Raising four kids in a semi-rural area means buying food in bulk. Whether that bulk food is in component or finished form, there's a lot of it. It takes a truck and a lot of diesel #2 to get the bacon back to the pantry. When the sustained average cost of family pizza night went over USD 75, I did an engineering analysis on the components and processing, and quickly determined that "build" was better than "buy" for our little business unit. [...more]

I was invited to address the Business and Leadership Forum of the California Commonwealth Club on May 10, 2006. I spoke of serfs and lords and explored the changing nature of property and property rights in the digital era. [...more]

As humanity begins to suck out the [last half of the oil] in Terra's crust, and our world becomes a greenhouse due to all of the carbon dioxide added by both man and nature to our upper atmosphere in recent centuries, I'm starting to think that the climate and weather patterns of my youth will not be the same as those my children will know. [...more]