Watch Zainab Salbi as she shares her global efforts to transform the lives of women destroyed by war:

20 min Version http://www.poptech.org/popcasts/popcasts.aspx?lang=&viewcastid=198
Audio Only http://wmarc001.bcst.yahoo.com/yahoo/zainabsalbi.MP3

Watch Jonathan Harris share his work on mass storytelling. it is worth watching the 20 min version:

3 min Version http://www.poptech.org/popcasts/?viewcastid=202
20 min Version http://www.poptech.org/popcasts/popcasts.aspx?lang=&viewcastid=165
Audio Only http://wmarc001.bcst.yahoo.com/yahoo/harris.MP3

i wish powerpoint would simply freeze when a presenter reads the slide.

this session went over the activities of the various geographies. it was quite interesting to hear of the different scales. they ranges from Poland, which has a target of becoming a road economy like the US to China which has a clear expectation to become multi-modal. There are over 40 major urban rail projects in planning and construction so that by 2020, there will be 100,000 km with 13,000 km of high speed lines in place.

Malcolm Gibson - MTR - gave a really interesting talk. there is an evolution of expectations in HK as far as comfort is concerned. this has reduced the total capacity of the lines from 85,000 per hour to 70,000 per hour. they have a good bit of money and will be investing $HK120,000,000,000 over the next ten years. he described the express rail link that is being built to link to Shenshen and on north to Shanghai and Beijing. This is being built without knowing he ultimate capacity, but as he said, they know it is the right thing to do. the amount of the work which the MTR are planning is absolutely phenomenal.

he noted that as part of the design management they have arrangement in which the design team much be co-located in the MTR offices; preliminary design is generally based on time charging and detailed design on a lump sum.

their selection of consultants is based on :
1. best team for the job
2. fair assessment of proposals
3. focus on the technical expertise and ability to deliver
4. appropriate fees
5. low bid excluded
6. no cut throat proposal accepted
7. understanding of the projects
8. team structure and its commitment to the job
9. organization and staffing
10. interview of the team is the MIOST important - we want to know if we like them or not

Chairman LM Lui opened talking about the constellations. they are there only because we make them real. they are essentially dreams which become real thru our imagination....you need to be able to 'free your heart' from what you assume to be real.

Colin Stewart, chair of the sector, gave an opening on the business stats. it has been a good year and looks to be another good one. he noted that all of the carbon emissions for this event would be offset. he presented the New Rail Business framework. it looks really impressive. I had not idea that our offer and skill sets were so wide and varied. he spoke of many things and focused on the results of an internal competition: the common results that appeared were: freedom of choice, carbon footprint, alternative power, technologies, personalization, economics, integrated journeys, information and IT, urban context and planning.

Peter Broch - Asian Development Bank [ADB] [http://www.adb.org/] - he has a special focus in southeast asia. he presented some amazing figures. the poverty in asia has been dropping drastically. the number of statistically poor has dropped to about 50% today. the challenge is that this group has also grown by 1 billion to about 2 billion. this is an interesting fact. the main objective of the ADB to lower poverty. he noted that Viet Nam has the most most liberal rail laws in the world. anyone can come in an build and operate a new rail line. anyone. this not fond anywhere else in the world. they provide funding at very favourable rates to develop, the most iportant thing for us, is to contiue to give good advice that is culturally appropriate.

TG Chew - Bombardier [http://www.bombardier.com/en/1_0/1_19/index.html or http://www.bombardier.com/index.jsp?id=1_0&lang=en&file=/en/1_0/1_0.jsp]

Their vision for mass transit systems in the future should include the following:
1. 24 hour operation with no down time
2. greater frequency and capacity
3. energy efficiency with low resource consumption
4. improved security and safety
5. comfort and more facility for passengers
6. driver-less and integrated systems
7. attractive design that blend with the city
8. fundamentally sustainable development

he described some of the innovations that they are implementing. however, it does seem that they are playing catch-up to both the automotive and airline industries as far as the utilization of information is concerned. hard to understand, really, how their model works. one idea that they have is to have load weighted fresh air introduction in winter in cold areas. most important is the driver style on energy consumption. he noted in an aside that the ideal scenario would be for the entire side of the car to zip/flip open to allow loading all along the length rather than at single apertures....and then to roll/zip closed..... could we design this? another challenge is to fundamentally lower the weight of the carriage. every ton has to be carried....so the biggest challenge is to safely reduce the overall weight of the carriage, including the drive train. he further noted that the industry needs to take a good hard look at how to use what they have better. this does not imply radical change [of course he would not be interested in that as this is an amazingly conservative industry] but rather an effective utilization of the things that the industry already knows.

he was a pretty good salesman.

the sound of the first shovelful of dirt landing on the coffin lid will echo in my mind for a long time. the california sun was reflecting off of the sheen of perspiration of the black clad gathering. it was quiet. except for that unique tone of a blade penetrating soil. again and again. the immediate family, friends and extended family of colleagues each took their turn. the rabbit told us that we should think of this as putting a final blanket over him, like we do over our loved ones to keep them warm.

it should be our destiny to conduct the rituals of passage thru death for our parents. it hurt to see his parents their daughter-in-law and three small grandchildren forced to bring that moment forward. he was such a good guy. a mensch.

i landed at SFO after and short stay in cincinnati. the blackberry nearly fell out of my numb fingers as my brain processed the email which told me that Jonathan Markowitz had been killed in an automobile accident on sunday. i was sure that this fun-loving husband, and father of three, leader of our seattle office, could not be gone. and yet, it was true.

it is but a very thin line that holds us to this world. his snapped. it makes me think, again, of the priorities that each of us have. reminded me of the promises i made laying on my back 18 months ago wondering if i would see another day. i had that option. he did not. i was here for a conference on eco cities. fate brought me here today for a different reason.

the service was held in berkeley. the main room filled. they had to open the back wall to extend the space so that all the mourners could have room to sit. the hardest part was to watch his father come forward to make a reading. as a father, i could only begin to imagine the incredible pain that he must have felt. he spoke clearly in a measured voice of the need to acknowledge loss and to move on.

it was a beautiful california day.

one which he would have loved to have enjoyed.

what a beautiful location. a well secured, walled entrance gives way to an impressively horizontally orientated grey granite and glass edifice. after pushing the little red button, getting photographed and announcing our presence, circular doors slip away to reveal an amazing view out over the lake to the mountains beyond. there is only a slight glazed facade between us and the horizon. the meeting rooms were all well appointed. not too much. just elegant and comfortable.

befitting of the organization....it is a good half-hour ride from the airport which takes one thru the city, so i can easily imagine that the time only goes up at rush hours.