Insults Unpunished Here's a blog I enjoyed reading. It's political, it's funny -- well -- it's got to be funny, or we'd all have to go out and get guns. Enjoy.
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US Trade Deficit America currently owes the world about $4 trillion. And it keeps rising everyday. That's damn scary when you realize that America is the world's most powerful economy, and it's intricately tied with every first world economy around the world -- if America's economy hiccups, economists around the world wet their pants. So how did America get there? And how is it going to get out? Read the commentary from Robert Kuttner, of BusinessWeek magazine. One thing for sure -- America's current fascination with hunting terrorists, starting wars and building a wall around North America isn't going to help -- a bit more focus on the economy might though.
The Progress Paradox
Here's a review of the Progress Paradox from BusinessWeek Magazine. This is a book that I am a little curious to read, and goes on my wish list, just below the Philosophy of the Matrix -- why below? Because I'm too much of a solipsist to think that the cure for the world's woes lie in everyone else's reality and not mine. I believe damnit! Anyway, the Progress Paradox -- it looks at the belief American's have that the times of the past were the better days -- the book contends that life has never been as good as it is today. The book addresses the general sentiment that the good times are over by looking at: 1) contemporary material life, 2) why people are so unhappy, and, 3) suggestions on how to treat some of the social problems. One of the book's conclusions apparently is that money isn't necessarily everything -- it doesn't guarantee a happy life. This may be more of a startling revelation for Americans than it is for Ca...
Bush OKs Cutting of Alaska's Forests Well, if there ever was an anti-environmentalist, it's Bush. Ever since he came into office, his administration has been trying to open the last US old-growth forest -- and they've succeeded. The administration has given permission for the lumber industry to log and develop 300,000 acres of Alaska's Tongass National Forest . What took hundreds-thousands of years to create, Bush took four years of trying to destroy.
Movies I Need to See NOW! LOTR: The Return of the King - and it looks like I'm going to see it today! Big Fish - well, it's Tim Burton. It's weird. It's wonderous. It has monsters -- and they're the good guys! The Last Samurai - it's a remake of so many Japanese movies and westerns -- how can I resist? Looney Toons: Back in Action - oh, why the hell not?! It's silly ole fun! Timeline - I only saw the trailer for this, but it's SciFi, time-traveling, and looks like good action. Might as well! Paycheck - Philip K. Dick's tale of the future gone bad -- good enough for me!
Bush's Deafeat Allows the Environment to Breathe The Bush Administration, among many things, is stupid. Some of the other things they are? Well, stupid ... and stupid ... and hey, stupid too! The administration recently tried to get EPA changes that would allow utilities, refineries and other industrial facilities to do routine maintenance, without having to install additional pollution controls. Talk about duh! At least, not everyone in America is as stupid is the Grand Poobah. Several states challenged the changes in courts and won. The environment can now breathe at little more freely -- for now -- but think America -- think before you decide to re-elect Bush -- the guy's an idiot. The world knows it -- you know it -- it's embarassing!
Guilty of Refusing Queen's Honour This is a good one! Apparently it's a big secret, the list of those who have refused to accept the Knighthood from the Queen -- or the other honours like: the Order of the British Empire, or Commander of the British Empire. That is -- it was secret, until the list was leaked to the press. Naturally, fun ensued!
Amazon More Than Retail Amazon made a name for being a pure e-tailer, and it looks like this year, it will mature to its first year of being in the black. But what else has Amazon set it's sights on? Software. It aims to be the e-tailer platform of choice -- while its merchandise business is doing well, the company is polishing off the software that has the potential to make its services pitch bigger. On the way, it's co-opting the practices of the open source movement, and winning grassroots friends and free labour. More and more, Amazon is beginning to look like the Linux cult -- and it could make a lot of little guys rich in the process. Read the article at BusiessWeek.
NAFTA & Mexico Why has NAFTA soured the palates of many Mexicans and a growing number of Latin Americans? Answer: Washington. More precisely, the Bush Administration (yes -- there is nothing that I can't blame on the administration). Mexico's envoy to the UN, Adolfo Aguilar says Washington "isn't interested in a relationship of equals with Mexico, but rather in a relationship of convenience and subordination." Where the US had the opportunity to play big brother to a developing economy, it has turned that relationship, like so many others, into one where it plays the big bully. Bush is only interested in his war, and closing America to the world -- trade is paying the price, and at a time when the US runs a huge deficit that's being bankrolled by foreign banks. Go figure.
Expensing Stock Options To expense stock options or not? That is not the question. The question really is, 'Should companies be allowed to continue hiding their options expenses from investors?' That's what tech companies want to continue doing with their industry wide lobbying of the US Congress. Their ploy is that it will cost the US jobs to overseas tech companies. Bullshit. THe only way to stem the tide of research jobs is to make it so that the US produce smart, competitive, innovative people with technical background -- yes, I know I over simplify, but so is the argument that expensing stock options allow US companies to keep jobs in the US.
Beagle for Christmas The EU will be playing Santa to Mars this Christmas -- on Christmas day, the small probe, Beagle 2, will touch down on the Martian surface. The Beagle 2 will beat two of NASA's probes, Spirit and Opportunity, slated to land in January. The Beagle 2's mission is to look for signs of life on Mars.
Wired News Here's what I found of interest in the last half-an-hour, surfing the Wired site. Flying Saucer - the US Navy is again putting some money behind research into building a flying saucer. This time around, they're funding a Russian group that claimed to have built and tested a flying saucer in the 90s. This is more than just optimizing on the lessons learned from down aliens ;-) -- there's actually some cool physics involved. Kazaa isn't to Blame - here's a shocker for you. A Dutch court threw out a case suing Kazaa for copyright infringement. Apparently, the Dutch thinks software is OK -- what people do with may not be. I like to use the analogy of WMD -- WMDs don't kill people. Saddam does! ;-) Another Blow for the Music Industry - a US federal appeals court threw out a lower court ruling that allowed the RIAA to force ISPs to reveal the identifies of their users. The mass suing of their customers just got a tad harder. Free Your Informa...
Windows Shell Replacement Got too much time on your hands? Screw with Bill Gates -- change the Windoze shell. These sites are a good place to start your adventure (or to kill your computer). Shell Extension City - gateway to the world of shell replacements! Litestep - the Litestep shell! ShellFront - a place to get the latest on shells!
Classic Games Here are links to some great games -- stolen from PCFormat Magazine -- May 2003 issue. Title: Blow out! Download: World of Spectrum Title: BMX Kidz Download: World of Spectrum Title: Bombscare Download: World of Spectrum Title: Booty Download: World of Spectrum Title: Brainstorm Download: World of Spectrum Title: Byte Bitten Download: World of Spectrum Title: Carrier Command Download: World of Spectrum Title: Chicken Chase Download: World of Spectrum Title: Dark Sceptre Download: World of Spectrum Title: Dictator Download: World of Spectrum Title: European Five-a-Side Download: World of Spectrum Title: Fahrenheit 3000 Download: World of Spectrum Title: Gothik Download: World of Spectrum Title: Gregory Loses His Clock Download: World of Spectrum Title: Gunstar Download: World of Spectrum Title: Happiest Days of your Life Download: Wor...
A New Wireless Age Another article from BusinessWeek magazine. There's about to be an explosion in the wireless industry. Since the 30s the airwaves have been tightly regulated, but the FCC in the US is about to change all that, and poised to take advantage of the free airwaves are companies touting technologies such as Smart Antennas, Mesh Networks and Agile Radios.