NIGHTWATCH Extract: China-Iran Rail + China ReCap

China-Iran: China’s Railways Minister Liu Zhijun will visit Tehran on 12 September to sign a contract between Iran and a Chinese company to build a $2 billion rail link to Iran, according to Iranian Transport Minister Hamid Behbahani. Transport ministers from Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran are expected to gather in Dushanbe in October to firm …

Review: Blue Gold–The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water

6 Star Plus Foundation Work, August 28, 2010 Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke I read the authors’ more recent Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water yesterday and watched the also more recent Blue Gold: World Water Wars last night, all in the context of raeding 12 …

Review: State of the World 2010–Transforming Cultures–From Consumerism to Sustainability

Top of the Fives, A Bold Departure Elegantly Executed August 25, 2010 Erik Assadourian et al I’ve become someone jaundiced about the State of the World series, while always respecting the persistence of Lester Brown (Peter Drucker called people like us “mono-maniacs” essential as change agents), but this one knocked me off my seat just …

Review: Green Gone Wrong–How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution

Combines Holistic Thinking with Drill-Down Detail August 1, 2010 Heather Rogers This is a solid five in my view because the author goes beyond weaving a story about green gone wrong in three main areas (food, shelter, transportation), providing what almost all other books miss: the systems of systems “its all connected” and “what’s good …

Review: Shooting the Truth–The Rise of American Political Documentaries

Both a Tour of Substance, and an Eye Opener for Book People July 29, 2010 James McEnteer This is a 6 Star and Beyond book and is so categorized at Phi Beta Iota, the Public Intelligence Blog, where one can browse all 1600+ of my non-fiction reviews sorted into 98 categories and easily found with …

Event: 29-31 July 2010, Berkeley CA, Open Science Summit

Objectives:  Create an annual flagship event and news hub to build and maintain the identity of the international Open Science Movement.  Organize the various sub-communities into an effective, global, socio-technological force for rapid change in science/innovation policy. An attempt to gather all stakeholders who want to liberate our scientific and technological commons and enable a …