Amazon is crushing the competition. And they deserve to win.
One reason why.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
NEXT?
On the other hand, we need more Amazon competitors.
They are far too dominant in many markets. 😦
Category: economics
Zero Dark Thirty
Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. Billed as “the story of history’s greatest manhunt for the world’s most dangerous man”, the film dramatizes the decade-long manhunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Zero Dark Thirty has received some criticism for significant historical inaccuracy. Former assistant secretary of Defense Graham T. Allison has opined that the film is inaccurate in three important regards: the overstatement of the positive role of enhanced interrogation methods, the understatement of the role of the Obama administration, and the portrayal of the efforts as being driven by one agent battling against the CIA “system”. …
For a Hollywood movie, that’s not bad.
I did not find it at all pro-torture. The message I took away was that to defend the USA American troops should be brought home. To ensure homeland security troops should be in the homeland.
Taking action in Islamic nations inspires more terrorists than it defeats.
If they’d shut down the embassies in Yemen, Egypt and Libya, for example, those big targets would not have been attacked.
In the age of the internet, why do diplomats need to live in those expensive fortresses?
George Takei – the Future of Journalism
I’m subscribed to George’s new YouTube channel.
An internet superstar, he’s optimistic about the future of news.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
India hates tourists
You still need a visa in ADVANCE to visit India. Getting one is a pain.
I spent hours in a Kafkaesque office in Calgary, trying to get the paperwork right.
WHEN is India going to improve the process for applying for a tourist visa?
In Canada you are recommended to go through a 3rd party – BLS India. That helps. A bit.
All foreign nationals except those from Nepal and Bhutan need a visa to enter India. But the following nationals can probably get what we all want — a visa on arrival:
Finland
Japan
Luxemburg
New Zeeland
Singapore
Vietnam
Philippines
Laos
Myanmar
Cambodia
India is fascinating, once you finally get a visa.
On arrival at Mumbai International terminal, I changed cash at Thomas Cook.
US$200 got me … 11,250 rupees (“Trans Fees, Service tax, Education Cess., Higher Education Cess., etc)
Google (same day) told me $200 was worth 12,410 rupees.
So I lost 9.35% by going through Thomas Cook. Par for the course, I believe.
Using my Visa card cash advance was, the Thomas Cook agent told, was going to cost me about 16%.
There seems to be no good way to get cash when traveling abroad, these days. My plan in future is to try not to exchange currencies more than once. You get burned each time.
Everything Is Amazing and Nobody Is Happy*
Things are not as bad in the USA as we might think. Check this excellent article by Morgan Housel:
… If I say the average family earns less today than it did in 2000, it sounds depressing. If I say the average family earns more today than it did in 1995, you get a much different view. …
Go ahead, argue that 18 years of near-stagnant real incomes is a failure. I hear you. Just realize that 2.8 billion people around the world earn less than $2 a day, and you’re upset that we aren’t richer than we were when we were already rich and felt like kings. “First-world problems,” as they say. …
I’m not arguing that inefficiencies, injustices, and inequalities don’t exist today. Of course, they do. But they always have, and by comparison, we are living in one of the most prosperous times in the history of this world.
We have a lot to be thankful for.
read the entire article – Motley Fool – Everything Is Amazing and Nobody Is Happy
title credited to Comedian Louis C.K.
___
China’s Gross Domestic Product might surpass the USA before 2020. But the “influence” of the USA will surpass China’s for decades longer.
Economist – Keeping watch – Economic success has given China greater weight, but not nearly enough to tip the balance
Sooner or later the vast inefficiencies and corruption of the totalitarian Chinese State are going to become evident.
Explaining the Imperial Measurement System
Or is it the United States Customary System?
The USA (mostly) keeps the old British Imperial system, I assume, because the American KING put it in the Constitution. 🙂
And the Constitution is sacred.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
China and India …
China and India sounded a new optimistic tone in their relationship … as they signed an agreement to boost meetings between their militaries to avoid any repeat of this year’s tense standoff along their disputed Himalayan border.
The accord followed a meeting in Beijing between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also had trade ties on the agenda as India seeks to gain greater access to Chinese markets and readjust a trade balance tilted heavily toward China. …
Hans Rosling: The best stats you’ve ever seen
I’m just finishing a BUSY World Gymnastics Championships, packing for my next destination — northern India. Hiking.
If you’ve got time for a laugh today, click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
You’ve never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called “developing world.
Professor Bill Sands recommended to me this unbelievably likable educator from Sweden.
the most DANGEROUS drugs
Economist – A new study suggests alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack
related – Influential and successful marijuana users
I’m thinking of quitting. Alcohol, that is.
Dear Gun Nuts …
A great opinion piece by Matt Bors:
… After every mass shooting—which is essentially all the time these days—gun rights advocates drag out the “more guns = more safer” argument. And yet: we’re still not safe!
Despite having almost one gun for every man, woman, and child in the nation, peak safety has yet to be reached. …
If you take the positions of the NRA and add them up, you can see how the world would look if the gun lobby got everything it wants: Every American would have easy access to assault weapons, gun dealers would not be required to check the criminal record and mental health history of someone before selling them a gun, the capacity of gun magazines could be near-infinite, and it would be illegal for a city to stop people from carrying guns in public. This would be a country where you could literally buy an AR-15 at Walmart, immediately put on full tactical gear worn by SWAT teams, and stroll into a school for your parent-teacher conference with another fully armed adult….
read more – Dear Gun Nuts
related – My Gun Stance
