Computer World had an interesting article discussing the CIA’s use of Intellipedia—a Wikipedia-like project for its analysts–a while back. As a former naval intelligence officer, I think it's a fantastic idea but—perhaps not unsurprisingly—the idea has been met with some resistance from within the intelligence community. According to the article, in fact, the founders of…
In 1601, James Lancaster, an English sea captain, set sail from England to India. Overseeing a crew of 278 sailors on four separate ships, Lancaster conducted an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment to prevent scurvy. He administered three tablespoons of lemon juice to the members of his ship and left the crews…
Posted in Investing, Quotes, Real Estate, Religion, Religious, Retail, Robotics, Sales, Science, Software, Sports, Stories, Telecommunications, Television, Terrorism, Transportation, Travel, Utility, Virtual reality, Web 2.0, Web/Tech, Weblogs, Wind Power, Wireless, Zenzizenzizenzic
The Internet, the real estate market, fuel cell technology, nanotechnology and, now, "clean tech" have all experienced an investing "bubble." In retrospect, it is easy to point to signs that the market was inflating to dangerous levels. It is even easier to suggest that such bubbles are a bad thing — precisely because so many…
Posted in Health Care, Nanotechnology, Terrorism
It has been said that "the clothes make the man." And with all the hullabaloo surrounding Sarah Palin's $150,000 campaign wardrobe, it is clear that clothes can also make — or, perhaps, in Palin's case — unmake the woman. Regardless of what one thinks of the first quote or Palin's attire, clothes do matter and,…
Posted in Black Swans, Books, Computer Industry, Defense, History, Internet, Military_, Neuroscience, Politics, Quotes, Robotics, Terrorism
In 2005, I wrote a book on General George C. Marshall entitled "Soldier, Statesman, Peacemaker: Leadership Lessons from George C. Marshall." One of my favorite quotes of Marshall’s is the advice he pounded into the heads of his junior officers: "Study the first six months of the next war." It was great advice in the…
Posted in Black Swans, Current Affairs, Defense, Food, General, Health Care, Insurance, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Military_, Pharmaceutical, Terrorism, Travel
A few weeks back I had a posting entitled "Change or Die … Unnecessarily” in which I provided a few examples of how our inability to unlearn could, quite literally, cost some people their lives. Well, the other day, one of my favorite thinkers, Josh Wolfe, sent me a copy his weekly newsletter, The Forbes/Wolfe…
Posted in Current Affairs, Defense, General, Internet, Jump the Curve, Military_, Terrorism, Web 2.0, Web/Tech, Weblogs
Computer World has an interesting article discussing the CIA’s use of Intellipedia — a Wikipedia-like project for its analysts. As a former naval intelligence officer, I think this is a fantastic idea but — perhaps not unsurprisingly — the idea has been met with some resistance from within the intelligence community. According to the article,…
Posted in Black Swans, Books, Current Affairs, Defense, General, Insurance, Military_, Terrorism
In today’s New York Times there is an interesting article discussing two different theories regarding terrorism. Without wishing to over simplify the two schools of thought, one camp — lead by Bruce Coffman — argues that Al Qaeda is alive and well and is very much a top-down organization. The other camp, lead by Marc…
