Image via Wikipedia A testimony to the power of water, in recent Australian floods. www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=kYUpkPTcqPY Water level in rivers follows the Log-Pearson 3 probability distribution(see attached picture) Tightly clustered around the mean, with little variation, and a limit on how far the left hand tail can go (ie “dry”) The right hand tail though is […]
Month: January 2011
Reflections on economy, China and education
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704062604576105952027426880.html another step in the realization of the Chinese Century. They are in the same economic position the US was at the end of WW2: had all the money, the manufacturing base and the need & capacity to export to war torn countries of Europe. Look at what happened in the 50s and 60s until […]
Reflections on Starobin’s Five Roads to the Future
Paul Starobin’ s biography (from the author), from NationalJournal.com Related Link: http://www.afteramericabook.com Paul Starobin is a staff correspondent for National Journal and a contributing editor to The Atlantic Monthly. He is author of the new book “After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age,” available in soft cover as “Five Roads to the Future: Power […]
Reflections on “Sonic Boom” by Greg Easterbrook
Commentary on Sonic Boom by Gregg Easterbrook His reasons for believing that an explosion in globalization is coming: ease of communication freedom of speech and democracy markets tend to consumer demand rising education levels chip-based electronics equality of women reduced military spending and interlinked nations My concerns after reading his introduction: will he be addressing […]
Innovation as a function of R&D investments? not so much; check your network first
Image via Wikipedia Some excellent insights into the power of quality connections and the network effect with respect to R&D, innovation and open borders Hard times call for new solutions and we are starting to take a good hard look at how innovation really works and what we can do to improve performance. Recent reports […]
Excellence at work
Image via Wikipedia I sure wish i had said this: #6: Malcolm Gladwell is right, it takes 10,000 hours. I don’t think I ever appreciated what it takes to just stay current and, in hindsight, never comprehended what it takes to become good. I mean really good. Not to be overly dramatic but. . . […]
Racism explains everything ….for racists
Image via Wikipedia How soon will it be before whites are a minority, and will be treated as a single voting block, and be summarized by a “stereotype for marketting purposes only”? What will those characteristics be defined as? and how will the characteristics be explained away as not being representative of individuals, but merely […]
China brings a high-speed train to California; Harriman and Carnegie roll over in their graves
Image via Wikipedia In an era of lifelong learning, I wonder if the mark of real graduation is a ceremony at the end of the classes or is it measured by what you do with the education for the rest of your life? Is there even such a thing as graduation for lifelong learners? I […]
An executive summary of complexity theory
Image via Wikipedia An executive summary of complexity theory Johnson, N. (2007). Simply complexity: A clear guide to complexity theory. OneWorld Publications, Oxford. Futurists are in the business of providing a structured vision of the future that includes variables, dynamics, processes, themes and values by which the future will unfold and how we can be […]
Gomer doesnt understand research, tells kids to get off his lawn
Image via Wikipedia I guess we need every dollar possible for building howizers the Army doesnt want or need ….in Coburn’s state Maybe it’s a generation gap thing. But the $3 million that went to UC Irvine researchers to study “Decentralized Virtual Activities and Technologies” has been branded one of the worst wastes of taxpayer dollars of […]