Re bad behavior, graft and corruption...
I hope you agree that a fundamental difference between liberals and conservatives is the assumption about human nature. The Left believes that in a benign environment, humans are naturally good and it's abuse that triggers bad behaviors. The Right believes that people are naturally selfish, jealous, greedy, power hungry...
So the Left tries to create Eden so that people can express their natural goodness while the Right tries to build policies that channel vile urges in constructive ways, like use self interest to control prices.
I believe that graft, corruption, evil, all those bad things have been with us all along. With the Enlightenment and the more general acceptane and practice of Humanitarianism, I think global society, overall, has gotten better. But with the Information Age, we find out more about more of the bad stuff.
Soap opera, crime shows, newspapers, magazines, pulp fiction, even literature, seem to deal with the bad aspects of human nature. The types of media that try to communicate positive stories do not enjoy as broad an audience. So I guess whatever human nature may actually be, we enjoy learning about the evil aspects.
Feb 26, 2009
Feb 19, 2009
US' main exports: Raw Materials?????
I just saw an expert on TV saying because the US' main exports are raw materials (fertilizers, grains, lumber), not manufactured high technology goods such as electronics and semiconductors. The expert infered that therefore the US is like Third World countries (who export oil, intelligent, ambitious, hard-working people), destined for low standards of living and poor prospects. This kind of comment betrays an ignorance or willful denial of how world trade works, and the value of intellectual property.
Are "exports" measured by mass, volume, monetary value, political impact, social impact or by another metric?
US companies manufacture semiconductors or consumer electronics products overseas because they can get higher margins than manufacturing in the US. When the products are sold, say, from Thailand, where the factory or assembly plant are, to Korea, that export is counted as a transaction between Thailand and Korea -- the US doesn't seem to be a participant. However, a part of the revenue is repatriated to the US where Intel and Apple and many of the parent companies live. When a Ford car is exported from say, Germany where it's manufactured, to the UK, that's counted as a German export, but Ford's home office in the US gets some of that money.
Even better than the money from manufactured goods is the money from intellectual property such as software. When a PC is sold anywhere in the world, Microsoft gets a license fee for the operating system, for Microsoft Office Suite and for other applications such as the web browser. In fact the MAJORITY of the cost to make PCs is for license fees, not the hardware.
The US invented the advertising model, the most effective revenue generator for web-based businesses today. Every time a web user, anywhere in the world, clicks on a Google ad, Google gets paid for that click. Without exporting any physical item, Google, a US company, is enabling anyone with web access, anywhere in the world to use its intellectual property and web services.
It would seem that whereever that expert on TV got his data about US exports, that source has neglected to include US exports in the form of graduate students, basic science and technology, financial services, business models (like all those internet businesses) and other high dollar value assets that have 'long tails,' meaning they generate many daughter products and services.
If restricting this discussion to concrete exports only, how about the trucks, tanks, airplanes, bombs, ammunition, medicine, ... used in US and NATO bases around the world? (True, a lot of consumables are sourced locally, but especially weapons and high technology tend to be manufactured in the US or under US license.) Those are US exports. We also export, via the inumerable US-funded or supported NGOs, the vendors that support US bases, our troops who give away candy, toys, personal hygiene products, books, blankets, tents, shoes, construction equipment and materiel... to local populations. Those exports do not generate money for the US economy, but they do stimulate the US economy.
To me, the highest impact US export is content. All the movies, videos, music, web content, t-shirts, chachkis... luridly illustrated in multi-faceted, multi-media -- in every conceivable way -- for the world to see what it's like to live in America and think like an American.
In addition to generating money for the US, the content informs the world on the American culture, attitudes, ways to do things... that have long tails indeed.
Are "exports" measured by mass, volume, monetary value, political impact, social impact or by another metric?
US companies manufacture semiconductors or consumer electronics products overseas because they can get higher margins than manufacturing in the US. When the products are sold, say, from Thailand, where the factory or assembly plant are, to Korea, that export is counted as a transaction between Thailand and Korea -- the US doesn't seem to be a participant. However, a part of the revenue is repatriated to the US where Intel and Apple and many of the parent companies live. When a Ford car is exported from say, Germany where it's manufactured, to the UK, that's counted as a German export, but Ford's home office in the US gets some of that money.
Even better than the money from manufactured goods is the money from intellectual property such as software. When a PC is sold anywhere in the world, Microsoft gets a license fee for the operating system, for Microsoft Office Suite and for other applications such as the web browser. In fact the MAJORITY of the cost to make PCs is for license fees, not the hardware.
The US invented the advertising model, the most effective revenue generator for web-based businesses today. Every time a web user, anywhere in the world, clicks on a Google ad, Google gets paid for that click. Without exporting any physical item, Google, a US company, is enabling anyone with web access, anywhere in the world to use its intellectual property and web services.
It would seem that whereever that expert on TV got his data about US exports, that source has neglected to include US exports in the form of graduate students, basic science and technology, financial services, business models (like all those internet businesses) and other high dollar value assets that have 'long tails,' meaning they generate many daughter products and services.
If restricting this discussion to concrete exports only, how about the trucks, tanks, airplanes, bombs, ammunition, medicine, ... used in US and NATO bases around the world? (True, a lot of consumables are sourced locally, but especially weapons and high technology tend to be manufactured in the US or under US license.) Those are US exports. We also export, via the inumerable US-funded or supported NGOs, the vendors that support US bases, our troops who give away candy, toys, personal hygiene products, books, blankets, tents, shoes, construction equipment and materiel... to local populations. Those exports do not generate money for the US economy, but they do stimulate the US economy.
To me, the highest impact US export is content. All the movies, videos, music, web content, t-shirts, chachkis... luridly illustrated in multi-faceted, multi-media -- in every conceivable way -- for the world to see what it's like to live in America and think like an American.
In addition to generating money for the US, the content informs the world on the American culture, attitudes, ways to do things... that have long tails indeed.
Dec 17, 2008
Gift Giving
I thought that the primary reason for gift giving is to show affection, affinity... good feelings toward the recipient. Sadly, even though we are suppose to appreciate gifts regardless of their value because "It's the thought that counts" but in practice, we assign value to gifts based on how much they cost!
In some cultures, giving gifts is a way to demonstrate the giver's prestige -- the bigger the gift, the more wealthy the giver and perhaps by inference, the less wealthy the recipient in comparison. So, a disproportionately large gift is an insult.
Apparently, some cultures accept the practice of going into debt in order to give a big gift, one that signifies, or even bolsters one's station in society. If one is the leader of the group, one is expected to give bigger gifts than people who hold a lesser role. In some cultures, the size of the gift for each role is codified.
In olden days' etiquette, you were not supposed to reveal to the recipient the monetary costs of a gift. The recipient is supposed to appreciate the thought and guess the value for themselves. In that same apparently passe etiquette, carefully wrapped and decorated gifts demonstrate the thought and care that went into creating or selecting the gift. I hear that in the old Japanese culture, the way a gift is wrapped and presented contain specific meaning about the relationship between the giver and the recipient.
Re-Gifting
It seems many people feel that the monetary cost of a gift, and whether it's 'new' or used, designates the giver as generous or a cheapskate. Well, what about say, a gift of the Cullinan Diamond (one of the stones in the British Imperial State Crown), but it's old and was previously owned? It is clearly a 're-gift' but is it a cheapskate's gift?
What about giving money as a gift? The aforementioned passe etiquette definitely states that giving money is crass but nowadays, it seems to be OK. If someone gave money that their employer gave them, to another person, is that re-gift also a cheapskate gift? What about gifts that didn't cost the giver any money: Donald Trump shares his knowledge on real estate deals; an artist gives a performance, a friend gives emotional support... are gifts also considered 'cheap' because they didn't cost the giver money?
O. Henry's short story, "Gift of the Magi" (podcast) is heart-warming, about gifts that don't cost much but are very meaningful.
In some cultures, giving gifts is a way to demonstrate the giver's prestige -- the bigger the gift, the more wealthy the giver and perhaps by inference, the less wealthy the recipient in comparison. So, a disproportionately large gift is an insult.
Apparently, some cultures accept the practice of going into debt in order to give a big gift, one that signifies, or even bolsters one's station in society. If one is the leader of the group, one is expected to give bigger gifts than people who hold a lesser role. In some cultures, the size of the gift for each role is codified.
In olden days' etiquette, you were not supposed to reveal to the recipient the monetary costs of a gift. The recipient is supposed to appreciate the thought and guess the value for themselves. In that same apparently passe etiquette, carefully wrapped and decorated gifts demonstrate the thought and care that went into creating or selecting the gift. I hear that in the old Japanese culture, the way a gift is wrapped and presented contain specific meaning about the relationship between the giver and the recipient.
Re-Gifting
It seems many people feel that the monetary cost of a gift, and whether it's 'new' or used, designates the giver as generous or a cheapskate. Well, what about say, a gift of the Cullinan Diamond (one of the stones in the British Imperial State Crown), but it's old and was previously owned? It is clearly a 're-gift' but is it a cheapskate's gift?
What about giving money as a gift? The aforementioned passe etiquette definitely states that giving money is crass but nowadays, it seems to be OK. If someone gave money that their employer gave them, to another person, is that re-gift also a cheapskate gift? What about gifts that didn't cost the giver any money: Donald Trump shares his knowledge on real estate deals; an artist gives a performance, a friend gives emotional support... are gifts also considered 'cheap' because they didn't cost the giver money?
O. Henry's short story, "Gift of the Magi" (podcast) is heart-warming, about gifts that don't cost much but are very meaningful.
Nov 26, 2008
Mashup Camp: loved it
My friend Nancy Tubbs (founder of Full Calendar) let me know about the November 2008 Mashup Camp in at the Computer History Museum. It was a highly intellectually satisfying 3-day event. The chief cat herder, Information Week's David Berlind, did a great job -- kudos to him.
I'm a semantic web enthusiast so was delighted to learn that the huge company, Thomson Reuters, has a tool, OpenCalais, that conducts semantic searches of unstructured text to extract names, addresses (many other terms) and provides more information about them... using Thomson-Reuters' proprietary database, then marks up the text using RDF. The results are exportable as XML. Great way to find patterns and enhance market research, for relationship mapping and other ways to mine unstructured content.
Here's OpenCalais's page for what it can do for bloggers using WordPress or Drupal (not Google's blog tool, Blogger with a capital B)
I am so proud to have voted for the top winning mashup named "Empowerment." It was written by Dean Mao over a 12-hour period. His mashup is a Firefox extention that does three things:
http://www.mashupcamp.com/wiki/index.php/SpeedGeeking8#Session_2_-_Table_9:_Dean_Mao_--_Context_Sensitive_Firefox_Addon_.28Winning_Entry.29 and also access Dean's contact information.
The second highlight of the Mashup Camp is the talk by Tim O'Reilly. I believe he's the guy who coined the term "Web 2.o." Below are a the 'take-aways' that I noted:
All those callow people who've trustingly laid out in numerous social networking or other web presences (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, Plaxo, SecondLife, blogposts, comments to blogs...) all their half-baked political rants, not carefully thought-through venting, intimate and casual activities... all that information can be aggregated to form their online social graph (a Facebook term). Even the pattern of one's cell phone and credit card usage can reveal one's movements and choices.
The other wonderful thing about Mashup Camp is its web site. There were real-time tweets, blogs, pictures and lots and lots more information. If you missed the camp, you can still get so much information from the web site. Make sure to check out the "Mashup Backchannel."
This blogpost is getting too long. I'll write a second post about people I met, other mashups that I loved...
--Maria
I'm a semantic web enthusiast so was delighted to learn that the huge company, Thomson Reuters, has a tool, OpenCalais, that conducts semantic searches of unstructured text to extract names, addresses (many other terms) and provides more information about them... using Thomson-Reuters' proprietary database, then marks up the text using RDF. The results are exportable as XML. Great way to find patterns and enhance market research, for relationship mapping and other ways to mine unstructured content.
Here's OpenCalais's page for what it can do for bloggers using WordPress or Drupal (not Google's blog tool, Blogger with a capital B)
I am so proud to have voted for the top winning mashup named "Empowerment." It was written by Dean Mao over a 12-hour period. His mashup is a Firefox extention that does three things:
- searches for key words on any web page, email message, blog...
- runs them through OpenCalais for resources which can be text, images... and displays those resources in a 'pop-up' when you hover over a highlighted term
- you can add your notes to the resources, and others can see your comments.
http://www.mashupcamp.com/
The second highlight of the Mashup Camp is the talk by Tim O'Reilly. I believe he's the guy who coined the term "Web 2.o." Below are a the 'take-aways' that I noted:
- Read the O'Reilly book, "Web 2.0, A Strategy Guide"
- "Data is the value unit" and Tim cited several very creative forms of data such as the sequence of gene bases (amino acids) are unique name spaces as are Twitter hash tags. The value-add is to derive meaning from data sets.
All those callow people who've trustingly laid out in numerous social networking or other web presences (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, Plaxo, SecondLife, blogposts, comments to blogs...) all their half-baked political rants, not carefully thought-through venting, intimate and casual activities... all that information can be aggregated to form their online social graph (a Facebook term). Even the pattern of one's cell phone and credit card usage can reveal one's movements and choices.
The other wonderful thing about Mashup Camp is its web site. There were real-time tweets, blogs, pictures and lots and lots more information. If you missed the camp, you can still get so much information from the web site. Make sure to check out the "Mashup Backchannel."
This blogpost is getting too long. I'll write a second post about people I met, other mashups that I loved...
--Maria
Nov 15, 2008
How a depressed person can self-help; how friends can help
Clinical depression has a physiological component but also a behavioral one. The way someone thinks and acts can affect mood and alleviate symptoms of depression. A very destructive symptom is inertia, the inability to 'get going,' to keep swimming through the cold oatmeal. Friends and family can help by overcoming the inertia, for example, by suggesting "Let's go for a walk" or "let's chat to put things in better perspective."
Two "erroneous thinking" processes to recognize and change:
Some behavioral changes that the depressed person, friends and family can help to make:
--Maria
Two "erroneous thinking" processes to recognize and change:
- Exaggeration: a bad external situation such as a serious illness or loss is exaggerated into "I am a bad person, everyone is bad, the world is doomed and nothing will ever get better."
- Magical thinking: "My life is terrible because I was born during a thunderstorm," or "If I got that job, my life will be perfect."
Some behavioral changes that the depressed person, friends and family can help to make:
- Get medical, dental and vision checkups to discover and treat any problems. Physical illness can trigger or worsen depression.
- Deliberately structure a varied daily schedule, a different schedule every day. Plan at least one activity for the day. Be realistic. Can be something pleasant like 'send a note to a friend' or a pragmatic task like 'change the bedding.' Cross activities off the list when done.
- Exercise three times a week for 30 minutes in each session. It doesn't matter what exercise you do or how vigorously, do something continuously for 30 minutes.
- Prepare regular, diverse meals with some each of protein, carbohydrates, fat. Many depressed people feel it's not 'worth it' to cook for themselves. I say "who is more worth the effort than yourself? Who would appreciate your effort, properly?"
- Maintain personal grooming: shower, shampoo, brush teeth, comb hair, trim nails.
- Improve the immediate environment: adjust temperature to slightly cool (68-70 degrees), pick up clutter, clean house and do laundry, add more light (use timers to make sure lights come on and stay on), add good stimuli such as music, pleasant scents, visual cues such as flowers, photos of loved ones and good memories, a pet
- Meet people, even if passively: sit in a coffee shop and people watch, stroll through a shopping mall, attend church, go to the library or a park. Joining a volunteer group will give a regular occasion to meet people. The goal is to distract depressive thoughts.
- Sleep. Make it a habit: go to bed at the same time, get up at the same time. Timers that automatically turn off lights will give the cue "go to bed." When going to bed, go to sleep, don't read, watch TV... Keep the room dark and quiet (wear eye mask and ear plugs if you have to). Get up at the same time even if you haven't slept enough.
- Build ego by giving a compliment or citing an achievement: "I helped somebody," "I cooked a good meal," "I cleaned the kitchen," "I improved my mood."
- Increase interests by doing a favorite activity: toss a few hoops, hit a few balls, talk to a friend, read a novel, watch a movie, do a hobby. Browse a new shop (fancy or ethnic supermarkets can be interesting).
- Increase relaxation: get a massage (you can give yourself one), take a long hot shower, use a back brush or defoliating glove to stimulate your skin, play music and dance, sing in the shower, do stretching (borrow from the library books or DVDs on Yoga or pilates)
- Bost mood: Eat a favorite food, an exotic fruit, new flavor of sorbet. Find a happy story; ask friends, read blogs or from TV -- find a nice story.
- Pamper yourself: try on your own nice clothes, jewelry, perfume... or ones in a shop. Take yourself out for breakfast. Try a temporary hair color. Play music and/or read during a bath. Get a nice soap, body wash, hand lotion. Use the hot tub (someone you know might have one, or get a one-time pass at a health club)...
--Maria
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