LOHAS 12, the twelfth annual gathering focussed on sustainable an healthy living, has recently put presentation videos and summaries online here. Particularly good are the graphic mind maps of about a dozen presentations which are linked here. Here is one of them entitled LOHAS Market Trends prepared by idea360.com:
Don’t let Obama become a “Kennedy”
As expected Barack Obama has broken historical trends in this election. His victory was gained through hard work and campaign spending. But it happened because of a yearning for change from a wide cross-section of America. Not only has he finally broken the race barrier but he has made superlative gains in places that have …
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One country – two systems, again?
It is encouraging to see the relationship between China and Taiwan improving. Practical aspects like increased flights and trade will benefit both countries. Maybe China is willing to engage because they envision another “one country – two systems” arrangement evolving which would allow both China and Taiwan to save face while continuing on their current …
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Financial crisis – lessons from the past
A useful review of historical financial crises by the BBC. Here are some extracts worth pondering; 1929 though, was only the beginning of a bear market that went on for some three years before the Dow bottomed out, 90% below its peak. During that time there were no less than seven rallies: the longest went …
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Systems-Thinking.org
Mental Model Musings at the web-address www.systems-thinking.org offers an easy to navigate portal in to the world of systems thinking. Worth a browse for anyone in the knowledge business. To get an idea of the extent of the musings of Gene Bellinger, here are the contents: Systems Modeling & Simulation Systems Introduction to Systems Thinking …
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World in crisis …
We may be feeling the financial crisis, but the destruction of our planet is of greater concern. Thanks to Kevin Kallaugher of The Economist for showing us the reality:
US interest rates – how low can you go
Well not much lower. US interest rates were cut from 1.5% to 1.0% today. Soon they’ll be emulating Japan’s interest rate environment – hovering around 0.5%. And Japan’s economic reputation for the past decade or so has not been good. As we’ve said before, the interest rate level is not the problem. This reduction may …
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New Openoffice looks and feels great.
I did an online update of my software yesterday which resulted in the new openoffice.org version 3.0 being loaded in the background. So, when I started using it today it looked a bit different … a bit better actually. The interface is smarter and has more flexibility at your fingertips, its quicker and it has …
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Ecological crunch looming
Conservation groups have released a report showing that humanity is overconsuming natural capital and are pushing natural systems well beyond their limits. The report estimates a credit excess of a third (though we believe it to be greater). The consequences will be a failure of natural systems and then a failure of human systems and …
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IMF handouts – first come, first served
Better get in line soon. The IMF is doling out cash fast to prop up economies whose banking system is close to collapse. Of course it would be an embarrassment for the US to go cap in hand but don’t rule it out. It reminds me of the Asian Banking Crisis of the late 1990s, …
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