The Amazing Cottage Economy of Indonesia

During my recent visit to Medan Indonesia, one impression that struck me was the amazingly rich number of cottage businesses, especially along the main roads. Within a couple of blocks, you can literally find nearly any kind of consumer retail business, grocery or food stand, and even some manufacturing.

Common residential / retail home in suburban Medan. Newer buildings have newer construction techniques, but basic architecture remains the same.
[SOURCE: © 2013 Greg Chase – According to Creative Commons License, use with attribution.]

If Resilience Was Called Abundance, We’d All Love It

Cross posted from my guest blog at Vtricity.

When was the last time you heard the term Resilience? Was it when you took high school physics class? Unless you have a job of planning for worst possible circumstances, you rarely even confront the term in day-to-day usage. Even talking about resilience probably feels morbid, like buying life insurance or planning your will.

Thinking resiliently: are ducks really flood-proof chickens?

[SOURCE: © PopTech, used according to Creative Commons License]

Definition of RESILIENCE

1: the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress

2: an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

What Makes a Neighborhood?

What do you consider to be your neighborhood? Is it the proximity around where you live? Is it a sub region of your town or city with identifiable boundaries? Is it a sense of identity centered around landmarks or local institutions such as a school? How much of that is from historical roots of families? Or, is it simply just the relationships between people residing in your area?

Typical neighborhood in Cyprus
[SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons License]