Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 11:55AM Just settled on the title with publisher BenBella.
It will come out in Sept of 2023.
Will be about 55,000 words with 50 or so illustrations (hand-drawn) and about two dozen data diagrams.
Monday, January 17, 2022 at 3:11PM Collaborating with a design/strategy firm out of DC.
Almost done with the book proposal now.
Looking at about 80,000 words with custom illustrations (think AlphaChimp-style) and sophisticated data diagrams.
Tentative title is "America's New Map," but initial titles rarely survive the publication process.
As for why it took my so long to write another book? I simply needed down time and think time to accumulate enough material for one. I was never good at commenting on current events and found that to be a mind-drain, especially during the Trump years (What point to be the 1,342nd tweet to point out something as stupid or disastrous?).
But I am VERY excited to be moving again now.
Tuesday, November 2, 2021 at 11:26AM 
I’m a professional writer with over 500 publications spread over four decades, and yet, in this digital age, I can’t get my hands on electronic copies of probably 90 percent of them. All of them were originally created in digital form, but many found publication solely in print while others now live behind firewalls. I tried my darnedest to keep electronic copies of them all, but just try maintaining that kluged database over a dozen or so computers I’ve had over the years, the conflicting operating systems, the various websites, the hard drives that failed, and the file versions or programs that are no longer supported or even exist. Yes, I’m plenty grateful the cloud came along in my middle years, but even that is frankly nothing more than another file cabinet that’s largely unsearchable – at least in the ways I’d like to be able to manipulate it.
In many ways, my online blog has served as my primary professional memory. It’s where I’ve recorded just about everything I’ve ever written, and it’s crudely searchable. But it’s at best a pointer system, as in, look over here for that article you’re trying to remember! I can’t easily compile, for example, the hundreds or even thousands of times I’ve written something about China, the internet, the Defense Department, or really anything. Frankly, I am often reduced to Googling myself to find that one passage that I want to review and maybe update/repurpose in something new that I’m working on.
Frustrating, right?
Then realize that the vast majority of my writings were never published. They were filed away in all manner of proprietary systems. I’m talking about thousands of memos and reports and notes – often just to myself. Toss in the 15,000 blog posts and probably the same number of relevant and useful emails (heck, probably several times more), and you come to realize that, for someone in the writing business, I’ve produced a vast quantity of material – truly a uniquely useful knowledge base, to me at least – that I don’t really have that much access to, much less the ability to leverage and build upon.
Like a lot of writers, I want what I’m working on right now to be the best thing I’ve ever written, so I’m naturally wary of digging into my past too much – and yet, living and working in a world of Big Data has sensitized me to the notion that all content is pretty much an extension and synthesis of what’s gone before. This is my professional body of knowledge floating out there in the ether and I should be able to mine it – at will!
So, imagine that capability.
Imagine a cloud database that you have diligently fed over the course of your professional life: every email, every document, every article, every everything. You just always CC’d to it – within the law and your contractual obligations, mind you – a copy of everything you ever penned. It is your database, accessible to only you (or those you might wish to collaborate with) and always there for you to tap.
Say I need to write something on Iran and I know I’ve mentioned or described that state maybe thousands of times over the decades. I go to my personal cloud-situated knowledge base and type in the term on my content-review interface, along with a contextualizing pair of other terms to narrow down my search (e.g., nuclear weapons, terrorism). Seconds later I’m looking at scores of hits spread out over the past X years – stuff I forgot long ago, or no longer adhere to, or still adhere to but need to update.
So now I’m cherry picking the best bits by simply clicking and dragging pieces of text – the vast majority of which has already been edited to a hard polish – and within minutes I’ve compiled a career’s worth of professional knowledge (along with the citations) that jump-starts my current writing project on Iran.
What would I give for that convenience, speed, reach, and recollection? Like most professional writers, I’m pretty good at synthesizing, repurposing, updating, and extending existing content – except now I’m doing it at ludicrous speed, mining material that I inherently know and trust. So yeah, that would be worth something to me.
Well, that’s what my new company, Riverscape Software, is building and testing right now: a cloud-based document generator with dedicated document repository. Those are two of several modules in a SaaS designed to super-empower small businesses operating in the increasingly sped-up world of Federal contracting, where government-wide Indefinite Duration, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicles have transformed the public tendering landscape into a never-ending torrent of Task Order Requests (TORs) to which all firms – big and small – must reply at high speed with highly complex proposal volumes.
Riverscape Software will launch our SaaS, dubbed InfoSquirrelTM, in early 2022. It’s currently being field tested by a top-20 research university and one of its extension services as they collectively look to upgrade their capacity to respond to government solicitations – particularly grant proposals.
Meanwhile, we wanted to start an informal dialogue with what we believe to be a rather large market for this SaaS and/or its individual modules – like the document generator described in this post. As Riverscape Software’s Director of Strategic Communications, I just wanted to start this conversation with a writer’s viewpoint on what is – to me at least – the most exciting part of InfoSquirrelTM – namely, its ability to super-empower authors who, like me, typically operate under tight deadlines to produce large amounts of professionally complex content.
This is admittedly a bit of a product tease, but I wanted to start small. Other posts will follow in the weeks ahead. Please reach out to me (thomas.barnett@riverscapesoftware.com) with any reactions, thoughts, or interest. We know we’re onto something here, because we’ve spent the last year using InfoSquirrelTM to increase our proposal submissions 8-fold(!) over the past two years. But to be honest, we are just scratching the surface of what the entire InfoSquirrelTM module suite will ultimately be used for, so we’re looking for fellow-travelers on this fascinating journey of discovery.
Monday, August 12, 2019 at 1:48PM 
As someone who’s penned bestsellers on the difficult-to-grasp complexities of today’s world, I know exactly how hard it is to tackle such subjects in a way that makes them more accessible to readers. It entails – believe it or not – a great deal of trial and error across a career, as you laboriously learn what works and what doesn’t with all manner of audiences. In this book, Dr. Daniel M. Gerstein tackles the daunting subject of technology and its impact on our planet over time. The result is an amazingly accessible volume of just under 300 pages of text – an impressive achievement that reminds of Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. Consider this: the book’s list of acronyms runs more than four pages!
Gerstein’s stated intent here is most laudable: a desire to address the growing social anxiety about the crashing wave of technological developments, or, as he describes it, “the convergence of multiple fields [with] the potential to fundamentally alter the human existence.” He accomplishes this difficult feat by providing structure and method to interpret the technological advances currently sweeping our world, drawing upon his decades in the U.S. military and later in the Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate.
My favorite parts of the book are its simplest, where Gerstein patiently walks the reader through a basic lexicon of science versus technology, research versus development, and innovation versus transformation – all the while covering events from the Bronze Age through Russia’s successful hacking of the 2016 presidential election. From there he lays out an “assessing framework” that parses out how technology developments unfold, linking their practical availability to society to their proper management across both government and industry. In sum, the book reads like an executive MBA in technology transfer – a genuine tour de force in a subject desperately in need of one.
But the greatest accomplishment of this delightful read (for me, one engrossing morning) is the understanding and confidence it imparts to the reader, whether they’ve long been interested in technology or have never summoned the courage to attempt a read this. As such, I would recommend The Story of Technology as both an intellectual salve to today’s angry populism, which harbors innumerous fears of technology’s coming “subjugation” of humanity, and as a must-have textbook for any leadership-focused curriculum.
Here's the Amazon link.
I got an advance copy from the author, whom I've known going back to shared experiences in the Pentagon. Keep an eye out for it.
Monday, October 22, 2018 at 9:14PM 
Today I confirmed with Knowfar leadership that we won't proceed beyond the three-year research-fellow deal that I agreed to back in 2015. As recently as last spring they indicated a desire to have me teach a research methodology class to their network of foreign-affairs and security experts, but that sort of ambition seems to have dried up amidst the worsening of US-China relations this year. Knowfar, which had surprised me somewhat in the past with its willingness to push the envelope on acceptable topics for discussion (e.g., they had me analyze Xi Jinping's decision to abolish presidential term limits), now seems decidedly more circumspect in its research agenda. The institute doesn't need me for that pathway, so it makes sense to part ways.
As a result, I will post here the various reports I generated for Knowfar over the past three years. The institute never provided me with the Chinese translations, nor revealed where they were sent across Chinese national security circles. I wasn't particularly surprised by either decision, as I knew the whole enterprise was a shaky experiment from the start.
I nonetheless want those reports entered into this record (my primary reason for having a blog in the first place), mostly so I won't lose track or simply forget about the work (500-plus publications into my mid-50s and I am constantly surprised to run into articles that I haven't entered into my personal bibliography). I also see their posting as logical protection against any future disinformation targeting by unfriendly forces (like the ubiquitous online bit pushed by Kremlin trolls that has this "retired Israeli general" advocating the reduction of collective European IQ rates through uncontrolled immigration by non-whites from the Gap! [Oh, if I had a shekel for every email I've received about that doozy, well . . . I'd have my IDF pension in full!]).
We live in strange times, to be sure. But we must remember that, for every great expansion (two steps forward), there is a subsequent and painful contraction (one step backward). Globalization is no different. Like I would sign my "Blueprint" volumes (NC-->NRs! [the New Core sets the new rules!]), the world now endures a lengthy period of rule-set conflict among the Core's largest players - a process accelerated and enhanced by America's decision to go retrograde with the Trump Administration (recall my frequent use of Dr.-Frankenstein-turning-on-his-creature analogies in "Great Powers").
But this too shall pass. Any American enterprise that relies on a base of aging white males (think NFL, CBS, NRA, GOP ...) is demographically doomed. White deaths outnumber white births in the vast majority of US states now, so pissing into that headwind is definitely an option, so long as you don't mind getting your socks wet.
Me? I don't worry about it whatsoever. I have great faith in the Millennials, who are the first truly unbiased generation America has ever produced. Gen Z only builds on that magnificent social achievement. My six kids (three of each) constantly amaze me on that score, and I take little-to-no credit for their development. They are just further proof that America consistently gets it right, growing greater with each generation of our world-shaping experiment.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 9:47PM 
Putin's Russia is becoming the Trump of international security: dominating the news cycle with a constant stream of bold moves (Syria, for example) and often outrageous affronts (Russian hackers just did what?!?!). Just like Clinton will win the White House while The Donald is named Time's Person of the Year (bet on it), Obama's "long game" (see Chollet's new book) may be sound, even as it's seemingly trumped (that word again) on every strategic front by Putin's nonstop shenanigans.
So what does Putin seek for Russia?
The obvious answer is: as much reconstruction of the old Soviet empire (however virtually achieved by various Finlandizations) as possible, combining that sometimes actual revanchism with a successful dismemberment of the EU and NATO, leaving Germany once again living in complete fear of its intentions (Russia has ALWAYS been just that into Germany).
Not by a long shot does that constitute an attempted overturning of the world order. It is far better described as a leapfrogging by a resurgent Russia over the faltering "West" (retreating US, freaking-out Europe, aging Japan [where adult-diaper sales now trump baby-diaper sales]) into the Trumpian position of Initiator-in-Chief (a role once clearly held - and abused - by the Bush Administration but clearly abandoned by Lead-From-Behind Obama).
So what does Putin seek for Russia? He wants Russia to be #1 on everybody's speed dial, search engine, and worry list.
And he's readily achieving it.
That's the thing about an essentially US-constructed (and typically led) world order: when we step back to stare at the horizon, others will step in. Ultimately those others will be China and India, but neither is ready for that now. India hasn't hit its demographic/industrialization inflection point yet and China is too obsessed with its front-yard "pond" (their strategic equivalent of staring at one's bellybutton and muttering, Mine! All mine!).
So we get Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey running the show in the Center (see map above), while America focuses more on home (and the West Hemisphere) and China looks to lock down the East.
In my old vernacular, the "Gap-shrinking" continues, it is just more obviously and geographically divvied up, with Asian great powers (China, India, Japan) nonetheless forced into some competitive thrusts into the Center (particularly Africa) for reasons both immediate (resource access) and long term (tomorrow's biggest cheap-labor - and consumer - pool).
America, secure in both its energy and food/water (and increasingly Latinized and Millennialized), continues to turn inward for a lengthy Progressive Era that it desperately needs.
Still, we have to play both the Home and Away games, and here is where it gets particularly challenging for the West: imagine Hillary, May (UK), and Merkel (Germany( leading the West's pushback against Putin's many international micro-aggressions. You just know that that macho Vlad will assume he's got the upper hand. One can almost see the misogynystic cartoon: Vlad, in wife-beater shirt, daring the cowering women to take in the "gun show" (hat tip, Ron Burgundy) as he holds his backhand above his head, poised in bitch-slap-delivery mode.
So yes, expect Vlad to keep pushing things until the West (and specifically America) pushes back, and expect him to continuously elevate his game with little fear of long-term cost.
Putin has seen enough of Obama's "long game" (where America often punted on early downs) to know that, absent a serious course change, the Center field (Europe-writ large, Muddle East, Africa) is his for the reshaping right now (much as Xi Jinping views the East).
This is why any President-Elect Clinton needs to move fast and project an image of a serious housecleaning both internally and - eventually abroad.
But again, none of this signals an existential threat to the system, because, quite frankly, all our great power competitors (not enemies) find it all too much to their liking.
Was this phase of globalization inevitable?
Yes. Nothing moves ever upward in a straight line. It's more Dora's bit about just keep swimming.
America built something so amazing, transformative, beneficial, and enriching that there was zero chance we could control globalization ad nauseum - anymore than we could rule the Internet forever.
Remember: globalization comes with rules but no ruler (a wise man once wrote that).
A dozen years ago I penned a piece for WAPO stating that America's prime partners of tomorrow would be China, Russia, and India (Turkey also mentioned), and that, yes, we'd end up uncomfortably accommodating each in that pathway. [I soon after added Iran to that group.] My goal in that piece was simply to signal that the days of America, Europe and Japan constituting a quorum of great powers was over.
At that time, the notion was laughed off.
Not so funny now, is it? I mean, look who's running the Middle East? China and India are the biggest buyers, while Turkey, Iran, and Russia have all ascended as security actors. I never said we'd be close with any of them, just that we'd have to work with all of them.
Having said all this (again), we need to avoid our usual freak-out response pattern regarding all these powers. Yes, America enjoyed and exploited its post-Cold War unipolar moment to ram globalization down everyone's throats (I approved whole-heartedly), triggering the best set of problems the world has ever known. But that thrust, while an amazing gift to humanity (all that wealth creation, hundreds of millions lifted out of poverty, percentage of extreme poverty less than 10% of human population for first time in history, and a majority global middle class for the first time in history) was unsustainable for the US (or, more accurately, the US consumer and all the personal debt we took one).
Now we move dumbfoundedly into the period where the world's most dynamic great powers seek to consolidate rule-set spheres of influence ("This is how things work around here!"). This period was always inevitable, but keep in mind that we are not looking at the resurrection of great power war (no matter how many hard-talking security types sell you that every night on the news). MAD remains in force with no "offset" required.
What we face now is an extended clash not of civilizations but of great-power rule-sets.
What should America do?
We should persistently and pointedly defend our national interests while not pushing our norms as the only acceptable answer. We tend toward the opposite tack - a habit long ingrained by our "global cop" burden. But that burden has been overtaken by events and developments that we have long sought - a genuine multi-polarity that respects the international structure we've created even as each great power seeks to rule its individual roost (to expect otherwise is naive in the worst way).
So we should stay calm and carry on with our necessarily transformative regrading of our political (less distance between leaders and led) and economic (less tilted toward rich) landscapes. In short, we need to proceed with the next great progressive American era that redefines 21st century capitalism in light of globalization's swift conquering of the planet - finally (with a hat tip to K. Marx) but only under America's tutelage (none of those thieving European empires came even close).
Again, these are the best problems humanity has ever faced - problems of success and not failure.
So, chin up as this US election gets even nastier and more weird - and as daily revelations emerge concerning Moscow's (or Beijing's or Tehran's or Ankara's) latest transgression.
The world system we built remains secure, even as virtually every state now faces very hard choices between open and closed, connected or disconnected, or drawbridges up or down (per the Economist). These are natural reactions and we were all certain to confront these as a result of the Great Recession. What matters now is what we as Americans choose and how we lead - as always - by example.
Make no mistake: I'd gladly take our path and our fundamentals and our challenges over those of any other great power out there - yet another reason to keep all such frenemies in perspective. Neither they nor our true enemies (violent extremist organizations, plus those just-plain-nutty North Koreans) pose any existential threat to either us or our amazingly sturdy world order.
Simply put, don't believe the hype, even as we keep an eye on Russia's Trump.
China, India, Iran, Russia, Turkey, US, grand strategy | in What's Tom Up To? | Email Article | Permalink | Print Article Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at 12:50PM The ad:
The links:
Will enjoy this translation in particular, as I can still read German from my PhD work.
In Changsha, China right now for some meetings/discussions with Hunan Academy of Social Sciences, but publisher asked me to post right away.
For all of you who asked why no German versions? all these years, apparently it took the flood of refugees/migrants from the Gap for the ideas to receive some direct attention in Germany. Yes, I realize that most of the media coverage concerning me has been inaccurate - to say the least. But now readers can decide for themselves.
Looking back on my arguments about Europe having to take in far larger numbers of immigrants to avoid a too-rapidly-aging demographic profile: I run into Europeans all the time who say, "That's easy for you to say but we have to deal with these people! And pay for it all!"
Well . . . having run that very experiment in my own family (three biological kids later augmented by one Asian and two Africans) . . . yeah, I do know a thing or two about the complications, costs, challenges, etc.
And I still make the same arguments. In this world, you go diverse or you're going down.
Fortunately, despite the nativist white blacklash here in the States, that's how the vast majority of Americans feel too, according to this Economist-published polling:
More than half of Americans answered "better" (dark blue) and more than 90% said "better/no difference" (latter being light blue) while less than 10% said "worse" (pink).
The numbers from European countries (larger pink "worse" blocs) are far more "drawbridges up" - as the Economist put it.
Thank God we have always been a synthetic country/citizenry/identity.
Yes, I also realize the titles are a bit jacked-up in translation. First think you learn as a writer: you don't get to title your articles/books.
Monday, July 18, 2016 at 12:33PM In the words of Dane Cook, I did my best.
But it's time to move on to something where I can genuinely move the needle.
My spouse now has her MSW and is interviewing for jobs in the Midwest, so I'm simultaneously more flexible in thinking about a potential new home (the potential for relocation) and more desirous for stability (I'd love to stay here in Madison if I could - for my younger kids' sake and so my spouse can jumpstart her career in a state where she's most credentialed).
I will continue to do consulting and speeching via Barnett Consulting, and I will remain with the Beijing-based Knowfar Institute and the Annapolis-HQ'd iJet in those adjunct positions, but I am actively looking now for a stable base relationship - the sun around which all my other endeavors orbit.
Along those lines, already talking to two places about such a relationship, but I'm also encouraging inbound offers from anyone out there who thinks I'd be a good match. So please contact me at will.
Monday, November 2, 2015 at 2:21PM 
I also recently accepted an offer from China's first government-recognized NGO on defense and international security to serve as its first Senior Research Fellow. It is an incredible honor and I look very much forward to doing some great work with the institute's very impressive staff.
I just agreed to do my first research project for KIDSS on the concept of "splendid little wars." I will be presenting my findings in Beijing in December.
From the institute's website:
Knowfar Institute for Strategic and Defence Studies (KISDS) is a Chinese think tank which focuses on following and analysing long-term strategic and defence issues. The institute provides government institutions and policymakers with advice based on its independent and in-depth research. Since its establishment, KISDS has been conducting quality research according to its major principles: "independent, objective, deliberation, and discernment." It aims to provide a platform for international discussion of strategic and defence issues, through organizing forums and seminars; publishing academic journals; and interacting with the academic community and think tanks.
Headquartered in Beijing, KISDS is divided into four specialized research units: The Centre for Strategic Studies, the Centre for Battle and Tactics Studies, and the Centre for Eurasian Studies. It publishes five journals, namely, Knowfar Defence Review, CIS and East European Defense Review, Asia Pacific Defence Quarterly, Cyber Review and UAV Review.
Monday, November 2, 2015 at 2:13PM
I recently signed a three-year contract with iJet International, a fascinating company that truly fulfills a significant slice of what I long described as the System Administrator function.
What I always said about my notion of the SysAdmin was that it would be more civilian than uniform, more USG than DoD, more rest of the world than just the United States, and - most importantly - more private-sector driven than public-sector funded. So, no, I'm not surprised to be working with this very impressive firm.
From the company's website:
Helping Organizations Operate Globally With Confidence
iJET International delivers intelligence-driven, integrated risk management solutions that enable multinational organizations to operate globally with confidence. iJET’s end-to-end, tailored solutions integrate world-class threat intelligence, innovative technology, and response services to help organizations avoid threats and mitigate risk.
In 1999, iJET became one of the first companies to offer intelligence-driven risk management to the travel industry — a change that ultimately transformed travel and security departments worldwide. iJET’s Travel Intelligence® and Worldcue® risk-management software revolutionized corporate and government business travel with the promise of keeping employees safe — not just on time.
Building on that legacy, iJET provides Integrated Risk Management solutions that begin and end with intelligence. Our proprietary technology and network of security, intelligence and geopolitical experts allows us to deliver unmatched custom intelligence, preparedness and response solutions that help clients protect their people, facilities, suppliers and information around the world. Whether your business is expanding, consolidating, or maintaining, iJET has the expertise to help you navigate your next steps for success.
Friday, April 12, 2013 at 8:43AM I've come to the decision that I no longer wish to blog on a daily (okay, "weekdaily") basis, and since I have the option of going to Battleland (thanks to Mark Thompson) for the occasional post as I see fit, I'm going to shut down this aspect of my site.
I've been blogging here since the spring of 2004 and, while it's been fun, I feel like I've run this course . . . enough times - on a creative basis. Anyone who knows me, knows that I will do anything gung-ho so long as I feel creative in the pursuit, but that I'll drop it once that is no longer the case and there are other avenues that seem to offer that buzz in larger amounts.
A number of things factor into this decision - besides the creativity. With the move to Madison, I feel one chapter of my life closing and another opening up. And, as there are big changes afoot in the family (e.g., it's not just my eldest son but my spouse who will attend the UW), I feel there are simply a number of decisions I need to make.
It's much like going through all your stuff before a move and deciding what you absolutely need to keep and what should go to somebody else - or just get tossed. Again, because I can sound off at Battleland at my leisure, I don't see the blogging function going away entirely - just downsized like our household (we were 8 just last summer, and soon to be six in a matter of weeks).
Personally, I love big changes and I love reinvention, so I think this will be good. I'll recast the site somewhat in the weeks ahead, making it more an archive than blog-centric.
I want to thank everybody who stopped by and pitched in over the years. It was a good ride. For the record, this was blog post 12,877.
Those who enjoy the privilege know how to engage me.
So long.
Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 9:32AM Pre-emptively moving bulk of household goods to local storage.
Friday, March 15, 2013 at 11:15PM 
I was born in Calumet county (just to the right of Lake Winnebago and just below Brown/Green Bay), but grew up almost entirely in Grant (where Wisconsin river feeds into Mississippi). Then four years in Dane at the U of Wisconsin. Met spouse there, cooking at a restaurant where she was waitress (Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts ...).
Then 6 years in Massachussets (Harvard), then a year in Maryland (West Baltimore, aka "The Wire").
Then seven years in northern VA (Fairfax county). Two babies born.
Then seven years on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island. One baby born, and one adopted (China).
And now 8 years done in Indiana (Johnson County - just below Marion/Indianapolis). Two sisters adopted (Ethiopia).
Today I secured a home in Madison Wisconsin. Son had gotten in for next year, and wife successful transferred into grad school there (going for her second masters after a BA there in journalism).
We're even going back to the parish where Vonne and I were married.
All very nostalgic.
I don't expect leave Wisconsin again, but my history with Vonne says otherwise. I do want to learn the Greak Lakes like the back of my hand.
And see lotsa more Packer games than my usual Gold Package duo.
But frankly, I'm personally going - by far - to escape the allergies here in Indiana. On average, I am sick (by anyone's kind definition) about 300 days a year here. Anywhere else I go in this world, I feel instantly better, but here, every morning is like the worst hangover from college (and I don't hardly drink any more!).
So I am hoping for a great life improvement.
This morning in Madison I awoke after 7 hours of sleep two minutes before the alarm. Until 2005, this was my life - like clockwork. I look forward to regaining that lifestyle and health - and that extra hour of sleep in the CST (my theory for crabby Easterners).
I can't wait to get back out in a canoe on Wisconsin's many fine rivers. I will paddle them all.
My non-too-secret plan: get filthy rich, become Wisconsin's most beloved philanthropist, forcing Green Bay Packers to name me to the Exec Committee, and then kiss my Super Bowl ring just before I close my eyes the last time - dying anywhere but on this planet.
Not sure I can talk Vonne into that last bit, but I have a plan for that too (two words . . . interplanetary adoption).
Monday, January 7, 2013 at 3:53PM Wikistrat is running a huge sim (about 100 analysts in all) for client and relatively extreme volume of content flow (almost scary number of scenarios) is keeping me buried (like more than 100 emails an hour announcing each change to each scenario page on the wiki - vritually around clock). It's exhilerating and it carries its own weird creative buzz (much like the effect I seek to create with my "fire hose" style brief), but it is killing me when it comes to this blog (which, oddly enough, takes a second place to my family).
I was at Lambeau Sat night with son Jerry (working the wiki on my iPhone the whole way up and down in the car (wife drove to help out), plus during every timeout and throughout halftime), and I still haven't read a single web story on the game! There is no more "busy" for me than that.
I will try to get back to things tomorrow.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 12:03AM 
The company:
Negara Infracon Private Limited is a company, incorporated under company's act 1956, with the main objects of carrying on business of Irrigation, Solar Power production, Infrastructure and Light Rail projects. The registered office is situated at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh; the corporate office is situated at Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The website: http://www.negara.in
The vision:
It is our vision and hope to be an infrastructure company of the country that provides environmentally friendly power on most cost effective basis along with providing the most effective infrastructure such are Mono Rail, Metro Rail, Four or Six lane expressways and bridges.
We forecast to grow in the field of Irrigation by taking up projects to provide water to the farmers in India which is the life of Indian economy.
The endless source of energy from the sun is a great task to achieve and requirement of solar power is huge. We visualise our growth at a steady pace. The company is ensuring growth with ethics and prosperity for its stakeholders through inheriting trust, establishing bonds and fostering relationships. We envision a bright further where we stand a globally acclaimed company, synonymous with commitment.
INFRASTRUCTURE
- Provide effective and modernized Mono/ Metro Rail for major cities in India. This will reduce traffic congestion.
- Build Express roadways with international standards, safety measures and cope up the need in India.
- Retain leadership positions amongst organizations in Infrastructure, while working with innovation and dedication in every project undertaken.
IRRIGATION
- Provide efficient and modernized systems in transporting water to fertile lands of India.
- To constantly work and ensure cost effective productivity and improvement in transporting water, the most essential element for human race.
- Retain leadership position amongst organizations in irrigation, while working with innovation and dedication in every project undertaken.
POWER PERFECTION
- Ensure efficiency of the most common available source of power for sustaining and putting India's growth and development on top gear.
- Provide clean and green power for the future of Indians. Retain leadership position amongst organizations in solar power generation, while working with innovation and dedication in every project undertaken.
- To continually innovate ways to ensure cost-effectiveness, enhance productivity, improve financial health of the organization and continual fulfilment of stakeholders' aspirations.
GENERAL BUT SPECIAL
- To be a transparent organization and technology-driven, that ensures dignity and respect for its team members.
- To inculcate value system all across the organization for nurturing relationships between its constituents, associates and stakeholders those are based on mutual trust and respect.
- To continuously upgrade and update both the knowledge as well as the skills of the human resource.
- Be socially responsible through community development by leveraging our core competencies, resources and knowledge base.
- To ensure excellence in every activity that is undertaken.
I am found on the Advisory Board page with others:
ADVISORY BOARD
MR. MANISH UPRETY (F.R.A.S.)
International
Mr. Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. is an alumnus of the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India and the University of London, United Kingdom. The field of Management has been his research area where he explored the co-evolution of strategy and environment. He joins Negara to add to the strategic perspective of the company.
A prolific speaker on international development issues, Mr. Manish Uprety has addressed various established platforms such as Banque de France, Paris; Mexican Parliament, Mexico City; TERI, New Delhi; EABA, Brussels; and ULPGC, Spain, among others. He was invested as a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (F.R.A.S.) of Great Britain and Ireland in October 2010. Mr. Manish Uprety was also conferred with "2006 Global Human Rights Protection Award" by the Indian Institute of Human Rights at the 8th World Human Rights Congress held in New Delhi, India on the World Human Rights Day on the 10th of December 2006. Mr. Uprety looked after the Technological and Institutional Development of CISRI-ISP / IIMSAM which is an inter governmental observer to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations . He is also associated with Kohima Komets Football Club (KKFC) which is a premiership club in the Nagaland Premier League (NPL), Nagaland, India.
DR. THOMAS P.M. BARNETT
International
Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett earned a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1984 (Russian Literature & American Foreign Policy), and then an A.M. from Harvard University's Russian Research Center. After earning a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard, Barnett spent a decade and a half working in U.S. national security, first for a defense think tank (Center for Naval Analyses) and then as a Professor at the U.S. Naval War College. Following a two-year stint in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Barnett entered the private sector as Senior Managing Director of a software firm (Enterra Solutions) focused on global supply-chain management. Dr. Barnett currently serves as Chief Analyst for the massively multiplayer online consultancy Wikistrat. A New York Times-bestselling author of five books, Dr. Barnett gives speeches all over the world to various private and public-sector organizations, and his own consultancy (Barnett Consulting) has advised global corporations and governments since 1998. He blogs on international affairs at his own site (www.thomaspmbarnett.com) and is a Contributing Editor at Esquire magazine.
MR. PRAGYANESHWER SHUKLA
Finance
Mr. P. Shukla is a well known figure in the Indian Financal sector who has a Post Graduate degree in Science from the Lucknow University which he secured in the year 1974. After securing his degree, Mr. Shukla ventured into the Indian Banking sector where he held important managerial positions in a nationalized bank for twenty seven years. Mr. Shukla's vast experience in the field of finance, accounting and foreign trade is his wealth of knowledge from which he contributes as a member of Negara's Advisory Board.
He is also a renowned freelance consultant for financial services like – financial investigations, investigative audit, project reports and more. Mr. Shukla also has an immense interest in learning foreign languages and holds diplomas in French and German.
Obviously, my role in the company is to help source infrastructure deals.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 12:55PM Spending school day lecturing to three AP Government classes at Son #1's H.S.
Pretty fun, actually.
Ate lunch with the teachers in their lounge.
Great school. Made my senior son happy.
Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 12:39PM Find here at the Wikistrat YouTube channel.
A bit autobiographical toward the end.
I am currently in sunny San Diego speaking at a financial industry research conference.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 12:03AM 
This is definitely the 12th year in a row I've spoke at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces - always to the student body.
Been kicking off year since . . . 05?
Long day in and out of DC.
