Archives for 2013

Repurposing Tollbooths

So, in a slightly delayed fulfillment of a 2010 campaign promise, Gov. Nathan Deal removed the tolls on Georgia Highway 400 a few weeks ago. With three traffic lanes zipping by on the left, that leaves seven empty lanes barricaded off in each direction. What to do? Here's my vote: … [Read more...]

Podcast: Measuring Entrepreneurial Innovation

I was interviewed last month by "Business in the Morning", a local podcast. If you have a half-hour to spare, you might want to give it a listen. … [Read more...]

Advanced Manufacturing: Smart, Safe, Sustainable, and Surging!

In a way, Georgia Tech has always been about manufacturing. From our founding in 1885, we focused on educating young men (sorry, ladies! That took a little longer) in applying technology to machine shops, textile mills, and steam engines. We continued with that mission of “encouragement of industries and commerce” for eight decades. Then, in 1960, … [Read more...]

Happy Birthday, Tech Square!

I've been travelling a bit lately, visiting innovation communities in Austin, Portland, and Saõ Paulo. I've also had a chance to compare notes with venture capitalists and angel investors from all over the U.S. at the Venture Atlanta conference held last week, and with city planners in my role as a team leader for the Atlanta co(lab) conference in … [Read more...]

My Thoughts on (co)lab

On Sunday and Monday, Leadership Atlanta hosted the first (co)lab event... pitched as a "Collaborative Leadership Summit" that would help Atlanta connect, communicate, and collaborate on issues vital to Atlanta. It was a very well-produced event, with extraordinary speakers. If you weren't there, I recommend you peruse the Twitter stream (hashtag … [Read more...]

Against Going to War with Iraq (2002)

Lots of discussion on Twitter and Facebook about the steady drumbeat of war, war, war against Syria. The Internet Wayback Machine has the text of a speech delivered on 2 October 2002 by an obscure Illinois State Senator named Barack Obama. I wish we had a President who could give a speech like this about Syria. … [Read more...]

My Talks at DragonCon 2013

My annual post in response to the people asking me "What are you talking about at DragonCon this year?" … [Read more...]

Scanning Old Paperbacks

I'm a book addict. I love books, I love people who write books, I love people who publish books, I love other people who love books. My wife and I own a lot of books. (5690 at current count, all cataloged in Delicious Library. And, yes, the shelves are categorized and alphabetized.) But... books are bulky. And heavy. And if you're away … [Read more...]

Startups for Grownups

Last month, Sarah Lacy of Pando Daily posted an article titled "Memo to non-Valley, non-NYC ecosystems: No one you want cares about the cost of living." Read the whole thing. But here's her thesis: … [Read more...]

One Way Trip to Mars?

On July 4, 1976, the first Viking spacecraft was scheduled to land on Mars. Caution dictated a delay of a couple of weeks until Neilsday, but nevertheless... I'll shamelessly take advantage of the July 4th peg for a blog post on the topic. … [Read more...]