Category: economics

Al Jazeera meets The Daily Show

On By Rick McIn economics, humour, IslamLeave a comment

I liked it almost as much as Huffington.

What an inspired, genius move on the part of the underexposed and under-carried Al Jazeera English network: Offer yourself up with abandon to “The Daily Show” for a long, meaty, hilarious, humanizing clip. Outstanding.

Last night, crack correspondent Samantha Bee (and most senior correspondent, I might add) did a long segment on the new network which culminated in Bee’s hilarious attempt to re-make the network in a manner appealing to Americans (Bee: “Whoa. News hour?”).

The segment drove home the point that Al Jazeera is actually serious about serious news, with a pared-down no-nonsense style heavy on actual news content while at the same time humanizing the network by highlighting its employees, and the mission, which has not been overly popular, to say the least (and, in fairness, Al Jazeera is sort of associated with videos from terrorists who take credit for atrocities and shout about the glories of holy slaughter of American infidels, which sort of works against domestic viewer goodwill).

Anchors Dave Marash and Ghida Fakhry are particularly excellent sports. It’s a brilliant, hilarious segment, and is probably the best commercial Al Jazeera could have in this country. An amazing PR coup.

Eat The Press | Al Jazeera’s Brilliant PR Move: Submitting To The Will Of “The Daily Show” | The Huffington Post – video

“religion is the cause of most wars”

On By Rick McIn economics, government, IslamLeave a comment

I heard that again last night.

Wrong again, in my opinion.

Religion is often used as an excuse for war. The instigators are invariably after money and power.

Religion is just one of many factors that sets “us” against the “other”.

It helps “demonize”.

Look at recent history. The Germans under Hitler were evil. Now Germany is our friend. Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. They too were the great enemy (along with sad sack Italy). Now we drive Japanese cars and dream of vacations in Tuscany.

Then came the cold war with Russia. (We’re still a little suspicious of them.)

Now the enemy of the West is radical Islam. We fear Arabs in particular. (How soon would that go away if there were no oil in those countries?)

Next North Korea. Then, almost inevitably, China.

Who after that?

_39894323_bush_203.jpgAll of these conflicts were not caused by religion. Anyone who thinks Hitler, Saddam Hussein, or Kim Jong-il motivated by religion are wrong.

George Bush now?

Well there are a few world leaders that may actually be guided by religion. But they are the exception to the rule.

Can religion be blamed for war? – Mike Wooldridge, BBC

a skeptical environmentalist – that’s me

On By Rick McIn books, economics, Islam, miscellaneousLeave a comment

I had a feeling I was doing some good NOT owning a motor vehicle. That was before I found out my airline flights do far more damage.

Just watched a Penn and Teller Bullsh*t video debunking environmental hysteria. It’s not nearly as good as the others I’ve seen so I didn’t link to it here.

But Penn did have some very good points.

Some environmentalists are embarrassingly naive and uninformed. It was not difficult for Penn to film them. And cry BS.

(Turns out he was one of the protesters in the 1970s.)

The vague fear people have in 2006 regarding global warming, ozone depletion, species extinction — reminds me of the uneasy, ill-informed fear of Islam that the right wing is so quick to foster.

I’d better get schooled. I could read Al Gore.

But instead I’ll start with this book: The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World

Measuring the Real State of the World

Americans driving less for the first time in 25yrs

On By Rick McIn economics, good news, health & fitnessLeave a comment

Americans have been driving further — 40% more than 25 years ago — and using more gasoline in bigger, more powerful cars and other light duty vehicles.

But higher gasoline prices have had a significant impact. The rate of growth in gasoline demand slowed sharply from its 1.6% per year pace (1990-2004) to 0.3% in 2005, and continued to grow slowly in 2006, at 1.0%.

And for the first time in 25 years, motorists’ average mileage went down. Overall, though, according to the CERA report, improved automotive efficiencies and one of the lowest fuel tax rates among Western countries have kept gasoline and oil’s share of average U.S. household budgets at 3.8% in 2006, slightly above the 1960s’ 3.4% to 3.6% level despite rising world oil prices.

Gasoline and the American People: A CERA Special Report

Higher gas prices have helped motivate. Maybe we should raise fuel tax (to pay for my bicycle trails). All in favour?

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DRM (digital rights management) is doomed

On By Rick McIn economics, humourLeave a comment

The most influential pundit on the internet is Michael Arrington.

He is all about the money.

And when Michael Arrington says that DRM is dying, companies had better start looking for the next strategy of protecting their market share. Frustrating customers is the best way of losing them to some product without DRM.

“… the age of DRM is coming to an end. Startups that embrace the DRM world are going to have a very hard time finding success.”

Michael Arrington

I’ll go further.

I’m just about to switch from watching video on iTunes (free, proprietary software from Apple) to Democracy (free, non-proprietary, open source software). Apple’s huge lead in video distribution technology has already been surpassed by people who worked on Democracy for fun, part-time.

Long term I can’t see how commercial proprietary software can compete with open source. The inefficiencies inherent in any company stifle progress enough not to be able to stay ahead of an open source competitor which is available for FREE.

For another example, Microsoft Internet Explorer will continue to lose market share to open source Firefox in the browser market.

Even Google, who got big by copying principles of the open source movement, is doomed long-term.

Looking forward to see if I’m right.

do you have a passport?

On By Rick McIn economics, government, travelLeave a comment

passport.jpgPassport Rules Changing – Gadling

Making my way to Canada this year to spend a week in the gloriously beautiful Canadian province of Newfoundland, I discovered a nasty little surprise. My wife and I got to the airport and discovered that Newfoundland requires Americans traveling there to bring a passport or birth certificate to enter by air from the United States. I had no idea.

For years living in Seattle I came and went to Canada and needed only to show my drivers’ license. I was pretty damn upset because no one told us that the rules had changed, and so we had to go back and get our passports and needless to say, we missed our plane.

Well my hardies, the rules HAVE changed, although they have not taken effect Canada-wide quite yet, and when they do take effect, they will cover Mexico as well. Yes, visitors to the NAFTA states North and South will soon have to bring along passports to cross the country’s borders…well, the key is really getting back in. The rules take effect December 31 for air travelers to and from the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada.

A year later, on Dec. 31, 2007, the requirement will be extended to all land-based border crossings as well.

movie – The Corporation

On By Rick McIn economics, government, moviesLeave a comment

UPDATE:

If you have not seen The Corporation, a torrent download is available for free or donation. This is a legal download by the makers of the documentary. (Might be a good chance for you to find out what bitorent is if you have never used it.)

This film is of particular interest to cold-hearted, atheist economists.

details on the download – Torrent Freak

“The Corporation” is a surprisingly rational and coherent attack on capitalism’s most important institution.” – Economist magazine

I expected a confused left-wing mishmash of fact and exaggeration. But the documentary is well done and very thought provoking.

The conclusion is that you cannot trust corporations (even Google) as they are true only to the bottom line of the next quarter. Corporations will cheat, steal, lie and sell their mothers at any opportunity.

All true. This is the capitalist system. I like it far better than alternatives where, for example, totalitarian governments do exactly the same thing with far less incentive to do right by the population.

The Corporation makes no attempt at finding solutions to the problems of our corporate model. But does an excellent job at laying out the abuses.

Me? I am far less worried about corporate wrongdoing than the producers of this movie. I feel technology increasingly will keep companies honest. Insiders with cell-phone cameras are busting to post a “scoop” on their blogs. Millions want to be listed high on Digg.com by breaking a scandal.

For example: Lockheed Martin whistleblower uses YouTube to get the word out

There are ways we can hold corporations to account. If you believe Nike takes advantage of child labour in Asia, do not buy their shoes.

If you disagree with how Wal-Mart is changing the world of retail, do not shop there.

Simple.

The vulnerability of corporations is their greed. “The rich man will sell you the rope to hang himself”. – Michael Moore

The Corporation

Buy Nothing Day – Friday, Nov. 24th

On By Rick McIn economics, philosophy, product complaintsLeave a comment

Buy Nothing Day is symbolic.

Every November, for 24 hours, we remember that no one was born to shop. If you’ve never taken part in Buy Nothing Day, or if you’ve taken part in the past but haven’t really committed to doing it again, consider this: 2006 will go down as the year in which mainstream dialogue about global warming finally reached its critical mass. What better way to bring the Year of Global Warming to a close than to point in the direction of real alternatives to the unbridled consumption that has created this quagmire?

Buy Nothing Day – ADBUSTERS.ORG

Not sure about the tie-in with global warming, but I support Buy Nothing Day because of my philosophy of voluntary simplicity.

BND.jpg

Canada, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

On By Rick McIn blogs, economics, governmentLeave a comment

Dana tipped me to the blog of “enviro girl” in Sweden.

Hey — it’s none other than Adrianne Begg, one of her former gymnasts and coaches at Marian Gymnastics in Saskatoon.

begg-sm.jpg

Regarding Canada and Kyoto …

I am embarassed and ashamed of Canada’s New Government today. This is bordering on changing the way I feel about being a Canadian… I really never thought that I would say that, not in a million years, but I feel so let down by our government that I feel completely separate from it. The New Canadian Government has been working counter to the best interests of the people in our country on the issues of the Environment and Climate Change in particular. …

It is absolutely appalling that Canada will be the only country to BACK OUT of the Kyoto Protocol. …

I am absolutely shocked at the action taken by the Environment Minister Rona Ambrose at the Kyoto Negotiations in Nairobi. Her statements at the UN meetings have embarrassed Canada, and shown disrespect to the rest of the international community, as well as the Canadian people themselves. …

Canada, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Adrianne’s pretty ticked at Rona Ambrose. But who is she? I don’t know the name.

OH NO! She’s a controversial politician from … Alberta.

Yeesh. Another right-wing politician who takes Ayn Rand too seriously. Named Minister of the Environment?

The press looks almost unanimously negative about what she is doing for Canada internationally.

I’d better add Rona Ambrose to my death watch list, along with that crook Bev Oda.

And I’ll subscribe to Adrianne’s blog. She’s following this issue closely.

I don’t know enough about Kyoto vs. alternatives to have formed an opinion myself.

Lastly — I sent this blog post to Rona Ambrose’s office.