Paul M. Jones | Resilience 2026-05-08T09:12:58-05:00 Back On The Market! 2014-08-01T08:49:02-05:00 After a year spent writing my book, working on Aura, speaking at conferences and user groups, advising startups, and proposing new design patterns, I am back on the market. I've been writing PHP code since 1999, and in that time I've been everything ... The Climate Issues You Should *Really* Be Worried About: Solar Output Variation And Ice Ages 2013-01-18T18:53:46-06:00 The average G-type star shows a variability in energy output of around 4%. Our sun is a typical G-type star, yet its observed variability in our brief historical sample is only 1/40th of this. When or if the Sun returns to more typical variation in e... NYC Marathon generators and supplies unused in park in spite of Hurricane Sandy recovery needs 2012-11-05T18:22:43-06:00 The city left more than a dozen generators desperately needed by cold and hungry New Yorkers who lost their homes to Hurricane Sandy still stranded in Central Park yesterday.And that’s not all -- stashed near the finish line of the canceled mara... FEMA Taps Private Vendors to Meet Sandy Victim's Needs 2012-11-03T17:54:47-05:00 The agency appears to have been completely unprepared to distribute bottled water to Hurricane Sandy victims when the storm hit this Monday. In contrast to its stated policy, FEMA failed to have any meaningful supplies of bottled water -- or any othe... Anti-gouging laws make natural disasters worse 2012-11-02T20:36:46-05:00 The basic imperative to allocate goods efficiently doesn’t vanish in a storm or other crisis. If anything, it becomes more important. And price controls in an emergency have the same results as they do any other time:  They lead to shortages ... Christie Orders Odd-Even Rationing System For Filling Up Gas Tanks 2012-11-02T20:32:30-05:00 Residents with license plates ending in an odd number can make gas purchases on odd-numbered days of the month Residents with plates ending in an even number will be able to buy gas on even-numbered days, the governor said. Specialized plates or thos... It Appears I'm A "Downsider" 2012-10-16T18:44:49-05:00 If you think about emergency preparedness even though there is no emergency, you just might be a downsider. If you think it’s rather uncivilized to be rolling around in a luxury sedan while the country is in recession, you just might be a downsi... Complex Systems and Normal Accidents 2012-03-25T21:58:06-05:00 One of my favourite sections of the book was Harford’s discussion of accidents. Most of the problems Harford examines in the book are complex and “loosely coupled”, which allows experimentation with failure. But what if the system is t... Hooray for Price Gouging! It Makes Sure Everyone Gets A Little Something 2011-08-27T13:18:31-05:00 As Hurricane Irene bears down on us, have you gone to CVS or Giant today and found that it's all out of water? Alternatively, did you go last night and buy as much water as you could fit in your shopping cart? Maybe you went to the hardware store and... Wal-Mart: Prepared When FEMA Is Not 2011-08-26T13:46:12-05:00 I never want to hear another word about Wal-Mart is "evil." Walmart's preparedness system helped the company emerge as a hero after Katrina, says Steve Horwitz, an economist at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., who studied the company's respo...