Ninja Hauler

I have no idea if this is a spoof or not, but there is a certain element of "truth in advertising" here that struck a chord. Plus it was gut-busting funny.

Click on the image to embiggen for reading.

A Message From The US Auto Industry

Click to embiggen...



Source. (thanks Richard Metzger and Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing)

Ouch

I ran across the following excerpt at the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center at Bard College:

"Lending is not going to be fixed by recapitalizing banks. The underlying problem is not just that aggregate private loans are too large relative to bank capital; it is that they are too large relative to aggregate private income. Thus, the problem is with the borrowers, not just the lenders, and households need to lower their debt relative to income while corporations need to lower their debt relative to revenue. . . "

If the giant brains at the JLFC are correct, then we are looking at a much longer term problem that cannot be fixed by government alone.

This is further proof of what I have been saying for the last several weeks: “that the market and the economy are very different and separate things”.

Canada and Apple's iPhone 3G

Everyone in Canada is concerned about the existing duopoly between Roger's and Telus in the marketplace, and how the two behemoths are able to keep their voice and data rates at astronomically high levels despite consumer outcry. Enter Tom Bielecki, an engineering student at the University of Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Tom has started an online petition for Rogers to reduce its data rates tied with the introduction of the new Apple iPhone 3G. The issue is compelling from a consumer point of view, and raises the spectre of fair treatment in the context of a North American market.

I trust that AT&T's iPhone plan plus roaming charges will cost more than the basic plan that Roger's/Fido will offer in Canada. If not, count me in for a post office box in Montana and an AT&T contract!

So far the petition has got more than 6,000 signatures. Check it out at http://www.petitiononline.com/iPhone99/petition.html and add your signature to the list.

The Power of Suggestion

I think the first time that I realized how powerful language could be was in 1977. I was in a crowded movie theater watching Star Wars with all the other ten year olds, wondering how I could possibly get my hands on a Landspeeder and a real light-saber, when I heard the following:

Stormtrooper: Let me see your identification.
Obi-Wan: You don't need to see his identification.
Stormtrooper: We don't need to see his identification.
Obi-Wan: These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Stormtrooper: These aren't the droids we're looking for.
Obi-Wan: He can go about his business.
Stormtrooper: You can go about your business.
Obi-Wan: Move along.
Stormtrooper: Move along... move along.

Whoa, what just happened there? If somehow I could use the power of suggestion, like Obi-Wan, then a light-saber would just get in the way of what I really could achieve!

Fast-forward thirty years, and recently a friend's daughter tried to Obi-Wan him when told it was time for bed. "These aren't the droids you're looking for", was the response, and of course it totally busted him up with laughter, and earned the little one an extra ten minutes of "stay-up" time. This just goes to show you that kids still think of this as a great power, and a great scene!

So now, some thirty years after Luke looked across the desert of Tatoonie with those super-cool binoculars, is the power of language really still that important?

Why yes, of course it is. This week is the start of TED 2008, one of the most amazing, and exclusive conferences the world has ever known. Great thinkers gather to speak on many different subjects around a common loose theme. The videos are now being put up on the web for all of us to see. I'd suggest a visit to the site to see if you can find your Obi-Wan amongst the speakers.

May the Force be with you!

Yesterday's Real Tradgedy

Death is never something to treat lightly, it wrenches the heart, tears gennerations apart, and will eventutally visit us all. That's my preamble...

As the interwebs have been reporting, actor Heath Ledger was found dead in New York yesterday (22-Jan-08). I have read many outpourings of emotions, and heard people speak of what a tradgedy it was. I totally agreee, his little child will not know him, and certainly the film world will miss his contribution to the medium. But the "real" tradgedy as I see it is the treatment of another story that broke the same day,..which points to the utter fickleness of the media, and also, unfortunatley speaks volumes about what type of society we are.

What I am referring to is the UN's annual report on infant mortaility. The report was released the same day of Heath Ledger's death, and despite the newsworthyness of the report, it was completley overshadowed and given very little press coverage by the major media outlets.

The following are two points from the report that should give every inhabitant of this pale blue dot major pause for thought:

• In 2006, nearly 9.7 million children died worldwide before their fifth birthdays, mostly from preventable causes such as diarrhea, malaria or malnutrition.


• More than 26,000 children under 5 die each day on average.

Each day,.... 26,000!! Despite that atrocious number, the study goes on to say that significant progress has been made from the previous year's study, and that there is great promise for the world's children.

A celebrity died yesterday, so did approximately 26,000 children. Heath Ledger deserves our condolences,... the children of the world deserve much, much better.

Thanks to aka Eddie for the discussion.

I really can't wait.

October 10, 2010 will be a great day for those of us geek-types who seek "The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything".

Why, you ask? Well October 10, 2010 in shorthand is 10/10/10, the binary of which is 101010 or 42.