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It shouldn't be surprising that corruption doesn't actually pay for companies -- yet many, do it, despite having ethical policies in place. Greasing the wheel is prevalent -- not just limited to countries where bureaucrats expect rewards to speed the flow of commerce -- not that dealing with regulatory requirements is actually a bad thing, from a public interest perspective, it might be just the right thing to have in place -- greasing the wheel is very much prevalent in developed economies. Just look at the ratio of lobbyists to elected politicians in Washington. Lobbyists provide grease, as a result, businesses get their way with less regulatory impediment. Research however, shows that bribery simply doesn't make sense. Not only does it take a psychological toll on those involved, but it also costs companies more money -- more so in the long term -- and it breeds an environment where delays occur as bribery becomes the norm, and bureaucrats habitually give businesses ...

Is it just me, or is this just way too obvious? It's obvious, but also amazing how many highly paid executive-types are idiots, and just don't get it. It's a balance -- and not just a focus on shareholders. Any executive that focuses entirely on shareholders, to the detriment of customers and employees, should thrown out the window -- the door would be just too polite. Focusing exclusively on the shareholders is short-term, selfish thinking -- one motivated just to please the market, generate short-term shareholder value, to the detriment of sustainable value. An executive that focuses their company solely on shareholders does a disservice to shareholders. It is customers and employees who generate shareholder value. Focusing equally on customers and employees, and in cumulative, more than shareholders, is the only way to get your employees to give more; to innovate more; to be inspired to deliver greater value -- and similarly, to get your customers to buy more from...

C.K. Prahalad died on April 16th, age 68. I didn't even know he had died, until I read it in a recent issue of the Economist. Prahalad was known for his development of the core competency concept -- but will most be remembered for his ideas of the bottom of the pyramid -- and how profit motive could help lift the world's poor from poverty. His ideas have shaped -- and will continue to shape -- the strategies of businesses the world over, and give hope to those in developing countries who aspire for more. in reference to: "He taught the world’s biggest companies to think of themselves anew, as a “portfolio of competencies” rather than as a “portfolio of businesses”. He taught everyone to see the developing world not as an also-ran but as a vortex of innovation and creativity. The world of management theory has more than its fair share of charlatans, but C.K. Prahalad was the genuine article." - Schumpeter: The guru of the bottom of the pyramid | The Economist ( vie...

In November 2008, a worm quietly sounded the geek alarms as it set about to infect millions of personal computers around the internet -- to date, estimated at 6-7 million. It was christened Conficker by MS security staff. It exploited a flaw in MS Windows operating systems -- got into the computer, closed the flaw, and went about replicating itself. It communicates to its home base with an encryption level that is so powerful, it's still in the lab -- and is one of the contenders for a new security standard to be published in 2013. It is part of a powerful botnet that was used only once, in what looks to have been designed to test its viability. Ever since then, it has sat dormant. Waiting. Not much is known about it's purpose or who controls it. What is known however is scary, because there is no way to stop it, and it can be used to cause severe disruption if needed. The good guys put up a good fight, but may have lost to the bad guys on this one -- but no one knows ...

It's all politics, of course. Castro is simply using BP's oil spill in the Gulf for propaganda -- the message being, capitalist societies have ceded the public's interest for private gain -- and if the world stuck to socialist ideals, disasters such as this wouldn't happen. That's all bullshit of course, but, the man does have a point. The pendulum has swung too far in one direction. The reigns have been loosened too much on corporations, and governments need to reassert the public's interest in governing the conduct of businesses. At no time should a corporation's interest ever -- ever -- take precedence over the public's. Corporations serve society, not the other way around. Sadly, society is now hostage to corporations -- especially those that operate in the global theatre. in reference to: "In an opinion piece published by state media on Saturday, Castro said the disaster "shows how little governments can do against those who control...

It's interesting that as Catholics come out in numbers to brandish crucifixes at gays fighting for equal rights in the eyes of the law, similar displays of intolerance are nowhere to be found as revelations surface of the scale of the Catholic church's sexual abuse of children. Hypocrites, that's what you are. in reference to: Argentina's gays celebrate as same-sex marriage comes a step closer | World news | The Observer ( view on Google Sidewiki )

The IWC is proposing to " improve the conservation of whales " by improving "the conservation and management of whale populations and stocks on a scientific basis and through agreed policy measures." What does that mean? Japan, Norway and Iceland will continue to hunt whales, because the IWC can't stop them. An impasse has been reached, and instead of forcing these countries to stop hunting endangered species, the IWC is proposing that whale hunts and limits be administer under its control -- in effect, making it OK for whales to be hunted -- again. Help stop the hunting of whales by adding your voice to the international outcry to stop whaling: http://www.avaaz.org/en/whales_under_threat_11/?cl=550282594&v=6017

I went to the Green Living Show with the family today -- and it was much better than I thought it would be. At the show a few years ago, I was disappointed. A lot of green building products and services -- but not a whole lot more. This year, there was a good balance with the construction stuff, consumer products/services and food -- yeah, food -- and it was good, the stuff I sampled. So good in fact, it passed for lunch, and the probiotics are singing and dancing right now ... "heigh-ho, heigh-ho ...." That being said, there was enough to hold my interest walking through the entire exhibition floor. And after having given up a perfectly working 486 (yeah, I know), and several CD-ROM drives and a ZIP drive, to barter for entrance, I was looking for value. Here are a few highlights. Homestead House Paint Co. -- Canada's only milk paint manufacturer, producing odourless and zero-emission paint. Cycling Painters -- these guys cycle to your place and then paint it,...

Recently, several governments (not the US), including Canada, expressed some dissatisfaction with Google's sometimes disregard for the privacy of its customers. Wired's Peter Kirwin makes the point, that as Google grows, it may become a "regulated quasi-utility." Google, like all businesses, is already a regulated company. To operate in the public sphere, it must be regulated -- including in areas of privacy. But as Google continues to grow, its utility becomes more apparent. Certainly, it can be replaced -- and it does have competitors that fulfill similar functions for the public -- but Google's goal is to be the portal to all information -- public and sometimes private. If Google succeeds, and there's no reason to think it won't, it becomes essential to the functioning of a modern, technologically adept society. Being regulated as a utility at that point, becomes a requirement -- as Google's purpose would no longer be just to deliver wealth t...

What one former slave said in response to his former master's request that he returned to work, after the civil war -- dated August 7, 1865. in reference to: "Here I draw my wages every Saturday night, but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire." - "There Was Never Any Pay-day For the Negroes": Jourdon Anderson Demands Wages ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Last year, a Saudi law firm launched a lawsuit against the Danish newspapers for publishing cartoon images of Mohammed -- suggesting that the Danes have insulted the heirs of the prophet. Now, the Danes are returning the favour -- suing the prophet's heirs for libel, for all the insults Mohammed has heaped on non-Muslims. in reference to: "The lawsuit demands an apology, and also that the offending passages of the Koran be changed or removed from all publicly available copies of the book in mosques, libraries, etc., by the end of this year." - Gates of Vienna: Suing Mohammed’s Heirs for Libel ( view on Google Sidewiki )

You don't have to love South Park -- in fact, you can hate it -- but if you live in the free world, you should be willing to defend its right to exist. You should be willing to defend its right to offend, as it does with every episode. That's what free speech is all about. Of course, that free speech also protects those that espouse hate, which South Park does not. (In fact, while it offends, the one thing you can't pin on South Park , is hate. It hates not one. It loves everyone equally, cause it can poke fun at them.) So recently, when South Park aired an episode featuring the Super Best Friends -- namely Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Lao Tzu, Muhammad, Jesus and Sea Man (actually, Semen) -- and censored Muhammad's appearance -- he appears in a U-haul truck, then a bear costume, since it might offend Muslims -- they got some hate directed at them. Specifically, revolutionislam.com got their shorts in a knot, and posted quite the diatribe on their ...

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has gone live, after months of moving into a geosynchronous orbit. Today, NASA scientists revealed "first light" images taken by the telescope. Let me introduce you, folks, to our very own star, the Sun (Latin: Sol). It is much more spectacular than you've ever imagined. in reference to: "With SDO looking on, decaying sunspot 1060 unleashed a minor "B3-class" solar flare. A shock wave issued from the blast site and raced across the surface of the sun (movie). SDO images clearly show magnetic loops and other structures rocking back and forth when the wave passes over them. Eventually, the wave disappeared over the sun's horizon--but the show wasn't over. Four hours after the initial blast, and some 200,000 km away, a massive prominence erupted (image)." - First Light for the Solar Dynamics Observatory - NASA Science ( view on Google Sidewiki )

They may still be "emerging economies" in some books, but that term is so yesterday. If you think the economies of the BRICs were something -- you haven't seen the half of it yet. The rest of the world is coming, and it's not a bad thing. The captains of the first world economies will need a hard reset in their thinking, as colonial thinking will no longer get them anywhere. in reference to: "The United Nations World Investment Report calculates that there are now around 21,500 multinationals based in the emerging world. The best of these, such as India’s Bharat Forge in forging, China’s BYD in batteries and Brazil’s Embraer in jet aircraft, are as good as anybody in the world. The number of companies from Brazil, India, China or Russia on the Financial Times 500 list more than quadrupled in 2006-08, from 15 to 62." - A special report on innovation in emerging markets: The world turned upside down | The Economist ( view on Google Sidewiki )

Wikileaks has obtained and decrypted this previously unreleased video footage from a US Apache helicopter in 2007. It shows Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, driver Saeed Chmagh, and several others as the Apache shoots and kills them in a public square in Eastern Baghdad. They are apparently assumed to be insurgents. After the initial shooting, an unarmed group of adults and children in a minivan arrives on the scene and attempts to transport the wounded. They are fired upon as well. The official statement on this incident initially listed all adults as insurgents and claimed the US military did not know how the deaths ocurred. Wikileaks released this video with transcripts and a package of supporting documents on April 5th 2010 on http://collateralmurder.com . Namir Noor-Eldeen was 22-years-old when he was killed. It is true, in war, accidents will happen. What follows however, shouldn't have been a bending of the truth -- or just plain lies. In this case, it's hard ...

... but the least you can do is make some effort to minimize them. Said effort is apparently lost on the Australian shipping authorities, who allow freight vessels, such as the Chinese coal carrier, Shen Neng 1 , to traverse through the Great Barrier Reef , unescorted and without pilots experienced in the area. That an accident happened shouldn't come as a surprise then. The Shen Neng 1 has ran aground in the Great Barrier Reef, and is currently leaking oil. It's carrying 65,000 tonnes of coal. The worst is probably still to come. in reference to: "Conservationists have expressed outrage that such ships can travel through the reef without a pilot with local expertise. "The state government is being blinded by royalties and their shortsightedness will go down in history as killing the reef," said Larissa Waters, spokeswoman for Queensland's Green party." - Chinese ship runs aground on Great Barrier Reef | World news | guardian.co.uk ( view on Googl...

I don't know what the comment was, but I'm sure it was rude, offensive and insulting. That would be the comment Guy Earle threw at Lorna Pardy, when she disrupted his comedy act in BC. There's conflicting reports from Earle and Pardy, on what was said, and how it got escalated. But, Earle, had his act disrupted continuously by Pardy, who was was with her partner taking in the act. As the heckles continued, Earle verbally went after Pardy. Pardy on her part, didn't shut up, and threw two drinks on Earle. Earle took her sunglasses off her face, and broke them. Was Earle wrong? Was Pardy? Yes, they both were. They both misbehaved. Earle should should have expected as much as a live performer. Pardy for her part, should have shown a little bit more respect for the other patrons, and the other comedians. Where this all goes wrong is with Pardy's suit against Earle and the restaurant owner. She's claiming damages of $20,000, on human rights grounds -- for ...

The fact that the IDF goes around killing indiscriminately when operating in Palestine, is no new news. It happens -- not necessarily widespread -- but it happens. That top Israeli commanders would order their soldiers to shoot certain people on-site, is not new -- heck, Mossad went to great lengths to assassinate a Hamas official in Dubai. This shit happens. Of course, having it happen, and pretending that it's all rumour, is quite different than having proof that it has happened, and that it was premeditated. That's the case right now with an Israeli journalist, Anat Kamm, under house arrest, for reporting on state secrets that would reveal Israeli commanders to have ordered shooting on-site of top Palestinian fighters in the West Bank. There are those that would argue that the publishing of state secrets is a crime -- should be punished, and should be prevented. But, in a practising democracy, where is the line drawn between what the citizens are allowed to know -- and ...

Why do strangers cooperate? Help each other? And practice fairness -- even when there is no direct benefit to themselves? Researchers have long puzzled over this. Is it an evolutionary thing? Or is it cultural? Using behavioural experiments that looked at notions of fairness in relation to a society's economic integration and how much the individuals subscribed to a world religion, a team of researchers have found that the answer may be cultural. Notions of fairness -- that fairness is a good thing, and unfairness should be punished -- was stronger in economically integrated societies. Societies that lacked economic integration, didn't see much need for fairness -- or much need to punish unfairness. The researchers also found that one's propensity for fairness was also strongly linked to a subscription to a world religion. Religion does bring moral codes, and belief in an omniscient god who punishes bad behaviour and doles out rewards for the good, should favour th...

America is unaware of how much of its freedom it has vested in the last few years from public institutions to private corporations, and individuals. Glenn Greenwald just needs to follow the trail -- unravel a not too complicated story, as exampled by Mike McConnell -- a man who moved easily between the government and a corporation, restlessly pursuing a single minded goal: the vesting of American intelligence capability from the government, to corporations. And he has succeeded. The question the public, who pays for all of this, needs to ask is: when does a corporation's self-interest trump the interest of the public it is now charged with serving? The answer is simple. Time and time again, it has been proven -- and it's written into corporate law. A corporation has to service only the interests of its shareholders. Doing anything else, and the management team is in violation of their contractual obligations. And in the intelligence business, peace is not good for busin...