AQ: Systems Disruption As Doctrine?
Amir Taheri thinks that systems disruption has been internalized as doctrine for Al Qaeda thanks to Sheik Abu-Bakar Naji’s new book “Governance in the Wilderness”.
Update: Lots of people are looking for the book. Wiggins, the ThreatsWatch team, me. Thanks.
Update 2: Have it on good authority that this is the same Naji book from before – “The Management of Savagery.” Taheri just translated the title differently.
Winer on Web 2.0 + Same ‘ol Politicking
(In reference to an old post of mine .)
Winer gets it , almost. Consultants see dissemination possibilities. Innovators see a conversation. The disconnect is the source of Winer’s anger.
Inane Web 2.0
Technology diffusion datapoint: This stuff implies that the long tail isn’t as fat as we think it is.
90% Solar Powered Canadian Community
This is the best model of a RC I’ve seen in a while. The trick? A cluster of 52 moderately sized homes with boosted insulation:
A community in Canada has an unusual form of solar power that can provide over 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs for the homes, despite being situated in a cold Alberta location where winter temperatures can reach -33 degrees C (-27 F).
The Drake Landing Solar Community collects solar energy in a heat storage fluid through an array of solar panels on the roof of each home and covering all of the garages at the back of each home. The heated fluid is transferred to a neighborhood energy center, and then into the ground beneath an insulated layer, where the heat is stored in the earth.
Combined together, the 52 home community is able to collect and store enough energy from the sun during the summer that the ground storage temperatures reach 80 degrees C (176 F). This heat is sufficiently insulated beneath the ground that it can be drawn from throughout the winter to provide heat and hot water.
The homes in the community are moderately sized, ranging from 1,492 to 1,664 square feet, and are insulated to a level 30% higher than the average home in Canada in order to keep the energy needs low enough to work with the system. The homes are also closely located to one another. This provides a more walkable neighborhood, as well as reducing the lengths that the fluid for the solar heating system needs to travel.