Michael Janzen

It’s unlikely that there will be a single magical energy solution to transition humankind away from fossil fuels as oil and gas production declines. Luckily we don’t need just one solution, in fact if we build a bridge from a diverse array of solutions the whole will be much more stable than the sum of its parts.

Diversity is the key and there are many examples in nature and business. Putting too many eggs into one basket is never a good idea.

• Diversity in ecosystems creates a more robust natural system of life.
• Diversity in personal income streams and savings makes us each more immune to tough times and job loss.
• Diversity in investment portfolios creates more stability while maintaining the flexibility to experiment with some risky and potentially higher yield investments.
• Diversity in a business venture reduces risk and allows the business to explore and nurture new opportunities.

The Bloom Box by Bloom Energy appears to be perfectly positioned to add to the growing pool of energy diversity we will need to move away from fossil fuels. It’s fuel cell technology that turns oxygen and fuel (hydrocarbons?) into electricity.

More details on the Bloom Box will be announced in a few days and we’ll learn more about how efficiently it converts carbon and oxygen into electricity.  We’ll also probably learn more about the ‘fuel’ that’s required to run this magic box, which we already know can include fossil fuels. So in other words it’s not necessarily always a carbon neutral energy appliance.

I’m still very hopeful this kind of human ingenuity will help us build a bridge of diverse array of energy solutions; but it’s important to point out that no matter what solutions appear, the bridge will be easier to cross if we get a head start by downsizing, conserving, and living more self-sufficient lifestyles.

Even if the future is filled with inventive new ways to generate power, our civilization will be more stable when more of us surround ourselves with diverse and sustainable systems, both natural, economic, and human-made.

I had lunch with an old friend form Willits, California today. Willits is a small town in Mendocino County, California where highway 101 stops being a freeway and turns back into a main street. I used to live nearby so I thought I had a pretty good sense for the place. It sounds like the town has had a bit of an awakening.

My first tip-off to this change was buried in a movie where Willits was featured as a town prepping for peak oil. The movie is The End of Surburbia and is a must see movie. The segment on Willits is about 10 minutes long and starts at 1 hour 21 minutes into the movie. My friend confirmed that much of the town is in fact, prepping for peak oil, by simply focusing on creating a local sustainable economy independent from outside resources. You can learn about this grass roots movement at the Willits Economic Localization website.

Hearing this not only made me homesick for Mendocino County but it also made me feel a little less crazy.  I think it’s also important to point out that it’s just common sense to focus on strengthening our local communities. When we focus on finding sustainable self-sufficient solutions together we increase our resiliency and ability to thrive under good and bad times.

I really applaud the folks up in Willits, and other communities moving in this direction, for their foresightedness and bravery for leading the way.

I was shocked to see news of Peak Oil in the Wall Street Journal this morning. I hope it helps begin to break loose new conversations on this taboo topic, the inevitable energy crisis brought on by the exhaustion of cheap oil reserves.

I say inevitable because there will be a day when worldwide oil production begins to decline as the cost to extract the remaining fossil fuels becomes too expensive. I have no doubt that the world will make a transition to renewable energy sources as we run out of gas but no one can predict accurately what this transition period will look like.

My humble opinion is that if each of us move toward an environmentally and economically sustainable lifestyle now, we position ourselves perfectly for whatever the future has in store, good and bad. In other words, the best way to end our civilization’s addiction to oil is for each of us to end OUR PERSONAL addiction to oil.

Wall Street Journal: The Next Crisis: Prepare for Peak Oil

The proof will be in the pudding and price, but from these official Google mockups you might begin to see why I think Apple is going to have trouble making a major impact on the tablet market segment. If Google can keep the price comparable to netbooks they are going to easily be on their way to becoming personal computing hardware and software giant. See and read about this future tablet computer from Google. Image credit to The Chromium Project.

This past week I finished an update to Basic Simplicity. I also launched a new blog dedicated to the theme to help focus on theme content. I’ll also be writing about my adventures in problogging with an emphasis on avoiding all the deep bullshit you’ll read about making money.

Don’t get me wrong, you can make money blogging, but it seems most of the probloggers are so focused on selling the idea of blogging to schemers that they often sound like schemers themselves with all their ebooks, mentorships, and classes. I have no plans to ‘make money’ writing about blogging; I’ll stick to selling something of real value, tiny house plans. So in other words… what I’ll have to say about blogging will be free.

So if you want a slightly different tone I hope you’ll follow me at BasicSimplicity.com. I also setup a Twitter account specifically for Basic Simplicity theme and blogging tweets @basicsimplicity.

In these days following Apple’s iPad announcement many people have pointed out the flaws in the iPad. Gizmodo and Lifehacker both have good lists of glaring flaws with the device that will definitely impact it’s adoption and usefulness.

Announcing all the details 60 days before they have a shipping product gives Apple the opportunity to make some quick changes to the design and price point based on public reaction but it also gives competitors an opportunity to catch up faster, and there seems like a lot of folks are moving in the low cost tablet direction.

My money is still on Google. Apple has left the door wide open for Google to swoop in and steal this new market segment Apple just defined.  It also looks like I’m not the only one who agree’s with this theory, see what the Android Guys say. But only time will tell if Google thinks it’s a smart move and has willing partners, for example it looks like HTC is ditching the idea of a tablet and refocusing on Android phones. Now that they know what the iPad will feature, will they get re-interested or back-off? It will be fun to watch.

Here’s the line up of potential competitors. Photo credit Gizmodo.

Today Apple announced the iPad, which is essentially a cross between a tablet computer and an iPhone. It appears to have a super easy-to-use interface and the expected sexy wrapper. It is most certainly a new class of device and should be a success; but it’s NOT the Amazon Kindle or netbook killer it was expected to be simply due to the price.

iPad Price

The price will range from $499 to $829. Kindles cost $259 and netbooks typically range in price from $300 to $500. Had Apple found a way to offer a version in the sub-$400 range I think they could have dominated this market.

Defending Apple’s Price Point

The iPad will be a far more capable device than any ebook reader or netbook for at least a year or two. So I can understand their reasoning for pricing it between low cost Macs and netbooks. My guess is that they are hoping buyers will agree that the added value justifies the added cost… but I’ll stick to my guns in saying that they could have cornered the market on this segment with a slightly lower price.

The other major competitor for them will be Google Chrome based tablets, (more here). In fact Google seems to be quickly becoming Apple’s and Microsoft’s biggest competitor on multiple fronts from hardware, to operating systems, to mobile devices.

In the end my money is on Google, not because they have a superior product, but because they have a superior business model and approach. They also seem to get that quality + low price will always beat top quality + premium pricing. Sad but true.

For those of you salivating over the prospect of owning a new Apple iPad you’ll need to get a sponge and mop up your keyboard because it will be some time before it hits store shelves.

That’s right my fellow American citizens, our political offices are now officially available to the highest bidder, thanks to  the Supreme Court. No need to hide those illegal campaign contributions. Just pour your money in and buy the political offices you want… you’ll just need a few hundred million dollars.

Here’s a quote from an MSNBC article:

A major ruling Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court could change how advertisements for presidential and congressional elections are funded, possibly opening the floodgates of money from corporations, unions and other groups.

By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

I don’t think I’m overreacting when I say that American politics is now officially for sale. We’ve known politicians have been for sale for a long time… that’s not news. What is news is that the highest court in the land just made it legal for huge injections of cash into campaigns. The only ethical guy left in the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens, seems to agree… although he says it much more eloquently than I.

Strongly disagreeing, Justice John Paul Stevens said in his dissent, “The court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation.”

So now what?

Sounds like Stevens said it all and I really hope this one wakes America up. We must restore integrity to our elected institutions.

Photo credit wikipedia.org

This is an excellent video of a presentation by Jeff Rubin at The Business of Climate Change Conference 2009. I’m not sure if I agree with his predictions but it is concerning to hear someone with his credible references speaking so bluntly about how the looming transition off oil is going to affect how we live. Here’s a quote from the YouTube video description.

“Jeff Rubin, the former Chief Economist of CIBC World Markets and the author of Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller built his reputation as one of Canada’s top economists based on a number of successful predictions including the housing bust of the early 90s and the rise of oil prices. In his recent book, Mr. Rubin predicts $225 per barrel oil by 2012 and with it the end of globalization, a movement towards local sourcing and a need for massive scaling up of energy efficiency.”

Last night I watched the movie Escape from Suburbia on Netflix. As the movie started it seemed like a lot of Peak Oil movies as it rattled off all the scary statistics and doomer predictions. I found myself kind of rolling my eyes a few times but as the movie continued I was happy to see the movie tell the positive story we may find at the end of the end-of-oil rainbow… which is that a sustainable, self-sufficient, community-focused life will be a nice way to live so long as we can get across the gap left behind when we run low on gas.

Escape from Suburbia isn’t the best documentary I’ve seen on Peak Oil but it’s worth watching. If you have a Netflix account you may be able to watch it online like I did.

Did the red pill just kick in or I have totally gone off the deep end?

As I dive into exploring what it would really mean to live a self-sufficient and sustainable life it occurred to me to ask some much bigger questions about our planet. I also want to clarify that I’m not talking about the thin crust and atmosphere that surrounds earth, I’m talking about the big blue ball itself.

• Is Earth alive?
• Is Earth sentient (self aware)?
• What might planet Earth think of Humans?

I suspect many ancient and primitive people would answer these questions in the affirmative… of course planet Earth is alive and self-aware. Science can teach us a lot about our planet but it can’t really teach us how to stay connected to it. In this regard primitive people had an incredible advantage over us and quite possibly held the key ingredient to truly understanding Earth’s real nature.

Modern society tends to insulate and distract us from the natural world around us. Many of us spend almost all of our time inside our climate controlled cars, homes, and work-spaces focused on society related tasks like earning a living, watching television, and shopping. It’s really no wonder why many primitive people must have felt like they were apart of the natural world and why we feel so separate from it.

Is Earth alive?

So lets stop for a moment and focus our advanced modern minds on the question, is our planet alive? Could a giant ball of magma covered in a thin hard crust spinning in space be a living creature? If Earth were a life form it would probably be virtually impossible for us to recognize or understand it simply because it would be unlike any life form we’ve ever encountered before. There is no point of reference.

It’s almost like we’re the microscopic organism trying to understand it’s much larger host while we go about our normal business. You know kind of like we’re the bacteria digesting food in someone’s large intestine. Relatively speaking we’ve just begun to understand our planet and how to effect change, but there are certainly many more mysteries to be discovered.

Simply speaking I don’t think it’s possible with our level of understanding to answer the question scientifically. Instead I think we need to fall back on our beliefs and let ourselves be open to the possibility that Earth is actually alive. To prove or disprove this idea scientifically would require finding a set of criteria to measure it by. Since that would first require a level of understanding that is probably greater than our combined knowledge our best option falls back onto belief and gut feelings.

Is Earth Sentient?

So lets assume you just took the red pill like me and think that it’s remotely possible that the planet itself is a living creature. Could it be self-aware?  Again since heading down this path requires a lot of imagination just jump off that cliff with me and say yes. Thanks.

Sure… if a planet could be alive it’s probably at least sentient if not an incredibly advanced life form. Scientists estimate that the earth is 4.54 billion years old. Just for fun lets compare that to humankind which has been on planet earth for about 250,000 years. I’m pretty sure that if one entity could live for billions of years it would develop a wisdom beyond our imagination.

What might planet Earth think of Humans?

So if our planet is alive and sentient what might it think about us? Well first off we’ve only been on it’s back for a small fraction of her overall lifespan and for most of that time we were not really noticeable. But in the last 100 years our numbers have dramatically increased, kind of like an infection. In fact today there are something like 6.6 billion humans running around mother earth’s back.

If you don’t think of that’s a lot of people consider this. There is now more than one person for each year the planet earth has been around. Somehow we get really impressed by numbers like 4.54 billion years and pretty much scoff at numbers like 6.7 billion people. Weird huh? Yeah well tell that to the virus that gave you that flu. The real question we should be asking is… is the virus sentient?

All kidding aside the point of this little essay isn’t to make you feel shitty about being human… not at all… in fact I don’t think humans are all that bad; some of my best friends are human.

And the point is…

My point is that we better get on the stick and stop trying to imitate an infectious disease or this big round friendly lady might just start a scratching or get a fever or something so she can get back to enjoying her travels around the universe.

We can all start today too. We just need to begin to use that incredible intellect we brag about to the gorillas and choose to live in balance with the rest of the living creatures who seem oddly content to live peacefully in Mother Earth’s arms.

I just finished reading World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler. It’s a story about what life might be like if we were to run out of gas and experience a global economic collapse. As a novel it’s captivating and an entertaining quick read if you can stomach the topic in general. As a prediction of the future World Made by Hand is just one of the infinite possible scenarios we might experience if we were to suddenly run out of oil.

But before you discard the idea of reading a book about the end of the world as we know it let me point out some of the values and lessons I found written between the lines that could be immediately applied to our lives today.

Self-Sufficiency – Corporations, government, international trade, global communications, and manufacturing in a World Made by Hand have shut down simply because the economic infrastructure, once powered by oil, has collapsed. Since the vast majority of people had built lives on a reliance on oil it’s no wonder the entire civilization was brought to its knees.

The lesson is that when we accept fewer single points of failure in our lives we reduce the risk of being forced to live through hard times. The recent severe recession has been a good example of how something simple, like job loss, can disrupt and destroy lives. When the vast majority of people accept the same single point of failure the problem amplifies. So then logically if an entire civilization was built on one of these fault lines it would tend to collapse when normalcy was unsettled.

When each of us works to become more self-sufficient we reduce the risk of life disrupting events for ourselves. As more people choose to reduce single points of failure the entire society becomes less likely to collapse.

Sustainability – The characters in World Made by Hand have been essentially forced by circumstance to adopt sustainable lifestyles. This is simply because sustainability really describes life sustaining choices and when people are faced with survival situations people either choose to live in balance with their natural resources or use them up and move on. If people choose to use them up they inevitably die because out-pacing natural resources simply eliminates life sustaining systems like water and food.

The lesson here is that if we choose to live more sustainably we increase the chances that humanity will persist. The problems we are beginning to experience are due to the fact that we’ve out-paced our natural resources and only through our cleverness and reliance of oil have been able to increase food production, hold disease at bay, and keep water clean enough to drink. But at some point it is conceivable that we will hit a wall or one of the single points of failure will break causing a collapse like Kunstler describes in this novel if not enough people come together and choose sustainability.

Community – Something similar to tribalism emerges in World Made by Hand. Kunstler paints a picture of emerging factions with strong leaders, some who strive for freedom and others who greedily seek power.

The lesson is that when people choose to embrace diversity and come together under commonalities the combined group becomes stronger and overall prosperity increases. When they choose to isolate themselves and cut off ties with others and focus on their differences they weaken and ultimately fail after a period of short-term prosperity.

Conclusion

Even if you have no concern or belief that we may be facing trouble when we run out oil this book is a good read and convincing illustration of how society works, albeit in a fictional story. It can also spark some introspection into personal values and lifestyle choices. I highly recommend reading World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler.

I got into a little bit of a row recently with the guy that runs Holy Cow Products. We had a little back and forth in the comments section of a greenwash of the week post on The Good Human.

The interaction itself and the little bit of product research I did on green cleaning products started me noodling over the real problem with greenwashing; which is that most people make product decisions based on product packaging and marketers know it. It’s a marketers job to do everything they can to sell products and build positive brand reputations. So it is a natural step for some folks to skirt the edge of what is legal and ethical especially during hard economic times.

I realize that most folks are just trying to realize their own dreams. In many ways I respect this kind of entrepreneurial spirit. The problem is that unsubstantiated product claims and product design mislead people and will eventually cause the business failure as the truth emerges. Failure is not inevitable because guys like me and David (The Good Human) that point out the truth. Failure is inevitable the moment the decision is made to market the product as something it is not.

Choosing to put people and the planet before profit is a more sustainable business model. As the internet and social media become more popular business ventures that don’t adopt a high level of ethics will fail faster simply because the truth will always surface.

I hope more business folks realize that by taking the high road they are choosing to make more money over a longer period of time. If you make a product or are working to build a brand put a focus on ethics, people, and the planet, and your profits will be longer lasting. Social media is here to stay… well at least until the power goes out permanently.

Have you heard that billionaire Rupert Murdoch wants his content removed from Google? I think it’s a great idea. Clinging to old-school ideas is a wonderful self-destructive approach to business and I can’t think of any organization I’d rather see self-destruct. Just think of the wonderful positive effect this will have on the world. This Murdoch quote says it all:

“I think we’ve been asleep. It costs us a lot of money to put together good newspapers and good content and they are very happy to pay for it when they buy a newspaper, and when they read it elsewhere they are going to have to pay.” [Source]

That’s right buddy boy… you keep right on thinking boneheaded ideas like that. Keep your old school head tucked right there between your cheeks and if you focus your brown shirts on monetizing the old-school way and you should be bankrupt by the end of 2010. Go get-em Murdoch! Show those Silicon Valley blokes how to run a newspaper!

Is it too early for champagne?

I suspect everyone with some blogging experience has a list of their favorite plugins. Below is my list of must have plugins; but first I wanted to share an important reality that most pro-bloggers don’t tell you about.

Every time you add a plugin you slow down your blog and eat up server processor time. This is often not a problem for low traffic blogs but as you get more traffic you’ll grow out of your shared hosting much faster. So it is best to only run plugins you really need or that provide valuable features.

You might also notice there are no statistics plugins on my list. This is because any type of plugin that logs user activity makes heavy demands on a server. I find that it’s much better to use something like Google Analytics for logging user data than weighing your own database down with so much extra work. It can also save you a bunch of money by allowing you to stay on a shared hosting platform longer.

My Must Have WordPress Plugin Recommendations

• Akismet – Stops spammers cold.
• Contact Form 7 – Simple contact form plugin.
• Google XML Sitemaps – Automated Google sitemap generator to improve SEO (search engine optimization).
• MobilePress – Automatically generates a mobile (and iPhone) version of your blog.
• PHPEnkoder – Automatically masks email addresses that are occasionally posted.
• Search Everything – Makes the built-in search work better.
• SexyBookmarks – Elegant social media promotion plugin.
• WordPress Database Backup – Your content is your most valuable asset. Be sure to keep a backup of all your blogs.
• WP Super Cache – Reduces the load on your server, specifically MySQL (the database) and speeds page loads.

If you are using any plugins you’d like to suggest I’d love to hear about them. Please post a comment.

News came out this week from the AMA (American Medical Association) that they are taking a fresh look at their position on pot. For the longest time they’ve held the position that marijuana had no medical value.  Here’s what they are now saying… which may open the door for research.

“Marijuana’s status as a federal Schedule I controlled substance be reviewed with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines, and alternate delivery methods.”

I’m not going to hold my breath on this but it seems like a step in the direction of legalization. But I imagine that the large business interests still standing in the way just like heart did back in his day. Below is a funny cartoon describing one opinion on how marijuana prohibition got started in America.

So to answer my own question… I think marijuana will eventually be legalized and regulated but I imagine we’re still a long way from that happening.

The main problem is that commercial hemp in general would present a major competitor to existing large corporate powers. We see this same issue standing in the way of a better health care system and we’ll see it every time competition appears in any space. It’s really too bad that America can’t move forward strategically unless is happens to coincide with the current economic power structures. Who knows maybe the internet and social media will wake the people back up and get the majority off their butts and demand action… but until then I suspect we’re in for more of the same.

P.S. Here’s the blog post where I found the cartoon. Funny stuff huh?

Julia and I have been following Jane Devin online for quite some time and now she’s on an adventure which you can follow at Finding My America. Jane will stay with us here in Fair Oaks for a few days and we’ll probably make a trip up to the family farm for a close-up peek at rural California and my Tiny Free House project.

I’m personally looking forward to chatting with her about the world of writing and blogging since she’s got a lot more experience there than I do. For example you can read some of her work at the Huffington Post and past wirtings on personal blog, JaneDevin.com. If you want to connect with her you can follow Jane on Twitter and FaceBook.

It’s exciting to play a small part in a project like Finding My America. I suspect not even Jane knows exactly where it will bring her but like most follow-your-nose adventures it’s often more about the experiences gained from the walkabout than the destination itself. Kind of like life don’t you think?

See you soon Jane!

This is spooky and telling. I just read more evidence that the U.S. Military is moving toward renewable energy sources and away from fossil fuels. That’s all nice and green but if the government thinks that the military needs to move in this direction for what could be national security reasons… shouldn’t they come out with it and help point all public policy in this direction? In other words if the military is strategically prepping for running out of oil shouldn’t our entire civilization jump on the bandwagon? Here’s the article that sparked this short post.

U.S. Army’s New Research Center Puts Fossil Fuels on Notice

I just watched these two videos produced by Google that demonstrate Google Chrome OS. Basically Google has taken the Pareto principle and applied it to an operating system providing more than 80% of what average users need their computer to do. I suspect Linux, Apple will survive Chrome but Microsoft will need to shift its focus.

• Linux will probably take the smallest hit because most geeks that use Linux will continue to do so and if anything dual boot Chrome. Linux also has the advantage of being an open source community and not a corporation.
• Apple has a diverse collection of strong footings like iTunes, iPhone, iPod, in addition to supplying a hardware/software package that is way ahead of the competition in terms of usability.
• Microsoft will be hit hard by Google Chrome because their Windows foundation will be weakened as common end-users begin to adopt this easy to use option. Apple has already shown that usability is the giant’s Achilles’ heel. Like most giants Microsoft has multiple strong footings like Apple but the demand for Windows will begin to shift away from home users. If Microsoft fails to see this unavoidable truth and doesn’t start to shift resources to their core strengths they are sure to fail.

I realize this is an outlandish prediction but it’s based on a simple idea. When someone (including a corporation) focuses on their core strength they succeed. Google has always seemed to do this extremely well. They are also masters of innovation and seem to still be growing fast and exploring new areas… which could actually be thought of as a core strength in itself.

Microsoft appears to be at a stage in it’s life were some serious change needs to happen. I suspect it’s because they are clinging to past successes instead of embracing the future of open source code and fulfilling user needs. To compete for mass user adoption one must keep up with what users want.

For example… Apple helped move the cellular phone industry ahead in one huge leap forward with the introduction of the iPhone. Google is about to do that to home computers. Those that aren’t well positioned and exercising their own strengths will figure out the hard way that old-school models are a recipe for failure.

From my perspective Microsoft’s core strength is it’s ability to provide enterprise scale solutions. Google tends to scare corporations because of their blackbox systems and unlimited thirst for data. So it makes much more sense to me for Microsoft to move more of its resources to enterprise solutions and away from home users. If they want to compete with Google in the home computing space quickly come up with a revolutionary simple new tool like Google has… otherwise don’t waste any more time in battle with someone who has you beat.

Now hardware builders like Dell are publishing notes for installing Google Chrome on their low cost netbooks. This little puppy runs Ubuntu Linux and while the install is still for geeks I suspect it’s only a matter of time before the open source community creates a installer for newbies. This will be followed by official pre-installed Google Chrome releases from the hardware makers themselves.

The key to all of this is user adoption of course and if Google has really build a no-nonsense operating system and the hardware costs stay low Google will stomp all over Microsoft in the personal computing market segment. Read my first post on Google Chrome to hear how I think Microsoft can survive Google Chrome.

This is a crazy paranoid conspiracy theory-like thought I had while watching the movie Food, Inc. tonight on Netflix. Could the government’s massive subsidization of America’s industrial food complex be a peak oil prep? Seems logical if you follow my logic… if the food supply were in fewer hands it would be easier to maintain at massive levels during tough times. So politicians may think that supporting these massive corporations is simply a hedge against hard times.

You can’t change our civilization overnight. Since most people don’t have the skills to feed themselves and only know how to push a shopping cart and choose between paper and plastic, the only way to feed them during a widespread catastrophe would be to build a centrally managed infrastructure that produced enough food for everyone.

Photo credit wikipedia commons.

This could also explain why our government supports and protects factory farming with subsidies and a wide array of legal shields. Our politicians might be thinking that they are protecting us by protecting factory farming and that all this manufactured food is actually going to be the thing that saves our lives when we run out of gas.

Some may say that factory farming would topple when oil reserves dwindle but my guess is the first industry to be given a disproportionately large fuel ration would be industrial food manufacturers. If things got that bad protecting factory farms would theoretically become a matter of national security.

Encouraging people to learn how to grow their own food is probably an unreasonable plan at this point in time simply due to the massive urban and suburban population centers we’ve developed. To move our people toward a truly sustainable lifestyle would mean spreading us out geographically so we had enough space around us to grow our own food.

Now let me take the paranoid conspiracy theory out of it.

The real question each of us should ask is what are we each doing to make happiness and prosperity more sustainable for ourselves, families, and communities? Here’s are a few ideas:

• Stop hoping that someone in Washington DC is going to fix this mess for us.
• Fix it for ourselves by choosing to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
• Become more self-sufficient and begin disconnecting from the industrial complex.
• Consume less so we can move more of our personal resources to things that support a sustainable lifestyle.
• Downsize and conserve because it saves money and reduces risk.

Making a simple happy life a priority isn’t crazy. Conspiracy theories will make you crazy. Try not to spend too much time dwelling on what might be happening and instead turn your energy toward fixing the problem which starts with a heart to heart conversation with the person you see in the mirror.

No I have not gone completely off the deep end and this is supposed to be a funny post… but if this turns out to be real… I’ll be a very happy psycho nut-job.

It seems, from this article in the Examiner, that the governments of the world have been in top secret meetings discussing the presence of intelligent alien life and how and when to officially disclose that fact to the public.

In a nutshell, pun intended, the prediction is that “Obama is planning to disclose the reality of ET contact by the end of the year; and that most, but not all, of the ET visitors are friendly.”

So just for a millisecond lets assume this is true… it would be excellent timing because most of humanity needs a wake up call to the fact that we have an amazing little blue planet that needs to be better cared for. Being able to see ourselves through another set of sentient (and vastly more technically advanced) might just do the trick and move that mountain.

I guess time will tell if this news story is just crazy talk or the real deal. In the mean time I’ll continue my personal work to evolve into a better human.

As our technological world races faster and faster we see a common trend emerging. Innovation and meeting people’s needs always will always beat the competition in the long run.

Google appears to be at war with Microsoft as far as I can tell. Visit Google with Internet Explorer and in the top right of the page you’ll be strongly encouraged to switch to Google Chrome. I’ve been using Chrome on my Mac since they released it and I’m simply stunned at the stability and speed.

I’m not exactly your average computer user either and have years of experience managing teams of online application designs and web usability researchers. Not bragging just saying I’ve seen a lot of good and bad software and Google Chrome is amazing… an Internet Explorer Killer.

Apple has been rumored for months to have a breakthrough tablet in the works. Having watched Apple leapfrog the industry for a couple of decades now I suspect this new device will have the potential to stomp all over mono-function devices like Kindle and the print industry, just like it’s doing to the music industry. Apple could be positioned to steal more market share in print and recorded media markets.

Both of these examples illustrate the how the old-school digital and print world is loosing customers everyday because someone else from another industry is entering their information distribution world and stealing it away… simple because the newcomers aren’t bogged down in old-school thinking.

Survival of the fittest, and the fittest adapt and innovate.

Oh… by the way… television is next to go. Early adopters, like me, have already given up on that dreadful box and get our information and entertainment far more efficiently online. As Telcos speed up the internet more users will go online for their TV fix.

So I was browsing through my RSS reader and stumbled on this video that describes all the challenges that are facing humanity and I thought it was interesting that at the end it said “Because failure is not an option”. Here’s the video. I found it at Cold Antler Farm.

Failure may not a good choice but it may be a logical conclusion if humanity doesn’t act quickly.

I think we’re at a critical juncture in human evolution… and no not because some prophets say it is so. All you have to do is look a the extraordinary growth in technology and population over the past 100 years. We’ve been on a train that’s been exponentially increasing velocity and it will either continue on that acceleration curve or it won’t. My personal opinion is that it can’t continue and we’ve begun to feel the tremors of tracks taking us elsewhere.

I think we have three choices:

1. Ignorantly allow collapse: We could continue to ignore the growing costs of exponential growth and continue living like a virus and hope that mother nature doesn’t have the perfect antibody for us.
2. Leave it to our benevolent masters: We could continue to let the politicians and billionaires masterfully craft their vision of a civilization.
3. Choose to live more self-sufficiently and sustainably: Each of us could choose to live a sustainable lifestyle in balance with our surroundings and learn to truly support ourselves.

The main benefit with #3 is that even if nothing bad happens and our civilization continues to flourish for a millenia you and your descendants will be able to live happy and healthy lives.

In other words choosing to live sustainably is the best hedge against anything the future brings… and best of all you don’t have to be a crazed fringe nut-job to choose it. You don’t even need to buy into any of the paranoia, you simply have to want to be happy and relatively immune to calamity.

Apple is rumored to be announcing their new tablet device on January 26, 2010, but have you noticed all the buzz about the tablet market heating up. For example, Google has been rumored to be working with HTC on the hardware for a Google Chrome based tablet and Freelance Semiconductor will reveal their new tablet any time now.

When the iPhone was launched it took competitors 1-2 years to catch up with viable competitors. Today the market is filled with great smart phones but the lead Apple gained early on will keep them in a strong position in that segment for quite some time.

But the tablet market appears to be a different animal. Unless Apple has something truly mind-blowing and low-cost to show the world on the 26th I suspect it’s not going to make the impact the iPhone did just three years ago today when it was initially announced.

Will the Apple tablet be another leapfrog like the iPhone or will Apple get lapped by the strong competition making their new tablet a relative failure like the Apple TV? I guess we’ll have to see… but in any event I would highly recommend avoiding limited devices like the Kindle since we’re about to see the emergence of a large number of low-cost tablet based computers.

It looks like Google is quickly charging into many realms outside internet technology. The Google Nexus One is well positioned to move the mighty iPhone out of the way and now Google is getting into the Energy game too with the start-up of a green utility company. Their operating system Google Chrome must be sending shivers up the spines of the executives at Microsoft. What’s next… a bank?

In the mean time take a look at their phone.