Monthly Archives: August 2004

THE CHEMICAL SOUP WE LIVE IN

Up to now, I’ve avoided writing about the impact of untested chemical poisons on people (especially children) and the environment. After all, we grew up in an even less regulated environment — lead toothpaste tubes and Matchbox toys, thermometers full … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works | 6 Comments

A THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE, AND HOW IT COULD SAVE THE WORLD

During my ten years as a Chief Knowledge Officer, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how people should use knowledge, and to some extent how people learn, but it never occurred to me to develop an … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 12 Comments

WHY ‘FREE’ TRADE DOESN’T WORK

When I was younger, I was both a socialist and a supporter of ‘free’ trade. Both concepts make eminent sense in an ideal world. Take away the complexity of real world affairs and debate the benefits of either concept strictly … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 10 Comments

HUNGRY FOR MORE

Some interesting weekend reading for you, mostly about politics: The UK’s Neil Crofts has written a book about making a living happily as an entrepreneur instead of as a wage slave, but he takes a completely different tack from the … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 10 Comments

Awfully Personal Question for August 28, 2004

Welcome to That’s Awfully Personal, an opportunity for blog writers and readers to reveal a little more about themselves than might normally happen during the daily blogging process, and hence get to know each other a bit better. It’s a … Continue reading

Posted in _ Uncategorized | 1 Comment

AUSSIE BREAKTHROUGH ON SOLAR ENERGY?

Last year I waded through Jeremy Rifkin’s The Hydrogen Economy and wrote a blog post that explained what’s promising about hydrogen as a fuel, and its two major drawbacks. I used two charts, reproduced here, to explain how it works … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 25 Comments

MANAGING YOUR BUSINESS’ CASH FLOW AND WORKING CAPITAL

(Thirteenth instalment of the upcoming book Natural Enterprise. List of previous instalments here.) Enterprises fail for two main reasons: They make poor business decisions, or they run out of cash. Much of Natural Enterprise has been about how to make … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 2 Comments

DARFUR: A COCKTAIL OF SUFFERING AND GENOCIDE

Sudan has a great deal in common with Afghanistan. Both countries are horrendously overpopulated relative to their carrying capacity, and have exploding populations — Sudan’s population of 40 million people is doubling every 25 years and that rate is not … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 1 Comment

MEASURING ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS

(Twelfth instalment of the upcoming book Natural Enterprise. List of previous instalments here.) Enterprises today have a dizzying selection of performance measurements to choose from. While at one time measuring financial profitability, growth and asset management effectiveness were considered enough, … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 3 Comments

MAKING POLITICS POLITICALLY CORRECT

We went out for a delicious dinner last night at a wonderful, and completely packed, restaurant in downtown Toronto (it’s called Mildred Pierce, for those who live in the area), and spent some of the time unobtrusively eavesdropping on the … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 9 Comments