Community Thursday: Local motors and Resilient Manufacturing

January 26, 2012

The great part of doing original research on resilience, is that I get to hang out with amazing people both online and off.   You know, the smart people that are actually making a better, resilient future that’s worth living in. Here’s an example of someone doing exactly that.  I recently had high energy lunch [...]

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Should I get an education or a degree?

January 25, 2012

I’m often asked by young people either on the cusp or already in college:  should I get a degree?   What’s the resilient choice? That’s a tough question. In 2008 some economists demonstrated that a college degree was typically worth $300,000 over a lifetime of work. Unfortunately, 2008 was a lifetime ago.  In 2012, the [...]

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3 Global Disruptions to Watch and a Tip

January 24, 2012

I’m going to give you a tip on how to think about disruptions at the end of this article.  First, here are three disruptions — events that can cause cascade failures in global networks — that are at the top of this month’s scan: A war between the US/Israel and Iran that can disrupt oil [...]

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Maker Monday: The Printrbot $830 k Success Story

January 23, 2012

This week, I’m going to be talking about Printrbot, a DIY personal fabrication company that has a pretty amazing story.  It’s part of a new series I’m running called Maker Monday.  A series on the people (makers) who are pioneering methods and technologies needed to manufacture things locally. However, before I start that Maker Monday [...]

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Take Control. But what does “Control” Really Mean?

January 20, 2012

One of things I strongly advocate, if you want to thrive during the turbulent teens, is to take control. It shouldn’t matter what the global economy or your government is doing (even though in most cases, their dysfunctional behavior is working against you 24×7).   All that really matters is that you are in control. [...]

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Heavy weather and the new normal

January 16, 2012

I often tell people that the mid-century will be about “old people in big cities who are afraid of the sky.”  Bruce Sterling, the science fiction author, on how global demographic trends, climate change, and urbanization will define our future. I live in New England. I’ve lived there for most of my life (I come from [...]

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Decoupling from a global train wreck…

January 9, 2012

Most of us are DEPENDENT on a global network to get through the day. Unfortunately, this network is tightly coupled. Tightly coupled?  What the heck is that? Tightly coupled is a term used by engineers.   It’s a system where the parts are interdependent. As a result, a change or failure in one part of [...]

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