THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert Wilson I love this quote by Gandalf the Gray from the book Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, “When we despair we cease to choose well. We give in to short cuts.” It’s so true and we all know that we have been guilty of it at some point in our lives. It reminds me of the Dot Com Bubble that burst … Continue reading
ViaThe Herald, Australia Port coal operations disquiet BY IAN KIRKWOOD AND JULIEANNE STRACHAN THE State Government is seeking new powers over Newcastle’s largely private-sector coal loading operations, in a move that has caused disquiet among coal companies. The powers are contained in draft legislation introduced by Ports Minister Joe Tripodi, who is scheduled to visit Newcastle this morning for a trade announcement. Coal company executives met in Sydney yesterday to … Continue reading
ViaBloomberg News U.S. Economy Still Most Competitive Despite Crisis, WEF Says By Simon Kennedy Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. retained the title of most competitive nation for a fifth year even as its economy is roiled by the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, the World Economic Forum said. The U.S. led Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden in the Geneva- based organization’s annual rankings of 134 nations, receiving top … Continue reading
ViaUSA Today By Jon Swartz SAN FRANCISCO — Social networking is going corporate. The popular technology used by millions of people to share ideas and photos on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and others is catching on at companies to improve productivity and communication among workers. Private, internal social networks make sense as companies grapple with a slumping economy that has made travel cost-prohibitive even as workforces are spread out as never … Continue reading
Productivity Software Key ElementAs Major Players In Social Networking Site FacebookBranch Out To New VenuesTWO STORIES: Facebook co-founder Moskovitz leaves to start group collaboration company By MATT MARSHALLThe Industry Standard Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and colleague Justin Rosenstein said this weekend they are leaving Facebook to start their own company. The moves are just the latest in a steady exodus from Facebook, a trend that has sparked questions about whether … Continue reading
ViaInnovations Report, Germany New research suggests that teaching staff about improving their posture and working conditions in a manufacturing plant can boost productivity by more than fifty percent. Details of the research will published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Oguzhan Erdinc of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the Turkish Air Force Academy and Ozalp Vayvay of the Department of Industrial Engineering, … Continue reading
ViaTheOilDrum.com This is a guest post by Roger Brown, known as Roger K , whose graduate work was in physics. In reading about net energy and EROEI, he realized that energy balance alone is insufficient for characterizing the economics of energy production. In this post, he develops a multi-variable approach to account for the cost of other production resources. This post is the first publication of his innovative ideas. Labor … Continue reading
ViaNY Times 159,000 Jobs Lost in September … By PETER S. GOODMAN The American economy lost 159,000 jobs in September, the worst month of retrenchment in five years, the government reported on Friday, amplifying fears that an already painful downturn had entered a more severe stage that could persist well into next year. Employment has diminished for nine consecutive months, eliminating 760,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department’s report. And … Continue reading
ViaWall Street Journal By BLAKE HURST It has been a difficult year in rural Missouri, with early floods followed by an extended drought. But this is my 31st harvest, and I’m used to the ups and downs of farming, if not entirely resigned to them. One of the first fields we “combined” this fall was on land that my grandfather began to work in 1931. He picked corn with nothing … Continue reading
ViaThe Santa Clarita Valley, Calif. Signal No Doors At All, Even For The Bosses Oscar Torres poked the touch-screen computer that hung in the middle of a factory floor busy with humming machines and diligent workers focused on assembling parts. From the small screen, Torres, who works as a machine operator at B&B Manufacturing, demonstrated how an employee can access everything from the day’s work schedule to how to request … Continue reading