Ed Dowding

Category: Systems thinking

20 get rich quick schemes

Whilst I love seeing headlines like this Leaders at the G20 summit in Canada agree the richest members will halve their budget deficits within three years.  (BBC News) They beg the questions Where is all that money coming from (or not going to)? Are they going to be creating wealth and making savings (“G20 stop ...

Two great new London Maps

TFL have eventually decided to release their data. (We were trying to get them to do this five years ago…) Already there are a few great examples of what this data can do: Stefan Wehrmeyer (who is looking for a job, if you have one going) has made a few great examples showing CCTV footage ...

The surprising truth about what motivates us

YouTube – RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.

It's not BP's fault, it's yours

I’d like to take a moment to remind everyone (especially in the USA) that it is our sociopathic craving for oil which is driving this, and scape-goating BP merely displaces the responsibility from those who demand the lowest cost oil (at all costs), and the governments who allow it. BP were just unlucky to be ...

3 neat business ideas

British high-end chocolate maker and retailer Hotel Chocolat, wants to expand even further. But rather than turning to banks or big investors for money, they’re inviting customer to buy bonds. Bonds that will pay chocolate returns.  Two values of Chocolate Bond will be issued: both with the return paid in monthly Tasting Boxes. Holders of a ...

Tired of ISMs?

YouTube – ISM Inspired by Slow Money.

10 Things I Learned From Meditation

Because I find myself coming back to this question from time to time, here’s a list I came across at Fresh Creation. Thoughts are not reality Focus is important Media influence your view on the world People are good Positive thinking is very powerful Mistakes are good There’s too much stuff Listen to your body Helping ...

The Afghan Conflict – A Map of Possible Scenarios

Wonderful infographic on the future of the Afghan conflict. Have a look at the fullscreen version on their website. The Afghan Conflict – A Map of Possible Scenarios.

Status Anxiety

(recreated from Alain de Botton’s book of the same name)

Earning vs making

Just to be very clear to anyone who makes a lot of money: there is a BIG difference between making money and earning money. There’s nothing wrong with earning lots of money, of course. Just be sure you spend it wisely. Tip: If you get more than £200,000 per year you could probably be running ...

Growth or no-growth?

Economic growth or no economic growth? Which way is best? As with most questions with only two allowed answers, the real answer is “almost certainly both, and neither.” We have plenty of resources, if only we were to use them properly. Whichever model we choose we have to start from where we are right now ...

Travel Forever and Live Rent Free

http://www.camelotproperty.com http://www.guardianangelservices.co.uk http://www.mindmyhouse.com http://www.vagabondish.com/8-tools-travel-long-term-live-rent-free/

Principle of double effect

The principle of double effect is a set of ethical criteria for evaluating the permissibility of acting when one’s otherwise legitimate act (for example, relieving a terminally ill patient’s pain) will also cause an effect one would normally be obliged to avoid (for example, the patient’s death.) The act itself must be good The bad ...

Design for America – govt. of/by/for the people

It’s stuff like this which gives civilisation a hope: Our goal is simple and straightforward — to make government data more accessible and comprehensible to the American public. We hope to enliven and engage new communities as partners and participants in making government information more engaging to the American public. Redesign of a Government Form: ...

Kim Stanley Robinson on BldgBlog

It seems Kim Stanley Robinson and I are in accord. The more we can live in keeping with our evolutionary history, the happier we are likely to be. Simple pleasures which put us in “the zone”, mind and body working in harmony, within our comfort zone, but occasionally brushing up against the edges to keep ...

AC Grayling

I love  AC Grayling’s incredibly clear articulation. Try to create meaning and purpose in one’s individual existance, always remembering that that are as many individual meanings and purposes as there are people who pursue them. Try to life a life of flourishing and achievement and learning and good relationships. It’s not complex stuff, I’m sure ...

10 steps to ideas that win

MAKE IT RELEVANT. Identify a broad social trend that aligns with your core competencies and the values of your culture. MAKE IT STICK. With that trend, identify your customer and find something that they really need and can become integrated into their lifestyle. MAKE IT WASY TO ADOPT. Enhance an existing behvaiour rather than try ...

James Murdoch vs Reason

Murdoch is like a redneck with an AK-47 shooting wildly into a herd of BBC elephants. “These slow good for nothing beasts! Stomp all the grass for my cattle! HAHAHA!! BANG! BANG!! Take that, Dumbo!” But that’s all just opinions and metaphor. Numbers, let’s look at numbers. These put some perspective to Murdoch’s power grab. ...

You have such freedoms! Exercise them!

Lexicon of cooperation

I’ve just been revising a contract we use for websites we build and so having to deal with one of my pet annoyances. I don’t like contracts. They’re boring, stop me doing the fun stuff of work, and seem to spend more time building walls than bridges. The point is that you’re working together, surely? ...