enjoy. The Death of a city that Never Was ver 2
“Culture Jujitsu” This is an article I’m working on to describe the thought I had about the tactical and strategic agility of those who would undermine our Western Culture. My thought is that ‘Culture Jujitsu‘ is the ‘subversive use of a culture’s base principals and best practices against itself to diminish its influence while subtly replacing it with another’s. I’m sure I could refine the description but it’s the practice of leveraging an opponent’s cultural traditions and strengths by finding their inherent weaknesses and exploiting them. Attached in the link below is the current, rudimentary draft version of the article. Cultur Jijitsu ver 1.0
‘A Tale of Two Wars’. This writing is about my thesis that the West is really fighting two wars with ‘Extremist Islamist’s. The first, which I call the ‘Short War’, is really a supplementary, but diversionary tactic to obscure the reality of the second, the ‘Long War’. The Short War is spearheaded by the Al Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram and a number of other so called ‘non- existential’ threats to the West. They wage a tactical war employing outright terror in their own lands and combine terror with ‘Cultural Jujitsu’ in Western lands to divert the West’s attention while other Islamist promote and prosecute the Long War. The Long War is a contest of cultures. The chosen tool of Islam against the West is Colonialism through the legal migration and massive displacement of refugees into Western countries by adherents of the Muslim faith. Through the use of the tactical fights by the terror groups in the Short War and the legitimate election of Muslim legislators by growing an Islamic electorate throughout Western cities, Islam can conquer the West through the Long War. This idea is still knocking around in my brain housing group and not yet in draft form.
Living Deliberately. A paper dedicated to the idea on how to make one’s life worth having lived. Lots of ideas, several little .docs floating around the computer, but as of yet I have not put together enough on the idea to float a draft on this page.
‘A Clash of Principals’. Do you ever wonder how two educated and reasonable people can look at a social issue and advocate two entirely contrary positions? Here I will explore how I believe that comes about. The basic thesis is that with the dearth of critical thinking and the watering down of religious precepts we have lost the ability to prioritize our principals. We live in an age where every principal can be number one (moral equivalence or moral relativism). The controversial example is the abortion question. One side believes the preeminent principal that should dominate the question is that a woman has the right to control her own body – she is not a slave to the wishes of society. The other view holds that the preeminent principal in this issue is the right of innocent life to live. Each side believes their principal is higher and deserves to be the prevailing moral value that guides legislation. However, strangely enough the ensuing discourse and arguments are never framed as such. Again, as with some of the idea ideas, this is a place holder until the time comes that I turn this idea into paper.
‘Leadership Practices (Zimmer Principles)’ One afternoon I was carried away by a few reminiscent ideas from my past profession and thought I’d pen a few of them down for future use in an article. This draft article may be of service to aspiring young leaders who are looking for ideas on their own leadership development. The article can be found under the ‘Musings Blog’ tab. https://wp.me/p7g6mZ-lEK
‘Preemptive War, a NWC Paper’. It appears with the change in Administrations that the concept of Preemptive War is being revitalized. During the Bush Administration this was a controversial policy in the 2002 National Security Strategy titled The Bush Doctrine. Attached you will find a paper I wrote while in the Naval War College on the legitimacy of the preemptive strike option when compared to the standard of “Just War Theory”. Yeah, it’s a bit academic and arcane, but it does appear to have contemporary attraction. Preemptive War, a NWC aper
‘Leadership in the Present’ Leadership idea – Another addition to the new ‘Leadership Series’ of musings, this idea surfaced to conscienceless one morning while thinking about what was the best part of being a leader. The answer stems from sage guidance I once received that your legacy is not what you accomplish but what is accomplished by those that you left behind. The question is, were you a formative part of their development, or just passing through on your way to the top? This is first cut on the idea but as always your comments to better focus the idea are always appreciated. https://zimmerslanding.com/leadership-in-the-present/
‘To own or not to own’ Attached is a self exploration on gun ownership in an acrimonious environment where aggrieved emotions and pent-up frustrations influence our legislative processes and (un)civil discourse over one of our more basic rights. This exploration considers the First Principal from which I believe the right to bear arms emanates and lays out the connective tissue from that right to ownership of a semi-automatic, ‘military style’ rifle. This is a long and somewhat academic review, so download and read it at your own risk. Be forewarned, it’s not a complete work as I discovered during its development that a valid critical view of this issue is much more expansive than can be captured in this review. This is Part I, perhaps one day I’ll be motivated to completing the other ideas. Your comments and critiques are also appreciated. gun control exploration ver 4.1
Footnote – These ideas and writings are the work of the author, do not copy or disseminate them without the expressed written permission of the author. Thank you
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