Archive for November 2009
Dub(a)ious
As per my posting a while back re the credit crunch, the situation in Dubai is like many other problems with consumers and businesses today, not just due to any flaws with capitalism, the banks or much else, but simply a culling of questionable concepts accelerated when people are forced to make more rational decisions. The architecture and vision for these futuristic cities in Dubai is well meaning and exciting, but was doomed from the start for one simple reason: You cannot create a sense of community out of thin air! It has to evolve. If these cities had instead been created as short term vacaction spots (like Club Med) or villas for the rich to zip off to every year, that would probably work. But no matter how wealthy, few will go live there – no matter the price! And if they do, they will soon return ‘home’. People emigrate to destinations like Spain because other than the weather, there is a decades if not centuries old culture and community. Somewhere to walk and explore. Interesting people to chat to at the cafe. Paris wasn’t built in a day.
The future of humanity (as covered here on the middle classes) will probably need to be based on the way of life experienced in or on the boundaries of the countryside in middle class England and close to or even on the sea. Summary: Spacious homes & gardens for the kids to play and grow healthy in, sustainable architecture & energy, walk/bike ways, wireless broadband, natural building materials, symbiotic relationship with nature and various cultures. It works!
Fight back club: Turn Dubai into a sporting holiday destination. Club Med: Strike while the iron is hot!
Google Chrome OS
Here’s hoping the 17 of you out there somewhere who attended SVASE (Mountain View, 1996) where I introduced the concept of the browser as the OS will sense a slight case of déja vu after reading about today’s announcement from Google. Amusing to watch the video where Google explain Chrome OS. It is brilliantly done – but not original.
No matter, the key is going to be offering services and products that deliver solutions – because it is not the technology or paradigm that counts, but how it makes your life easier than in the past. Else, what is the point?
I am a massive fan of Google and despite being slightly hacked off at not having been born on the right side of the Atlantic to have the resources to have been the first to develop a network centric OS (my lifelong dream), if anyone is going to provide the infrastructure for the widespread adoption of robust cloud computing, Google will be the one. Why? Because they were founded by and hire extremely clever people. And these people possess a nurtured value system radically different than companies of the past who quite simply don’t get it.
Where ‘it’ = holistics.
Fight back club: Get it.
Balls up
As they continue to dumb down and project a self serving reality distortion field to our youth, the government of the UK are to replace key subjects from the educational curriculum with subjects that young are not wise enough to comprehend or ‘use’. For example, history and geography are to be replaced with blogging, ‘Google Earth’ and ‘in’ subjects like global warming. Thing is, to blog, as I do here, one has to be educated or interested in a subject. Opinions are formed from ones knowledge of such subjects, including history and science. While the validity of global warming / climate change is for discussion, if our government are to ‘force’ the young to believe it is real, rather than allow them to come to their own conclusions based on the aforementioned knowledge, then pupils may become brainwashed and in turn this will allow the government to tax us unnecessarily based on fear rather than good science.
This discredits good causes (such as climate change research) and betrays our young who should not be manipulated for political ends.
It is against the policy of this blog to make personal attacks, but the individual currently in charge of our education system is not intellectually suited to his position – a disgrace to the nation and an example of the ongoing politically correct nature of the Labor and Conservative party MP selection process. (It was shocking to hear Cameron – our last hope as a country – state he wants more women in his cabinet. Why not hire based on ability?)
PC attitudes are dilusional and replace truth and common sense with a me first egotistica victim mentality incentive to become involved in an organisation. And having lived in several cities where such policies exist, I can state without any reservation that it doesn’t work. Mrs Thatcher faced considerable opposition in her fight for the conservative leadership. She didn’t get in because she was a woman, she got in because she was a conviction politition.
And why is all this important and coming from an information technology guy who believes politics is a way to achieve nothing slowly? Because I am grateful to have been given an unbiased science and geography based education that provided a foundation for life. Priceless.
Fight back club: Write to your MP.
Question for the scientific of you
Considering all the risks, (all of them – leaks from underground storage included), is nuclear power really safe long term? Why not choose the path of (practical) clean sustainable energy solutions, such as solar, and in the short term, put up with a few power outages while the new clean grid is built? Why is humanity always so short sighted?
Fight back club: Solar all the way. IM(V)HO!
Update: Here we go – 29 Nov 2009
(Very) dangerous BBC propaganda
Ooh, naughty. Here, the BBC World Service publish a survey. A few comments:
1. It is safe to assume most who were questioned were chosen for their demographic profile and/or because they had a chip on their shoulder. *** Beep Beep, bias alert, beep beep ***
2. Yes, there are flaws in capitalism, but those can be dealt with on a case by case basis and should not be used to defame the concept. The problem is power, corruption, closemindedness and greed – issues that afflict all societies, hence:
a) The danger and power of the pharmaceuticals industry (Related)
b) The danger and power of big oil and big nuclear
c) Corrupt politicians
d) Lack of regulation of the banks
These flourish because they go unchecked, not because they are associated with any specific ideology or culture. a) and d) are probably prevalent in capitalist nations simply because they are bi-products of that ideology.
UBSBSCR
Capitalism has lead to a significant improvement in quality of life, contemporary ellimination of boredom (and therefore unnecessary hatreds and subsequent violence or depression) and the proven again and again trickle down economic benefits.
As stated in a recent posting on Vision Aforethought, the closest to a perfect lifestyle (that people should aspire to rather than envy or destroy!) is the common sense lead middle class way of life. It blends a healthy diciplined intelligent manner with thoughtful attitudes – and is therefore ironically sympathetic to some of the more constructive socialist ideals. For evidence of this, visit and study Waitrose, probably one of the best creations of the capitalist system for several reasons that will become obvious by shopping there.
Fight back club: Ensure you dig very deeply before taking in much of what the BBC has to say on pretty much any subject that cannot be verified scientifically. Observe the increasingly dumbed down and noisy nature of their recent wildlife programming. Too much emphasis on the music and presenters than the nature, don’t you think? For socalism to succeed, the public need to be stupified and then re-programmed. Did I say dangerous?
So where is my Soviet iPod? (iPod [RED]? 😉 ) Or were too many Rubles spent on repression?
ALL IN THE NAME OF VANITY
Click here. And in modern Britain too. But of course, the masses are glued to reality TV so won’t be protesting. But they will be emulating the pretty airheads on such shows and rushing out to get their injections.
I’m leaving this posting fairly empty of a scathing analysis of hypocritical and cruel contemporary British culture in order that those readers who are disgusted can release any fury through direct action. Thing is, other than refusing to purchase products made available by such ‘research’ or standing outside a lab with a placard, the only real solution beyond direct government action is the complete undoing of the awful changes in our culture that have occured here over the last decade or so. How does one achieve this? Is there any period in the history of any nation or the world when a way of life has been abandoned and a previous path taken? Perhaps we could take a new path that blends some older values with futurist thinking? Food for thought anyway. Sadly, from previous discussions on animal experiments (that became very heated), I am in a minority on this one. Tragic.
