Open Source Penal Colony
 Thomas Frey: In 2005 there were a total of 2,186,230 people incarcerated either in prison or jails. The US currently has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world with 724 inmates per 100,000 population. This compares to 131 per 100,000 in England and 59 in Norway.
In 2005 the BBC reported that 60% of the people released from US prisons were rearrested within the following three years. If that same recedivism rate applies today, that would mean that if all prisoners were released today, that we would be rearresting 1,464,774 of them. And since nearly all of the inmates will exit the prisons at some point, we have over 1.4 million future criminals poised for release into our communities. A frightening statistic.
It is easy to conclude that from a rehabilitation standpoint, our prison systems are a miserable failure.
The theory of incarceration centers around the notion that we are better off if people who commit a crime are removed from society. However, the way we deal with these prisoners, the people who cannot get along with the rest of society, is to put lots of them together in a small confined space, deprive them, isolate them, and somehow hope that they will become better people in the process.
Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph, now a prisoner in Colorado's SuperMax prison describes his facility as being "designed to inflict as much misery and pain as is constitutionally permissible."
More here
January 27, 2007  |
The Flight School: Taking Off with Sales
The DaVinci Institute and the DU Daniels College of Business are pleased to present Taking Off with Sales, a workshop for business people and entrepreneurs developed by The Flight School. This is part of a four-part series of intense one-day events designed to help entrepreneurs and business people successfully launch and grow new businesses or business units and plan for a successful exit or transition as their enterprise succeeds.
EVENT: The Flight School: Taking Off with Sales
DATE: Saturday, 27 January, 2007
TIMES: 8:30 am - 4:00 pm
INSTRUCTOR: Bob Thilmont, Jim Pelichowski, and more
WEBSITE: http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=154
LOCATION: University of Denver, Daniels School of Business, 2101 South University Boulevard, Denver, CO 80208
DIRECTIONS: Click here
PRICE: $149 - (Davinci Institute Members only $99) - Click here or register at the door.
COMBO PACKAGE: Membership combined with The Flight School : Taking Off with Sales - $199 - Click here * * - A $298 value. More about DaVinci Institute Memberships and Combo Packages at click here.
This intense 1-day workshop is designed to help: - Entrepreneurs starting a business or thinking about starting a business;
- Businesses that have started and need help to grow; and
- Existing companies that want to become more entrepreneurial.
The workshop focuses on the following questions: - What is the role of Sales in an early phase business?
- What is the role of an entrepreneur in Sales?
- When is bootstrapping the right approach for growing a business?
- Is it better to "Build then Sell" or "Sell then Build"?
- How to determine early-on whether your product or service is sellable?
- What are the keys to sales success for your business?
- When can Sales be outsourced? When can it not be outsourced?
- How to manage and track the Sales process?
This workshop uses lessons learned from a number of startups that have been benchmarked. It also includes active input during the workshop from a guest entrepreneur with experience successfully launching and growing a business using creative funding. The workshop also makes use of data from the Entrepreneurial Standards Forum (ESF), which has developed a benchmarking process that uses statistical data gathered from a variety of startups. This unique information helps participants identify the factors statistically most likely to influence whether a particular approach to a startup will be successful or not.
February 5, 2007 
Impact of Global Warming
Positive and negative impacts of climate change
Earth's temperature is on the rise, researchers say, and environmental watchdogs are howling, hoping it's not too late to avert negative effects that could range from melting icecaps to mass extinctions. However, people in Canada, Finland, and Norway are not really sorry to see the temperatures climbing.
Amidst all of the outcries that an impending crisis is looming comes a new school of thought, and in growing number people are recognizing that maybe the glass is half full, and maybe the positive side warrants further discussion.
As example, in Britain alone, scientists estimate between 20,000 and 40,000 deaths a year are related to cold winter weather. A report from the United Kingdom's Faculty of Public Health found that the number of cold-weather deaths increase by approximately 8,000 for every 1 degree Celsius the temperature falls. But they estimate there will be only 2,000 more deaths a year due to an equal rise in temperature, because humans adapt better to hot climates and can rely on air conditioning.
While some of the natives in Alaska may lose some of their exotic animals, business investors in the Arctic region are anticipating an influx of everything from tax revenue to tourism. Do longer growing season, extended summers, and booming air conditioner businesses make up for the things falling off the cliff at the opposite end of the spectrum? Join us as we discuss the positive side to global warming.
EVENT: Night with a Futurist
DATE: February 5th, 2007 - Monday
TIME: 6:30-9:00 pm
WEBSITE: http://www.nightwithafuturist.com/page.php?ID=19 LOCATION: CB & Potts, 1257 W 120th Ave, Westminster, CO 80234
DIRECTIONS: Click here COST: Free for Members, all others $25
REGISTER: Click here
PHONE: 303-666-4133
TOPIC: Impact of Global Warming - Positive and negative impacts of climate change
SPEAKER: Richard K. Stucky, PhD, Curator of Paleoecology and Evolution at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
February 17, 2007
Creating Content Boot Camp
Quality Content - The Hot New Commodity in the Online World Before the web created micro-markets for virtually any business niche or quirky hobby, people were essentially without information and places to do business. Not anymore. Digital content is an assett that comes in many forms, and many people ar finding unique ways to turn their content into substantial revenue streams. The phrase The Long Tail has gotten huge viral marketing juice since it was first used in a Wired magazine article by Chris Anderson in October 2004. He has since written a book called The Long Tail: Why the future of business is selling less of more. Today, it seems impossible to not bump into talk of the long tail on the information industry conference circuit and on the blogs that cover our business—for good reason. Understanding the long tail is vitally important for anyone dabbling in the information businesses, and that includes nearly everyone who is online. According to Anderson, "When the tools of production are available to everyone, everyone becomes a producer.” Traditional lines between producers and consumers have blurred. Consumers are also producers. Some create things from scratch, while others are doing mashups, modifications, and remixes of the works of others. All of this content has value, and all of it has a market. That's where we come in. The Creating Content Boot Camp will step you through the different dimensions of content creation and marketing, as well as address legal issues of ownership, copyrights and trademarks of that content. We will show you unusual new ways that content is springing to life, and we will tell you how you can be part of it. Join us as we attempt to remove your brain and graft new information lobes onto it.
EVENT: Creating Content Boot Camp
DATE: February 17, 2007 - Saturday
TIMES: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
WEBSITE: www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=168 LOCATION: DeVry University, 1870 W. 122nd Avenue, Westminster, CO 80234
CLASSROOM: 300
DIRECTIONS: Click here for map INSTRUCTORS: Amy Gahran, Alex Tiller, Ryan Johnson, Wayne Wiemerslage, and Trace Rock
COST: $149 - ($99 for DaVinci Institute Members) - Register here.
COMBO PACKAGE: Membership combined with Headhunter Boot Camp: $199 - Register here. *
PHONE: 303-666-4133
* - A $298 value. More about DaVinci Institute Memberships and Combo Packages at click here. Most people think of online content as the "stuff on websites" like text, graphics, photos, audio, and video. But, even though that may be the vast majority, it can be so much more, and terrific new business models are springing to life with the ideas and imagination of people working on the fringe areas of content. Good quality content is a hot commodity, and a valuable asset. Content is what drives traffic and traffic is what builds value. But there is much more to it than that. Internet startups are continually exploring why people visit a website and why they stay. We have recruited an impressive team of speakers who will attack this topic from many different angles. Join us as we the newest dimensions of content and discuss how this can help you in the future.
Future News from the Impact Lab - http://www.impactlab.com/- Recently rated as one of the top five science blogs in the known universe by Popular Science Magazine, the DaVinci Institute's Impact Lab is a relentless pursuit of the critical components that will make up the world to come. Obvio Tribrid Runs on Virtually any Fuel: Alternative fuel vehicles are a huge deal recently and will continue to be a big factor as we try to wean ourselves from the fossil fuels we currently rely on. More here.
2007 Global Trends Report- This is the tenth year the Institute for Global Futures has produced this overview of top trends. From fast moving innovations, to green consumers, to the future of the Internet and the workforce; don't be blind sided by the future. More here. The Vatican Has World's Highest Crime Rate- The top crime neighborhood in the world isn't in Sao Paulo or Lagos. It's not the Bronx in New York, or even Wedding in Berlin. It's the small city ruled by Pope Benedict XVI, which apparently sees more criminal cases per capita than any other part of the world. More here Hopping Your Way to Health - Hopping on one leg 50 times a day can help women beat bone-wasting condition osteoporosis, a study found. More here Study Warns of More Retirees Falling Below the Poverty Line - Without changes in the retirement system, poverty among people 65 and older is likely to increase, according to a report by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. More here Man In Michigan Builds His Own Flying Saucer - Alfie Carrington has spent half his life building a flying saucer. Despite his lack of engineering experience, Carrington pored over books, magazines and studies about aviation and spent nearly $60,000 for some of the materials needed for this saucer. More here Survey of Driver Distractions - A new survey of American drivers, from Nationwide Mutual Insurance, an American Insurance company, shows up some concerning driving habits. More here.
Study: 65% of Americans Spend More Time with Computer than Spouse - A new study finds 65 percent of Americans spend more time with their computer than their spouse - and, on average, wastes 12 hours a month fixing computer problems. More here. Crazy Mobile Remote Controlled Car and Flash Drive - We're not exactly sure what's up with Asia's infatuation with toy cars and shoving completely irrelevant (but entirely useful) features inside of them, but now Marsilli is offering up its own admittedly peculiar flash drive in the shape of a vehicle. More here. - Toilet Paper Clothing - What could make a better clothing material than toilet paper? It's cheap, easy to work with, and fits other needs in a pinch. More here.
Membership in the DaVinci Institute Regular Memberships in the DaVinci Institute are just $150 per year for individual memberships. All members come free to the Night with a Futurist and the Startup Junkie Underground events. For students, there is a student membership for just $119. If you'd like to join as a member, just go to the Membership Page.
Announcing: Super Memberships
Your Ticket to the Future
A Super Membership at the DaVinci Institute enable you to attend all of the Boot Camps and Crash Courses - for FREE, as well as the two monthly networking events - Night with a Futurist and the Startup Junkie Underground - for FREE.
Each year the DaVinci Institute produces approx 20 Boot Camps and Crash Courses, along with approx 20 monthly networking events in the form of the Night with a Futurist and the Startup Junkie Underground. The Super Membership is your ticket to the future.
Over the past year the Institute has held numerous Boot Camps and Crash Courses at DeVry University in Westminster including the Podcasting Boot Camp, Provisional Patent Workshop, Create Your Own Sales Engine Boot Camp, Doing Business in China Boot Camp, Planning Successful Products Crash Course, Freelancer Boot Camp, Creating Effective Websites Crash Course, Inventor Boot Camp, Blogger Boot Camp, and more. These events are all free with your Super Membership.
The cost of a Super Membership is only $495 per year - a potential savings of over $4,000. Join Today
Join Our Mailing List The DaVinci Institute is developing a series of mailing lists to better direct the right information to the right people. If your name is on one of the lists and you'd like to add it to other lists, or if you have friends that would like to become involved, please click here .
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