Making sense of the radical change surrounding us – a long-term perspective – 1

The change overwhelming us is simultaneously exciting, frightening, thrilling, unsettling, clear, and confused.  We have a scary and exciting future with incredible opportunities that we can only vaguely see.

How to make sense of it?

Two writers more than all others have helped me as I slowly sort things out: Seth Godin and Walter Russell Mead.

I’d like to highlight a few articles from Mr. Mead to give a sense of the major trends facing us. He regularly refers to the breakdown of the “blue model.”

The way we’ve done things since World War II isn’t working anymore. The breakdown will continue. The challenge is to figure out how to rearrange the economy and our society into something new. None of us have any idea today what that “new” thing is. But we can see the old model is breaking down.

In Life After Blue, he provides a good summary: Continue reading “Making sense of the radical change surrounding us – a long-term perspective – 1”

“Tragedy of Fraud” e-book now available at Amazon

(Cross-posted from my other blog, Attestation Update.)

“Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned” describes the tragic consequences from fraud.

There are ripple effects that spread out to harm innocent bystanders.  The perpetrator draws a wide range of well-deserved wages that will be paid in full.

The book looks at two fraud incidents to learn what happens after a fraud is discovered. One took place in a local megachurch and the other in the mayor’s office of a small city.

The book closes with a discussion of the fraud triangle. That’s the idea that three components need to be present for a fraud to take place – opportunity, motivation, and rationalization. There are steps an organization can take to reduce those factors.

You can find the book at Amazon here.

This book is a compilation of blogs posts that have been previously published at Nonprofit Update and Attestation Update. The posts have been edited slightly and reorganized for easier reading.

Major sections of the book: Continue reading ““Tragedy of Fraud” e-book now available at Amazon”

Value and satisfaction are defined by the consumer

Here is the first entry in the current year Economics Music Video Contest from Fayetteville State University.

Big books shows value is determined by the consumer.

Do you want to make a fortune? Figure out what consumers want and provide it.

Check this out:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLjiT5tt-WVpqPX1roEXtp8kttcHYVEv4g&feature=player_embedded&v=aAHR8NEpnP8]

link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLjiT5tt-WVpqPX1roEXtp8kttcHYVEv4g&feature=player_embedded&v=aAHR8NEpnP8

A couple of fun lines: Continue reading “Value and satisfaction are defined by the consumer”

Selective enforcement for killing protected birds

Previous post mentioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave permission for a permit to move forward which would allow a wind farm in Goodhue County, Minnesota to kill up to 8 or 15 eagles a year for the next 30 years.

In addition to the uneconomical and unintended-consequence-causing energy that is produced, we are staring at a highly selective enforcement of federal laws against killing eagles and migratory birds.

Official permission to kill eagles?

Continue reading “Selective enforcement for killing protected birds”

Drop in rig count does not mean a drop in completed well count

Here’s another comment explaining why we are seeing a drop in the rig count at the same time as completed wells are increasing.

From Eagle Ford Shale – Lower Rig Count, But More Drilling in 2013 – Schlumberger.

Public companies have quarterly conference calls where they discuss their operations and outlooks. That releases to the investing community their thinking.

In fourth quarter conference call… Continue reading “Drop in rig count does not mean a drop in completed well count”

Mali update – 2-3-13

Updates from the last week. Don’t know how long I’ll keep posting these summaries, since they are a bit off-topic for my blog. For the moment, plan to continue them a little longer.

1-29 – Wall Street Journal – French and Malian Forces Retake Timbuktu.

The militants (that’s the WSJ style definition) left Timbuktu before the troops arrived, which allowed the French forces to retake the city without a battle. There are now 3,500 French troops on the ground.

Continue reading “Mali update – 2-3-13”

You can apply for a federal permit to kill a bunch of eagles

You read that right.

Looks like it is possible to get permission from the feds to set up an operation that expects to kill several eagles every year for the next 3 decades. Thirty years.

What do you have to do to get blessing to file such a permit?

Continue reading “You can apply for a federal permit to kill a bunch of eagles”

Rap to explain “Demand meets supply at the equilibrium price”

That quote in the title of this post is one of the great lines from the winning video in the Fayetteville State University video competition last year. The topic was supply and demand.

The video is “Whatever You Like” from a team of students at Fayetteville State University.

Check this out:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PLjiT5tt-WVpry7lKtSQjOJ_rjC1_pgeOL&v=BO2cimsoBa0]

Continue reading “Rap to explain “Demand meets supply at the equilibrium price””

Increase in speed of travel in 1800s

The time you have to invest getting from here to there is a major cost of travel. We are so astoundingly spoiled today since we can end our day anywhere in the U.S. starting from anywhere else. Within 24 or 30 hours you can get to just about any country on the planet.

We have to work to remember that  speed is a relatively new development. For most of human history the huge time needed to get from here to there was a severe limit on travel and commerce.

A post in Mother Nature Network, How fast could you travel across the U.S. in the 1800s, highlights maps that show travel times to get across the country.

For perspective, the maps are dawn in terms of travel time from New York City. I pulled together some of the travel times to show the improvements in speed.

Continue reading “Increase in speed of travel in 1800s”

Cline Shale – another name you want to learn – “The shale rush has just begun” – Peak Oil #17

One of the biggest reasons that Peak Oil is so astoundingly foolish is the assumption that there will never, ever be any more oil found under the ground. Another huge assumption is that those dirty, evil, money-grubbing oil barons will never, ever figure out a new way to get the oil out.

This month’s object lesson that both assumptions are completely wrong is Cline Shale. I will have another object lesson in a few days.

Yeah, I’ve not heard of Cline Shale before reading this afternoon’s post from Million Dollar Way – Peak Oil? What Peak Oil? Now We Have the Cline Shale.

Continue reading “Cline Shale – another name you want to learn – “The shale rush has just begun” – Peak Oil #17”

American middle class isn’t stagnating but is better off than in the ‘70s

A frequent comment at several blogs I follow and discussion on this blog is the dramatic improvement in life generated by technology over the last few decades. Look here, here, here, and here. For a longer term perspective, look here.

Don Boudreaux and Mark Perry expand the discussion beyond technology to explain the middle class is much better off today than in the 1970s.  Check out their article in the Wall Street Journal – The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class.

The claim they are addressing is the idea that only the richest people are better off over the last 30 years:

Continue reading “American middle class isn’t stagnating but is better off than in the ‘70s”

‘Tragedy of Fraud’ in e-book format – soon to be released

(Cross posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned will be released soon in Kindle format. This is a compilation of blog posts about the damage caused by fraud. It will also discuss the fraud triangle.

The sections of the book are: Continue reading “‘Tragedy of Fraud’ in e-book format – soon to be released”

New frontiers are open – Part 4

The new frontiers:

  • Oil Patch
  • Publishing
  • Education
  • Space Exploration

New frontiers have opened up, with incredible opportunities as wide as the prairies in the northern plains states. They also have the same high price of admission as the old frontier.

In the previous post, I talked about the oil patch and publishing. Now I’ll talk about education and space exploration.

Education

Continue reading “New frontiers are open – Part 4”

Mali update – afternoon of 1-27

Events are moving fast in Mali. Here is my brief summary, in roughly chronological order.

First, The Conflict in Mali is an interactive map from the Wall Street Journal. It has a very useful map, another tab with a list & background of the key players, and a timeline. Good resource to check. Locating the cities helps to understand the context.

I’ve been scratching my head about the French requests for heavy transport and in-flight refueling assistance from the U.S. Looks to this simple observer like they cannot project a force of 2,500 troops. It is a good start to have ability to lift the troops into a hotspot. That is only the start.

Just making a totally wild guess, the food, fuel, water, and parts needed to sustain such a force for one day probably weights more than the troops on the ground. And that is without ammo, explosives, jet fuel, and bombs. Further, 2,500 is not a particularly large force.

Continue reading “Mali update – afternoon of 1-27”