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If you've been keeping tabs on democratic process south of the border, you'd rapidly be coming to the conclusion that democracy is in decline. In the country that holds itself up to the world as an example of rule by the people , the United States of America has done an awful job of living up to the basics, let alone the idealism it seeks to inspire. From the debacle of the last election, to the abuses of the Bush Administration and the wars the country has fought -- including the secret ones -- America has really been a terrible disappointment. Now the hoedown has started again, as candidates from the Republicans and Democrats, test the waters of presidential candidacy -- and what little hope there may have been for change, is slowly morphing into yet another disappointment. The impartial media has been weighing in on candidates, and with their subtle machinations, continuing the sacking of democracy. Candidates are who the media portray them to be. Case in point, Al Go...

What do you do when there is an AIDS drug on the market that would ease the burden of the disease, but you can't afford it? In the case of Brazil, what you do is break the patent , and buy a cheaper generic from India. Brazil follows Thailand in sending a message to Merck that while they own the intellectual rights to Efavirenz, that knowledge needs to be balanced with the lives of the general population. Brazil was in talks with Merck to obtain Efavirenz at a reasonable cost, but Merck wasn't willing to lower the price of the drug to what it currently charges Thailand. Under WTO rules, Brazil's move is legal, as countries are allowed to break patents in cases where the drugs are deemed critical to public health. In response, the US government has threatened to revoke Brazil's trading partner status with the US. Brazil meanwhile is contemplating the manufacturing of generic Efavirenz domestically for government distribution to the AIDS victims in the country.

It's no secret that the media is obsessed with an idealized image of women -- and more and more, girls. The latest abuse comes courtesy of IMAX, for a digitally enhanced image promoting the latest Harry Potter flick. In a publicity poster featuring the main characters, the stars of the movie are posed in a dramatic shot. IMAX took the same image, which has been used to promote the film, and then altered it to make Hermione fit IMAX's idealized image of a young girl -- more blonde, slimmer waist, and an enlarged bust . The image has since been pulled from the IMAX site, but not before a whole lot of folks noticed. Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, is 17-years-old and portrays a 15-year-old Hermione in the movie. IMAX did more than just get this one wrong. Someone purposely made the decision to make Hermione more than Emma Watson was portraying her. Someone made the decision to make a 15-year-old Hermione's breast larger. That someone should be fired in my opinion. W...

If I had a magic wand, I would wave it for a lot of things -- one of them being fundamentalists. I would wipe the lot of them, regardless of the dogma they subscribe to, right off the planet. I wouldn't waste time on inflicting horrors before their existence is negated -- I would be in too much of a hurry to just get rid of them all. What has caused my blood to boil is the news coming out of Iraq of the "honour killing" of 17-year-old Du'a Khalil Aswad , last month. Aswad was condemned to death by the men of her family, for being in love with a Sunni Muslim boy -- Aswad is a Yezidi . She was hiding out in the house of a Yezidi tribal leader in a small town outside of the Kurdish capital of Mosul, when 8-9 men stormed the house and dragged her out to the street. They then proceeded to stone her for half-hour, until she died. A large crowd looked on, including security authorities. The entire incident was filmed and the story only broke when the video made it on...

New in consumerism this season -- Nothing ! For £3.49, you can purchase the perfect gift for someone who has everything -- Nothing ! What better present for the person who has everything than a poignant reminder that they want for nothing? This lovingly crafted vial of emptiness is filled to the brim with unfettered nothingness. Free from the burden of possessions, the weight of responsibility, Nothing is as idiotic as it is brilliant. Yes, the world is now officially beyond crazy! Consumerism has taken us over the edge -- you can now buy nothing.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , the Iranian president best known his love of George W. Bush, has violated Sharia law -- and is being accused of "indecency and violating religious values" by conservatives in his country. His crime ? Publicly kissing the gloved hand of an elderly woman that used to be his school teacher. Take a moment to ponder and get over it. So ... shouldn't we all have a problem with fundamentalist ideologies being forced down on anyone?

The Washington Post is running an article on the slow adoption of compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) in the US. Apparently, saving the world from global warming while taking a load off the ole wallet, isn't incentive enough for a great deal of Americans. The simple step that everyone could take, to switch incandescent bulbs to CFLs, is simply not catching on. The rest of the world has already jumped on the bandwagon, but not Americans, where adoption of CFLs is at 6%, compared to 80% for Japan, 50% for Germany and 20% for the UK. Why? Apparently, Americans don't like the way the light looks, the few seconds it takes to warm up to full brightness, and have a host of other complaints about CFLs. The reality of CFLs is very different however. Most of the gripes have already been resolved, with manufacturers doing their best to make CFLs reflect the incandescent glow -- yet consumers, despite their willingness to want to change, aren't following true. Seems a little pe...

Ecuador has asked to be compensated for leaving the environment alone -- specifically, to leave the 1 billion barrels of oil under the Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha oil fields located in the Amazon rainforest. In return, for an estimated US$350m per year, the world will get Equador's stake in the Amazon, with its great biodiversity, and natural oxygen replenishment and carbon sequestration system. The $350m is half of what Equador is projects it could generate per year if it taps into the oil fields. The world has one year to respond. I'm unsure if this will make it onto the radar of many countries -- especially those of the west. I fully expect that this proposal to be ignored by the world's government and mainstream media. This proposal puts governments in a tough spot. As environmental concerns make it onto the agendas of those in power across the world, this proposal forces the issue -- it demands that governments put money against the chest-thumping they've...

What's happening to Wal-Mart -- and why should it matter to other retailers?  Wal-Mart has pursued the single-minded strategy of low prices to fuel its explosive growth.  That has made it the world's largest retailer, at $345b in revenues, with stores in 13 nations -- the biggest concentration being in the US, where Wal-Mart has close to 3,500 stores.  Through its phenomenal growth, Wal-Mart has kept going by sticking to low prices, and opening stores at an alarming pace.  In 2006, the company boasted a new store everyday.  It has done this on the backs of suppliers, employees, communities and competitors -- and the price has been so high, that the company now faces significant socpolitical challenges to its continued expansion strategy. Wal-Mart isn't slowing down however. CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. is determined to continue the new store openings, suggesting that the 1-new-store/day pace can be sustained for the next five years. Me...

Altitude Capital Partners, Coller Capital, Rembrandt IP Management and Northwater Capital are venture capital firms with billions of dollars between them, and out to make a quick, easy buck at the expense of others. These dubious venture capital firms are in the business of funding patent trolls -- companies that either file or buy patents with the sole purpose of going to court to collect billions from others who may have developed similar technology or processes protected by patents in-hand. Forbes reports on their war chests, patents secured, and litigation game plan. The whole practice is obscene and a misuse of the law. Read more , and if you're a technology company, be afraid ... be ah-fwaid !

Ever wonder what "the architecture of the subterranean nests of the Florida harvester ant" looks like? How about what the tunnels under an anthill looks like? Walter R. Tschinkel wanted to know, so he poured plaster into an anthill to find out. What he found was just another cool surprise from nature. The tunnels can be as deep as 3m, with about half the total area of the nest contained in the first 25% of the nest depth. The nest in the thumbnail image to the right was created by about 5,000 worker ants excavating 20kg of sand in about 4-5 days. A typical ant colony constructs one or two of these nests per year. In the nests, the ants arrange themselves with older ants in the upper parts of the structure, and the younger ants taking up positions in the lower parts -- with the younger ants tending to dig more than their older counterparts. The ant colony behaves like a superorganism . The findings are an interesting read -- and totally cool!

Astronomers using the ESO's 3.6m telescope, have discovered a planet orbiting Gliese 581, a red dwarf star, that bear a striking resemblance to Earth . The planet has a radius 50% larger than Earth, with five times more mass and is 14 times closer to its star. Its orbit allows the planet to complete an orbit in 13-days. At that proximity to its star, you'd think the planet would be hot, but because Gliese 581 is smaller, cooler and is less luminous that our star, this new planet may actually have comfortable temperatures, and possibly even liquid water. Gliese 581 is just over 20-light-years away from us, in the constellation Libra. It belongs to the group of most prevalent and stable stars in our galaxy. Due to their low luminosity however, they are difficult to observe. While the newly discovered planet is gaining a lot of press lately for being Earth-like , the chances that the system could support life as we know it, is fairly small. While red dwarfs are stable, ha...

A recent survey of Americans , polling their basic understanding of plastic, revealed that mostly, Americans are woefully ignorant of the world they live in. From the pollster press release: 72% of respondents do not know that plastic is made out of oil/petroleum On average, respondents estimated 38% of plastic is recycled (the reality is less than 6%, according to the EPA) Nearly 40% (38.1%) of respondents said plastic will biodegrade underground, in home compost, in landfills, or in the ocean (plastic will not biodegrade in any of these environments). After learning that plastic is made from oil and never biodegrades, half (50.1%) of respondents stated they would be likely or very likely to pay 5-10% more for a natural, biodegradable plastic. Only 24% were unlikely/very unlikely to pay this much more. 62% of respondents rate their own level of environmental knowledge as fair or poor, with only 5.6% rating it as excellent. These are the same folks I bet, who ...

In the years since Randall "Duke" Cunningham lurked in the Washington halls of power as a Congressman, he preyed on taxpayers, bilking the public of millions of dollars. The money came indirectly from the public coffers, in the form of bribery from Brent Roger Wilkes of ADCS, and Mitchell J. Wade of MZM, for hundreds of millions of dollars in government business. The business thrown to ADCS and MZM was in information technology, specifically in the security and defense areas. In a post 9/11 US, the gravy flowed, and the salivating Wilkes and Wade piled on the bribes to Cunningham for the train to be directed their way. In the end, Cunningham was busted. So was Wilkes and Wade. Other politicians may have also benefited for doing their personal bit to directing public defense, military and intelligence spending towards ADCS and MZM. Specifically named by Cunningham was Florida's Secretary of State, Katherine Harris . If you recall, Harris was the Florida politici...

This image, from the October 2002 issue of Popular Mechanics , compares the nuclear weapons from WWII-era to those in existence -- and the tiny, low yield, Bunker Busters of the US. What is incredible isn't the latest nuclear arsenal -- but that of the past -- and how terrifyingly close we came ending it all. The Popular Mechanics graphic tops out with the Tsar Bomba (aka Ivan), the 50-megaton nuclear bomb that was detonated by the Russians on October 30, 1961 in the Arctic Sea -- its yield was equivalent to 10-times all the explosives used in WWII; followed by Bravo , a 15-megaton bomb tested by the US on March 1, 1954 at Bikini Atoll -- its yield was equivalent to 1,000 times that of Fat Man and Little Boy ; then, Mike , which was tested on October 31, 1952 by the US. On the graphic, Fat Man and Little Boy hardly register as a blip. How close we came during the cold war ... how close .

May 3rd is the National Prayer Day in America. It's the 56th annual prayer day, and I've never heard of it. Yesterday, Bush released his proclamation for the National Prayer Day . Included in his proclamation, are the following words: At this important time in our history, we also pray for the brave members of our Armed Forces and their families. We pray for their safety, for the recovery of the wounded, and for the peace we all seek. "... for the peace we all seek." Peace doesn't come easy. It's hard work -- prayer however, is the most ineffective way to go about achieving peace. I'm reminded of this one simple sentence I read recently: " We are the ones we have been waiting for ." We are the ones that can make a difference. Not god. Whichever god you believe in has given us the power over our own actions. Bush's actions started the war that currently feeds on American lives. He was the power to stop the war. Instead, he has c...

The Raw Story has a clip of the Daily Shows commentary on the US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales answers to the queries of both Democrats and Republicans at the Senate hearings into Justice Department's firings of US State Attorneys. In his commentary, Jon Stewart channels Dick Cheney, to coach Gonzales. Says the dick via his televised medium, "You gotta piss lightning and crap thunder, Alberto!" As usual, Stewart is hilarious.

Yesterday, 33 individuals were murdered at Virginia Tech , in what was an unprovoked and senseless act. There is no meaning in this random act of violence that so swiftly cut short so many lives. One can't begin to understand the pain being felt by those close to the events. The images of the family and friends -- of the injured and dead -- they can only provide those of us far removed, with a mere glimpse into the pain, confusion and helplessness of the situation. For those of us that feel, the loss of life is a wound. How can you not help but feel for those dead, injured and the family and friends left behind? In the days and weeks that will now follow this horror, while the media is still squeezing every bit of sensationalism from the murders, there will be speculation, finger pointing and much deliberation. For those close to this, trying to understand, there will be much frustration. When the media grows tired of this story, it will fade from our collective memories --...

It's hard not to be cynical in this short-term thinking world. When you look at the global warming problem and the efforts underway to curb the belching of noxious fumes into the air we breathe, you want to think that the motivations are for the right reasons. But, as with most opportunities, we must ride that hype curve before we get to that plateau of productivity where things can actually be accomplished. Climbing the peak of inflated expectations , are a lot of do-gooders with noble intentions -- but there are also the snake-oil salesmen, out to exploit good intentions for short-term gain. BusinessWeek's March 26 th issue carries an article on another inconvenient truth -- the currency of carbon offsets . Companies and individuals alike, especially the vocal ones, are jumping on the bandwagon more for selfish gains than altruism. Rather than take the arduous step of significantly cutting their own emissions of carbon dioxide, many in the ranks of the environmental...

The February 1 st issue of CIO Magazine carries an article on innovation and benefits IT can bring to the process as an enabler. CIO suggests that as product lifecycles continue to shrink, the pressure to bring the innovation cycle down to shorter timeframes will be even greater. Internal R&D departments can no longer afford to do it all on their own –- and innovation as a result, is becoming a distributed process, requiring the collaboration of customers, suppliers, independents and even competitors. How can IT help? CIO provides these elements that specifically requires IT as an enabler: Collaboration. Communications is critical among both internal employees and external contractors. Agree on a medium, whether its e-mail, IM or fancy collaboration software, and get everyone using it. Data access. Easy access to research information is the basis for doing collaborative innovation work with outsiders. Make project data available in a format that is standard, simple and e...