Back to active posting
I guess the big news is that I finally quit smoking. This meant that my brain has largely been mush for the past month, I have been crawling up the walls unable to keep my concentration long enough to post a coherent thought.Also difficult to handle have been my mixed feeling on the war in Iraq. On the one hand, I am still totally against this war but now that it has started can only hope for an American victory. In the US some people are already claiming victory. but the military campaign was always going to be a push-over. Now starts the hard part, creating a stable secular democracy in Iraq. I don't even know it's possible, I sure hope so, because the alternatives are scarier then Sadam.
But my biggest frustration has been the demise of journalistic responsibility. Seems like journalism has been reduced to reporting what others say without ever analyzing it.
The silver lining has been the internet, it looks like it is working as designed and routing around stupidity. I have been amazed by the amount of interesting stuff about the war that has been floating to the surface via the weblog community. In the coming days I will try to catch up by posting some of those links.
Power and Weakness
I think this paper by Robert Kagan has some genuine insight for anyone that is struggling to understanding the growing rift between US and European foreign policy....Today's transatlantic problem, in short, is not a George Bush problem. It is a power problem. American military strength has produced a propensity to use that strength. Europe's military weakness has produced a perfectly understandable aversion to the exercise of military power. Indeed, it has produced a powerful European interest in inhabiting a world where strength doesn?t matter, where international law and international institutions predominate, where unilateral action by powerful nations is forbidden, where all nations regardless of their strength have equal rights and are equally protected by commonly agreed-upon international rules of behavior. Europeans have a deep interest in devaluing and eventually eradicating the brutal laws of an anarchic, Hobbesian world where power is the ultimate determinant of national security and success. ...Although long winded at time, it does shed some light at what may be going on in the heads of the Bush administrations, but also the Europeans resistance to follow.
I'm also losing patience with Bush.
Terry Jones gives a real world metaphor for what Bush is going to do with Iraq. What I still don't get is why Bush wants a war with Iraq? All the reasons given by the administration seem lame.- Saddam is a potential WMD threat. This makes no sense at all. During the first Gulf War Saddam had a real arsenal that he did not use because he knew the consequences would be terrifying. Why would he suddenly use what little is left if he knows the consequences? On the the other hand if we back him up against the wall, all bets are off.
- Saddam is an asshole. So what else is new? He was a worse asshole when he was Cheney's lap dog. Another problem with this reasoning is why Saddam and why not all the other crazy despots? Besides that, where is the international law that would support deposing the government of a sovereign nation?
- Saddam supports Al Qaeda. People that claim this need to show evidence! From my understanding, philosophically Saddam and Bin Laden are on opposite scales: one is a secular fascist and the other a religious fascist. Did you know that 50% of the US public thinks Saddam was behind 9/11? Talk about an effective propaganda machine!
- Oil. I cannot see how the negatives could be compensated. How could oil compensate for for instance the financial cost of a war, the loss of goodwill from the international community and the quasi automatic creation of more terrorists willing to die?
- Iraq is the first step in building a US Empire. I thought this theory was stupid until I noticed that Condoleezza Rice has a lot of influence with the President. Her view of the world as big military power blocks is very much outdated.
- Gives any nation the right to preemptively strike at another nation.
- Lots of innocent people will die and be maimed for life.
- It will cost massive amounts of money that could be spent on more useful things.
- The US will lose lots of goodwill.
- Many more people will line up for terrorism training.
Larry Lessig's compromise.
Am I the only one that thinks this is a horrible idea! The initial problem is that copyright is being extended into perpetuity.Copyright law is there to encourage creativity in a way that benefits society. To take example on patent law, imagine for a minute that it was also 90 years and growing. Don't you think the IBMs and Bayers of the world would file blanket extensions for all the patents they hold? We, the end user, would have to pay enormous sums for our drugs and gadgets. Many would not be made because it would almost be impossible to make things that did not infringe on some patent somewhere. The patent holders would have very little incentive to invest in new research as they could milk their old ideas into perpetuity. I think this has already started in the copyright space, Disney is a prime example of a company mainly recycling their old ideas (and ironically public domain works).
The problem with current copyright law is that it no longer encourages copyright. In the patent space companies know full well that they need to reinvest their profits into new ideas because the old ones will expire. Where is the equivalent motivation in the copyright space. How does society benefit from perpetual copyright?
Well apparently, I am not alone in thinking it is a bad idea
SUVs and Terrorism
The perfect answer to the stupid drugs = terrorism ads: SUVs = Terrorism. Here is the NYTimes story about them. (via Aaron Swartz)Corporations right to lie
Interesting historical perspective in this article about Nike's right to lie.Jefferson and Madison proposed an 11th Amendment to the Constitution that would "ban monopolies in commerce," making it illegal for corporations to own other corporations, banning them from giving money to politicians or trying to influence elections in any way, restricting corporations to a single business purpose..."Lots of food for thought in this article (via Doc Searls)
A Toast to Moral Clarity
NY Times has thought provoking article about terrorism....New methods of killing people initially provoke outrage but eventually are often accepted. Henry V used longbows at Agincourt, outraging the French. British redcoats marching in neat columns were appalled by sneaky Yankees hiding behind trees. After Guernica, aerial bombing was condemned as barbaric, and in World War II the West condemned Germany's V-1 and V-2 missiles as terror weapons...In my opinion terrorism acts purely on a psychological level. It only works if the media and people let it work. Two weeks after September the 11th I thought the US had won that battle. Now I am no longer sure, the US burned most of their goodwill by acting irrationally towards the international community and by passing laws that contradict what they supposedly are fighting for. (thanks King)
Bumper Mentality
I have always been annoyed by people buying SUV's that don't really need it. But this review of High and Mighty sheds some more light on the idiocies of SUV'sThe occupant death rate in SUVs is 6 percent higher than it is for cars--8 percent higher in the largest SUVs.But here is where it really get's scary:
Government researchers have found that a behemoth like the four-ton Chevy Tahoe kills 122 people for every 1 million models on the road; by comparison, the Honda Accord only kills 21.I agree with Kieth Bradsher that forcing SUV owners to pay insurance that is proportional to the accident damages they risk they cause on the road would be a good start, Forcing SUV's to comply with the same safety standards as cars would also be a good idea. But the simplest solution may be war with Irak and the desensitization of oil prices.
Third Culture Kids
Oh boy, can I identify with this article.Between "Third Culture Kids" there is an inexplicable link that is difficult to describe. Often I have been introduced to someone with whom I immediately bonded, only to learn later that the person had also grown up overseas. We relate to our shared "Third Culture" better than to our parents' culture (the first) or that of our host country (the second). What is surprising is that someone who grew up in a mission in Africa shares the same "third culture" as a diplomat's child who grew up in Guatemala.I think this applies to many of my friends. I also wonder if the reason I love Brussels is that it's a third culture city.
Calling of the copyright war.
Another interesting piece on copyright law. What I don't understand is that in a world where corporations plan more and more short term, almost living from one quarter to the next, how will extending copyright law to a century encourage creativity? More on copyright.Instant Runoff Voting
It looks like instant runoff voting may be gaining ground in the US. Ever since I first hear that about it's use in Australia I liked the system. It tends to makes tactical voting useless and the elected more centrist. It also allows the voters to send strong messages since they don't need to bother with tactical voting. The UK for example seems to suffer from chronic tactical voting with the liberals squished out each time there is a national election. In the US, Bush Probably would not have been president had it used IRV. In France I doubt Chirac would have won. If you are curious about the system you can check out this Flash Presentation that explains the process.There is more on the math of voting.
Press Freedom Index
Reporters without borders publish the first worldwide press freedom index. Somehow I was not that surprised that the US scores only 17th. I wonder how much this was due to commercial interests and pressure groups. I remember that during the last presidential election debacle I saw an interview with a french journalist that had found irregularities in the Florida ballot and had shared them with US journalist that never bothered to check them out. Probably due to some pressure from somewhere.Patent stops diagnosis
I don't get gene patents. It is a little like somebody patenting an a word in an ancient script because they figured out what it means. Now we see in Canada that people may die because the of gene patents Via BoingBoingIKEA Strategies
I have heard a lot of stories about IKEA strategies and even though this article does smell a little of PR it gives some very interesting insights on how the company is run. I love the part about optimizing designs for good palletizing.One story that is not included in the article, for non vital products IKEA has a deal with factories where they buy factory dead time. This means that IKEA go to a factory that makes glasses and tell them: listen if you have holes in your order input we will buy that, but at cost. This makes factory happy because they don't need to put workers out of a job, and, it makes IKEA happy because they can buy stuff at production cost.
I also love this ad
Has the US welcome worn out?
Newsweek has a scary account of stupid behavior by US troops in Afghanistan. I think anytime you leave an occupying force long enough, these kinds of things are bound to happen. Most soldiers are trained to kill, not to put up an intelligence network. via Robot WisdomIraq The Fifty-first State?
This long but very interesting piece speculating on the aftermath of a unilateral Iraqi war raises some long overdue deep thoughts of what comes after a war in Iraq.Rebuilding America's Defences
If there is any truth to this it's very scary! Not so much the part about Irak, I suspected that much, but what really scares me is this:...advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool...Let's get this straight in this case genotype basically equals race. To call a weapon that targets a specific race "politically useful" means Bush has some really sick people around him.
Nevada Voters May Legalize Marijuana
The Nevada ballot has it right by going for full legalization! Just decriminalizing makes no sense because:- The state can not earn tax on the drug since it is still illegal to sell.
- The law enforcement still has to chase pot dealers when they could go after more important criminals.
A few principles and a little order
I don't agree with much that Jacques Chirac says but I think he hits it on the nail when he talks about the dangers of a unilateral US strike against Iraq:...But if one country claimed the right to take unilateral action, he said, others would follow.
"What would you say in the entirely hypothetical event that China wanted to take pre-emptive action against Taiwan, saying that Taiwan was a threat to it? Or what if India decided to take preventive action against Pakistan, or vice versa?" he asked.
"I don't need to tell you that I condemn the regime in Iraq, naturally, for all the reasons we know," he continued.
"But a few principles and a little order are needed to run the affairs of the world." ...
SMS in the US is a dud
Not a big surprise, Sadly I think the people that have written this article don't understand why SMS has not taken off in the US. Here is my take:- Universal system All European carriers use the GSM system and SMS was around from the beginning. So all phones are SMS capable and SMS is always part of the standard plan. I don't know what the situation is in the US now but when I wanted a subscription you had to pay a substantial supplement for SMS and of course it was restricted to your carrier making it useless.
- Everybody has a cell phone If you discount the kids younger than ten and luddite grand parents, the European market penetration for cell phones is nearly 100%. In other words you can SMS anyone.
- Price Difference In Europe sending an SMS was considerably cheaper then even a short call. This has changed somewhat as normal calls are becoming cheaper while the SMS price has remained quite stable. In the US the price difference was never as apparent.
- Prepaid cards The booming market for SMS is among kids. Prepaid cards make it possible for parent to give a cell phone to their kids. These kids paying their own calls are very careful about using it so tend to use SMS as it's cheaper (and more discreet in a classroom).
- Identifiable phone numbers This may seem stupid at first but in Europe cellular numbers have a different prefix than land lines so you always know if the number you want to SMS has the capability.
- Caller pays all The US system of airtime makes everything much more complicated. I am sure if the US had adopted the European pricing model; caller pays all the US cellular market would have boomed much earlier.
