— Bob-a-job-alog-a-roonie

There has been a recent boom of websites that facilitate the sharing of private possessions – accommodation, tools, caravans… I have not come across such a service for books. People tend to be very possessive of books, and extra proud of their personal libraries. I foresee a new trend, where people allow their books to be borrowed. All we need is a process that ensures you get your books back (timely, un-damaged) and that you get some sort of karma/reward/fame/cudos for doing so.

I just wrote this on Facebook in response to a friend’s photo of her bookshelves:

My shelves are similarly groaning. I think the time has come for personal/public libraries, where respectful people get to borrow from personal libraries. Few of my books are available at local public libraries, or even inter-library loans. Especially powerful if the personal libraries are themed…

I’d love to know the ratio – how many book titles exist in a town/suburb/city that are not offered in the local public libraries? I wouldn’t be surprised if it were 100/1 or much greater.

Cataloging is easy, with barcode scanners available for $10 or so. I have used the CueCat for my 1000+ books. 649 are listed at LibraryThing (very easy to achieve).

But how to make sure your books come home unharmed? You could just copy the AirBNB system, or perhaps a $50 deposit?

I would love to share my books…

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I understand that it could easily be achieved digitally, but I doubt there will ever be a better, easier or more rewarding experience that browsing through real hardcopy books that fit your area of interest.

We’ve heard a lot recently about Spain’s economic woes, so it would seem an unlikely place to spot the future of businesses. A future where workers are in charge & where CEOs are paid a more moderate wage. A system that looks after everyone fairly. A socialist spin on capitalism. And the proof of concept is already massive in Spain. As soon as I read the Spain’s 10th largest corporation (in terms of sales or employees) was a co-op, I was ready to be convinced…

• Mondragon Corporation has 85,000 members
• Founded in the town of Mondragón in 1956, its origin is linked to the activity of a modest technical college and a small workshop producing paraffin heaters.
• 80-85% of the workers collectively own and direct each enterprise run by MC
• Workers choose and employ a managing director and retain the power to make all the basic decisions of the enterprise (what, how and where to produce and what to do with the profits
• MC worker-members collectively choose, hire and fire the directors, whereas in capitalist enterprises the reverse occurs
• MC limits top-paid worker/members to earning 6.5 times the lowest-paid workers
• Total student enrollment in all its educational centers in 2010 was 9,282
• Largest corporation in the Basque region
• Has its own bank,  Caja Laboral, with $25bn in deposits
• MC has expanded internationally, now operating over 77 businesses outside Spain

No wonder the region had a separatist movement!

Full story at The Guardian.

Note that in the UK, the third largest privately owned business is also a co-op: John Lewis Partnership. They are primarily the John Lewis and Waitrose businesses, and they have 81,000 employee members.

It looks like all that we need is for large co-ops like John Lewis to be brave and expand into new territories. But at the same time, we need to be careful that eventually there are multitudes of co-ops rather than a few super co-ops that wield too much power!

Traditional burials, sea burials, cremation – they’ve been around for a long, long time. But now, with land at a premium, new methods of dealing with the deceased are arising:

Resomation (aka bio-cremation) –  uses heated water and potassium hydroxide to liquefy the body, leaving only bones behind. The bones are then pulverized, much as in regular cremation, and the bone fragments are returned to the family. This reduces the impact of cremation on global warming!

Natural Burial –  bodies are wrapped in a shroud or placed in a biodegradable casket, the idea being that they will decompose naturally. Nothing new about this one, but I like it. Available in over 50 US cemeteries.

Eternal Reefs – …creates artificial reef material out of a mixture of concrete and human cremains (the crushed bone left over from cremations). These heavy concrete orbs are then placed in areas where reefs need restoration, attracting fish and other organisms that turn the remains into an undersea habitat. A bit like being buried by the mob in the foundations of a skyscraper…

Space Burial – choose the most important few grams of the deceased and have them launched into space, starting at $995. Pretty cool. Nice for folk to look up at the stars and thing of you.

Mummification (from $63K, and legal), plastination (free if you don’t mind being looked at in exhibits), cryogenics and freeze-drying (where you can literally end up as compost) round out the eight listed at Live Science

The Solowheel has taken the concept of the Segway, and shrunk it way down. Sure, at 10kgs you wouldn’t want to carry it up too many steps, but aside from that you get to scoop around for 2 hours on single charge. Just like the Segway, you steer, accelerate and brake by leaning. I can see these really taking off, and if they sold them in Australia they’d have my $1500 tomorrow.

Just like your Facebook updates, the future will have many people sharing their every social and media move, helped by the powers of iPhones and iPads. New aspects will include:

• The book/magazine you are reading
• Music listened to (already exists)
• Movies viewed
• Products purchased
• Places visited (already exists)
• Charities given to

And that’s just the start – how about these more niche updates:

• Insulin injections
• Alcohol units ingested
• Sex life
• Calories consumed
• Weight lost
• Dollars spent

Thankfully neo-luddites will really emerge as a true counter-culture…