An indigenous secret. There are many things that qualify. How to survive in your area. A local resource. A culture, just waiting to be lost. But, wait.
Let's fast forward. Fifty years. A century. A millennium. Where will humanity be now? Will we have managed to preserve this earth? Will there be anyone still around? Will we have colonies on distant planets? What will have happened to our original, humble home? If you take the long view, this is the ultimate…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on May 11, 2010 at 3:38am —
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Introduction
It is the year 2094. I was born... I can't believe it, a century ago. The world has changed so much through my lifetime. I can now begin to imagine what my grandparents felt like—born before the first world war and living into the first decades of the 21st century. What a profound experience it is to see the world change before your eyes. New…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on May 8, 2010 at 5:09am —
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It's been ten years since the EVOKE network has gone public. Many world events have gone by in the last ten years—from the first nation to be truly obliterated by global warming (Maldives declared utterly uninhabitable, 2022) to the first nation with ubiquitous gigabit network access (Finland; wired-2016, wireless-2025). The network has had some part in almost all of them. However, there are still many challenges to…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on May 7, 2010 at 12:00am —
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Who? What? Where? Why? Always important questions.…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on May 6, 2010 at 3:00am —
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A city in west Africa is trying a radical experiment. What if we no longer had banks? What if there was no such thing as a checking account, a credit card, or a money order? What if all you had is your phone?
That's what's happening. A surprising portion—…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on May 2, 2010 at 12:00am —
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EDIT: Unfortunately IFrames aren't supported here. Oops.
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on May 1, 2010 at 11:00pm —
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A pandemic is a frightening thing. Chaos and misinformation can run rampant. However, as we've established, those kinds of things can be prevented with some prior planning and preparation. Prepare a
dark site and get your information ready. However, things can still go wrong. You still have emergencies on the ground. Your site might go down. What do you do then?
Recruit everyone you can find!…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 30, 2010 at 2:51am —
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When I saw the latest act mission, I jumped for joy. Finally, something I was actually moderately good at—programming. I was also intrigued by the special challenges that a dark site faces—it has to be able to be hammered by traffic, but yet stay readable, functional, and informative. So, what came out of all of that?
I just whipped up
DarkBox, what I like to call a dark site in a box. It allows anyone to handle the creation of…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 29, 2010 at 3:37am —
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By far, my favorite secret was on "
managing panic in a pandemic". Why? It has many applications besides pandemics or emergencies.
From what I got out of the text, when a pandemic happens, the main goal of managing panic is to spread the right information and perform "psychological first aid", basically reducing the level of panic in a…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 28, 2010 at 11:43pm —
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Unrelated to current missions, but I thought this would be something cool to share.
This is the ultimate in sustainability. The Jalalabad Fab Lab (nice name, right) has created WiFi broadcasting dishes from junk around Jalalabad. The dishes are around 70dBi @ 1KM, meaning that they're decently powerful.…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 26, 2010 at 11:37pm —
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In August 1994, the Government of Senegal and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM), a seven year 36 million US Dollar program with purpose of increasing the participation of the local communities and private…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 22, 2010 at 1:27am —
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An extension of my thoughts from a comment here.…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 20, 2010 at 4:30am —
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Yes, I completed my IMAGINE before my ACT. What about it? :)
My map of a resilient Austin isn't complete yet. This is just a sketch. When more time frees up, I hope to translate it into a more readable digital form. If you can't decipher my handwriting, for now, you can look at Austin Energy's
green building map and look at some of the initiatives that our city is…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 15, 2010 at 5:02am —
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I currently live in Austin, Texas. Austin is in many ways a unique city—we're one of the greenest cities in the United States. A significant portion of our power comes from nearby solar or wind installations. While Austin might be better off energywise, we are in no way invulnerable to the volatility of the modern city, especially in matters of food and water.
Have you ever heard the expression "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait five minutes"? This holds doubly…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 15, 2010 at 4:00am —
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It's been a long and stressful day. I'm arriving home late, as usual, and I really could use something to cheer me up.
Just then, I hear my phone vibrate. I've got one new message. An update on the stream about Nepal.
I walk over to the computer and take a look. It's a news update from a partner in the area; new business loans are up 15% the last six months. The initial formation of the savings collective was met with some curiosity and…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 13, 2010 at 4:48am —
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I chose to support a GlobalGiving project that supports Nepalese women by giving them agricultural training and… Continue
Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 10, 2010 at 4:00pm —
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Sudan is one of the most challenging countries in the world for human rights and stability. A tough government run by Omar al-Bashir, ethnic violence, enforced Islamic law, and hotbeds of military resistance. Not to mention Darfur. However, progress is being made and the first major Sudanese elections will be held in less than a week.
While it's good that significant progress is being made, it may seem that women's rights in Sudan have been thrown by the wayside. That is…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 9, 2010 at 2:45am —
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Yesterday, I visited a neighborhood Freecycle-style event. Everybody brought usable but unwanted items and we traded. I manage to get a nice old film camera and a cell phone from the deal. However, as I was there, I got to thinking—hey, haven't I done this before? On the internet, maybe?
We barter and trade without money far more often than we think, and the internet has just increased that. How often have you talked to someone and said, "Sure, I'll do X if you go and help…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 3, 2010 at 4:46pm —
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The term and meaning of a Resource-Based Economy was originated by Jacque Fresco. It is a system in which all goods and services are available without the use of money, credits, barter or any other system of debt or servitude. All resources become the common heritage…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on April 1, 2010 at 1:05am —
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So, World Water Day? I can improve on that. Let's make it World Water Week.
Water is one of the world's most valuable resources and it's crucial that we try to conserve it as much as possible. While many people have that idea stuck somewhere in the back of their head, they rarely do much to act on it. So, how do you get the population to take notice of this and actually act on it?
Take a cue from EVOKE and turn it into a competitive game—with a…
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Added by Nathaniel Fruchter on March 29, 2010 at 3:46am —
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