Kudos to Arthur Spiegelman for exposing the bullshit language that passes as 'political correctness.' Those who would avoid offending people by watering down language are of the same ilk as those who believe smooth and warm-fuzzy process is more important than outcomes. They are 'misguided thinkers' who in their fuzzy thinking choose fantasy over reality. They are the adults who offer low standards and spineless role models to our kids.
BTW, Reuters does not use the word 'terrorist' in their news reporting either.
November 19, 2005
Uproar in House as Parties Clash on Iraq Pullout - New York Times
I watched the last hour of this debate on C-SPAN and I come away with less respect for politics than I had before. Where have all the statesmen gone? Where are the rational people debating real issues in a logical way? Here we had Republicans and Democrats congratulating each other or sniping at each other wasting time and energy and accomplishing nothing.
It would be foolish and irrational to hastily pull our troops out of Iraq. Politics be damned.
It would be foolish and irrational to hastily pull our troops out of Iraq. Politics be damned.
November 18, 2005
G.O.P. Tries to Split Democrats With Vote on Iraq War - New York Times
Why is the name of the game always politics, in the negative sense of the word? The Democrats are playing politics with this war and the Republicans are responding in kind. Congress seems unable to have a rational "best for the county" debate about anything. Very frustrating and not what a healthy democracy requires.
The 'millennials' usher in a new era | CNET News.com
The 'millennials' usher in a new era | CNET News.com:
This what sets our kids apart from most of the adult world:
[...] "'What sets millennials apart is that they use technology to push the boundaries of the values that have been associated with their generation in ways not possible before.'
By only their seventh birthday, most children in the United States will have talked on a cell phone, played a computer game and mastered a TV-on-demand device like TiVo, much to the amazement of technically challenged parents. By 13, researchers say, the same children will have gone through several software editions of instant messaging, frequented online chat rooms and downloaded their first illegal song from BitTorrent.
College-age millennials will likely own a laptop and take for granted ubiquitous broadband Internet access. They may also be intimately familiar with the feeling of 'highway hypnosis'--the ability to drive or multitask with little memory of the process of getting there.
Their inevitably short attention spans are the reason Seymour Papert of MIT's Media Lab coined the term 'grasshopper mind' five years ago, for the inclination to leap quickly from one topic to another. A mathematician and founder of artificial intelligence, Papert addressed the effects of this behavior as far back as 1995 in congressional testimony about technology and learning."[...]
This what sets our kids apart from most of the adult world:
[...] "'What sets millennials apart is that they use technology to push the boundaries of the values that have been associated with their generation in ways not possible before.'
By only their seventh birthday, most children in the United States will have talked on a cell phone, played a computer game and mastered a TV-on-demand device like TiVo, much to the amazement of technically challenged parents. By 13, researchers say, the same children will have gone through several software editions of instant messaging, frequented online chat rooms and downloaded their first illegal song from BitTorrent.
College-age millennials will likely own a laptop and take for granted ubiquitous broadband Internet access. They may also be intimately familiar with the feeling of 'highway hypnosis'--the ability to drive or multitask with little memory of the process of getting there.
Their inevitably short attention spans are the reason Seymour Papert of MIT's Media Lab coined the term 'grasshopper mind' five years ago, for the inclination to leap quickly from one topic to another. A mathematician and founder of artificial intelligence, Papert addressed the effects of this behavior as far back as 1995 in congressional testimony about technology and learning."[...]
New taxes could run rural broadband | CNET News.com
If subsidies continue for social policy goals, this time for broadband deployment in rural areas, then the money should be extracted from as broad a base as possible and not be limited to the wireline telcos as has been the case previously.
Seems to me a new definition of Universal Service will soon emerge from all this that will include access to broadband, either wireless or wirleline.
Seems to me a new definition of Universal Service will soon emerge from all this that will include access to broadband, either wireless or wirleline.
Building a Better Boom - New York Times
Building a Better Boom - New York Times
The new Web evangelists have taken hold and people are now excited again by the potential that Web 2.0 offers. Some very nice apps are emerging like Writely and Google Base and Gmail
The new Web evangelists have taken hold and people are now excited again by the potential that Web 2.0 offers. Some very nice apps are emerging like Writely and Google Base and Gmail
mparent7777: Wash. Post's Woodward's misleading, disingenuous statements on Plame investigation
Woodward finds himself on the hot seat. One more nail in the coffin of MainStreamMedia. What a fascinating game we play with the First Amendment! Who can be trusted? No man/woman.
Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes | Linux Journal
Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes | Linux Journal:
One tiny excerpt from a long exposition (rant?) by Doc Searls, one of the authors of the cluetrain manifesto who argues that Hollywood and the telco-cable oligopoly want to take over the Internet and make it their new transport (pipes) system and charge for the flow of packets. If you are interested in the battle for the soul and arteries of the Internet, read the complete piece.
This battle has been raging since the birth of the Internet and the Web. Despite the free-wheeling frontier notion of the Internet as everyone's playground and the idea that 'information wants to be free,'popularized by John Perry Barlow in 1994, there is a price to be paid for access. That fact cannot be denied. Someone will collect the access toll to pay for the Net's plumbing.
[...]"Advocating and saving the Net is not a partisan issue. Lawmakers and regulators aren't screwing up the Net because they're 'Friends of Bush' or 'Friends of Hollywood' or liberals or conservatives. They're doing it because one way of framing the Net--as a transport system for content--is winning over another way of framing the Net--as a place where markets and business and culture and governance can all thrive. Otherwise helpful documents, including Ernest Partridge's 'After the Internet' fail because they blame 'Bush-friendly conservative corporations' and appeal only to one political constituency, in this case, progressives. Freedom, independence, the sovereignty of the individual, private rights and open frontiers are a few among many values shared by progressives and conservatives. All are better supported, in obvious ways, by the Net as a place rather than as a transport system.
This is especially true of the Net as a place where free and open markets thrive. This is the Net that we built, where we have sites and locations and domains."[...]
One tiny excerpt from a long exposition (rant?) by Doc Searls, one of the authors of the cluetrain manifesto who argues that Hollywood and the telco-cable oligopoly want to take over the Internet and make it their new transport (pipes) system and charge for the flow of packets. If you are interested in the battle for the soul and arteries of the Internet, read the complete piece.
This battle has been raging since the birth of the Internet and the Web. Despite the free-wheeling frontier notion of the Internet as everyone's playground and the idea that 'information wants to be free,'popularized by John Perry Barlow in 1994, there is a price to be paid for access. That fact cannot be denied. Someone will collect the access toll to pay for the Net's plumbing.
[...]"Advocating and saving the Net is not a partisan issue. Lawmakers and regulators aren't screwing up the Net because they're 'Friends of Bush' or 'Friends of Hollywood' or liberals or conservatives. They're doing it because one way of framing the Net--as a transport system for content--is winning over another way of framing the Net--as a place where markets and business and culture and governance can all thrive. Otherwise helpful documents, including Ernest Partridge's 'After the Internet' fail because they blame 'Bush-friendly conservative corporations' and appeal only to one political constituency, in this case, progressives. Freedom, independence, the sovereignty of the individual, private rights and open frontiers are a few among many values shared by progressives and conservatives. All are better supported, in obvious ways, by the Net as a place rather than as a transport system.
This is especially true of the Net as a place where free and open markets thrive. This is the Net that we built, where we have sites and locations and domains."[...]
November 17, 2005
Flat World Competition - Why the U.S is Losing its Edge
Worth a gander. Bad news for America and what some tech policy gurus would do about it.
Competing in a flat world by ZDNet's Dan Farber -- ?We a?re creating a country where people outsource their intellect to other countries, expecting the Indians, for example, to do all hard work while they sit at home and watch TV on broadband.? That'?s what Esther Dyson, CNET's Release 1.0 editor, had to say about the U.S. falling behind other countries in innovation. She cited inventor Dean Kamen[...]
[...]the National Academy of Sciences that outlines the issues and offers some solutions. Following are highlights from the report that illustrate the depth of the problem.
For the cost of one chemist or one engineer in the United States, a company can hire about five chemists in China or 11 engineers in India.
Last year chemical companies shuttered 70 facilities in the United States and have tagged 40 more for closure. Of 120 chemical plants being built around the world with price tags of $1 billion or more, one is in the United States and 50 are in China.
U.S. 12th-graders recently performed below the international average for 21 countries on a test of general knowledge in mathematics and science. In addition, an advanced mathematics assessment was administered to students in 15 other countries who were taking or had taken advanced math courses, and to U.S. students who were taking or had taken pre-calculus, calculus, or Advanced Placement calculus. Eleven countries outperformed the United States, and four scored similarly. None scored significantly below the United States.
In 1999 only 41 percent of U.S. eighth-graders had a math teacher who had majored in mathematics at the undergraduate or graduate level or studied the subject for teacher certification Â? a figure that was considerably lower than the international average of 71 percent.
Last year more than 600,000 engineers graduated from institutions of higher education in China. In India, the figure was 350,000. In America, it was about 70,000.
In 2001 U.S. industry spent more on tort litigation than on research and development.
Wise Guy Reviews
The View | From the University of Vermont
My son, Mark, has recently written Wise Guy - The Life and Philosophy of Socrates. The book is published by Farrar Straus Giroux and went on sale earlier this month. This wonderful article, written by Lee Ann Cox, was published yesterday in The View, University of Vermont's news publication.
You can read another review by Seven Days, a Vermont weekly paper, here.
If you want a copy of Wise Guy signed by the author, please leave a comment with your contact information on this post and I'll get in touch with you.
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