Welcome to the third edition of 'Ruminations' by John Salter. 'Ruminations' is a newsletter sharing my reflections on what ought to have been known - and done - about risk, and its management.

Why do they do that?

Seeing - indeed, carefully observing - what others do differently and asking "WHY?" has triggered significant change in the world.

It is to the question of #WhyPeopleDoThingsDifferently that I turn my reflections this week.

We were in Egypt, and my father was saying how the Arabs "invented" a sail which could tack - zig zag - into the wind. A technology that, according to classic interpretations of European History, went on to enable global discovery - and the Renaissance.

It's a great story - now debunked by evidence the “Lateen” design was developed, independently, in several other parts of the world.
But I say this "debunks" in only a small way!

The big way in which it is still a great story is about constraint - in the case of Egypt, a narrow, north-south running river - nurturing opportunity.