linkstream2 microblog

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“In November 2012 the Harvard Business Review, the management profession’s bible, published an article entitled “What You Can Learn from Family Business”. For decades the profession had looked down on family businesses as amateur and slapdash. Now three leading BCG consultants, Nicolas Kachaner, George Stalk and Alain Bloch, were changing tack.

The BCG trio argued that public companies have a lot of important lessons to learn from family companies, from the value of long-term thinking to the virtues of frugality. They commended family companies on their ability to develop a cadre of loyal staff; they may not be able to compete with investment banks or consultancies in hiring top talent, but they make up for it by developing high-performance teams that stick together for years. They pointed to a list of public companies that act rather like family companies. Nestlé, a Swiss food company, slightly underperforms its big competitors in good times but outperforms them in bad. Essilor, a global leader in optical lenses, is obsessed with cost, keeps its debt low and has little staff turnover.”

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http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21648176-success-family-companies-turns-much-modern-business-teaching-its

Power to the people
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/power-to-the-people Will utilities go for refitting homes w/ solar & more insulation? Or will they resist?

This Cold House
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/24/opinion/this-cold-house.html Low ‘excess’ winter #mortality for Scandinavians; their motto: “No bad weather, only bad clothing.”

“Excess winter mortality” seems to be a useful number to remember in keeping warm in the winter

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Life at 45 degrees isn’t for everyone — I wouldn’t recommend it for the sick, the elderly or children. And there are, of course, legitimate hazards to the cold. The National Weather Service reports that there were 66 cold- and winter-related deaths in 2013 in the United States. A more useful measurement, popular in Europe, is “excess winter mortality,” which simply compares deaths during winter to those during the rest of the year. The resulting figures tend to be much higher than the weather service’s: In England and Wales there were an estimated 31,100 such deaths in the 2012-13 winter.

Using this measure, paradoxically, warmer countries like Spain and Portugal suffer more cold-related deaths than colder countries, because they aren’t as well versed in the art of keeping
warm….Scandinavians, who also have a low excess winter mortality rate, have a common saying: “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.”
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How 3D Printing Is Changing Medicine http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/24/print-thyself Common in orthodontics (@Invisalign) & some surgeries. Printable organs next?

Also, 3D printing is now available from Amazon & Staples, viz:http://www.amazon.com/b?node=8323871011

Sliding #Oil & Gas Prices
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/business/economy/lower-oil-prices-give-a-lift-to-the-american-economy.html US spends $1B/day on gas, 1.4K gal/yr/person; $3.23/gal 11/13 price, falling to $2.89 now

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With Americans spending roughly $1 billion a day on gasoline, Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, estimates that consumers will save roughly $8.4 billion in November and December, compared with the last two months of 2013, based on an average price for regular gasoline of about $2.89 a gallon as opposed to $3.23 last November and $3.26 last December.

The typical American household buys 1,200 gallons annually, so if prices fall to the level Mr. Kloza predicts and stay there, that adds up to a yearly savings per household of at least $400. A 15 percent drop in the cost of home heating oil since last winter should also be helpful, especially as cold weather arrives in the Northeast.

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http://www.manufacturingglobal.com/lean/231/6-ways-3d-printing-is-transforming-lean-manufacturing

Breaking the Plastic Bag Habit http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i37/Breaking-Plastic-Bag-Habit.html It’s not #plastic v paper but v reusables, which may, however, have a "bacteria issue"

http://www.homechannelnews.com/article/home-depot-experiments-3-d-printers

They’re talking about 3D printing

Home Depot is introducing MakerBot 3-D printers and scanners in select stores in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Tried a #3DPrinter & All I Made Was Plastic Goo. Good comparison to sewing machines, ie it’s not mass-market #tech
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/03/solidoodle_4_testing_the_home_3_d_printer.html

High-Tech Solutions for House & Apartment: Your home tweeting its temperature, the future internet of things
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/realestate/high-tech-solutions-for-house-and-apartment.html #sensors