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Adventures Ethics Industrial Revolution Robert Owen The Value of Life Transitions

Outliers & The Man from Wales

“To train and educate the rising generation will at all times be the first object of society, to which every other will be subordinate”. (The Social System, 1826) From the Foundation Axioms of Owen’s “Society for Promoting National Regeneration” In statistics, an outlier is simply an observation that is situated a significant distance from the […]

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Adventures Ethics Industrial Revolution The Value of Life Transitions

Mighty Machines

Mark Frauenfeder, Editor-in-chief, Make, wrote the “The spinning wheel made England into a powerhouse.”  The spinning wheel in question, however, was not a home-style spinning wheel that resided in a rustic cottage in the country. The textile machines of the eighteenth century transformed a nation.  Great Britain’s dominance in the textile industry was safeguarded because […]

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Adventures Ethics Industrial Revolution The Value of Life Transitions

Claims & Counterclaims

“Friendship is like money, easier made than kept.” Samuel Butler   The Patent Race ended in a courtroom.  In 1775, Richard Arkwright, ever the astute entrepreneur, patented an assortment of machinery for manufacturing cotton.  Before long, much to his dismay no doubt, he was beset by a series of court cases that challenged his patents. […]

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Adventures Clanmother Ethics Industrial Revolution The Value of Life Transitions

The Patent Race

“The spinning wheel made England into a powerhouse.” Mark Frauenfelder, Editor-in-chief, MAKE We like to choose sides. It makes everything less complex because we allow ourselves to identify emotionally with something we value deeply. We cheer for a home team to show loyalty to our community. We give to a special cause because we believe […]

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Adventures Ethics Industrial Revolution The Value of Life Transitions

Reeds, Clocks & Wigs

“My father told me, never have partners.” Howard Hughes The Richard Arkwright narrative integrates many themes, from innovation and development to human rights and international trade.   But it is first and foremost a story about people who lived within a time of unprecedented growth and expansion.  What were their thoughts, their responses, their hopes and […]

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Adventures Ethics Industrial Revolution The Value of Life Transitions

Who Gets the Credit?

“No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.” Andrew Carnegie Richard Arkwright was destined to be called the “Father of the Industrial Revolution.” It is an appropriate title in many respects for he possessed the organizational ability to fit all of the “pieces of […]