Interesting mind food:
- Nassim Taleb (The Black Swan) gets angry with economists and other types of financial quants (the know nothing, well compensated establishment that drove us off the financial cliff). I'm on board with him, although I also have the same problem with the weak thinking upon which US security is based. Here's an excellent audio show on the financial crisis from NPR, for those that want to spool up.
- Defensive strategies for communities: slow foreclosures/evictions (currently running at 250,000 foreclosures a month and rapidly rising). Chicago has a watered down version of this. Philly is in the lead. The key factor: drive as deep a wedge between the dysfunctional global economy and your community as possible. Keep people in their homes as long as possible. If you don't, you risk hollowing out your community.
- Games for learning. Superstruct, a new massively multiplayer game that explores solutions to global catastrophe. CNA's "Wargaming the Fourth Generation" (and old link). I would suggest modeling 4GW in virtual worlds to allow more complex behavior.