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Posts: [Help with study of functional programmers], [icfp contest update], [ICFP contest day 2], [ICFP contest! Rovers on Mars!], [5 Hints for Beginning Haskellers], [Types to distinguish parameters and dimensions], [Python to the rescue: ICFP contest 2007], [Representin' in Oregon], [Bring to a boil: programming with cairns], [Hobbling scheme for readability?], [select * from universe where planet=earth], [Lojban], [Evolution of AI], [Burrows-Wheeler Transform in Haskell], [Abstract Refactoring], [Questions on Haskell Style (and Polynomials redux)], [Automatic Spaghetti Refactoring], [Awkward db2 SQL syntax], [Simonyi on Comments in Algol-60], [The Zen of Referential Transparency], [Moving to new URL], [Polynomials as numbers], [SOAP: follow-up], [Follow up on kanji coding method: Wuji], [Ban the dangling else!]
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Sambangu
About languages that bridge the gap between minds and machines.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Help with study of functional programmers
Are you currently developing or maintaining a medium to large-sized program written in a functional language, such as Haskell, F#, OCaml, or Lisp? I'm doing a study of functional programmers, as part of a research internship at Microsoft, and I would like the opportunity to look over your shoulder while you do debugging or coding on your project. I'm looking for people with at least a year's experience doing functional programming, and who are currently working on a real project (i.e. for some purpose other than learning functional programming). I'm only allowed to use people who can work in the US (because of the gratuity, which is taxable income). I'd simply come watch you work, and ask a few questions along the way. You'd do whatever you would normally be doing. If you're near Seattle or Portland, I'd come to your office for a couple of hours. If you're not near Seattle or Portland, then we'd set you up with LiveMeeting or some other remote screencast software so I can watch you from here. Obviously security concerns are an issue - I will not share any proprietary information that I learn about while visiting you. In exchange for your help, Microsoft will offer you your pick of free software off its gratuity list (which has about 50 items, including Visual Studio Professional, Word for Mac, XBOX 360 games) or any book from MS Press. We're doing this because expert functional programmers have not been studied much. We plan to share our findings through academic publications, to help tool developers create debugging tools that are genuinely helpful in real-world settings. I'm hoping to finish my observations by August 8th, so please contact me immediately if you're interested! Thank you, Chris Bogart 425-538-3562 t-chribo@microsoft.com
Sunday, July 13, 2008
icfp contest update
Well, I got threads and tcp and everything all figured out, and my simple "spike" solution works the way I intended it: the rover makes a beeline for home base, ignoring craters, martians, and boulders, and usually dying or crashing. However I can't get it to run in Mono on the LiveCD environment for the contest. I've been using Visual Studio on a virtual machine on my mac. Visual Studio runs a little slow, but the program runs fine. But when I try to run it in mono, I get a big wodge of error messages, none of them pertaining to my code. I used some new features of F#, so it may be that it exercises some corners of mono that haven't been tested yet. I think at this point I'm going to give up on submitting a solution and just post interesting bits of my code here after the contest ends. I still want to think some about a quick and dirty way of avoiding craters, but I probably won't spend much more time on it: it's nice out today! I feel like I've gotten what I wanted to out of this: building something significant in F#. I have 238 lines of code, and I used F#'s Erlang-style mailboxes, asynchronous workflow, discriminated unions, class definitions, and I overcame the headaches of separating things into multiple modules while making sure all references went backwards. I got threading and networking in a pretty clean way I think. The ugliest part of the code is actually probably the navigation code, that looks at where the rover is and how fast it's going, and decides how to head for home base.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
ICFP contest day 2
I spent a few hours programming last night, and I still don't have a running program yet. F# turns out to have some pretty interesting monad-like things for handling asynchronous code (they're called "workflows") and this appears to be the right way to handle sending and receiving stuff from a TCP/IP connection. I think I have a pretty good idea how to make this work, but I'm banging my head against the details: for example I want to asynchronously read a line of text from a socket, passing it along to the rest of my program as soon as a carriage return is received. So, do I have to read one byte at a time in a tail-recursive function, adding to a mutable string? Or is there an object or something in the library that will do this for me? There's a tradeoff between searching and searching in the docs to find the most natural way of doing it in the language you're trying to learn, versus writing it from the ground up yourself, probably less efficiently, as a newbie. My problem may be that I need to sit down and read a book on .NET instead of thinking I can adhoccumulate expertise efficiently. By the way, I like Expert F# better than Foundations of F#. I wish I'd read the former instead of the latter as preparation. Wish me luck!
Friday, July 11, 2008
ICFP contest! Rovers on Mars!
The 2008 icfp contest just started! Sadly I'm at work for another several hours, but I skimmed through the description, and hopefully the programmer-lobe of my brain is already hard at work on the problem while my researcher-lobe is busy dealing with participant recruitment for a study. This one is not all parsey like the last two years: it's all real-time execution and floating point numbers in a navigation problem. It's not the kind of thing I've thought about much, so it should be an interesting challenge. Also, my laptop plug *just* stopped working, so I may have to complete the entire task in 2 hours and 27 minutes. Hopefully they have extras in Seattle somewhere. My plan this year is to do it in F#, since it's cool and also I'm doing a study on it for my summer internship. But they made it a little harder by not including F# in the list of supported languages. But no worries -- they do have mono (the .NET clone, not the disease), so I'll just have to upload an executable.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
5 Hints for Beginning Haskellers
Here are some things that have caused me headaches in learning Haskell.
Function calls. Functions are called by giving the name and the arguments separated by spaces. If a function f has two parameters, a and b, you call it with f a b not f(a,b). The latter would be a one-argument function whose argument is a pair. You can do things that way if you like, but it'll make things a lot trickier later. Precedence. Those spaces in the function call syntax are about the tightest binding thing in the language. So if distance is an integer, and show is an (Int -> String), then show distance++" miles" is good syntax, because show distance is evaluated before the ++. On the other hand, if c is a character and cs is a string, then length c:cs is a type error. Haskell will try to evaluate length c first, then prefix that number to the front of the list cs. Instead, you want length (c:cs). Parens in patterns. This is really an example of the precedence issue above, but it trips me up all the time. You need more parens on the left hand side of function calls than you'd think. I don't know how many times I've written code like the sample below, leaving out the parens at first. data Coord = Coord Int Int manhattandist :: Coord -> Int manhattandist Coord x1 y1 = x1 + y1 WRONG manhattandist (Coord x1 y1) = x1 + y1 RIGHT Arrows in type declarations. The type of (+) is Int -> Int -> Int; and we're supposed to accept that the first two Ints are the arguments, and the last Int is the return value. But turns out there's a cool reason for this. An equivalent type declaration would be Int -> (Int -> Int) (because -> groups right). You can think about addition this way, and Haskell cooperates nicely: + is a function that takes one integer, and returns a function. So plus x y = x+y is equivalent to plus x = \y -> x + y (search for lambda in the Haskell docs if you don't know that backslash syntax). So if you need a one-argument function (that returns a function) for some reason, it's OK to go ahead and define it as a two-argument function returning a number; Haskell doesn't make a distinction, and it's more convenient sometimes to express it that way. Monads. These are famously hard to get. There are 10,000 tutorials out there, and most of them help a little. I'd recommend you start by learning to use the important standard ones, like Maybe, IO, and List, more or less by rote. Beyond that, if you're in a situation where you'd need to roll your own, I'd say just forget monads exist and write the code yourself. Once you get so you really understand the ugliness involved firsthand, monads will be an obvious benefit. Anyway, that's my plan right now. I think I get them well enough to explain them, but I make a lot of stupid mistakes when I try to use them, so I probably don't understand them as well as I think I do. (More on this later -- I'm taking two classes right now that rely on Haskell, so I'll comment on this more as I have little insights).
Friday, September 07, 2007
Types to distinguish parameters and dimensions
Suppose a language had a rule that said a function could only have one parameter of a given type, and each dimension of a multidimensional array had to be indexed by a different type. This would have several benefits:
You'd get extra fine-grained checking; you couldn't possibly get parameters mixed up When making array slices or currying, you wouldn't have to concern yourself with the ordering of the parameters. You wouldn't need to distinguish between optional named parameters and ordinal parameters. The name of a parameter would be (or would be derived from) it's type. With functions like + that seem to require two items of the same type, you could interpret the two (or more) arguments as a collection. Lists certainly could contain homogeneously typed members.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Python to the rescue: ICFP contest 2007
The ICFP contest was great fun this year, as usual, and I actually arranged travel and moving plans so that I would be in one place for the weekend to work on it. I resolved to work in Scala this year, because it seemed like a practical functional language I'd like to know better; and it allows imperative programming with the java libraries, so I thought it would be a smooth learning curve. Well, I spent the first day butting my head up against Scala, and dealing with condo repair contractors and a fussy HOA board in the meantime: at the end of the day I had basically no running code and a splitting headache. The cure: beer and python. The second day I changed to Python, which I really haven't used *that* much, but it's easier to figure out how to do things. I'm not sure why -- maybe it's a question of documentation, or maybe it's just that I don't get functional programming as well as I thought I did. In Python I managed to get an interpreter that basically worked, reading the DNA file and creating images using Tkinter. I don't think it was ever flawless. There was a self-test screen that I eventually got all "OK"s on, but I never did see these manual pages that people on the discussion list were talking about. The Python was still too slow to make further debugging feasible, so I rewrote it in C. Got that working sometime Sunday, and it was faster, but it wasn't faster enough. The real solution needed to be linked lists to pointers to memory, so one wouldn't need to shuffle megabytes of DNA around -- but I had no mental energy to implement anything like that by that point. Lessons learned: Either scala documentation needs work, or I just need to spend more time learning the paradigm When the problem statement says that shifting byte strings around needs to be done in faster than linear time, that's an optimization I should think through up front, not "get to it later". It made all my implementations useless. Python is the best language I know of for expressing algorithms. It isn't fast enough, though. (although I wonder what if I tried the linked-list thing in python? I may try that as an experiment) There were some complaints on the discussion list by people saying that the up-front work was too hard, and that most people never got to the meat of the problem. I totally disagree with that. ICFP is all about making functional programming usable and efficient. If, with current tools, we are forced into low-level bit-schlepping in C, it points to a deficiency with the most common tools of functional programming, or in the training of programmers. The contest ought to be about illustrating that kind of issue in a fun way. Here's an interesting point: languages with higher-order kinds of functionality tend to abstract one away from the machine more; working with heavy integer "objects", for example, instead of raw machine integers as C does. Is it possible to have a language where you can talk about bare metal, even registers and such, but do it in a higher-order abstract way when desired? I guess C++ attempts to do this in some ways, but it's an extremely complex language. Is there no better compromise?
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Representin' in Oregon
I haven't posted in a while, but I have good news -- I've been accepted into the PhD program at Oregon State University! I first discovered the program by googling what turned out to be Margaret Burnett's turn of phrase, "HCI of Programming". It's been 15 years since I got my master's at Colorado State. Turning 40 last year, I've been thinking about where my life is headed and what I wanted to do next. I've been doing very practical programming in the title industry in the daytime, and thinking and writing about programming languages at night. So now I'm back in school, and although the faces have changed, the hassles are all the same. Up until now I have thought more about the challenges of language design for professional programmers, but at OSU I'll be diving into the whole realm of end user software engineering. When designing a language for a professional programmer, maybe we can assume that the user knows what he or she is doing. Programmers are expected to have an analytical mindset, and plenty of practice at debugging things. They have endured years of indoctrination into the sacraments of testing, code correctness, documentation and version control. They have fingernails that shine like justice. They have RTFM. It's safe to assume that they have this expertise. It may not actually be true that they have it, but it's safe: our asses are covered, because we said on the box "professionals only". An "end user" may in fact be a professional programmer, but we no longer have our asses covered; the environment must share in the responsibility. There is an intelligent being sitting in front of us, who thinks in a very different way than the computer does. They have some concept of what they want the computer to do, and we have to cooperate with them in representing that concept. Without being making so many wrong assumptions, or so few right assumptions, that we annoy the user into walking away in frustration. When I was going through the application process, I went for advice to University of Colorado professor, Clayton Lewis, who introduced me to the notion of Theory of Representation: that a lot of what's interesting in computing can be seen in terms of making valid mappings from one representation system to another. In those terms, HCI is about mapping between formal and human representations. But the human representation system is a pretty quirky thing that cognitive scientists are still attempting to explore; so HCI is kind of an engineering discipline working ahead of its time: trying to translate in and out of human representations before human representations can really be said to be understood by science. This process has got to be a two-way street, because human representations of programming solutions are invariably wrong to start with, at least at a sufficiently fine level of detail. They need refinement, and the process of formal representation helps with that refinement. In HCI of programming there is more going on, however. Engineering is not just a set of concepts, it's a discipline. "Discipline" is a deep set of mental habits. So to turn end users into software engineers, or to turn software engineers into better software engineers, it seems to me that an ideal software engineering environment will do more than represent users' ideas; it will help teach the user the mental habits necessary to refine those ideas efficiently. Maybe that goes beyond theory of representation.
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Help with study of functional programmers
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ICFP contest day 2
ICFP contest! Rovers on Mars!
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5 Hints for Beginning Haskellers
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September
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Types to distinguish parameters and dimensions
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Python to the rescue: ICFP contest 2007
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Bring to a boil: programming with cairns
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Hobbling scheme for readability?
select * from universe where planet=earth
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Burrows-Wheeler Transform in Haskell
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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
DIY
Kim du Toit
August 13, 2008
10:06 AM CST
Okay, here’s how this works.
1. Douse the tire with gasoline.
2. Set it on fire, then dance around in the slippers provided.
3. The earphones are so you can’t hear yourself screaming.
4. Lots of synthetic material guarantees maximum burnage.
5. When the pain gets too much, pull the trigger of the attached gun.
From the cars’ license plates, I would guess that this comes to us from South Africa.
(19) Comments •
Print Version • Category: -Blog Topics-Daily Life-Humor
Nature Calls
Kim du Toit
August 13, 2008
9:30 AM CST
Here’s the primary reason why I always carry a gun on those infrequent occasions when I venture into the wild:
A black bear repeatedly mauled an 8-year-old boy Monday evening near a popular motor trail on the outskirts of Gatlinburg, and an animal matching its description was later killed by park rangers.
The boy’s father also was injured while successfully defending his son from the animal, said officials with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but none of their injuries were believed to be life-threatening.
A quick comment before I get into the main argument of this post.
The dead bear was described as a “55-pound male yearling” that was probably born in the spring of 2007.
So even Mother Gaia has a problem with “youth crime”. But more seriously:
The bear apparently approached the boy and attacked him, was driven off and then came back for a second attack, Miller said.
“Apparently the dad was able to drive the bear off both times with rocks and sticks,” Miller said. “The child sustained some puncture wounds. They’re probably not life-threatening, but they’re pretty serious injuries.”
The boy’s father, John Pala, also of Boca Raton, sustained several lacerations during the attacks.
Kudos, of course, go to the brave dad who risked his own life for his child—although I can’t think why he wouldn’t do so, under Male Parent Guideline #1 (Always, always protect your family, regardless of risk).
But: ”rocks and sticks ”?
If I may make a suggestion: something in .44 Magnum (.357 Magnum for ladies).
Yeah, I know: it’s against the law in most places. So keep the piece well concealed (yet still handy, just in case).
And should anyone think that “there are no bears around here”, allow me to suggest a quick perusal of the stats about rabies, and about attacks by violent criminals in the wild.
Danger isn’t only just covered with bearskin.
(26) Comments •
Print Version • Category: -Blog Topics-Gunnies
Clear Distinction
Kim du Toit
August 13, 2008
6:55 AM CST
Nothing explains the difference between Democrats and Republicans better than how each approaches voter registration:
Traditionally, Democrats favor fewer checks on verification and greater access to voting to encourage larger turnouts, particularly among lower-income and minority voters, who tend to favor Democrats. Republicans usually push for closer monitoring, in such forms as laws with strict requirements for voters to present identification, which can result in lower turnout.
Like the Republicans, I don’t care what the turnout level is, as long as it’s only legal voters turning out.
That’s not the case with Democrats, to whom “fair play” and “voting law” are alien concepts.
(6) Comments •
Print Version • Category: -Blog Topics-Social Issues-Them and Us
Breaking The Hockey Stick
Kim du Toit
August 13, 2008
6:20 AM CST
Casper Ammann, Texas Sharpshooter reads like a detective story for math geeks, but this absolute rebuttal of Mann’s (intentionally) frightening “hockey stick” temperature graph is a classic. (Be warned: it’s serious stat stuff—unlike, as it turns out, both Mann’s paper and Ammann and Wahl’s “validation” thereof.) McIntyre also turned his baleful statistical gaze on Ammann & Wahlberg here.
And for those of us who can’t even begin to grasp the stat involved in McIntyre’s blog (like me), Bishop Hill’s explanation of McIntyre’s post is wonderful: PhD-level stat explained in terms that even I can understand.
Kim’s Cliff Notes summary of Hill’s precis of McIntyre’s analysis: The Mann “hockey stick” analysis sucks, and any future work which relies on Mann’s study or even a tiny part thereof should be ignored in the same way that “pi=3” should be ignored in geometry.
---------------------------------
By the way, I’d been meaning to link to one of Hill’s earlier articles, but forgot. Here’s the link now, which is hysterically funny in a dry, offhand kinda way. Witness:
Climate models were the flavour of the week. Professor Demetris Koutsoyiannis of the National Technical University of Athens published a paper in which he demonstrated that climate models have no predictive skill at regional levels, and there is no evidence that they work at larger scales either. This is a pity, as we are currently destroying our economies on the basis of the output of climate models. Meanwhile Lucia looked at weather noise as produced by climate models and started an assessment of how this compared to real weather. First results were for a model called EchoG, which produced weather with twice as much variability as what we observe around us. Not very realistic then.
And it gets better and better, as the we’re-all-gonna-diiieeeee!!! alarmists attempt to explain away why, in a global warming scenario, the oceans in the tropics are actually cooling , and the “record melt” of the Arctic ice shelf errrr won’t be.
So much for the “scientific consensus” relating to Glowball Wormening.
(3) Comments •
Print Version • Category: -Blog Topics-Social Issues-Eco-Nonsense
A Pair Of Winchesters
Kim du Toit
August 13, 2008
5:35 AM CST
Here, for your delectation, is a pretty pair of Winchester pump-action rimfire rifles. First up, the Model 61, which is a sleek, hammerless beauty:
And the Model 62A, which is the same rifle except for its exposed hammer:
I would love to own either one, for different reasons. The Mod 61 is impossibly beautiful: sleek, sexy and worthy of inclusion in anyone’s plinking / varmint-popping selection.
The Mod 62A is a little more practical, in that it allows one to lower the hammer manually (the 61 has no decocking mechanism other than the trigger, and dropping the hammer on an empty chamber is a Bad Thing in a rimfire, because the hammer strikes the edge of the chamber until it peens away the metal).
That said, I would not feel short-changed with either.
Winchester stopped making their pump-action plinkers many year ago, but thank goodness Taurus stepped up to the plate, purchased the rights to the John Moses Browning design of the Mod 62A, and now makes it (as the 62), in a variety of excellent choices (long- or carbine barrel, stainless or blued—and .22 LR or .22 Mag.
And even though I already possess a modern Taurus Mod 62C, I’d jump on either the 61 or 62A in a heartbeat. It’s history in your hands, and therefore worth owning.
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NotEng NotCS CSvetta project — [View Page]
Posts: [An imitation test for moral capacity], [2.4 Tera FLOPS per card], [First Brain-Scale Supercomputer in 2011?], [LaTeX and lulu.com], [Machine Super Intelligence], [Kolmogorov, Solomonoff, AIXI etc. questions], [Super computer on a chip], [SIAI Canada Academic Prize for 2008], [Dr. Legg and the Gatsby Unit], [Neural networks with Nvidia CUDA]
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An imitation test for moral capacity
August 9th, 2008 · 8 Comments
Yudkowsky has been posting a lot on Overcoming Bias recently about his theory of metaethics. Today he posted a summary of sorts. Essentially he seems to be saying that morality is a big complex function computed by our brain that doesn’t derive from any single unifying principle. Rather, this function is a mishmash of things and even we don’t really know what our own function is, in the sense that we are unable to write down an exact and complete formulation. It’s just something that we intuitively use.
I’m not convinced that ethics can’t be derived from some deeper unifying principle. I’m also not convinced that it can, lest you misunderstand me. What I do accept is that if this is possible then finding such a principle and convincingly arguing for it is likely to be difficult in the extreme, and probably not something that is likely to happen before the singularity. Nevertheless, I haven’t yet seen any argument so devastating to this possibility that I’m willing to move it from being extremely difficult to certainly impossible. Any system of ethics that does derive from some unifying metaethical principle is almost certainly going to be different to our present (western?) ethical notions. I think some degree of this is acceptable, given that our ethical ideas do change a bit over time. Furthermore, no matter how human we try to make the ethical system of a powerful AGI, post-singularity we are still going to be faced with ethical challenges that our pre-singularity ethics were never set up to deal with. Thus, our ethics are going to have to be modified and updated in order to remain somewhat consistent and viable, otherwise we’ll end up with this kind of nonsense.
Anyway, let’s assume that this unifying principle either does not exist, or at least can’t be found. How can we tell if an AGI is ethical given that we can’t explicitly and completely specify what this means? This seems like the problem Turing faced when trying to determine whether a machine is intelligent or not. He figured that he couldn’t explicitly and completely say what intelligence is, unlike the research by Hutter and myself, and thus he tried to dodge the issue in the obvious way by setting up an imitation game that doesn’t require an explicit description of intelligence.
Here we can do something similar: set up a group of people and the AGI and ask them ethical questions from a panel of expert judges. If the judges cannot tell which the machine is, then it passes. Given that the morality function varies between people, and that we can’t say explicitly and completely what our own function is, this seems to be about the best we could hope for. Naturally, this doesn’t prove that the AGI, or indeed any of the humans participating, are “good”. An evil genius could probably pass such a test. Rather, it is simply designed to test whether the AGI is at least able to compute a version of the human morality function which is sufficiently similar to ours that it is able to pass as being human. Whether the AGI (or human) actually takes its human-passable morality function and reliably and consistently seeks to follow it into the future is a whole other set of problems. Thus, passing such a test is perhaps a necessary, but certainly not a sufficient condition for having an ethical AGI.
I’m sure somebody must have proposed this idea before, but at least my half hearted attempt to find the idea on Google didn’t turn up anything. I should also point out that in order for this test to work you’d probably want the AGI to pass a more general Turing test first so that it doesn’t get singled out by the judges for various other reasons. Only then should you bring in a group of expert ethicists to try to judge which of the test subjects was ethically inhuman. We would also want to include in the test subjects a few very nice people and a couple of professional ethicists as we wouldn’t want the AGI to be able to “fail” for being too nice or consistently ethical.
→ 8 CommentsTags: AGI · Ethics · Friendly AI · Singularity
2.4 Tera FLOPS per card
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Remember when I was raving about nVidia’s new GTX 280 graphics card that crunches 1 Tera FLOPS?
Yeah, well, that was 3 weeks ago.
Today, Radeon’s new HD 4870 X2 graphics card has 1600 stream processors that crunch 2.4 Tera FLOPS.
→ No CommentsTags: Computer Power · Hardware · Singularity · Supercomputers
First Brain-Scale Supercomputer in 2011?
July 12th, 2008 · 2 Comments
While The Register isn’t the most reliable source, the time frame and specs look about right so I figure this article probably isn’t too far off.
Name: IBM Blue Waters
Peak performance: 1016 FLOPS
RAM: 620 TB
Location: University of Illinois
Delivery: 2011
For every synapse in an adult human brain this machine will have around 6 bytes of RAM and 100 floating point calculations per second.
→ 2 CommentsTags: Computer Power · Singularity · Supercomputers
LaTeX and lulu.com
July 10th, 2008 · 2 Comments
So you’ve finished writing your thesis, your pièce de résistance, your magnum opus. Next step, get it printed as a book for the world to admire. Of course, being the misunderstood genius that you are, no professional publisher will want to touch your great achievement. Never fear, the internet age is here! So you gather up your LaTeX files and head off to lulu.com, only to find that lulu has no idea about LaTeX. A search of the lulu help system literal returns no results. Google returns fragmented and in many cases possibly out of date suggestions. If this sounds like you, read on.
[Read more →]
→ 2 CommentsTags: LaTeX · PhD · Ubuntu · lulu.com
Machine Super Intelligence
July 10th, 2008 · 2 Comments
My thesis is now available at lulu.com. As promised, it’s at cost, which works out at $18 plus shipping. It’s all under a creative commons licence and in a few months I’ll put the pdf online for free. I’ll also write a post shortly on all the tricks involved in publishing on lulu.com with LaTeX, in case you plan on doing something similar.
Table of Contents
[Read more →]
→ 2 CommentsTags: AGI · AIXI · Friendly AI · Kolmogorov Complexity · Neuroscience · PhD · Universal Intelligence
Kolmogorov, Solomonoff, AIXI etc. questions
June 25th, 2008 · 47 Comments
Many people seem to have questions about Kolmogorov complexity, Solomonoff induction, algorithmic probability theory, AIXI, the universal intelligence measure and so on. I don’t always have time to watch all the email lists where these things get discussed, but if you do have any questions, concerns, etc. that you’d like to put to me, feel free to post a question below and I’ll try to answer it.
→ 47 CommentsTags: AIXI · Kolmogorov Complexity · Universal Intelligence
Super computer on a chip
June 24th, 2008 · 6 Comments
In 2006, a computer capable of 3 T FLOPS was enough to get onto the list of the top 500 super computers in the world.
Two years later…
This PC has 3 nVidia GTX 280 graphics cards, costs about $3,000 and is rated at 3 T FLOPS.
→ 6 CommentsTags: AGI · Computer Power · Hardware · Singularity
SIAI Canada Academic Prize for 2008
June 23rd, 2008 · 4 Comments
This morning I received the wonderful news that I’ve won the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence - Canada Academic Prize for 2008!
The award is in “recognition of [my] efforts to improve AI theory” and is worth CAD $10,000. This will certainly help my budget over the next two years while I study at the Gatsby Unit in London. So, thank you to SIAI Canada, and to all the Canadians whose donations made this money available!
Speaking of my research, after a long weekend of final edits, corrections, formatting, indexing, embedding fonts and other complexity (I’ll write a blog post about what I had to do at some point), I’ve finally uploaded my thesis “Machine Super Intelligence” to lulu.com and have ordered a test copy. Once I’ve checked that everything is ok I’ll let you know where copies can be ordered. Copies should be USD $18 plus shipping for a 200 page casewrap hardcover. Probably about in a month…
→ 4 CommentsTags: AGI · AIXI · Friendly AI · PhD · Singularity · Universal Intelligence
Dr. Legg and the Gatsby Unit
June 17th, 2008 · 8 Comments
This morning I passed my PhD defence… making me now Dr. Legg. Soon I’ll upload my thesis “Machine Super Intelligence” to lulu.com where you will be able to pick up a printed copy at cost if you’re interested.
And in other news, I’ve been awarded a grant to study machine learning and theoretical neuroscience at the Gatsby Unit, University College London. I should start that in January and be there for two years. For the meantime I’ll remain at the Swiss Finance Institute working on portfolio choice models.
→ 8 CommentsTags: Life · PhD
Neural networks with Nvidia CUDA
June 9th, 2008 · No Comments
If Roadrunner is a bit beyond your budget, simulating neural networks with GPUs might be an option:
The next generation of Nvidia GPUs will support enhancements such as double precision floating point in order to make them more suitable for general purpose highly parallel computation. There will also be cards with no graphics interface and greater maximum RAM designed specifically for low cost supercomputing applications.
→ No CommentsTags: Computer Power · Hardware · Neural Networks · Neuroscience · Singularity · Supercomputers
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NotEng NotCS CSThe Hoops Tour [View Page]
Posts: [2006 Tournament Teams], [Creighton Down, Bradley Hot], [Skuchas: 5th Year Planned], [A Crazy (great) night of hoops], [UTEP leading scorer out for the season], [My hero: CJ Watson], [Drunken Tree Hits Man], [Few Bots Rolling], [A good day for hoops], [MVC Coming On Strong?]
The Hoops Tour
around the league in 50 years
2006 Tournament Teams
Posted by rick
Sat, 04 Mar 2006 19:07:00 GMT
Not sure this is the very first team, but Winthrop is in the 2006 Tournament, having just won the Big South tourney by beating Coastal Carolina.
I’ve created a page to track the tournament teams… 2006 Tournament Teams.
Posted in teams, tournament | Tags 2006, tourney, winthrop | no trackbacks
Creighton Down, Bradley Hot
Posted by sean
Sat, 04 Mar 2006 16:45:00 GMT
STL Postdispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz takes a look at Bradley’s win over Creighton in the MVC tourney and what it means for the MVC. “Bradley has limited opponents to 57.1 points a game. The Braves were tenacious in harassing Creighton into 17 turnovers and 30 percent shooting.” Up next for Bradley is Wichita State.
In a paragraph buried way down in the article, Bernie mentions 37 of the 50 starters in the MVC are underclassmen.
Some speculation about possible replacements at Mizzou by Norm Stewart. Norm likes Kim Anderson and Larry Drew. Mizzou might do well to consult Norm. It’s pretty apparent they’re not having much luck on and off the court.
And buried near the bottom, Spoonhour as a SEMO coach? I’m not going to hold my breath. Spoonball did not amount to much when he was coach of the SLU Billikens.
Posted in games, teams | Tags bradley, creighton, mizzou, mvc, semo | no trackbacks
Skuchas: 5th Year Planned
Posted by sean
Fri, 03 Mar 2006 16:21:00 GMT
The City Paper is reporting that Vandy senior Ted Skuchas will return as a 5th year senior despite graduating this May. While I appreciate a guy who sticks to a plan, I have to ask: how much will he gain? As the article points out, he’s already seeing more bench time. I can’t imagine having my head fully in it when I’ve already got one of my feet out the door (that being academically).
Posted in teams | Tags vandy | no trackbacks
A Crazy (great) night of hoops
Posted by rick
Thu, 02 Mar 2006 03:38:00 GMT
If you caught the ending of the (#1) Duke vs. FSU game (story) you were probably thinking “WTF?!”, but if you’re at all like me it was a good kind of “WTF?!”. The ending was bittersweet, with Coach K justifiably fearing for his players’ safety by the end (after a floor-rush by FSU fans, with :01.70 left on the clock and free throws left to shoot). I love to see a Duke loss (especially at #1, which FSU has done before), but I’d rather it not involve risk of life and limb.
If you had time (I didn’t) you could’ve also caught (#7) Texas’ lost to Texas A&M (story).
In case you were in doubt: it is officially March.
But, for me, the Main Event tonight was Kentucky at (#11) Tennessee as viewed from a sports bar in Nashville, with a relatively vocal Orange contingent and a few (increasingly) rowdy Men In Blue. Let’s just say Coach Smith’s aggressive rethinking of lineup is paying off. Kentucky needed this win, especially after not closing on the razor of a game against LSU Saturday. Kentucky, ironically, beat Tennessee on the inside—a place where Kentucky hasn’t shown strength throughout the year. They didn’t win by holding on to the ball (the turnovers were excruciating), but they did do a good job keeping Lofton from decimating them with the three. Sure, he’s going to get free no matter who he plays, but UK turned him from devastating scorer into Just Another Good Shooter.
Tennessee is still the best team in the SEC, and a national presence. I’ve been asked if UT is “For Real” this year and I’ve answered “yes” (and still would). Bruce Pearl is an outstanding coach and he’s already worked wonders with the UT program and deserves SEC Coach of the Year, if not a similar national honor. (I’m just sad we don’t have him as a bracket “ace in the hole” this year up at UWM).
As a die-hard Kentucky fan it’s been tough watching the Wildcats have such a down year, with plenty of raw talent and an excellent coach. I think the coaching is starting to show, and the turning point was Tubby’s “reset” of the team, when the starting lineup became that group of guys who practiced the hardest the week before. In my mind UK beat LSU, though there’s an “L” in the official record. They beat the best team in the SEC tonight on their home court. They’re by no stretch guaranteed to beat one of the more overrated, but still dirty and dangerous, teams in Florida this weekend, but it’s now within the realm of possibility.
Kentucky punched their ticket to the tournament tonight—a phrase that doesn’t roll off a Kentucky fan’s lips, but a necessary statement this year (and one it’s good to be able to write). Here’s hoping this is the belated beginning of good things for the rest of their year.
Posted in teams | Tags duke, florida, floridastate, kentucky, lsu, Tennessee, texas, texasam, uwm | no trackbacks
UTEP leading scorer out for the season
Posted by rick
Sat, 25 Feb 2006 15:57:00 GMT
Damn. ESPN has the story. John Tofi tore an ACL during the game against Memphis. One of the earliest posts on this site was pointing to the Miners as a sleeper, and they’re now tied with UAB for 2nd in CUSA two games behind Memphis, and gave Memphis a run for their money last week (well, at least until Tofi went down, then things got a lot tougher). I heard some guy on a sports call-in show saying that Memphis must have “had an off night” during that game. That could be, or it could be that UTEP has been playing better than the caller gave them credit for.
Not sure how this will affect them down the road (not positively, I’d wager), but best wishes to Tofi and the team.
Posted in teams | Tags utep | no trackbacks
My hero: CJ Watson
Posted by sean
Thu, 23 Feb 2006 04:47:00 GMT
Not only does UT beat Florida, but according to The Tennessean ”...Noah missed the last few minutes after taking an elbow to the face by C.J. Watson.” Something tells me this was not an accident. Lesson? Talk trash, face smashed.
Posted in games | Tags florida, Tennessee | no trackbacks
Drunken Tree Hits Man
Posted by sean
Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:07:00 GMT
Unfortunately, “The Man” was not happy. Deadspin puts it best: ”...the Stanford University band’s famous tree mascot was fired for being completely shit-faced during last week’s Cal/Stanford basketball game. Erin Lashnits, who served as the rowdy tree blew a .157…”. The SF Gate article puts things into perspective by referring to Lashnits as a “Fifth-year senior”. Deadspin dug up the fact she’s on the swim team so it might be an athletic eligibility thing. Still, it makes you wonder if that 5th year of school was not completely brought on by other extra-curricular activities.
When your band is on alcohol suspension you unfortunately have to fire the mascot so you can, in their words (not) ”...risk our core mission of rocking out and bringing funk to the funkless.”
Rock on!
Posted in teams | Tags stanford | 2 trackbacks
Few Bots Rolling
Posted by allen
Sun, 19 Feb 2006 01:14:00 GMT
I hate to admit that I am liking Gonzaga this year. In years past I have felt that they have been over-hyped by the Bryant Gumble Cinderella Machine. This year they have played a pretty tough non-conference schedule and they have a bot-model that can’t be stopped. The XJ-Morrison seems to be unstoppable. They have also built a R2D-Batiste for an inside presence. I watched them beat Loyola Marymount on the road and I was left thinking they are good. I’ll need to look at the numbers to confirm if they are for real. The only problem will be having to listen to that Cinderella crap. Or having to listen to people claim they picked them in October. Thinly related to Gonzaga, Dan Monson may have saved his job in Minnesota by beating Iowa today. The Gophers aren’t going to the big dance but are living up to their vermin status.
Posted in teams | Tags Gonzaga, Minnesota | no trackbacks
A good day for hoops
Posted by rick
Sat, 18 Feb 2006 22:39:00 GMT
Lots of great ballgames going on today, but what I’m writing about is some specific outcomes: Kentucky looking good over South Carolina at SC, Florida (overrated) losing to Arkansas (yeah!). It would’ve been a GREAT day for hoops had WVU closed on UConn at the end. They gave them a run for their money. If they meet in the tournament I give the Mountaineers the edge (but I repeat myself).
Posted in teams | Tags arkansas, bigeast, florida, ky, southcarolina, uconn, wvu | no trackbacks
MVC Coming On Strong?
Posted by sean
Sat, 18 Feb 2006 19:46:00 GMT
A look (STL Post Dispatch) at the contenders from the Missouri Valley Conference that might make the tournament this year. And, with Northern Iowa taking Bucknell in 2OT in bracket buster play today the MVC looks like it wants to make a point. Five bids though?
Posted in games, teams | Tags creighton, mvc, northerniowa, southernillinois, wichitastate | no trackbacks
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8/12/2008
Coffee. Dessert. Democracy: Russ Warner in Monrovia Thursday
Filed under:
Democracy
LA and SoCal
Politics — Susan A. Kitchens @ 5:18 pm — Link
Russ Warner, who’s challenging David Dreier to represent California’s 26th congressional district (that would be where I live), is kicking off a series of evening Coffee & Conversation meetings this Thursday in Monrovia. Each week he’ll hold a meeting in a different location throughout the district, so voters can meet him, hear him talk about the issues, and tell him what’s on their minds.
Thursday, August 14. 6:30-8pm Monrovia. Monrovia Community Center, 119 West Palm [map]
Thursday, August 21. 6:30-8pm. San Marino. Crowell Public Library, 1890 Huntington Drive [map]
No meeting during Democratic National Convention Week
Thursday, September 4, 6:30-8. La Cañada. Location TBA.
Disclosure: I phonebanked last night for this event. It was a singular challenge for me — I hate telemarketing — to come across as a human being. Scripts: bleah. Conversations: yay. I left lots of messages on lotsa voice mail, and tried to have fun with it.
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8/6/2008
Mom, Dad, I’m into Steampunk
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 5:51 pm — Link
A short, imagined monologue. [via]
You’ll appreciate this, Dad. Would I ever lose this cell phone? It’s got a back plate of soldered brass. I created the aged patina with simple ammonia and salt. I’ll replenish that soon, if you’ll quit bugging me about it. Check this out. These interlocking gears are what I use to dial. They also explain why I haven’t been replying to your texts recently.
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8/3/2008
Fine Dorsal Wisdom
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 6:54 pm — Link
Things I’ve learned (or re-learned) about my back over the last several days:
You use your back for everything you do. Everything. No, seriously. Every. thing.
When the back hurts so much that you don’t think you can stand, breathing deeply and saying to yourself, “My legs are strong” will help to get you into a standing position.
In ouch-situations such as mine (and all injuries), apply ice. With cloth between ice and skin. For no longer than 15 minutes at a time. Ice: it’s a default. My chiropractor said, use ice. No matter what. It can only help, and it won’t bring any additional harm. (The same cannot be said for heat, when the injury is fresh and acute. No heat. Yes ice. Remember that.)
Ultrasound is good.
That groovy camping mat (self-inflating! ooh la la!), set on the floor, is perfect for enough cushioning combined with solid, flat floor support.
It is possible to sit at the computer for short periods of time (15-45 minutes), interspersed with flat lie-down times, with ice, and still get a certain amount of work done.
Powerbooks enabled with wi-fi completely and totally rock. (alas, powerbook doesn’t have all the apps of the desktop machine, so above technique must be used for some tasks.)
Did I mention how wonderful ice is? It’s wonderful.
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7/31/2008
Sacroiliaaaack!
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 4:58 pm — Link
My sacroliliac is saying aaaack! At Tuesday’s yoga class I felt something spasm in my lower back. Just now got back from chiropractor. Ultrasound and massage will help get some motion in all the muscles and ligaments surrounding sacroiliac.
The irony: I go to yoga to strengthen core muscles to help treat some ongoing back problems from sitting in front of the computer too much. Tuesday’s aaack is located in a different place than my ‘problem area.’ Yoga: cure or cause?
If you’re reading this, you’re sitting in front of a computer. Now would be a good time to stretch a bit.
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7/29/2008
Quake! 5.8. Was recording a mic test when quake hit
Filed under:
LA and SoCal
Nature's Wrath — Susan A. Kitchens @ 12:10 pm — Link
I was troubleshooting a stereo mic — and recording my test of each channel — when the quake hit. Here’s an audio clip of the earthquake inside my creaky home office studio. It’s not long. As it gained in intensity from “ooh! a little quake!” to “maybe this is more serious” I went to doorway, and the mic got disconnected in the process.
From the onset of shaking to the point I stepped back to the computer to stop the recording (as motion was subsiding), it was 30 seconds. (don’t worry, you won’t have to listen to the dead air past the point the mic got disconnected)
Listen: 29 July 2008- Mic Test and Chino Quake
USGS Did you feel it Shake Map
UPDATE: They downgraded it to 5.4. Which makes sense. My “you’re kidding me” alarm bells went off when I found out magnitude, based on the shaking I experienced. 5.4 sounds better. And.. I can’t believe that I have an internal Richter scale-o-meter… and I can’t believe that it’s as accurate as it is.
Used Google Maps to find the distance. Using the “walking” directions, I’m about 25 miles from epicenter.
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7/25/2008
Let’s do the “Let’s do the time warp again” again
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 3:06 pm — Link
Rocky Horror re-do. Noted mostly so I could write the headline that way.
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Rest in Peace, Randy Pausch. And thanks.
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 9:30 am — Link
He died early this morning. Statement from Carnegie Mellon University.
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Codex Sinaiticus goes online
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 12:37 am — Link
What’s very very old will be doing the new. Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest New Testament manuscript. I’ve been to the British Museum twice, each time arriving at 4pm (it closes at 5) and both times I went straight to the manuscript room. Can’t remember if the manuscript I was ogling was Sinaiticus or Alexandrinus.
Kelly, this one’s for you.
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7/24/2008
Esprit Decor: Queer Eye for the Military Guy
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 9:39 am — Link
Dana Milbank’s describes congressional testimony on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Those testifying on behalf of the ban didn’t help their case (read the story). Retired Army Sgt. Major Brian Jones: “‘In the military environment, team cohesion, morale and esprit de corps is a matter of life and death,’ he said. His written statement spelled it ‘esprit decor.’” Paging Dr. Freud, and all that.
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Don’t host evil: Blogspot and malware
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 9:28 am — Link
CNET: “Blogger, owned by Google, is particularly problematic, says Sophos, with the blog site alone accounting for nearly 2 percent of all malware hosts.” Google/Blogspot says they’re fighting the malware fight, tho.
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7/23/2008
Obama’s inbox
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 11:26 am — Link
In 2004, when Gmail was (really) beta, and an Illinois-based candidate for the Senate delivered a powerful speech, Guru Raj registered barackobama [at] gmail [dot] com. [via Daily Dish]
“I just thought it would be kind of funny to create an e-mail address based on a random senator whose name no one could spell.”
Fast-forward to 2006/2007… he began receiving email intended for that random senator, a portion of which is included in the article.
Raj’s favorite e-mail was a nursery rhyme that went, “Hillery Dillery Dock / Obama will clean her clock / Monica’s a sin / Bu Ba fell in / Now she’s gotta deal with Barack.”
(This reminds me of a friend, named Julie, who (long story) managed to get the AOL handle “julie” — and she got a lot of incoming, random messages for all the Julies in the world.)
By the way, speaking of humor related to Obama, here’s an LOLCat I did from a photo of Obama’s trip to Baghdad:
(original photo)
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A miniature linkfest
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 10:18 am — Link
Parody of Social Media sites. (sorta explains my on again, off again relation to them)
Jimmy Breslin’s article, Digging JFK’s grave was an honor. Cited in the Tell Zell’s compendium of farewell emails from departing LA Times staff.
The speech accent archive. Choose a location, and listen to a speech example from there. via Abi at Making Light: The Internet, finder of lost things. Sensawunda. Still looking at the comment thread, there.
I can has closed tabs now?
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7/22/2008
Tour de France
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 10:48 pm — Link
The route. This is for Doc M and for Garret @ Dangerousmeta.
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Randy Pausch & The Last Lecture. Is this the last vigil? Updated
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 12:35 pm — Link
[UPDATED] Saw this a while back. Didn’t blog. Till now. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. The hypothetical Carnegie-Mellon tradition, “If you could give only one last lecture, what would it be?” was not so hypothetical in Pausch’s life. He delivered this lecture last fall last fall after finding out that his pancreatic cancer was back, and he was given 3 to 6 months of good health left. The lecture’s good. ~75 mins long.
Related videos: A Diane Sawyer special on You Tube [one two three four five] , his lecture on Time Management, and his testimony before Congress on Pancreatic Cancer. I’m very impressed at the way he’s worked to create a safety net for his wife and children. His lecture led to a book, The Last Lecture, the proceeds from which will help to support them.
He’s kept a health update page that’s had new news posts on a pretty regular basis. The most recent update was June 26, making this the longest break between updates since he began keeping them (well, since I’ve been visiting). I surmise that since June 26, his health has precipitously declined. I note this not because I feel that “we” are “owed” an update. Far from it. But the absense of news updates tells a 4>story of its own, and I wish he, his wife Jai, and their three children all the best during this time. Send him– send all of them– some good thoughts.
Also: A page with links to all the videos and info related to Randy Pausch, maintained by Pausch’s mentee, Gabriel Robbins.
[UPDATE]: 10 pm, July 24: The update page received a new entry. Randy Pausch is enrolled in hospice, the page is being updated by a friend.
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7/20/2008
Obama’s Iraq Guides
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 9:50 am — Link
Karen Tumulty profiles the two senators accompanying Barack Obama to Afghanistan and Iraq. Both Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed are veterans.
Few know better than Jack Reed how to get beyond the customary Green Zone briefings that visiting VIPs typically get in Iraq. The Rhode Island Senator, a West Point grad and former Army Ranger who now is one of the senior Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been to Iraq 11 times, typically traveling without an entourage into battle zones, where he can talk more frankly to the grunts and mid-level officers.
Good. I hope he takes Obama there.
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7/18/2008
10 articles about McCain
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 3:50 pm — Link
Gathered by Matt Welch at Reason.com, who wrote a book on McCain and who recently came to LA to deliver a talk, which was recorded, and broadcast on KPCC and you can listen to here. (Link goes to page with show listings, there’s a ‘click to listen’ via Real Audio link). Welch’s article list is “a rough Top 10 of online-findable pieces of journalism about John McCain, whether pro or con or indifferent.” [via Jay Rosen]
The list doesn’t include one or two articles Welch wrote about McCain, either.
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7/16/2008
Peakbagging, 1924-style: Climbing Mt. Rainier
Filed under:
History
Photography
Travelogue — Susan A. Kitchens @ 11:09 am — Link
I scanned some photos of my grandmother’s climb to Mt. Rainier (August 1924), and created a story on my mother site after visiting some other Mt. Rainier climb web sites to learn more about the climb and what was going on in the pictures.
(Yesterday, I tried to access the scans (on a 250GB external disk drive) to use for this post about that post. Plugged in the USB cable on the external drive, and it began loading up, and then died on me. Very dead died. Ah well. Will try Tech Tools disk recovery. Wasn’t an essential disk drive. But still.)
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Periodic Table of Videos
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 10:44 am — Link
A movie for every element in the periodic table. Cool.
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7/14/2008
On IndyMac, and Mortgage Meltdown
Filed under:
Economics
LA and SoCal
Tourist in my hometown — Susan A. Kitchens @ 8:52 am — Link
Friday evening, after the IndyMac news hit, we just happened to be down on S. Lake Ave. in Pasadena. “I want to drive by IndyMac HQ,” I said. Kinda pointless, but why? Well, it’s both a national news story and it’s a local news story and it’s on the way home. So I drove back around to put us northbound on Lake Avenue. Yep, there it is, across from the Ralph’s on Lake, just S. of Walnut, in one of those buildings I consider “new” because it wasn’t there back when I lived a few blocks from that location.
I’ve been reading a bit about the mortgage crisis, and have found a few interesting links [via comments on this post]:
Blown Mortgage - latest news on the mortgage mess.
Patrick.net Housing Crash. News on the right hand side, an interesting analysis of causes on the left hand side of the page. #7 was especially provocative, and raises something I’ve always thought about when I hear the occasional proposal for flat tax: But what about deductible mortgage interest? What happens then? I’ve thought of it as sacrosanct, but not thought beyond that. So, #7:
To really help Americans, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be completely eliminated, along with the mortgage interest deduction. Canada has no mortgage-interest deduction at all, and has a more affordable housing market because of that.
From Patrick.net, a link to an interview that explores how Phil Gramm (It’s all psychological), when he was a senator, slipped in a bill that opened up the, well, gambling market that’s causing this, well, psychological recession.
Implode-o-meter: Somewhat like the Fucked Company for Mortgage lending. Here’s the page for IndyMac — #265 out of 266 imploded lenders. Also has a Watch/Ailing list.
Calculated Risk, Paul Kedrosky’s Infectious Greed, BigPicture (Investing & Trading to Macro Economics, and everything else in between), Housing Wire
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7/13/2008
Tis an ill ember-spreading wind that blows no good
Filed under: — Susan A. Kitchens @ 4:31 pm — Link
Battling Calif fires — a group from the California Department of Corrections.
“We can be going from one fire to another driving down the highway, and people pull up just saying thank you,” says firefighter Anthony Candido, who is dressed in an orange corrections jumpsuit. “Even though I have to wear these colors, I still feel important.”
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Top technology news headlinesLast updated: Aug 13, 2008 10:08 AM PT
Hybrid makeovers help owners dump the pump
Pricey plug-in hybrid conversions offered around the country enable drivers to power on electricity, often doubling fuel economy.
Where particles, physics theories collide
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Gates: Privacy a 'challenge' as software advances
Microsoft's chairman says society will need "more explicit rules" for privacy as software further develops and technology becomes more pervasive. (By Victoria Ho of ZDNet Asia)
Gartner: iPhone 2.0 cuts business mustard
But analyst firm also says enterprise customers should be prepared for some "inconveniences." (By Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com)
3-alarm fire scorches Apple facility
Firefighters extinguish rooftop blaze Tuesday night at the company's Cupertino campus. Extent of the damage is not yet known. (Posted in Apple by Jon Skillings)
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Full Olympics coverage
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Russia and Georgia continue attacks--online
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(By Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK)
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Students in lawsuit dispute transit agency's side
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Yahoo's Fire Eagle geo-service now open to all
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Bug Labs pulls in funds for do-it-yourself gadgets
The New York maker of prototyping toolkits for electronics quietly raises a third round of financing from previous investors Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital. (Posted in Cutting Edge by Stefanie Olsen)
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NotEng NotCS CSConnected Action — Sociology and the Internet, Social Media, and Mobile Social Software [View Page]
Posts: [Workshop on Research 2.0], [The Next Social Revolution], [Social Sorting for Email], [Social Media and Scientific Collaboration], [Interdisciplinary Communication], [Conference: CIKM Conference on Information and Knowledge Management], [What makes social media social?], [Where Sociology meets the Internet]
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Workshop on Research 2.0
May 6th, 2008 by tom · No Comments
A while back I posted links to some research on Web 2.0 tools and scientific collaboration. For anyone who might be interested, there is a Workshop on Research 2.0 offered as part of the next Conference on e-Social Science. The call for papers was recently posted, and abstracts are due on 15 May, 2008.
Excerpt from the workshop description:
Participation in online, social networking activities has become highly popular in contemporary society. Commercial websites integrating with a range of Web 2.0 tools have created a new discourse, replacing the static, top-down nature of Web 1.0. Web 2.0 is also changing the way we do research. It has been envisioned that a well-designed social networking site can facilitate communications between scientists at different physical locations and in different disciplines, and can encourage them or at least make it easier for them to share their data and findings, and possibly recreate and reuse these resources. Research 2.0 is the term commonly used to describe the extension of Web 2.0 tools to support academic and other research. But do all lessons we have learnt from generic social networking sites apply to scientific social networking ones? Or are there any substantial differences between the two, given the specific needs of users working in scientific field?
Format of the workshop
This full-day workshop aims to map current territory of Research 2.0 (What Web 2.0 applications exist in research and how have they been adopted), and to identify the opportunities and challenges in the development and implementation of Research 2.0. It will consist of a number of short papers and a discussion session identifying promising research directions and initiating interdisciplinary collaboration.
→ No CommentsTags: Conference · Multi-disciplinary · Research
The Next Social Revolution
May 1st, 2008 by tom · No Comments
Clay Shirky posted his talk from last week’s Web 2.0 conference as a wonderful piece on what he calls social surplus - extra cognitive capacity that people don’t know how to spend at first. He argues that our next revolution is the shift from spending our spare cognitive cycles consuming content - watching TV - to spending our spare cognitive cycles consuming, producing, and sharing content.
It’s an interesting train of thought. I particularly like the bit at the end:
[Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: Social Media · Talks
Social Sorting for Email
April 30th, 2008 by tom · No Comments
In a recent Guardian column, Cory Doctorow discusses his tips and tricks for email. He highlights his favorite piece of “email ninjitsu” - sorting by subject - in this boingboing post. But what caught my attention was this bit from the full article text:
Colour-code messages from known senders
Somewhere in the guts of your email client is a simple tool for adding “rules” or “filters” for the mail you send and receive. Here’s a simple pair that have made my mail more manageable: first, add to your address book everyone who receives mail from you; second, change the colour of messages from known senders to a different tone from your regular mail (I use a soothing green).
This lets you tell, at a glance, whether a message is from someone you’ve seen fit to send a message to in times gone by. This is particularly useful for picking misidentified spam out of your spam folder: anything from a known sender that your mailer mistakenly stuck in there is probably worth a closer look.
It’s a simple concept, right? People you talk to are probably more important to you than people you don’t talk to. Yet email clients don’t really do a good job with this. They sort by date. Or by subject. Or author. If you want to know which messages are from senders who get mail from you, you have to set up a rule based on some grouping function in your address book.
A few years back, Marc’s group released a little app, called the Social Network and Relationship Finder (SNARF), which allowed you to view messages - in all their threaded glory - sorted by a few simple relationship measures. You could look at mail from folks you replied to. You could sort by how often you replied to them. You could sort by how often they sent you mail. And so on.
SNARF is only available if you use Outlook, the UI isn’t anything pretty to look at, and it had its functional limitations (the acronym got a few unflattering comments, too). Still, people who used it seemed to like it, and it was certainly handy for quickly locating the critical emails in a mass of unread messages.
I’d like someone to develop this functionality in a full-featured mail client, because having to run a separate app is a serious drawback. In general, I think messaging software - whether it’s a social media app or a system like email or IM - should allow the user to access, understand, and use the structure of relationships around them in order to improve their experience with the system. This is obviously not an easy task, but it’s something for us to keep in mind.
→ No CommentsTags: email · shameless self-promotion
Social Media and Scientific Collaboration
April 23rd, 2008 by tom · 1 Comment
I saw an article posted to Slashdot yesterday about how scientists are using Web 2.0 tools to facilitate collaboration. The original piece, published in Scientific American, offers some food for thought around these parts. The article is pretty basic, but it covers several of the key pros and cons of using these technologies from the science community’s perspective.
I’ve recently been reading some articles about e-research, e-science, and e-social science. Essentially, scholars in science and technology studies, sociology of science, computer supported cooperative work, and other fields have been discussing new communications technologies and their impact on scientific advancement and discovery for some time. The crux of the matter is the tension between benefit and management. The technologies allow for rapid collaboration, and that can be great, but if it’s not properly managed - and if users don’t have the right tools and policies to engage in productive collaboration - all kinds of problems can result. From simple inefficiency to disputes over credit for discovery, use of these collaborative tools in the scientific process is not a simple matter of getting people accounts and convincing them to use the wiki, or the blog, or whatever.
Finding and solving these problems is an interesting space for research and development. How might scientists benefit from the use of social media tools? What types of research are the best fit for online collaboration? How can we build and design tools and collaboration environments that allow scientists to pursue their research without having to spend a lot of energy in managing the technology? Some of the relevant research questions in this space have been addressed in last year’s special issue of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication on e-Science and at past CSCW meetings. There’s been plenty of work at the Oxford Internet Institute on e-science as well, ranging from general questions on collaboration in the social sciences to specific questions on infrastructure and policy.
→ 1 CommentTags: Multi-disciplinary · Research · Social Media · Technology
Interdisciplinary Communication
April 20th, 2008 by tom · No Comments
I had the opportunity to chat with Michael Joroff of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning the other day, and we had an interesting conversation about the importance of being able to bridge boundaries between disciplines. He said the world has come to the point where the most successful people are multi-lingual - that is, able to converse with people from a variety of different spheres of knowledge. Such people are ideally positioned to serve as integrators of diverse and previously separate information. These integrators can therefore synthesize advances in different fields, create innovative solutions to both long-standing and newly relevant problems, and serve as collaborative bridges between related but disconnected disciplines. This puts these individuals in a powerful position indeed.
[Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: Interdisciplinary · Multi-disciplinary · Sociology · Talks · Technology
Conference: CIKM Conference on Information and Knowledge Management
April 16th, 2008 by marc · 1 Comment
Increasingly, technical conferences are featuring topics that make them look like sociology conferences! The upcoming Conference on Information and Knowledge Management describes itself as targeted at the “database, information retrieval, and knowledge management communities. The purpose of the conference is to identify challenging problems facing the development of future knowledge and information systems.” But the conference has a number of topics that focus on sociological themes:
Social Networks
Web 2.0
Link analysis and community discovery
Question answering
Information visualization and exploration
A good example of the increasing integration of the information and social sciences.
Deadlines for the conference are coming fast: abstracts due: May 27, 2008, papers due: June 3, 2008.
→ 1 CommentTags: Conference · Data Mining · Research · Social Media · Sociology
What makes social media social?
April 16th, 2008 by marc · No Comments
At the recent ICWSM 2008 in Seattle I had an opportunity to present some thoughts about what makes social media social. The question is important because so many different types of interaction systems are considered social and they cannot all be the same thing. In an effort to categorize these systems one dimension that seems important is the size of the groups producing and consuming social media. In some cases on a single person creates an object that is then shared with many. In other cases many people create an object and then share it with just a few others. These dimensions open up a space in which different systems can be located and distinguished from one another.
A common misconception is that social media is authored by a large group (for example that many many people contribute to a Wikipedia page). In practice, I think most social media objects are authored by individuals or small groups and are intended to be consumed by small or large groups (most Wikipedia pages attract only a handful of people to make regular contributions). In aggregate, these objects become collective goods — what most of the great stuff on the Internet is made of: archives, collections, discussions, data sets, and more collectively authored by potentially millions of people.
The emerging sweet spot may be the creation of objects through the activity of large groups (think of the movements of whole financial markets, or the contributions of behavior from millions of search engine users) that are then consumed by large groups (in the form of market data or optimized search results).
There are other dimensions of social media beyond the size of the producer and consumer populations and I will try to post about some others. The nature of the digital object being produced or consumed is an important dimension, as is the level of interaction possible. Over time I would like to construct a taxonomy of social media systems so that we can clearly distinguish between email, wiki pages and massively multiplayer role playing games, all of which seem to be labeled “social media”.
→ No CommentsTags: Social Media · Sociology · Talks
Where Sociology meets the Internet
April 13th, 2008 by admin · No Comments
Welcome to all those Interested in sociology, technology, social media, mobile social software, or any and all forms of online communication. This blog is intended as a repository for information about research on computer-mediated collective action from a sociological perspective. Many people, from marketing, research and development, engineering, academic research, to managers of e-business are increasingly finding social science has methods and concepts that can help us understand the Internet-connected world we live in. We are fascinated by the changes these tools are making possible and hope to shed some light on ideas and research that can help you productively navigate the changes.
We’ll be updating this blog fairly often with pointers to interesting research and applications along with musings based on our own experiences. We hope you’ll find it informative, entertaining, enlightening, or some combination of the three.
Poke around, find out who we are, and pardon our dust as we finish constructing the site. We’ll be updating the various static pages in the next few weeks, but the blog is now live for posting and content updates, so stay tuned!
→ No CommentsTags: Research · Social Media · Sociology · Technology
© 2008 Connected Action — Sitemap — Cutline by Chris Pearson
NotEng NotCS CSBlogging for a free world [View Page]
Posts: [Sri Lankan PM: Terrorism must be eradicated before having talks], [Develop tech to fight terrorism, says Prez], [Solzhenitsyn: “One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world”], [Evaluating Al-Qaida’s Nuclear Strategy], [Italy: Five North African arrested on terrorism charges], [Four Moroccan minors arrested accused of sexual aggression of a minor and beating several others], [Ex.speedskater’s visa for Olympics, revoked], [Iranian feminism], [Omar Khadr: a “child soldier” or a “child terrorist”?], [Norway: Islamic Council and homosexuality]
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Sri Lankan PM: Terrorism must be eradicated before having talks
August 13, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in terrorism.
Tags: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers, terrorism, Wickramanayake add a comment
The Sri Lankan government is steadfast in eliminating terrorism before having talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said on Saturday.
Addressing an election rally at Medirigiriya in the North Central Province, Wickramanayake said “terrorism must be eliminated before anything. Only after that we could talk of talks.”
Wickramanayake said government troops currently engaging Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north have sent the rebels reeling.
Sri Lankan PM: Terrorism must be eradicated before having talks_English_Xinhua.
Luckily someone has this clear enough to say it…
Technorati Tags: Liberation+Tigers+of+Tamil+Eelam, Medirigiriya, Sri+Lanka, Tamil+Tigers, terrorism, Wickramanayake
Develop tech to fight terrorism, says Prez
August 12, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in terrorism.
Tags: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bombay, India, President Pratibha Patil, terrorism add a comment
President Pratibha Patil, speaking at the 46th convocation ceremony of IIT-Bombay on Friday, called on engineers of premier Indian institutes to develop modern equipment to combat terror.
Two Indian cities, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, have been victims of terror in the very recent past and the President’s speech-without mentioning these two cities-referred to the threat India is being forced to live with.
Patil said: “With the rise in incidents of terrorism in the country, our security apparatus needs better equipment and technology as the nation fights terrorism and crime.”
IIT-B officials later said they were doing their bit-IPS officials attend a course on ‘The Role of Technology in Crime and Crime Prevention’ at the Powai campus every year-but Patil stressed that this area needed more attention.
Develop tech to fight terrorism, says Prez -Mumbai-Cities-The Times of India.
Also read: Maritime terrorism is on the rise on Indian Ocean.
Related:
Pakistan strikes back and accuses US of cooperating with terrorism.
india accuses Pakistani intelligence of terrorist attack.
Afghanistan accuses Pakistani intelligence of the terrorist attack against the Indian embassy.
Technorati Tags: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bombay, India, President+Pratibha+Patil, terrorism
Solzhenitsyn: “One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world”
August 12, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Freedom.
Tags: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Communism, Russia, Stalin, The Gulag Archipelago, West, Western countries add a comment
Solzhenitsyn’s great themes are the survival of good in an evil world, human dignity, the redeeming value of truth, and the importance of a spiritual dimension to life. But he was astonished to find that when he moved to the United States in 1976 that these were no more welcome there than in the Soviet Union. In his eyes, America had become weakened and corrupted by its material success. He expanded upon this in a blistering address at Harvard in 1978 – only a little while after it had granted him an honorary doctorate. But Aleksandr Isayevich was not one to be bribed with the gewgaw of academic honours. Beginning with an invocation of the Harvard motto, Veritas, truth, he hammered an establishment which had strayed from the pursuit of truth and had liberated itself from God:
But should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively. No, I could not recommend your society in its present state as an ideal for the transformation of ours. Through intense suffering our country has now achieved a spiritual development of such intensity that the Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive…
Six decades for our people and three decades for the people of Eastern Europe; during that time we have been through a spiritual training far in advance of Western experience. Life’s complexity and mortal weight have produced stronger, deeper and more interesting characters than those produced by standardized Western well-being… It is true, no doubt, that a society cannot remain in an abyss of lawlessness, as is the case in our country. But it is also demeaning for it to elect such mechanical legalistic smoothness as you have. After the suffering of decades of violence and oppression, the human soul longs for things higher, warmer and purer than those offered by today’s mass living habits, introduced by the revolting invasion of publicity, by TV stupor and by intolerable music.
The resentment which greeted this caustic analysis of capitalist materialism and Enlightenment thinking may explain why Solzhenitsyn’s reputation declined quickly thereafter. His later novels, part of a gigantic historical cycle about the Russian Revolution, were largely ignored. Perhaps his powers were declining and perhaps his focus on Russia’s destiny was puzzling for Western readers. But ultimately Solzhenitsyn was sidelined because his unwavering belief that life was a battle between good and evil, between transcendent spirituality and degrading materialism, was regarded as too simplistic, even too threatening, in a society which spurned firm convictions.
MercatorNet - Solzhenitsyn Russia Gulag Communism Harvard.
Technorati Tags: Aleksander+Solzhenitshyn, Communism, Russia, Stalin, The+Gulag+Archipelago, West, Western+countries
Evaluating Al-Qaida’s Nuclear Strategy
August 12, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Islamism, politics, terrorism.
Tags: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, nuclear terrorism, Pakistan, terrorism, USA 1 comment so far
Of all the terrorist threats facing the United States, one stands in a category by itself. If al-Qaida set off a nuclear bomb in a U.S. city, there would be hundreds of thousands of casualties and a landscape uninhabitable for years to come.
A nuclear bomb is the one true weapon of mass destruction.
The likelihood of al-Qaida carrying out a nuclear attack involves two questions: First, does the group have the technical capability? And second, would it really want to use it?
As the top intelligence official at the Department of Energy, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen is the man in the U.S. government whose job it is to worry about nuclear terrorism.
He does not think al-Qaida has a nuclear bomb in its arsenal yet. Acquiring one would be a challenge.
As for the group’s thinking, Mowatt-Larssen imagines Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders sitting around a campfire somewhere in the mountains of Pakistan or Afghanistan, debating whether a nuclear attack on the United States would be a good idea.
“I could hear a pro and a con emerging from that discussion,” Mowatt-Larssen says, with “some arguing that it would enhance, exalt the group’s standing historically, others arguing that it would be a disaster.”
Al-Qaida is sometimes portrayed as a terrorist group with an apocalyptic vision, intent mainly on destroying its enemies, without a focus on long-term goals of its own. But Mowatt-Larssen and other terrorism experts argue that it should be seen instead as acting strategically — at least from its own perspective.
Evaluating Al-Qaida’s Nuclear Strategy : NPR.
Listen Now [5 min 18 sec] add to playlist
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Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Pakistan, USA, terrorism, nuclear+terrorism,
Italy: Five North African arrested on terrorism charges
August 11, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Islamism, terrorism.
Tags: Italy, Roberto Marino, terrorism, Vincenzo Carambino add a comment
Italian police have arrested four Tunisians and a Moroccan on suspicion of recruiting Islamic fighters for Iraq and Afghanistan and are looking for a sixth man, also from Tunisia, they said on Saturday.
They made the arrests in dawn raids in the Bologna, Ravenna and Como areas, said police in the university town of Bologna.
All six “are accused of criminal association with the aim of international terrorism, and two of them also of serious fraud to fund terrorism”, Vincenzo Ciarambino of the Bologna crime squad told Reuters.
Interior Minister Roberto Marino said in a statement that the arrests “confirm that Islamic terrorism is deeply rooted in our territory and that we must keep our guard up against it”.
Police said the leader of the group was a veteran of the independence struggle in Bosnia, where many Africans fought alongside Bosnian Muslims.
News | Africa - Reuters.com.
Related: Italy: Appeal Court annuls the sentence against the Imam of Gallarate.
Technorati Tags: Italy, Roberto+Marino, terrorism, Vincenzo+Carambino
Four Moroccan minors arrested accused of sexual aggression of a minor and beating several others
August 11, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Islamism, society.
Tags: gang rapes, Morocco, Spain add a comment
Córdoba’s National Police Agents have detained 4 minors on sexual aggression charges against a girl and three charges of agressions against several teenagers.
According to the National Police in an official notification, everything happened on July 25th, at 11:00pm in the Arenal zone, in Córdoba (Spain) when a couple of youths were having a walk and were insulted by four minors who lately began touching the girl, after attacking and beating the boy who tried to protect her.
Several other youngsters who were walking nearby tried to help the couple and were also attacked and beaten by the minors. But when a police car entered the scene, the four minors fled from the scene.
As a result of the facts, and after the beatings, even using some bottles, and the kickings, three people were hurt. After several investigations, the police identified the authors and arrested them. They are all minors (one is an 16-years-old and the three others, 17-years-old) and Moroccan nationals.
Córdoba.- Sucesos.- Detienen a cuatro menores por agresión sexual a una chica y lesiones a varios jóvenes. europapress.es.
Technorati Tags: gang+rapes, Morocco, Spain
Ex.speedskater’s visa for Olympics, revoked
August 11, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Uncategorized.
Tags: Abuses of Human Rights, Cheek, China, Darfur, Human Rights, Human Rights abuses, Joey Cheek, Olympic Games, Speedskating, Sudan add a comment
The Chinese government revoked the visa of former Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek. Cheek is the co-founder of Team Darfur, a Washington D.C.-based group of athletes hoping to raise awareness about the crisis in the war-ravaged Darfur section of Sudan.
Cheek has been outspoken about his concern that China might squelch political protest surrounding the games. But he was surprised by the rescinding of his visa.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Cheek told the Associated Press. “I figured once they gave me a visa, I wouldn’t imagine they wouldn’t allow me to come in later. That was a big shock. I wasn’t expecting to get a call the evening before I was leaving for Beijing.”
Cheek: Darfur Work May Have Led To Revoked Visa : NPR.
Photo: BBC.
Technorati Tags: Abuses+of+Human+Rights, Cheek, China, Darfur, Human+Rights, Human+Rights+Abuses, Joey+Cheek, Olympic+Games, Speedskating, Sudan
Iranian feminism
August 10, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Freedom, Islamism, society.
Tags: Ayatollah Seyed Ahmad Alam Alhoda, feminism, Iran 1 comment so far
This was against the Islamic values as well as those of the establishment and the revolution and what the government claims to be accomplishing”, Ayatollah Seyed Ahmad Alam Alhoda stated. He added, “Putting a woman on the front is telling the world that we are not for the promotion of the Islamic values”. “As I have also mentioned before, the attendance of the Iranian women in the international events and exhibiting them outside Iran is against Islamic values. However, not only we are sending them to the events, they are put on the front as well”, he was reported saying [Persian].
Kamangir (Archer) » Features Human Rights Iran Islamic Republic Lead Story » “I regret the fact that a woman led Iran’s Team in the Olympics Opening”.
Technorati Tags: Ayatollah+Seyed+Ahmad+Alam+Alhoda, feminism, Iran
Omar Khadr: a “child soldier” or a “child terrorist”?
August 10, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Islamism, terrorism.
Tags: Afghanistan, Bin Laden, Canada, Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr, Pakistan, Peshawar, terrorism add a comment
He was just 15 years old when arrested after a fire fight with US forces in Afghanistan; Omar Khadr has spent the last six years locked up in the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay without a trial. A friend of mine mentioned the other day that spending this long in prison without trial is a form of torture. Supporters of Khadr say he is simply a child soldier and should not be facing charges in an American military tribunal. Others say that since Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen, he should be brought home to Canada to face charges, rather than remain the last Western citizen locked up at the makeshift prison dubbed “Gitmo”.
If any of this is true, why is Canada, Boy Scout to the World, the country that pioneered “soft power” throughout the 1990s and spearheaded the international treaty on landmines, letting one of its citizens rot on his own without help? The answer is, things aren’t always what they seem with the Khadr family. History, post-9/11 politics and the legal systems of two countries all contribute to this tale that has been generating international headlines.
Truth be told, Omar Khadr is a Canadian of convenience. Although born in Toronto in 1986, Omar’s parents, both immigrants to Canada, had decided to raise their family elsewhere to escape a culture they viewed as having a corrupting influence on their young and growing family. The family was living overseas in locales such as Bahrain and Pakistan, returning for brief spells in 1985 and 1986 only for Omar and his older brother Ibrahim to be born or receive medical care from Canada’s state medical system. Omar left Canada for Pakistan’s Peshawar district when he was only months old, spending the rest of his life going between Pakistan, Afghanistan and when the family needed medical treatment, Canada.
(…) To Khadr supporters who view him as a child soldier and a victim, his immediate release into Canadian society could hardly be viewed as a victory. Rehabilitation of a child soldier would normally include an attempt to reintegrate the boy into society in a normal way and to reunite him with his family. If Omar Khadr is a victim, taught to hate and take up arms against his will or better judgement, then the people who did this to him are his mother and father. His father is now dead, but his mother is back in Canada, having moved back in 2003 to obtain medical care for one of her other children. She and her daughters have spoken openly of their support for Al Qaida and their disdain for western society. One of Omar’s brothers is fighting extradition to the United States, where he faces charges of being an arms supplier to jihadists. This is hardly the environment you would want to rehabilitate a victim in, yet without charges to hold him on, or a conviction to jail him with, the Canadian government would have no choice but to release Omar Khadr into the loving arms of his mother. How would it help a supposed child soldier to send him back to a woman with a deep seated hatred for the society she lives in, a woman who has already proven that she and her loved ones will act on that hatred?
MercatorNet - Guantanamo Bay suspected terrorist Omar Khadr deserves justice — but based on the facts..
Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Bin+Laden, Canada, Guantanamo+Bay, Omar+Khadr, Pakistan, Peshawar, terrorism
Norway: Islamic Council and homosexuality
August 10, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Freedom, Islamism.
Tags: Anniken Huitfeldt, Children and Equality Minister, homosexuality, Islamic Council of Norway, Norway 1 comment so far
“It’s of course completely unacceptable not to reject the death sentence for homosexuals. To take up this debate now is important, not least of consideration to young homosexual Muslim who struggle with their own identity,” says the Children and Equality minister Anniken Huitfeldt to Dagsavisen.
The minister is sending a strong signal to the heads of the Islamic Council of Norway that they must distance themselves from the death sentence for homosexuals.
Huitfeldt’s party colleague, parliament member Thomas Breen of the justice committee, demands to stop all state financial support to the Islamic council.
“There have been enough opportunities for the Islamic Council to enter the homosexuality debate. Now it’s time that the state stand up for some values and remove all financial support from the organization till they distance themselves,” says Breen.
The Islamic Council of Norway says they’re waiting for the European Fatwa Council to rule on the question. The council, which met three weeks ago in Paris, didn’t deal with the issue.
Islam in Europe: Norway: Islamic Council facing loss of funds over homosexuality question.
Technorati Tags: Anniken+Huitfeldt, Children+and+Equality+Minister, homosexuality, Islamic+Council+of+Norway, Norway
Mullah Krekar goes to European Human Rights Court
August 8, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Freedom, Islamism, foreign policy.
Tags: Ansar al-Islam, European Human Rights Court, Human Rights Court, Mullah Krekar, Norway 1 comment so far
Mullah Krekkar, founder of radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, has filed charges with Europe’s human rights court against Norway, where he lives, for “inhuman treatment,” his lawyer said Tuesday.
“For nearly six years, my client has not been able to work, travel, or even pick up a package at the post office or open a bank account since he lacks any form of identification papers,” said Meling”
Is that it!, he can’t pick up a paper, thats cruelty? - inhuman treatment?, the crazy thing about this is that the stupid Human rights court will agree to hear such a ridiculous case.
via UP Pompeii.
Well, the “infidels” killed by islamic terrorists considering the islamist terrorist ideas, cannot do anything of that, because they are killed…
Technorati Tags: Mullah+Krekar, Human+Rights+Court, European+Human+Rights+Court, Ansar+al-Islam, Norway
Once again there is an “escalation” of violence in Gaza
August 8, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Islamism, politics, society, terrorism.
Tags: Abuses of Human Rights, Fatah, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Hizbullah, Human Rights abuses, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority add a comment
And Israelis are not the culprits:
The escalation proves once again that the word “fracture” is not strong enough to describe the Palestinian political situation. In a dual-world Palestine divided between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, there are different problems, different priorities, different governments and a deep divergence on the latest crisis.
Despite Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority efforts to keep business as usual, officials and observers fear the Gaza clashes could quickly spread to the West Bank and expose the ruling party’s internal divisions.
In Gaza, however, some analysts believe the Hamas military operation is being inflated by the foreign media and the instability is not as bad as it seems.
It was bad enough for more than 180 Palestinians — presumably Fatah members — who escaped the Strip and fled to Israel, following a special request from Fatah president Mahmoud Abbas to allow them to enter Israeli territory.
They had good reason to want to flee. Anyone taken prisoner by Hamas can expect harsh hospitality and a severe violation of human rights — and it’s not much better in the West Bank for Hamas activists. Last week, two human rights groups found that both groups have tortured prisoners, and that three prisoners have died in detention in Gaza and one in the West Bank.
Pajamas Media » Gaza’s Bloody Weekend.
But nothing of this makes the headlines….
Technorati Tags: Abuses+of+Human+Rights, Fatah, Gaza+Strip, Hamas, Hizbullah, Human+Rights+Abuses, israel, Mahmoud+Abbas, Palestinian+Authority
Pakistan strikes back and accuses US of cooperating with terrorism
August 8, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Islamism, foreign policy, terrorism.
Tags: Afghanistan, Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan, terrorism, US military, USA 1 comment so far
“For reasons best known to Langley, the CIA headquarters, as well as the Pentagon, Pakistani officials say the Americans were not interested in disrupting the Kabul-based fountainhead of terrorism in Balochistan nor do they want to allocate the marvellous Predator (unmanned armed aerial combat vehicle) resource to neutralise the kingpin of suicide bombings against the Pakistani military establishment now hiding near the Pakistan-Afghan border,” The News said.
During the meetings, the US officials were also asked why the CIA-run Predators and the US military did not swing into action when they were provided the exact location of tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud, “Pakistan’s enemy number one and the mastermind of almost every suicide operation against the Pakistan Army and the ISI since June 2006″, the newspaper added.
One such precise piece of information was made available to the CIA May 24 when Mehsud drove to a remote South Waziristan mountain post in his Toyota Land Cruiser to address the media and returned to his safe abode.
“The United States military has the capacity to direct a missile to a precise location at very short notice as it has done close to 20 times in the last few years to hit Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan,” The News noted.
US accused of backing terrorism in Pakistan- Hindustan Times.
There are several questions which arise from this: were civilians around Baitullah Mehsud? Was really US military allowed to enter Pakistan? Because one of the “interesting” conditions imposed by Pakistan is that US military cannot enter its territory or it would be a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.
Anyway, I would like also to know what is the opinion of US about this.
Related:
india accuses Pakistani intelligence of terrorist attack.
Afghanistan accuses Pakistani intelligence of the terrorist attack against the Indian embassy.
Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Baitullah+Mehsud, Pakistan, terrorism, US+military, USA
Israel Rocket Attacks To Be Legalised
August 7, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Islamism, foreign policy, terrorism.
Tags: Islamism, terrorism, Israel, Lebanon, Hizbullah 1 comment so far
Paramilitary group Hizbollah is about to receive approval from the Lebanese Government which will enshrine in law the firing of rockets into Israel.
If, as expected, a draft law is passed, then the Israelis might blame any future attacks on the Lebanese Government and not just Hizbollah.
Since the 2006 Hizbollah/Israel war ended, it is thought Hizbollah has been re-armed by Syria and Iran and now has up to 30,000, rockets some of which may be able to reach as far as Tel Aviv.
Under UN Resolution 1701, which ended the conflict, Hizbollah was supposed to disarm.
It never happened, and after a recent violent crisis in Lebanon Hizbollah now holds 11 of the 30 Cabinet positions.
It is using this position of strength to push a law through parliament legitimising its right to bear arms.
A draft of the law supports the “right of Lebanon’s people, the Army and the Resistance to liberate all its territories”.
Israel Rocket Attacks To Be Legalised - Yahoo! News UK.
If this happens, Lebanob will be a real terrorist state.
Related:
Hezbullah accuses Israel over airspace violations.
Iranian leader Ali Khamenei: Hizbullah will not be disarmed.
An Iranian shipment for Hizbullah explodes.
Breeding Evil: Hizbullah children.
UN soldiers salute Hizbullah terrorists.
Kantar in Lebanon.
Israel-Hizbullah: the foolish swap.
Technorati Tags: Hizbullah, Islamism, Israel, Lebanon, terrorism
Saudi Arabia: another child marriage
August 7, 2008
Posted by blogfreeworld in Islamism, Religion, society.
Tags: Al-Harithi, arranged marriages, child marriage, Hail, Islamic arranged marriages, minors, Muhammad al-Rashidi, Saudi Arabia add a comment
An 11-year-old boy gave out invitations to his classmates for a big event his family was planning this summer — and it wasn’t his birthday party.
It was his wedding to a 10-year-old cousin.
Muhammad al-Rashidi’s marriage was eventually put on hold, his father said, after pressure from the governor of the northern province of Hail, who considered the elementary school student too young to marry.
The case is among a recent spate of marriages involving the very young reported in the media and by Saudi human rights groups. They have been widely denounced by activists, clerics and others who say such unions are harmful to the children and trivialize the institution of marriage
“These marriages violate international agreements the kingdom has signed.”
Al-Harithi’s group recently succeeded in delaying the consummation of the marriage of a 10-year-old girl after getting reports from medical centers in Hail that she and a man in his 60s had showed up for the mandatory prenuptial medical tests.
(…) And from the blog,… (continue reading at Monkey in the Middle or Dry Bones)
Right Truth: Child marriages.
Related:
Pakistan: kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married.
Yemen: divorced 10-year-old speaks openly about her marriage.
Children’s marriage in Islam: some comments.
Social movement against child brides in Yemen.
India: the “Dissapearing Daughters” report (II).
Technorati Tags: Al-Harithi, arranged+marriages, child+marriage, Hail, Islamic+arranged+marriages, minors, Muhammad+al-Rashidi, Saudi+Arabia
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God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Amazingly funny
I just read a post on Astroengine about a recent development concerning LHC. I rare write about post written on other blogs, but this time I felt is was just unfair not to share this. The main idea is that some person named Tia Aumiller decieded to open a group called: "People for the Ethical Treatment of Hadrons" (PETH). It is not 1 July today, but I really hope that this is not a prank... Anyway, this organization has already protested in front of CERN. Their claims are: “You’ve got these subatomic particles accelerated at great speeds for the sole purpose of being destroyed. No one thinks of the ethical implications of this. There’s a limited supply of hadrons in the universe. Do we just want to go around destroying them? What if we run out? What if the hadrons can feel pain? Will we look back at this hundreds of years from now and regret it? Kinda like we do with the killing of bacteria with antibiotics now.” It is just unbelievable and extremely hilarious. I really have no idea how crazy somebody has to be to really believe in this. Update: After checking this a bit, this story turned out to be fake. However it is still very funny so I am not removing this post from my blog. I guess I should learn a lesson from this - no posting of things that look fake, even if they are funny...
Friday, August 8, 2008
Why you shouldn't blog
I have been blogging on Math pages for almost a year now, and I also have a blog on StumbleUpon which is older, larger and has more subscribes. While I don't claim to be expert blogger, for this visit problogger, I do have some experience I think might be useful to those who are thinking about starting there own blog. Some of the points in this post are specifically for math blogs, but most of them are true for any blog. Time: It doesn't matter how many post you write per month and how long are they, it still takes time to blog. Do you really have this time? Also, the more popular your blog becomes the more comments and emails you will get. Do you have time for answering? Goal: The first thing to think about before opening a blog is what are your goals. A lot of blogs ate opened with dollar signs in the eyes. People know that it is possible to get an income blogging and they try to become professional bloggers. Such blogs usually close after three months. The reasons for this are different, but for a math blog to be closed in such a way there is only one reason - there is no way enough people will visit it to make it profitable. Math is just not poplar enough. For me the blog is a way to relax a bit and it also helps me to organize my thoughts. I wouldn't mind to earn something from it, but I don't believe that it will happen. Content: Every blog should have a topic. The topic doesn't have to be very specific, but it must be there. your readers must know what kind of content you usually post. For a math blog there are seem to be three options: 1. Math - you are writing posts about mathematics, you proof theorems, explain formulas etc. Such posts are full of math and a very hard to write, because there is no easy way to write math formulas in posts. Also, only someone who studies math will read such a blog. 2. Ideas - instead of writing formulas you can write explanation of different mathematical ideas, or write posts about math history. Such posts require very little math and a written to be readable by someone who doesn't know much about math. Depending on how good you write, you can get a lot of readers. The problem of this approach is that if will likely end with you answering endless email and comments from people who don't know much about the subject but are eager to contribute some "groundbreaking" thoughts. 3. Personal - Instead of writing about topics you like, you can use your blog as a diary. This is a very popular way to blog, but it requires the ability to write interestingly. Be warned however that this will also put your life before other people and make it possible to gather a lot of information about you. People you rather not meet: This sounds not very nice, but unfortunately this is how things work on the net. From time to time you will meet someone whom you really would prefer not to meet. It seems to me that such people are only around one percent of all the people I know online, but it happens. Such people usually fall two categories: 1. Spammers/SEO - a lot of people try to make money online, but some of them choose ways which the rest of us don't like. I am contacted from time to time by people who ask me to review/link there site/blog, and I am getting spam comments ocasionally. The spam is easy to deal with, and for the reveiws Ia hve a simple policy - if I like the site/blog I am asked to review/link I write a short post about this. Otherwise, I don't do anything. 2. Over productive people - some people have too much free time and think that so do you. So they will send you so much emails/comments than you will feel buried by it. This is rare but happens. I am not speaking about those who email you daily - I am speaking about those who see nothing wrong in 10+ email each day. 3. You offline friends and other people you know offline - I am not saying that you don't want to meet them, but depending on the theme of your blog and your personal charasteristics you might prefer nobody you know in your offline life to know that you have a blog. Especially if your blog is a personal one. I am sure that you don't want your boss to read your personal blog.... Lack of feedback: This one probably sounds strange, but unless you have a lot of visitors nobody will comment on what your write. If this continues for long enough you will start thinking that blogging is meaningless and purposeless, because you will see no result of your work. While I cannot say that this is a serious emotional challenge, it certainly exists. It can be felt especially well when you get an email or a comment thanking you for a post you wrote, you discover that something was missing. For me, the most annoying aspect of this is that my posts about Linux get more comments and page views than any of my math posts. The bottom line: Despite writing a post of why you shouldn't blog, I must admit that I enjoy blogging a lot. It is fun, and it allows me to meet new interesting people. I am sure that the more time I will continue blogging the more new people I will meet. Also, I know that some of my posts were helpful for others. So if you are thinking about starting your blog, consider the points above and give it a try. It also might be a good idea to blog on a private blog for a month or two in the beginning to get some practice, but this is your choice.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Riemann condition
Continuing a topic I started a few posts ago, Definite Integrals, I want to discuss some properties of the definition of the integral according to Darbo, and to prove a theorem called Riemann condition. This post builds heavily on the previous post on this subject, so it will be a good idea to read it before starting to read this post. In this post f(x) is a bounded function on the interval [a,b] to the real numbers, and P is a division of the interval [a,b]. Firstly, lets show that the infimum of the Upper Darbo Sums (U(P,f)) is alway large or equal to the supremum of the Lower Darbo Sums (L(P,f)). To proof this it is enough to show that for any two divisions P1 and P2 the upper sum according to P2 is greater or equal to the lower sum according to P1. To do this we will need a simple lemma: "If all the points in P are also in P' than " The inequalities are all weak. I will proof one of them and the second one can be proofed exactly the same. Lets suppose that there is only one extra point in P'. We can suppose that this new point is between the first two points in P. Than: = Now, since m is the infimum of f on the segment x(i)-x(i-1) we get immediately that the result is greater than zero (or equal), as needed. Now by induction we can show that this is true for any number of extra points in P'. And with this the lemma is proven. Now we can use this lemma. Lets look on P3 - the union of P1 and P2. According to the lemma: And this is exactly what I wanted to show. Riemann condition The next step is to prove the Riemann condition theorem. This theorem says that: "The function f(x) has an integral only and only if: In the first direction, because of the theorem I proofed above we get immediately that if the above condition is true than: And since it is true for any epsilon, they must be equal. But if they are equal we get that f has an integral according to the definition. In the second direction, if we will suppose that the function has an integral than we will get that according tot he definition of infimum and supremum, for any epsilon large than zero, there is a P1 and P2 such that: Now all we need to do is to look on P3 - the union of P1 and P2. Than according to the theorem I proofed in the beginning of this post: Since the integral exists we can write than that: And we are done prooving the Riemann condition. In the next post on this subject I will show (and proof) another condition, which is very similar to Riemann condition but is more easy to work with.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Lets do math!
I just found the best cat photo for a long time: Original unknown You are not going to say no to him, right? Unfortunately, this is not a question that is likely to be solved soon. It already stood for a long time, and only a few weeks ago there was another unsuccessful attempt to prove it. Well, to be precise there are such "attempt" every week, but most of them are just attempt to get attention (and to win the one million dollar prize) by people who simply don't know math well enough to prove this theorem. The attempt I mentioned was a paper submitted by a professor who already had some previous work done about the RH. While this proof was met without much optimism, it looked serious. But even in his paper an error was found in 24 hours. By the way, while there is a prize for proving RH, there is no prize for showing that it is wrong. In my opinion the reason for this is that showing it wrong doesn't necessary require mathematical advance. All you need to show that it is wrong is to find a zero of the Riemann zeta function which is not on the critical line. This can be done using a computer, without bringing any new ideas to math.
Online symbolic calculator
I was told about an interesting website today, and decided to share it with you. The website in question is an online symbolic calculator. While it cannot replace a program like Mathematica or Matlab, it is free and has a nice set of features: This free online symbolic calculator enables you to define variables and functions as well as to evaluate expressions containing numbers in any number system from 2 (binary) over 8 (octal), 10 (decimal) and 16 (hexadecimal) to 36, roman numerals, complex numbers, intervals, variables, matrices, function calls, Boolean values (true and false) and operators (and, or, not ...), relations (e.g. greater than) and the if-then-else control structure. Comments are C-style /* */ or //. It also looks like it is being well maintained by its creator, so it is possible that new features will be added in the future.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Nonconstructive proofs
What is the simplest method to prove a statement? Well, this depends on the statement you want to proof. If, for example the statement you want to prove is: "There exists a positive number large than 2 on the real line", you can just choose a number, for example 3, and show that according to the order axioms it is large than 2. Thus, you will have an example that you constructed. However, it is not that always that simple. Even when you are asked to show that something exists, sometimes it turns out that to proof this existence you will not need to actually construct anything. An example of this is the theorem: "Not all numbers real numbers are rational". While it is possible to proof this by simple construction, there is another way to show this which doesn't require any construction, but only three theorems from Set Theory: 1. R is uncountable 2. Q is countable 3. For any two sets A-countable, B-uncountable, B\A- is uncountable. The statement than follows immediately, and even in a stronger version - instead of showing that there are irrational numbers we showed that "most" of the real numbers are irrational. However, we don't get a concrete number from this proof. The fact that such proves are possible was a cause to a rather major disagreement between mathematicians in the past. Now it is a well excepted. In the example above, I showed a statement which can be proved by construction and without construction. But are there statements that cannot be proved by construction, but can be proved without construction? It turns out that there are such statements. Lets prove that: "There exists an irrational number which when raised to an irrational power will be rational". It sound hard, but it is surprisingly easy. Lets look on the number: If the number is rational, the statement is proven, because the square root of two is irrational. If it is not rational, lets look on: ===2 Since 2 is rational, we are done. The problem is that we have don't know if is rational or not, and therefore we don't have a construction. But we know for sure that the statement is true.
Monday, August 4, 2008
The semester has finally ended
It was a long year... While officially there were only two semesters, we actually did three because the professors where on strike during the first one. I still have exams to do, but the last lecture was today. Well, it was a fun year. I hope the next one will be even better. I am sorry for not posting for a few days, I was extremely tired and busy. Hopefully I will be able to continue posting as usual during the exam season. I am sure that while I would be revising I would get a lot of ideas for things to write about on Math pages. Also, it is a sad day to the math blogger community today. Craig Laughton, the author of Gooseania, wrote his last post today. He finished his math Phd, but decieded that he doesn't want to be a mathematician. His blog was created to document the process of doing a Phd, and it contains a lot of information. It is clearly visible how his enthusiasm for math slowly gets way to depression. He decided not to continue posting on the blog in the future. Hope he will find his place in this world....
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Anatoly
I am a student at the Hebrew University Jerusalem. Currently I study mathematics.
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Arabs praise Israel’s Democracy
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Published May 30th, 2008 in Israel, Politics, Islam, Muslims
For all their talk about hatred toward’s Israel, those quoted in the below story from across the Arab world have the following words of praise for the state of Israel and their handling of corruption charges by their head of state.
I’ve included the entire story as it seems to demonstrate that not everyone in the Arab world embraces a Theocratic or Totalitarian state as some yearn for Democracy and the oversight that comes with it.
From the Jerusalem Post:
“The corruption case against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has earned Israel tremendous respect throughout the Arab world, where many have called on their leaders to benefit from Israel’s democratic system and independent judicial system.
Words of praise for Israel are a rare phenomenon in the Arab media. But judging from the reactions of many Arabs to the corruption case in the past week, the trend appears to have changed.
Even some Arabs who describe themselves as “sworn enemies of the Zionist entity” have begun singing praise for Israel.
Over the past week, the corruption case against Olmert received wide coverage in the mainstream Arab media, prompting an outcry about the need for transparency and accountability in the Arab world.
“Show me one Arab or Islamic country where a prime minister or a senior government official was ever questioned for financial corruption or bribery,” said a reader who identified himself only as Majed.
Majed, like many others, was responding to a news story on an Arab Web site about the testimony in court of American philanthropist Morris Talansky, who told police he had given Olmert more than $150,000 in cash over the course of some 14 years.
Another reader, Sami, commented: “The Israeli regime with all its defects is better than all the Arab ‘democracies’ and still changes ministers and governments every few years.”
A Saudi national named Abdel Karim urged his Arab brethren to stop criticizing Israel and learn something about its democracy. “Before we curse Israel, we must learn from the democratic and judicial system in Israel, where no one is above the law,” he wrote.
Khaled, another Saudi national, chimed in: “Although we are talking about Israel, which I have always hated very much, there is still no one above the law there.”
Mahmoud al-Bakili of Yemen posted the following response on one of the Web sites: “We want this kind of accountability and transparency in the Arab and Islamic world.”
And there was this comment from an Arab who described himself as a Syrian Voice: “Despite my strong hatred for the Zionist regime, I have a lot of admiration and respect for this entity because there is no one above the law. In the Arab world, laws are broken every day and no one seems to care.”
Egyptian writer Abdel Aziz Mahmoud said he doesn’t believe the day will ever come when an Arab leader will be put on trial for sexual harassment or financial corruption.
“I don’t think we will live to see the day when the police interrogate an Arab leader for sexually harassing his secretary or receiving bribes,” he wrote. “Nor will our children and grandchildren live to see that day. What happened in Israel can never happen in any Arab country.”
Some Arabs went as far as condemning the Arab people for failing to rise against their corrupt dictators.
“There is corruption in Israel and the Arab world,” wrote Abu Hadi from Iraq. “But the difference is that the Israelis hold their leaders accountable, while we the Arabs remain silent about corruption.”
Jamal, who described himself as the Madman, wrote that “the reason why Israel has lasted for so long is because of its independent and fair judicial system. I challenge the Arabs to have such an independent judicial system.”
Many of the readers found it quite ironic that Olmert was being questioned because of “only” tens of thousands of dollars he allegedly received from Talansky.
“They say he received something like $3,000 a year,” said Abu Atab from Morocco inaccurately. “This shows that Olmert is a decent man. This is a small sum that any Arab government official would receive on a daily basis as a bribe. Our leaders steal millions of dollars and no one dares to hold them accountable.”
Touching on the same issue, a reader from Algeria posted this comment: “In the Arab world, our leaders don’t accept less than $1 million in bribes; the money must be deposited in secret bank accounts in Switzerland. Olmert is a fool if he took only a small sum.”
Another comment, this time from Ahmed in Jordan, also referred to the alleged amount: “Only a few thousand dollars? What a fool! This is what an Egyptian minister gets in a day or what a Saudi CEO gets in 45 minutes, or a Kuwaiti government official in five minutes. This is what the physician of the emir of Qatar gets every 30 seconds.”
One Arab commentator who identified himself as Jasser Abdel Hamid advised Olmert to seek citizenship of one of the Arab countries. “Why don’t you seek Arab citizenship?” he asked sarcastically. “There you can take as much money as you want. Even if they discover the theft, they will erect a statue for you in a public square.”
The following are more comments that appeared in recent days in the Arab media:
Mohammed in Lebanon: “Can you imagine if there was an investigation against an Arab or Muslim leader? Do you know how much money they would discover?”
Abu Yusef in Egypt: “Unfortunately, this is the real democracy. Our enemies are very good in practicing democracy. In the Arab world, our leaders steal everything and no one ever dares to ask a question.”
Rashid in Saudi Arabia: “Despite all our problems with the Jews, they are much better than us in fighting corruption and revealing the truth.”
Israel Lover in Saudi Arabia: “Israel is a state that deserves to exist. It deserves our profound respect. I wish I were a citizen of this state.”
Hani in Ramallah: “This is democracy at its best! Enough of dictatorship in the Arab world! Let’s learn from the Israeli example. Let’s benefit from Israel’s democracy.”
Rashid Bohairi in Kuwait: “I swear Israel is a state that will succeed. They are prosecuting their prime minister because of tens of thousands of dollars. What about the millions of dollars that Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority stole? How come the Palestinian people are still hungry?”"
Who’s Really More Dangerous?
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Published May 20th, 2008 in Political Islam, Muslims, Islamicist, Propaganda
In England, section five of the Public Order Act says you cannot have “representations or words which are threatening, abusive or insulting.”
Which is the justification London police is using to prosecute a 15 year old kid for peacefully demonstrating outside Scientology headquarters in London since he held a sign that referred to the cult of Scientology as a cult.
Okay, so if it’s not okay to accurately depict Scientology as a cult since it’s somehow “threatening, abusive or insulting,” then why is it okay for Muslims to hold signs in England saying anyone who disagrees with Islam should be beheaded? Have any of those “peaceful” protesters been arrested or charged?
Is England seriously prosecuting a kid for holding a sign that refers to a cult as a cult, but not prosecuting Muslims who held signs saying “death to those who insult Islam,” “slay those who insult Islam.”
After all, which is really more dangerous, a kid protesting a goofy belief system or Muslim fundamentalists saying all who “insult” Islam should be beheaded?
The real nakba
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Published May 19th, 2008 in Refugees, Israel, Palestinians, Politics, Arabs, peace, Propaganda
Palestinians use Israel’s independence as an opportunity to denounce Israel and the media complies in this false narrative making Israel out to be the bourgeois perpetrator of evil with the Palestinians as helpless victims who had everything taken from them.
The Palestinians have designated this day as “al nakba,” aka, the disaster, which they refer to as the creation of the state of Israel.
The real “nakba” occurred in 1947 when the Arabs refused to accept an internationally designated Jewish and Arab state living side by side one another.
The real “nakba” occurred in 1948 when five Arab states sought to destroy the infant state of Israel on her first day because they couldn’t stand the idea of a Jewish state in their midst.
The real “nakba” occurred in 2000 when the Palestinians turned down a peace deal package that included everything they claim they want now.
As Barry Rubin says
“The key point is that in rejecting partition, in demanding everything and starting a war it could not win, the Arab side ensured endless conflict, the Palestinian refugee issue, and no Palestine. It wasn’t murder - it was suicide.”
Israel is not the intransigent one.
The Palestinians always have been unwilling to make peace regardless of their leadership, and probably always will be given their past behavior.
After all, is there any legitimate reason why after sixty years, Palestinians to this day still live in refugee camps outside of Israel other than to blame Israel for it or their Arab “brethren” don’t want to make Palestinians better than second class citizens?
Clear thinking fanaticism
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Published April 24th, 2008 in Terrorism, Israel, Hamas, Palestinians, Jimmy Carter, Iran, Fatah, Borders, Final Status Negotiations, Gaza Strip, peace, Propaganda, Right of Return
Everyone’s witnessed the spectacle that goes by the name Jimmy Carter these past few weeks. Perhaps in an attempt to redeem his very public and very disastrous track record in the Middle East during his brief tenure in office, Carter has decided to meet with Hamas and Syria, much to the protest of the State Department, the Bush Administration and common sense.
I’m still waiting to read the headline in the next couple of weeks saying “Jimmy Carter meets with al Qaeda.”
If you’re going to meet with terrorists however, at least get the message right, which Carter can’t even do.
In direct contradiction to Carter’s assertion that Hamas would recognize the existence of Israel, Khaled Meshal said “Hamas accepts the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and with full and real sovereignty and full application of the right of the Palestinian refugees to return, but Hamas will not recognize the state of Israel.”
And all of this would have to be based upon three extremely unrealistic conditions - for ALL Palestinians to vote on this issue regardless of what part of the world they happen to be in and even more unrealistically, a return of 4+ million Palestinians into the sovereign state of Israel, and for Hamas and Fatah to play nice with each other.
The conditions of the first two are logistical nightmares.
For how does one get a ballot to every single Palestinian on the face of the planet and who counts and reports the ballots to ensure the integrity of the ballot measure? Of course all of this we would assume to be fair and accurate (provided Hamas ever had an intention to do so in the first place) from a “government” that cannot even govern the Gaza Strip? You’d have better luck with Pamela Anderson not remarrying or Britney not flipping out again.
And how can a “government” simply force a peace proposal on another sovereign nation by saying “you must accept four million of our people into your sovereign territory or else we won’t make peace with you?” Forget even the logistical nightmare of absorbing four million Palestinians into a country the size of New Jersey, how about the audacity to make a peace deal contingent upon such a move? What if Israel said they would only accept peace with the Palestinians unless they allowed four million Israelis to move into Palestinian territory when they already freak out about condominiums being built on alleged Palestinian land?
Can somebody please point out the hypocrisy involved in such a “proposal?”
And let’s not forget the other “proposal.” That Hamas cannot accept a “peace” deal with Israel until they’ve resolved their own infighting between Hamas and Fatah.
Hamas must maintain the appearance that they seek a peace proposal, yet given the audacity and the ridiculousness of their “proposals,” the only thing they’re interested in is more time with which to destroy Israel with.
And from the same article - “Mr. Carter said in the interview that he found the Hamas leadership, including Mr. Meshal, to be clear-thinking, educated people who gave no sign of fanaticism, although he did condemn in harsh terms their use of violence. During his meetings, he said, they did not break for prayer or talk of holy land or God. “It was secular talk,” he said.”
Well, since Hamas is clear thinking and educated with no signs of fanaticism, then perhaps we can overlook the continuous rocket assaults, the stockpilings of weaponry for all out war and the training from Iran for such an event.
If you’re going to become the new spokesperson for terrorists Mr. Carter, at least find out what your terrorist buddies will and won’t accept.
Victory in spite of stupidity
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Published March 20th, 2008 in Israel, Hamas, Media, jihad, Gaza Strip, Propaganda
The BBC has reported two members of Hamas’ military wing were killed at one of their training facilities in the Gaza Strip, and, true to script, Hamas has blamed Israel for their deaths.
Knowing Hamas, they probably died while trying to put together suicide bombs or some other form of explosive device when they met their end, and now, can go out as martyrs (even in their stupidity) because Hamas can still use this “fortuitous” event as another opportunity to castigate Israel.
It’s not like Hamas has ever staged anything for the media before… you know, like meeting during the day, closing the drapes and lighting candles to protest the power shortage in the Gaza. To which even Palestinian journalists were suprised given that the sun was shining and they didn’t need the candles!
Ironically, Israel’s power plant in Ashkelon which is located 10 miles north of the Gaza provides power to Gaza, to which Hamas and the other jihadists have utilized to construct Qassam rockets to launch into Ashkelon and other Israeli cities.
In other words, Israel is providing Palestinians the power they need to construct rockets to launch into Israel.
However, if Israel doesn’t provide power to the Palestinians in the Gaza they get attacked in the media for it.
Either way, Hamas wins a battle.
Why the Annapolis summit now?
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Published November 29th, 2007 in Israel, Hamas, United States, Palestinians, Politics, Mahmoud Abbas, peace
The NY Time argues the Bush Administration has had a huge policy shift in the Middle East, seeking to facilitate peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, whereas previously the Administration has had a very hands off approach.
The story says,
At President Bush’s first National Security Council meeting in January 2001, he announced that he did not want to be drawn into the shattered Middle East peace process, people at the meeting recalled, because he believed that former President Bill Clinton had pushed so hard for an Israeli-Palestinian accord that he made the situation worse.
This may have been one reason why the Bush Administration never pushed for peace until recently, however, more accurately, the Bush Administration never pushed for peace because the Administration felt that Israel did not have a legitimate peace partner to work with in Yasir Arafat.
Since then, much has happened…
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip to which Hamas claimed credit and overwhelmingly won legislative elections.
Israel also had to fight a war with Hezbollah in the Summer of 06 due to continuous pressure from Hezbollah.
Many American policymakers and journalists believe Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah party has the willingness and perhaps even the ability to make peace with the Israelis, which is what the Annapolis summit is all about.
I’m quite sure there are other factors involved in the Bush Administration’s seeming lack of interest in the Israeli/Palestinian peace process, however, one has to take into consideration a lack of willingness on the part of one side to make peace for one cannot impose peace on someone regardless of how hard one tries.
The NY Times hints at this idea as follows…
Mr. Bush and Ms. Rice began to engage in a major rethinking. The result was a speech, a major departure in American policy, that called for Palestinian elections and demanded the ouster of Mr. Arafat before the United States would support a Palestinian state.
Of course, Arafat was the main obstacle to peace then, whereas Hamas is the main obstacle to peace now.
To demand Israel make peace with an unwilling other party who controls the situation is unreasonable.
So what’s Rice doing now? As Dennis Ross has pointed out,
The secretary believes such a “political horizon” will benefit President Mahmoud Abbas in his competition with Hamas. Hamas may control Gaza today, but Rice is betting that if Abbas can show that he offers a pathway to achieving Palestinian national aspirations and Hamas offers only failure, Palestinians will eventually reject Hamas.
Given all of this, it makes more sense due to the facts on the ground, that the Bush Administration has held off for these reasons, but is giving it another chance in the hopes that Abbas can marginalize Hamas and actually have someone (however imperfect they may be) to work with in the future.
The Annapolis summit and Israel’s existence
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Published November 27th, 2007 in Israel, Hamas, United States, Politics, Borders, Syria
Bernard Lewis highlights two very different set of issues for today’s Annapolis summit regarding what he terms “The Jewish Question.”
The first issue involves Israel and physical border disputes with her neighbors - something which can and should be worked on.
However, if the discussion consists of the existence of the state of Israel, then any negotiation is doomed from the start.
Lewis says,
If, on the other hand, the issue is the existence of Israel, then clearly it is insoluble by negotiation. There is no compromise position between existing and not existing, and no conceivable government of Israel is going to negotiate on whether that country should or should not exist.
Hamas’ version of Palestinian “rights” is at the expense of the state of Israel. For if Hamas got what they wanted, the Jews (and the Arabs that don’t follow their version of Islam) that live in Israel would all either be killed or shipped to New York City.
Hamas claims to have offered continuous truces to Israel saying Israel has refused them all, making it seem as if Israel is the intransigent one.
In exchange for offering up a substantial portion of the land Israel acquired through self-defence, Hamas offers a temporary cessation of fighting (truce or hudna), giving Hamas time to regroup and rearm. This is exactly what Hamas means by a truce as they have unequivocally written off peace with Israel.
And so Hamas has sought to discredit the Anapolis summit, for a peace settlement between the Palesitnians and the Israelis would mean the end of their little experiment - radical Islamism mixed with politics.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with a two percent approval rating, does not want to go down in such defeat and wants to do something, even if that something has no possible chance on the ground of succeeding.
The Bush Administration initially sought to have participants endorse a joint statement on the core priniciples for resolving the conflict, according to Dennis Ross, which would show the Palestinians that Mahmoud Abbas can offer something tangible to the Palestinians, hence would take away power from Hamas.
However, the Bush Administration has scaled back and instead seeks to facilitate negotiations on the permanent status issues including settlements, Jerusalem, security and the right of return.
Syria of course, would like to acquire the coveted Golan Heights so they’re participating.
Perhaps all parties can enter negotiations on the core priniciples for resolving the conflict, however, the parties will have to let go of their own viscerally held beliefs.
Israel must let go of keeping ALL of Jerusalem, and the Palestinians must let go of the “Right of Return” as no Israeli Prime Minister and Israeli public would ever allow it to happen as it would end the state of Israel.
Calling out the deluded
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Published November 24th, 2007 in Iraq, Politics
Democrats are in such a conundrum…
Do they admit the surge has worked and for now has created a stable security environment in Iraq which reflects the reality on the ground, or continue to focus on everything but this well documented reality?
Unfortunately, instead of doing what’s best for America (both Democrats and Republicans), the Democratic presidential candidates have instead focused on anything they can find negative about Iraq, and any other issue that distracts them from acknowledging the success of the surge.
Patrick Healy of the NY Times says
“This is a delicate matter. By saying the effects of the troop escalation have not led to a healthier political environment, the candidates are tacitly acknowledging that the additional troops have, in fact, made a difference on the ground — a viewpoint many Democratic voters might not embrace.
So Democratic voters will not embrace the reality that the surge has made a difference in Iraq’s security…so what?
As Commander in Chief, one has to make decisions that are not always popular with voters if it’s in the best interest of the security of the United States. Anyone who pretends otherwise, is not fit to hold this office.
If Democratic voters want to hold onto a fictional reality because they don’t want to support President Bush, then every Presidential candidate needs to call them out and question why these voters would so desperately want the United States to lose in Iraq.
Isn’t it normal to want your country to succeed in foreign policy regardless of who is in office?
In defence of weak-kneed diplomacy
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Published November 22nd, 2007 in Politics
Bill Richardson’s saying human rights are more important than U.S. national security is old news.
What’s interesting though, is Joe Klein’s defense of Bill Richardson’s answer that at times, if President, he would place human rights above U.S. national security.
Does anybody actually think we should make Richardson our Commander in Chief if he cannot get this fundamental issue right?
In the Democratic debate November 15, Wolf Blitzer asked Richardson, “What you’re saying, Governor, is that human rights, at times, are more important than American national security?”
Richardson said “yes.”
Klein defends such weak-kneed diplomacy and says “All Richardson and Obama were saying was that support for human rights was an essential component of U.S. foreign policy.” (bold mine)
Actually no Joe.
Richardson answered in the affirmative to human rights, at times, as more important than American national security.
He did not say human rights are a component of U.S. national security but that at times they are more important than U.S. national security interests.
Conservatives are right to highlight such a blatant disregard for the office they aspire to.
Yes, human rights are important, but if you no longer have a country to defend because you have placed human rights ahead of national security you are unfit to lead.
Joe Klein should know better.
Who says we’re not progressing in Iraq?
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Published November 18th, 2007 in Sunni, Shiite, Iraq, Muslims, peace
Anybody and I mean anybody who doesn’t think the surge is working or that we as Americans are not making progress in Iraq needs to read this post by Michael Yon (scroll to the bottom).
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any fighting. I can’t remember my last shootout: it’s been months. The nightmare is ending. Al Qaeda is being crushed. The Sunni tribes are awakening all across Iraq and foreswearing violence for negotiation. Many of the Shia are ready to stop the fighting that undermines their ability to forge and manage a new government. This is a complex and still delicate denouement, and the war may not be over yet. But the Muslims are saying it’s time to come home. And the Christians are saying it’s time to come home. They are weary, and there is much work to be done.
And check out this pic by Michael Yon of Muslims and Christians erecting a cross on a church in Iraq…
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Posts: [Sermon: Pentecost 13 - Year A], [Hearing a word from God], [Questions], [God's Two Hands], [A near miss], [Sermon: Pentecost 11 - Year A], [Embarrassing], [Time off. Don't use the "v" word around me.], [Sermon: Pentecost 10 - Year A], [I'm all ears], [Light Blogging and Beethoven], [Sermon: Pentecost 8 - Year A], [Vacation Reflections - Part Two: Traveling Alone. Sort of.], [Vacation Reflection - Part One], [On Vacation], [Church of the Future?], [Well Played], [What did Convention Accomplish?], [National Bishop Susan Johnson], [A House Divided], [Youth Delegates?], [Bored and Tired], [Convention Blogging - 2008!], [From The Wittenburg Door], [Bruuuuuuuuuce!]
Kevin Powell
May you see the face of Jesus in everyone you meet. And may everyone you meet see the face of Jesus in you.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sermon: Pentecost 13 - Year A
What causes you to doubt your faith? What causes you to stop trusting God? What causes you to think that faith is merely an Alice in Wonderland story we tell ourselves when life starts to hurt? Or DO you doubt? Do you question your faith? Do you question God? I know that, for many of you, faith comes easy. You see God in action as clearly as you see the shine on my head. God’s handiwork is everywhere your eyes turn. And when you close your eyes, you hear God talking to you. You can’t “prove” its God chatting with you. But you wouldn’t mistake God’s milky voice for anything else. For others of you, God is a rumour that you hope is true. You’ve caught glimpses of God here and there. Shadows. Memories. Stories half heard, songs less understood. But you’ve heard enough to trust that God is – somehow – doing something in the world. And you figure that, even if there’s a 95 percent chance you’re wrong, you’ll still believe. Because the stories half heard and songs less understood are too beautiful to toss away. And for others, faith might sound like a cruel joke. A tall tale told by an idiot. Sound and fury signifying nothing. Maybe you’ve seen the world’s ugliness first hand and no amount of worship will scrub your eyes clean. Maybe you’ve felt grief so horrific that your soul has been ripped to shreds. Maybe you’ve prayed until your knees are bloodied and knuckles bruised, and still – nothing – God hasn’t returned the call. Or maybe you’re back and forth, up and down, between all of this. Maybe some days your faith is as strong as God’s holy mountain, and other days, you can’t see your faith through a microscope. Maybe you’re wishing you could believe like other people. And if you are, look...(whole thing here)
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Hearing a word from God
I’m still on “vacation” which means I don’t have to preach tomorrow. I get to listen to someone else preach tomorrow morning. When I was a musician I had trouble listening to other trombone players. I couldn’t hear the music. I could only compare my playing to the guy (usually a guy) on stage. When I became a conductor things became worse. I couldn’t listen to a concert without a critical ear. Musical interpretation, phrasing, dynamics, balance were slices that didn’t make a whole piece when added up. At least to my hearing. I often felt the urge to take over because I preferred what I heard in my head to what was being presented in front of me. Pretty arrogant, eh? The same thing happens when I hear other preachers. I have pretty high standards and I want other preachers to meet them. I don’t always know what that sounds like. But when I hear a bad sermon, a lazy preacher, poor interpretation, cheesy stories, or whatever, I get angry. I get angry because I genuinely come to church looking for a word from God. I come hungry for a transforming message. And when some preacher makes a mockery of the pulpit, God’s voice is silenced. When God’s mouthpiece uses tacky illustrations or resorts to clichés, I feel cheated. When preachers offer a “chat” rather than feeding me the bread of life, I feel like I need a shower. The gospel means “good news.” And that’s what I come looking for. Because my week is often jammed with bad news. I need to know that Jesus is alive and God is doing something. I need to know how and where I can find God, even if God is right in front of my nose. I need to know how my life impacts the world. I need to know there is forgiveness when I fail and encouragement when I despair. I need to know that I am loved. I imagine that’s why most people come to church. It’s not as if there aren’t other options. God draws them in because that’s where they need to be. But it’s not as if folks who stay home don’t need what people in church need. That’s why it’s our job as church folks to bring people in to God’s house of resurrection. That’s why the Christian life is one big sermon illustration. Or better, the Christian life is about living in a different reality – God’s reality – than where others live. This doesn’t mean that we’re superior to anyone else. But it does place a heavy obligation on us. Bearing witness to God’s love and mercy is harder than it looks. It takes strong hands and a thick skin. I hope my preaching does all that. My congregation deserves it. So, tomorrow, I hope I hear a word from God. A word that’ll help me live the resurrection life. I’ll keep you posted.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Questions
When I read some of my blog posts (especially the last one) I wonder if people think I have a hate-on for the church. I don’t. I CAN’T. I’m nose deep in church life. Church people are some of the finest people in the world. I don’t want to give the impression that I have nothing but admiration and respect for those faithful servants of Christ toiling away for the kingdom. And I see churches doing phenomenal work in service to God and the world. And I'm grateful for every second I'm able to serve as a pastor. Even those days when I fantasize about walking away. I just have questions. Lots and lots of questions. For example, while in Mexico I read Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood. It’s about a Microsoft pooh-bah who turned in his key to the executive washroom to build schools in Nepal, creating the Room to Read organization along the way. You may have heard of it. Wood talked about how quickly the organization grew, how positively people responded to his vision of building schools and libraries in developing countries, how hard work, tenacity, and luck paid off. I have a few books on my shelf like this, except they’re about churches or ministries. Books on how the Dream Center in LA grew so quickly and unexpectedly. Or how Willow Creek or Saddleback exploded with growth in the 70’s and 80’s. Or how Mars Hill, Grand Rapids outgrew their building so swiftly they had to buy an old shopping mall to house their mushrooming congregation. And they all attribute their growth to God and prayer. Hours and hours of prayer. They say that, without the countless hours on their knees, they wouldn’t have seen such success. But I got thinking. Room to Read grew almost uncontrollably in the first few years of its existence. Without the hours of prayer. No mention of God. At all. I thought about it some more and wondered, Does God REALLY want us praying for hours and hours before starting something new? Or is such prayer a form of holy procrastination? Does God just want us to get on with our jobs, knowing that God gave us two hands and a brain for a reason? It’s not that I’m against prayer. Obviously not. Prayer’s an important tool in my ministry toolbox. I just wonder if prayer is meant to change us rather than to spur God to action. Prayer helps us focus on God’s priorities and makes us say those priorities out loud. We choose our words carefully when we pray. At least I do. I only use words that I know are part of God’s vocabulary. I don’t pray for hateful things to happen to bad people because I know God doesn’t honour such a prayer. I don’t pray for money because God probably thinks I have enough. I don’t pray for happiness because I don’t think God cares about my happiness as much as my faithfulness. I pray for wisdom against my foolishness. For healing for sick congregation members. For love and compassion when I’m angry and spiteful. I pray for healing in a broken world. For peace in hostile world. For justice in an unjust world. That’s what I pray for. Wisdom. Healing. Peace. Faithfulness. Justice. Love. Compassion. When I pray for those things, those are the things I become. Then I put those items on my To-Do list and roll up my sleeves and get to work.
God's Two Hands
There are days when I want to quit the church. Not just stop being a pastor, but walk away from the whole ecclesiastical enterprise. Maybe even walk away from God. It’s not that I don’t believe in God. I don’t know if I could ever NOT believe in God. I happen to have the gene – or gift – of belief. The days I feel like leaving the church are when I see non-believers doing good things for the world while we church people get mired in silly little fights about sex. When there’s great creativity in the secular world while churches reward mediocrity. When people takes a back seat to doctrine, status quo thinking passes as “tradition,” and anger at sin is valued more than the joy of forgiveness. In other words, I feel like leaving when I know that I’ve left my best game in the locker room and I don’t know what to do about it. When I experience more passion and joy from outside the church than from within it. And I don’t know why that is. That doesn’t happen often, but it happens enough to stop me in my shoes. A common conservative Christian polemic is that there can be no ethics without God. Such an idea is almost an article of faith in some evangelical communities. As if people need the threat of eternal punishment to keep from killing one another. As if religious people are free from murderous impulses. That without God, moral relativism (whatever that is) would create chaos in the streets. Ethics as carrot and stick. Actually, just a stick. But what I think they’re saying is that, if people could be ethical without God then there’d be no need for God’s messengers – church people. Pastors. Ethical threats as job protection. Also, they need an enemy. And a world that won’t bow at their feet will do just fine. Having an enemy gives purpose, identity. But maybe their fear isn’t unfounded. After all, some of the most life-giving, ethical, (dare I say ‘faithful’) people I’ve met have been non-believers. People who wouldn’t be caught one city block from a church, but have a better sense of God’s kingdom of life and grace than some of those who fill our Sunday morning pews. People who seem to be better instruments of God’s love and mercy than those who wear fancy robes, dog collars, and profess to be God’s mouthpiece. Some preachers, even preachers I deeply admire claim that the church is God’s Plan A for the world’s salvation. And God has no Plan B. We’re it. We’re God’s hands and voice in the world. God has no other implement in the world other than that which is called The Church. I used to believe that. I don’t anymore. I don’t believe that because I take the scriptures too seriously to think that God can only use the covenant people to do God’s heavy lifting. The Magi (three wise men) sought after the Christ Child, recognized him as the Messiah, but Matthew gave no evidence of them becoming Christian, or even Jewish. There’s no evidence that they gave up their pagan religion. But they’re a part of God’s salvation story nonetheless. Jesus was amazed at Roman Centurion’s faith, but there’s no evidence that he abandoned his Roman Caesar cult, got baptized, deserted the Roman army to follow the poor Messiah from Nazareth. Also, Jesus healed the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter because of her faith. She was definitely outside of the covenant. That’s why he was able to insult her sick daughter (some suggest that Jesus even made a racial slur) and no one batted an eye. But God was able to use her as a witness to God’s kingdom of healing. And people - non-believers - are all over the world living out Matthew 25, while some Christians are more concerned with tax cuts for the rich. I think God is more interested in feeding hungry children, visiting sick people, and teaching prisoners how to read, then whether capital gains should be cut by 5 per cent. Martin Luther talked about the church being God’s right hand and the world being God’s left hand. So, I’m in good company in thinking that God doesn’t heal the world with one hand tied behind the back. God is renewing the world with AND without the church. So where does that leave us as church people? I think that leaves us with a challenge to be the church the best way we know how. I think it means that God wants us to learn from the good, life-giving, things that non-believers do. This means that, even though we’ve been named and claimed as God’s people through our baptism, the world can still bear witness to God’s activity in this big, beautiful planet. Maybe it means that church folks don’t have a corner on love and faithfulness. And that’s okay. We don’t go to church, pray, worship, study, and work hard for Christ’s church because we’re better than anyone else. We’re church people because that’s who God wants us to be. God put us here to remind the world who God is. And that prayer and work, love and action are two sides of the same penny. I think it means that God needs two hands to remold the world into what God wants it to be. I’m part of God’s right hand (the thumb?) doing my small part for the kingdom. That’s why I’m still a pastor. That’s why I haven’t walked away. NB: Updated for typos and clarity.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A near miss
Yesterday was a close call for my wife and daughters. R and the girls were on their way to Edmonton to visit R’s parents when the car started shaking violently. They made to the Deerfoot in Calgary when R decided they’d better pull over. So they got as far as the IKEA parking lot. Then R called AMA. It turns out that the only thing holding the right front tire on were two small bolts. The service guy at the Honda dealership said that had they gone any farther down the highway the tire would have come off – while they were driving. I was almost sick when he told me that. I can't imagine a worse fate for my two little girls than a terrible traffic accident. Everyone's okay. But fixing the car will take a large chunk out of the savings we've built up since I paid off my student loans. But there are worse ways for this story to end.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sermon: Pentecost 11 - Year A
“What do you do?” he asked. “What do you mean?” I said, still bleary-eyed from the trip. “For a living, what do you do?” You have to realize that when you’re a pastor and someone asks you this question, you’re tempted to lie. My intern supervisor used to answer by saying “I’m in insurance.” I know other clergy who say, “I’m in sales.” Most pastors have an answer that deflects the conversation. (For the record I almost always tell the truth. It’s not that I’m more virtuous than other clergy, I’m just not that great a liar and I’m afraid I’ll forget my cover story) It’s not that we’re ashamed of what we do. We just know what’ll happen as soon as people find out we spend most of our time in a church. The reason why most clergy don’t like telling people what they do for a living, especially when on a plane or on vacation, is because the tenor of the conversation changes as soon people find out we have the word “reverend” in front of our names. People often get quiet and nervous, afraid that we’ll whip out a bible and start preaching. Or they want to share their problems, or they ask hard questions about God and suffering (questions which we’re supposed to have answers for at the tip of our tongues), or they tell awful stories about how badly they’d been treated by church people and we end up apologizing for things we’ve never said and for things we’d never dream of doing. I was tired. I had just arrived in Mexico and just wanted to rest. But the inevitable question that’s the centrepiece of western small talk reared its ugly snout. “What do you do for a living?” I wasn’t thinking. It wasn’t intentional. I wasn’t really sure what I saying but the words just spilled out, I help people grow into the fullness of who God wants them to be. Pause. “Wow. That’s a good answer,” I told myself, mentally patting myself on the back. My conversation partner quickly glanced around the room searching for the nearest exit, his eyes seizing on the “G” word; a word banished from polite conversation. He looked at his worried wife. Then asked, “So, have you heard who won the Blue Jays’ game this afternoon?” But that...(whole thing here)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Embarrassing
This is the sort of thing that makes the rest of us Christians look bad. This screams, “look, we’re cool, we’re in with the times, yo!” I know what others say, “We need to effectively use the culture’s language to get our message across.” Maybe. But we don’t have to look silly doing so. Also, I don’t think non-believers will be taken in by this stuff. Billboard evangelism. Bumper sticker theology. Sound bite sermons. These do no make for an effective proclamation. So what does? I think these guys might give us a good place to start. (h/t)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Time off. Don't use the "v" word around me.
Next week I’m taking the second stage of my yearly vacation. Unlike last month’s RestFest™, this break will be all about painting fences, trimming unsightly growth around the edges of the house, and installing a garage door. Household chores. Odd domestic jobs. Oh, and I have a funeral (probably two). Does that sound like a vacation to you? Me neither.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sermon: Pentecost 10 - Year A
My wife is the gardener in our house. I actually hate gardening. I don’t enjoy getting my knees and elbows dirty digging around in the luxuriant soil of our backyard. My thumb has more black ink from a good book on it than green chlorophyll from picking beans. The worst part is pulling weeds. My right hand blistered from yanking out dandelions and my back stiffened from too many hours with a shovel, digging out the unrestrained thistles that threatened to conquer our side yard. But my wife LIVES for growing plants. We have a whole shelf devoted to gardening books. Books on proper prairie planting, when to plant, how to plant, what to plant. Which plants need lots of water and which need lots of sun. What plants should grow next to which others and which one can’t be in the same city block. Books on how to compost, what mulch is used for, how to maximize efficiency in garden use. It’s a lot of work just thinking about it. But every October when our freezer is packed with vegetables and fruit from the backyard, I’m glad Rebekah has thought it through so thoroughly. And put me to work despite my griping about weeding. I’m thinking that, for you gardeners, today’s gospel must make you want to tear up your Tilley Endurables in protest. After all, weeding is as vital to a fruitful harvest as 35 grams of fibre is to a healthy diet. But the farmer in Jesus’ story tells his workers to leave the weeds alone in case wheat gets pulled out in an over-zealous plantain purge. And I guessing that people shifted in their seats the first time they heard Jesus tell this story. He may be a fine preacher; he could hold a crowd with the best of them. But maybe it’s best if we keep him out of the garden. But then again, they probably knew that Jesus was trying to get a reaction from them. But they probably still had a nagging question about this crazy story: What is this parable REALLY about? Maybe it’s a story about...(whole thing here)
Thursday, July 17, 2008
I'm all ears
If anyone has some good sermon ideas, my binaural apparatus are open to all comers. After spending this week telling stories to small children, diminishing my creativity to the size of roach droppings, I have NO IDEA what I’m gonna say on Sunday. I’ve looked here, here, and even here. And still, nothing. This internet thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Light Blogging and Beethoven
Light blogging as of late. Work load. Lack of inspiration. Having fun doing other things. Here's Beethoven 7 by, whom I consider to be the best Beethoven interpreter on record. Enjoy!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Sermon: Pentecost 8 - Year A
Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. This passage is some peoples’ favourite part of the bible. I don’t blame them. who couldn’t like this passage? Especially in our age of anxiety. Especially when Depression and mental illness is spreading plague-like around the Western world. Especially when there’ so much we need to be doing, grabbing dinner at the Drive-thru as we shuffle the kids between soccer practice and piano lessons. Especially when we’re working longer hours for less pay. Especially when gas prices are blasting into space and we wonder how we’re going to fill our tanks each week to get to work. Especially when food prices creep towards the stratosphere and we’re starting to seriously think about buying a cow for the backyard. Especially when the roads become rivers and we flush water from our basements. Especially when we hear that Iran is tiptoeing closer toward a nuclear weapon. Especially when a yet another Canadian soldier is killed in Afghanistan. Especially when the earth is overheating, pine beetles endanger our forests, and salmonella threatens us with death-by-tomato. Especially when…(the whole thing here)
Friday, July 04, 2008
Vacation Reflections - Part Two: Traveling Alone. Sort of.
“You mean you’re NOT bringing your family? Not even your wife?” Nope. In fact this trip was her idea. “You’re going to Mexico by yourself!?” Yup. “Aren’t you going to be lonely?” Hi, my name is Kevin. Clearly we haven’t met before. *** I wasn’t the only person traveling alone. I was surprised by how many people chose to voyage unencumbered. N was tired and needed a break. Young, blonde, and alone, folks speculated as to why she chose to travel to a Mexican getaway without a partner – or a friend. “Some people think I’m looking for a fling,” she said. “Let me guess” (I’m not immune to speculation) “You just came out of a difficult relationship and needed to clear your head, get a new perspective, do some personal reflecting.” “No, I’m not mending a broken heart,” she said. “I was tired. So I went to Air Canada Vacations, clicked on ‘Last Minute Deals’ and chose the cheapest package.” What a great idea! If she was looking for a fling, she wouldn’t have had to look far in finding a willing accomplice. A 53-year-old married Canadian man (traveling alone) brazenly offered to share her room with her. Young Mexican men followed her around the hotel. The waiters at the hotel Lobby Bar doted on her making it impossible for her to have a moment’s peace with the book she wanted to read while sipping her drink. “Sex is the last thing on my mind,” she said. “I’m here to rest.” I felt badly for her. Between the unwanted sexual attention and her food poisoning (she must be the only person in history who LOST weight while on an all-inclusive vacation), I worried that the week would be a write-off for her. But no. She dealt with it. And got on with her week. I ate a few meals with her and sat next to her on a side trip. But for me, chatting on the way home (Executive Class, no less.) was a highlight of my week. We talked almost the entire 5 hour plane ride. What I experienced in her while we talked was a strong sense of life, of creativity, gentle joy, and deep reflection. That’s why I can say I see God in her and in her life. Whenever we create, whether it’s a painting, a book, a garden, a friendship, or a child, we partner with God’s creative impulse. And I saw that partnership in her. I’ve said I before, but in my job, I get to have a front row seat when God starts to work. I was glad, this time, to be in the next seat over. So, maybe I wasn't traveling alone after all.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Vacation Reflection - Part One
Those of you who know me were probably shaking your heads as to my choice of vacation. I’m not usually a resort holiday kind of guy. Actually, I’m not a vacation kind of guy. I find resting hard. Relaxation is a foreign tongue. I have difficulty settling down. Lying on a beach. That’s not me. But I hadn’t been sleeping. Or when I managed to drift off and get a couple hours of snooze time I didn’t feel refreshed when my alarm clock blasted 7:31. It was worse than having no sleep. The cumulative result was that I became jittery, grouchy, and sad. My doctor said something needed to change. I couldn’t keep doing what I was doing and expect to dance at my granddaughter’s wedding. Call it an “emergency vacation.” I went to Air Canada Vacations, clicked on “Last Minute Deals” and chose the cheapest package. A week-and-a-half later I was laying under a beach umbrella in Ixtapa, Mexico, book in hand, while Sergio filled my bucket with Corona. Maybe it was the 34 degree weather (Humidex 44), but, by the second day, I could feel my anxiety drain, washed away by the current, flushed into the Pacific by the commanding undertow. Around 2:45 Monday afternoon, I planned my day and week in my head, dividing the time between meals, excursions, walks, and what order I was going to read my books, alternating between fiction and non-fiction. But then I realized, “I don’t have to plan ANYTHING. I can just do whatever I want, when I want.” At that moment I recognized that my most pressing concern was when I was going to eat dinner, and wondering if the woman in the chair next to me had real breasts or silicone enhancements (not that I was looking. But her bikini top was smaller than a shoelace, and her black hair did a better job of keeping her modest than any swim apparel). “Being here is exactly what I needed,” I said out loud, to no one in particular, pulling my hat over my eyes for an afternoon nap.
Friday, June 13, 2008
On Vacation
Before my brain turns completely to cabbage soup, I'm heading to Mexico with a bag full of books and a bucket of sunscreen. Be good while I'm gone.
Church of the Future?
Who does your church play nice with? I think, if we’re honest, a lot of us find synod convention – family gatherings – difficult. Some have better relationships with the neighbouring churches of other traditions than we do with other ELCIC churches. Back when the Full Communion agreement with the Anglicans was being talked about, I heard former Archbishop Peers talk about the sharing of table and pulpit between an Anglican and Lutheran church in Winnipeg – 30 years ago – before we started “ordaining” bishops (rather than “installing” them) and agreeing to a host of compromises – on both sides. I wonder if part of the problem with the current divide is that we’re trying to maintain unity at an institutional level instead of a personal one. It’s true, we’re Lutherans. We have more in common than what we disagree upon. This was brought home to me at the study conference when Paul Scott Wilson led us through a discussion of law and gospel. Hearing classical Protestant theology is like getting into a warm bath. And we all seemed to soak in it. But our disagreements are not small. They cannot be dismissed too easily. And they make me wonder if synod gatherings simply magnify our divisions, to the detriment of our mission. Even though we share a common history and theology, we’ve reached an institutional impasse. And we wonder quietly (or aloud) when the “inevitable” divorce will come. And will the church of the future look decidedly different than the denominational alignments that we have currently? I wonder if the church of the future won’t be determined by institutional allegiances, but by personal connections. Here at Good Shepherd we have ministry partnerships with the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, not because of the Waterloo Declaration or the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. But because our people drink coffee with their people. And are those relationships any less valid because they haven’t been institutionally mandated? Is that what God has in mind? NB: Cross-posted at the synod convention blog
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Well Played
When I first heard that CBC wouldn’t budge on the Hockey Night in Canada theme-song, letting CTV pick it up, I figured it was a massive blunder from a hoity-toity CBC exec who misunderstood the role “Canada’s Second National Anthem” played in Canadian’s hearts. But then I heard the composer was looking for $3 Million dollars. Then I also heard that the CBC is thinking of using Stompin’ Tom’s Hockey Song instead of the HNIC theme. Then I thought, “Well, played, CBC.” UPDATE: Stephen Colbert weighs in (look for Steady Eddie). via
What did Convention Accomplish?
In response to Laverne and Erik. Laverne wrote: Perhaps those are even more important - equipping and providing support for those of us at the convention for mission in our home churches - for that's really where mission is accomplished. So perhaps we can say that if the convention (and in turn, the structure of the Synod) helps and facilitates the congregations in continuing their own mission, then there is a reason for these conventions, even if there isn't some profound and grand "accomplishment" directly from the convention itself. That’s so true it causes me blisters. But what I heard underneath all this is the question: what is the role of synod in congregational life? How DO we relate to each other as an institutional church? What makes us a church family beyond the institutional level? I struggle with these questions. I know we’re all Lutheran, but how that Lutheranism expresses itself among clergy and congregations is very different. We have high-church Lutherans and American-style evangelical/charismatic Lutherans. We have Marcus Borg-type Lutherans and Carl Bratten/Robert Jensen-style Lutherans. We have clergy who snore in their clerical collars and clergy who wouldn’t be caught corpse-like with one on. We have Evangelical Catholics who want a Magisterium to govern our doctrine, and we have Norwegian Pietists who resist anything smelling like papism. And, yes, we have Lutherans who see homosexuality as a God-given expression of human intimacy, and we have Lutherans who see it as abhorrent to God and God’s Word. And everything in between. Yet, still, Lutherans. Some may see such diversity as a strength, something to celebrate. It tells us that we are a thinking church, a living church.. Others may see it as a millstone, dragging us down to the ecclesial nether regions. Either way, such multiplicity lobs a challenge at our Birkenstocks. How/Can we live together when we can’t agree on what Lutheranism looks like? Does meeting in convention help us understand and live with those whose theology and approach to church life want to make us pull out our eyebrows? Does synod convention help break down stereotypes to help us see other Lutherans, not as the enemy, but as confrères in mission? Or does meeting in convention merely entrench existing divisions? When we meet, do we listen to others’ opinions or do we circle our partisan wagons, strategizing on how to beat the other side, parlaying parliamentary procedure to assure a desired outcome? Or does it do both? CAN it do both? That’s the challenge that’s lying at our toes. But that’s no surprise to anyone with open ears and even wider eyes. But it’s what you do with the challenge that counts. How we meet that challenge is something we’re going to have to decide together. Along with a healthy dose of the Holy Spirit. Maybe that’s what synod convention is supposed to accomplish. NB: Cross-posted at the Convention blog
Saturday, June 07, 2008
National Bishop Susan Johnson
National Bishop Susan Johnson offered her report outlining the 5 pillars that National Church Council will rest it's In Mission for Others theme. But the most moving part of her presentation was, for me, when she shared how she felt Jesus embrace her during her ordination as bishop. That was good for us to hear. She modeled for us the faith sharing she wanted us to do. Not only that, she let her humanity shine through, showing us that we are on a common faith journey, trying to figure out - together - where Jesus is leading our church family. NB: Cross-posted on the convention blog
A House Divided
NB: Cross-posted at the convention blog. Is it just me or does it feel really heavy in here? I noticed it as soon as I arrived. People are quiet (mostly). Maybe it's the high ceilings and rubber floor in the gymnasium where we're meeting cushioning the sounds of laughter. Maybe it's the row on row of delegates facing forward away from each other. Maybe it's because the Tim Hortons upstairs has been closed the whole time. (I'm too lazy to walk across the street in the rain) Or perhaps it's because The Issue is ever hovering over us. Beyond the platitudes and good intentions of unity, we know that a difficult conversation is approaching. That was brought home to me yesterday when the Task Force on Marriage, Family, and Human Sexuality provided their report. And regrettably, they were unable to reach anything resembling consensus - even to continue. They needed a consensus to keep their deliberations moving. But one member of the task force decided the impasse was too great, the gulf unbridgeable. So, the bishop and convention thanked them for their work, and relieved them of their responsibilities. I don't think anyone was surprised with the results, but there was disappointment. The divisions in our church run deep. And the outcome reminded us that we are a house divided. And Jesus had something to say about that.
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About Me
Kevin Powell
I am a 30-something Lutheran pastor, married with 2 kids.
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2008
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August
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Sermon: Pentecost 13 - Year A
Hearing a word from God
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God's Two Hands
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July
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A near miss
Sermon: Pentecost 11 - Year A
Embarrassing
Time off. Don't use the "v" word around me.
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I'm all ears
Light Blogging and Beethoven
Sermon: Pentecost 8 - Year A
Vacation Reflections - Part Two: Traveling Alone. ...
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Vacation Reflection - Part One
On Vacation
Church of the Future?
Well Played
What did Convention Accomplish?
National Bishop Susan Johnson
A House Divided
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Convention Blogging - 2008!
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Posts: [VBDU and MWTTR], [Why don’t we put the Google N-gram corpus on the Web?], [Brief screencast on f-score in blogs], [Presentation for IBM’s Social Computing Group on Open Access and Open Research], [Like he said: the audience is everybody], [A taxonomy of corporate blog subtypes in map format], [The language of business, the language of blogs], [Tools for a Digital Humanities], [Dinner with PLoS One’s Bora Zivkovic and friends], [The luxury of pupose-less blogging can be a good thing]
CorpBlawg
Cornelius Puschmann on corporate and institutional blogging, linguistics, open access and other things that interest him.
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VBDU and MWTTR
Jul 14th, 2008 | Coding, NLP, Visualization | No Comments
Disclaimer: this blog entry is concerned with certain aspects of natural language processing and automated text analysis and may therefore appear excessively nerdy to the non-initiated. Read at your own risk.
VBDU and MWTTR - don’t worry, those aren’t breakfast cereals, government agencies or contagious diseases.
Every once in a while, I feel the need to brush up on my programming skills. Lately, most of what I’ve been doing has been centered around writing human-readable text (as opposed to machine-readable text, i.e. code) and therefore I felt a little PHP practice was in order.
The result of yesterday’s half-day coding session is this script. Read on for an explanation of what exactly it does.
Thinking of what I could possibly code, I remembered an interesting paper by Eniko Csomay that I came across a while ago. In it, Eniko suggests a methodology for segmenting texts into smaller units according to their internal structure*. How can you teach a machine (even in general terms) where one section of a text ends and a new one begins? In her article, Eniko suggests the following approach: if a text moves from one part to another (say the transition from analysis to conclusions in a scientific paper) it is plausible that the lexical material used changes. To simplify a little, one section is likely to use a specific bundle of recurring words, while another will use different terms. Eniko calls these sections vocabulary-based discourse units (VBDUs) and she has shown that variation between VBDUs can be used to find topical and argumentative shifts in a text.
How does it work in practice? VBDUs can be measured by taking a snapshot of N words from a text and then comparing it with another window of the same size that follows the first one.
Let me give an example:
text = Mary had a little lamb, John had a little pony
window size = 5 words
window 1 = Mary had a little lamb
window 2 = John had a little pony
The calculated difference between the two windows equals 2, because John and pony differ from Mary and lamb, while the rest of the words are identical.
How can we calculate this variation for a text in its entirity? By moving through it, word by word.
If we move window 1 forward by a single word and do the same with window 2, the difference between the two windows may change. The example above isn’t terribly well-suited to demonstrate this, simply because the windows are very small, but if you boost window size to 50 or 100 words, you can get an idea of how this works.
Another thing that I decided to implement in my little script is a measure called Moving Average Type-Token Ratio (MATRR)**. The terms types and tokens are used in computational linguistics to differentiate between unique words and total words in a text. To use the example from above, the sentence Mary had a little lamb, John had a little pony consists of 10 tokens (actually 11 if you count the comma), but only 7 types, because the words had, a and little occur twice and we only count each unique word once when looking at types.
Comparing the ratio of unique words to total words is useful for several reasons. Generally, we can expect written texts which convey a lot of information to have a higher type-token ratio than (for example) spoken conversation, where certain material is likely to occur again and again (say, the pronouns I and you). This difference is not absolute, but there is a strong tendency for information-dense pieces of discourse (scientific papers, legal texts) to have a higher TTR than less dense material (casual conversation, probably most blogs).
However, there’s a minor methodological issue. TTR is tied to text length and tends to decrease the longer a text is - the amount of lexical material at our disposal is simply not infinite and therefore the ratio inevitably goes down.
The solution to this problem can be integrated into our approach to VBDU analysis: compare two windows, then move forward by a word and repeat the process.
Right, so what’s the result of all this? Lo and behold
The VDBU Difference and Moving Window Type-Toke Ratio Calculator (and no, that is probably not hyphenated correctly)
Go ahead and try it. Simply paste a text into the window, preferably over 1.000 words, and hit submit. A value of 100 for the window size seemed like a good idea to me - values of under 50 and over 250 appear to work less well.
The resulting chart is drawn using Google’s Visualization API and I think it looks quite spiffy. Here are two examples
A news report from the New York Times (source text, visualization)
The first chapter of Edgar Allan Poe’s short novel Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (source text, visualization)
How can the results be interpreted? The x axis represents the progression of the text - essentially we are moving through the text word by word from left to right. On the y axis three normalized scores a represented: the word-based variability between our two windows (VBDUdiff, light blue), the type-token ratio of the first window (TTR1, red) and the type-token ratio of the second window (TTR2, orange).
Great, so what does it all mean?
By itself, probably not too much. You’re unlikely to find a clear-cut correlation between shifts in topic or section transitions by looking at VBDU_diff peaks (those places where difference between the two windows is highest) only. Language is just too tricky for something that simple. But I can imagine there being interesting shifts in word class percentages and the like from one part of a text to the next. Integrating a part of speech tagger would be interesting, but that’s something I’ll save for another day.
In the mean time, try the script and let me know if you find something interesting. Visualizations are stored on the server for now and you can retrieve them later by using the URL at the bottom of each page.
Oh and to be a bit meta, here’s the analysis of this blog entry. Hmmm….
* I need to note several things regarding my implementation of VBDU analysis:
I’ve reproduced the procedure from memory, meaning it is likely to differ from the original implementation in some form and may incorporate infelicities or errors
in addition to possible methodological flaws, simple programming bugs are also imaginable
as a result, use this at your own risk and do not cite or use this script in a serious context (i.e. publishing) without contacting me first
** Michael A. Convington published an implementation of MATTR for Windows last year and explained the method to me at a conference. Essentially, I’ve just recreated MATTR in PHP, hopefully without any significant bugs.
Why don’t we put the Google N-gram corpus on the Web?
Jul 8th, 2008 | Google, IBM, Linguistics, Many Eyes, Visualization | 3 Comments
Two years ago, the news that Google was going to make available the largest collection of n-grams to the global research community that had ever been compiled sparked a lot of interest. I was among those who immediately ordered those six DVDs… and ever since they have been resting dutifully on a shelf in my office, collecting dust and reminding me that I need to bring them into a more accessible format. Alas, so many things to do, so little time.
Something led me to look for information on that corpus this morning and I came across this. Sadly, the link to Chris Harrison’s site no longer seems to work, but when I saw his visualization I immediately thought of Many Eyes.
My reasoning goes a little something like this:
Google N-gram corpus hosted on Google Palimpsest servers + IBM’s Many Eyes = Fantastic web-based tool for linguists
To elaborate: Google has a gigantic database of word collocations that can be used as a baseline for all sorts of interesting analysis, but you can’t really do any of these things unless you have a user interface and enough computing juice to sift through almost 100 gigabytes of text data on the fly. On the other hand, solutions like Many Eyes are amazing, but currently there’s no way you can use it with a really big data set like the n-gram corpus and therefore the research utility is limited.
But it must be possible somehow to bring together
the data to analyze
the computing power required and
the user interface needed to allow a non-technical person to interact with the data
and to put the whole thing on the Web. It’s Google’s stated intention to host data for us and they are the owner of the n-gram dataset, so I can’t imagine there being any licensing issues. And, as if to put a cherry on that sundae, here’s the announcement of a joint project by IBM, Google and the NSF to do exactly that kind of stuff. Put the 6 DVDs on a cloud, throw in a tweaked version of Many Eyes (think the word tree vis with a few extras) and construction grammarians everywhere will absolutely love it.
What do you think?
Brief screencast on f-score in blogs
Jul 1st, 2008 | Corporate Blogging, Delta, Johnson & Johnson, Marriott, Screencast, Style, Visualization | No Comments
Just because the subject came up in several contexts recently, I decided to make a screencast of me explaining the concept of f-score and applying it to some data from my corpus of company blogs. I tried to embed it in a blog post, but that caused several problems because the clip would neither fit nor scale for some reason.
Click here to view the screencast in a separate window. You can also download (right-click, save) and watch it in your favorite video player, which gives the additional luxury of being able to pause.
The three blogs I look at in the clip are Marriott on the Move, JNJ BTW and Delta Air Lines. Here’s the link to the cited article and to the presentation with the example.
And apologies for my lapse of memory towards the end (which blogs am I comparing again?), but it was a long day and organizing a conference occupies a lot of brain cells. I hope it’s still informative.
Presentation for IBM’s Social Computing Group on Open Access and Open Research
Jun 27th, 2008 | IBM, Open Access Publishing, Open Science, Presentation | No Comments
Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to give a presentation on new forms of scholarly publishing, Open Access and Open Research at a virtual meeting organized by Catalina Danis of IBM’s Social Computing Group. It was great, although preciously little time for discussion remained, due to a slightly overambitious (i.e. too voluminous) presentation on my part. Thankfully, the session next week will be used for discussion and I am very much looking forward to that. Once more, a big thanks to Catalina for inviting me and to everyone who attended.
Here are my slides:
| View | Upload your own
Edit: if this looks strange, please reload the page. For reasons I cannot fathom slideshare’s embeds manage to blow up the page unless I manually adjust the source code…
Like he said: the audience is everybody
Jun 17th, 2008 | Corporate Blogging, Style | No Comments
From a recent post on JNJ BTW:
When I started JNJBTW, I thought my audience would be pretty much those who write about the business of healthcare — reporters, editors, healthcare bloggers — those folks. What I’ve found, after doing this for a year, is that the people reading this are, well, er, people. Doctors, nurses, consumers — employees and retirees — people who hate the company and people who support what we do — friends, neighbors, my father-in-law… well, you get the idea.
Now those who have been blogging for a while may think, “well, duh!?” but for me it was an important point — particularly since I’m often asked “who is your audience?” My answer, which many people scoff at, is that it is everybody — that I don’t define my audience, but that the audience defines itself.
From my recent post about style and audience design in corporate blogs:
Blogs are a part of the Internet and the Internet provides virtually anyone with near-universal access to information. This may seem like a truism, but it has significant implications. Whereas before groups of stakeholder would be targeted individually and the flow of information was highly controlled, this is no longer the case in a networked world. A careful examination of the Google-Sicko story reveals a case of audience underfitting, i.e. a company employee addressing a specific audience but effectively reaching a much broader readership (and, in this case, not with a positive result).
The problem encountered is the extreme reach and transparency of online publishing. Because we are used to addressing either individuals or select communities of people, suddenly reaching a diffuse, invisible and potentially vast audience is not always easy to handle. This is especially problematic when you talk about people who are also your readers (see the Google example).
As the author of a corporate blog, one thing to never forget is that your audience defines itself (well said, Marc!) and that you need to write accordingly. Forget all the cozy rhetoric about blogs being “personal” and “open” and so forth for a moment. The key thing to keep in mind is that the word you identifies the person(s) whom you are addressing and that words like they, users, consumers, the public etc denotes those people whom you are not addressing. You are talking to the first group and about the second group. The unique aspect of blogs is that all those people that you conceptualize as being in the second group are also in the first, since anyone can potentially be a reader of your blog. The Google-Sicko example illustrates what happens in such a case: talking about someone who is part of the discourse is generally regarded as highly antisocial. In terms of language, we split the world into three parties: ourselves and those “with us” (I/we), our discourse partners (you) and everyone else (he/she/<name>). Making your reader feel treated as a third party is a mistake you don’t want to make.
A taxonomy of corporate blog subtypes in map format
Jun 16th, 2008 | Corporate Blogging, Research, Visualization | 2 Comments
Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand words - especially when the picture is rather fussy and complicated. I’ve created a map of corporate blog subtypes, the functions they realize and the audiences they address. It’s clearly idealized, but I think it captures the essentials reasonably well.
Have a look at it here. I couldn’t fit it into a blog entry because, as you can see, it takes up quite a bit of screen space.
Thoughts?
Edit: don’t miss the comments.
The language of business, the language of blogs
Jun 2nd, 2008 | Corporate Blogging, Definitions, Google, Research, Style | 1 Comment
I’ve just skimmed over this interesting post by Ron Ploof about the challenges of corporate blogging.
Here’s one point in the piece that caught my attention in particular:
3. Being conversational is unnatural:
Being conversational is unnatural in business communications because we’ve been taught NOT to do it. Communication specialists are used to writing “Press Releases” and marketing web pages. The good news is that outside of work, employees are very good conversationalists, so they already know how to do it, they just need to break some of their Old Media habits. Training works very well in this area. Lastly, companies cannot forget the most important ingredient of a corporate blog — transparency. Corporate blogs are conversational and transparent, and therefore should NEVER be used to spew traditional marcom drivel.
I have been thinking about the style of blogs and corporate blogs in particular for almost two years now. The persistent chant ‘blogs are conversations’ and ‘conversational good, business-speak bad’ has a tendency to drive the professional linguist in me nuts, not because I don’t agree with these popular ideas, but because I keep wondering what exactly conversational means and why it is unequivocally regarded as ‘better’.
Now, as I am gradually approaching the completion of my thesis, I think can give a carefully weighed answer to that question.
Blogs are conversations? Partly yes, partly no
Firstly, when bloggers talk about ‘conversational’ what exactly do they mean?
Real-life conversations between human beings use many expressions that depend on the situational context to be understood. Things like that guy standing right there (so-called deictic expressions), false starts (And I was…. we didn’t go… No, Sue and I didn’t go to the meeting) and fillers (We need to… umm… discuss this in more detail) abound in face-to-face talk. Conversations also typically contains a lot of signals that serve purely to confirm and validate what your communicative partner is saying (things like yeah, okay, gotcha, right, uh-huh, nodding etc) and indicate your stance and social relationship. While conversations in TV shows, plays, novels and so forth are fast, witty and fluent, real conversations are often anything but - it’s just that we’re very good at ignoring all the noise they contain. We subconsciously filter out most of the static.
Blogs are obviously different in that blog entries are planned and not spontaneous (forget all the cutesy rhetoric associated with the word spontaneous for a moment - I use it to simply mean ‘instantly expressed’). Many bloggers, and most certainly the majority of corporate bloggers will read a post they have written thoroughly before publishing it. In the case of marketing and PR-oriented blogs and with executive blogs such as that of Jonathan Schwartz it is safe to assume that an entire team of communications professionals reads, discusses and edits posts collaboratively before they are published. There is planning and polishing involved, none of which is possible in real-time conversation.
So it’s not that aspect of blogs that makes us think of face-to-face conversations. What we associate with interpersonal communication is the interactive nature of blogs - in other words, that they enable a dialog between blogger and reader. Our reasoning goes: ‘I can respond to what someone writes in their blog, so it is basically like a conversation’. The other aspect is language; the content and style of writing that is associated with blogs. Note that point - blogs are written, not spoken language, which means that none of the ‘noise’ described above in occurs in them. Many things characteristic for spoken language never occur in blogs, especially not corporate ones.
Subjective as conversational
So apart from interactivity, what else is conversation-like about (corporate) blogs?
Have a look at this excerpt from One Louder, the blog of Microsoft staffing manager Heather Hamilton:
I’m not sure what has gotten into me other than the fact that I am happier than I have been for a VERY long time. It’s funny how sometimes things can just fall into place. The changes that I wanted to have happen at work happened without me doing much about it (other than saying “this is what I want”). I have finally started to spend some weekend time relaxing (and hanging with friends). And I am starting to believe what Eckhart Tolle says about coincidences not happening; it’s all for a reason (and with most of my life, I get the reasons for even some of the unpleasant things happening). Example: last week my manager and I were talking about me needing to travel to one of our dev centers. She recommended Ireland (oh yeah, I am totally doing that!) and I said “why don’t we have a dev center in Amsterdam? I really want to go there.” Then this week, I got an e-mail inviting me to speak at a conference in Amsterdam. How ’bout that? I’ve decided not to question what forces (if any) could be invovled with things like that happening. I’m just going to enjoy it.
In addition to business-related topics, Heather frequently writes about her personal feelings, thoughts and experiences in her blog, something that I’ve found to be typical of what I call ‘personal company blogs’. Such blogs are written by just one person, have a clearly visible reference to the blogger on the front page (name, photo) and are often part of a larger company blog hub (MSDN, in this case). In contrast to personal company blogs, team company blogs are usually about a specific product, issue or segment of the company and have several authors. I’ve found that writing about personal thoughts and feelings is less common in team blogs, largely because the topical focus of the blog tends to override personal concerns. By contrast, personal company blogs tend to be understood by their owners as diaries or journals where work-related subjects are integrated with personal thoughts.
Now, keep in mind how Heather writes and then have a look at this very interesting research on business English, conducted by Mike Nelson, an applied linguist at the University of Turku. Read Mike’s short article in the Guardian for a summary of his findings.
The kind of language used in corporate contexts (pre-blogging) is fairly strictly focused on a fixed set of topics. To quote Mike:
The world of business found in real life language is a limited one made up of business people, companies, institutions, money, business events, places of business, time, modes of communication and vocabulary concerned with technology. The language found was surprisingly positive, with very few negative words featuring at all. It was also found to be dynamic and action-orientated and non-emotive.
What Mike found via his large database of language samples from real-life business settings was that corporate language largely centers on things associated with business, namely business people, companies, institutions, money, business events, places of business, time et cetera and that these things are generally presented positively (business is about getting things done, not about being self-reflexive or critical). Finally, the subjective emotions of stakeholders aren’t really very important - private matters don’t feature into corporate discourse in any significant way.
Now compare that to how Heather writes. It’s a world of difference.
In posts marked with the ‘personal blogging’ tag, Heather writes about aspects of everyday life that we are all familiar with: buying furniture and cleaning out the garage, cheering for a sports team and experiencing a blackout. Not everything is always positive - there are ups and downs. Heather’s language can certainly be described as ‘emotive’ or ‘involved’, not because it is necessarily always highly emotional, but because it is concerned with inner processes more than with actions. All of this is obviously in stark contrast to what language in most other corporate contexts looks like.
There are a number of reasons why a ‘conversational’ style in that sense of the word is typical for both non-corporate and personal company blogs and why I expect it to have an influence on how institutions communicate, present themselves and are perceived in the future. I’ll focus on three basic pillars: audience, content and style.
Who you talk to
Blogs are a part of the Internet and the Internet provides virtually anyone with near-universal access to information. This may seem like a truism, but it has significant implications. Whereas before groups of stakeholder would be targeted individually and the flow of information was highly controlled, this is no longer the case in a networked world. A careful examination of the Google-Sicko story reveals a case of audience underfitting, i.e. a company employee addressing a specific audience but effectively reaching a much broader readership (and, in this case, not with a positive result).
The problem encountered is the extreme reach and transparency of online publishing. Because we are used to addressing either individuals or select communities of people, suddenly reaching a diffuse, invisible and potentially vast audience is not always easy to handle. This is especially problematic when you talk about people who are also your readers (see the Google example).
What you talk about
One notable aspect of Heather’s blog (and many others like it) is how openly it presents personal thoughts, experiences and feelings to readers. This is not necessarily done just for the audience. It seems that many personal company bloggers, though quite aware that their blogs are public, write partly to record their thoughts for themselves much in the same way that diarists do. The blog is a chronicle of what the blogger has thought, felt and done over time, both personally and professionally. Not every personal detail imaginable is presented, but there is no strict (and artificial) separation of personal and professional topics. Independently of how bloggers conceptualize audience, the effect of sharing personal information is that it lays the foundation for relationship-building.
Being told the subjective impressions, thoughts and emotions of another human being is almost inevitably relevant to us because we value such social information very highly. Knowing personal aspects of someone’s life brings us closer to them and establishes ties which are the foundation of any interpersonal relationship. This is especially pivotal on the Internet where all voices are detached from the individuals who use them. Social information enables us to establish a relationship with someone whom we have never met, because what we know about someone allows us to draw an increasingly complete picture of what kind of person they are.
Social information as a universal currency is especially valuable in a globalized and networked world, because exchanging it builds trust and without trust the foundation for other interactions is lacking.
How you say it
There is a persistent belief that jargon, technical language and other forms of special purpose lingo exist purely to irritate those of us who don’t understand it. That’s not true quite true though - medical language or legalese may have that effect on people who aren’t doctors or lawyers, but among those who speak them these varieties are readily understood and used for plausible reasons. Jargon allows us to
delineate membership in an expert community (techies, lawyers, bloggers…)
describe aspects of our work/community/culture/shared experience with more perceived precision than ’standard’ language allows
In other words, we often feel that what we want to say is said more effectively when we use a specialized vocabulary developed to express it. While this is unproblematic as long as we are talking to others who share our knowledge, this instantly turns into an issue when we address a broader audience - which is inevitably the case with a blog. All of a sudden, use of a specialized terminology makes us aloof, arrogant and out of touch. Audience underfitting once again leads to problems, this time in stylistic terms.
Finally, ‘conversational’ in stylistic terms also implies the use of colloquialisms, figures of speech and other expressive elements which are typically found in spoken conversation. The effect of such devices is again that they allow blogger and audience to conceptualize the blog as a speech situation, amplifying feelings of solidarity and familiarity.
What ‘conversational’ can mean
To summarize, ‘conversational’ can mean a range of things when applied to blogs. Among them are:
interactivity - it can describe the dialogic structure of blogs and the possibility to respond to contributions
speaker and audience - it can describe the discourse situation that the blog creates on a technical level and the resulting possibility for the blogger to refer to himself/herself (”I”) and address his/her readers (”you”)
content - it can describe a focus on personal and everyday topics which are familiar to a broad audience and create a feeling of solidarity and familiarity with the blogger
style - it can describe the avoidance of jargon and technical language (due to its audience-restrictiveness) in favor of expressions that evoke spoken language and real-life conversation
As always, feedback is appreciated.
Tools for a Digital Humanities
May 16th, 2008 | Digital Humanities, Many Eyes, Project Bamboo, Web 2.0, iScience | No Comments
I’ve recently discovered Project Bamboo, an initiative that describes itself on the project website as a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary, and inter-organizational effort that brings together researchers in arts and humanities, computer scientists, information scientists, librarians, and campus information technologists to tackle the question:
“How can we advance arts and humanities research through the development of shared technology services?”
Come again? At first, the concept of shared technology services may seem a little vague. But a closer look at the full project proposal makes it fairly clear what is meant.
While academics use digital technology and the Net for a wide variety of things (research, teaching, publishing, communication), all of these uses have a degree of improvisation to them. Very few of the tools we use are developed specifically for the context of science and research, and sometimes this limitation shows.
For example, I’ve started to use del.icio.us to tag all books I read in Google Books (see what I’ve recently tagged). Del.icio.us is an all-purpose bookmark management application, yet the ability to collaboratively create bibliographies with colleagues in the same subfield makes it a useful tool for researchers. Del.icio.us is not the only example - Google Documents can be used to collaboratively work on a publication and SlideShare is great for making your presentations available directly and linking them to your CV (see my own), instead of just offering them for download. But for other, more specialized tasks there is still a severe lack of tools.
A few months ago, a colleague of mine needed a corpus (a collection of texts for linguistic analysis) for her research. Corpora exist in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, but the specific issue she was working on made it necessary for her to create an entirely new corpus (built from blog texts) instead of working with material from more traditional sources (newspapers, fiction etc). In addition, she also had only a basic working knowledge of corpora and the ways in which they can be used.
We approached the problem from two different angles. I helped her build a specialized corpus by using a piece of software that I had developed for my own work on blogs. To analyze the data, I pointed her to two interesting functions of Many Eyes, a web-based application for visualizing statistical information: tag clouds and word trees.
Tag clouds (or, in this case, word clouds) make it possible to visualize how often a word occurs in a piece of writing. Simply paste a text into the appropriate form field on the site and Many Eyes will do the rest (have a look at this cloud for Shakespeare’s complete works for a nice example).
Word trees visualize textual data in another way, allowing the reader in essence to navigate from one word to the next.
There are of course specialized tools for corpus analysis that do a whole lot more than this in terms of statistics and Many Eyes lacks a whole range of feature that a genuine linguistic research tool would need (say, differentiating between different word classes). Yet Many Eyes has several advantages that the more specialized tools lack. It is
web-based
freely accessible
easy to use
and
versatile
In a sense, the points above make all the difference. Desktop-based software is under all sorts of constraints: you have to acquire it, install it and figure out how to get data from and to it, keep it up to date and do all sorts of other “chores” that have little to with your main objective. And then you can’t even share your data and collaborate as easily as you can on the Web. In other words, you’re using a program, not a service.
Of course Project Bamboo is not just about developing new tools (well, at least not in my mind). The assumption has long been that as soon as someone puts a useful service on the web, a user community will magically appear. This may be true of web video, blogging, wikis and many other services with a broad appeal, all of which can and should be used much more in academia. But with more specialized services, adoption is something that should be actively supported. In others words: we need to do more than just develop tools. We should work to popularize general-purpose services like del.icio.us and document ways in which they can be appropriated for research and teaching - and (most importantly) how they can be connected to one another. At the same time, just putting developers and researchers into a room together can produce impressive results.
A great example for both a mashup of services and a new way of looking at data is the Web version of the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS). It’s a combination of Google Maps with the print version of the atlas, which shows the distribution of linguistic features across the world’s languages (say, which languages have definite articles). Not only is WALS Online more convenient to use than both the print version and the CD-ROM that comes with it (not to forget it is also free), but it makes entirely new uses possible. Think about collaborative annotation or linking research articles directly to WALS. Imagine an paper that lives on the Web and shows a map section from WALS in a side window, with the text flowing around it.
Developing services like WALS and getting them out there has the potential to completely transform academia in the long run, making it much collaborative and transparent than it is today. It will be exciting to see what role Project Bamboo plays in that context.
Edit: I forgot to include a link to the project outline, plus a workshop transcript and some background information.
Dinner with PLoS One’s Bora Zivkovic and friends
May 6th, 2008 | Academic Publishing, Bjoern Brembs, Bora Zivkovic, Catriona MacCallum, Martin Fenner, Open Access Publishing, Randolph Nesse | 4 Comments
Last week I had the opportunity to have dinner with a group of very interesting and (and, dare I say it of researchers who rid the world of cancer and explore the origins of life?) fun people. Bjoern Brembs was nice enough to invite me to a get-together at the top of Berlin’s Fersehturm, some 230 meters above Alexanderplatz. The view was spectacular, though most of the time I was too caught up in the discussion to pay much attention. Catriona MacCallum, Martin Fenner, Randolph Nesse and Bjoern Brembs offered their views on where academic publishing is going and what is wrong with the system we currently live (and suffer) under.
Below are some of Bora’s photos, shamelessly ripped from his blog.
Mark the Chelsea fan and Catriona enjoying a cool Berliner Pilsener
Bjoern Brembs, apparently also a soccer handball enthusiast. Yeah, they don’t *throw* balls in soccer
Bora is up in arms against the less progressive elements of the publishing industry
Martin Fenner’s wife (to whom I apologize - my memory for names is terrible) and humble me
By the way, even if you don’t know a thing about evolutionary medicine or psychology, you should definitely have a look at Randolph Nesse’s blog.
The luxury of pupose-less blogging can be a good thing
May 5th, 2008 | Other Stuff | 4 Comments
Edit: Be sure to read Krishna Kumar’s take on blogging, work and creativity.
Oh my, I didn’t manage to write a single post in the whole of April.
While blogging fatigue seems to be a widespread phenomenon, it’s a particularly soft spot when your research is largely about blogging and you are in the process of organizing a panel at an international conference concerned chiefly with personal Web publishing technologies and how they are changing how we talk about science - among other things.
But, as always, time is the essence. I’m starting to wonder what on Earth I was doing a year ago that allowed me to blog so much (or rather: what I was not doing). Perhaps that’s the wrong way of looking at it though. Yes, blogging takes a lot of time, but it very much depends on how you approach it. Maybe I’ve been a little too concerned with saying it all, i.e. with restricting myself to the planned, substantial and structured writing that we are accustomed to in other contexts . Blogging isn’t always like that and I believe that that’s a good thing. The minimal audience for a blog, as I love to repeat incessantly, is its author. In other words, a blog can be useful as a tool to systematically structure your thoughts - nothing more, nothing less. Forgetting about readership and self-reflexivity (i.e. thinking What is this good for? What goal am I trying to achieve?) can be exactly the right kind of self-motivating strategy. Don’t get me wrong - blogging with a purpose is great. But the luxury of having no specific purpose in mind can be a good thing sometimes, especially when you’re starting to feel that blog writing is actually a burden, a chore that you have to take care of. Obviously, when you’re writing for an institution or in a professional context you are well-advised to think of your readers. But if you’re not enjoying what you do it’s bound to show sooner or later and it seems that with blogging, much of the pleasure that people draw from the activity is a direct result of its unfocusedness - a sort of ‘my blog is my castle’-attitude in communicative terms.
A friend once told me she preferred the original way of blogging: “rambling incoherently to yourself on the street”. Blogging doesn’t have to be quite that bad, but sometimes it helps to ramble just a bit.
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30 Jul
BODY SHOT: Antonio Margarito Outsmarts Miguel Cotto
Picture: Chris Farina/Top Rank
Boxing history’s most dramatic knockouts are those that come without a single punch. It is the picture of Joe Frazier on his stool in Manila as trainer Eddie Futch tells him “Sit down, son. No one will ever forget what you did here today.” It is Roberto Duran waving off Sugar Ray Leonard while exclaiming “No mas”. And it was yesterday as an utterly spent and exhausted Miguel Cotto dropped down to one knee after being backed into a corner in the 11th round by a relentless Antonio Margarito before his trainer and uncle, Evangelista Cotto waved the white towel. No Aaron Pryoresque barrage would be necessary to finish off Cotto – only the mere thought of one. Announcer Max Kellerman immediately pronounced the fight “A modern day classic” while Jim Lampley called it “An epic fight with an epic conclusion”. While HBO announcers are known to embellish from time to time, it ain’t hyperbole if it’s the truth. And if you are upset that you missed the bout, all I can say is: “I told you so” .
Read Full Article at Sports On My Mind . (from July 27)
Related Boxing Stories:
Cotto vs. Margarito: 10 Reasons Why You Must Watch This Fight! (July 25, 2008)
Is HBO Boxing, Larry Merchant, Racially Biased? (July 7, 2008)
Tainted Legacy: Floyd Mayweather Jr. Quits Boxing (June 7, 2008)
Will Oscar De La Hoya Do The Right Thing? (May 4, 2008)
Joe Calzaghe Beats Hopkins… or did Bernard Beat Himself? (April 20, 2008)
Cotto and Tarver Win, But Undercards Steal the Show (April 14, 2008)
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18 Jun
CELTICS WIN… and Expose “The Winner Myth”
Last year Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen were unable to lead each of their teams into the playoffs. Today they are all world champions.
Last year Doc Rivers coached the Celtics to the worst record in the NBA. This series he out-coached 9-time champion Phil Jackson at every conceivable turn.
Last year Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge, coming off a trade that exchanged Sebastian Telfair for Brandon Roy, was ranked by most as one of the worst GM’s in the entire NBA . This year Ainge was named the NBA Executive of the Year after his acquisitions of Garnett and Allen. Read Full Article at Sports On My Mind
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15 Jun
Terrorism in Sports: A Tale of Two Fists
Prior to Barack and Michele Obama’s possible “terrorist fist jab” as described by Fox News , you would have to go back 40 years to find the last time a gesture involving two fists caused so much attention. That was after Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their hands in a black power salute in Mexico City. The cost of their fist symbolism would be to be expelled from the Olympics, and treated back home like, well… terrorists.
With a big hat tip to Media Matters , Sports On My Mind has investigated the role sports has played in this more recent political drama. Our findings, based off of 20 separate pieces of evidence, tell a troubling story of terrorist infiltration that leaves no sport untouched. Below are the results of our investigation. Read Full Article at Sports On My Mind
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14 Jun
Media Reform Hits Ball Hard, But Not to All Fields
Former Bush insider Scott McClellan explains in his book how mainstream media were “complicit enablers” in spreading false propaganda leading up to Iraq war. Election coverage has been reduced to lapel pins. And the supposed watchdog of the NBA and its referee betting scandal also happens to be their corporate partners (that’s ESPN for those slow on a lazy weekend). What do these various issues have in common? They are the consequences of BIG CORPORATE MEDIA. Read full article at Sports on My Mind
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07 Jun
Tainted Legacy: Floyd Mayweather Jr. Quits Boxing
An Open Letter to Floyd Mayweather:
Floyd, what if Sugar Ray Leonard never fought Roberto Duran? What if Hagler never risked his belt against Tommy Hearns? What if all of these four fighters never squared off with one another in the 1980’s? …It would never happen. It could never happen. Because championship fighters at the highest level MUST challenge themselves against the very best. It’s in their DNA. But today you announced your retirement from boxing without fighting the only man that true boxing fans have wanted to see you fight: Miguel Cotto. Read Full Article at Sports On My Mind
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01 Jun
EXPOSED!: Kimbo Slice, CBS, ESPN, and MMA
Full Disclosure: I love boxing, but hate Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Not the fighters, just the game. I have great respect for the skill, heart, and courage they possess, and greater disdain for the spectacle they create. I am personally happy for Kimbo Slice that he can make a few extra bucks, but despise the reasons why he has become so popular. I respect the true fans of MMA who appreciate the sport on its most technical levels, but not the masses who come to cheer for its the most barbaric images. Read full article at Sports On My Mind
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23 May
Willie Randolph and the Death of the “Race Card”
Current Mets Manager Willie Randolph has found himself in a bit of racial controversy this week when in a recent interview with Ian O’Connor he questioned if black managers and coaches face double-standards in media criticism before later apologizing “for the unnecessary distraction”. In doing so, Randolph became the perfect candidate, and best possible laboratory experiment to discuss the true meaning of the phrase: “The Race Card”. Read article at Sports On My Mind
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21 May
Tucker Carlson: Entrenched Racism is Obama’s Fault
For months, political punditry has centered around race and gender politics. Yet virtually every show’s host is a white male, the pundit selections often fall short (yet far more diverse than hosts), and Pat Buchanan is somehow still receiving a paycheck . But perhaps the most disturbing aspect of punditry has been the last month of euphemism-laced questions about “Obama’s problem” getting “the white, working class vote” whether in Pennsylvania or West Virginia or Kentucky. A prime example took place this early morning on MSNBC’s “After Hours” with Dan Abrams. Pundit Tucker Carlson states: Read more at Sports on My Mind
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20 May
Barack Obama, Chris Paul, & the Lucky Black Man Delusion
She’s baaaaaack, Geraldine Ferarro just won’t go away, and neither will ”The Lucky Black Man Delusion”. In her most recent appearance she is wondering why Barack Obama didn’t say “thank you” to her, reiterates that Obama is lucky to be black, and says it is “a statement of fact” (note: since 1990 women have a 60 -4 edge over black men in winning statewide elections/reelections). Pat Buchanon — in his latest racist diatribe — agrees with her. In fact, Obama is not just luckier than white women, but white men too! Now old Democrats and Republicans put aside differences for their common racial bond. This post by Raving Black Lunatic shows that in 2006 Ferraro agreed that Hillary had the easier road, and may simply be playing an ugly form of racial politics? Either way, it’s working. Polls show that masses of white Americans agree with her. Now Hillary’s days may be numbered, but expect the “the lucky black man delusion” to continue from one deliberate campaign strategy to another. Bank on it straight through to November. Given the delusional concept based off ”black cherry picking”, it is a good time to repost (originally on March 27) ”Barack Obama, Chris Paul, and The Lucky Black Man Delusio n ”.
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19 May
Game 7: Lebron James Discovers “The Truth”
Game 7 Eastern Conference Semifinals at Boston. The Detroit Pistons await the winner. Despite the Celtics “Big Three”, the game evolves into a mana-a-mano shootout. Larry Bird vs. Dominique Wilkins? Nah, that’s sooo 20 years ago. Today it was Paul Pierce carrying the Celtics on his back to overcome 45 from Lebron James on route to a 97-92 victory over the Cavaliers. And in doing so, Lebron James, and hopefully Cavs GM Danny Ferry, discover “the truth” why the Cavaliers lost this game and this series. Read Full Article on Sports on My Mind
Photo: Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images via ESPN
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18 May
Candace Parker Has Magic-al Debut
She likes to post-up her defender… when not effortlessly draining 3-pointers. She likes to rebound the ball in traffic… right before she puts it on the floor to start the fast break. She likes to cross-over in either direction… before scoring with either hand. WNBA - Meet Candace Parker. After watching the Los Angeles Sparks’ Parker assert her “5-dimensional” skill in her WNBA debut, only one person came to mind: Magic Johnson. …And it could have also been: the no-look passes, the near triple-double, or the taking the game over in the 4th quarter. In any event, Parker amassed 34 points, 12 boards, and 8 assists in an exciting 99-94 win over the defending champion Phoenix Mercury on a court filled with some of the WNBA’s finest stars. LA center Lisa Leslie — the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer — came back from a year off (pregnancy) to notch 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Scoring machine Diana Taurasi shook off a poor first half to notch 24 points for the game. And lighting quick all-star Cappie Pondexter kept the Mercury in the game with 32 points before missing a game-tying 3-pointer with four seconds left. Read Full Article at Sports on My Mind
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16 May
Danica Patrick Breaks Sports Illustrated’s Cover Barrier!
It has been almost three years, almost 200 regular issues, and 10 women dressed in swimsuits since the last solo female athlete graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. During that time span, Candace Parker led the Tennessee Volunteers to back-to-back NCAA basketball championships, her coach — Pat Summit — became the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history, Venus Williams won Wimbledon twice, and young golfer Lorena Ochoa has emerged with the dominance of Tiger Woods… Read full article at "Sports On My Mind .
Related: April 14, 2008: Sports Illustrated’s Cover Barrier: Who Will Break the Bikini Line ?
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14 May
The Line-Up Theory: How Mike D’Antoni Can Save Knicks Roster, Future… & Isiah’s Legacy
According to a report in the New York Post, the New York Knicks are interested in Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni." The New York Daily News Mike Lupica’s most recent headline reads: "Mike D’Antoni has Stiff Task Ahead Leading Isiah Thomas’ Stiffs". Lupica claims D’Antoni must clean up a mess that is "the biggest in the history of Madison Square Garden", and that Thomas put together "the most wretched Knicks team of them all". Lupica did not mention if Thomas had any role in bombing the World Trade Center. Read full article at SPORTS ON MY MIND .
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12 May
Donnie Walsh’s First Blunder or Future Knicks Media War?
Donnie Walsh really blew it. Mr. Nice Guy pulled a fast one. Actually, he pulled an Isiah. Or is that “a Dolan”… Hiring Mike D’Antoni? Nah, the jury is out on that one until we see future personnel moves. Pissing off the big bad New York Daily News? Not a smart career move. Almost one hour after CNNSI Jack McCallu m reported Saturday at 1:25 pm that the Knicks had just hired D’Antoni, the New York Daily News article that morning still read: “The Deal was Shot Down ”. ESPN’s website didn’t look much better as a top NBA headline read “D’Antoni Waiting for Bulls”. … So how did the NY Daily News get it so wrong? Well, they reported that Walsh himself had denied the report for two days before officially closing the deal. Yesterday, Daily News beat reporter Frank Isola remarked that “Walsh’s credibility” was “taking a hit ”. Read Full article at Sports On My Min d
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06 May
“Good Will Hunting”: Deadspin’s Debt to Blogciety
“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together…”
I am not the Walrus, but I am Will Leitch… whether I want to be or not… and if you are a sports blogger, so are you… If this perception wasn’t already reality before last week’s HBO COSTAS NOW “Sports and Media” special, it certainly is now to any non-blogger who saw author Buzz Bissinger and Bob Costas tag-team Deadspin’s Will Leitch like he was Barack Obama at a presidential debate. …
Read FULL ARTICLE at SPORTS ON MY MIND
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Global Poverty
Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson wrote a column a few months ago in which he identified global poverty as mankind's greatest moral challenge ["Rx for Global Poverty," 28 May 2008]. He begins his column by succinctly laying out his case for putting poverty at the top of the priority list of global challenges:
"What's the world's greatest moral challenge, as judged by its capacity to inflict human tragedy? It is not, I think, global warming, whose effects -- if they become as grim as predicted -- will occur over many years and provide societies time to adapt. A case can be made for preventing nuclear proliferation, which threatens untold deaths and a collapse of the world economy. But the most urgent present moral challenge, I submit, is the most obvious: global poverty."
Because poverty seems to be ever present, it can easily become part of the global landscape and thus easily ignored. Jesus famously said, "For ye have the poor always with you." Like all great moral teachers, however, he went on to encourage his followers to and reduce poverty and relieve the suffering of those caught in its awful grasp. Samuelson writes about the extent of the challenge today.
"There are roughly 6 billion people on the planet; in 2004, perhaps 2.5 billion survived on $2 a day or less, says the World Bank. By 2050, the world may have 3 billion more people; many will be similarly impoverished."
Most predictions are that when the world reaches 9 billion people (around 2050) the world will start depopulating. Those predictions are primarily based on statistics that indicate relatively fewer people will be gripped by poverty and birthrates will be correspondingly lower. Samuelson's point is that we know how to eliminate poverty, yet it persists.
"What's baffling and frustrating about extreme poverty is that much of the world has eliminated it. In 1800, almost everyone was desperately poor. But the developed world has essentially abolished starvation, homelessness and material deprivation. The solution to being poor is getting rich. It's economic growth. We know this. The mystery is why all societies have not adopted the obvious remedies."
Okay, it may not be too much of a mystery. There are geographical reasons (some areas simply lack the resources and climate necessary for a prosperous society). There are political reasons (corruption and bad leadership). There are societal reasons (lack of appreciation for education, especially for girls). The list goes on, but the point is that most of these challenges can be successfully addressed. Samuelson continues:
"Just recently, the 21-member Commission on Growth and Development -- including two Nobel-prize winning economists, former prime ministers of South Korea and Peru, and a former president of Mexico -- examined the puzzle. Since 1950, the panel found, 13 economies have grown at an average annual rate of 7 percent for at least 25 years. These were: Botswana, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Malta, Oman, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Some gains are astonishing. From 1960 to 2005, per capita income in South Korea rose from $1,100 to $13,200. Other societies started from such low levels that even rapid economic growth, combined with larger populations, left sizable poverty. In 2005, Indonesia's per capita income averaged just $900, up from $200 in 1966. Still, all these economies had advanced substantially. The panel identified five common elements of success:
Openness to global trade and, usually, an eagerness to attract foreign investment.
Political stability and 'capable' governments 'committed' to economic growth, though not necessarily democracy (China, South Korea and Indonesia all grew with authoritarian regimes).
High rates of saving and investment, usually at least 25 percent of national income.
Economic stability, keeping government budgets and inflation under control and avoiding a broad collapse in production.
A willingness to 'let markets allocate resources,' meaning that governments didn't try to run industry." For long-time readers of this blog, that list should sound somewhat familiar. In my discussions about Development-in-a-Box™, I have touched on all of these points with the possible exception of the last. Although it is easy to list pre-conditions for sustainable development, implementation is much more difficult. For example, a country might be eager to attract foreign direct investment, but that often means having in place the necessary infrastructure to make such investments worthwhile. No company is going to build a plant in an area where the manufactured products have no way of getting efficiently to market. Installing "capable" governments is not easy either. Historically, corrupt leaders do not give up power -- just look at Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. High rates of savings and investment are not easy to achieve either when most people are struggling to find enough to eat and to keep their families sheltered. Faced with such conundrums, it's really not so baffling or mystifying that countries remain mired in poverty. The question remains, what can they do to break the cycle of poverty? Samuelson offers a couple of prescriptions.
"One is: Globalization works. Countries don't get rich by staying isolated. Those that embrace trade and foreign investment acquire know-how and technologies, can buy advanced products abroad, and are forced to improve their competitiveness. The transmission of new ideas and products is faster than ever. After its invention, the telegram took 90 years to spread to four-fifths of developing countries; for the cellphone, the comparable diffusion was 16 years.
"A second is: Outside benevolence can't rescue countries from poverty. There is a role for foreign aid, technical assistance and charity in relieving global poverty. But it is a small role. It can improve health, alleviate suffering from natural disasters or wars, and provide some types of skills. But it cannot single-handedly stimulate the policies and habits that foster self-sustaining growth. Japan and China (to cite easy examples) have grown rapidly not because they received foreign aid but because they pursued pro-growth policies and embraced pro-growth values."
I don't disagree with either of those broad lessons, but again identifying them is easier than implementing them. No one can honestly expect Samuelson to lay out a blueprint for solving world poverty in a short column, and he doesn't. He simply points out that challenges exist in many areas and that others elsewhere have overcome them. He concludes:
"The hard question (which the panel ducks) is why all societies haven't adopted [these lessons]. One reason is politics; some regimes are more interested in preserving their power and privileges than in promoting growth. But the larger answer, I think, is culture, as Lawrence Harrison of Tufts University argues. Traditional values, social systems or religious views are often hostile to risk-taking, wealth accumulation and economic growth. In his latest book, 'The Central Liberal Truth,' Harrison contends that politics can alter culture, but it isn't easy. Globalization has moral as well as economic and political dimensions. The United States and other wealthy countries are experiencing an anti-globalization backlash. Americans and others are entitled to defend themselves from economic harm, but many of the allegations against globalization are wildly exaggerated. Today, for example, the biggest drag on the U.S. economy -- the housing crisis -- is mainly a domestic problem. By making globalization an all-purpose scapegoat for economic complaints, many 'progressives' are actually undermining the most powerful force for eradicating global poverty."
I believe that Samuelson is correct and I have repeatedly said so in my blogs. I, too, am concerned that the current economic downturn and emerging "neighborhood effect" [see my post Changing Supply Lines] will delay or crush the hopes of millions of people who could be helped by globalization. We need global vision and leadership as well as national vision and leadership. The poor may always be with us, but there needn't be so many poor.
Changing Supply Lines
Globalization is all about the movement and flow of resources, capital, people, ideas and so forth. Rising fuel prices, however, are changing the routes some of those flows are following ["Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization," by Larry Rohter, New York Times, 3 August 2008].
"When Tesla Motors, a pioneer in electric-powered cars, set out to make a luxury roadster for the American market, it had the global supply chain in mind. Tesla planned to manufacture 1,000-pound battery packs in Thailand, ship them to Britain for installation, then bring the mostly assembled cars back to the United States. But when it began production this spring, the company decided to make the batteries and assemble the cars near its home base in California, cutting more than 5,000 miles from the shipping bill for each vehicle. 'It was kind of a no-brain decision for us,' said Darryl Siry, the company's senior vice president of global sales, marketing and service. 'A major reason was to avoid the transportation costs, which are terrible.'"
In a couple of recent posts, I have noted how changes in supply lines have dramatically and negatively affected economies that had thought they had permanently benefited from globalization [see Looking for Jobs that Last and Colombia Embraces Globalization]. In those posts, I noted that globalization integrates trade by disintegrating production chains and dispersing them across economies. But as the costs of transportation increase, the length of supply lines is beginning to decrease. As a result, globalization is beginning to look more like regionalization. Rohter continues:
"The world economy has become so integrated that shoppers find relatively few T-shirts and sneakers in Wal-Mart and Target carrying a 'Made in the U.S.A.' label. But globalization may be losing some of the inexorable economic power it had for much of the past quarter-century, even as it faces fresh challenges as a political ideology. Cheap oil, the lubricant of quick, inexpensive transportation links across the world, may not return anytime soon, upsetting the logic of diffuse global supply chains that treat geography as a footnote in the pursuit of lower wages. Rising concern about global warming, the reaction against lost jobs in rich countries, worries about food safety and security, and the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva last week also signal that political and environmental concerns may make the calculus of globalization far more complex."
As Rohter notes, rising transportation costs are returning geographical challenges to the place they have historically occupied. Although transportation companies and manufacturing plants decry the changing landscape, many environmentalists are cheered by the changes.
"'If we think about the Wal-Mart model, it is incredibly fuel-intensive at every stage, and at every one of those stages we are now seeing an inflation of the costs for boats, trucks, cars,' said Naomi Klein, the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. 'That is necessarily leading to a rethinking of this emissions-intensive model, whether the increased interest in growing foods locally, producing locally or shopping locally, and I think that's great.'"
Regionalization is good for many product chains, but it could also slow globalization's advance into areas that are currently mired in poverty, such as Africa. As I pointed out in the posts mentioned earlier, supplier companies need to position themselves within the logistics paths of production chains in order to benefit from globalization. As those logistics lines shrink, they are likely to bypass some geographical regions that are anxiously awaiting for the rest of the world to discover them. Without being embraced as part of disintegrated production chains, these regions will never attract enough capital to build up a sustainable regional economy. The changes have already started to occur.
"Many economists argue that globalization will not shift into reverse even if oil prices continue their rising trend. But many see evidence that companies looking to keep prices low will have to move some production closer to consumers. Globe-spanning supply chains — Brazilian iron ore turned into Chinese steel used to make washing machines shipped to Long Beach, Calif., and then trucked to appliance stores in Chicago — make less sense today than they did a few years ago. To avoid having to ship all its products from abroad, the Swedish furniture manufacturer Ikea opened its first factory in the United States in May. Some electronics companies that left Mexico in recent years for the lower wages in China are now returning to Mexico, because they can lower costs by trucking their output overland to American consumers."
Such dramatic changes in so short a period of time make it more important than ever for companies to involve themselves in alternative futures planning. Companies need to consider a number of possibilities about the future because no one can predict how the competitive landscape is going to change with any certainty. One thing that will remain important is wringing out as many efficiencies in the global supply chain as possible. To do that, there is going to have to be a lot more information sharing, even among competitors. Rohter notes how rising fuel prices have affected shipping costs.
"The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the United States has risen to $8,000, compared with $3,000 early in the decade, according to a recent study of transportation costs. Big container ships, the pack mules of the 21st-century economy, have shaved their top speed by nearly 20 percent to save on fuel costs, substantially slowing shipping times. The study, published in May by the Canadian investment bank CIBC World Markets, calculates that the recent surge in shipping costs is on average the equivalent of a 9 percent tariff on trade. 'The cost of moving goods, not the cost of tariffs, is the largest barrier to global trade today,' the report concluded, and as a result 'has effectively offset all the trade liberalization efforts of the last three decades.' The spike in shipping costs comes at a moment when concern about the environmental impact of globalization is also growing. Many companies have in recent years shifted production from countries with greater energy efficiency and more rigorous standards on carbon emissions, especially in Europe, to those that are more lax, like China and India."
This is not good news for developing countries, especially those that counted on building their industrial capacity using dirty industrial age technologies. Critics of globalization, Rohter reports, are delighted by these developments and have started writing about the death of globalization. They are probably writing a premature eulogy.
"Many leading economists say such predictions are probably overblown. 'It would be a mistake, a misinterpretation, to think that a huge rollback or reversal of fundamental trends is under way,' said Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. 'Distance and trade costs do matter, but we are still in a globalized era.' As economists and business executives well know, shipping costs are only one factor in determining the flow of international trade. When companies decide where to invest in a new factory or from whom to buy a product, they also take into account exchange rates, consumer confidence, labor costs, government regulations and the availability of skilled managers."
For the billions of people suffering from extreme poverty the death of globalization would also spell the end of hope. As I noted in one of the posts mentioned above, transportation costs have affected different economic sectors in different ways. Rohter discusses some of these changes.
"The industries most likely to be affected by the sharp rise in transportation costs are those producing heavy or bulky goods that are particularly expensive to ship relative to their sale price. Steel is an example. China's steel exports to the United States are now tumbling by more than 20 percent on a year-over-year basis, their worst performance in a decade, while American steel production has been rising after years of decline. Motors and machinery of all types, car parts, industrial presses, refrigerators, television sets and other home appliances could also be affected. Plants in industries that require relatively less investment in infrastructure, like furniture, footwear and toys, are already showing signs of mobility as shipping costs rise. Until recently, standard practice in the furniture industry was to ship American timber from ports like Norfolk, Baltimore and Charleston to China, where oak and cherry would be milled into sofas, beds, tables, cabinets and chairs, which were then shipped back to the United States. But with transportation costs rising, more wood is now going to traditional domestic furniture-making centers in North Carolina and Virginia, where the industry had all but been wiped out. While the opening of the American Ikea plant, in Danville, Va., a traditional furniture-producing center hit hard by the outsourcing of production to Asia, is perhaps most emblematic of such changes, other manufacturers are also shifting some production back to the United States."
Transportation costs have also contributed to the current food crisis.
"Soaring transportation costs also have an impact on food, from bananas to salmon. Higher shipping rates could eventually transform some items now found in the typical middle-class pantry into luxuries and further promote the so-called local food movement popular in many American and European cities."
To learn a bit more about the local food movement and some of the challenges associated with it, you can read my earlier post titled The Return of Family Farms? Rohter reports that rising transportation costs are creating a so-called "neighborhood effect." This effect, as noted above, is already changing supply chains and it may also mark a return to warehousing and inventories as "just-in-time" logistics systems become strained.
"Global companies like General Electric, DuPont, Alcoa and Procter & Gamble are beginning to respond to the simultaneous increases in shipping and environmental costs with green policies meant to reduce both fuel consumption and carbon emissions. That pressure is likely to increase as both manufacturers and retailers seek ways to tighten the global supply chain. 'Being green is in their best interests not so much in making money as saving money,' said Gary Yohe, an environmental economist at Wesleyan University. 'Green companies are likely to be a permanent trend, as these vulnerabilities continue, but it's going to take a long time for all this to settle down.' In addition, the sharp increase in transportation costs has implications for the 'just-in-time' system pioneered in Japan and later adopted the world over. It is a highly profitable business strategy aimed at reducing warehousing and inventory costs by arranging for raw materials and other supplies to arrive only when needed, and not before. Jeffrey E. Garten, the author of 'World View: Global Strategies for the New Economy' and a former dean of the Yale School of Management, said that companies 'cannot take a risk that the just-in-time system won't function, because the whole global trading system is based on that notion.' As a result, he said, 'they are going to have to have redundancies in the supply chain, like more warehousing and multiple sources of supply and even production.' One likely outcome if transportation rates stay high, economists said, would be a strengthening of the neighborhood effect. Instead of seeking supplies wherever they can be bought most cheaply, regardless of location, and outsourcing the assembly of products all over the world, manufacturers would instead concentrate on performing those activities as close to home as possible."
Opponents of globalization will undoubtedly crow over these developments. I'm not one of them. I believe the world can become a better place because of globalization, not in spite of it. Within a few decades, globalization should reach places it has yet to touch. That timeline could be pushed back if transportation costs rearrange the landscape of the global supply chain to extent implied in Rohter's article. Those concerned with the development of places like Africa would do well to start considering how a regional trading regime could still help create sustainable economies in some of the world's poorest places.
New Calls for Global Leadership
Two years ago I posted a blog about The Need for Global Leadership. It followed a post about the continuing saga of the Doha Round of trade talks that was struggling to make headway. As most of you know, those talks collapsed earlier this month (see my post The Collapse of the Doha Round). In the earlier post on global leadership, I stressed the importance of a having a vision sufficiently grand to inspire action. New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks is now calling for a new organization of likeminded democracies that could combine sufficient power and influence to "do something" when others organizations appear hopelessly deadlocked ["Missing Dean Acheson," 1 August 2008]. My colleague Tom Barnett finds Brooks' arguments just plain dumb [Some truly bad thinking from Brooks]. I also have some concerns about Brooks' column, but for slightly different reasons. Brooks begins his column writing about the same "wise men" I wrote about in my post on global leadership. These "wise men" helped put the world back together following the last world war. Brooks writes:
"We’re about to enter our 19th consecutive year of Truman-envy. Ever since the Berlin Wall fell, people have looked at the way Harry Truman, George C. Marshall, Dean Acheson and others created forward-looking global institutions after World War II, and they've asked: Why can't we rally that kind of international cooperation to confront terrorism, global warming, nuclear proliferation and the rest of today’s problems? The answer is that, in the late 1940s, global power was concentrated. The victory over fascism meant the mantle of global leadership rested firmly on the Atlantic alliance. The United States accounted for roughly half of world economic output. Within the U.S., power was wielded by a small, bipartisan, permanent governing class — men like Acheson, W. Averell Harriman, John McCloy and Robert Lovett."
Before examining the rest of Brooks' column, one needs to examine the straw man premise he has just set up. He decries the lack action on subjects like terrorism, global warming, and nuclear proliferation and concludes that the stalemate has occurred because there is a lack of concentration of power. It almost seems an afterthought when he writes that "power was wielded by a small, bipartisan, permanent governing class." My post on global leadership was a call for leaders -- leaders with the vision, wisdom and will to see what was right and find ways to make it happen. It helps when such leaders have an institution they can use to implement their plans, but the problem per se is not institutional. Take global warming for example. The United States under the Bush administration has resisted global efforts to address the problem and no new institution would have changed that. On other two challenges Brooks mentioned, terrorism and nuclear proliferation, the Bush administration has managed to cobble together remarkably effective coalitions to address them -- again without a new institution. Brooks, however, focuses on the institutional basis of what he calls "globosclerosis" rather than on the fact that what is really lacking is dedicated class of public servants with broad vision and political acumen. Only a handful of today's politicians understand the importance of bipartisanship and the art of compromise. Brooks writes:
"Today power is dispersed. There is no permanent bipartisan governing class in Washington. Globally, power has gone multipolar, with the rise of China, India, Brazil and the rest. This dispersion should, in theory, be a good thing, but in practice, multipolarity means that more groups have effective veto power over collective action. In practice, this new pluralistic world has given rise to globosclerosis, an inability to solve problem after problem."
Brooks points to the collapse of the Doha Round as evidence of the problem. The culprits there being China and India. He could just have easily pointed to the failure of the Kyota Accord and included the U.S. in the mix of culprits. His point, however, is valid. Special interests continue to win out over common interests. He provides other examples.
"The Doha failure comes amid a decade of globosclerosis. The world has failed to effectively end genocide in Darfur. Chinese and Russian vetoes foiled efforts to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe. The world has failed to implement effective measures to deter Iran's nuclear ambitions. The world has failed to embrace a collective approach to global warming. Europe's drive toward political union has stalled. In each case, the logic is the same. Groups with a strong narrow interest are able to block larger groups with a diffuse but generalized interest. The narrow Chinese interest in Sudanese oil blocks the world's general interest in preventing genocide. Iran's narrow interest in nuclear weapons trumps the world's general interest in preventing a Middle East arms race. Diplomacy goes asymmetric and the small defeat the large."
I have no quarrel with that logic. The problem is that the examples reflect politicians being politicians instead of being leaders. The "wise men" discussed earlier weren't politicians. They were bureaucrats with stature who could see beyond the challenges of the day to a brighter future. Their influence over politicians, however, was significant. Brooks continues to insist, however, that the basic problem is institutional. He continues:
"In a multipolar world, there is no way to referee disagreements among competing factions. In a democratic nation, the majority rules and members of the minority understand that they must accede to the wishes of those who win elections. But globally, people have no sense of shared citizenship. Everybody feels they have the right to say no, and in a multipolar world, many people have the power to do so. There is no mechanism to wield authority. There are few shared values on which to base a mechanism. The autocrats of the world don't even want a mechanism because they are afraid that it would be used to interfere with their autocracy. The results are familiar. We get United Nations resolutions that go unenforced. We get high-minded vows to police rogue regimes, but little is done. We get the failure of the Doha round and the gradual weakening of the international economic order."
Brooks points to the Iraq fiasco as a prime example of why unilateral action is not the solution to globosclerosis. What, he asks himself, is the answer?
"Globosclerosis continues, and people around the world lose faith in their leaders. It's worth remembering that George W. Bush is actually more popular than many of his peers. His approval ratings hover around 29 percent. Gordon Brown’s are about 17 percent. Japan’s Yasuo Fukuda’s are about 26 percent. Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Silvio Berlusconi have ratings that are a bit higher, but still pathetically low. This is happening because voters rightly sense that leaders lack the authority to address problems. The bottom line is that presidential candidates can talk grandly about global partnerships, but it's meaningless without a mechanism to wield authority. A crucial question in an authority crisis is: Who has a strategy for execution? The best idea floating around now is a League of Democracies, as John McCain and several Democrats have proposed. Nations with similar forms of government do seem to share cohering values. If democracies could concentrate authority in such a league, at least part of the world would have a mechanism for wielding authority. It may not be a return to Acheson, Marshall and the rest, but at least it slows the relentless slide towards drift and dissipation."
There is no doubt that some of the post-war institutions set in place by the "wise men" are now a bit long in the tooth. Fixing them, however, has a better chance of succeeding than trying to establish new ones. There is no reason that NATO, for example, could not be morphed into the "League" Brooks recommends (it would be easier and cheaper than coming up with an entirely new organization), but the basic problem would still remain -- a lack of leadership. The past eight years of unilateral American action divided old allies and created few new friends. No new institution would have changed that. What we need a new generation of clear-sighted world leaders who have the imagination to see a brighter future and the will to get us there. That kind of leadership is the sine qua non of any solution to globosclerosis.
The Fear of Nuclear Proliferation
One widely broadcast political advertisement being used by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama asserts that nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists is the most serious security threat facing the United States. For good reasons, preventing a nuclear detonation anywhere in the world is high on the list of almost everyone's security concerns. The consequences of such a detonation go far beyond the loss of life that would result. Beyond the concern about radioactive material for a so-called dirty bomb or, even worse, a nuclear weapon falling into the hands of terrorists, the proliferation of nuclear weapons has remained in the headlines thanks to so-called "rogue nations" like North Korea and Iran. The topic again made headlines in late July when a Japanese company suspected of selling equipment that could be used to build nuclear weapons was raided by police ["Japan police raid company, suspect nuclear exports," by Jay Alabaster, Washington Post, 31 July 2008].
"Police raided the headquarters of Horkos Corp., a maker of machining tools and construction equipment, and several other sites in the city of Fukuyama, about 370 miles southwest of Tokyo, said police spokesman Ryoji Manda. The company is suspected of exporting equipment without obtaining government authorization, he said. In 2004, Horkos exported several 'machining centers' to South Korea, from where they could then have been sold to other countries, Japanese media reported. The equipment is highly precise and can be used to make components for centrifuges that enrich uranium for use in nuclear bombs."
The raid underscores the challenges involved with preventing nuclear proliferation. The Horkos Corporation was not suspected or accused of selling nuclear weapon components directly to a so-called rogue state. It sold machines to an ally nation. Its "transgression" was selling that equipment without permission. The first-line defense of nations trying to prevent nuclear proliferation is trying to prevent the components necessary to begin a nuclear program from ever reaching states interested in developing "the bomb." It is a difficult and tedious intelligence challenge. Sometimes the information that components have been secured by undesirable states is only learned after the fact.
"In 2006, Japanese police arrested the president and other employees of Mitutoyo Corp., and the company later admitted it broke the law in a case involving the export of precision three-dimensional measuring devices. Japanese news reports said the International Atomic Energy Agency had earlier discovered Mitutoyo-made machinery at nuclear-related sites in Libya during inspections."
Although the article didn't say, it is likely the machinery by Mitutoyo wasn't sold directly to Libya (even if they knew that is where it would eventually end up). Like the Horkos machinery the Mitutoyo equipment was probably sold initially to a legitimate third party. The most infamous black market for nuclear program components was run by the Pakistani scientist who is credited with developing Pakistan's nuclear weapon program. Four years ago, his operation was uncovered and he was placed under arrest. The extent of his operation is still be being discovered ["Officials Fear Bomb Design Went to Others," by David E. Sanger and William J. Broad, New York Times, June 2008].
"Four years after Abdul Qadeer Khan, the leader of the world’s largest black market in nuclear technology, was put under house arrest and his operation declared shattered, international inspectors and Western officials are confronting a new mystery, this time over who may have received blueprints for a sophisticated and compact nuclear weapon found on his network's computers. Working in secret for two years, investigators have tracked the digitized blueprints to Khan computers in Switzerland, Dubai, Malaysia and Thailand. The blueprints are rapidly reproducible for creating a weapon that is relatively small and easy to hide, making it potentially attractive to terrorists. The revelation this weekend that the Khan operation even had such a bomb blueprint underscores the questions that remain about what Dr. Khan, a Pakistani metallurgist and the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, was selling and to whom. It also raises the possibility that he may still have sensitive material."
Governments interested in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons are concerned by this because Khan is a national hero in Pakistan and the Pakistani government has hinted that it wants to release him. The fear is that Khan will re-start his operation if released.
"Pakistani officials insist that Dr. Khan, as the leader of a uranium enrichment program, had no weapons access. But this is the second weapons design found in his smuggling network. The first was for an unwieldy but effective Chinese design from the mid-1960s that Libya acknowledged obtaining from the Khan network before it surrendered its bomb-making equipment in 2003. Both the new and the old designs exploit the principle of implosion, in which a blast wave from a sphere of conventional explosives squeezes inward with tremendous force to compress a ball of bomb fuel, starting the chain reaction and the atomic explosion. A nuclear official in Europe familiar with the Khan investigation said the new design was powerful but miniaturized — using about half the uranium fuel of the older design to produce a greater explosive force. ... Nuclear experts said a warhead built from the new design was small enough to fit atop a family of medium-range missiles that derive from North Korea’s Nodong class of missiles. Those missiles include Pakistan’s Ghauri and Iran’s Shahab. All are about four feet wide, and any warhead atop them must, by definition, be smaller."
Rising oil, natural gas, and coal prices have raised new fears about nuclear proliferation because dozens of nations are becoming interested in exploring nuclear power as an alternative energy source ["Spread of Nuclear Capability Is Feared," by Joby Warrick, Washington Post, 12 May 2008].
"At least 40 developing countries from the Persian Gulf region to Latin America have recently approached U.N. officials here to signal interest in starting nuclear power programs, a trend that concerned proliferation experts say could provide the building blocks of nuclear arsenals in some of those nations. At least half a dozen countries have also said in the past four years that they are specifically planning to conduct enrichment or reprocessing of nuclear fuel, a prospect that could dramatically expand the global supply of plutonium and enriched uranium, according to U.S. and international nuclear officials and arms-control experts."
Although oil-rich Middle Eastern countries claim that their nuclear power programs are aimed at ensuring their energy future beyond the oil era, arms control experts suspect security concerns are also involved.
"For some Middle Eastern states with ready access to huge stocks of oil or natural gas, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the investment in nuclear power appears to be linked partly to concerns about a future regional arms race stoked in part by Iran's alleged interest in such an arsenal, the officials said. ... Although the United Arab Emirates has a proven oil reserve of 100 billion barrels, the world's sixth-largest, in January it signed a deal with a French company to build two nuclear reactors. Wealthy neighbors Kuwait and Bahrain are also planning nuclear plants, as are Libya, Algeria and Morocco in North Africa and the kingdom of Jordan. Even Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, last year announced plans to purchase a nuclear reactor, which it says is needed to produce electricity; it is one of 11 Middle Eastern states now engaged in starting or expanding nuclear power programs. Meanwhile, two of Iran's biggest rivals in the region, Turkey and Egypt, are moving forward with ambitious nuclear projects. Both countries abandoned any pursuit of nuclear power decades ago but are now on course to develop seven nuclear power plants -- four in Egypt and three in Turkey -- over the next decade."
The country of most immediate concern, of course, is Iran.
"Although U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Iran halted its research into making nuclear weapons five years ago, the Islamic republic still seeks to make enriched uranium with centrifuges at its vast underground facility at Natanz. It is now operating about 3,000 centrifuges and plans to increase the number to 50,000."
All of this highlights the conundrum that will continue to confront the world as it continues to develop and the demand for electricity increases. Nuclear power is a proven and efficient alternative energy source and, once the challenge of radioactive waste is solved, its widespread use should help reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses. But within every peaceful nuclear power program lies a nascent nuclear weapons program. That is why a vigorous international inspection program will be necessary to ensure that peaceful nuclear programs remain peaceful. The other concern is the safe and secure transport and sale of nuclear material that could be used by terrorist organizations if it fell into their hands. To counter this challenge, governments have established sensor systems and intelligence networks ["Interdicting Nuclear Smuggling: Second Line of Defense Program," by Micah Zenko and Matthew Bunn, NTI.org, last updated by Micah Zenko on 20 November 2007].
"The Second Line of Defense program at the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) seeks to interdict illicit trafficking of nuclear and radiological material through airports, seaports, and border crossings in Russia and other key transit states. It strives to do this by helping states install and use radiation detection equipment at these sites, and providing associated training and support. Since 2003, the Second Line of Defense program has consisted of two components: the 'Core' program that focuses on putting radiation detection in place at border crossings, mid-sized seaports, and airports in Russia, other former Soviet States, Eastern Europe, and other key countries; and the Megaports Initiative that equips major international seaports shipping cargo to the United States with radiation detection equipment."
The first line of defense, of course, is secure handling and storage of nuclear material so that it never makes it to the black market. In addition to the Second Line of Defense Program, the U.S. has established several other initiatives.
"Customs Container Security Initiative. On January 17, 2002, U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner announced the Container Security Initiative (CSI), a series of bilateral agreements to identify and pre-screen high-risk shipping containers from the twenty foreign ports that collectively account for 90 percent of shipping traffic into the United States, before such containers even start their trip to the United States. Part of the CSI consists of examining U.S.-bound selected containers that are assessed as high-risk for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear material, as well as potentially dangerous dual-use items. The Second Line of Defense program has agreed to contribute its expertise in supplying radiation detection equipment to foreign countries for screening for radiological and nuclear material. ...
"Secure Freight Initiative In December 2006, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DOE announced the first phase of the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI). The Initiative complements and coordinates with DHS's Bureau of Customs and Border Protection's Container Security Initiative (CSI) and DOE's Megaports Initiative. Under the joint work-plan, either the host government or DHS pays for the non-intrusive imaging systems while DOE deploys the radiation portal monitors. The SFI works to integrate the data and images provided by the DOE monitors and the non-intrusive imaging systems. All of the data is provided to the host government. Any data that concerns U.S.-bound containers is provided to on-site U.S. CSI systems, and the CBP National Targeting Center (NTC) in the United States. If the DOE-provided radiation monitors set off an alarm from scanning a U.S.-bound container, U.S. and host country personnel are notified at the same time, providing some degree of oversight for the effectiveness of U.S.-funded equipment and training."
The challenge of preventing nuclear proliferation and the illicit marketing of nuclear material is never-ending. Once the nuclear genie was let out of the bottle, there is no putting it back in, despite calls by politicians to do just that. Therefore, preventing proliferation is a challenge that requires significant cooperation between governments and between commercial organizations and governments. If, as predicted, the use of nuclear power becomes more common (and I think it should), the challenge will only grow. We should look at this as an opportunity for international cooperation and collaboration rather than an intractable challenge. Wringing one's hands has never helped the world move forward.
Drug Use Rising in West Africa
Until oil was discovered in and around West Africa, that area was best known as the hub of the 18th and 19th century slave trade. In recent years, West Africa has also seen savage civil wars, which has left some countries devastated and in chaos. With relative peace restored and the discovery of oil, people (including criminals) are seeing opportunities to exploit. Where the West sees oil, criminals see what my colleague Tom Barnett calls "seam states." These are states that have just enough connectivity with the developed world so that they can carry out their nefarious activities, but not so much connectivity that they can't live comfortably "off the scope" of most law enforcement agencies. The more corrupt the area, the better for them. The latest challenge to confront West Africa is cocaine ["Cocaine Finds Africa," by Antonio Maria Costa, Washington Post, 29 July 2008].
"West Africa is under attack. The region has become a hub for cocaine smuggling from Latin America to Europe. States that we seldom hear about, such as Guinea-Bissau and neighboring Guinea, are at risk of being captured by drug cartels in collusion with corrupt forces in government and the military."
As I have repeatedly pointed out, corruption undermines progress more than almost any other challenge faced by countries gripped with poverty. When corruption is found within both the political and security sectors, there is little anyone can do to help that country progress until such corruption is rooted out. The question is who will do the rooting? Unfortunately for some African countries, it looks like corruption is taking deeper root.
"With the exception of cannabis in Morocco, Africa never used to have a drug problem. That has changed, however, in the past five years. Around 50 tons of cocaine are being shipped from the Andean countries to Europe via West Africa every year -- and that is a conservative estimate. Actual amounts could be at least five times higher. The volume seized is rising sharply: from 266 kilograms in 2003, to 3,161 in 2006, to 6,458 in 2007. This steep increase will no doubt continue. This month alone, more than 600 kilos were seized in a plane with fake Red Cross markings at the airport in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and at the international airport in Bissau, several hundred boxes were unloaded from a jet. The profiteers in this illicit trade -- mostly but not only Latinos -- stand out on the streets of West African towns. They drive luxury cars, buy up the best hotels and are building haciendas and other opulent examples of 'narcotecture.'"
As Latin American countries clean up their acts (see my post about Colombia), the cartels are moving to seam states. Lacking the resources of developed nations, honest local law enforcement officers find themselves out-equipped and out-manned.
"Law enforcement has been helpless against this onslaught. Drug planes don't have to fly below the radar, because in most cases there is no radar (or electricity). Soldiers sometimes help smugglers by closing airports and unloading the cargo. Police cars run out of gas when giving chase or are left in the dust by smugglers' all-terrain vehicles. There are no local navies to intercept the ships coming from Latin America or to chase the 2,000-horsepower boats that speed drugs up the coast to Europe. Traffickers are seldom brought to trial; in some cases, there are no prisons to put them in. Even when they are charged, they are usually released because evidence is not collected or needed laws are not in place."
In my discussions about Development-in-a-Box™, I have stressed that there are certain pre-conditions that must exist before development can take place. Atop that list is security. Too often people think about security just in terms of military might. Law enforcement is an even more important part of the security picture. As Costa points out, security is one reason that the rest of the world should be concerned with what is happening in West Africa.
"Drugs have become a security issue. Drug money is perverting the weak economies of the region. In some cases, the value of the drugs being trafficked is greater than a country's national income. The influence that this buys is rotting these fragile states; traffickers are buying favors and protection from candidates in elections. Quick intervention by the international community five years ago prevented a crisis in Cape Verde, but the cartels merely shifted their operations to Guinea-Bissau. Now Guinea is under threat; Guinea's neighbor Sierra Leone could be next. Without a regional response, the problem will move from country to country."
I often talk about the need for a holistic approach to building a sustainable economy in a developing state. Costa, who is executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, underscores the importance of taking a holistic approach to regional problems as well as national challenges. But she notes that the road ahead is bumpy.
"Containing this threat will not be easy. Poverty is the biggest problem. These countries are the worst performers on the human development index -- their populations at the bottom of the 'bottom billion.' Unemployed and desperate youths are vulnerable to being recruited as foot soldiers for criminal groups. West African countries must take control of their coasts and airspace. This requires hardware (boats, planes and radar), know-how (investigative techniques and container security) and counter-narcotics intelligence. Some of these capabilities can be developed nationally, but some assistance will have to come from abroad. Cooperation among customs officials, border guards, the police and counter-narcotics agents -- at ports and airports, for example -- has made Cape Verde a less attractive transit point for drug traffickers. The same approach should be adopted elsewhere. Because the drug trade defies borders, regional cooperation is vital, particularly intelligence-sharing. Stronger legal cooperation among West African nations would enable more effective extradition, mutual legal assistance and confiscation of the proceeds of crime. Working contacts must also be strengthened between countries of origin and destination, in South America and Europe, respectively."
Costa notes that some nascent efforts have begun but, by themselves, are insufficient to counter the challenges ahead. She harkens back to getting rid of corruption and building local capacities and infrastructures.
"In some cases, mechanisms for intelligence-sharing are under construction. But measures, and even laws, to fight organized crime and corruption will be meaningless without the political will and capacity to implement them. Too often, drugs that are seized disappear instead of being destroyed. Judges, police and witnesses are intimidated. Security forces turn a blind eye or lend a hand to smuggling. The highest authorities must recognize the stakes. Their failure to act is a sign of helplessness or complicity. Political will would be strengthened if regional leaders were rewarded for their integrity and punished for corruption. At the moment, the honest ones feel abandoned and the crooked ones act with impunity. We must reduce vulnerability to drugs and crime with greater development. And greater justice would build faith in the rule of law. West Africa's drug trafficking problem is still relatively small compared with that of West Asia, the Caribbean or Latin America. But it is growing exponentially and threatens to turn the region into a center of lawlessness. Such instability is the last thing Africa needs. The affected countries and the international community must act before the situation spirals out of control."
The drug problem is simply another challenge that must be thrown in the mix as the search for solutions continues. These challenges cannot be countered serially but must be attacked simultaneously. Progress must be made in all areas so that the economy and quality of life in all sectors rise in unison. Any other approach will turn out to be more like a "whack-the-varmint" game found in amusement parks. Although tackling a multitude of problems simultaneously is more difficult, it is the only strategy that can maintain sufficient momentum to make real and lasting progress. Unfortunately, the international community has yet to settle on a grand strategy of how to attack these problems, let alone the mechanism for doing so.
Another Search Engine Revs Up
Every six months or so it seems that a company introduces a new search engine in hopes of competing with Google and other big search engine sites [see my posts Globalization's Competitive Landscape and Wikiasari, Web 2.0, and Other Search Engines]. In the first post, I noted that the combatants in the search engine struggle included (in addition to Google), Microsoft, Yahoo, and Ask.com. The focus of the post was Ask.com, which started life as Ask Jeeves. The post also mentions companies like Lycos, Alta Vista, and HotBot. I'm sure there are others of which I'm not aware or use little, like Hakia. Another search engine has now entered the fray ["Former Employees of Google Prepare Rival Search Engine," by Miguel Helft, New York Times, 28 July 2008]. As the headline of Helft's article reveals, the pedigree of this new search engine is impressive.
"In her two years at Google, Anna Patterson helped design and build some of the pillars of the company's search engine, including its large index of Web pages and some of the formulas it uses for ranking search results. Now, along with her husband, Tom Costello, and a few other Google alumni, she is trying to upstage her former employer. On [28 July], their company, Cuil, ... unveil[ed] a search engine that they promise will be more comprehensive than Google's and that they hope will give its users more relevant results."
To test the search engine, I did a search for my company, Enterra Solutions. Cuil returned 11,076 hits and scanning the first 10 pages of results, they all appeared relevant to the search. I must admit, however, that I was a bit baffled by the images that accompanied the hits. Some were relevant and some seemed oddly out of place. For web surfers used to seeing the results provided by Google, they should be pleasantly surprised by results presented by Cuil. They are presented in an attractive and easy to read format. Whether this is enough to make a dent in the search engine market remains to be seen.
"Cuil, pronounced 'cool,' is only the latest in a long string of start-up companies that have been founded and financed with the goal of competing with Google, as well as Yahoo and Microsoft. (In June, Google accounted for 61.5 percent of search queries in the United States, while Yahoo held 20.9 percent and Microsoft had 9.2 percent, according to comScore.) Some of the most prominent include Powerset, which Microsoft recently bought, and Wikia, which was founded by Jimmy Wales, one of the creators of Wikipedia. So far, none have managed to make a dent in the search market."
Analysts, however, are not writing off Cuil as simply another contender that is going to get crushed by the reigning champ.
"Some analysts say Cuil has potential, in part because of the pedigree of its founders. 'This is the most promising thing I've seen in a while,' said Danny Sullivan, who has followed the online search business for more than a decade and is the editor of Search Engine Land. 'Whether they are going to threaten Microsoft, much less Google, that's another story.' Mr. Costello, a former researcher at Stanford, said that with 120 billion Web pages, Cuil's search index is larger than any other. The company uses a form of data mining to group Web pages by content, which makes the search engine more efficient, he said. Instead of showing results as short snippets of text and images with links, it displays longer entries and uses more pictures. It also provides tools to help users further refine their queries. ... Mr. Sullivan said he was unimpressed by Cuil's claim that its index includes more Web pages, noting that that could mean users are 'overwhelmed by a whole bunch of junk.' But he said that Cuil’s new approach to ranking pages and presenting results could prove to be a hit with some users. 'If it turns out that they have good relevancy, I could see that the word of mouth' would bring Cuil some popularity, he said."
As Mr. Costello says earlier in the article, the success of Cuil is in the hands of users. With $33 million of venture capital sunk into the enterprise to date, some pretty big bets have been made that Cuil will succeed where others have failed.
African Women's Movement
When Zimbabwe finds itself in the news, the story is generally about Robert Mugabe, the dictator who has sunk one of Africa's potentially prosperous nations to the bottom of the economic heap. His latest act of tyranny, of course, was conducting a farcical presidential election. As I've written on numerous occasions, corruption and bad leadership are two of the most devastating challenges that must be overcome in Africa. Because top down leadership is so difficult to find, many bottom up movements have achieved some measure of progress in different areas. One of those movements, surprisingly found in Zimbabwe, is a women's movement that is helping that gender overcome centuries of abuse ["Women Forging New Bonds to Break Old Chains," by Nora Boustany, Washington Post, 17 June 2008]. Boustany's report begins with the experiences of Betty Makoni, a women's rights activist.
"At the age of 6, Betty Makoni could already count change. She roamed the alleys after dark, a basket on her head, selling tomatoes and candles near Zimbabwe's capital. One night, a neighbor lured her and three other girls, ages 10, 12 and 14, into his shop and raped them. 'He believed if you extract the blood of virgins and smear it over the walls of your business, your fortunes would multiply. It was 1977,' before the end of white rule, she said, 'and we had no access to the police.' Today, Makoni is a prominent activist, part of an emerging network of female leaders who started programs in their own communities, branched out to the national level and later forged bonds with global organizations to provide protection through education, legal counseling and grants."
This is a classic example of how "communities of practice" can unite to improve the world. To read more about communities of practice, see my blog Communities of Practice and Development-in-a-Box. Boustany goes on to report that the community of practice in which Makoni is involved is not only making an impact in the developing world, but is reaching out to the developed world as well.
"Their efforts have helped women and girls around the world counter the effects of sexual violence and other injustices through such mechanisms as counseling, the media and dance in societies dominated by men and shaped by cultural and religious sensitivities sometimes at odds with women's rights. Makoni was in Washington [in May 2008] to lobby U.S. legislators for passage of the International Violence Against Women Act, which aims to integrate U.S. efforts to end gender-based violence into U.S. foreign assistance programs. The bill, introduced last year by Sens. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Del.) and RIchard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), would extend into the international arena a 1994 act to combat violence against women in the United States. The legislation, introduced in the House this spring, seeks to link foreign assistance and diplomacy in about 20 countries, said Paula J. Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs. The bill's other goals include reducing the rate of HIV/AIDS, boosting prosperity in impoverished countries and alleviating conditions that invite terrorism."
As I noted in a recent post, nation-states remain important even in (I would even say "especially in") a globalized world. Influencing nation-states is best done by other nation-states and that is the reason that the women's movement is reaching out to the U.S. and other developed countries.
"'It is essential that American legislators look at and be forced to deal with this issue pragmatically as a leading public health problem in the world,' said Kavita Ramdas, head of the Global Fund for Women, a foundation that provides grants to groups advocating in behalf of women's rights. Ramdas said the organization has received more than 3,500 appeals for help. Some are handwritten, others are typed in Arabic, Hindi, Swahili and other languages. 'We got a letter from Yahalon, Mexico, that was dictated to the village priest and signed with thumbprints,' she said. And one was from Makoni."
Before continuing with Makoni's story, I can't resist underscoring how important educating girls is for the future of the planet. The fact that a village full of women in Mexico can't even sign their own names in the 21st century is an indictment against a government that has too long been dominated by male politicians. We will never be able to bring people out of poverty when we apply only half of our brainpower and half of leadership potential against the challenge. Boustany underscores the kinds of miracles that can be worked if women are educated -- Betty Makoni is her star exhibit.
"After attending college, Makoni returned to Chitungwiza, her home town, to teach at a high school. One day, a 13-year-old girl told her she had been raped by her mother's boyfriend. Soon, other girls came forward, and Makoni started a club to counsel the group of 10. The next week, 50 girls showed up. There are now 35,000 Zimbabwean girls in such clubs, part of the Girl Child Network. As a result, Makoni said, boys behave more cautiously, refraining from taunting girls at their first signs of puberty for fear of disciplinary action at school. Her efforts have also helped jail men for abuses and exposed crimes of senior officials."
Boustany goes on to report that Africa is not the only place where grassroots women's rights movements have taken hold.
"In 1990, Shreen Abdul Saroor and her family were displaced from the Mannar region of northern Sri Lanka by a militant group fighting for a separate Tamil state. She started working with some of the 75,000 other Muslims evicted to the eastern region of Puttalam, and was struck by their conservative Islamist transformation. Secular women who once donned saris were wearing head-to-toe burqas, gloves and black veils that prevented them from making it down a street without an escort. Young women were being bullied into covering up. ... She started a volunteer group to tend to the displaced. Her Mannar Women's Development Federation brought together 15 Muslim and Tamil women, and started off with a $30 micro loan to a woman who wanted to start a pancake stall. Their activities spread to 36 villages, launching small industries for roasting cashews and canning fish paste. Supervisors monitoring their progress began seeing bruises on the women and hearing about brawls. Mullahs and Catholic priests were brought in to counsel the men. For the women, the federation provided guidance and legal coaching, and sought court orders when needed. ... The most brutal beatings occurred at night when men returned from work, so Saroor and her colleagues held silent vigils outside the homes of vulnerable women. 'The issue stopped being private and became public,' she said."
Although the challenges change from region to region, the bottom up approaches for countering them are much the same. One of the areas with a well-known gender problem is the Middle East.
"So-called honor killings make victims of as many as 5,000 women and girls each year, mostly in the Middle East and Asia, according to the U.N. Population Fund. In Turkey, media attention fueled public outrage over the practice and led to a change in the law that allowed all charges against a rapist to be dropped if he married his victim. In 2004, Guldunya Toren, 22, from a village in southeastern Turkey, was shot by her brothers for refusing to marry the rapist who had impregnated her. She survived, but the brothers tracked her down in the hospital and shot her dead. The tragedy both angered and inspired Vuslat Dogan Sabanci, chief executive of the Hurriyet publishing group. She urged editors to expose honor killings as crimes and to cast shame on the tradition. Hurriyet launched a crusade for change in its coverage and organized bus trips for doctors and lawyers to raise awareness. A new editorial policy included instructions not to refer to women as helpless victims. The rest of the media followed, as did celebrities. With funding from European and private sources, a 24-hour hotline was set up. Turkey's government launched its own hotline to assist women in distress."
Although progress has been made, Boustany reports that there is a long way to go.
"To keep their sons from serving jail time for honor killings, families began urging daughters accused of dishonor to kill themselves with poison or other means. 'There is this silent genocide going on against these women,' Ramdas said."
One of the challenges that is receiving increased attention is human trafficking. I believe I read recently that there is more slavery going on today that at anytime in the history of the world (an estimated 27 million people). Whether that is true or not, human trafficking remains a problem that needs addressing. Boustany continues:
"Trafficking is deeply rooted in economic inequality, Ramdas said. In India alone, the wives and daughters of an estimated 10,000 farmers who committed suicide last year because of meager crops migrated to cities, many becoming sex workers. Abused women often are unable to bear or raise healthy babies."
The fact that women feel empowered to help other women is a good sign. It is a trend that will only increase as women are provided more opportunities to be educated and to serve in business and government positions.
Global Anti-Smoking Effort Launched
In 1947, singer/songwriter Merle Travis wrote the song "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" for the famous country-western songwriter and entertainer Sollie "Tex" Williams. The song was a million seller. The chorus of that song goes like this:
Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette Puff, puff, puff until you smoke yourself to death. Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate That you hate to make him wait, But you just gotta have another cigarette.Ironically, Williams, a heavy smoker, died from cancer. Merle Travis eventually recorded his own version of the song and other singers, including Phil Harris and Jimmy Dean, also had hits with the tune. The song strikes a note with smokers and non-smokers alike. In 1947, however, the health effects of smoking were not widely known. In fact, some cigarette manufacturers touted the health benefits of their product. A lot has certainly changed since those days -- or so one would think. In the developing world, tobacco companies are pushing their products with a vengeance and the health consequences are severe. Two well-known billionaires -- Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg -- are teaming to try and stop people in developing countries from smoking ["Billionaires Back Antismoking Effort," by Donald G. McNeil, Jr., New York Times, 24 July 2008].
"The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco will kill up to a billion people in the 21st century, 10 times as many as it killed in the 20th. This time, most are expected to be in poor countries like Bangladesh and middle-income countries like Russia. In an effort to cut that number, Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation plans to commit $250 million over four years on top of a $125 million gift he announced two years ago. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is allocating $125 million over five years."
This is not the first time that the Gates Foundation has tackled a growing health issue in the developing world or worked with other philanthropists. Another famous billionaire, Warren Buffett, pledged the bulk of his considerable fortune to support the work of the Gates Foundation.
"Since 1999, the Gates Foundation has spent more than $2 billion on AIDS programs and about $1.2 billion on malaria. Mr. Gates has just left his Microsoft post for full-time foundation work and said he intends to form partnerships with other philanthropists."
A former smoker, Bloomberg has been supporting anti-smoking efforts for years, including a tobacco control program at Johns Hopkins University that trains foreign students in public health issues. At the news conference announcing the new partnership, Bloomberg called himself both optimistic and realistic.
"'All the money in the world will never eradicate tobacco,' he added. 'But this partnership underscores how much the tide is turning against this deadly epidemic.' The new donations far outstrip current spending of about $20 million a year on antismoking campaigns in poor and middle-income countries, according to a recent W.H.O. report. The $500 million would be spent on a multipronged campaign — nicknamed Mpower — that Mr. Bloomberg and Dr. Margaret Chan, director of the health organization, outlined in February. It coordinates efforts by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, the World Health Organization, the World Lung Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the foundation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. It will urge governments to sharply raise tobacco taxes, prohibit smoking in public places, outlaw advertising to children and cigarette giveaways, start antismoking advertising campaigns and offer people nicotine patches or other help quitting. Health officials, consumer advocates, journalists, tax officers and others from third world countries will be brought to the United States for workshops on topics like lobbying, public service advertising, catching cigarette smugglers and running telephone help lines for smokers wanting to quit. A list of grants is at tobaccocontrolgrants.org."
It should come as no surprise that not everyone greeted the news of this new campaign with enthusiasm.
"Catherine Armstrong, a spokeswoman for British American Tobacco — one of the Western tobacco companies that focuses on sales to the third world — would not comment directly on the new initiative. But she said, 'We have no problem with government organizations educating people on the risks of tobacco.' A spokesman for Philip Morris, which makes Marlboro, the world's most popular cigarette brand, said the company agreed that children should be kept from smoking but thought that raising cigarette taxes promoted smuggling and counterfeiting."
Gates and Bloomberg understand that they are fighting an uphill battle, but they believe it is a battle worth fighting. As one the people interviewed for the article commented, the campaign could save tens of millions of lives in his lifetime and hundreds of million of lives in children's lifetime.
"The global campaign promises to be a struggle. Cigarettes not only are highly addictive and supported by huge advertising campaigns, they are also an important source of income for many foreign governments. In China and other countries, tobacco is a state-owned monopoly, and low- and middle-income countries collect $66 billion a year in tobacco taxes. Only about 5 percent of the world's countries have any antismoking measures like those the campaign envisions. But Dr. [Richard] Peto, [an Oxford epidemiologist,] said antismoking campaigns were already having some effects, even in countries where no-smoking signs are often ignored. He surveyed thousands of tobacco users in China in the 1990s — 'before the government was taking it seriously,' he said — and found 4 percent who identified themselves as former smokers. Now, he said, 20 percent do. In India, where people have long chewed tobacco but widespread smoking is more recent, Dr. Peto said he found almost no one who had quit. 'India is where China was in the mid-1990s,' he said. Smoking is not widespread in most of Africa, where only about 20 percent of men smoke, and Mr. Gates said on Wednesday that he hoped to prevent a surge in smoking there."
The article goes on to note that serious health issues and cancer deaths normally appear about four decades after smoking becomes widespread in a society. For the United States, awareness of health issues began to grow in the 1960s. Most developing countries are where the United States was in the 1930s and 1940s. Gates and Bloomberg hope that developing countries can learn from the experiences of the developed world and avoid many of the health problems. In my discussions about Development-in-a-Box™, I have noted that a healthy workforce is one of the things that potential investors look for before committing millions of dollars of foreign direct investment. Gates and Bloomberg know that prevention is better than cure, which is why they have committed millions to preventing people in the developing world from getting addicted to nicotine in the first place.
Looking Beyond Oil
For decades one of the critiques of Saudi leaders has been that they were not investing in their country for the day that oil runs out. The inevitable result of such shortsightedness would be to leave Saudi Arabia a large empty desert visited only by religious pilgrims. In a previous post [Education in Saudi Arabia], I discussed how King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is investing $12.5 billion to catch up with the West in science and technology by building a graduate research institution. Unfortunately, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology will be more like a gated community than an open college campus. But it's a start. Washington Post staff writer Faiza Saleh Ambah reports on other efforts that the kingdom is making to secure its future ["Saudis Look Beyond Oil to New Economy in Desert," 17 July 2008]. Ambah begins her report near the city of Medina.
"Over the next few years, Saudi officials say this stretch of desert will be transformed into a buzzing hub of scientific research and development, with cutting-edge universities, hospitals and housing for more than 130,000 people attracted by the idea of living in the city where Islam's prophet Muhammad is buried. The project, called Knowledge Economic City, represents a first serious step by Saudi Arabia toward building a post-petroleum economy. It is one of six major industrial centers planned to rise over the next 15 years. At a cost of more than $100 billion, the sites are expected to provide housing and jobs for the country's fast-growing population, half of which is younger than 21. These cities-from-scratch are the most ambitious projects to date launched by a kingdom enriched almost entirely by oil since its disparate regions were unified into a state more than seven decades ago. In beginning to construct an economy to survive the end of its natural resources, the Saudi government is drawing on lessons learned during a previous oil boom when profits were squandered in part by spendthrift princes and short-term planning that emphasized infrastructure over education."
The timing is right for beginning such projects because the kingdom is on the receiving end of the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world.
"With oil prices peaking above $145 a barrel in recent weeks, the kingdom is reaping an unprecedented windfall from its vast reservoirs of oil, which represent a quarter of the world's proven reserves. Saudi Arabia reported oil income of $200 billion last year and projects $700 billion in revenue over the next two years. The kingdom earned an average of $43 billion annually throughout the 1990s."
Of course in order to see revenue at the projected levels, the global economy must remain out of recession and demand for oil must remain high. Most analysts believe that will be the case. Nevertheless the Saudis do have some concerns.
"Saudi officials have long feared that too-high oil prices would push the world toward alternative fuels, a concern captured by one former oil minister's tart reminder that 'the Stone Age did not end for lack of stone.' To meet rising demand, as well as to slow the world's rush to develop alternative energy sources, Saudi officials have raised oil production by 500,000 barrels a day since May. Though increased production means the Saudi reserves will be depleted faster, the government is using a burst of additional capital to develop an economy it hopes will eventually be untethered from the price of oil."
Had these efforts begun decades ago, the Middle East would undoubtedly be a very different place today. Oil rich Middle Eastern states need to concentrate on improving education and on reinstilling a culture hard work in their people. The new efforts appear to be aimed at accomplishing just that.
"The new cities 'are part of a broader effort to diversify the economy away from oil and away from its reliance on the public sector. The cities are intended to develop more of a non-oil economy, well before the oil runs out,' said Jane Kinninmont, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research and advisory company that provides industry and management analysis of countries around the world. Based on economic zones around the world, the cities aim to trade Saudi assets -- plentiful and cheap oil and vast open spaces -- for foreign expertise and training. But the cities also have social aims, analysts said, including creating jobs to stave off political unrest. 'When there was money, it was easy to absorb young Saudis into public jobs, but the population kept growing and the local education system did not produce enough candidates for the local job market. That caused resentment and allowed militant groups to launch against the local dynasty,' said Younsi, referring to a spate of al-Qaeda-related attacks in 2003."
As Ambah points out, if the kingdom is successful in building in a post-oil economy, it will change more than the geographical landscape. It will also change the cultural landscape.
"Saudi Arabia's ambitious economic program calls for the kingdom to be among the world's top 10 economies in terms of ease of doing business by 2010, up from its current rank of 23rd. Getting there will probably force social change in several ways. Saudi officials said they are working on easing the lifestyle and visa restrictions that have kept foreigners from investing and living in the kingdom. One side effect of that will probably be an easing of rules that ban men and women from mingling in public unless they are close relatives. 'We're not anymore an isolated island. We realize the challenge today in order for us to be more competitive means more transparency and more gender equality,' said Abdullah Hameedadin, head of the Economic Cities Agency at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, the government body overseeing the projects. Hameedadin said that 30 percent of his staff is female and that he expects women to be allowed to drive in the new cities -- which is currently banned in the kingdom. Officials also said they were seeking to attract both male and female investors to the cities."
These changes may seem small, but could they fundamentally change the kingdom for the better. To succeed in the post-oil era, the Saudis will need the talent and support of all of its population, both male and female. The kingdom will also require a more secure environment if it truly desires to attract more foreigners to its shores. As protectors of Islam's holiest places, the kingdom will undoubtedly remain Muslim in character and practice, but it will have to demonstrate more religious tolerance if it wants to open up to the world. They have recently altered textbooks to make them less harsh on "unbelievers" (meaning primarily Christians and Jews), but intolerance is still widely taught [see "The Saudi Guide To Piety," by Anne Applebaum, Washington Post, 22 July 2008]. In fairness, it took decades (if not centuries) to create the current culture in Saudia Arabia and turning it around will take some time as well. In relative terms, Saudi leaders are moving rapidly.
"Partly to bypass the bureaucracy and inefficiency of government ministries, and partly to buffer itself against the volatility of oil prices, the government will oversee the projects but leave the financing and management to the private sector, a mix of Saudi companies and investors from the Gulf region, Japan, Malaysia and China, among others. King Abdullah, who ascended the throne three years ago, has pushed hard to reform the country's economy, speeding the kingdom's entry into the World Trade Organization months after he became king. One of the cities, planned to rise along the Red Sea with canals running between high-rise apartment buildings, is named for him."
The change, as noted above, is too long in coming. Decades of accumulated oil wealth has been spent on lavish lifestyles. Today, although the lavish lifestyles still exist, money is also being more wisely invested and construction of modern infrastructure is in high gear. What there hasn't been is an investment in Saudi human capital.
"Despite the decades of oil wealth, the Saudi education system is ranked as one of the worst worldwide, tens of thousands of university graduates are unemployed, and the country manufactures and produces very little. Saudi Arabia consumes locally only 2 percent of the oil it produces. Oil accounts for 90 percent of Saudi Arabia's income. And until oil prices slumped in the 1990s, officials faced little pressure to diversify the economy. 'This is what some people call "the curse of oil." You don't need to train people, you don't need to work so hard,' said Kinninmont, the economist. Change has come about 'partly because of the experience of the '90s,' she said. 'Lots of political and economic problems still haunt the policymakers.' One-third of last year's budget surplus was earmarked to reduce government debt of $176 billion in 2003, incurred during years of low oil prices."
Education and job creation are primary goals of the new cities, although Ambah talks more about the jobs that will be created than education that will be provided.
"When the six cities are complete, about 2020, they will house nearly 5 million people and provide more than 1 million jobs, planners say. The cities provide regional balance by creating jobs and industries in some of the most underdeveloped regions and cities in the kingdom, said Saudi economist Abdel Aziz Abu Hamad Aluwaisheg. 'But the government has to increase investment in building roads and infrastructure in those cities to make those projects more attractive and profitable for private businesses,' Aluwaisheg said. One of the cities is planned for the southern backwater province of Jizan, where the unemployment rate for men is almost double the official 13 percent figure. Some economists believe actual unemployment in the country to be as high as 25 percent. The economic city there is expected to become a center for heavy industry, and several Chinese firms have already signed up to start aluminum smelters there, according to Saudi officials. 'Our carrot to global companies that rely on intensive energy for production is cheaper oil and plenty of land,' said Hameedadin, the official in charge of the economic cities. 'Instead of them buying the oil and manufacturing in their countries, we entice them here by providing them with tax breaks and cheaper crude, and we get know-how and jobs.'"
Anyone familiar with the Middle East knows that one reason unemployment is high is because foreigners have been brought in to do much of the blue collar work. Leaders must convince their citizens that honest labor is ennobling and that hard work is a blessing rather than a curse. Social conditions in Saudi Arabia are not going to turn around overnight, but it should cheer anyone concerned about the future of the region that leaders there are beginning to consider seriously the post-oil era.
Participatory Innovation
I have written a number of posts about innovation. Some of them have focused on the benefits of cross sector innovation, what Frans Johansson calls the "Medici Effect." Others have discussed organizations that offer prize money to individuals or groups for solving particular problems [e.g., A New Approach to Innovation and More Prizes for Innovation]. Still others have focused on organizations that help innovators connect with companies looking for solutions [e.g., Dating Game for Innovation]. Cornelia Dean, writing in the New York Times, discusses one such company -- InnoCentive ["If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone," 22 July 2008]. She begins her piece by relating how an innovator in one field was able to apply his expertise in another field when he was connected by InnoCentive to challenges that might not otherwise have come to his attention.
"John Davis, a chemist in Bloomington, Ill., knows about concrete. For example, he knows that if you keep concrete vibrating it won’t set up before you can use it. It will still pour like a liquid. Now he has applied that knowledge to a seemingly unrelated problem thousands of miles away. He figured out that devices that keep concrete vibrating can be adapted to keep oil in Alaskan storage tanks from freezing. The Oil Spill Recovery Institute of Cordova, Alaska, paid him $20,000 for his idea. The chemist and the institute came together through InnoCentive, a company that links organizations (seekers) with problems (challenges) to people all over the world (solvers) who win cash prizes for resolving them. The company gets a posting fee and, if the problem is solved, a 'finders fee' equal to about 40 percent of the prize."
It would be hard to deny that the Oil Spill Recovery Institute didn't get a bargain in the deal and Davis pocketed twenty grand that he would not otherwise have banked. InnoCentive, of course, must post a lot of challenges and collect a lot of finders fees to be profitable. That, however, is the beauty of the World Wide Web. The entire world of innovators becomes a potential pool of resources.
"The process, according to John Seely Brown, a theorist of information technology and former director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, reflects 'a huge shift in popular culture, from consuming to participating' enabled by the interactivity so characteristic of the Internet. It is sometimes called open-source science, taking the name from open-source software in which the source code, or original programming, is made public to encourage others to work on improving it. The approach is catching on. Today, would-be innovators can sign up online to compete for prizes for feats as diverse as landing on the Moon (space.xprize.org/lunar-lander-challenge) and inventing artificial meat (www.peta.org/feat_in_vitro_contest.asp). This year, researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Washington began recruiting computer gamers to an online competition, named Foldit, aimed at unraveling one of the knottiest problems of biology — how proteins fold (http://fold.it). And in a report last year, a panel appointed by the National Research Council recommended that the National Science Foundation, the major government financing agency for physical science research, offer prizes of $200,000 to $2 million 'in diverse areas' as a first step in a major program 'to encourage more complex innovations' addressing economic, social and other challenges."
While all this may sound creative, it is also a relatively cheap way to solve challenges. Take, for instance, the prize for landing a package on the moon mentioned above. The prize only goes to the winning team and even that team will likely lose money on the venture. That means that an enormous amount of expensive research and development will go into the challenge at no cost to the sponsoring organization. Yet the benefits of that R&D will still be available to be applied to new or similar challenges. Why would anybody compete for a prize that actually ends up costing them money? For the most part, the challenges involved are in areas that competing groups are already doing research. The prize money, if won, becomes an added bonus to work already in progress. As I noted in a previous post, even John McCain has jumped on the "prize for innovation" band wagon.
"Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has proposed that the government offer $300 million to whoever invents a battery compact enough, powerful enough and cheap enough to replace fossil fuels. Offering prizes for scientific achievements is hardly new. 'It has been around for centuries,' said Karim R. Lakhani, a professor at Harvard Business School who has studied InnoCentive. One early example was the work of John Harrison, the 18th-century clockmaker who, in response to a prize offered by the British Parliament, solved the problem of determining longitude at sea by inventing a clock that would keep good time even in heavy weather. But, Dr. Lakhani said, 'most laboratories, most R & D endeavors still work on the premise "we can accumulate and make sense of all the knowledge that is relevant." The open-source models and a model like InnoCentive show that other approaches can help.' Dwayne Spradlin, president and chief executive of InnoCentive, said in an interview that the company had solved 250 challenges, for prizes typically in the $10,000 to $25,000 range. According to the Web site (www.innocentive.com), the achievements include a compound for skin tanning, a method of preventing snack chip breakage and a mini-extruder in brick-making."
Interestingly, InnoCentive began life within a much larger corporation.
"InnoCentive began in 2000 as e.Lilly, an in-house innovation 'incubator' at the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, Mr. Spradlin said, with the company posting problems that its employees had been unable to solve. From the beginning the results were good, he said. 'Most of our companies tell us they have a one-third or better solve rate on their problems and that is more cost-effective than anything they could have done internally.' The company says solvers come from 175 countries. More than a third have doctorates, Mr. Spradlin said, and while motivated by money, they also have a desire to solve 'problems that matter.' The company, with offices in Waltham, Mass., has a staff of scientists who work with seekers and solvers, reviewing challenges to make sure they are clear and detailed, and guiding would-be solvers who may have a solution."
I'm glad that Dean pointed out that money is not the only motivation for innovators. As I've noted before, innovation involves both a good idea and the implementation of that idea. Innovators are driven to see their ideas actualized. The key to InnoCentive's success is breaking down challenges specifically enough that "solvers" can readily understand the problem even if it is out of their normal area of expertise.
"Specificity is crucial to InnoCentive’s operation, people who have studied the company say. 'If you say, "find me a cure for cancer" it may not work,' Dr. Lakhani said. But if problems can be 'decomposed' into what he called modular questions, like 'find me a biomarker for this condition, these questions may be more tractable.' The idea that solutions can come from anywhere, and from people with seemingly unrelated work, is another key. Dr. Lakhani said his study of InnoCentive found that 'the further the problem was from the solver's expertise, the more likely they were to solve it,' often by applying specialized knowledge or instruments developed for another purpose. For example, he said, the brain might be thought of as a biological system, but 'certain brain problems may not be solvable by taking a biological approach. You may want to cast it as an electrical engineering approach. An electrical engineer will come in and say, "Oh, here's the answer for you." They have not thought of themselves as being neuroscientists but now they can approach the problem from the point of view of electrical engineering.'"
That is a great description of the benefits of the Medici Effect (otherwise known as cross-sector innovation). Johansson and others have argued for years that some of the most interesting and innovative work is accomplished when people from different backgrounds get together to solve a problem. InnoCentive and the Rockefeller Foundation are also teaming to try and get non-profit organizations involved in the process.
"One critical element is encouraging organizations to take novel innovation approaches in the first place. That was the task that drew the Rockefeller Foundation to the company, said Maria Blair, an associate vice president there. Ms. Blair said the foundation was nearing the end of an 18-month pilot program after which the success of the partnership would be assessed. Anecdotal evidence so far suggests the arrangement can be useful, she said, citing as an example a challenge to devise a reliable, durable solar-powered light source that could function as a flashlight and as general room illumination. 'The solver ended up being a scientist from New Zealand,' she said, and his light is now being made in China."
There are some challenges in getting non-profits involved.
"The nonprofits get a break on InnoCentive fees, Mr. Spradlin said, and Ms. Blair said the foundation could subsidize access to innovation platforms. But she said many nonprofit organizations had difficulty dealing with intellectual property rights and related issues. InnoCentive deals with these issues, in part, by requiring winning solvers to transfer intellectual property rights to the seekers, whose identities are secret, before they can claim an award."
Companies posting problems also have some concerns.
"Dr. Lakhani said some companies worried that by posting information about their problems they risk giving valuable information to competitors. Another fear, he said, is that a solver will devise a useful solution, but refuse to turn it over for the prize or even patent it to keep it out of the hands of the organization that originally sought it."
Lakhani goes on to indicate that those sort of "games" have not yet been played by solvers; probably because they are more interested in maintaining good relations with InnoCentive and protecting future earnings. InnoCentive hopes that by 2011 its pool of solvers would have successfully responded to over 10,000 challenges.
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Guide Picks - With briefcase style computer cases mobile workers should look for well-padded and adjustable shoulder straps, plenty of storage space for small accessories, thick padding in the interior and a secure means of strapping the notebook in place. Other nice features to have include: quick access pockets on the exterior for cell phones and paperwork. Weight is another consideration to be kept in mind when looking at computer cases. Check out some of my favourite briefcase style computer cases.
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Posts: [Movin’ on up], [Science Tuesday: Back into the hornets’ nest], [Science Tuesday: The MMR vaccine and autism - truth, lies and the media], [Not quite Science Tuesday: Life after the lab], [Science Tuesday: Lies on the Motel TV], [Science Tuesday: Breath-taking insanity], [Florida], [Science Tuesday: In Response to an Animal Rights Apologist], [Open Access Science Tuesday, err, Wednesday: Vigorous Vegans], [Open Access Science Tuesday: Diesel Fuming]
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Movin’ on up
July 17th, 2008 · 17 Comments · This 'n' that
For some time, I’ve been a little concerned about security in term of this here blog. By throwing my real name, not to mention a number of personal details, around the internets I’ve wondered if I’m being a bit stupidly brazen. The cyber equivalent of walking down Broadway with my trousers around my ankles. I worry that some of the things I say could be used against me. For example, say (and this is purely hypothetical) I went looking for a job at a media outlet owned by Rupert Murdoch, as most of the media outlets in Australia are. It wouldn’t take much more than a Google search to find out my opinion on Murdoch’s contributions to the world. (For the record: he’s almost singlehandedly destroyed journalism by raping and pillaging his way through the world’s media. Avast ye mateys!)Let me just adjust my tin foil hat. So, in an effort to protect myself from myself, and more importantly my family from myself, I’m going to move chrisdellavedova.com to a new address.I’ve no intention of changing much at the new address. The format and look of the site will remain roughly the same. I also don’t think that it’s going to be fully anonymous. I mean with photos of all of us emblazoned all over the page, it won’t be much of a challenge to sort it out. What I hope that this move will prevent is things like potential employers being able to immediately connect me with occasionally rash statements and giving a phisherman a one stop shop for all the personal information he needs to nick my identity. I’d like to at least make it slightly challenging. And not having my name as the url is probably a good start.This site will remain functional for a while and I may make it into something more professional in time. I’m going to very slowly, transfer all of the posts from here to the new address, for posterity’s sake.Here’s the important bit: I value you my readers, but I’m not going to link to the new address as this would kind of defeat the purpose. Some of you have already figured it out - well done. If you want the new address, send me an e-mail (cdv[at]chrisdellavedova[dot]com) and I’ll gladly give it to you - unless, of course, you are a potential employer. Or a phisherman. Or the NSA.
→ 17 CommentsTags:·moving
Science Tuesday: Back into the hornets’ nest
July 15th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Science
Call me a glutton for punishment, but despite the hornet’s nest that I wrote myself into a couple of weeks ago, I’ve a second post on autism for this Science Tuesday. The controversy over the MMR vaccine and the alleged links to autism and the passions that it evokes inspired me to keep on reading the scientific literature on autism research. Coincidentally, a major article was published in this week’s Science addressing the hanging question asked by a number of rightly concerned parents is, “If the MMR vaccine doesn’t cause autism then what does?”
As you might expect, that’s not an easy question to answer. As is the case with most complex disorders there is no one “cause”. Autism isn’t like tuberculosis, there’s not a bacteria that causes the disease. In fact,most researchers believe that “autism” is not a discrete disorder, rather “autism is a clinically defined pervasive developmental disorder with phenotypically diverse neuropsychiatric symptoms and characteristics. These manifest as a spectrum of social and communicative deficits, stereotypical patterns and disturbances of behaviour.”¹ This spectrum of symptoms is collectively described as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and range from severe mental retardation often accompanied by seizures to milder . Symptoms of ASDs usually become apparent in children by three years old, but are often detectable by 14 months. This is one of the reasons that the unsubstantiated ‘link’ between autism and the MMR vaccine is so persistent, the age at which the vaccine is given is often the age at which symptoms become apparent.
There has been extensive research into the neuropathology and neurobiology of ASDs and a number of changes to the nervous system are associated with autism. These include aberrations in brain growth, neuronal patterning and cortical connectivity as well as changes in structure and function of synapses and dendrites.² The cause of these morphological changes, and thus autism, is not so clear. The short answer is ASDs are primarily genetic disorders, but there may be environmental factors that are involved as well. For the long answer, read on.
Genes: This is the big one. In the case of autism, as with many complex traits, the heritability of the trait can be estimated. Heritability refers to the proportion of phenotypic variation that is attributable to genetic variation. If a particular trait’s heritability is 100% then the trait is due entirely to genetic variation, if the heritability is 0% then the trait is due entirely to environmental variation. By some estimates, heritability of autism spectrum disorders exceeds 90%. Twin studies support a strong genetic component and sibling recurrence risk - the chance of a younger sibling of an autistic child having autism, exceeds 15%. When compared with the rates in the general population (1 in 500 for “autism” and 1 in 150 for ASDs) there is little doubt that a big piece of the puzzle rests in our genes.³
The problem is that autism is not caused by a mutation in a single gene. Nearly 30 individual genes have been identified as playing a role in ASDs, including genes involved in synapse function, neuron adhesion, endosomal trafficking, neuronal activity regulation and other biological processes. The paper that inspired this post is the most recent study into genetic factors causing autism. A group led by Christopher Walsh at Harvard used “homozygosity mapping” to isaolate several genes that were associated with autism. Homozygosity mapping involves study families in which parents share ancestors, which increases the risk of children accumulating harmful recessive mutations. This is the reason that inbreeding is a social taboo.
Walsh’s group found a number of different mutations in autistic children from these families, a number of which were associated with large deletions of parts of the genome or chromosomal rearrangements. A subset of these could be associated with mutations in autistic children with unrelated parents, lending support to the hypotheses that defects in these genes cause ASDs. Interestingly, some of the genes identified by Walsh’s group and others are also associated with other neurological disorders including Fragile X syndrome, Rett syndrome and epilepsy.
As a geneticist, it is a temptation to end this post here. To declare that the cause of autism is a series of mutations in the genome that induce changes in brain morphology and the spectrum of symptoms that we call autism. Unfortunately, that would be ignoring part of the equation. Some researchers think that the 90% heritability estimate is high, and even if it is not the environment still plays a role in autism.
Environmental factors: There has been a wealth of research into the role of environmental toxins in causing autism and this school of thought is the one that supports the MMR-autism link. The argument here is that the massive increase in autism in the last couple of decades points to an environmental influence for which genetics alone can not account. Researchers are looking most closely at the usual suspects - heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury. There is some evidence to support an association between even low level exposure to toxic heavy metals and neurological issues ADHD and lower IQs. This association led to the scare regarding the mercury containig thimerosal in the MMR vaccines. However, repeated studies have found that autism diagnoses continue to rise even after the removal of thimerosal from the vaccine.
A second interesting line of research looks at a different type of environmental influence - maternal viral infections in autism in children. Since the mid-90’s researchers have known that a strong correlation exists between maternal influenza infection, particularly in the second trimester, and the likelihood of having autistic children. Recent research has involved attempting to discern the reason for this phenomena by using animal models. A recent paper describes a mouse system in which adult progeny of virally infected mothers display a number of ASD symptoms. Beyond the potential causative effects of virus infection, a mouse model would be of great utility for neuropathology, epidemiology and potentially development of treatments for autism.
Finally, when thinking about the enviromental influences on autism, it’s important to explore the role of the environment on genetics. Many of the types of genetic changes that have been identified as causative in autism are indicative of some sort of DNA damage - DNA damage that may result from exposure to an environmental toxin. Many scientists, and I count myself in their number, feel that the recent autism ‘epidemic’ is due primarily to improved screening and diagnosis. In other words, prior to the 1980’s, many people suffering from autism were diagnosed as “slow” or misdiagnosed with another type of mental retardation. Unfortunately, there is no way to quantify this hypothesis.
The alternative is that there is one or more environmental components that we increasingly exposed to that is causing more frequent incidents of autism. Perhaps these environmental factors are acting as a DNA mutagen - a compound that causes DNA changes. If that is the case, we must consider timing. Autistic children bearing causative mutations were born with those mutations. They originated either de novo at a very early stage of development, possibly as a result of exposure to some toxin in utero, or they came from the parents.
The take home message is that researchers do not know what causes autism in children. Most evidence supports that genetics plays the dominant role, but if in fact the frequency of autism is rising, then there are very likely some compounds in our environment that play a role. My Ph.D. supervisor always told me that as scientists we can never “prove” the truth, only disprove falsehoods. That’s where we are with the causes of autism. Researchers have disproved the falsehood that the MMR vaccine causes autism. However, they can’t assuage parents anxieties by collaring the culprit.
——————-
1: Schmitz and Rezaie. The neuropathology of autism: where do we stand? Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 2008; 34: 4 -11
2: Pardo and Eberhart. The Neurobiology of Autism. Brain Pathology 2007; 17: 437 -447.
3: Sutcliffe. “Insights into the Pathogenesis of Autism. Science 2008; 321: 208-9.
——————-
The Hold Steady’s - “Separation Sunday” is available from and Amazon.
The Hold Steady - "Hornets! Hornets!" [4:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
→ 3 CommentsTags:·autism·environment·genetics·Science
Science Tuesday: The MMR vaccine and autism - truth, lies and the media
July 1st, 2008 · 30 Comments · Media, Science
Zach’s coming up on the time for his MMR vaccine. As with most of the jabs he’s gotten to date, it’s just a thing that we do, a right of passage designed to keep my child healthy. Not something I would have thought about much at all, except that I’ve had a little bird (who shall remain nameless) chirping in my hear about the MMR vaccine and autism. It’s a link that I’d heard about once or twice, generally as being absolutely mythical based on apocryphal stories by grieving parents. But, when it’s your own child you think twice and just to quiet that little quiver of doubt in the tin-foil hat part of my brain, I decided to take a look at the science behind autism and MMR. It turned out to be quite a story.
It all stems from a single scientific publication. In 1998 a paper by Andrew Wakefield of the Royal Free Hospital in London and twelve colleagues was published in the British medical journal The Lancet purporting a link between the MMR vaccine and childhood autism. Wakefield and his colleagues hypothesized that the vaccine caused an irritation to the bowel, making it more permeable to the proteins delivered by the vaccine allowing them to leak into the bloodstream. The researchers claimed that these proteins acted as toxins and caused serious developmental brain damage, particularly autism.
Wakefield’s paper was riddled with problems and the scientific community was almost immediately skeptical. It was based on an extremely small sample, only twelve patients. While Wakefield did find histological evidence to support intestinal damage in the autistic children, there was no control group to compare against. The study noted that “onset of behavioural symptoms was associated, by the parents, with the (MMR vaccine) in eight of the 12 children.” In other words, the researchers relied on parents of autistic children’s memories of events rather than health care professionals. Parents that were understandably upset and far from objective observers. Finally, thepublished article stopped well short of concluding that there was a causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism. However, when Wakefield spoke to the press he made no such disclaimer.
Predictably, the Lancet paper set off a firestorm in the British and world media. For example, in just six months in 2002 in Britain there were over 500 stories about MMR and autism. The MMR vaccine and any other vaccines containing a mercury based compound known as thimerosol (TCV) came under scrutiny by the press. Unfortunately, these stories rarely featured a rigorous examination of the facts on the ground. Every time that one of these stories hits the press more parents opt out of vaccination. Since 1999, the number of parents in the U.S. opting out of the MMR vaccination has nearly tripled. Cases of measles, which had been eliminated in the U.S., are on the rise. There were 72 cases reported in ten states in the first half of 2008. This can be causally linked to people opting out of the vaccine. More striking however, is that nearly 900,000 people worldwide, many of them children, died from measles in 1999. That figure was down to 345,000 in 2005 due largely to an initiative by the Measles Initiative to make the MMR vaccine more available in the third world. The resurgence of measles in North America should be a cold hard reality check - this is what happens when you do not get your children vaccinated.
What makes things worse is that Wakefield lied.
Since the publication of the original Lancet paper, ten of the twelve authors have retracted the conclusions claiming that Wakefield went too far in claming a causal relationship between the vaccine and autism. Wakefield, who was sacked from his post at the Royal Free Hospital in 2001, has since been charged with professional misconduct. This is based in part on the 2004 revelation by The Times (London) that some of the parents who took part in the original study had been recruited by a UK attorney planning to file suit against MMR manufacturers. Four or five of the children were covered by the legal aid study and Wakefield had been awarded £55,000 to assist their case by finding scientific evidence of the link. Wakefield did not tell his colleagues or medical authorities about this case and personally received £400,000 for his troubles.
The effort to sort out the science that Wakefield corrupted has been intensive. Scores of papers have been published refuting Wakefield and his colleagues’ results. There have been large, well controlled epidemiologic studies in North America, Europe, Asia all of which conclude the same thing. For example, one of these studies looked at over half a million Danish children, 20% of whom were not vaccinated. Compare this to Wakefield’s study that looked at 12 children, all of whom were autistic and had been vaccinated. All of these studies come to the same conclusion - there is no significant causal link between the MMR vaccine (or and thimeresol containing vaccines) and childhood autism. There have been no studies published in reputable scientific journals that claim such a link since Wakefield’s paper. The truth is that incidents of autism are increasing and have been for the last half century or so. Autism has a genetic component, but the marked recent rise suggests that there is some environmental factor involved. The first signs of autism in children are generally detected between one and two years of age, the same time period in which most children receive their MMR vaccinations - this is one of the problems in dispelling the myth of a link. But, except for Wakefield’s compromised work all studies undertaken have concluded that the rise in cases of autism is independent of the increased use of the MMR vaccine. Yet the fear surrounding the vaccine remains.
Which brings us around to two common themes here on chrisdellavedova.com - crappy journalism and scientists inability to communicate. The fear surrounding MMR is largely being propagated by the media, whose obsession with “balance” insures that in every story about MMR and autism both sides of the issue will be presented. In this case one side is the truth - that there is absolutely no link between autism and the MMR vaccine - and the other side is the lie fabricated by one greedy and corrupt scientist and his gullible colleagues. A lie that is, presumably unknowingly, being propagated by a press obsessed with sensationalism. Thus, having made its way into our cultural consciousness (it’s been on the TV, so it must be true) it is nearly impossible to rid ourselves of the misinformation. And well meaning people suffer. This happens, as it did for me, when little birds have friends who have friends who blame the vaccine for their child’s autism. It also happens when public figures, like presidential candidate John McCain, recite as truth something they read somewhere.
The media is not completely at fault, however. They are simply doing their job to inform and entertain the public, with the latter becoming increasingly important. Most scientists fail miserably to effectively communicate the realities of their research. Take for example, this reply to a Horizon program on the MMR/autism drama. Dr. Neville Goodman, writing in the British Medical Journal, responds to this program with the frustration that a lot of scientists feel with the media still spewing this swill. He writes:
“In 2002, according to the Child Accident Prevention Trust, more than 36 000 children were hurt in road accidents and around 200 were killed… five cases annually of childhood leukaemia may be associated with power lines. But perspective is precisely what is rejected by personal experience: so we have illogical campaigns to uproot speed cameras, to move pylons, and to give single vaccines.”
Goodman’s mistake is that he callously dismissed the “five cases of leukemia associated with power lines”. A mistake that many scientists make, we are so obsessed with statistics and data that we tend to forget the individual subjects of our research, we neglect to treat them not as numbers but as human beings. The families of those five children who developed leukemia by living under power lines probably do not feel that their campaigns are illogical. Nor would parents of autistic children consider their belief that the MMR vaccine destroyed their children illogical. There is no link, but we as scientists need to endeavour to educate - loaded with the facts, but deployed with compassion - rather than mock, deride or scorn.
——-
As you may have guessed, Zach will be getting his MMR vaccine next month. I feel good that I’ve done the research, that I’ve looked at the primary literature and the “other side”. (Guess that Ph.D. was good for something).
→ 30 CommentsTags:·autism·bad science·MMR·the media
Not quite Science Tuesday: Life after the lab
June 11th, 2008 · 27 Comments · Science, work
Regular readers may remember about a month of whinging and hand wringing about my lack of employment, demoralization and general shittiness. Funny, that. Just a week or so after taking on one job I’ve now been offered, and am likely to accept, a second. The writing gig is only part time, so I’ve been looking around for little bits to fill in the gap. Well, the little bits turned out to be fairly big bits when I got a phone call today offering me a full-time teaching position at one of Adelaide’s universities. So, in a couple of weeks I’ve gone from a state of panic about my potentially permanent unemployment to having one and a half jobs. I am a hugely relieved underwhelming correspondent today, folks. There was a fairly loud voice in the back of my head seeking to convince me that once I walked out of the lab that I was doomed to a life of McJobs.One of the things that I learned during my somewhat less than successful post-doc was that the traditional academic career path wasn’t for me. It wasn’t just the creeping feeling of dissatisfaction that greeted me every day I walked into the lab. One day, I was looking through our departmental website and realized that there were nearly four times as many post-docs as there were lecturers. I’m no mathematician, but it doesn’t take one to figure out that there are not a lot of jobs out there for your average Ph.D. In fact you’re pretty much waiting for the rare new faculty position or for an emeritus professor to wake up dead one morning. Even when a position opens up you’re competing with scores of other desperate Ph.D.’s, most of whom want it worse than you. From that moment on I pretty much new that I would never hold a faculty position and I started thinking about alternative careers in science.That’s scary business. One of the many problems with getting a Ph.D. is that you get institutionalized. You spend so much time in academic institutions, dealing with academics that you may as well tattoo on the leather elbow patches. You’re not really prepared to work outside of the university environment and in many cases are discouraged from doing so. When I told one of my Ph.D. supervisors about my decision to abandon the tenure track toil, there was a definite air of disapproval. It’s hard to even know where to start. Apparently, a good place to begin is to move continents with a family to feed and house and no job prospects.* Necessity is the mother of invention, or is it Frank Zappa?As I write this post, I can say with some relief that I might have nailed it. I’m in a position right now to explore two of the aspects of science that I’m passionate about - communication and education. I’m going to be able to make some decisions about my career path and hopefully, in the long run, tailor a position for myself. I’m going to get a taste of the “real world” while still being able to relax in the cozy arms of a university. Best of all, I’m going to be able to support my family at the same time. May not see them much for a while, though.Nonetheless, right now, for this moment in time, it’s pretty damn good to be me.*A good suit doesn’t hurt.
→ 27 CommentsTags:hope·the benefits of a good suit·the benefits of a job at Oxford
Science Tuesday: Lies on the Motel TV
June 3rd, 2008 · 8 Comments · Media, Science
In last week’s lively Science Tuesday comment stream, Matthew pointed out that one of the things that many scientists struggle with is communicating with the public. I think that he’s dead on target. Scientists, particularly academic scientists, don’t do themselves any favors by not learning how to talk to the average Joe or Jane. I suspect that a lot of academics fall into the trap of believing that it is their job to do the research and someone elses, like the media, to explain it to the masses. In an ideal world - where we have a thoughtful, critical and industrious mainstream media - that is a fair assumption. Maybe the problem is that scientists don’t come out of their ivory tower often enough to watch FoxNuz or read USA Today and to conclude that we do not live in an ideal world.
A paper published in the latest issue of PLoS Medicine quantifies what most of us already know - that U.S. journalists are doing a poor job of accurately reporting on science, particularly in the field of medicine. The PLoS study was carried out by Gary Schwitzer, a journalism professor at the University of Minnesota. Schwitzer established HealthNewsReview.org, a website that publishes reviews of medical new stories, two years ago based on similar sites in Australia and Canada. The study that he’s published in PLoS reports the results of two years of analysis of the mainstream media’s treatment of health news. Schwitzer’s group monitors science news by the biggest newspapers in the U.S. and watch the morning and evening news programs of the three major networks on a daily basis. (If you think you’re job sucks, imagine if you had to watch all three morning shows every single day. Good god.) The researchers then assign a rating based on how well the story covers a number of criteria.
Even without Fox to skew the stats, the results are shocking yet unsurprising. Schwitzer claims that 62 - 77% of stories failed to adequately address costs, harms, benefits, the quality of the evidence and the existence of other options when covering health care products or procedures. The issue that was ignored most often by the media was cost of products and procedures. In a country in which 16% of the GDP is spent on health care, only one quarter of new stories addressed the minor issue of the cost of the technique they were discussing. Well done. Less than a third of news stories addressed issues such as the benefits or harms of products or the quality of the evidence reported by the primary source. For me, however, the most disturbing statistics were that nearly 40% of news reports failed to reveal that one of the “experts” that were cited had a financial tie to the product being discussed and 35% of stories did not go beyond parroting a news release from the manufacturer of the product.
Schwitzer’s conclusions are basically that he’s doing good work - and that is true. Take a look at his site - the “0 Star Stories” are particularly fun. Schwitzer places the bulk of the blame on the news outlets themselves rather than the journalists. He recognizes that in the era of media consolidation many newsrooms have eliminated trained science journalists. He urges the reader to check out his site for the best health care news analysis.
The problem is that not very many people know about Schwitzer’s site. I frequently rant about how shabby and corrupt the mainstream media has become and am a scientist and I hadn’t heard of it. The problem is that most people still get their science news from the mainstream media and they are being misled most of the time. With the continued consolidiation of media outlets, most of whom are owned by conglomerates who also have interests in pharmaceuitical companies, it’s not outlandish to believe that this is intentional. I know that I’m preaching to the choir - if you’re reading a blog then you’ve already discovered the new media. But if you’re still getting your science news from the Today Show then the best case scenario is that you’re not getting all the facts. The worst case scenario is that you’re being lied to. Here are links to a few good “new media” alternatives:
Science Daily
Science News
New Scientist
Nature News
Also check out some of the sites on my “Science” blogroll.
Violent Femmes - "Lies" [5:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
→ 8 CommentsTags:Fox·journalism·lies and liars·media consolidation·Science
Science Tuesday: Breath-taking insanity
May 27th, 2008 · 31 Comments · Science
The subtitle of this post my very well turn out to be “How I Alienated My Religious Readers” but I got a little something stuck in my craw while reading up for this week’s Science Tuesday. My last job, at Oxford, was working in a lab that focused on evolutionary developmental biology. This field of study, and in fact all life sciences, take as a given a modification of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Most educated people around the world operate under the assumption that life as we know it today is the result of changes in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next over millions and millions of years. Evolutionary biology, my field, documents the fact that evolution occurs, and also develops and tests theories that explain why it occurs. I’m here to report to you that evolution is as solid a biological tenet as you’ll find.
International readers may wonder where I’m going here.”Yeah, yeah”, they’ll say, “What’s the issue? Let’s see some more pictures of that kid.” The issue is, as one federal judge put it, “the utter waste of monetary and personal resources” that is the debate over teaching evolution in school. One of the lovely side-effects of six years of whack-job rule was that the far right got cocky and started pushing either the outright banning of the teaching of evolution in public schools or at the very least giving equal time to a bollocks “theory” known as Intelligent Design (ID). ID is nothing more than creationism in a lab coat. It espouses the theory that the world was created by an “intelligent designer”some time in the last 10,000 years and that life as we know it appeared at roughly the same time. It differs very little from the creation fable in Genesis.
Fortunately, the federal courts have ruled that ID, as with other religious alternatives to evolution, can not be presented in the public schools as doing so violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This should protect at least the 90% of American students that attend public schools. According to a recent study in PLoS Biology, this is frighteningly not the case. A group of political scientists at Penn State University led by Michael B. Berkman performed a survey of public high school teachers regarding the amount of time they devote to teaching evolution.
Berkman’s group found that 98% of high school Biology teachers spent at least an hour on general evolutionary processes - OK so far, though I’m curious about that two percent. When it came to teaching human evolution - the shocking idea that we diverged from a common ancestor with apes a couple of million years ago - 17% of teachers chose to eschew the topic entirely. What’s even more disturbing us that 25% of public school teachers dedicated at least an hour to teaching creationism or ID - in direct violation of the law and common sense. For me, the most shocking finding reported in this paper is that 48% of the American public believes that “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.” Who are you, 48% of Americans? Could you please out yourself so we can have a serious discussion about science and the origin of life? I can understand the importance of religion and I respect that, I really do. But you don’t believe everything in the Bible is literally true, do you? Can’t we just read the creation story as allegory and move on?
I know that this post is probably going to anger some of my readers. I don’t apologize for that. It angers me that if I had a child in the secular, public school system in the U.S. - and I’m more and more grateful that this is not likely to be the case - that he may be exposed to a theory (no, “theory” gives ID too much credence) an insane belief that flies in the face of hundreds of years of scientific data. Even worse, he may be taught that what is basically the unifying principle of biology is no more valid than this myth of divine creation. I have lots of superstitions and crazy beliefs and I suspect that you wouldn’t want me to teach them to your children as an alternative to established truths nor I would presume to do so. I have the utmost respect for your faith - I have a fair bit of my own - but please, keep it out of the public schools.
Cat Power - "Evolution": Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
→ 31 CommentsTags:creationism·evolution·madness·Science
Florida
April 22nd, 2008 · 5 Comments · Uncategorized
Before we go, here are some photos from our Florida trip:
→ 5 CommentsTags:
Science Tuesday: In Response to an Animal Rights Apologist
April 8th, 2008 · 42 Comments · Politics, Science
I’m as fond of animals as the next guy. Maybe even, as I contemplate the exorbitant cost of transporting my seven year old dog to Australia, a little fonder than most. Like most folks, I love little furry creatures and would be personally loathe to do them any harm. Like most people, I ignore the irony of pampering my pooch whilst eating and wearing another furry creature. Unlike most people, until very recently I made my living as a research scientist. Early in my career, I made a decision to avoid working with animal model systems and to concentrate on plant genetics. This was due only to personal squeamishness not a grand moral stand. Many, if not most, of my scientist friends do work on animal model systems and their work sometimes requires those animals to be killed. They are not doing this because they are sadists or monsters, they are doing it in almost every case with the goal of improving the lives of you, I and themselves.
All this is in preface to the topic at hand, a blog post that Maggie at Okay, Fine, Dammit wrote earlier this week. Maggie is an exceptionally good writer and her post reflects her skills. Like any good writer she seeks to convince the reader of a point of view or to take an action. What she wants her reader to do with this post is to think about scientific research involving animals. Certainly there are turns of phrase and particular questions posed that imply that the author frowns upon animal research, but it is certainly not a rant, not a polemic, not a diatribe. Maggie achieves her goal if the stream of comments that follows is any indication - she gets people thinking about animal welfare. The problem is that I fear Maggie is, perhaps unwittingly, supporting the position of and giving fodder to extreme anti-vivisectionists.
Maggie knows that it is unlikely that we’d be having this “conversation” without animal testing. Prior to the golden age of medicine that began with Alexander Fleming’s discovery of the anti-bacterial properties of penicillin (itself tested on mice) we would both be well past middle-age and perhaps to sick to be typing away into the interspace. The fact that both Maggie’s kids and my kid woke up this morning healthy and uninfected by crippling diseases like polio, which was eradicated by a vaccine that was originally tested on animals, is testament to the necessity of animal research. Most of the academic research done that involves animals is done on critters like nematodes, fruit flies, mice and rats - hardly the warm fuzzies that you see being abused in anti-research ads. Most of this research is done in the interest of gaining a better understanding of devastating human diseases - cancer, Alzheimers, ALS, diabetes, and so on. I’m not a fan of big pharma I can not and will not attest to what happens in corporate labs. This is where most of the horror stories come from - bunnies blinded by mascara and what not. But, as are most of the facts presented by anti-vivisectionists, these are the exceptions rather than the rule. As Maggie points out, all the drugs that are approved for human use must be tested on animals. Some of these drugs make you erect or put you at ease in social situations, but the vast majority save lives on a daily basis. They save your friends’ lives, your family’s lives and, at some point for most people, your own life.
Research scientists are not in the business of torturing animals. I have yet to meet a research scientist that is flippant about his or her use of research animals. I have yet to meet a scientist who approached the animal testing portion of their job with any more than grim determination of something that had to be done. Animal welfare is governed by strict ethical standards. The animals themselves are treated with as much respect and dignity as possible. Both the RSPCA and ASPCA recognize the need for animal testing and focus their attention on ethical treatment of research animals and the search for alternatives. The fact of the matter is that if there were viable alternatives then most researchers that I know would use them. The only alternative in most cases is to do primary testing on human subjects - most people would not consider that a viable alternative.
Many animal rights groups are completely blinded to these realities in their obsession to eliminate animal testing. Someone wiser than me said that opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink. I have no problem with animal rights activists as long as they don’t become like their opinions, as long as they don’t become assholes. An animal rights campaigner becomes an asshole when he stalks and threatens a contractor working on a building that is designed to improve housing conditions for research animals. An animal rights campaigner becomes an asshole when she torches a university building, without regard for whether or not it was occupied in protest of the school’s policy on animal testing. An animal rights campaigner becomes an asshole when he digs up the remains of a Guinea pig farmer’s mother-in-law in some kind of twisted protest against animal testing. I experienced some of this madness first hand. Before a series of court orders silenced protestors that stood outside my building on almost a daily basis, I would have these people hurling abuse at myself and my colleagues. They called us “torturers”, “killers” and “terrorists”. Just a reminder, I work on plants.
So, Maggie, my problem is not with your questions, your qualms or your desire to have people explore a topic that they may not think about enough. I agree entirely, people should be aware of what is happening in animal research labs. My problem is that they are getting junk information and junk science from animal rights extremists. Most animal rights campaigners are earnest, if in my opinion misguided, people with a real concern for animal welfare. Many of them are unknowingly being led by wild-eyed, violent, extremists that have no concern for the truth. They use shock tactics and horrifying images to mislead compassionate people. They have less regard for human life than they do for animal life. They are like climate change deniers, Maggie, they latch on to one or two poorly researched studies that say there is an alternative to animal testing and spout the same crap science over and over. By all means, then, think about animal research but make sure that you have accurate information in hand.
I would encourage people who want to know more about the truths behind animal testing to check out Pro-test and the Research Defense Society.
→ 42 CommentsTags:
Open Access Science Tuesday, err, Wednesday: Vigorous Vegans
March 26th, 2008 · 12 Comments · Science
Science Tuesday is running a day behind this week, but better late than never. Those of you who know me will realize how difficult it is for me to report this research. I am a carnivore. I find any meal that lacks a large flesh component as unsatisfying. I am extremely suspicious of people who chose a vegan lifestyle. But science is science and requires that I leave my prejudices at the gate. So, this week when BioMed Central featured a study on the effects of a vegan diet on rheumatoid arthrititis I felt duty bound to pass it on.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system turns on the body’s joints. It is a disabling and painful inflammatory condition, which can result in an increased risk in cardiovascular disease. RA is incurable and its causes are unclear, although there are a number of plausible theories.
Suffererers of RA tend to display abnormal lipoprotein (cholesterol and trigylceride) levels, which is often associated with disease symptoms. Bearing this in mind, a Swedish research group hypothesized that dietary changes, particularly those that would restrict intake of saturated fats, that regulate the levels of these lipoproteins may be part of an effective treatment for RA. Led by Johan Frostegard of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, they randomly assigned (sentenced) volunteers to either a vegan, gluten free diet or a well-balanced normal diet for a year. Both diets were composed of roughly the same ratios of protein, carbohydrates and fat with the only major difference being the lack of animal and wheat products in the vegan diet. The researchers then analyzed blood lipid levels after both three months and a year.
First, it’s amusing that about one quarter of the patients that found themselves involuntary vegans quit the study before the three month time point. That would have been me. But for those that struggled through, the Swedish group found that a vegan diet induced decreases in total cholesterol, body mass index and in the ratio of LDL:HDL cholesterol. These changes in lipoprotein profile are more similar to those seen in healthy, non-RA individuals.
Frostegard’s group concludes that a gluten-free vegan diet are potentially anti-inflammatory and protective against RA. What they do not show is any alleviation of RA symptoms - probably the bigger issue for the patients. However, the biggest problem with this study is that it gives vegans, who already think that they’re saving the planet and all its fauna, something else to be smug about. Nonetheless, the results are compelling as the only difference between the two diets was in the amount of saturated fat. Dietary changes alone are probably not an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, but the changes in lipoprotein levels that they can induce are certainly not going to hurt.
I wonder if the researchers are vegans? Ah well, never mind, all this talk about foot has made me hungry and it’s nearly lunch - today it’s that great British dish bangers and mash.
→ 12 CommentsTags:rheumatoid arthritis·Science·Sweden·vegans
Open Access Science Tuesday: Diesel Fuming
March 18th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Science
“Breathe in all the diesel fumes
Admire the concrete landscaping
And doesn’t it feel free?”
-Jay Farrar - “Feel Free”
There is nothing to induce a simmering fury in me on my morning bicycle commute like following a diesel exhaust spewing, and inconsiderately piloted, bus. The narrow streets of Oxford barely allow for two cars to pass side-by-side - nevermind buses, vans and trucks - and the dark stains on the beautiful sandstone buildings attest to the long term effects of pollution from vehicle exhaust.
A study that I found this week at BioMed Central explores the shorter term effects of one type of vehicle exhaust on peoples brains. It seems that there may be a biological reason for my frustration at tailing a bus into the Oxford city center. Writing in Particle and Fibre Toxicology, a group led by Paul Borm at Zuyd University in the Netherlands looked at brain activity of volunteers exposed to diesel exhaust and found some interesting changes. [Read more →]
Jay Farrar - "Feel Free" [3:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
→ 3 CommentsTags:cycling·diesel exhaust·nuerological disorders·Science
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Georgian soldiers escape their burning armored vehicle on the road to Tbilisi just outside Gori, Georgia. Russia called today for Georgian forces to surrender in the separatist enclave of Abkhazia after Georgia called a ceasefire and withdrew their forces from South Ossetia, leaving Russian forces now firmly in control in the disputed region.
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Georgia’s NATO Bid Is a War Casualty
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Nation & WorldIn Georgia, a Parallel War Rages OnlineCyberattacks took down Georgian websites even before the bombs fell, but damage so far is short term.
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Thomas Jefferson and the Election of 1800Jefferson's election confirmed the emergence of a two-party system in American politics.
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NotEng NotCS CSDonal Mountain [View Page]
Posts: [Hausboat!], [Cycling across Iowa], [Questionnaire], [Kayaking in the Pacific Northwest], [Mountain biking on Mount Sutro], [Sound on your palm], [Upcoming: Sea kayaking!], [Chihuly at the de Young], [Mountain biking SDF with Dave and Sparky], []
Donal Mountain
look closer
Hausboat!
August 3, 2008
I’m just back from a weekend spent with a big bunch of awesome people. We spent the weekend tooling around on a houseboat on Lake Berryessa.
Some highlights:
Dave’s big inflatable swan!
Deep, warm water
Starry nights
Tequila
Elk burgers
Country music
Photos by:
Donal
Jon
Brett
Meredith
Braden
Alex
Chad
Mosh
[Flickr pool]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Cycling across Iowa
July 17, 2008
Update: Photos! By:
I will be was in Iowa until July 28 to participate in Ragbrai, an annual non-competitive bike ride that goes from one side of the state to the other! I’m riding with Mike, Lindsey, Colleen, Kyla and over 10,000 other cyclists from across the country.
It’s going to be a lot of fun, one big rolling party, stopping off in host towns along the way. But I am daunted by the thought of cycling 450 miles in 6 days, with temperatures that are set to linger above 30C for most of the days!
I’ll be using Twitter to send updates and photos from the road:
www.twitter.com/dmountain
Some other links
Route Map
Weather forecast (Farenheit)
Ragbrai News
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Questionnaire
July 15, 2008
Please complete, you know you want to!
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Kayaking in the Pacific Northwest
July 6, 2008
I’m just back from the San Juan Islands off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, where six of us spent four days and three nights kayaking and camping amongst the beautiful San Juan Islands.
My photos on Flickr
Mark’s photos on Picasa
Map showing GPS track
I got sick just before we left, and on the drive from Seattle the sky got dark gray and thunder rumbled close by and lightning arced over the highway ahead of us. We were supposed to camp that night but I wasn’t disappointed that we ended up in a motel instead!
July 3: I woke up feeling almost all better. We saw Orcas from the ferry! The weather was still terrible, and as we set out in our kayaks there was still the odd rumble and flash. It was a long paddle to Jones Island, which included crossing the choppy open water at Upright Channel. Jones Island had a green meadow for our tent, and deer, and a breeze to dry our clothes.
July 4: A straight shot up the West coast of Orcas Island, past Turtleback Mountain to Point Doughty, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever set foot.
July 5: Around the North Coast of Orcas to North Beach, from where we got a ride down to Deer Harbor for a relatively short day to Indian Cove. We had planned a longer day, but the wind was up which makes for lousy kayaking. Our new route was shorter and less windy. At Indian Cove we saw a Sunset Rainbow — like a sunset but in the East! Very wierd.
July 6: Early start, short paddle back to Lopez Island where we dropped off the kayaks, got the ferry back to the mainland and flew back home.
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Mountain biking on Mount Sutro
June 29, 2008
I went to Buena Vista Heights and Mount Sutro in San Francisco to check out rumors that there’s mountain biking to be had there. The trails were just ok, but seeing Sutro Tower up close through the fog was awesome. And there were a herd of goats up there! As far as I could make out they’re kept there to keep undergrowth in check by grazing on it.
My photos on Flickr
GPS track on a map
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Sound on your palm
June 24, 2008
“In days gone by, a musical instrument had to have a beauty, of shape as well as of sound, and had to fit the player almost organically. Modern electronic instruments don’t have this inevitable relationship between the shape, the sound, and the player. What I have done is to try to bring back these elements and build them in to a true musical instrument for the digital age.” – Toshio Iwai, Tenori-on inventor.
Yamahah’s Tenori-on synthesiser and sequencer looks part Lite-brite, part Battleship game, part 1960s sci-fi computer. Pressing its 256 blinking LEDs is like popping bubble-wrap. It makes beautiful patterns both audio and visual; music you can see. I love it!
Yahamma Tenori-on home
Video: A Tenori-on in the hands of an expert.
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Upcoming: Sea kayaking!
June 23, 2008
I’ll be spending much of the Fourth of July weekend in a sea kayak, keeping a lookout for killer whales and other monsters of the Pacific Northwest. Dylan, Mark and I did this two years ago. We survived, and this year we are being joined by Pete, Manny and Matt.
Our best guess at a route
Photos from 2006 trip
Lessons learned from last time:
Bring whisky
Consult tide tables
Updated: See Trip Report!
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Chihuly at the de Young
June 22, 2008
Glass sculptor Dale Chihuly gave a great talk at Google last week. But neither it nor his new book prepared us for his exhibition at the de Young museum. I can’t describe his art! Maybe the best I can do is list the things from nature that each piece reminded me of.
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Mountain biking SDF with Dave and Sparky
June 21, 2008
Today I got to go mountain biking in SDF with Dave and his dog Sparky. It might just have been the best mountain biking I’ve ever done in SDF.
With the Ragbrai road ride coming up at the end of next month I’ve been focusing on road biking. But the other day when I heard Dave was heading to SDF I went into the spare room, looked at my mountain bike and decided it had been sitting there unmoved for way too long.
The plan was to meet in Mountain View, 40 miles South of San Francisco. I should have brought my bike down there yesterday on the Google shuttle, but since that would have required planning ahead I instead found myself riding through the city towards the train station to get the first train of the day south. If my bike had a name it would have to be Tank. It is totally out of place on city streets; its big, nobly tires, more used to rolling overs rocks and dirt, made a strange whirring sound over smooth asphalt and it’s huge suspension made it a grossly inefficient way to get down Market Street.
I bought my bike in Downieville late last year. It’s a secondhand, extra large Specialized Enduro SL Comp FSR. I don’t know what SL, Comp or FSR mean, because I don’t know anything about mountain bike technology. Luckily I have many friends who do, and when they saw this bike they were all ‘shocks, pegs… lucky‘ about it, which was good enough for me. Mike in Downieville Outfitters named a good price, I took it out for half a day, fell in love with it and took it home with me.
We got to the SDF trailhead at around 11:00 and I was sweating already. The uphill to the ridge sucked, especially when gaps in the tree cover let the midday, midsummer sun through. Lots of sucky uphill means lots of fun downhills though. By the time we got to the top, huge storm had rolled in, shading our path. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and I hoped for a cooling rainstorm.
We cut down Corral, an amazing downhill trail I’d never been on before. There were a few jumps but I skipped them focusing instead on keeping my speed up over the series of speedramp-like bumps. It’s strange, but downhill mountain biking is both safer and more fun if you’re a little less cautious than you think you ought to be. If you go downhill with too much caution, you’ll ride your brakes the whole time and end up going over the handlebars or skidding out on a turn. Sometimes you just have to point your front wheel downhill and trust the bike to do the rest. Pads help with this; sure, they stop you hurting yourself when you fall, but they also stop you from falling in the first place by helping you be not too concerned about falling.
That said, I should have known I was going too fast when I overtook Sparky and got caught up in Dave’s dust cloud. Dave took a jump which I didn’t see coming until my front wheel was off the front of it. I slammed on the front brakes and felt the back wheel lift off the air, sending the saddle into my left kidney. No damage though — just a reminder that blindly following doesn’t work in mountain biking… especially if you’re following someone who is much better at all this than you are!
For the rest of the ride I went at my own pace and looked after myself. The rain came, but only for a few minutes, not enough to make the earth smell. At the bottom of Corral Trail we turned uphill on Sulphur Springs Trail and then back down Braille Trail. My brother would love this place. He’s always been the big mountain biker of the family, and next time he comes out this way we will ride SDF together.
The only bad thing about SDF is the uphill jeep trail back up to the car park. My GPS told me it was three miles long with an elevation gain of 600ft. I don’t know if that GPS is my friend or enemy, though. Is knowing that the end isn’t just around the next corner an example of too much information? Might I be better off just fooling myself? A watched altimeter rises very slowly.
We drove back to Mountain View, I thanked Dave again for the invite and made my way back home to San Francisco and a shower to wash all the dust and sweat away. The endorphins had soaked right into my bloodstream though. They stayed with me and I spent the rest of the day on a high.
13.6 miles, 2,500ft up/down. 2:09 moving time
Photos and videos
GPS map
Posted in Mountain Biking | 1 Comment »
June 20, 2008
How hot? This hot!
Posted in Asides | No Comments »
« Previous Entries
Donal Mountain's website
Here are some words I've written, some photos I've taken, and some links to some other websites I've been to. I like lots of different stuff, but recently I've been doing a lot of cycling and exploring, so that's what you'll find here!
I live in San Francisco, California and work as a User Experience Researcher at Google.
You can also find me online at Flickr , Facebook , Twitter and Yelp .
My email address is [firstname]@[thiswebsite.com] .
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NotEng NotCS CSAnonymoses Hyperlincoln III [View Page]
Posts: [If John Edwards were Hitler...], [Colors of Charlotte], [Life is an Open Book], [On The Importance of Living (and not dying or killing)], [Permabush: The New Dictation - Genocide or Suicide...that is the question?], [Harvard Square @ Google Earth in 3-D], [Meet the Bloggers - from Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation], [Graphic Novel Excerpt by Iddybud], [Happy Birthday Elizabeth Edwards!], [How old is John McCain?], [Fail the Magic Internet Meme], [Icky War Crimes Make Scott McClellan Dance for his Dollars], [Bugliosi: George Bush's Unseemly Response to the Suffering He Has Caused], [God is Hate], [CHEAP, SAFE HOUSE DESIGNED FOR QUAKE-PRONE AREAS], [Liveblogging the Dance of the Davids : The American Idol Finale], ["John the Maverick" or "Out to Pasture"], ["I stand before you today...to declare...that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq,"], [Half cat, half bird, half human, the amazing "150% thing" in flight], [Just kidding!], [United Airlines and FedEx Donate Plane to Create a New Flying Eye Hospital], [River Cooters of Carolina], [For what it's worth: Who will win American Idol?], [Bush Challenges Limbaugh, Polluters on Climate Change], [Were ABC Only Truthful...]
Anonymoses Hyperlincoln III
Smelling the Invisible Laws of Attraction
My StumbleUpon Page
Saturday, August 09, 2008
If John Edwards were Hitler...
(to those trying to destroy his family) If John Edwards were Hitler, I would say "Go ahead and destroy the man and his family." But John Edwards is no Hitler, and most Americans know this. In fact they know he is at the other extreme of Hitler. Rather than dedicating himself to taking lives, he has dedicated himself to saving lives. He is guilty of too much love. Not too little. Those who are attacking him are guilty of that. It is not just John you are destroying. It is also Elizabeth. But will YOU apologize to her? I somehow doubt it. Thus once again proving, to your dismay, that John Edwards really is a better man.
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Colors of Charlotte
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } colors 2, originally uploaded by desertdragon.
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Life is an Open Book
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Life is an Open Book, originally uploaded by Pankcho.
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
On The Importance of Living (and not dying or killing)
The Importance Of Living by Lin Yutang My review rating: 5 of 5 starsLin Yutang, Rumi, Martin Buber, Lao T'se, Jesus, Buddha, Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi...these are the words that can heal our troubled world. In a sensationalized world, the reader of Lin Yutang's great classic will learn how to enjoy merely sitting, lying in bed, reading, writing, walking, and nearly everything one can do that harms no other or self. For my money, the most important part of "The Importance of Living" is where he discusses, at some length, the non-soldier, and all the good and necessary qualities contained therein. Not exactly a non-soldier, but a scamp, and a "wayward and incalculable" scamp as he lovingly calls it, is, an essential spice in life, and, he argues, to be particularly treasured. As Erich Fromm once said: "Civilization began with an act of disobedience, and is likely to end in an act of obedience." Lin Yutang, Rumi, Martin Buber, Lao T'se, Jesus, Buddha, Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi. Where is the soldier? Where the follower? Libraries and bookstores are filled with books praising soldiers and dutiful followers. I needn't add to it, lest future generations think that is all there is. One mustn't forget the lowly but wise huckfins of the world, for they are the flowers that get mowed down, but surrender their scent and beauty even as they die. Dr. Yuyang's words are as if spoken to you by a trusted friend. I'd even say that his style might well serve as an excellent alternative to the hateful spew emitted daily on really bad radio stations like WBT, who fill the air with Rush and other serial prevaricators. You will not regret having purchases this book, and you will probably never part with it either...especially now that China is playing a larger and larger role in our present and future. Have at it. Enjoy your transformation. View all my reviews.
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Monday, July 21, 2008
Permabush: The New Dictation - Genocide or Suicide...that is the question?
From the BUSHWORLD SOLUTIONS series... Presenting Solution #23 "When you find yourself in a hole, create conditions whereby you must continue digging." In this episode, we find a Philip Atkinson, who suggests that GW Bush be made the permanent president. That's Right. Wait until the stock market of presidencies hits rock bottom, and then make the bottom the exemplar and permanency. Sound daft? Risible? Ludibund? Well read on, Chong! There is more here to tickle your angst-bone than in all the scrawled blepherospasms of Kafka (not really but it could happen, and sounds good) and besides you probably have nothing to do anyway, or at least you shouldn't, because I know you work hard all day in the bright sunlight...but alas, I digress... HIGHLIGHTS OF POST-SANITY DOCUMENT (with editorial comments in bold italic, and areas I would like to highlight in regular italic.) Author: Philip Atkinson Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc. Date: August 3, 2007 Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy By Philip Atkinson President George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2005 after being chosen by the majority of citizens in America to be president. Don't you feel like going to sleep already? Yet in 2007 he is generally despised, with many citizens of Western civilization expressing contempt for his person and his policies, sentiments which now abound on the Internet. This rage at President Bush is an inevitable result of the system of government demanded by the people, which is Democracy. The inadequacy of Democracy, rule by the majority, is undeniable - for it demands adopting ideas because they are popular, rather than because they are wise. This means that any man chosen to act as an agent of the people is placed in an invidious position: if he commits folly because it is popular, then he will be held responsible for the inevitable result. If he refuses to commit folly, then he will be detested by most citizens because he is frustrating their demands. OR the manifestation of his or her vision can be so glaringly beneficial to humanity that the people do not mind being gently led into a more peaceful and loving garden. NOT led into fighting and killing just so a handful of suits reap ungodly profits, while other children of God are murdered and forced to kill their brothers and sisters, while destroying all lifeforms on earth in the process, including water and air. Oh ye Gods of Pollution! Oh ye GOP! When faced with the possible threat that the Iraqis might be amassing terrible weapons that could be used to slay millions of citizens of Western Civilization, President Bush took the only action prudence demanded and the electorate allowed: he conquered Iraq with an army. This dangerous and expensive act did destroy the Iraqi regime, but left an American army without any clear purpose in a hostile country and subject to attack. If the Army merely returns to its home, then the threat it ended would simply return. If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit. The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead. This is the wisest course? Why stop there? The wisest of the wisest would nuke the whole world, nay, universe until it complied, or was totally dead. Then there would be little risk or expense and no American army would be left exposed. But if he did this, his cowardly electorate would have instantly ended his term of office, if not his freedom or his life. How do they come up with this stuff? The simple truth that modern weapons now mean a nation must practice genocide or commit suicide. This is not even a complete sentence, not to mention the cold misanthropy. So Mr. Atkinson is so paranoid and precious that he thinks that "to be or not to be" is a question that we get to decide...for everyone. Genocide or Suicide? This is the Republican Vision? The Mission Statement? Where is the better Feng Shui? Where the peaceful garden? Where is the love? The caring? The stewardship? The community? All those things that better people create and maintain? Anyway... Israel provides the perfect example. If the Israelis do not raze Iran, the Iranians will fulfill their boast and wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Yet Israel is not popular, and so is denied permission to defend itself. I'm sorry. The ignorance is deafening. In the same vein, President Bush cannot do what is necessary for the survival of Americans. He cannot use the nation's powerful weapons. All he can do is try and discover a result that will be popular with Americans. As there appears to be no sensible result of the invasion of Iraq that will be popular with his countrymen other than retreat, President Bush is reviled; he has become another victim of Democracy. Blame the victims! By elevating popular fancy over truth, Democracy is clearly an enemy of not just truth, but duty and justice, which makes it the worst form of government. President Bush must overcome not just the situation in Iraq, but democratic government. Exhibit A However, President Bush has a valuable historical example that he could choose to follow. When the ancient Roman general Julius Caesar was struggling to conquer ancient Gaul, he not only had to defeat the Gauls, but he also had to defeat his political enemies in Rome who would destroy him the moment his tenure as consul (president) ended. Does he smell war crimes tribunal? And not just for big daddy? Is this the source of paranoia? Caesar pacified Gaul by mass slaughter; he then used his successful army to crush all political opposition at home and establish himself as permanent ruler of ancient Rome. This brilliant action not only ended the personal threat to Caesar, but ended the civil chaos that was threatening anarchy in ancient Rome - thus marking the start of the ancient Roman Empire that gave peace and prosperity to the known world. If President Bush copied Julius Caesar by ordering his army to empty Iraq of Arabs and repopulate the country with Americans, he would achieve immediate results: popularity with his military; enrichment of America by converting an Arabian Iraq into an American Iraq (therefore turning it from a liability to an asset); and boost American prestige while terrifying American enemies. Are these not the machinations of Evil? He could then follow Caesar's example and use his new found popularity with the military to wield military power to become the first permanent president of America, and end the civil chaos caused by the continually squabbling Congress and the out-of-control Supreme Court. Not just the United States of America at this point, I notice. President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming "ex-president" Bush or he can become "President-for-Life" Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons. No offense, but we are that power and that threat, and Bushworld IS the darkening of the light. The I Ching has said that time and again. Since 2000. Take it up with the Ching. Strangely, I always knew that Bushworld was anti-tao, against nature and spirit, and its subtle interplay, and this document lays it all out. I only hope we have the good judgement and graces to consign it to the wasteheap of horribly bad ideas. Digby, who has also been tracking this, found these gems: "The merits of the great new plan are being debated over at Free Republic right now, and here are a few responses in favor of the proposal:" a.. "I can see why they took his piece down. Some of his views are a wee bit off the right edge. He actually espouses some of the extreme measures that the extremists on the far left enjoy falsly accusing President Bush of plotting." b.. "The difference between a democracy and a monarchy is that in a monarchy you only have to put up with one idiot." c.. "What exactly is crazy about what Mr. Atkinson is suggesting? He's actually framing a very common-sense principal: If democracy is destroying America then democracy needs to go. And, personally, there are very few of us here on FR who wouldn't like to see the lands of Allah turned into a glass parking lot. In fact, I'm saving a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne for when it happens." Conservative think tank: Bush "a victim of Democracy" NeoCon Think Tank documents show president bush as the new Caesar Think Tank Calls For Bush to Be Dictator For Life Madness in Consideration Think Tank Calls For Bush to Be Dictator For Life conquering the drawbacks of democracy - Philip Atkinson Iran: H. CON. Res. 362| Take Action Time.
Labels: Atkinson, Bush, caesar, dictation, dictator, genocide, Hate, mass-murder, Neo-con, permanent president, suicide, war crime
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
Harvard Square @ Google Earth in 3-D
Google Earth now has photorealistic 3-D buildings that you can create and add to Google Earth. I'm only just now learning how to create these buildings and environments, but someone with more architectural wherewithal might meet with great results...and a possible career at transferring the 3-D world onto the new globe. Harvard Square from Google Earth (a clip)
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Thursday, July 17, 2008
Meet the Bloggers - from Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation
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Thursday, July 10, 2008
Graphic Novel Excerpt by Iddybud
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John Edwards (President)
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Posts: [All is well.....], [Laidback Lunches - Stromboli], [I heard, I read, It happened ...], [By The Book - Coconut Burfi Fudge], [More is More - 16 Bean Adai], [Trick or Treat - Oreo Spiders], [Savory Treats - Ribbon Pakoda], [Sandy Treats - Rava Laddoo], [Simple Sweet - Kaju Kathli, Cashew Diamonds], [A Good Nut - Almond/Badam Halva], [New babies!], [Fond Memories - Masaal], [Apostrophe catastrophe - Signs of our Times!], [I'm back !], [Melting Pot - Rasam], [Superlative Subji - Ridgegourd Curry], [Camouflaged Curry - Vegetarian Mutton Kurma], [Quick Dessert - Mini Mango Cheesecake], [Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat - Mooli Paratha], [Repentant Breakfast - Paneer Bhurji], [Tiffin Time - Coconut Sevai], [Humble Offering - Poha], [A Foodbloggers Meme Around the World], [Fabulous Fakes - Samosas], [Spring into Green - Cream of Broccoli Soup]
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For the Love of Food :-)
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
All is well.....
I know I have "gone missing" from the blogsphere for the past few months. Thanks a ton to all my friends and fans who have been inquiring about me. I'm doing ok and all is well at this end. I apologize for not responding individually to all the emails that you have been sending me. I hope to be back online soon and start posting recipes. Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Friday, January 19, 2007
Laidback Lunches - Stromboli
spinach and kale stromboli with marinara sauce You wake up at the crack of dawn. You wish you could luxuriate under the warm blankets for just a little while longer. You want to finish those dreamy happy thoughts that come to you in that half-asleep, half-awake state in the morning. You wish you could wake up to a sound other than the blaring ear-numbing shriek of the alarm. "Is it a weekend?", you wonder. "Did I forget to switch off the alarm last night? What day was yesterday? Please, let it have been a Friday, Please!!" But no! It is not the weekend. you cannot lie there in bed! you have to wake up. It is a week day and a million things need to be done. For starters, there is school. You have to get them ready. If it wasn't for them, you could sleep in an extra half an hour. The thought is very tempting, and you slip into a little flashback...of the days before them. Days when you had that extra time in the morning for a leisurely cup of chai and the crossword. Days when you could linger in a hot shower forever...Days when.....You shake your head and try to brush those thoughts away. You shouldn't be thinking about them in such a negative way in the morning. "Shame on you, What kind of a Mom are you?", you chide yourself. You have to wash them and get them ready for school. Some primping and prepping, a little tugging and tucking, a dab of this and a dab of that and finally they are ready! You pack them off with a flourish and rush to the stop to catch the bus. Of late they have been missing the school bus a little too frequently and you have had to drop them off at school. You fervently wish that today won't be such a day. You have a million errands to run and you don't want to make an extra stop at the school to drop them off. You break into a sprint just as the bus rounds the corner. You see them off on the school bus and heave a sigh of relief that the crazy rush of the morning is behind you. The rest of the day goes by in a blur and before you know it, it is afternoon. They will be home soon. You anxiously await the return of the school bus. You find yourself wondering how they would have fared in school. Would they have been popular and in demand? or neglected and ignored? did you rise to the challenge as a mother? did you do well? would the others have passed judgement on them? commended you for your efforts? With great anxiety you pounce on them when they get home and look at them with a critical eye. YES! they are clean as a whistle and licked clean! "'twas good Ma!" says your normally taciturn 11 year old and your heart starts to sing. You go into the kitchen and do a little happy jig. The lunches you packed for the kids were a success! Your efforts in the morning were worth it. That 1/2 hour of sleep that you gave up was worth it! The kids loved their lunch and ate it all. Well, what did you think I was going on about? I was talking about "lunch boxes" and life before "them". The kids??? Oh, compared to the trouble of making "kid approved school lunches", raising kids is a piece of cake!! An extra half-hour of sleep? No problem! you will gladly give that up if the kids will eat their lunch. One whole hour? Ok, don't push it now!! Here's a recipe for spinach & kale stromboli. Very nutritious with the greens and very yummy with the cheese. The filling is quite easy to prepare and you can make it the night before. In the morning, you just have to assemble and bake the stromboli. You can even bake the whole thing the night before and just pack it for lunch the next day and sleep in that extra half-hour :) The basic idea was inspired by this recipe from Rachael Ray. I made the filling according to my preference. Stromboli dough with filling
Ingredients: 1 can Pillsbury® Pizza Crust 3-4 generous handfuls of baby spinach leaves (or thawed frozen spinach) 3-4 medium kale leaves 1 small clove of garlic, chopped 3/4 cup of grated mozzarella cheese 1 heaped tsp pesto sauce (I used store bought) 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional) 2 tsp parmesan cheese salt and pepper to taste Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Boil water in a large pot. Add the kale leaves and once they wilt slightly, add the baby spinach leaves. If using frozen spinach, omit this step for the spinach. Thaw and squeeze out the extra water from the spinach and proceed to step 8. The spinach will wilt immediately. Remove the spinach and kale to a bowl of cold water with some ice cubes in it. Let cool slightly. Gently squeeze handfuls of the spinach and kale to remove all the water. Chop the greens finely. Add the finely chopped garlic, the pesto sauce, grated mozzarella cheese, chili flakes, 1 tsp of the parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Open the can and unroll the pre-made pizza dough. Cut the crust vertically down the center to get 2 long pieces Spread the filling down the long rectangle, leaving a little bit of a border around the edges Roll the crust from the long side to get 2 long logs. Press down lightly along the edge to seal well. With a sharp knife, make a few slits in the log. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese and again press a little bit to make the cheese adhere to the dough. Bake for 12 minutes or till the stromboli is golden brown. Cut into pieces of desired size. I did mine about 5 inches long. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping or pack for a tasty lunch. Search Tags: recipe,stromboli, spinach, kale, cheese, vegetarian, lunch
Monday, December 18, 2006
I heard, I read, It happened ...
Mooli Parathas
....to me! Plagiarism is by no means a new phenomenon - it happens all around us all the time. I have heard about it on several other blogs. Manisha of Indian Food Rocks has tons for information on what to do and how to prevent plagiarism. Nevertheless, when it happened to me, I was shocked. Even more shocked because the site in question was India Times!
The above picture from an earlier post was published by India Times/Economic times as part of their article "Food to lift your spirits" on 18th December 2006. They did not contact me for authorization to use my picture or acknowledge the source in their article. In fact unless you read closely there does not appear to be any connection between the picture and their article and I fail to understand why they would need a plagiarized picture when a stock image would have served the purpose. One of my readers (thanks Maya!) alerted me to this or I would not have been aware that my work was being published elsewhere. I have sent a polite email to several links provided on their website, but haven't received any response yet. This is the 4th time one of my pictures is being used. It was used as a picture for "Recipe of the week" by SIFY at food.sify.com before this and they did not even bother to respond to my "nice" email informing them that they were using a copyrighted image. The other 2 cases were individual blogs and they removed the picture once they were informed. [No, neither of them apologized] I know 'tis the season and everything, but really! Whatever happened to common courtesy? Happy Holidays everyone! Edit 12/21/06 : And another one! This time it is a picture of a plate of poha that has shown up here!
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
By The Book - Coconut Burfi Fudge
Coconut burfi/fudge Here is a confession....I hardly ever cook anything from cookbooks! "Gasp!" you might say. "What? Really? How can that be true? You love food and have a food blog and a ton of cookbooks!" Well, it is true. I love cookbooks and have a HUGE collection of cookbooks. I even own a few cookbooks in languages I'm not really fluent in and a couple in languages I can't even read! But as for cooking something from them, I hardly ever do. I may sometimes use a recipe as an inspiration, but usually add/modify ingredients to suit my tastes. I buy cookbooks to pour over the beautiful pictures. Cookbooks are part of my bedtime reading repertoire. I like the light reading that cookbooks offer - pleasant, relaxing and soporific. I flip the pages, drool over the exotic dishes and reminisce over the familiar ones. I admire the food styling in the pictures and make a mental note about some unusual ingredient or spice that catches my eye. I lay back on the pillow and try to image what it must taste like. I have pleasant, happy images of me churning out one perfect looking dish after another - just as the cookbook promises - and drift off to sleep with lingering thoughts of delightful dishes all lined up on a perfectly set table, with perfectly behaved kids (and husband!) sitting at the table, tucking in heartily and singing praises of me. Sigh! a girl can dream, can't she? Once in a while though, a certain recipe will catch my eye for its sparsity of ingredients, simplicity of preparation and the promised elegance of taste. Once such recipe I saved from a newspaper is for "Coconut Fudge". I love coconut based sweets, but have never tried to make the traditional coconut burfi. It tends to be a bit sweet for my liking and I've always been afraid to meddle with the proportion of sugar because it seems sacrosanct to the recipe. When I came across this recipe, I filed it away as I do with a lot of recipes. Years passed before I stumbled across it again. This time, I immediately added the required ingredients to my weekly shopping list. At the next available opportunity, I made the dish and followed the recipe exactly! I was rewarded with wonderfully moist, chewy, coconut fudge. It was perhaps a little bit too sweet and the next time, I'm going to reduce the sugar a little bit. It was still fantastic and the empty box in the fridge was a mute testimony not only to the deliciousness of the sweet, but also to the fact that my family does not remove empty boxes from the fridge! They happily help themselves to the last of the laddoo or burfi or milk and place the empty carton back in the fridge! Arrrghhh! tray of coconut burfi The recipe is from Chicago Tribune a few years ago. Here is the recipe verbatim: Preparation time: 5 minutes Cooking time: 50 minutes Chilling time: 8 hours (I started sampling right away!) Yield: 32 pieces (considerably less after 8 hours due to constant sampling) Ingredients: 1 cup each: sugar, milk, whipping cream, unsweetened grated coconut (I used frozen grated coconut that I thawed in the microwave) 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 2 tablespoons sliced pistachios or almonds Method:
Heat sugar, milk, cream and coconut to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook until mixture becomes very thick and starts to leave the side of the pan, about 50 minutes. Transfer mixture to a buttered 8-inch square baking dish/tray. I lined the tray with aluminum foil and ghee'ed (new word alert!) the foil. Sprinkle with cardamom powder and nuts. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 8 hours. Cut into 1 inch diamonds or squares. This fudge/burfi has to be refrigerated or else it becomes very soft. The taste is reminiscent of Dulce De Leche and if you like that flavor or that of caramel, then this burfi is for you. I happen to love Häagen-Dazs version of this flavor, so I loved this burfi.
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Friday, November 10, 2006
More is More - 16 Bean Adai
Bag of 16 kinds of Beans
Do you want to add more protein to your diet? Do you want to eat more whole grains? Do you want to increase your fiber intake? Do you want to feed your family traditional dishes that they love eating? Do you want a quick lunch/dinner/brunch option that you don't have to slave over? Do you want to use up that bag of brown rice you bought, but is lying unused in the pantry? If you answered "Yes" to any of the above questions, read on.... Ever since I saw this post in Linda's blog, I was intrigued. I have always had a love-hate relationship with beans. I love beans of all kinds, but tend to over indulge on them. When I am on a bean-loving phase, I make all kinds of bean dishes without respite for days on end - dals, sprouts, salads, koshambir and so on, till I am so full of beans(excuse the pun!) that I cannot look at another bean in the eye. I veer away from beans and stick to vegetables till the enchanting allure of beans draws me to them again. When I saw Linda's post for a 16 bean soup, I knew that it was a recipe I had to try. If 1 bean is good, 16 beans has got to be better, right? So, a bag of 16 bean soup mix came home with me on my next trip to the grocery store. I soaked the beans for the soup and then had a sudden change of plans. I thought of the perennial favorite of my husband - Adai. Typically Adai can be made with 3 beans (actually lentils, but who is checking?) but why not with 16? So I soaked 1 cup of brown rice (yes, that bag of brown rice that's been sitting in the pantry for ages) along with the beans and threw in a handful of udad dal to act as a binding agent. This is in case the beans didn't form a homogenous mass. I wasn't sure if the beans would bind together without some binding agent like udad dal. I flavored the batter with a good dose of fresh ginger, some red and green chillies, a handful of fresh cilantro and was estatic when this batter turned out crisp, crunchy, absolutely delicious Adai! Who says you can't have it all? With this 16 (umm..17) bean Adai, you can have both taste and nutrition! According to the packet, the bean soup mix contains the following:Northern Pinto Large Lima Blackeye Garbanzo Baby Lima Green Split Pea Kidney Cranberry Bean Small White Pink Bean Small Red Yellow split pea Lentils Navy White Kidney Pearl Barley Black Bean Keen readers will notice that there are more than 16 items listed above. My guess is that some are not beans!! And to leave you similing, here a little poem my son came home singing when he was in 3rd grade: Beans, Beans, the musical fruit The more you eat the more you toot The more you toot, the better you feel So eat some beans with every meal Yes, 3rd graders are very amused by such jokes :-) 16 Bean Adai with tomato pickle and Spinach Chutney Ingredients: 1 cup of 16 bean soup mix 1 handful of udad dal 1 cup brown rice (I used organic long grain) 6 dried red chillies (caution: reduce if you prefer the Adai less spicy) 1 green chilli 1 inch piece of fresh ginger root a handful of cilantro leaves 5-6 curry leaves scant 1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (to reduce the aforementioned "tooting") salt to taste Method:Soak the beans and udad dal in 6 cups of water for 2 hours After 2 hours add the rice and red chillies and soak for another 2 hours Drain and grind to a coarse paste in the blender with the ginger, green chillies, cilantro. You can add the soaking water to get a pancake batter like consistency. Add asafoetida and salt to taste. Tear the curry leaves into 2-3 pieces and add to the batter. Notes:Make adais right away or store the batter in a tightly covered container for upto 1 week You can add finely chopped onions to the batter before making the adai Follow the instructions in this post for step-by-step instructions to making the adai
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Posts: [Kahan jayega?], [Derecho de Familia (2006)], [Can You Write?????], [Aur Ek Abhimanyu……..], [Work, Anger and Other Things], [Why?], [Those they left behind…..], [Jaane tu… Ya Jaane Na], [103], [Spain won!!!!]
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Kahan jayega?
August 5, 2008 by full2faltu
What do you get standing in heavy rains for 30-45 minutes waiting for a rickshaw or a bus to take you home without any vehicle stopping for you?
Frustration!
Pure! Raging! frustrating frustration
You either vent your anger or you try to make the most of it by humoring the situation. So today when I soaked in heavy rains, I tried getting a rickshaw from my office to Andheri station. Many rickshaw choose to go empty rather than taking passengers. Not one rickshaw was ready to ply to Andheri. It was tiring asking “Andheri?” to every rickshaw who just slowed down but did not stop.
So just tried asking them different questions like;
“Nagpur?”
“Pune?”
“Delhi?”
“Kahan jayega?” (Where will you go?) “Main bhi wahin aaunga” (I will also come where you go)
“Andheri toh jaoge nahi?” (You will definitely not go to Andheri?)
And the last parting shot. I asked a rickshaw stuck in a traffic jam
Me : Andheri Jayega? (Will you go to Andheri?) Rickshaw driver just shakes a ‘NO’ for an answerMe : Mumbai main service nahi hai kya? (No service in Mumbai?)
He manages a dry smile while I walk away triumphant!
Posted in Diary, Humor, Personal | 2 Comments »
Derecho de Familia (2006)
July 26, 2008 by full2faltu
Argentina in all does not produce so many movies as India do but they do produce movies. In the past I have seen the impressive “Nine Queens” recommended by Monica . She had also recommended “The Family Law” a.k.a “Derecho De Famalia”. It took me some time to get hold of the movie but finally I got it.
Derecho De Famalia (DDF) is a Spanish Argentinean film. Its been a long time since I have seen a slow engrossing film. I have seen many slow boring film but a good slow film which slowly pulls you in to the story is becoming rare
DDF is actually a very simple story about father and son and his son. It in fact does not have any twists and turns. In fact it does not have any drama at all, no big sentimental dialogs and no dramatic background score and yet it still manages to hold on its own. Do not see the film, if you cannot let the movie take over you.
DDF is a story of Ariel Perelman, a lawyer working as a law teacher and also working in the government office. His father, Bernado Perelman is a widower and a very successful lawyer. He has his own way of dealing and communicating with people making him quite successful.Ariel Perelman is married and has a 2 year old son, Gaston.
The story is from Ariel perspective where he tries to be a good son trying to be in his father’s shoes while trying to be a good father to his 2 year old son. The story starts when Ariel describes his family starting from his father, himself and then his wife and son. Ariel falls in love with one of his student and marries her.
Ariel’s office has some construction problem due to which the office is closed and he has to go on a forced holiday. He does not tell his wife that and roams around a bit even offering to take his son to swimming classes with other parents.
Ariel’s father, Bernado ask him to tag along with him to the court and Ariel reluctantly tags along. He accompanies his father to the court meeting people and friends along the way. He observes his father and realizes that something is amiss. He cannot understand the reason for his father’s show of affection. He even forgets his father’s birthday only to be reminded by his father’s friend.
Ariel is a very laid back man who is very unlike his father. He sleeps in his suit and still does not like crease on his shirt. He is uncomfortable working with his father. Even his personal relationship with his father is quite uncomfortable. After his mother’s death, he and his father share a business like relation.
As his father tries to push him in his business, he resists. Even with the time in his hand, he would rather be somewhere else.
DDF is not about characters displaying their emotions but just the realization of the feeling for each other. The movie ends in a very non-dramatic, sober and perfect conclusion.
DDF is directed by Daniel Burman is quite a renowned director in Argentina and the movie is a part of a trilogy all focusing on father-son relationship. He has also written the screenplay and is quite good.
Daniel Hendler and Auturo Goetz play the son-father duo with good chemistry. They portray the reluctant father-son trying to reach to each other but never quite making it. Julieta Diaz plays the beautiful wife of Ariel and Eloy Burman is the cute Gaston, the 2 year old son of Ariel
DDF is a good movie if you let the story and the characters do the talking, silently. Do not expect a melodrama. All in all a good movie
Rating: 8/10
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Movies
Posted in Movies, Non-Indian, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Can You Write?????
July 21, 2008 by full2faltu
When I reached 600th Post, I invited guest writers to write for Full2 Faltu. It all started almost 250 posts back when I asked some of my online friends to write for me. However the 600th post became special because they wrote for a cause.
The incentive - For every post written by a guest writer, I would contribute Rs. 200 for a special cause. Now I am at 666 667 668 Post and in a few days, I will be reaching 700th post and continuing with the new F2F tradition, I am inviting the readers to write again and this time again for a cause.
The incentive is again for a cause. I will be making a donation of a minimum of Rs. 200 per guest writer to charity cause. I am looking for a minimum of 10 writers and maximum of 15 contributors. The guidelines are quite simple;
Write about anything you want. No restriction on topic
Try to write atleast a page. Choose a topic where you can write most about. Don’t end in 10 lines.
Be original.
Please include a small introduction about yourself.
The post will be on selected on first-come-first-serve basis. You have an interesting topic, write about it and send it to full2faltu@gmail.com.
The number of post limit depends on the number of contributors I get and the response I get.
I have received quite a good response from my guest writers earlier
I will be donating the amount to two organizations.
Pray Foundation - I have been associated with Pray Foundation since its inception. I have seen it grow from an idea to a reality. Although still small, its trying to make a difference. This is my small contribution to a small prayer. PRAY Foundation works in basic education, Environment and Primary health care.
Welfare for Stray Dogs - I have known Abodh long before I knew WSD and that’s because he has his own blog. Through his blog he introduced Mumbai like never seen before and he also introduced inhabitants of Mumbai, who form an integral part of Mumbai, the stray dogs. The Welfare of Stray Dogs is a Mumbai-based organization working to eradicate rabies and control the street-dog population in a humane, scientific way.
I do agree that the contribution here may not make much difference for the organization and they are always in need of funds but I hope this initiative does bring an awareness among people. Not only these two organization but many similar organization which work for the betterment of society. With the economy favoring many Indians, its only natural that we fulfill our responsibility as a citizen to improve the life of many Indians who are still economically and socially backward.
I do have a selfish reason for inviting guest writers. I get a much needed break when I don’t have to think about the next post for Full2 Faltu.
I do have my first writer who had missed the 600th post celebration but we still have a lot of place left. I am sounding like writing for F2F is a privilege but you never know!
Update: No volunteers yet! Don’t let me come after you
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Until I get my guest writers, this post will remain on top. Normal blogging continues below.
Posted in Events, Personal, Thoughts | 2 Comments »
Aur Ek Abhimanyu……..
July 21, 2008 by full2faltu
Mumbai Local trains has a world of its own. A world that runs by the time of the train indicator for everybody associated with it. A world where a minute difference can cause you unmanageable delay. A life line which is cursed by everyone and not many can live without it. We Mumbaikars have a love-hate relationship with Local trains. We know that they are old, dirty and crowded but we are also sure that they are the fastest route to get anywhere in Mumbai, always preferred over the crowded traffic stopping Mumbai roads.
Its no wonder that the trains are mostly crowded. A Non-Mumbaikar will find it difficult to really understand how the system works but a little bit of courage and determination and a little practice and you are a pro.
Sometimes even we Mumbaikar also find it difficult to get in and out of train.
As I made my way to platform number 1 of Andheri to board the 6:32 PM train to Borivali, I knew that I was already late because the train had entered the platform. Getting in the train is a time-bound exercise. Right from the time when the train slows down to the time it starts leaving the station, the time to board and get down is just a matter of seconds.
The first rule of boarding the train is to be standing on the platform when the train enters the platform. The first rule of getting down is being prepared to push and jump even before the train had stopped on the platform. The day you forget these rules, you would be making the extended trip to the next stop whether you like it or not or would be waiting for the next train to chug in.
As I waited for the train to stop, I was already behind 2 rows of people. I knew that getting this local was going to be difficult if not impossible. Before the train stopped, people had already started pouring out of the compartment. Andheri is a main station and there are more than the normal number of people getting down.
By the time the train stopped, most of them were already managed to get down on the platform but there were some who were at the end of the line inside the compartment. As the train stopped, those who wanted to get down at Andheri but could not get down in the moving train were trying to get down.
At the same time, people started boarding the train little caring if everybody had come out. The two groups met at the door and then started the struggle to get on the other side. Almost everybody was out except a young man who was fighting his way out. As people tried to get in, he was trying to get out.
As the seconds started ticking both the group were getting desperate. The outside people were shouting “Chalo Andar” (get in) and the young man was shouting “arre utarne do” (let me get out)
I had given up any attempt to get in and was amused watching the struggle. I was laughing while both the group jostled with each other. He was like Abhimanyu trying to get out of the chakravyuha frantically moving his hands around trying to swim against the sea of people desperately trying to get out of train and all the while shouting “Arre utarne do, utarne do”. The people were the enemy desperately trying to get in pushing him inside the train and shouting “Chalo chalo andar”
Finally he pshed and shoved and did manage to get out along with his bag and complete himself and looked back at the crowd. Nobody was looking at him as if he was never a ‘part’ of them. They were still pushing for that every inch of space shouting “Chalo andar”. He walked away quite shaken and I couldn’t hide a sheepish grin trying hard not to laugh.
It not good to laugh at someone’s plight but it was really a funny situation with desperation reaching its zenith. I was just “Samay” watching the fun. The fast Mumbai life does give you a source of amusement provided you are not at the receiving end.
In Hindu mythological story, Mahabharat , Abhimanyu died trying to get out of a army formation (chakravyuha) because he knew getting in but did not know his way out. Today this Abhimanyu found his way out because he knew his way in and could fight his way out.
Posted in Experiences, Humor, Mumbai, Personal | 1 Comment »
Work, Anger and Other Things
July 16, 2008 by full2faltu
The last week has been busy but that is not why I did not write. I have written when I was busy. But not this time. I have something to say if not lot to say but the words refuse to form. I would say its laziness and then nothing, I mean nothing really happens around. Nothing intersting at least.
Work has ben stressful. It does not take long hours but it does sucks out the energy so much that the ideas don’t really get materialized into posts. So there has been a lot of inconsistencies in the frequency of the posts. The number of posts per month has gone down. Nothing new happening in life except the fights at work which are obviously not worth writing here. As I sit everyday before the laptop trying to write that oh-so-brilliant post, I can’t seem to focus on the words. I guess this is what every one calls a writer’s block. But then I am not a writer. Just lazy
Last week the family came to visit Shirdi and I went to Shirdi on the luxury Volvo bus. Long journey’s on public transport really tense me out. I stop drinking water way before the journey. The bus does not makes that many stops. I have been in situation when I had to hold my bladder till it was on the verge of bursting.
It was nice meeting the family after a long time even though it was a very small meet. Another one and half month and I will be completing a year since I came from Amsterdam. A year has passed and I am still in Amsterdam’s hangover. Maybe one day I will be returning back just for the heck of it.
The trip to Shirdi itself was a short one but the route has turned green. Green mountains and green everywhere. The rains have really changed the landscape. I think a trip to the mountains has become a necessity now. I am imagining the wonderful pictures my camera would take.
But then the weekends are spent at home doing nothing. Especially after 5-6 days in office where I am talking for almost 8 hours, the weekends are spent quietly. The days are occupied by office talk and hardly anything happening in life. On the worse side, I am finding myself losing control in office. I do understand that not everything in office goes as per plan and when that doesn’t happen, I find myself shouting. Its a good thing that I sit with my team which does not include any women and we do have a closed room
Like a few weeks back, I had a heated discussion on the phone with a colleague. The situation got so bad that I was using the choicest of cuss words . By the time I finished and looked back, everyone in the room was looking at me and I realized that I had crossed the decency limit. We do cross that limit frequently and its not an unnatural event in the room but that day I did shout a lot.
With so much shouting, its hardly a surprise that I prefer to keep quite when I come home. Atleast I don’t carry the mood home so its still under control but I guess I need to take care of my anger more. On weekend’s I prefer to keep quite rather than discussing office with anyone and neither do I do something interesting in the whole week although I do a lot of routine things. I guess I have to find another passion besides work. Work is getting too routine.
Its true, I do lead a boring life!
Posted in Diary, Experiences, Friends/Family, Personal, World Cities, musings | 3 Comments »
Why?
July 13, 2008 by full2faltu
I am the first to wish you on your birthday But then, I will never attended your birthday party
I may know all your crushes right from the first to the last crush But then, I will never be one of them
I know what you like to eat But then we have never eaten together
I know the first time he asked you But then I will be there just to see your stupid smile
I know every fight you had with him And I have seen the tears
You have told me a lot about your friends But they know nothing about me
You tell me about your fun weekends And I have seen you only on weekdays
In crisis you knew you could call me But then you never wondered why I never called you during mine
I think I know your every secret But you don’t know my one secret that I want you to know
I like to let go the 6:05 PM train for you But maybe you don’t know that the next one comes 25 minutes later
I know your favorite song And I will never sing it for you
Today we can talk about everything Tomorrow I will be just a person you knew in the past
Its hard to explain but not impossible to understand
…. and still she asks me……..Why?
============================================
Ramblings based on a conversation with a friend when she asked me why the girls I knew never fall in love with me. Its not poetry, just rambling
Posted in Friends/Family, Life, Personal, Relations, musings | No Comments »
Those they left behind…..
July 7, 2008 by full2faltu
Serendipity is a 2001 romantic comedy starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Its about two people who meet one day and go their separate way with the hope that they will meet each other if they are destined to meet. Years later, they are supposed to get married to two different people and then they decide to search for each other one last time. As all feel-good romantic movies, they do meet in the end and you feel happy that true love has found a way. (Sache pyar ki jeet hui hai)
Serendipity is just one of the example. “PS I love you” can be sort of an example. “”Kuch Kuch Hota hai”, “Kabhi Haan, kabhi naa” and “Dil toh Pagal Hai” are the Indian example. There are other movies too. I mean the one where true love finds a way and they live happily ever after.
And in all that feel-good factor, there is a third person who is left stranded at the alter, someone who also loved but then his/her love did not succeed. In “Serendipity”, the hero-heroine finally meet but they don’t show what happens to the people they were supposed to marry. These people are insignificant for the story. After all they are not the main characters of the story. People will be concentrating on the main hero/heroine.
Hardly anybody thinks about them, how they feel, how do they cope with all this. It was like when Phatichar noted in his blog once that in an action movie during a high speed chase on the road we see cars flying around as the hero chases the villain or vice-versa. We are awed at the high-speed action as the hero cuts efficiently through the traffic. The villain hits cars along the way. They fire each other and not every bullet hits its mark. Somewhere along the way, we tend to forget the people in the other cars. People who are not part of the story but just get hit by the hero/villain’s car. As the hero finally grabs the villain, they have left a devastating scene behind.
Remember the old Hindi movies where a speeding car hits a fruit cart or something and the whole cart spills on the crowd. The man on the cart does not have a insurance nor does he know how to feed his family now that his cart is ruined.
But we clap at the victory of good over evil caring for the many who might have been suffered because of the chase. We call them collateral damage.
I agree that it is just a movie and I am making too much of a mountain here.
Hindi movies in the past were actually quite simple. Either it was a love triangle where one of the suitor dies or the one left at the alter is actually the villain who is has to die. Ultimately death solves everything. If not death then the police sorts out everything. In the end, you did not have to worry about the other person as they were already evil.
Now its different. Now they have choices, perfectly, legitimate, good choices and they have to make a choice, the correct one. Ultimately one of them loses who may be a good guy/gal.
So what happens to people who watch the people they love marry off to someone else. While everybody cheers for the hero/heroine, they watch them pretending to be happy, maybe humiliated. Maybe the hero/heroine just took a little too much time to decide and unexpectedly the men/women left behind become losers, just like that.
But then movies are a make-believe world. They are actors and there are stories. Nothing like that ever happens in real life or does it?
I know people who have not been the movie hero/heroine. I have seen people watch helplessly when their ‘love’ married someone else. Whatever the reasons, the one who is left behind are the silent sufferers. Many would argue that it was never meant to be. They are supposed to find the people they truly love some day and today is just not their day. One day they will be the ‘hero’ and ‘heroine’. One day true love will find a way and everybody will be happy again. One day they will be the center of someone’s world . I would like to be optimistic and would like to believe that. Maybe it would! I am not sure and I don’t know
Until that happens, lets say those who are left behind are the collateral damages.
Posted in Life, Movies, Personal, Relations, musings | 2 Comments »
Jaane tu… Ya Jaane Na
July 6, 2008 by full2faltu
The good thing about “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na” (JTYJN) is that its not complicated. Its a simple half romantic comedy and half serious comedy film. The first half is funny and the second serious to a large extent.
JTYJN is as the name suggest about ignorance. A tale about two people who are in love and they don’t about it. Its about two people with opposite personalities and opposite do attract and as I said they just don’t know about it.
Its about Jay Rathore or Rats, a very non-violent person who talks his way out of difficult situation. His friend Aditi or Meouw is quite the opposite. Ready to fight with anyone for what she think is right. Both are quite a couple. Their parents and friends expect them to get married and they don’t. Instead they go and try finding a spouse for each other.
The second half is when they realize that the people they find are almost jerks and they love each other.
JTYJN is about two confused people who don’t know what they want in life (aren’t we all?). Its not much of a story because we can guess the end at the start. When Aditi finds someone, we already know that he will be a jerk. Yet, in the days of terrorism, the director planned a climax in the airport. The way Jay reaches inside the airport, he wouldn’t be alive. Really! He just cannot reach immigration running like that.
But then it is a love story and cinematic liberty allows the filmmakers to take that much freedom. Ignoring all these minor problem, its still a very entertaining movie and it has its moment. Abbas Tyrewala’s has written and directed JTYJN and his experience as a good writer sees through the film with some good one-liners.
What the writer lacked in story, he wrote in characters. He has written very likeable characters and that is the biggest strength of the movie. Not just the central character of Jay and Aditi but all the supporting cast are well written. They are remembered in their small roles too. The main character’s friends are not just props.
Three roles make an impact in the movie excluding Jay and Aditi. Ratna pathak Shah who plays Jay’s mother, Prateik Babbar who play Amit, Aditi’s brother. He plays the sober, sad brother who lives according to his own rules and who cares for Aditi in his own special way. Lastly Sugandha Garg who plays Shaleen, Aditi and Jay’s friend. Her eyes say a lot than words.
Some good music by A R Rehman makes it all the more alluring. Most of the song do not obstruct the movie and goes with the flow.
Jay played by Imran Khan makes an impressive debut. He is cool and totally gels with Genelia D’Souza who plays Aditi in the movie. Its the chemistry that makes the movie work. They do look like good friends who have been together since a long time.
In addition cameo’s by Nasserudin Shah is quite hilarious. Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan also make a cameo that somehow appears cliched but works wonder for the movie.
And finally a big applause for Abbas Tyrewala for making an impressive debut. He is the writer and the director and he handles both quite efficiently. Looking at his past writing assignment, he atleast makes watchable films.
Overall JTYJN is good in most parts. The second half becomes a little heavy ending in an hurried climax but still quite an entertaining film.
Rating: 8/10
========================
More Movies
Posted in India, Movies, Reviews | 3 Comments »
103
July 5, 2008 by full2faltu
Saturday, Dahisar, East.
Sandeep and me came out after watching “Jaane Tu….Ya Jaane Naa” As we walked toward the main road trying to get a vada pao or something to eat, we came to the restaurant. Just next to the restaurant was the BEST bus stop. As we walked past the bus stop we noticed an old man lying on the ground. It seems that he was drunk but we were not sure. He could have been sick too. Many people walked past by him as he lay on the floor. They looked back but were reluctant to help.
Yes! Mumbai can be heartless many times.
Sandeep and I stood there discussing if he was drunk or sick or in trouble. I remembered the number written on many Police Van and Police station about a helpline for children, senior citizen and women.
I was in no position to help the man for whatever reason and I was not sure if I could call the helpline for such a matter. I don’t know how they would take the call. Finally after encouragement from Sandeep, I called up 103. This helpline is for informing about crime and abuse against Children, Senior citizen and women.
You can give information in Hindi and Marathi. You can provide any information about a crime or abuse or anything that you think the Police ought to know or just want to help. You are not required to give any information about yourself so don’t worry about being hounded by Police or visit the police station to give a detailed report of what happened. Be clear while informing them and give correct address. Give them landmarks near the incident so that they can send someone to help immediately.
Just 10 minutes after we had made the call, a mobile Police van arrived at the location. We had made a mistake in giving them the exact address and I called back to give them the correct address. The Police attended the man. He was indeed quite drunk and seeing the police he promised to go home. But he was so drunk that he slept again on the footpath. The police made arrangement to give him lemon juice or tea from a nearby hotel. A stranger among the crowd came to pay for the tea.
Yes! Mumbai does have a heart many times.
By the time we had left, the Police were still trying to make the man stand.
It was heartening to know that the Mumbai Police reacted immediately and attended the call.
If you are in Mumbai and see any abuse against women, Senior citizen and children, be an alert citizen and please call up;
103
You can help someone in distress and get them help even if you are not in a position to help.
And Yes! Hats off to Mumbai Police for their prompt response!
Posted in Events, Experiences, Mumbai | No Comments »
Spain won!!!!
June 30, 2008 by full2faltu
The last time Spain went beyond quarter final of any tournament was 24 years ago. The last time Spain won the Euro Cup was in 1964, 44 years ago. But in 2008 Spain totally outclassed Germany. They played an attacking game and Germany although had many chances lost by 1-0.
A great exciting game!
Spain are the new European Champions
Posted in Events, Non-Indian, Sport | 2 Comments »
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NotEng NotCS CSIndividual Relevance [View Page]
Posts: [I’m not an obituary writer…], [Seth Godin is like good wine…], [Transparency is a beautiful thing…], [I want to target people…not buckets!], [Wow…it’s been a while], [google recommendation widget], [Recommender Systems ‘06], [User generated content…the personalization driver], [Fred Nails it — User Friendy Opt Out], [engagement is the new…err old black]
Individual Relevance
One relevant guy running around in an irrelevant world
I’m not an obituary writer…
•March 9, 2008 • 2 Comments
…nor am I a medical professional. However, I have to call “BS” on the increasingly popular notion that social networks are “dying.” Growth, especially domestic growth, may be slowing, but according to ComScore , the number of people joining social networks is still growing at an 11.5% rate. That’s incredible, given how many people are already participating in social networks.
I was surprised that in a recent blog post , Greg Linden (of amazon, findory.com, and now microsoft fame) seemed to be jumping on the bandwagon, saying that Social Networks are in trouble. I thought Greg would share my view that this isn’t a positive occurence, and a sign that social networks are maturing (or being forced to mature). While I don’t see social networks dying anytime soon, they are definitely primed for change. Users are fed up with certain aspects and wanting more. In particular, they want personalization.
As outlined in this Businessweek article , users are fed up with irrelevant advertising. Spencer E. Ante and Catherine Holahan make this all real, when the describe the woes of Chris Heritage. They write:
If you want to socialize with Chris Heritage, you won’t find him on Facebook. The 27-year-old Port St. Lucie (Fla.) business analyst joined the social network last year after his buddies bugged him to get an account. But he soon became fed up with the avalanche of ads, especially those detailing what his friends were buying, and he quit the site in November. Now, Heritage expresses himself through a blog, happy to pay $6 a month to publish on a promo-free Web site. “It’s worth it to not have to look at the ads,” he says.
I’m not sure the masses are moving away from Social Networking because of irrelevant ads. I’ve always been surprised how little users care about ads being relevant. But, I hope that I’m wrong — because consumer demand for relevant advertising could be a huge growth opportunity for online personalization.
At the same time, it seems like the whole social networking/contact management is in desperate need of personalization intervention. This was one of the major focal points at O’Reilly’s Graphing Social Patterns conference. Charlene Li’s presentation hit this topic directly, in her presentation entitled “The Future of Social Networks.”
Hmmm…so, the death of social networking may lead to the rise of online personalization. I like the sounds of that…
Posted in Uncategorized
Seth Godin is like good wine…
•January 10, 2008 • 1 Comment
…he keeps getting better with age. Even though he’s been driving the same fundamental message (at the highest level) for years, it stays fresh, innovative, and increasingly relevant. That in and of itself is truly “remarkable.”
I keep his various books lying all around my office. Often, when I come in each morning, I’ll pick one up…open it to a random page…and just read a few lines or paragraphs. The message is always spot-on. This morning, I picked up Purple Cow and read the following:
Nobody says, “Yeah, I’d like to set myself up for some serious criticism! And, yet…the only way to be truly remarkable is to do just that.”
Maybe I just find it relevant because I’m truly a dork and set myself up well for criticism. But, when I look around at the various companies I’ve been part of (or part of starting)…Seth’s notion of being raised with a false belief that criticism leads to failure certainly seems “spot on.”
Criticism leads to being remarkable…so, I’m going to go out in search of some good criticism today (and hopefully everyday). Apparently, I’m not the only one thinking this way (or perhaps there are just a lot of other dorks, like me). I noticed that in an end-of-year wrap up, Advertising Age cited an Anderson Survey which showed Godin (more so than folks like Steve Jobs, Peter Drucker, & Tom Peters) is en vogue for 2008.
Posted in Personalization, advertising, media, permission marketing, trust Tags: permission marketing, Godin, Seth Godin, Advertising Age, Purple Cow, Remarkable
Transparency is a beautiful thing…
•January 7, 2008 • No Comments
I love when companies/corporations are transparent with their customers. It goes a long way in building trust…which is essential for any hope at customer loyalty.
Check out thise end of year blog post from Zoho…it’s transparent to the nth degree:
http://blogs.zoho.com/general/recap-zoho-in-2007/
I long for such transparency…that will be a sign I’ve made an impact, but I fear it will be some time until that sign is a visible, outward one. Sigh…
Posted in Consumer empowerment, loyalty, transparency, trust
I want to target people…not buckets!
•November 13, 2007 • 1 Comment
It’s a very interesting time to be participating in the monetization of online audiences. There is so much activity going on…all at a time when folks are needlessly starting to fret that the online advertising growth is diminishing. What’s interesting to me is that I’ve been incredibly underwhelmed with what has been made available to date in terms of monetizing consumer audiences. I guess I was hoping for some more sophisticated targeting…the ability to reach the micro-segments that I want to reach with a very low-cost, highly targeted message. More importantly, as a consumer, I was hoping for the ability to have somebody reach me with advertisements and messages that are of interest.
In talking with some folks about the advertising in social networks such as Facebook, I’ve often heard phrases such as, “yeah, but their targeting is already very good. It’s quite contextual.” And, while I agree that it is contextual — it doesn’t mean that it’s relevant. To oversimplify, relevance has two key dimensions:
It must be a topic of interest to me and
It must be delivered to me when I’m in the mindset to absorb it.
When I went to visit my “University of Pittsburgh” group in Facebook this AM, I received an ad for 10% off my next purchase at a local brewpub — Fuel & Fuddle. I’m well out of college…and am now living in Seattle. I still do enjoy a good brewpub and actually used to frequent the place that was advertised. So, this ad definitely meets relevance criteria #1 above. But, it certainly doesn’t meet criteria #2 — tough to drink a fresh poured amber ale from 3,000 miles away. I’m definitely not in the mindset (it was 6:44 AM) nor in the physical locale to absorb this ad.
Unfortunately, when I look at Facebook’s latest advancements in buying advertisments for their site, I’ve got to agree with Tom Hespos in that I was left wanting more. Tom writes:
I want to be able to overlay multiple targeting criteria and have the database tell me every time how many people are in my potential universe.
Somehow, the entire Facebook approach to targeting buckets (vs. individuals) seems to miss the real power of social networks — they are amalgamations of diverse individuals loosely bound by common interests at a given point in time. Hmmmm….sounds eerily similar to my 2 criteria for relevance doesn’t it?
The notion of “buckets” on Facebook is a step in the right direction…but it is inherently flawed when it comes to relevance. But, then again, didn’t we all learn this when we were kids…as Henry once said to Liza…”there’s a hole in that bucket.”
Posted in Personalization, advertising, individual relevance Tags: advertising, Facebook, Hespos, relevance
Wow…it’s been a while
•November 12, 2007 • 2 Comments
So, I haven’t posted in a really long time. I’ve been doing a lot of internal blogging…trying to change mindsets to ensure that we are all “wrapped around the customer” at Microsoft Office Live. Good news…as an organization and as individuals, we very much are, which is very cool in and of itself. However, it’s especially cool because perhaps now I can find time to start working on my own blog again.
When starting up again, I debated about getting a whole new blog and just starting over. But, the topic of interest is the same now as it was then — individual relevenace. So, what do I mean by individual relevance?
In this case, it means delivering a truly relevant online experience. Amazon does it (well, most of the time). Netflix is paying $1 million so that they can do it. Not sure why Google’s not doing it (as John Battelle stated — they do have the world’s largest database of intentions ).
Is Office Live doing it? Well, I’ll be covering that here, perhaps. But, more importantly, I’ll be covering other companies (startups, established entities, large corporations, not-for-profits, etc.) that do it well. And, from my perspective, doing it well means treating users as an individuals and providing an experience that is on time and on target….errr, relevant.
With that, welcome (again) to Individual Relevance…
Posted in individual relevance Tags: Amazon, Google, individualization, Netflix, Office Live, Personalization, welcome
google recommendation widget
•September 13, 2006 • No Comments
As folks like Niall Kennedy and Greg Linden have written, Google has a new recommendation widget that leverages past search behavior to make search result and web page recommendations. Niall compliments the “Interesting Items for You” module while Greg expresses some serious concerns.
One thing that struck me was a comment in Linden’s blog, “Geeking with Greg” from Ionut Alex. Chitu who states that the recommendation widget only updates once a week. If this is true (and I’ll start my testing of it tonight and go for a week), then I agree with Greg — “That’s not good at all.”
Posted in Personalization, Uncategorized
Recommender Systems ‘06
•September 12, 2006 • No Comments
Right now, the conference “The Present and Future of Recommender Systems ‘06″ is taking place. This evening, I found a great new blog via the mSpoke Adaptive Personalization Engine that is covering this show. You can check it out at:
http://blog.recommenders06.com/?p=13
Seems like a great conference…wish I was there. Seems like all of the key issues with recommender systems/personalization engines are being discussed — scalability issues, cold-start problems, etc.
Posted in Personalization, Uncategorized
User generated content…the personalization driver
•September 12, 2006 • 1 Comment
I read recently that User Generated Content (UGC) now accounts for more than 50% of the content on the web. I’m not sure how valid that number is, but one thing is clear…the amount of UGC continues to grow at a rapid pace. For example, Technorati is now tracking nearly 54 million blogs. And, sites like Digg and YouTube have certainly been key to driving this proliferation of UGC.
If you are like me, then you probably value the insights, perspectives, and opinions in much of this UGC. However, if you are like me you probably also hate crap. Hell, even plumbers hate crap.
The challenge with UGC is wading through all of the crap to find the few good nuggets that are worth reading. Lars Rabbe, CIO of Yahoo!, understands this challenge. At the Information Week 500 Conference, Lars stated:
“There’s absolutely a danger that more crap will bubble up from [user-generated content].”
Blog search engines like Technorati, Feedster, and Ice Rocket help…if there is something specific I am looking for, but are of little value at recommending things of personal interest. There’s simply not enough time in the day to wade through crap. So, if you are like me and hate wading through crap…then, you’ll soon find yourself seeking out personalization solutions to filter UGC and find you those nuggets.
Posted in Personalization, mSpoke
Fred Nails it — User Friendy Opt Out
•August 22, 2006 • No Comments
Over on his blog, A VC, Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures nailed the debate in yesterday’s New York Times about stored search queries. In the NYT opinion piece, the author argues for tighter controls over gathering and using search query data.
While I’m certainly a HUGE proponent of enforcing the proper notification, privacy policy, and adherence by companies with regards to individual search query information — the Times opinion piece argues for some heavy-handed government involvement. And, while I agree, the companies gathering and using such search query data, need to be monitored and kept in check…we need to be careful to not go to far. We need to place the burden on the corporations collecting and using this information.
Fred makes this point brilliantly when he writes:
I believe that what’s needed is user friendly opt-out, not opt-in.
IMHO, it is all about giving the user transparency and control. Why not give consumers access to their own search query data. Why not empower them to delete that which they don’t want to be used. The company that I work for, mSpoke, is built on the fundamental tenants of transparency and empowerment. It’s this sense of consumer control that makes mSpoke such a great place to work. I also believe that it is this sense of consumer control (and it’s real control, not just lip service) that positions mSpoke well for the future.
Don’t believe me on this? Then imagine a world of search and user query history with FTC involvement. The only value the FTC could bring to the table is stifling both innovation and value creation — something none of us should be interested in. Hell, if we are going to do that, then maybe…just maybe we should get the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) involved in all of this. After all, look out what they did for the online music world during the last internet boom.
Posted in mSpoke, media
engagement is the new…err old black
•August 16, 2006 • No Comments
It’s been interesting to sit back and watch the term “engagement” become the new black…the new buzz word in marketing circles — especially online marketing circles. The reason that I say it is “interesting” is that it has always been about engagement. So, why all the fuss…and why now?
I’m sure it has been brewing for much longer than I recall, but it seems to me that the term engagement and using it as a success metric for a campaign or an individual piece of collateral became all the rage about a year ago.
I remember Peter Blackshaw, the CMO from Nielsen BuzzMetrics (go figure?), writing a great piece in ClickZ about this topic about a year ago. Gary Stein, formerly of Jupiter and now part of WOM Agency Ammo, has written much about this topic as well…noting its importance, but also the difficulty associated with measuring true consumer engagement. And, the term engagement has become so popular in today’s marketing circles, that it’s now central theme of an alleged sex crime as noted by George Simpson, in his Online Media Daily commentary coverage of ”The Quiznos Guy — Scott Lippitt and his recent arrest.“
So, engagement is everywhere. It’s the new black. But am I missing something? Hasn’t advertising and media ALWAYS been about engagement? We’ve moved from static billboards along the highway to dynamic ones. Why? To increase engagement. We’ve migrated from advertising on the packaging of video games to advertising within the animation of the games themselves. Why? To increase engagement. We’ve moved from running :30 ads between programs on network television to product placements within the programming itself? Why? Well to beat TiVo…and to increase engagement.
Engagement is not the new black…but rather the OLD black. The new black will be a way to easily and accurately measure consumer engagement. Better yet, the new black will be transforming behavioral targeting from a medium designed to target people deep in the buying cycle to one that focuses on engaging the consumer across all phases of the buying cycle — even brand awareness/identity.
If that’s the case, then who knows, maybe mSpoke will become the new black???
Posted in mSpoke, media
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Posts: [In European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, Africa will have place of honour at European Parliament], [Jean Ping said “no” to Nicolas Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Union project], [Libya says Mediterranean Union will divide Africa], [EU-South Africa Summit on 25 July in Bordeaux - summary of the conclusions], [European Commission and EU Presidency launch European Development Days 2008], [Europafrica Bulletin Issue 19 - 31 July 2008], [Critic on Commission’s proposal on special financing facility worth €1 billion to help developing country farmers], [Security and development in Africa: strengthening conflict prevention, resolution and management], [French Priorities with regard to Climate Change, Development and EU-Africa Relations, Agriculture and rural development], [The Mediterranean Union - will it split Africa?], [Good governance: Borrowing from EU for AU], [Progress Report by the G8 Africa Personal Representatives (APRs) on implementation of the Africa Action Plan], [Development in a downturn? Comments], [EU looks at setting up €1bn fund to fight food shortages], [Food crisis - how do we feed the world now and in 2050?], [NEW WEBSITE], [G8: West told to fulfil its African aid pledge], [The 11th AU Summit: summary of the conclusions], [AU postpones continental gov’t debate to next summit in 2009], [What French NGOs will do during the French Presidency of the EU], [Release of CSOs Sharm El Sheikh Declaration On the 11th African Union Summit], [11th AU Summit: Crisis over the new elected Zimbabwian President Mugabe], [Many Side Activities of the Eleventh Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly], [Africa seeks sympathetic hearing from French-led EU], [Europafrica Bulletin Issue 18 - 26 June 2008], [5th Training Course on Africa-Europe Co-operation for Youth Organisations], [European Parliament election in 2009 and its impact on EU development agenda], [EU Renews Its Intentions towards aid for Africa], [AU, G8 meeting underlines capacity building for African peace architecture], [“Historic moment”: first meeting to integrate NEPAD into AU], [African peace facility – Financing for 2008-2010], [18 Month Programme of the Council], [EU Council conclusions on implementation of the EU/Africa Joint Strategy], [Council Conclusions on enhancing the Global Approach to Migration (5-6 June 2008 )], [France will take over the EU Presidency on the 1st of July 2008], [Project Launch of ‘European Development Co-operation to 2020′ in Brussels], [Joint Africa-EU Strategy: A problem for African and EU CSO to engage], [EU Troika meeting with South Africa], [Detailed agenda of the AU-EU Roundtable of April 1st made available], [7th Edition of the Economic African Outlook (2008 AEO) was launched], [40 Egyptian CSOs get trained by the CCP-AU to better engage with AU], [Europafrica Bulletin Issue 17 - 29 May 2008], [African Union discussed the establishment of the Government of the African Union], [African Union, regional bodies to debate on migration issues in Addis], [EP ad-hoc delegation to the Pan African Parliament (13-14 May 2008)], [First concrete plans on the Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy], [11th Extra-Ordinary Session of the Executive Council on the Audit Report of the African Union], [11th AU Summit: Key Issues of the Agenda], [Report on the ACP- EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Nambia, 28 - 30. April 08], [AU-CSO Pre-Summit meeting in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt from 17 till 19 June 2008]
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In European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, Africa will have place of honour at European Parliament
August 6, 2008
Place of honour at the European Parliament in the week 8-11 September will go to Africa, in all its political complexity and cultural diversity.
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Jean Ping said “no” to Nicolas Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Union project
August 6, 2008
For Jean Ping, the Mediterranean Union project of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, that was approved in the beginning of July, aims at dividing the African continent and contradicts the decision made at the last African Union Summit to see Africa as one integrated, geographical and political unit says the International Magazine.
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Libya says Mediterranean Union will divide Africa
August 5, 2008
Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi has reaffirmed his critical stance towards the Union for the Mediterranean - the brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy - saying it will divide the 53-nation African Union.
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EU-South Africa Summit on 25 July in Bordeaux - summary of the conclusions
July 31, 2008
The EU-South Africa Summit was held on 25 July in Bordeaux, France. It was the first summit to be organised between South Africa and the EU since the establishment of the Partnership in May 2007.
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European Commission and EU Presidency launch European Development Days 2008
July 31, 2008
The European Commission and the French Presidency of the European Union have officially announced that the European Development Days (EDD) 2008 event will be held from 15 to 17 November in Strasbourg. EDD 2008 is one of the major events in the international development calendar, falling at a unique strategic time for Europe and its partners, two months after the United Nations General Assembly and a few weeks before the Doha Conference.
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Blogstring Live Podcast Episode 4
Do I Want Targeted Ads, Or Do I Just Hate CiCi’s Pizza?
Image is Everything
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Blogstring Live Podcast Episode 4
Posted on August 13th, 2008 by Nathan Burke
We’ll be doing our weekly show at 4PM EST on blogtalkradio. You can hear the show using the player below, or by going to blogtalkradio.
Give us a call at (718) 506-1372
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Do I Want Targeted Ads, Or Do I Just Hate CiCi’s Pizza?
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by Nathan Burke
I’ve had enough.
Nearly every day I see an ad for CiCi’s pizza buffet. Their tagline is “Almost too good to be true!” Almost? I beg to differ, CiCi’s.
Here’s the problem: CiCi’s runs national TV commercials almost nonstop. The problem? They don’t have a location within HUNDREDS OF MILES of where I live! I’m constantly being targeted by a company that has no chance of selling to me. Check out the map of locations:
Yeah, see those tiny, desolated states to the north of Pennsylvania, and everything west of New Mexico? Who cares about them? Flyover states, right?
Just for the hell of it, I put in my zip code in the CiCi’s location finder. Here’s my result:
Why Do I Hate Their Ads?
I took a break from my white-hot hatred of CiCi’s, and took a step back. I asked myself: why am I so angry? More importantly, I asked myself: Are you really asking for targeted ads?
In this case, I think I am. I mean, when I see ads for restaurant chains that have nearby locations, I hardly even notice them. But when I do, I file it away in the reference section in the back of my mind. There’s actual value there: when I need a place to go, I’ll think back to the commercials I’ve seen and will use that information to make a choice.
And maybe that’s the part that makes me so angry when I see a CiCi’s ad: the ad has absolutely zero value to me. In fact, it has less than zero value.
When Is An Ad Not An Ad
When we look at the question of value, the lines between advertising and resources begin to blur. Which of these are ads, and which are resources:
A menu from a restaurant that delivers to your home
Coupons in the Sunday newspaper for things you already buy
A listing of local businesses in a tourist guide in a hotel lobby on your vacation
A twitter message linking to a blog post on something you’re interested
To me, each of these things can be incredibly valuable. I know they’re basically ads, but I don’t perceive them that way.
Would You Be Okay With Targeted Ads?
Before this post, my knee-jerk reaction would be “Hell no!” But then I asked myself the following questions:
If you could give your zip code, age, gender, and a few interests to your cable company (without giving your name, address, etc), and in return, you’d never have to watch another CiCi’s ad or ad for baby diapers, would you do it?
Would you do the same thing online?
If you never saw another irrelevant contextual ad on a blog, but instead saw adsense ads that actually link to things you’re interested in, would you click them?
To me, the answer is yes. In fact, when I run for president, my first act will be to make a law prohibiting any TV commercial from being played more than twice in a 24 hour period. Additionally, a commercial may run up to 10 times, but after that, it must be taken away. So yeah, I’ve been giving this some thought.
And to me, I’d rather have relevant advertisements than just random junk. Because at that point an ad can become a resource. (And yes, I did say “can”)
I know not everyone agrees with me, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just don’t defend CiCi’s. Their actions are simply indefensible.
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Image is Everything
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by Sarah Wurrey
Two little girls, both adorable. But only one of them was good enough for the Chinese government. The girl on the right provided her angelic singing voice for the performance of “Ode to the Motherland” at the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics.
But it was the girl on the left who was deemed more suited to represent the country, because she’s more “attractive”.
One little girl becomes an instant national celebrity, the other was the one who actually did the singing. It’s straight out of “Singin’ in the Rain,” but with 100% less Gene Kelly.
According to the Opening Ceremonies’ musical director, choosing the “better looking” child to lip sync was in the best interests of the country.
Speaking on Beijing Radio station, musical director Chen Qigang said the organisers needed a girl with both a good image and a good voice.
They faced a dilemma because although Lin was prettier, seven-year-old Yang had the better voice, Mr Chen said.
“After several tests, we decided to put Lin Miaoke on the live picture, while using Yang Peiyi’s voice,” he told the radio station.
“The reason for this is that we must put our country’s interest first,” he added.
“The girl appearing on the picture must be flawless in terms of her facial expression and the great feeling she can give to people.”
This is not the first time China has stressed a physical ideal in terms of its Olympic representatives. The country also had vigorous physical requirements for the young women selected to serve as Olympic hostesses, who are responsible for presenting medals and awards throughout the games. All the young women had to meet a specific aesthetic–being between 18 and 25, 5′6″ and 5′10″ tall (well above the national average), and slender in figure with pretty faces.
I’m torn on this whole issue–on one hand, I find it fascinating that this seems to be a country obsessed with its own public image, to the point where it would replace one perfectly cute child with a beautiful singing voice with another it deemed more “flawless.” And yet when faced with constant concerns regarding everything from women’s rights, human rights, environmental concerns (much has been made of Beijing’s notorious smog during these Olympics) and more, the government doesn’t, to be frank, seem to give a hoot.
On the other hand, my outrage is muted by the fact that I honestly could see the exact same thing happening in America. This is a country completely obsessed with the idea of ideal beauty standards, even in children. Just look at kiddie beauty pageants.
I was prompted to write this post after seeing a few outraged blog posts in a row on the subject, none of whom acknowledged that when it comes to shallowness and image obsession, America would be in serious contention for the gold.
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Obama Wants Me To Be The First To Know His VP Choice…Well, you too.
Posted on August 11th, 2008 by Nathan Burke
Blogstring isn’t a political blog, so don’t worry…I’m not going to start getting political here. Instead, I saw an email yesterday from the Obama Campaign yesterday and thought it was a really interesting use of technology. Here’s the email:
Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign — choosing a running mate.
You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice.
Sign up today to be the first to know: You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.
Once you’ve signed up, please forward this email to your friends, family, and coworkers to let them know about this special opportunity.
No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment. Be the first to know who Barack selects as his running mate.
Thanks, David David Plouffe Campaign Manager Obama for America
So, the moment he makes his decision, everyone that signs up will receive a text or email letting them know the VP choice. How smart is that? How many bloggers will trip over themselves trying to post the news before the others? (I can think of one, and he’s currently sitting in my chair). And what better way to build IMMEDIATE buzz?
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Talking On The Internet Episode 12 (Kind of)
Posted on August 8th, 2008 by Nathan Burke
Today’s show will start at 3:00 PM EST.
The call in number is (347) 539-5920
This is the live podcast I do with Trent Adams, formerly called object:location. We decided object:location just wasn’t very catchy, and since we are talking on the internet, that would work. I’m all for the obvious.
You can check out all episodes of our podcast at TalkingOnTheInternet.com
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BeatThat.com- Find Good Deals, Get Paid For Sharing Them
Posted on August 7th, 2008 by Nathan Burke
Yesterday, BeatThat.com, a site focused on finding the absolute lowest price on a selection of products, came out of private beta. The site is “100% Community-driven”, and leverages social networking to find the lowest prices on items.
How It Works As An End-User
Currently BeatThat.com lists items in the following categories:
Camcorders
Digital Cameras
GPS Devices
Printers
TVs
MP3 Players
Let’s say we’re looking to buy a new HD camcorder. I picked the JVC Everio GZ-HD6. Here’s the item page on BeatThat.com:
The page lists the lowest price first, along with a confidence score. Let’s get into the confidence score and where the prices come from.
How The BeatThat Community Works
As a member of BeatThat.com, you can make $2.00 each time you find a lower price than the lowest price listed for the item. So, if I found a merchant with a lower price than the $419.00 listed above, I could submit a link and get $2.
But the problem here is the fact that online merchants aren’t always the most trustworthy. That’s where the confidence scores come in. Looking at the lowest price above, you can see that the merchant has a 0 out of 100 rating. There’s a good chance that you’ll want to stay away from that merchant.
BeatThat categorizes all merchants into color-coded categories:
Green - these merchants are the best in terms of customer service and delivering what they promise. You should feel very comfortable buying from a Green merchant.
Yellow - shoppers give these merchants mixed reviews. Generally speaking, the issue with these merchants is poor customer support. There’s rarely any complaints about malicious or fraudulent behavior. And, there are plenty of positive reviews for these merchants as well. Just have your eyes open to what issues you might come across.
Red - shoppers should be wary about buying from these merchants. There are very few positive reviews of these merchants and many “horror” stories about them. Typical issues involve “bait and switch” tactics, selling incomplete products, rude telephone support, etc. That said, shoppers clearly buy from these stores, and they pay very little. So you need to make your own decision on whether the risk is worth the dollars saved!
Will It Work?
I don’t see why not. BeatThat plays both sides of the same coin: They cater to people looking for the best possible deal on products they want to buy online and they give their users motivation for submitting deals they’ve found. In addition, they’ve leveraged existing reputation scores for merchants to police online scammers, helping to solve the trust issues inherent in online sales.
If you’ve already made the decision to purchase something within the BeatThat categories, I cannot think of a reason to stay away from BeatThat. That is, unless you aren’t interested in saving money.
Bonus: If you missed our podcast yesterday, Sarah and I discussed BeatThat.com. I’ve cut up the segment, and if you want to just hear about BeatThat, just hit the play button below.
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Magnify.net Adds New Video Sources, Ups The Speed
Posted on August 7th, 2008 by Nathan Burke
Ah, magnify.net. The service that is a constant reminder of the things I’d like to do, if only I had the time. Back in June, I asked readers what they’d do if only they had more time (and I was referring to doing things online….more time with family wasn’t the kind of thing I was looking for). One of my top “if only” activities was:
I’d take the time to figure out the ins and outs of magnify.net, and I’d run my own channel.
Well, this morning magnify announced new feature releases to both improve performance and add new video aggregation sources. If they’d only add free chocolate chip cookies and Hawaiian Punch, I might be forced to forego an hour of sleep each night and use magnify daily. So, let’s take a look.
1. New Video Aggregation Sources
Since magnify.net exists to help users discover and embed video content, their strength is in both the the breadth of video sources available as well as the filtering capabilities that find only the good stuff and throw away the junk. Kind of paradoxical, but stick with me. The more video sources, the better the chances of finding the “just right” video, but at the same time, magnify’s discovery technology has to be excellent at filtering out videos that don’t fit.
magnify.net’s announcement today adds the following video hosting sites to its roster:
MySpace
Hulu
Vimeo
College Humor
Howcast
MTV Overdrive
These are in addition to YouTube, Metacafe, Dailymotion, Veoh, Blip.tv, Google Video, Revver, and just about anyone else you can think of.
When I look at the magnify plugin in my WordPress editor, all of these sources are available as video discovery sources:
2. Make It Faster
In addition to the new sources, magnify.net has “more than doubled” the speed of its video discovery service (I put that in quotes because I haven’t done a speed test). This allows users to search all 15 video sites in less than 10 seconds. I did test that out, and have to admit: it’s quick.
3. The Blogstring Channel
“Okay, okay, enough,” you say. “Show me what it looks like in action.” Well, fine. I have a magnify.net channel for blogstring, and it looks a little like…..
Now that’s pretty cool. With a channel, you just set up automatic searches, and magnify automatically grabs videos related to your search. As a channel curator, you just need to log in and tweak the videos magnify has returned. For instance, you’ll see that my Web 2.0 search has returned multiple instances of the same video. I can just log in and remove the duplicates.
Summary
It would take hours to scour the web to find relevant videos to post on your blog. But magnify.net does it automatically, for free, and in two ways (as a WordPress plugin and automatically in your channel). I’m definitely guilty of being on the magnify.net bandwagon (See way back in October 2007) as I see it as a no-brainer. It’s like someone offering me my own TV Network, for free, and they’ll do all the work for me.
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TripSay Now In Public Beta, Announces New Features
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by Nathan Burke
At the beginning of July, I wrote about TripSay’s invitation only beta. Well, looks like they’re moving quickly, as the travel-centered social network has moved into public beta today.
In addition to opening its doors to the masses, TripSay has added some new features:
World builder: A form letting users add reviews and tips about places they’ve visited.
Group filter: A sorting option allowing users to filter content, tips, and ratings based on any member of a group.
Favorite tips: TripSay members can now save tips (kind of like clippings), creating a personal travel guide.
Editing tools: New tools are available to edit content.
Group message board: Group members now can chat in their own group message boards.
From the press release:
“Since the initial launch of the private beta, TripSay has attracted tremendous interest and a strong following of thousands of recreational, adventurous, and activity-driven vacationers,” said Juha Huttunen, co-founder and CEO of TripSay. “We’re continuing to add new social travel features and usability improvements to help our users connect with fellow travelers, find trustworthy information – and ultimately make the most of their travel experiences near and far.”
All this talk about travel makes me realize: I need to take a trip somewhere. And when I do, I will make sure to use TripSay to find recommendations. That way I’ll be able to actually write about how useful I’ve found the service as opposed to just guessing. Hmmmm. Haven’t been to Montreal in a while. Let’s see what insider tips I can get. I promise: I’ll let you know what I hear.
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Blogstring.com Live Podcast Episode Three
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by Nathan Burke
We’ll be doing a show live today at 3:00 PM EST.
The call-in number is: (718) 506-1372
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object:location Episode Eleven
Posted on August 1st, 2008 by Nathan Burke
The object:location Live Podcast will be broadcast at 1:30 PM EST.
The listener call in number is: (347) 539-5920
Today we’re talking about:
drop.io- A service about simple, private file sharing
RDF- What is it? How is it used? What are the future implications?
Features as businesses- Rather than creating a full social network or services, we’re seeing businesses moving toward offering single features rather than destination sites. Drop.io is a great example of this. Is this where the web is heading?
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NotEng NotCS CSHopefully Interesting [View Page]
Posts: [I’ve Been Quiet], [Dilworth’s Theorem II], [Quantitative Borel-Cantelli Lemma], [Dilworth’s Theorem I], [Topological Notation], [Length and Area I], [Shame on you, Amazon], [On Limits II], [On Limits I], [First post]
Hopefully Interesting
June 2, 2008
I’ve Been Quiet
Filed under: Uncategorized — Pietro @ 10:50 am
Like most of the math bloggers who are still students, I’ve recently gone through a quiet spell, due to various exams (functional analysis and algebraic topology), plus the EBL-SLALM event in Paraty, where I talked about a conjecture of Erdős. I’ve got something like half a dozen nearly-finished posts (unfortunately, at that stage where it’s just polishing, and not that much fun to write), and another half-dozen in the oven, so don’t lose hope!
Meanwhile, here’s a surprising fact. By far the most popular search which brings people to this blog is “borel-cantelli lemma” and “borel-cantelli proof”. I guess it’s listed as an exercise in a lot of textbooks!
Comments (0)
March 17, 2008
Dilworth’s Theorem II
Filed under: math.CO, motivated theorems — Pietro @ 6:48 am Tags: logic, combinatorics
We continue our discussion of Dilworth’s theorem from last time. To recall, we proved by (a very algorithmic) induction that, if is a finite poset whose largest antichain has elements, then is the union of chains. Today we’ll see how a batch of standard (and important) techniques can prove the theorem for general , from the finite case. As before, we will often refer to decompositions of into chains as colorings of , which will always be subject to the restriction that two similarly colored elements be comparable. When we wish to emphasize this property, we may employ the term consistent coloring. It is easy to see that colorings using colors are equivalent to decompositions into chains. (more…)
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March 14, 2008
Quantitative Borel-Cantelli Lemma
Filed under: math.CA, motivated theorems — Pietro @ 12:00 pm Tags: analysis, combinatorics
Everyone knows and loves the Borel-Cantelli lemma: it is widely used, intuitive and has a cute proof. Let’s recall it.
Borel-Cantelli Lemma. Let be a measure space, and a sequence of measurable sets such that . Then the points of that lie in infinitely many form a set of measure zero.
Proof. We present the usual slick proof of the lemma, and postpone intuition until the development of a quantitative statement. Define to be the set of points lying in infinitely many , and notice that . It follows that is measurable, and contained in each cofinite union . Now, , and the latter goes to zero as , because converges. Thus , as claimed.
Alright, so the set of points lying in “very many” is “very small”. A natural quantitative question to ask at this point is: how small is the set of points lying in “moderately many” ? More precisely, if is the set of points lying in at least of the , and the set of points lying in exactly of the , can we get bounds on and , depending on ?
(more…)
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March 6, 2008
Dilworth’s Theorem I
Filed under: math.CO, motivated theorems — Pietro @ 10:46 am Tags: combinatorics
Today I’d like to talk about a gorgeous theorem in order theory. Since partial orders are such general objects, the theorem potentially has many applications, especially in combinatorics (we shall see a few, in fact); and to top it off, I found a very cute inductive proof.
Here’s the statement:
Theorem 1. Let be a partially ordered set (a poset) in which the largest antichain has size . Then it is possible to decompose into the union of chains.
(more…)
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December 29, 2007
Topological Notation
Filed under: opinion — Pietro @ 7:19 am Tags: notation, topology
In general topology, one talks about open and closed sets a lot. A lot. So it seems a bit silly that there isn’t standard notation for that; it’s sort of like writing “equals” longhand throughout and entire semester of calculus. So I came up with the following simple symbols:
( is open in );
( is closed in );
(the interior of A);
(the closure of A).
They’ve been saving me a lot of time and thought since then, like notation’s supposed to. Witness . The closure symbol, in particular, has ended the ambiguity with , which often denotes the complement of in other contexts. It’s easy to know which is meant if you think about it, but this sort of thing should be run by the cerebellum.
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December 28, 2007
Length and Area I
Filed under: math.CA — Pietro @ 6:54 am Tags: analysis
This is a topic which has fascinated me for years, and on which I’ve spent many (fortunately unsuccessful) hours trying to prove theorems that are actually false. I find it to be a good introduction to the weirdness of analysis: you know, the gradual realization that much of our intuition about lines, surfaces and continuity is simply not applicable to the analytical formalization of lines, surfaces and continuity. Some mathematicians, like Weyl and Brouwer, blamed this weirdness on the fact that the intuitive notion of a continuum (the line) is not very well captured by something as disconnected as a set of points (the real numbers).
In any case, we have to develop some new intuitions if we’re going to expect, rather than be surprised by, the Koch snowflake, nonmeasurable sets, and families of curves that have positive area but only at the endpoints. (more…)
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November 15, 2007
Shame on you, Amazon
Filed under: opinion — Pietro @ 12:18 pm
I have long been an eager customer at Amazon.com. Their collection is damn impressive, and their website is, imho, tied with Wikipedia for best on the Internet (discounting meta-sites like Google). Ever since “Search inside this book” and the revamping of the recommendations interface/algorithm, I find myself spending more time on it than on almost any other single website. (more…)
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On Limits II
Filed under: math.LO — Pietro @ 12:18 pm Tags: logic, basic math
(This is a continuation of On Limits I.)
Think of Pelé. When somebody asks “who is Pelé”, you might reply, “the best football player ever”. Notice that you are implicitly defining Pelé in terms of his relationship to other footballers; an observation which is often obscured by the fact that there is also an actual person you can point to, and say “that’s Pelé”.
Now suppose a toy company came out with a football trading card game, where each card represents a famous player, and contains various numerical ratings like precision, speed, stamina etc. You might now explain that Pelé (meaning the Pelé card) is “the card with highest speed and precision”. Even though there is still an actual card you call “Pelé” (and children might think of it this way), it is now clear that the thrust of the definition is quite another: what is important about the Pelé card is its relationship to the other cards, not its particular shape, or whether it’s made of paper or plastic.
Similarly, if you ask a child what is a chess pawn, they will most likely point to the actual, physical chess piece: “that’s a pawn”. Which is fine if we had asked “what is a chess pawn, in the physical world?” However, the deeper content of our question was “what is a chess pawn, in the game of chess?” Since grandmasters are able to play entire games in their minds, a pawn can’t be just a wooden piece. In fact, even novice players experience no confusion if pawns are replaced with (say) beans, as long as they agree to it beforehand. So we see that the main defining feature of chess pawns is not their wooden incarnation, nor their color, but their relation to other pieces; that is, the rules they obey in the game of chess. The physical pawn is just a memory aid. (more…)
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November 8, 2007
On Limits I
Filed under: math.LO — Pietro @ 6:11 am Tags: logic, basic math
What on earth could one usefully say about limits, that hasn’t been printed for centuries on a thousand calculus textbooks?
I don’t know about usefulness, but one can certainly say something different. For all their numerosity, calculus texts are remarkably homogeneous in their treatment of this elementary topic, and I see at least one point that could stand clarification.
Limits — especially expressions involving “dot dot dot”, such as 0.999… — still seem to be a source of confusion for many beginning calculus students. Since all the popular treatises give thorough mathematical definitions of the concept, the problem must lie somewhere other than mathematics. I conjecture that what’s missing is not a more easily understandable definition, but instead a straightforward discussion of how definitions work in mathematics.
To get into definitions, I’m going to start by talking about symbols — in particular, symbols that represent numbers. (more…)
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October 30, 2007
First post
Filed under: Uncategorized — Pietro @ 6:11 pm
Hello. I am Pietro, a brazilian student of logic and mathematics. Of course, like everybody else, I am much more than just that; but that is what will come through the most in these pages.
In this blog, I hope to share interesting things I come across in logic and math, which may not be widely known. Also, I may occasionally share a different way of thinking about well-known things, if I feel I have developed it enough, and it is uncommonly enough seen in mainstream sources like textbooks and papers. I find it enormously important for people to exchange their “inner ways” of thinking, rather than just the “outer” results they reach; communication becomes much clearer, more interesting, and conductive to progress. I thank Terry Tao, Tim Gowers , the n-Category Café and the Catsters for proving this point so forcefully.
Though I’m brazilian, I will be writing in english, simply because I will be understood by a larger number of people that way. It’s fine to be protective of one’s culture and language, but I feel this is simply not the place. If my experience on orkut is any indication, for every portuguese-speaking reader I lose, I will gain five readers from India.
Finally, the “kc” in this blog’s URL are my other initials.
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Posts: [Exploring Persona’s], [The world’s worst Blogger…], [Learning’s and frustrations of a marketing IA], [Conveying a new concept with low-fi prototyping], [Talking about wireframes…], [A blog by a “newbie” Information Architect]
From the Dogbox
Exploring Persona’s
July 7, 2008 · No Comments
I just got my first taste of real market research this past week. I attended a whole series of Focus Group sessions, peering from behind a two-way mirror, recording what our prospective clients where saying. I found myself trying to build a mental picture about what their motivations, needs and goals were with an aim to incorporate this into the new web portal I’m working on.
In business we tend to lose perspective on who’s ‘needs’ we’re actually building our business models on. It’s easy to talk about “user needs” and “clients” when you substitute your own needs into the equation.
As the strategists race ahead with the Quantitative and Qualitative research I realized that there was a huge opportunity for me explore yet another avenue of the great world of User Centered Design.
Keep reading →
→ No CommentsCategories: Information Architecture Tagged: ia personas
The world’s worst Blogger…
June 14, 2008 · 2 Comments
…that be me!
So much have changed since my last blog entry - I’m happy to report that usability tests on our 3D website went down well. Perfect? No, but we fixed some critical errors and concluded that our system was ready to go into production. I will post the live link up as soon as possible – the actual website went into production two weeks ago.
Now for the curve ball. I left the company (TBWA\TEQUILA) at the end of May. I gave up the wonderful world of advertising for telecoms/banking. I joined a start-up business unit within one of the top four banks of South Africa – FNB (First National Bank).
Keep reading →
→ 2 CommentsCategories: General Tagged: General
Learning’s and frustrations of a marketing IA
May 11, 2008 · No Comments
When I first started researching my adopted field of Information Architecture I found myself reading through project specifications and wireframe documents a colleague of mine brought back from Europe. She went on a little visit to the greater TBWA network and the guys were keen to share their processes and documentation with her.
I later found a little gem on the O’Reilly website – Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld. It’s brilliant book and should definitely form the part of any aspiring IA’s arsenal.
I’ve had the book for just over a year now and I’m only half way – I keep on reworking chapters’ over-and-over, whenever I get a chance. I even dragged my copy to Malaysia last year when I played in the Asian Paintball World Cup. Needless to say, I brought back my copy stained with orange paint and was forced to cover the book due to the water damage it suffered.
It’s NOT the end-all, be-all of IA but a great foundation. It’s like a real Uni-book in my opinion. You struggle through it at times not knowing how you’d ever apply or even remember some of the chapters but after reading it you find yourself applying the techniques without thinking.
Keep reading →
→ No CommentsCategories: General · Information Architecture Tagged: ia, marketing
Conveying a new concept with low-fi prototyping
May 3, 2008 · No Comments
Here’s a follow-up on my previous, “Talking about Wireframes”, post. I presented the initial prototype to my boss as a pro-active project – unfortunately she never had the time to look at it and it’s now gathering dust somewhere, sigh. I just left it. I achieved what I wanted in my research on the subject though.
Later that week
A client-service manager at the agency had a problem conveying a new concept to one of our top clients and I thought that we could use something similar to help them out. Keep reading →
→ No CommentsCategories: Information Architecture Tagged: prototype, wireframes
Talking about wireframes…
April 12, 2008 · No Comments
I recently sent an e-mail to the Information Architecture Institute (Mailing List). I’ve been working on a pro-active project exploring alternative ways to prototype web projects. To quote Tom Wales (Yahoo) – half the documentation we do is “Bullshit”. Bill Buxton (Microsoft) mentioned that we tend to do project documentation just to convince client that the money they are spending on projects are justified by serving up a document that they can’t understand or relate to i.e. “I don’t understand a word!!! These guys must know what they’re talking about”.
I interested in using alternative ways to explain projects to client and internal teams. I want to relay “concept” rather than dictate design or confuse with complicated specifications.
BTW – I took me some time to muster up the courage to send my prototype to the IAI group. Sometimes you just have to take the plunge. I’m happy to report that I received some really helpful feedback from the list and I feel even more motivated to explore this further.
Check out my communication to IAI and my prototype video – I think it explains all.
Keep reading →
→ No CommentsCategories: Information Architecture Tagged: ia, prototype, wireframes
A blog by a “newbie” Information Architect
April 4, 2008 · No Comments
Greetings and salutations!
I can’t believe that I’m actually writing a blog entry – It was never something that I wanted to do. But hey! Here I am…
I first started exploring blogs when I gave up my position as Senior Web-Developer at TBWA\Tequila in Johannesburg. My boss offered me the opportunity to make a career shift and I have been working, exploring and researching my way into an Information Architect (IA) role.
A lot of what I found myself doing back then (as a web developer) paralleled with that of Information Architect’s day-to-day tasks due to a shortage of resources. I had to refine those skills and actually figure out what my core deliverables where. Blogs and mailing lists became a valuable source of information about my new-found profession. Keep reading →
→ No CommentsCategories: General Tagged: books, ia, introduction, ui
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