tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42349896063931697402024-03-13T17:01:21.162-07:00WormwordsKeith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-37169933726089197332013-07-04T08:31:00.001-07:002013-07-04T08:31:13.129-07:00Potato Salad"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."
--Erma Bombeck
Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-72558254847268255042012-10-25T09:49:00.001-07:002012-10-25T09:49:21.022-07:00Google Lat Long: Trekking the Grand Canyon for Google Maps<a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/10/trekking-grand-canyon-for-google-maps.html?spref=bl">Google Lat Long: Trekking the Grand Canyon for Google Maps</a>: In our ongoing effort to create the perfect map—one that’s as comprehensive, accurate and easy to use as possible—we’ve gone well beyond ju...Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-57791134687749658172012-04-10T21:59:00.001-07:002012-04-10T22:01:20.198-07:00My dad took me hunting upland game birds, starting from age 8. I have shotgunned and killed many Ring-necked Pheasants as a result of this wonderful father and son bonding exercise. My dad’s hunting companions’ term for RNPH was Chink, in honor of the pheasant’s Chinese ancestry. Charming men, they were. They are all dead now, too.Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-21321839828260784232012-03-19T11:10:00.000-07:002012-03-19T11:11:55.132-07:00Nuke EvolvingIt appears that the technologies of nuclear power have evolved in response to both advocacy and opposition. Fukushima did not stop nuke in its tracks, but it did shift development of new nukes to more advanced designs, with passive safety features. Especially in China which is still likely to build 60 nuclear plants by 2020. <br /><br />Though a few countries will pick nuke to be a part of their energy portfolio, in the U.S., the Shale Gale blowing cheap gas out of North Dakota is right up there with anti-technology ideology or dread of meltdown and proliferation as a deterrent for new nukes.Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-36575515581083564342012-03-05T17:00:00.001-08:002012-03-05T17:02:50.576-08:00The Scramble for AfricaBook Review<br />Pakenham, T., (2003). The scramble for Africa: White man’s conquest of the dark continent from 1876 to 1912. New York: Perennial. (Original work published in 1991)<br /><br />This is a book about the occupation, colonization and conquest of Africa during the Victorian Era. The author, Thomas Pakenham, is an Anglo-Irish historian who writes mostly about Victorian and Post-Victorian British history. Initially, I thought that the title was of the author’s invention. However, I found out from a popular online encyclopedia, that the Scramble for Africa is a term of art for this period from 1876 until World War I. <br />I struggled to get into the book because I have little interest in Victorian history, and Mr. Pakenham doesn’t help matters by assuming a British audience will appreciate his wry characterizations of European historical figures. Not being British, and lacking a British history education made Mr. Pakenham’s dry humor very dead for me. In addition, I was expecting the book to be more Afro-centric. I was, instead, learning more than I cared to, about Queen Victoria. However, as I struggled through the first few chapters, enough background developed to generate interest for the remainder of the book. It was then that I could begin to appreciate the meticulousness of the research of this in-depth history of the Victorian Era land grab in Africa. <br />The Scramble for Africa has as its central theme the contrast between the humanitarian motives of David Livingstone, and the profit-taking of Belgium’s King Leopold. Livingstone, as a Christian missionary, represented social progress moving away from Africa’s slave trade. His philosophy was the triple-bottom-line of the day: the 3 Cs of Commerce, Christianity, and Civilization. “Trade, not the gun, would liberate Africa” (p. xxii).<br />Unfortunately, the fourth ‘C’ of Conquest eventually became the rule as King Leopold made his rubber money, and Cecil Rhodes made his gold-and-diamond fortune. Human rights atrocities were commonplace as Europe imposed its will with the barrel of a gun. All of this makes a kind of historical sense. But, surprisingly the fallout from the Scramble helps to explain the civil wars and anarchy that continue in Africa to this day, even though independence from Europe has been won for many years. <br />The rebellion against, and the withdrawal of, Europe is understandable, but the new independent African states, unprepared for party politics, split along ethnic and regional lines. Civil war and anarchy were, and are, the result. I suppose it would have been too much to ask of the European conquerors, which scrambled to divide up Africa, not to have just as quickly scrambled back out of Africa, leaving a political power vacuum in the wake of their evacuation. I suppose it would have been asking too much of the European conquerors to not have better educated their subjects while occupying Africa. And so, I wonder how many Africans today would like to turn back the clock to 1875. For good reason, this book has been reprinted a number of times since its first appearance in 1990.Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-37167430569615062242012-02-22T14:13:00.000-08:002012-02-22T14:14:48.867-08:00A scenario for GreeceOne wonders how events will play out in Greece. One scenario goes like this: <br />• Foreign bankers lend <br />• Then, financial controllers see that the interest is paid.<br />• Then, foreign advisers take their cut.<br />• Finally, when the country is bankrupt and helpless, it is time for the foreign troops to ‘rescue’ the government from its rebellious people.<br />• Then, the country is gone.<br />This is a script played out many times in history (Pakenham, 2003, p. 126). <br />Reference<br />Pakenham, T., (2003). The scramble for Africa: White man’s conquest of the dark continent from 1876 to 1912. New York: Perennial. (Original work published in 1991)Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-4966678684668461282012-02-21T13:25:00.000-08:002012-02-21T13:25:26.535-08:00Tucson Audubon Society Blog: San Rafael IBA Survey a Great Success!<a href="http://tucsonaudubon.blogspot.com/2012/02/san-rafael-iba-survey-great-success.html?spref=bl">Tucson Audubon Society Blog: San Rafael IBA Survey a Great Success!</a>: By Jennie MacFarland, AZ IBA Conservation Biologist The San Rafael IBA Survey Team! Saturday February 11 th dawned cold and clear ove...Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-64689109962308395552012-02-21T13:19:00.000-08:002012-02-21T13:19:38.591-08:00The Mountaineers Currents: The Suiattle Road: why Boundary Bridge looks funny...<a href="http://mntrs.blogspot.com/2012/02/by-kim-brown-public-lands-intern-new.html?spref=bl">The Mountaineers Currents: The Suiattle Road: why Boundary Bridge looks funny...</a>: By Kim Brown, Public Lands Intern New Boundary bridge spanning the scoured channel. Photo by Gary Paull The last Suiattle blog left us wo...Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-57484503161295032982012-02-17T01:12:00.000-08:002012-02-17T01:19:34.299-08:00A Grecodorkian reviews "Greece's Odious Debt"<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Book Review<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Manolopoulos, J. (2011). Greece’s ‘odious’ debt: The looting of the Hellenic Republic by the euro, the political elite, and the investment community [Kindle version]. New York: Anthem Press. Retrieved from Amazon.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">This is a book about the ongoing financial collapse of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain and Italy. It gives emphasis to current financial events in Greece and the resultant stress on the European Central Bank. The author, Jason Manolopoulos, has an interesting perspective as an investment industry executive from Canada working in London. The book frequently compares the financial situation in Greece with the financial collapse of Argentina ten years ago. He draws helpful historical comparisons with the current financial instability in Europe and offers psychological analysis behind the decisions leading to the present. Finally, the book sheds light on institutional corruption and clientelism that prevent government from making rational, clean decisions. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Mr. Manolopoulos lists Greece’s many problems. The Greek economy features high levels of public debt, a large trade deficit, undiversified industries, an overextended public sector, militant trade unions, widespread corruption, uneven payment of taxes, an overvalued currency, consumers expecting rising living standards, and a euro membership based on inaccurate data. In retrospect, it seems fantastic that the Greek economy was observed to be in better than average condition as late a February 2009. All parties involved are not looking very good as this story continues to evolve, including Greek politicians, Greek society, trade unions, leaders of the European Union, the IMF, and the world’s investment banks. All have exhibited a collective display of hubris, miscalculation, over ambition, deception, mis-selling and sheer greed.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Manolopoulos (2011) says that “Greece has been allowed to borrow in excess of €300 billion despite a largely unreformed economy, overreliance on mid-tech industries, a chronically inefficient and corrupt public sector, and an unreformed political infrastructure with immunity for politicians guilty of financial crimes” (p. 138). Mr. Manolopoulos would like to call this an “odious debt”, the term in international law that refers to a debt incurred by a despotic regime, but where is the despot? Mr. Manolopoulos doesn’t say. If we look at the recent history of Greece, we know that since 1987, the Greek financial sector has undergone almost complete liberalization (Thomadakis, p. 57). Since then, the Greek financial sector has shown positive performance and its modernization is obvious in the growth of skilled jobs in the banking sector. In a very real sense, the Greek state has failed the Greek banks rather than the other way around. Yet, Mr. Manolopoulos doesn’t make clear why Greece has yet to reform their economic system. Must the author be speaking of its lawless culture, starting with the grotesque waste in the public sector? Further development of the subject of Greek politics and society would help the book more useful in understanding how Greece in got into the mess in which it finds itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">According to Mr. Manolopoulos, Greece’s application to join the euro in 2000 was motivated by what he calls the bogus concept of economic convergence. Although he doesn’t define what he means by economic convergence, it is an important concept because it is one of the crucial areas for European Union financial success. To call it bogus without saying why diminishes Mr. Manolopoulos’ message. By better defining the theory of economic convergence and what it means, the author would be in a better position to describe the economic reforms necessary for Greece. For example, the theory of convergence is the hypothesis that the states that poorer economies per capita incomes grow faster than richer economies. Yet, as we see historically, capital doesn’t flow from rich to poor countries (Lucas, 1990). This puzzle is famously called the “Lucas Paradox” but is not referred to by Mr. Manolopoulos in his book.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">“The miraculous turnaround, in which Greece went from being an unconverged economy to a converged one within 18 months, should have raised alarm bells” (Manolopoulos, p. 1205). Yes, according to the idea of economic convergence a poor economy’s per capita income will tend to grow at faster rates than richer economies. Eventually, then, all economies should converge in terms of per capita income. The reason for this is because developing countries have the potential to grow faster than developed countries because of the law of diminishing returns. Obviously, the current situation in Greece proves the limitations of this idea. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Mr. Manolopoulos says that “Greece will not be transformed overnight from a low-tax, low-service society to a high-tax, high-service one like Sweden. There will be an inflection point, a dark moment before the dawn where taxes will have increased and services not improved. That will be a serious political testing point” (p. 4758). This is an excellent point. Looking back over one hundred years ago to the reign of Greece’s King George I, we see that the price Greece paid for a central government was clientelism and a network of patronage to local bosses in exchange for loyalty to the crown (Keridis, 1997). Greece’s military dictatorship fell in 1974, marking the end of a highly unstable history and the beginning of a parliamentary democracy. Though Greece has made tremendous progress since then, the fact is that its post-1974 democratically elected leaders initially postponed economic adjustment to an open, competitive economy (Tsoukalis, 1997). Knowing this, we begin to understand the challenges that will lead to an overhaul of Greece’s antiquated institutions that is still necessary. In fact, one could say the Greek financial crisis is the pressure for reform that Greece has been looking for since 1981 when it allowed entry into the European Community. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">“The silver lining is the fact that the Greek public sector is wasteful, her tax payment irregular, and the private sector is uncompetitive means there is huge scope for improvement” (Manolopoulos, p. 4758). The problem with this argument is that since 1981, when Greece entered into the European Community, Greece has steadily lost socioeconomic ground because of structural weaknesses in its governance (Diamandouros, 1997). At a time when international and European environments were streamlining and privatizing, Greece found itself, and still finds itself hostage, to internal social and political forces that were pushing her in the opposite direction. That these problems still existed upon entrance into the European Union in 2000, and have not been rectified as of 2012 is something to be very concerned about next month (March, 2012) when Greece is due for its next round of funds from Brussels. In fact, at the end of 2011, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found it striking that there was no central strategic and shared vision about where Greece was taking its society and economy (OECD, 2011). <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">As we are seeing in today’s financial news headlines, there has to be significant debt restructuring or else Greece must leave the EU. Why have we not learned our lessons? The orgy of debt continues. To continue to lend money to an economy that is losing money is simply unsustainable. Where does this leave the EU? There is fiscal union but not political union in the EU. For the EU to continue to exist, Greece will have to take orders from Brussels. Can Greek democracy survive under these stresses? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">What is the path forward? While the thesis of “Greece’s Odious Debt” is a weak one, the book does a great job of directing attention to issues that created the financial crisis in Europe, especially in Greece. Are the Greeks of today remotely capable of coping with the financial realities of the modern world and the discipline of Eurozone members who are tiring of subsidizing unrealistic public expenditure and a robber baron attitude toward taxation?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Well that is the problem, with the book: It does not help us to know where we go from here. Clearly, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos must secure a strong center and designate leadership that will take clear ownership of the reforms necessary. However, with a political system rooted in the politics of veto instead of the politics of persuasion, Mr. Papademos has an impossible task. It is understandable that “Greece’s Odious Debt” is challenged by the question of where Greece should go. Despite the emphasis of the book about lessons learned, Greece, unfortunately, is still in the early stages of this crisis, is in uncharted territory, and the outcome is very uncertain. In a very real sense, the Greek crisis has become an existential threat for the project of European integration begun with the Treaty of Rome over fifty years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;text-indent:.5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule: exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">References<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Diamandouros, P. N. (1997). Greek politics & society in the 1990s. In Allison, G. T., & Nicolaïdis, K. (Eds.), <i>The Greek paradox: Promise vs. performance</i> (pp. 23-37). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Keridis, D. (1997). Greece in the 1990s: The challenge of reform. In Allison, G. T., & Nicolaïdis, K. (Eds.), <i>The Greek paradox: Promise vs. performance</i> (pp. 85-96). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Lucas, Robert E. (1990), “Why doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries?" <i>American Economic Review </i>80, 92-96.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Manolopoulos, J. (2011). Greece’s ‘odious’ debt: The looting of the Hellenic Republic by the euro, the political elite, and the investment community [Kindle version]. New York: Anthem Press. Retrieved from Amazon.com<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2011). <i>Greece: Review of the central administration</i>. Retrieved February 15, 2012, from </span><a href="http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/governance/greece-review-of-the-central-administration_9789264102880-en">http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/governance/greece-review-of-the-central-administration_9789264102880-en</a><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Thomadakis, S. B. (1997). The Greek economy: Performance, expectations, & paradoxes. In Allison, G. T., & Nicolaïdis, K. (Eds.), <i>The Greek paradox: Promise vs. performance</i> (pp. 39-60). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Tsoukalis, L. (1997). Conclusion: Beyond the Greek paradox. In Allison, G. T., & Nicolaïdis, K. (Eds.), <i>The Greek paradox: Promise vs. performance</i> (pp. 164-74). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><o:p> </o:p></p>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-498544450789902422011-12-06T21:53:00.000-08:002011-12-06T21:53:48.630-08:00A Waste of Waste<a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2011/12/05/a-waste-of-waste/">A Waste of Waste</a>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-39048133526930274462011-11-27T09:48:00.000-08:002011-11-27T09:48:05.500-08:00The Adaptation Factory: Lynn Margulis 1938-2011<a href="http://adaptationfactory.blogspot.com/2011/11/lynn-margulis-1938-2011.html">The Adaptation Factory: Lynn Margulis 1938-2011</a>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-86279556605749020342011-11-17T22:09:00.001-08:002011-11-17T22:09:46.481-08:0041F<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:donotshowrevisions/> <w:donotprintrevisions/> <w:donotshowmarkup/> <w:donotshowcomments/> <w:donotshowinsertionsanddeletions/> 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mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Moving against the 5-O bike commute on the mainline.</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Got MDs heading at me, swerving and curving.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">They’re hustling to get the hell home,</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Out of the UW hospital, </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Into the Seattle owl-eye darkness,</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">And pushing the limits of their stroboscopic LEDs.</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Attack mode,</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">And a busted collarbone waiting at next RR xing.</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">No problem, an orthopod should be around.</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">I got my hundred bucks of groceries rattling on the back rack, PCC.</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Don’t need to worry too much about my ice cream, </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">It’s 41F and getting real.</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">In what ways am I blowing a Condor away?</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Couldn’t think of any. </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">But it did remind me that the great one, </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The one, some say, was the last guy in America that knew what he was doing,</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Said a computer was like this for our minds. </span></p>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-50285797129031136682011-11-07T22:21:00.000-08:002011-11-07T22:23:21.875-08:00Book Review: "Break Through"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Book Review</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:normal; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Nordhaus, T., & Shellenberger, M.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>(2007).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Break through:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>From the death of environmentalism to the politics of possibility [Kindle version].<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>New York:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Houghton Mifflin.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Retrieved from Amazon.com</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">This book by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger advocates dealing with the climate crisis through investment, not through regulation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Acknowledging that rapid climate change is a technological challenge, they argue that the best way to do deal with it is the way we’ve dealt with other technological challenges: by public investment in R&D and government procurement of promising energy technologies.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In addition, they argue that environmental groups focus on pollution regulation is really misplaced because it has become a dogma of putting a price on carbon and economic sacrifice to avoid apocalypse, rather than a framework of economic opportunity and innovation.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Nordhaus and Shellenberger make a strong case that environmentalism has failed to accomplish its goals because it approaches the subject from the perspective of placing limits to growth on humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They instead suggest that the Malthusian limits to growth are particular to affluent societies and can be overcome by innovation and strong pragmatism. They insist that, “To direct our focus on collapse not only makes for a distorted view of human history, it risks undermining the security, confidence, and optimism required for progressive social and political change” (p. 150).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">They state that the time has come for America to embrace a new story about itself.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>A story focused on aspiration rather than complaint, on assets rather than deficits and on possibility rather than limits. That, “modern environmentalism, with all of its unexamined assumptions, outdated concepts and exhausted strategies, just die so that something new can live” (p. 9).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">I object that the book does not clearly define what Environmentalism is; rather it is a term with which the authors play.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For example, “If ‘the environment’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">includes</i> humans, then everything in environmental and the concept has little use other than being a poor synonym for ‘everything.’ If it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">excludes</i> humans, then it is scientifically specious, not to mention politically suicidal” (p. 10).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Which is it?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">The real thesis of this book is that it’s a geoengineered planet that we live on and the solutions to its problems lie in investment in technology.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>A simpler way to support the authors’ thesis would be to explain that because the environmentalism discourse currently reflects a particular ethical view of the world, that ethical framework is inadequate to address the expanded number of discourses relevant to the climate change debate. But the authors fail to point out that there are no ethical systems adequate to guide behavior to remedy climate change.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We need a planetary ethic to guide the investments to which Nordhaus and Shellenberger advocate.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Moreover, it is not clear that we can innovate our way out of climate change due to the law of diminishing returns on investment in R & D.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Nordhaus and Shellenberger make a good case for why we should not leave saving the planet to environmentalists.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Their investment based solution is </span>very interesting because they seek to deny the Malthusian hypothesis and doomsday models.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Theirs is the conventional economic perspective that has a strong faith in the law of infinite substitutability.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’m guessing that their definition of Sustainability is straight out of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The American Heritage Dictionary</i>:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“To keep in existence”.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They are pretty sure we can still innovate our way out of problems, again, again, and again.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Are they right?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The law of diminishing returns says no.</p>Keith 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mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> "I read a study </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">that measured the efficiency </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">of locomotion </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">for various species </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">on the planet. </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">about a third of the way down the list. </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">... then someone at Scientific American had the insight </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">to test the efficiency of locomotion </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">for a man on a bicycle, </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">[who] blew the condor away.</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">That's what a computer is to me</span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">... the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with. </span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our</span> minds."</p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoPlainText">--Steve Jobs, in a 1990 interview</p>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-25982555796120224402011-06-08T07:39:00.000-07:002011-06-08T07:41:23.036-07:00Gemany is Quitting Nuke Cold Turkey<p>Germany is going to drop nuclear power by 2022: podcast -<a href="http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/06/02/germany-ditch-nuclear-power" target="_blank">http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/06/02/germany-ditch-nuclear-power</a></p> <p>This is interesting to me because the decision to dump nuke comes from a country with relatively low resources for renewable energy – they have a lot of dark, windless days. Fukushima has rocked the German public and swung conservative Chancellor Merkel onto a bold new course. Experts are skeptical that Germany can get off nuke <em>and</em> lower carbon dioxide emissions. Others applaud the decision claiming reliance on nuke prevents investment and development of new, zero-carbon energy technology.</p> <p>Meanwhile in the U.S., the TVA is getting ready to ask its board to resurrect the stalled construction of a nuclear facility in Hollywood…AL. - <a href="http://www.coolhandnuke.com/Cool-Hand-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/78/TVA-seeks-green-light-to-build-Bellefonte.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.coolhandnuke.com/Cool-Hand-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/78/TVA-seeks-green-light-to-build-Bellefonte.aspx</a></p> <p>It seems that nuclear power is going to be left on the table to help meet the world’s 2050 energy forecast. Why? Because we are worried about carbon emissions. However, the German “no to nuke” decision makes this reason seem fuzzier.</p>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-71530511884125627842011-05-15T23:14:00.000-07:002011-05-15T23:15:55.630-07:00A Mechanical Engineer Reviews, "A History of Mechanical Inventions"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:donotshowrevisions/> <w:donotprintrevisions/> <w:donotshowmarkup/> <w:donotshowcomments/> <w:donotshowinsertionsanddeletions/> <w:donotshowpropertychanges/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> 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data="1"> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:28.0pt; mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Usher, A. P. (1988).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">A history of mechanical inventions </i>(Rev. ed.).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>New York:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Dover Publications.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>(Original work published 1954)</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin">I thought it would be fun to read this book because I like mechanical stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I did my undergraduate work in mechanical engineering, but I was never was required to read anything about the history of mechanical invention, and as a result it was wonderful to finally learn about their development as they relate to economic history.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This knowledge helps to illuminate for me the context of current innovation and its origins.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>With innovation a perennially favorite topic for business literature, a bigger perspective provided by this classic book was refreshing.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Some may criticize this book for being dated; however it provides the basis by which we look at the history of mechanical inventions.</span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In fact, since 1961, The Society of the History of Technology has annually awarded the Abbott Payson Usher Prize, named in the author’s honor.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin">This is a history of mechanical inventions.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Abbott Payson Usher was professor of economic history at Harvard and passed away in 1965 at the age of 82.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He felt that, “Economic history is concerned with the description and the analysis of the mutual transformations taking glace between human societies and their environment” (p.1).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>From this point of view, he writes a compelling book, emphasizing social change as a cumulative process.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“The development of human societies requires no less careful study of ecology than is necessary for the understanding of the growth of population of the various plants and animals” (p. 18).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I very much enjoyed Prof. Usher’s opinion that the problems faced by the historian are not any different than those face by the scientist.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin">The main point of this classic is to talk about the importance of technological innovation in the cultural and economic history of the West.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Economic history is concerned with the description and the analysis of the mutual transformations taking glace between human societies and their environment” (p.1).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Prof. Usher emphasizes the role of economic forces in developing technology to meet demand.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For example from 1500—1730 there was no significant invention in the field f of spinning.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I find that 230 years is an amazingly long time to go without invention in a fairly practical area.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Apparently, there was no pressure upon the spinners which only happened when the flying shuttle was invented.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin">I also enjoyed his discussion of Leonardo da Vinci.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Prof. Usher makes and excellent point that Leonardo lived in two worlds woven by many interests and the loss of either world would have been a calamity to him and an impairment of achievement in the remaining field.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I love this thought because sometimes I feel diluted by my many interests and sometimes think that I need to “specialize”.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin">The definition of technology that Usher uses defines the entire book: the techniques by which resources are utilized at any given moment.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Usher feels that the economic historian must pay particular attention to the relation between the geographic environment and the technology that makes the environment useful.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;tab-stops:22.5pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">This book is almost sixty years old, but is written with a good understating of engineering.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As a result it has aged well because the history to which it speaks it does so in precise terminology that is still important today.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>There can be little doubt of the importance of technological innovation in the economic history of the West and Prof. Usher demonstrates this admirably with a chapter entitled, “The Emergence of Novelty in Thought and Action”.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Invention in the field of mechanics is, in fact, broadly representative of every feature of the general process of invention” (p. 56).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I like this because it turns out that mechanics is not a narrow field as one might guess.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;tab-stops:22.5pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Through a lifetime pursuit of extensive, documented research, Prof. Usher feels that it is important for the historian to limit his efforts to the task of developing operational procedures without attempting philosophical analysis of the underlying postulates.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I think Prof. Usher’s underlying assumption in this book is that the limitations of resources are relative to the position of our knowledge and of our technique (p. 9).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>But technological innovation is subject to the law of diminishing returns (Tainter, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Collapse of Complex Societies</i>, p. 124).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For a society to expand it needs high structural diversity and highly developed organization to maintain its complexity.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;tab-stops:22.5pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Prof. Usher’s real thesis in this book appears to be how man makes himself.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That is, the quality and importance of great achievements are due to the cumulative syntheses of a very large number of small achievements (p.83).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>His real argument is that through infinite substitutability man can continue to expand socially and politically.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He has faith that as resources become scarce and rise in price, that there will be rewards for innovation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The good professor seems to think that, in this optimistic view, new resources and technologies will emerge. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:28.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin">I believe the real argument of this book is that a dependence on fossil fuels has allowed man a respite from declining marginal productivity of future expansion.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If we were to show innovation of technology over the last millennium, we might see that man’s ability to make himself is a result of his ability to maintain a highly differentiated and organized society based on his dependence on fossil fuels, and not of his ability to innovate.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As the declining margin of research and development becomes more difficult, innovation becomes more complex and costly.</span></p>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-53047930487878446552011-04-11T23:00:00.000-07:002011-04-11T23:04:12.651-07:00A Sustainability Crank Reviews "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:donotshowrevisions/> <w:donotprintrevisions/> <w:donotshowmarkup/> <w:donotshowcomments/> <w:donotshowinsertionsanddeletions/> <w:donotshowpropertychanges/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> 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name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Book Review</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:normal; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Landes, D. S.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>(1999).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The wealth and poverty of nations:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Why some are so rich and some so poor</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>New York, W. W. Norton & Company.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:normal; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">I finally got around to reading, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></i>It’s an economic history of the world for the last 1,000 years.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The main point of this book is to identify the reasons that make some countries financially richer than others.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>By indentifying these reasons then tracing the main stream of economic advances over time, David Landes (professor emeritus at Harvard) attempts to explain how we humans got to where we are today.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In the processes, his beautiful command of the language was a joy to read from beginning to end.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Prof. Landes claims that in the last few hundred years we humans have passed from tinkering and observation to a owning a huge and growing mass of scientific information that is mostly useful for civilization.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Further, he maintains that cultural adaptation makes the difference between rich nations and poor nations in the history of economic development.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">I had difficulty determining how wealth and poverty were defined in this book.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Nor was I able to understand the relationship between.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>What is a wealthy society?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>How can we tell?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I am sure an economist reading this book will be disappointed to read an economic history of the world that emphasizes cultural influence.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Nevertheless, Prof. Landes insists that an historical approach will contribute to, but not provide, a complete answer to why there is a growing gap between rich and poor.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>According to him, a survey of historical analyses identifies two schools of thought; both have elements of truth:</span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Europeans were smarter and better organized.</span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Europeans were aggressive ruthless and greedy.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">A third school considers the West-Rest dichotomy false and portrays Europe as a latecomer and therefore a free rider on the accomplishments of the rest of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>But Prof. Landes dismisses this argument as simply incorrect because, he claims, the record of the last thousand years shows Europe as a leader and innovator in science and technology. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">In fact, Prof. Landes’ big assumption in this book is that there is an ultimate advantage and beneficence of scientific knowledge and technological capability.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I agree with this assumption.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>However, there are a lot of people that don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Whether millenarians, nostalgics, or anti-intellectuals they look for reasons that are shrouded with feelings rather than knowing.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">I think Prof. Landes strayed from his thesis as he wrote this book.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Starting with geography, then touching on economics, but ending up as a cultural assessment. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It seems his real thesis is that it is best to be an optimist and to keep trying.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For example, he points out that Great Britain, France, and Germany kept trying while China, Japan, and Islam have withdrawn from time to time over the centures. Early on in the book, hHe maintains the agnosticism of a historian, but then later, seemed to adopt the business person’s optimism of unlimited economic growth.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Prof. Landes real argument is that a pragmatic approach is the real approach.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He asserts that from the historical record of i</span>nternational competition, globalism is a positive-sum game:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>everyone wins, in the long run.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> He does not advocate a particular policy; in fact, the less so because he feels that active intervention can make things worse as often as better.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none">For me, this quote sums up Landes philosophical tone in this book:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“We want things to be sweet; too many of us work to live and live to be happy.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Nothing wrong that; it just does not promote high productivity.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>You want high productivity?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Then you should live to work and get happiness as a by-product” (p. 523).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This sounds a bit grim, and it is hard to tell one nation from the other using this metric.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Also I wonder what the Dalai Lama would have to say about it, since his fundamental principle for people is for them to be happy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Landes himself admits that this philosophy is not easy and notes that the people who live to work are a small and fortunate elite.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Elite who accentuate the positive.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In closing:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:.5in"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">In this world, the optimists have it, not because they are always right, but because they are positive. Even when wrong, they are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement, and success.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism can only offer the empty consolation of being right.</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:.5in"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The one lesson that emerges is the need to keep trying.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>No miracles. No perfection.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>No millennium.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>No apocalypse.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We must cultivate a skeptical faith, avoid dogma, listen and watch well, try to clarify and define ends, the better to choose means (p. 524).</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I find this inspiring but also a bit naïve because the average Joe out there is pretty positive even though he is continually getting kicked in the balls.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">This book has made a significant contribution to my understating the relationship between wealth and history.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Landes erudition is amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Though it is likely seen as a polar opposite of Jared Diamond’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Guns, Germs, and Steel</i>, I didn’t see it that way.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Prof. Diamond sees the fates of human societies as geography based rather than Landes’ emphasis on culture.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>However, Landes begins <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Wealth and Poverty</i> noting the unevenness of nature and that the </span>world has never been a level playing field.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“It [air conditioning] redistributes the heat from the fortunate to the unfortunate” (p. 7).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This statement doesn’t seem like right-wing literature to me.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I view the two books as complements to each other and having read both, I now see how much was missing from each.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Writing big history must be a bitch.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">A manager of an enterprise that has any concern at all about the human environment and the world from which it came would do well to read this book at some point in his career.</span></p>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4234989606393169740.post-89581172872957485382011-01-11T11:43:00.001-08:002011-01-11T11:43:47.788-08:00The Collaboration Paradox: None of us is as dumb as all of usCheck out this SlideShare Presentation: <div style="width:425px" id="__ss_904588"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/webgoddesscathy/collaboration-in-the-meltdown-presentation" title="The Collaboration Paradox: None of us is as dumb as all of us">The Collaboration Paradox: None of us is as dumb as all of us</a></strong><object id="__sse904588" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=ent101jabele01072009-1231526233912370-2&stripped_title=collaboration-in-the-meltdown-presentation&userName=webgoddesscathy" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse904588" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=ent101jabele01072009-1231526233912370-2&stripped_title=collaboration-in-the-meltdown-presentation&userName=webgoddesscathy" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/webgoddesscathy">MaRS Discovery District</a>.</div></div>Keith Wormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05434804709831995564noreply@blogger.com2