Design Matters (16): Singapore MRT maps
These three maps in slightly different positions in Singapore’s Orchard MRT station are all orientated correctly according to the point of view of the user.… Read More »Design Matters (16): Singapore MRT maps
Stuart Patience
Technology (26): Vaclav Smil on available energy per capita since 1800
… the 20th century saw a nearly 40-fold gain in useful energy [i.e. energy available for human use]; since 1800 the gain was about 3,500-fold.… Read More »Technology (26): Vaclav Smil on available energy per capita since 1800
Technology (25): Vaclav Smil on prime movers and extrasomatic energy
Extrasomatic: outside of the body About 10 millennia ago… the first patches of deliberately cultivated plants as a small share of the Earth’s total photosynthesis… Read More »Technology (25): Vaclav Smil on prime movers and extrasomatic energy
Slums, slot-machines and self-un-marginalisation
When a person from a remote village moves to the city and finds themselves living in a slum, they have not become poor and marginalised.… Read More »Slums, slot-machines and self-un-marginalisation
Three kinds of change
There are three kinds of change that we hope for or fear: We spend too much of our time, energy and attention worrying about the… Read More »Three kinds of change
MetaCroc: 100k
This week DriverlessCrocodile passed 100,000 all-time views (i.e. not including email subscribers), and is currently averaging a little over 100 views per day. Thanks for… Read More »MetaCroc: 100k
More than your share
When you think you’ve done twice your share of the work, you’re probably getting close to having done your actual share. DriverlessParentodile Kant would categorically… Read More »More than your share
James Holland on strategy, operations and tactics
In warfare there are understood to be three important levels: the strategic, the operational, and the tactical. Strategy refers to the big picture, the overall… Read More »James Holland on strategy, operations and tactics
Layar Tancap (If you build it, they will come)
If you build it… … then they will come. You don’t have to have all that much, and they will come.
House of Winds: Ross Douthat on particularity and partiality in philanthropy
A certain sadness hangs over Harkness State Park: The estate passed to the State of Connecticut in part, one presumes, because Edward and Mary had… Read More »House of Winds: Ross Douthat on particularity and partiality in philanthropy