This Time is Different

I read an interested op-ed piece in the New York Times today written by Thomas Friedman, called "This Time is Different." (full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/opinion/13friedman.html?src=me&ref=homepage) Friedman began with a letter from a friend of his who works in the Pentagon. The letter is reprinted below:   I’d like to join in on the blame game that has …

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Shortcut or Efficiency?

Shortcuts are never advisable but the most efficient path always is.  No doubt we've all been humbled by a shortcut that turned into the long way around.  Shortcuts, the attempt to skip over critical elements in a process to achieve the end more quickly, always results in a compromised foundation.  The various stakeholders in the recent oil …

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A Blowout Preventer for Humankind: How to Save the Environment

Cleanup crews are working feverishly to deal with a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.  An explosion of unknown origin damaged the rig and the failure of the blowout preventer, a backup system for containing spills of this type located nearly 5,000 feet below the ocean's surface, compounded the containment efforts (http://tinyurl.com/2fdda38). Earlier today, a young man …

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