Monthly Archives: May 2006

Expertise Finders: Illumio, Privacy, and Better Ways to Find People

Several people have sent me the NYT article on Illumio, the new peer-to-peer expertise finder from Tacit. It’s worthwhile, I think, looking at how Illumio works, and then thinking about whether it does, or doesn’t, meet the enormous need for … Continue reading

Posted in Using Weblogs and Technology | 1 Comment

The Challenge of Building Community

We’re starting to discover that the only effective way to make the world better is from the bottom up — by creating or evolving self-sufficient communities. As we saw in New Orleans, and as we see with failed states and … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 19 Comments

What Should We Invest In If the Economy’s Going to Collapse?

Since I wrote the two-part article on the Great Depression, several people have asked me for thoughts on what to invest their money in, a ‘safe harbour’ when currencies and economies go into collapse. Many investors have been buying stocks … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 14 Comments

What Makes a Blog Popular?

A couple of years ago I asked myself that question, did some research and came up with the What the Blogosphere Wants More Of list shown at the bottom of my right sidebar. Since that time, as the chart above … Continue reading

Posted in Using Weblogs and Technology | 5 Comments

Links for the Week – May 27/06

Cartoon by Charles Barsotti from The New Yorker. Buy his amazing cartoons here, or his new book here. Global Politics and Economics: War is the Health of the State: “It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 5 Comments

Beyond Hope: The Radicalization of Derrick Jensen

Derrick Jensen’s book A Language Older Than Words left me physically shaken. I read it, about five years ago, in one sitting, in 36 hours without sleep, and more than once I threw it down as if I’d been stung. … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 15 Comments

Harper Doesn’t Speak for Canadians

Canadian minority Prime Minister Harper wigged out yesterday. It had been a bad week for him and his right-wing party. First he again ridiculed the Kyoto Accord, declaring that Canada had no intention of even trying to live up to … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 16 Comments

Getting Things Done, Happiness, and Our Strange Sense of Priority

I slept in today. Or, rather, I lay in bed, listening to the birds, smelling the Spring air, daydreaming, thinking about what I would write about today, trying to shut out of my mind all the other things I ‘had … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 2 Comments

Self-Experimentation, Instant Feedback and the Freakonomics Game

Yesterday I wrote about insecurity and lack of self-esteem and how they lead us to go overboard seeking appreciation and attention. Another product of frail, dependent-on-others egos is learned helplessness — the belief that we’re not competent to do things … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 6 Comments

Insecurity and Status-Seeking

Today’s post is a teaser for a major article I’m working on for tomorrow that draws together self-experimentation, ego, imaginative poverty, procrastination, lack of innovation, addiction, freakonomics, feedback and learned helplessness. Stay tuned. We had brunch today (it’s a holiday … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 15 Comments