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The Beauty in Each Grain of Sand ![](images/quickread.gif) When you take a moonlit stroll on the beach, how often do you think about the tiny grains of sand creeping in between your toes? From above, sand seems like a bunch of tiny brown rocks, perhaps peppered with occasional shells or beach miscellany. But sand has a far more fascinating story to tell. Composed of the remnants of volcanic explosions, eroded mountains, dead organisms, and even degraded m... posted on Jul 16, 9141 reads
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29 Lessons From Travelling the World![](images/quickread.gif) "Eight years. That's 416 weeks, or almost 3,000 days. This is the amount of time that I have not had a fixed home; moving to a new country, culture and language every few months and taking absolutely everything I own with me. In 2003, on the week of my 21st birthday, I left Ireland for good. I had graduated university a few days before, and knew that I'd only be coming back "home" for visits. But ... posted on Jul 17, 62751 reads
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Lighting the Way in Slums![](images/quickread.gif) Plastic bottles jut from the roofs in a Manila slum neighborhood. But these bottles have an important purpose: they contain bleach and water and are placed snugly into a purpose-built hole in the roof. Designed by students at MIT, they reflect sunlight, spreading 360 degrees of 55-watt-light through the room beneath. Using the simplest of technologies, these bottles brighten dim and dreary shantie... posted on Jul 30, 4744 reads
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The Inner Landscape of Beauty![](images/quickread.gif) For the late Celtic mystic John O'Donohue, the visible world isn't all there is -- it's "the first shoreline of the invisible world." The question of what should I do, is secondary to the question of "how should I be?" In short, spirituality isn't an esoteric notion, but an accessible, natural response to the landscapes of beauty around us, and within us. His unique perspective, captured in this r... posted on Aug 25, 6580 reads
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The Pay-It-Forward Little Libraries![](images/quickread.gif) Bigger than a breadbox, homier than a newspaper box and more surprising than a bookmobile, the Little Library is popping up all over town. On bike paths. Outside coffee shops. In the front yards of private homes. Stocked with books ranging from academic texts to children's classics, music instruction and gardening magazines, each two-by-two-foot Little Library bears the same simple message: "Take ... posted on Aug 12, 18186 reads
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Study, Practice and Serve: Peter Senge![](images/quickread.gif) Peter Senge is a senior lecturer at MIT, and the author of The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. The Journal of Business Strategy named Senge one of the greatest influences on business strategy over the last 100 years. In this dialogue with Dr. Prasad Kaipa, Senge talks about how his own internal development helped him develop a perspective on systems theory: "I ... posted on Aug 28, 11812 reads
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How To Build A Beautiful Company![](images/quickread.gif) In the early 1970s, Bill Witherspoon lived for months in a school bus parked in the Oregon desert. A hundred miles from the nearest town, he spent day after day painting the sky and the clouds. He later sold his work for tidy sums. Witherspoon would spend the rest of his life alternating between painting and launching companies. When Witherspoon, then 60, launched The Sky Factory in 2002, he wonde... posted on Sep 14, 11439 reads
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Time is Precious: Dr. BJ Miller's Journey![](images/quickread.gif) Dr. BJ Miller is only 40 but he thinks about death a lot. He is the new executive director of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco and a palliative care specialist at UCSF Medical Center. He is also a triple amputee, co-founder of a tea company, owner of a farm in Utah and a newlywed who still looks like the Ivy Leaguer he once was. "I have no fear of death," Miller said. "I have a fear of not... posted on Oct 17, 44612 reads
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The World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion![](images/quickread.gif) It's called one of the greatest stories in medicine, but it's more than that. Its approach has impressed the world's top design-thinkers, and yet, it's more than a paragon of innovation. For the last 17 years every MBA student at Harvard has studied a business case on it, but it's more, even, than a model social enterprise. This is the story of Dr. V -- a retired surgeon with crippled fingers who ... posted on Dec 7, 6171 reads
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The Free Farm![](images/quickread.gif) The Free Farm in San Francisco, run fully by volunteers, is dedicated to bringing fresh, local, organic produce for free to under-served communities in the San Francisco area. In 2009 alone, they gifted over 20,000 lbs of produce. A remarkable activist describes his experience in serving at the Free Farm. "We are not growing fruits and veggies. We are facilitating the growth of soil and community.... posted on Dec 5, 9141 reads
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Kindness Remembered 41 Years Later![](images/quickread.gif) Sometimes acts of kindness seem to conspire at times when they are most needed. Here's one such story of a kindness received 41 years ago, when ... "I was twenty-four years old and three months pregnant when my husband died. I was a widow and an expectant mother in the same day. We had bought a new home and I had filled our two bedroom apartment with nursery items in anticipation of moving in. ... posted on Nov 23, 5317 reads
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Learning Tranquility at Stanford![](images/quickread.gif) Sixty-four Stanford students escape from the campus hustle and find tranquility for two hours a week in the lower level of a campus library. There, they might start class by telling the person next to them about a positive experience from the day, or by updating their gratitude journals. Or, they might simply close their eyes and sit silently, concentrating on relaxing tense muscles and breathing ... posted on Nov 30, 7911 reads
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Assuming Value Everywhere![](images/quickread.gif) "I noticed that there was one kid who no one was really talking to. He had a serious kind of disability, and some of the kids were kinda scared to approach him. So I went up and introduced myself. And you know what? He taught me some amazing dance moves!" Sharing his presence was a wonderful thing to do, in and of itself, but my 14-yr-old cousin's perspective was even more remarkable. We asked him... posted on Dec 3, 25343 reads
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7 Spiritual Perspectives on Personal Leadership![](images/quickread.gif) "How do you deal with change? How comfortable are you with what is on your plate? Are you creating or are you resisting? The quality of your leadership depends on how you deal with the cards that you draw and how you succeed using what you got." This article presents an approach for increasing personal mastery and leadership effectiveness, based on ancient spiritual wisdom from around the world. ... posted on Dec 15, 65246 reads
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Illiterate Fisherman at 90, Literary Star at 98!![](images/quickread.gif) He may not have learned to read and write until he was 91, but Jim Henry is becoming a literary star. The retired lobsterman now 98-years-old released his book, "In a Fisherman's Language" last month. And ever since he and his family have found themselves immersed in a world of book printings, agents, publicity and film rights. People from not just around the country but the world are clamoring f... posted on Dec 28, 7642 reads
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The Leadership Genius of Bob the Builder![](images/quickread.gif) Most of us believe in positive self-talk. "I can achieve anything," we mouth to the mirror in the morning. We believe we'll do better if we banish doubts about our ability or our strategy and instead muster an inner voice that affirms our awesomeness. But not Bob the Builder. You might not realise it, but the overall-clad, stop-motion animated construction executive -- who debuted on CBBC in 1999 ... posted on Jan 7, 7237 reads
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10 Keys for Achieving Group Flow![](images/quickread.gif) Recent scientific research reveals that great creativity almost always springs from collaboration, conversation, and social networks -- challenging our mythical image of the isolated genius. Keith Sawyer has been studying the phenomenon known as "flow," where we get so absorbed in a task that we lose track of time; it's what some people refer to as being "in the zone." Research shows that when a g... posted on Feb 1, 41814 reads
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A Love Warrior's Incredible Generosity![](images/quickread.gif) Raghu Makwana lost his legs to polio as a child. But his heart was intact and growing bigger by the day. When a few students found him arranging people's footwear outside a local temple, they were struck by his sparkling intelligence and genuine warmth. They arranged to have him join a non-profit at the Gandhi Ashram in India. The move would bring Raghu's latent capacity for servant-leadership to ... posted on Feb 13, 5815 reads
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Going into Debt to Rescue Abandoned Dogs![](images/quickread.gif) "On any given Saturday, you'll find volunteer rescuer Tracie Mitchum sitting outside in front of the Whole Foods Market with an array of cats and dogs she's rescued. She brings the pets to the parking lot hoping to find applicants to adopt them and to raise funds to provide veterinary care. "I feel welcome at Whole Foods and it's refreshing," Tracie says during our recent chat on the campus of the... posted on Feb 19, 13437 reads
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How to Support Teens in Listening ![](images/quickread.gif) "Teens are quick to connect with each other by telling stories and passing along gossip via texting and social media. But students have lost the art of listening face to face by hiding behind the veil of anonymity. They often talk at each other. So on the first day of class, even before I outline the expectations of the class, students fill out a survey about how they recognize their own listening... posted on Feb 25, 19113 reads
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9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn![](images/quickread.gif) "Unfortunately, I was educated in a school system that believed the world in which it existed would remain essentially the same, with minor changes in fashion. We had no idea what the world had in store for us. And here's the thing: we still don't. We never do. We have never been good at predicting the future, and so raising and educating our kids as if we have any idea what the future will hold i... posted on Mar 10, 188495 reads
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Seeing in the Dark![](images/quickread.gif) A visually stunning ode to time, music, and the stars, Timothy Ferris' film "Seeing in the Dark" celebrates the wonders of stargazing -- from kids learning the constellations to amateur astronomers doing professional-grade research in discovering planets and exploding stars. Here, Ferris reflects on the PBS film, which features never-before seen astronomical photography and special effects. "Our a... posted on Apr 2, 7454 reads
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A Nobel Prize View: Thinking, Fast & Slow![](images/quickread.gif) In 2002, Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel Prize in economics -- but he isn't an economist. Kahneman's field is the psychology of decision-making, and that's the topic of his new book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow." Kahneman tells NPR's Robert Siegel about the two systems that make up what he calls "the machinery of the mind:" System 1 -- or fast -- and System 2 -- or slow -- thinking. "We have a very narro... posted on Apr 1, 6778 reads
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13-Year Old Gymnast: Fearless ...& Legally Blind![](images/quickread.gif) Most athletes have the benefit of seeing what's ahead of them -- an opponent, the bars, a vault. But for 13-year-old Lola Walters, she usually has no idea what's coming until she's literally five feet away from it. Walters, a Washington resident, is legally blind, and suffers from a disease called nystagmus which causes her eyes to shift constantly, leaving her with double vision and no depth perc... posted on Mar 30, 19834 reads
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The Gift of the Swamp Shake Spill![](images/quickread.gif) "The lid came off, and the rotary movement of my body as I was rising from the bent over position created a mini-tsunami of green-brown liquid from the tops of my shoes, on to my papers -- covered desk, across the room to the credenza, the plants on top of it, the books in its lower shelves, up the wall and onto the ceiling -- where the fluid finally dissipated before completing the full circle an... posted on May 6, 9454 reads
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9 Steps to Achieving Flow (and Happiness) at Work![](images/quickread.gif) Have you ever lost yourself in your work, so much so that you lost track of time? Being consumed by a task like that, while it can be rare for most people, is a state of being called Flow. In my experience, it's one of the keys to happiness at work, and a nice side benefit is that it not only reduces stress but increases your productivity. So how do you achieve this mystical state of being? Do you... posted on Apr 30, 34760 reads
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On Seeking Stillness in Business![](images/quickread.gif) Pico Iyer -- essayist, author, travel writer and thinker -- has a unique perspective on many things. His physical domain ranges from California (where he lived as a child) and England (where he studied) to Cuba, North Korea and Ethiopia (which he visited) and Japan (where he resides). His mental domain knows no limiting boundaries. In this interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Iyer spoke on an unusual... posted on Jun 19, 20335 reads
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An Indomitable Healing Spirit![](images/quickread.gif) For the past two years, James O'Dea has synthesized his remarkable life experience into what he calls "social healing". A former Director of Amnesty International's Washington, DC office and President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, O'Dea's journey has taken him through both the depths of human suffering -- and it's transcendence. Along the way he has been wrestling with profound questions: W... posted on Mar 27, 24513 reads
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How Music Can Help The Terminally Ill![](images/quickread.gif) "Alternative medicine is increasingly accepted as part of palliative care and some studies show music is one method to ease pain and stress at the end of life. One of these methods includes live harp music, played at the bedside by a certified music practitioner. Carol Joy Loeb, a former opera singer, is a certified music practitioner and registered nurse. When she arrives at a patient's bedside, ... posted on Jun 3, 4440 reads
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Six Ways To Empower Others![](images/quickread.gif) What makes a good leader? According to this article from YES! Magazine it's the gift of strengthening others. Also, "an empowering leader makes mistakes. If she doesn't, she's probably not experimenting enough. An empowering leader is also a good learner, an experienced and willing apologizer, someone who can make amends and move on." Starhawk, the author of "The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Co... posted on Apr 18, 56506 reads
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Two Tragic Moments & One Boy's Compassion![](images/quickread.gif) Nearly a decade ago Eddie Canales was watching his son's football game. Chris Canales, a high school senior, had three offers to play college football, and that night, he was having the game of his life. With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, he made a touchdown-saving tackle. But something went wrong. "I could hear my teammates saying, 'Chris, come on, let's go,' " Chris, now 26, remembere... posted on Apr 5, 8269 reads
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Are You Fixing, Helping or Serving?![](images/quickread.gif) Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen author of the best-selling Kitchen Table Wisdom is a beloved storyteller and a profound voice in the field of health and healing. In the following article she teases out crucial differences between the various modes in which we humans tend to reach out to the world: by fixing, helping or serving. Interwoven in the piece are two unforgettable stories of service; the first abo... posted on Apr 16, 101671 reads
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10 Evolving Expressions of Simplicity![](images/quickread.gif) Voluntary simplicity gives voice to ways of living that are vital for building a workable and meaningful future. In the "garden of simplicity", as described in this classic article by Duane Elgin, there are many flowering expressions of the simple life, and he goes on to describe ten of them. According to Elgin, the great diversity of these expressions and their intertwined unity, are creating a r... posted on May 1, 35070 reads
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The Day We Gave Away Millions...of Books![](images/quickread.gif) A young woman is jumping up and down in front of the New York Public Library wearing a sandwich sign that says, "Hate Reading? Talk To Me!" She's waving around several copies of "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls...Men and women in suits breeze by, but some passersby are curious about the spectacle. If you were roaming the streets of New York City or London last month you may have encountered a... posted on Jun 1, 8552 reads
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Competencies and Inner Capacities![](images/quickread.gif) What are the core qualities and skills that transformational leaders share? Over the past 20 years, global health leader and changemaker Dr. Monica Sharma has encountered dozens of individuals from around the world who are leading their communities with courage and compassion. A few of the essential traits that they share are: knowing the power of their wisdom for action, embracing all with respec... posted on Jul 20, 17687 reads
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Finding Nimo: A Rap Star's Journey With 16 Slum Kids![](images/quickread.gif) At the pinnacle of a dizzying career, Indo-American rapper Nimo was haunted by an unshakeable sense of emptiness. In his mid-twenties, he abandoned the limelight and found himself meditating in the foothills of the Himalayas. There an inner voice nudged him to radically simplify his life and find his purpose in service of others. He moved to the Gandhi Ashram in India and dedicated himself to the ... posted on May 4, 60725 reads
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4 Ways Happiness Can Hurt You![](images/quickread.gif) The recent explosion of scientific research reveals precisely how positive feelings like happiness are good for us. We know that they motivate us to pursue important goals and overcome obstacles, protect us from some effects of stress, connect us closely with other people, and even stave off physical and mental ailments. This has made happiness pretty trendy. The science of happiness made the cove... posted on May 24, 22218 reads
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Meditating with Dinosaurs ... Really?![](images/quickread.gif) "When I first encountered Pascal's words, I felt like they were telling me, in a poetic way, to sit down and shut up, and that just felt, well... sort of rude. It also felt a bit insulting, in suggesting that for myself or for others, we bring a chunk of our suffering onto ourselves because we're too cowardly to sit quietly and face our thoughts and our feelings. Over time, however, the quote grew... posted on May 31, 19182 reads
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The Present of Being Present![](images/quickread.gif) "In the summer of 2005, things weren't looking very good for me. A broken relationship, a deadlock at work, a growing dependence on alcohol and tobacco all made for a downward spiral that I experienced every moment but couldn't snap out of. I was almost at breaking point when my mother decided to pay me a visit... On the first evening of her visit she tried to get me talking about where I was at i... posted on Sep 23, 23939 reads
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What I've Learned About Learning![](images/quickread.gif) "I'm a lifelong learner and am always obsessively studying something, whether that's breadmaking or language or wine or chess or writing or fitness. Here are two key lessons -- both really the same lesson -- I've learned about learning, in all my years of study and in trying to teach people: Almost everything I've learned, I didn't learn in school; and almost everything my students (and kids) have... posted on Jul 1, 22042 reads
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The Importance of Learned Optimism![](images/quickread.gif) "[The illiterate of the 21st century,' Alvin Toffler famously said, 'will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.' Martin Seligman's celebrated book, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, was originally published 20 years ago and remains an indispensable tool for learning the cognitive skills that decades of research have shown t... posted on Jul 9, 18215 reads
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Learning from the Wisdom of the Body![](images/quickread.gif) "It's amazing that our interpretation of experiences can generate intense visceral responses. The fact that we get goosebumps when we are inspired or afraid is one of many everyday indicators of just how deeply and intricately connected our minds and bodies are. In fact, the mind and body are an intertwined whole -- and there is great wisdom in the totality of our mind-body experience. There are s... posted on Jul 12, 16969 reads
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Not Your Usual Panhandler ![](images/quickread.gif) Doug Eaton wanted to celebrate his birthday on June 11 in a big way, so he turned to his friends for ideas. "I asked a bunch of my friends on Facebook what should I do on my 65th and I got a whole long list of stuff," he shared, "And one of my friends said, 'Why don't you do 65 random acts of kindness?'" So that's exactly what he did, spending 65 minutes standing on the corner of NW 39th Street a... posted on Jul 19, 23455 reads
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The Way of the Peaceful Parent![](images/quickread.gif) "While I have learned a lot about being a dad, and finding joy in parenthood, I also know that stress-free parenting is a myth. Parents will always have stress: we not only have to deal with tantrums and scraped knees and refusing to eat anything you cook, but we worry about potential accidents, whether we are ruining our kids, whether our children will find happiness as adults and be able to prov... posted on Jul 24, 83102 reads
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A Conspiracy of Love: Stanford Graduation Speech![](images/quickread.gif) In these video excerpts, charismatic Newark Mayor, Cory Booker, reminds Stanford graduates that their success is the product of a vast "conspiracy of love," and challenges all of us to engage in the conspiratorial caring that makes our society safe, strong, and ennobling. A clear and compelling message, and one of the most articulate and inspired commencement speeches of recent times.... posted on Aug 4, 5515 reads
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5 Books to Inspire Innovation![](images/quickread.gif) The human brain is a few pounds of pale pink jello inside the skull. It's also the wondrous source of consciousness and creativity, the place from which our emotions and insights emerge. The following books look at the mystery of the creative mind from many different angles. They investigate the quirks of human nature and the science of beauty, the importance of stories and the necessity of invest... posted on Aug 11, 11691 reads
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27 Non-School Skills Children Need![](images/quickread.gif) "When you got out of high school, did you know everything you needed in order to survive in life, let alone succeed? If you were lucky, you knew how to read and had some basic history and math skills, and if you were even luckier, you had good study habits that would serve you well in college. But were you prepared for life? Most likely not, unless you had parents who did you that favor. In fact, ... posted on Aug 28, 116655 reads
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What Death Has Taught Me About Life![](images/quickread.gif) "When I was 12, I attended a boarding school that was also a temple. My parents came to pick me up to for winter break. My mom was planning on staying at the temple for a retreat, but I pleaded her to come back since I would finally be home. My mom listened to me, and we began heading back to my house. Dusk was drawing near, and the rain was drizzling. For the first time since I had gone to boardi... posted on Aug 30, 40019 reads
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What I Learned From 30 Years Of Watching A River![](images/quickread.gif) "In all the years I have spent standing or sitting on the banks of this river, I have learned this: the more knowledge I have, the greater becomes the mystery of what holds that knowledge together, this reticulated miracle called an ecosystem. The longer I watch the river, the more amazed I become (afraid, actually, sometimes) at the confidence of those people who after a few summer seasons here a... posted on Jul 3, 9968 reads
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The Idea of A Local Economy![](images/quickread.gif) In a total economy everything has a price and is for sale. Sometimes critical choices that once belonged to individuals or communities become the property of corporations. This can lead to the disintegration of communities, households, landscapes, and ecosystems. Aware of this, nation leaders developed the means of limiting and restraining such concentrations. But now all of these means are arguab... posted on Sep 22, 7443 reads
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