Tuesday, December 07, 2004
another believer
" Capitalism, as practiced, is a financially profitable, nonsustainable aberration in human development." (in Natural Capital: The Next Industrial Revolution, by Paul Hawken, Amory B Lovins and L Hunter Lovins)
Sunday, December 05, 2004
political affirmative action
oh, one thing I forgot: a long article on the need for political diversity in American universities. They find it deplorable that (as most educated people actually), much of the faculy in top universities is democrat. They cite Harvard and U of California as the biggest employee donors for Kerry, ahead of Microsoft, Time Warner or Goldman Sachs.
And go on to make the claim that since a lot of academics are for diversity of the student and faculty body, they should also push for political diversity of the faculty body. hence, hire lots of conservatives.
What seems fundamentally flawed to me is that you're born male or female, black, latino or white. There's nothing (in most cases) you can do about it. But you're not born democrat or republican. I don't think it should be used in cases where you really do have a choice on where you stand. Not to mention that it would seriously dilute an already struggling affirmative action. Ah, maybe that's what they're after.
Thoughts anyone?
And go on to make the claim that since a lot of academics are for diversity of the student and faculty body, they should also push for political diversity of the faculty body. hence, hire lots of conservatives.
What seems fundamentally flawed to me is that you're born male or female, black, latino or white. There's nothing (in most cases) you can do about it. But you're not born democrat or republican. I don't think it should be used in cases where you really do have a choice on where you stand. Not to mention that it would seriously dilute an already struggling affirmative action. Ah, maybe that's what they're after.
Thoughts anyone?
christmas season
Good morning everyone,
things are looking pretty good here. i'm done with the majority of the work on my paper for my "globalisation and the big business revolution" class. I missed the last conference though, I was sleeping. In fact I double-napped that day, which never happens to me. I was completely exhausted and useless after the really long rowing race (4.3km). now it's time to get cracking on the issue of good indicators of environmental and social sustainability for an airport extension project...
I'm a lot calmer this morning than normal when i read the economist, but that may have to do with the late night christmas party till 3 last night.
Kofi Annan actually wrote an article in this week's magazine. He quotes figures I had no idea anyone had calculated, namely that the september 11 cost $80bn and pushed 11m people in developing countries into poverty. I don't know how I feel about that kind of analysis. I mean, isn't it a bit close for comfort to the claim that it is the duty of the rich countries to grow recklessly in order to help the developing countries? I don't like that claim. more importantly i don't believe in it.
What else do we have? A ranking of income for different california female population groups. At the top of the earning ladder: the Asian US-born. Then come the whites (first US-born, then not), then Asian other foreign born, black, asian SE Asia born, Latinas US born and Latinas foreign born, which earn on average almost exactly half of the top female earners. Still, for all categories that's about 20% less than the male counterparts.
Speaking of gender, I now have a new advisor (yipee, the other one was the most ill fit you could imagine), and some contacts in other departments of women who do similar kinds of work (including one in the department of geography. that department does some really cool stuff, including patterns in asylum seekers). I also just realized how much of a joke the dissertation is going to be. I was up to 9,700 words on my globalization paper before i started trimming back to the 5,000 required. The dissertation is only 12,000. And it only took me a week for the globalisation paper. I guess it'll have to be dense material.
Interesting article that puts every job search in perspective: land mine removal for $6 a day in Angola. It'll take all the deminers another decade before they demine all of the country's mines. Of course it really is 'too bad' isn't it that the US has refused to sign the global ban on mines, because of North Korea supposedly. "Nonetheless, the devices still kill or maim 40 people a day". Even China is considering signing. Where is the leadership of the US and the belief in democracy and throwing its weight around?
I finished a book on the Ballard company which did a lot for commercialization of PEM hydrogen-powered bus/cars/generators. Very narrative account, but quite interesting. Now moving on to the much drier "Natural Capitalism: the next industrial capitalism". I'm always put off a bit with the grandiose and crazy scenario predictions they do at the beginning of these idealistic books. something about dramatic increases in living standards for all in a few years and no more unvoluntary unemployment rings unrealistic, unacademic and therefore why continue with the next 300 pages. but actually it seems pretty good past the intro.
no comments at the moment on having all savings in dollars and living in pounds, except: OUCH!
alrighty, time to get to work.
ciao.
things are looking pretty good here. i'm done with the majority of the work on my paper for my "globalisation and the big business revolution" class. I missed the last conference though, I was sleeping. In fact I double-napped that day, which never happens to me. I was completely exhausted and useless after the really long rowing race (4.3km). now it's time to get cracking on the issue of good indicators of environmental and social sustainability for an airport extension project...
I'm a lot calmer this morning than normal when i read the economist, but that may have to do with the late night christmas party till 3 last night.
Kofi Annan actually wrote an article in this week's magazine. He quotes figures I had no idea anyone had calculated, namely that the september 11 cost $80bn and pushed 11m people in developing countries into poverty. I don't know how I feel about that kind of analysis. I mean, isn't it a bit close for comfort to the claim that it is the duty of the rich countries to grow recklessly in order to help the developing countries? I don't like that claim. more importantly i don't believe in it.
What else do we have? A ranking of income for different california female population groups. At the top of the earning ladder: the Asian US-born. Then come the whites (first US-born, then not), then Asian other foreign born, black, asian SE Asia born, Latinas US born and Latinas foreign born, which earn on average almost exactly half of the top female earners. Still, for all categories that's about 20% less than the male counterparts.
Speaking of gender, I now have a new advisor (yipee, the other one was the most ill fit you could imagine), and some contacts in other departments of women who do similar kinds of work (including one in the department of geography. that department does some really cool stuff, including patterns in asylum seekers). I also just realized how much of a joke the dissertation is going to be. I was up to 9,700 words on my globalization paper before i started trimming back to the 5,000 required. The dissertation is only 12,000. And it only took me a week for the globalisation paper. I guess it'll have to be dense material.
Interesting article that puts every job search in perspective: land mine removal for $6 a day in Angola. It'll take all the deminers another decade before they demine all of the country's mines. Of course it really is 'too bad' isn't it that the US has refused to sign the global ban on mines, because of North Korea supposedly. "Nonetheless, the devices still kill or maim 40 people a day". Even China is considering signing. Where is the leadership of the US and the belief in democracy and throwing its weight around?
I finished a book on the Ballard company which did a lot for commercialization of PEM hydrogen-powered bus/cars/generators. Very narrative account, but quite interesting. Now moving on to the much drier "Natural Capitalism: the next industrial capitalism". I'm always put off a bit with the grandiose and crazy scenario predictions they do at the beginning of these idealistic books. something about dramatic increases in living standards for all in a few years and no more unvoluntary unemployment rings unrealistic, unacademic and therefore why continue with the next 300 pages. but actually it seems pretty good past the intro.
no comments at the moment on having all savings in dollars and living in pounds, except: OUCH!
alrighty, time to get to work.
ciao.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
trade
"The world doesn't have free trade, it has corporate-managed trade" (Ralph Nader in John Madeley's Hungry for Trade: 91).
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
new eco tidbits
The Economist, November 20th-26th
Worried by an investigation close to Tom DeLay, their majority leader, House Republicans changed a rule that would have forced any official to step down if indicted on felony charges. And I thought this was purely a Latin American specialty.
UN figures showed that this year's was a bumper opium crop in Afghanistan. The area under poppy cultivation jumped by 64%, and only crop disease prevented this from being the largest opium harvest ever recorded. Did 'we' win the war?
Dieticians and politicians have been banging on at them to skip the chocolate bars, eat up their green veg and do more exercise, but too many still refuse to. What's more, the smokers and chocolate-munchers are disproportionately poor, which makes the left feel especially uncomfortable. If the poor refuse to help themselves, it feels, something must be done to help them. Or should the price of a private trainer, liposuction, a monthly subscription to Fitness and better education be lowered?
[By the way, I went to yet another talk last week which said something that struck me: apparently, democrats are indirectly subsidizing republicans to the tune of $6,000 a year. Ouch.]
Iraq's neighbors are meeting to help bring the country gradually back to normality.
Apparently, in the words of former UN secretary-general, the United Nations were created "not to take humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell." It's interesting when you think about it. And it's a lot more gray than US news tend to report on.
"Lock up your daughters" was the title of a piece on Education. Isn't that a bit much for an article merely on same-sex schools and whether they are providing better success (for both sexes)?
Democrats have come up with lots of crap reasons why Bush won. One of the most popular ones was that Bush won out of fear. Actually, it seems that he won more out of "hope and growth", according to exit polls at least (the same story was picked up by the BCC tonight. It was kind of bizarre to see on the news the same story I had in the paper in front of my eyes.)
And when you thought all was lost for the Banana Republics... For the most part, the [Latin American] region is not relevant to the strategic interests of the US. The main focus is economic." Where's the hope?
[special report to the Seattle-ites:] Most Vancouverites love it when, as frequently happens, their city gets rated as one of the nicest places in the world in which to live. However they're facing an increasingly large problem and the Downtown Eastside is the most concentrated picked of poverty and crime in Canada.
A Chinese herbal medicine (qinghao, aka Artemisia annua) is effective against malaria. But there is not enough of it to go around. And short supplies means rising prices and threaten global efforts to loosen malaria's grasp on the developing world.
[Feel free to skip the Economist posts. I have to read it, and need to vent. Hence the frequency and length. You don't have to.]
Worried by an investigation close to Tom DeLay, their majority leader, House Republicans changed a rule that would have forced any official to step down if indicted on felony charges. And I thought this was purely a Latin American specialty.
UN figures showed that this year's was a bumper opium crop in Afghanistan. The area under poppy cultivation jumped by 64%, and only crop disease prevented this from being the largest opium harvest ever recorded. Did 'we' win the war?
Dieticians and politicians have been banging on at them to skip the chocolate bars, eat up their green veg and do more exercise, but too many still refuse to. What's more, the smokers and chocolate-munchers are disproportionately poor, which makes the left feel especially uncomfortable. If the poor refuse to help themselves, it feels, something must be done to help them. Or should the price of a private trainer, liposuction, a monthly subscription to Fitness and better education be lowered?
[By the way, I went to yet another talk last week which said something that struck me: apparently, democrats are indirectly subsidizing republicans to the tune of $6,000 a year. Ouch.]
Iraq's neighbors are meeting to help bring the country gradually back to normality.
Apparently, in the words of former UN secretary-general, the United Nations were created "not to take humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell." It's interesting when you think about it. And it's a lot more gray than US news tend to report on.
"Lock up your daughters" was the title of a piece on Education. Isn't that a bit much for an article merely on same-sex schools and whether they are providing better success (for both sexes)?
Democrats have come up with lots of crap reasons why Bush won. One of the most popular ones was that Bush won out of fear. Actually, it seems that he won more out of "hope and growth", according to exit polls at least (the same story was picked up by the BCC tonight. It was kind of bizarre to see on the news the same story I had in the paper in front of my eyes.)
And when you thought all was lost for the Banana Republics... For the most part, the [Latin American] region is not relevant to the strategic interests of the US. The main focus is economic." Where's the hope?
[special report to the Seattle-ites:] Most Vancouverites love it when, as frequently happens, their city gets rated as one of the nicest places in the world in which to live. However they're facing an increasingly large problem and the Downtown Eastside is the most concentrated picked of poverty and crime in Canada.
A Chinese herbal medicine (qinghao, aka Artemisia annua) is effective against malaria. But there is not enough of it to go around. And short supplies means rising prices and threaten global efforts to loosen malaria's grasp on the developing world.
[Feel free to skip the Economist posts. I have to read it, and need to vent. Hence the frequency and length. You don't have to.]
gender cup of tea
I've had a fairly frustrating set of meetings with my course director/supervisor so far.
The first one obviously started off on the wrong foot. He started off by saying "I think it's important to state that I do believe in institutionalized racism and sexism." He then went on to say that he thought looking at financial results/economics to analyze whether women were positively impacting the economy was, I quote, "hilarious". Yeah, him and I don't quite get along.
I can understand that as an old British nuclear physicist, gender studies may not be someone's cup of tea. But I was only asking for decency.
Anyhow, second meeting was along the same tone, but I was much more prepared for it, put on my show and got what I needed out of it, which was his recommendation to go find a better suited supervisor (phew!) and a name of someone to contact.
free as a bird...
The first one obviously started off on the wrong foot. He started off by saying "I think it's important to state that I do believe in institutionalized racism and sexism." He then went on to say that he thought looking at financial results/economics to analyze whether women were positively impacting the economy was, I quote, "hilarious". Yeah, him and I don't quite get along.
I can understand that as an old British nuclear physicist, gender studies may not be someone's cup of tea. But I was only asking for decency.
Anyhow, second meeting was along the same tone, but I was much more prepared for it, put on my show and got what I needed out of it, which was his recommendation to go find a better suited supervisor (phew!) and a name of someone to contact.
free as a bird...
ecoethics
My brain stumbled into the obvious yesterday - between a paper on engineering ethics and a class on microeconomics -
Isn't it time for economics to acknowledge and embrace their impact and their social and ethical responsibilities?
Seems to me they've been hiding behind the screen of 'we're purely rational, theoretical, that's what our models say'. Which is a screen scientists found convenient for a while until it came to light that really they weren't doing science in a vacuum and they should become a little more enlightened (cf. Pugwash for instance).
I believe the time is right for economists as well.
Isn't it time for economics to acknowledge and embrace their impact and their social and ethical responsibilities?
Seems to me they've been hiding behind the screen of 'we're purely rational, theoretical, that's what our models say'. Which is a screen scientists found convenient for a while until it came to light that really they weren't doing science in a vacuum and they should become a little more enlightened (cf. Pugwash for instance).
I believe the time is right for economists as well.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
the triumph of the religious right
"It may look like that, but liberals should think again before despairing." (Another article from The Economist of November 13-19th, 2004: 27).
"Secular Europeans wondered whether they and the Americans were now on different planets. The week before the election, Rocco Buttigline had been forced to withdrwa his nomination as a European Union commissioner because he had said that homosexuality was a sin, and that marriage exists for children and the protection of women. In America, he would probably have won Ohio.
Der Spiegel, Germany's most popular newsweekly, put the statue of liberty on its cover, blindfolded by an American flag. Britain's Daily Mirror asked, "How can 59,054,097 people be so DUMB?" And a contributor to Pravda, that bastion of religious expertise, claimed that "the Christian fundamentalists of America are the mirror image of the Taliban, both of which insult and deny their Gods."
(...) The moralists' share of the electorate was only 22%, just two points more than the share of those who cited the economy, and three points more than those who nominated terrorism as the top priority.(...) Moreover, that 22% is much lower than it was in the two previous presidential elections, in 2000 and 1996. Then, 35% and 40%, respectively, put moral or ethical issues top, and a further 14% and 9% put abortion first, an option that was not given in 2004.
(...) What may be changing is that the country is getting a little more intense in its religious beliefs. Also, and this could be more important, it is becoming more willing to tolerate religious involvement in the public sphere. (...) Gallop polls in the 1960s found that over half of all Americans thought that churches should not be involved in politics. Now, over half think that they can be.
(...) This week there was a sign of what may be to come when Republicans threatened to strip Senator Arlen Specter of the chairmanship of the committee that overseas Supreme Court nominations after he said that staunch opponents of abortion were unlikely to be confirmed.
(...) the victory of aggressive social conservatism over the small-government tradition in which morality is not legislated."
"Secular Europeans wondered whether they and the Americans were now on different planets. The week before the election, Rocco Buttigline had been forced to withdrwa his nomination as a European Union commissioner because he had said that homosexuality was a sin, and that marriage exists for children and the protection of women. In America, he would probably have won Ohio.
Der Spiegel, Germany's most popular newsweekly, put the statue of liberty on its cover, blindfolded by an American flag. Britain's Daily Mirror asked, "How can 59,054,097 people be so DUMB?" And a contributor to Pravda, that bastion of religious expertise, claimed that "the Christian fundamentalists of America are the mirror image of the Taliban, both of which insult and deny their Gods."
(...) The moralists' share of the electorate was only 22%, just two points more than the share of those who cited the economy, and three points more than those who nominated terrorism as the top priority.(...) Moreover, that 22% is much lower than it was in the two previous presidential elections, in 2000 and 1996. Then, 35% and 40%, respectively, put moral or ethical issues top, and a further 14% and 9% put abortion first, an option that was not given in 2004.
(...) What may be changing is that the country is getting a little more intense in its religious beliefs. Also, and this could be more important, it is becoming more willing to tolerate religious involvement in the public sphere. (...) Gallop polls in the 1960s found that over half of all Americans thought that churches should not be involved in politics. Now, over half think that they can be.
(...) This week there was a sign of what may be to come when Republicans threatened to strip Senator Arlen Specter of the chairmanship of the committee that overseas Supreme Court nominations after he said that staunch opponents of abortion were unlikely to be confirmed.
(...) the victory of aggressive social conservatism over the small-government tradition in which morality is not legislated."
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
dismantling the economist
[dismantling the economist: the 'rational' person as well as the paper]
Tidbits without much editorial comment from the single issue of November 13-19th.
The Rand Corporation reported that compensation paid out by the government and insurance companie to victimes of September 11th is at least $38.1 billion.
Japan's navy was mobilised for the first time in five years to try to make a submarine, believed to be Chinese, come to the surface.
The head of the panel set up to organise new presidential elections in Haiti for December 2005 resigned, citing presure to manipulate the process. She had opposed a scheme to buy $112m-worth of electronic-voting machines for a country with one of the world's least reliavle electricity supplies.
(The morality article will go in a separate post).
Wal-Mart is already Mexico's biggest retailer.
I couldn't bear to go through the whole of the article on globalisation of outsourcing in India - the subtitle is "the global deployment of work has it critics, but it holds huge opportunities for the rich and poor countries alike"; followed by long paragraphs on how it increases profits. Where's the benefit to the poor? This is after all the magazine which argued not so long ago that it was the rich countries' duty to export their garbage to the poor countries to provide them with an economic oppportunity. no comment on the morality of that.
The new "Blood and Gore" business: Al Gore and David Blood partnering to set up a investment-management firm integrating sustainability research.
Are you surprised that only 9% of the traditional rational economists felt that including non-financial measures (such as social and economic sustainability) made for an "appropriate valuation" of their company?? Power of the incumbents...
These guys are masters of under-statements.
"Greenland may be melting faster than previously thought." "Like a canary in the coal mine, the hypersensitive polar regions may well experience the full force of global warming before the rest of the planet does." "One of the report's most confident predictions is that the break-up of Arctic ice will open the region to long-distance shipping and, ironically, to drilling for oil and gas. It is surely no coincidence, then, that the Danish government, which controls Greenland, has just declared its intention to claim the mineral rights under the North Pole. It, at least, clearly believes that the Arctic ocean may soon be ice-free. "
[By the way, I'm having a hard time locating the web site lising the current up-to-date readings of atmospheric CO2 concentration, but check out http://www.grida.no/climate/vital/07.htm and http://carto.eu.org/article2546.html if you haven't seen those kinds of graphs before. It's worth a good scare.]
Finally, "Male and female sperm can be sorted using lasers". So rich people won't have to wait for the ultrasound to weed off female fetuses??
Ha... if you can't tell, I'm a bit tense this afternoon ;)
Tidbits without much editorial comment from the single issue of November 13-19th.
The Rand Corporation reported that compensation paid out by the government and insurance companie to victimes of September 11th is at least $38.1 billion.
Japan's navy was mobilised for the first time in five years to try to make a submarine, believed to be Chinese, come to the surface.
The head of the panel set up to organise new presidential elections in Haiti for December 2005 resigned, citing presure to manipulate the process. She had opposed a scheme to buy $112m-worth of electronic-voting machines for a country with one of the world's least reliavle electricity supplies.
(The morality article will go in a separate post).
Wal-Mart is already Mexico's biggest retailer.
I couldn't bear to go through the whole of the article on globalisation of outsourcing in India - the subtitle is "the global deployment of work has it critics, but it holds huge opportunities for the rich and poor countries alike"; followed by long paragraphs on how it increases profits. Where's the benefit to the poor? This is after all the magazine which argued not so long ago that it was the rich countries' duty to export their garbage to the poor countries to provide them with an economic oppportunity. no comment on the morality of that.
The new "Blood and Gore" business: Al Gore and David Blood partnering to set up a investment-management firm integrating sustainability research.
Are you surprised that only 9% of the traditional rational economists felt that including non-financial measures (such as social and economic sustainability) made for an "appropriate valuation" of their company?? Power of the incumbents...
These guys are masters of under-statements.
"Greenland may be melting faster than previously thought." "Like a canary in the coal mine, the hypersensitive polar regions may well experience the full force of global warming before the rest of the planet does." "One of the report's most confident predictions is that the break-up of Arctic ice will open the region to long-distance shipping and, ironically, to drilling for oil and gas. It is surely no coincidence, then, that the Danish government, which controls Greenland, has just declared its intention to claim the mineral rights under the North Pole. It, at least, clearly believes that the Arctic ocean may soon be ice-free. "
[By the way, I'm having a hard time locating the web site lising the current up-to-date readings of atmospheric CO2 concentration, but check out http://www.grida.no/climate/vital/07.htm and http://carto.eu.org/article2546.html if you haven't seen those kinds of graphs before. It's worth a good scare.]
Finally, "Male and female sperm can be sorted using lasers". So rich people won't have to wait for the ultrasound to weed off female fetuses??
Ha... if you can't tell, I'm a bit tense this afternoon ;)
Saturday, November 13, 2004
morning quotes
No sane person seeks a world divided between billions of excluded people living in absolute deprivation and a tiny elite guarding their wealth and luxury behind fortress walls. No one rejoices at the prospect of life in a world of collapsing social and ecological systems. Yet we continue to place human civilization and even the survival of our species at risk mainly to allow a million or so people to accumulate money beyond any conceivable need. We continue to go boldly where no one wants to go. (David Korten, When Corporations Rule the World, 1995)
Ideas, knowledge, art, hospitality, travel - these are the things which should of their nature be international. But let goods be homespun whenever it is reasonably and conveniently possible, and above all, let finance be primarily national. (John Maynard Keynes).
Ideas, knowledge, art, hospitality, travel - these are the things which should of their nature be international. But let goods be homespun whenever it is reasonably and conveniently possible, and above all, let finance be primarily national. (John Maynard Keynes).
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
social capital
I'm reading up on the notion of Social Capital in the hope that it'll weave itself nicely into my dissertation topic (basically on gender-informed tech policies and their potential to help developing countries leap-frog over some of the women issues facing developed countries & ICT companies). The notion comes from Putnam (Hahvahd).
A bit of outrageous facts (you gotta wonder how he measures that), but still, interesting to ponder on. I should declare upfront though that I don't believe in going back to any kind of perceived wonderland in the good ole days, because I do believe that they are in fact myths for the majority of us (i.e. for all those who weren't rich and white and male and born in the right place).
The concept is that social capital describes institutions, relationships and norms, and therefore represents both a positive force as well as a negative, potentially excluding force.
He sees massive downward trend in political and civic engagement, informal social ties (friends at home), trust (massive employment opportunities for security guards for instance).
Here come the crazy quotes...
- 'as a rule of thumb, if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half.
- if you smoke and belong to no groups, it's a toss-up statistically whether you should stop smoking or start joining' (this is probably more relevant to the europeans than the americans in 'the room').
- 'regular club attendance, volunteering, entertaining, or church attendance is the happiness equivalence of getting a college degree or more than doubling your income. Civic connections rival marriage and affluence as predictors of life happiness.'
Morals of the story: they lied to you when they said money doesn't give you happiness. Get married quick. And volunteer - or stop smoking.
Well, I'm rowing, which counts as a social attendance thing. And what makes me very happy these days is that I get to be the 'stroke' of the boat, i.e. the person who sets the pace. Plus the coach gave me some nice confidence boosters compliments, so I'm slowly working my way out of the marasm and sluggishness of the post-election depression (a la post-partum).
A bit of outrageous facts (you gotta wonder how he measures that), but still, interesting to ponder on. I should declare upfront though that I don't believe in going back to any kind of perceived wonderland in the good ole days, because I do believe that they are in fact myths for the majority of us (i.e. for all those who weren't rich and white and male and born in the right place).
The concept is that social capital describes institutions, relationships and norms, and therefore represents both a positive force as well as a negative, potentially excluding force.
He sees massive downward trend in political and civic engagement, informal social ties (friends at home), trust (massive employment opportunities for security guards for instance).
Here come the crazy quotes...
- 'as a rule of thumb, if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half.
- if you smoke and belong to no groups, it's a toss-up statistically whether you should stop smoking or start joining' (this is probably more relevant to the europeans than the americans in 'the room').
- 'regular club attendance, volunteering, entertaining, or church attendance is the happiness equivalence of getting a college degree or more than doubling your income. Civic connections rival marriage and affluence as predictors of life happiness.'
Morals of the story: they lied to you when they said money doesn't give you happiness. Get married quick. And volunteer - or stop smoking.
Well, I'm rowing, which counts as a social attendance thing. And what makes me very happy these days is that I get to be the 'stroke' of the boat, i.e. the person who sets the pace. Plus the coach gave me some nice confidence boosters compliments, so I'm slowly working my way out of the marasm and sluggishness of the post-election depression (a la post-partum).
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
major hurry...
As often, I'm in a hurry, but instead of letting the thoughts pile up, I'll let them out of the bag in a somewhat chaotic fashion.
Under Reagan, the US lost two important principles:
- the Precautionary Principle (which simply states that if we don't know enough, we should be cautious)
- the principle of providing even air/tv time to politicians running for office. (France still has it. )
A bastard tried to steal my bike the other night. It's not worth much, but it looks nice, and unlike many bikes ('cycles' here), it's got a suspension and more than one gear. Thanks to a sturdy cable and lock and a beautiful tie job, he couldn't come away with more than the shafts for the seat and for the back wheel. Still, the bastard could've left all the pieces next to the bike when he realized at three in the morning that he couldn't walk away with either the seat, the wheel or the suspension system. Still, as this is England and the most CCTV wired country in the world, he didn't forget to smile for the camera.
I started rowing again (all the while taking great care of my low back cuz I don't want to go down the cycle of low-back pain for 6 years again). The first time was extremely frustrating, the second much better, and I've impressed the coach who wants me to stroke the boat *grin*grin*.
Plus I'm having fun giving yoga classes to the men's rowing team. Class #2 is coming up.
Tonight is election night (of course). Gotta bake a cake for a housemate's birthday; she's the one organizing the stay-up-all-night-to-watch-the-numbers-roll-in party. Keep fingers crossed.
And on a lighter note, my little brother is coming to visit with his girlfriend. First visitors of our new abode. We'll probably take them punting on the Cam.
Oh and we went for a countryside ride this weekend to an impressive Norman castle dating back to 1140. I feel so cultured ;).
Under Reagan, the US lost two important principles:
- the Precautionary Principle (which simply states that if we don't know enough, we should be cautious)
- the principle of providing even air/tv time to politicians running for office. (France still has it. )
A bastard tried to steal my bike the other night. It's not worth much, but it looks nice, and unlike many bikes ('cycles' here), it's got a suspension and more than one gear. Thanks to a sturdy cable and lock and a beautiful tie job, he couldn't come away with more than the shafts for the seat and for the back wheel. Still, the bastard could've left all the pieces next to the bike when he realized at three in the morning that he couldn't walk away with either the seat, the wheel or the suspension system. Still, as this is England and the most CCTV wired country in the world, he didn't forget to smile for the camera.
I started rowing again (all the while taking great care of my low back cuz I don't want to go down the cycle of low-back pain for 6 years again). The first time was extremely frustrating, the second much better, and I've impressed the coach who wants me to stroke the boat *grin*grin*.
Plus I'm having fun giving yoga classes to the men's rowing team. Class #2 is coming up.
Tonight is election night (of course). Gotta bake a cake for a housemate's birthday; she's the one organizing the stay-up-all-night-to-watch-the-numbers-roll-in party. Keep fingers crossed.
And on a lighter note, my little brother is coming to visit with his girlfriend. First visitors of our new abode. We'll probably take them punting on the Cam.
Oh and we went for a countryside ride this weekend to an impressive Norman castle dating back to 1140. I feel so cultured ;).
major hurry...
As often, I'm in a hurry, but instead of letting the thoughts pile up, I'll let them out of the bag in a somewhat chaotic fashion.
Under Reagan, the US lost two important principles:
- the Precautionary Principle (which simply states that if we don't know enough, we should be cautious)
- the principle of providing even air/tv time to politicians running for office. (France still has it. )
A bastard tried to steal my bike the other night. It's not worth much, but it looks nice, and unlike many bikes ('cycles' here), it's got a suspension and more than one gear. Thanks to a sturdy cable and lock and a beautiful tie job, he couldn't come away with more than the shafts for the seat and for the back wheel. Still, the bastard could've left all the pieces next to the bike when he realized at three in the morning that he couldn't walk away with either the seat, the wheel or the suspension system. Still, as this is England and the most CCTV wired country in the world, he didn't forget to smile for the camera.
I started rowing again (all the while taking great care of my low back cuz I don't want to go down the cycle of low-back pain for 6 years again). The first time was extremely frustrating, the second much better, and I've impressed the coach who wants me to stroke the boat *grin*grin*.
Plus I'm having fun giving yoga classes to the men's rowing team. Class #2 is coming up.
Tonight is election night (of course). Gotta bake a cake for a housemate's birthday; she's the one organizing the stay-up-all-night-to-watch-the-numbers-roll-in party. Keep fingers crossed.
And on a lighter note, my little brother is coming to visit with his girlfriend. First visitors of our new abode. We'll probably take them punting on the Cam.
Oh and we went for a countryside ride this weekend to an impressive Norman castle dating back to 1140. I feel so cultured ;).
Under Reagan, the US lost two important principles:
- the Precautionary Principle (which simply states that if we don't know enough, we should be cautious)
- the principle of providing even air/tv time to politicians running for office. (France still has it. )
A bastard tried to steal my bike the other night. It's not worth much, but it looks nice, and unlike many bikes ('cycles' here), it's got a suspension and more than one gear. Thanks to a sturdy cable and lock and a beautiful tie job, he couldn't come away with more than the shafts for the seat and for the back wheel. Still, the bastard could've left all the pieces next to the bike when he realized at three in the morning that he couldn't walk away with either the seat, the wheel or the suspension system. Still, as this is England and the most CCTV wired country in the world, he didn't forget to smile for the camera.
I started rowing again (all the while taking great care of my low back cuz I don't want to go down the cycle of low-back pain for 6 years again). The first time was extremely frustrating, the second much better, and I've impressed the coach who wants me to stroke the boat *grin*grin*.
Plus I'm having fun giving yoga classes to the men's rowing team. Class #2 is coming up.
Tonight is election night (of course). Gotta bake a cake for a housemate's birthday; she's the one organizing the stay-up-all-night-to-watch-the-numbers-roll-in party. Keep fingers crossed.
And on a lighter note, my little brother is coming to visit with his girlfriend. First visitors of our new abode. We'll probably take them punting on the Cam.
Oh and we went for a countryside ride this weekend to an impressive Norman castle dating back to 1140. I feel so cultured ;).
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Best in Show
A quick excerpt from, again, Michael Moore's (Stupid White Men) - but that'll be the last. And it brings up a discussion point below. He places the US among the top 20 industrialized nations.
"We're #1 in per capita energy use
#1 per capita municipal waste generated
#1 per capita carbon dioxide emissions
#1 in lowest voter turnout (that may soon change)
#1 in likelihood of children under the age of 15 to die from gunfire
#1 in daily per capita consumption of calories"
And for the backers of 'small government'...
"#1 in the least amount of tax revenue generated (as a percentage of gross domestic product)
#1 in least amount of federal and state government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP)"
My point is, the US is used to being in a league of its own. What happens when it no longer is the most important country on this planet? It soon won't be the biggest market anymore (China) - still, I doubt that the US is psychologically equipped to deal with this sort of rejection or indifference.
"We're #1 in per capita energy use
#1 per capita municipal waste generated
#1 per capita carbon dioxide emissions
#1 in lowest voter turnout (that may soon change)
#1 in likelihood of children under the age of 15 to die from gunfire
#1 in daily per capita consumption of calories"
And for the backers of 'small government'...
"#1 in the least amount of tax revenue generated (as a percentage of gross domestic product)
#1 in least amount of federal and state government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP)"
My point is, the US is used to being in a league of its own. What happens when it no longer is the most important country on this planet? It soon won't be the biggest market anymore (China) - still, I doubt that the US is psychologically equipped to deal with this sort of rejection or indifference.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
ha ... finally a second of blogging peace
I'm gaining a whole new understanding for a famous person which I will name later on in this blog, but not yet for the sake of suspense. All the info below (unless sarcastic and unless otherwise noted) is thanks to a book by this guy.
Grab a bit of fresh air before you read this... our topic today is Waste!
The largest monument (by volume) in the Americas was the Sun Temple in Mexico. These days in San Fransisco, the main landfill is 5 times the Sun Temple. (What a monument we are leaving to future generations, what a testament to our ingeniosity...)
The Fresh Kills (what a name) Landfill on Staten Island (for NYC's garbage) will soon be the "highest point on the Eastern seaboard south of Main". (courtesy of a Newsweek story). It had to apply to the FAA for a permit because it poses a threat to aircraft.
Baltimore was negotiating with China to dump its crap in Tibet (both saw the situation as a massive win, Tibetans were not invited to discuss the topic, but eventually international pressure prevented that scheme was being realized).
"A cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" (Oscar Wilde)
"There is something fundamentally wrong in treating the earth as if it were a business in liquidation" (Herman Daly)
The author also points out that, really, we "ought to understand the economic significance of a healthy environment as a kind of infrastructure supporting future productivity". (At this point he is particularly peeved that economists fail to take external costs, 'externalities' per the Damsetz model of property rights, such as the price of polluting smoke into account in their economic analyses, based on the fact that it's hard to calculate).
Now, I'm only half-way through this book, Earth in the Balance, and it's already yielding tons of valuable stuff (only some of which is noted above). The book is on my reading list for my Engineering for Sustainable Development class, and the author is none other than ... Al Gore. Interesting, isn't it, that the guy has such insight, knowledge, and interesting things to say. Depressing though that while living in the US during the 2000 elections, I had no idea the guy was one of the most environmentalists of the Senators. What is that a tribute to: the guy's bad campaign or the insanity of the US election process and the need to rush to the center?
As a side note, he brings up an interesting insight into the French Revolution. Chapter 3, called "Climate and Civilization: A Short History" covers our vulnerability to a slight disruption in the expected weather patterns. For instance, the "year without a summer" of 1817: the explosion of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia saturated the air with thick dust for a few years, reducing the amount of sunlight, causing lowered temperatures and resulting in massive starvation and revolutionary fever worldwide. Similarly, part of what sparked the French Revolution could be the explosion of the Asama volcano in Japan. Whoever thought global impact was a new thing?
Thanks to Catherine for passing along the following url: http://www.electoral-vote.com . Which highlights for those not living in the UK (!), that the BBC leaked a Florida republican reports on (allegedly unconstitutional) tactics to disrupt African American voting.
Also an interesting story from the LATimes on the election as a cultural war, not an economic election. I like the story, but hasn't the US always been massively divided on these issues (e.g. abortion & religion)?
Well, while we are getting ready for the stay-up-all-night election night here, where we'll watch Outfoxed & Fog of War and the numbers come in, (and like 1/3 of Americans we're worried about massive mess-ups a la Florida'00), life tends to go on - despite Michael Moore's personal plea in my inbox the other day to let the dirty socks pile up and do nothing but activism work from now until the end of the election. In fact we went to a lovely (lovely and brilliant are soo British words) formal dinner last night at St. John's, a 500 year old gorgeous college, with the company of the members of the Cambridge Pugwash society.
I hope you're all well. A +.
Grab a bit of fresh air before you read this... our topic today is Waste!
The largest monument (by volume) in the Americas was the Sun Temple in Mexico. These days in San Fransisco, the main landfill is 5 times the Sun Temple. (What a monument we are leaving to future generations, what a testament to our ingeniosity...)
The Fresh Kills (what a name) Landfill on Staten Island (for NYC's garbage) will soon be the "highest point on the Eastern seaboard south of Main". (courtesy of a Newsweek story). It had to apply to the FAA for a permit because it poses a threat to aircraft.
Baltimore was negotiating with China to dump its crap in Tibet (both saw the situation as a massive win, Tibetans were not invited to discuss the topic, but eventually international pressure prevented that scheme was being realized).
"A cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" (Oscar Wilde)
"There is something fundamentally wrong in treating the earth as if it were a business in liquidation" (Herman Daly)
The author also points out that, really, we "ought to understand the economic significance of a healthy environment as a kind of infrastructure supporting future productivity". (At this point he is particularly peeved that economists fail to take external costs, 'externalities' per the Damsetz model of property rights, such as the price of polluting smoke into account in their economic analyses, based on the fact that it's hard to calculate).
Now, I'm only half-way through this book, Earth in the Balance, and it's already yielding tons of valuable stuff (only some of which is noted above). The book is on my reading list for my Engineering for Sustainable Development class, and the author is none other than ... Al Gore. Interesting, isn't it, that the guy has such insight, knowledge, and interesting things to say. Depressing though that while living in the US during the 2000 elections, I had no idea the guy was one of the most environmentalists of the Senators. What is that a tribute to: the guy's bad campaign or the insanity of the US election process and the need to rush to the center?
As a side note, he brings up an interesting insight into the French Revolution. Chapter 3, called "Climate and Civilization: A Short History" covers our vulnerability to a slight disruption in the expected weather patterns. For instance, the "year without a summer" of 1817: the explosion of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia saturated the air with thick dust for a few years, reducing the amount of sunlight, causing lowered temperatures and resulting in massive starvation and revolutionary fever worldwide. Similarly, part of what sparked the French Revolution could be the explosion of the Asama volcano in Japan. Whoever thought global impact was a new thing?
Thanks to Catherine for passing along the following url: http://www.electoral-vote.com . Which highlights for those not living in the UK (!), that the BBC leaked a Florida republican reports on (allegedly unconstitutional) tactics to disrupt African American voting.
Also an interesting story from the LATimes on the election as a cultural war, not an economic election. I like the story, but hasn't the US always been massively divided on these issues (e.g. abortion & religion)?
Well, while we are getting ready for the stay-up-all-night election night here, where we'll watch Outfoxed & Fog of War and the numbers come in, (and like 1/3 of Americans we're worried about massive mess-ups a la Florida'00), life tends to go on - despite Michael Moore's personal plea in my inbox the other day to let the dirty socks pile up and do nothing but activism work from now until the end of the election. In fact we went to a lovely (lovely and brilliant are soo British words) formal dinner last night at St. John's, a 500 year old gorgeous college, with the company of the members of the Cambridge Pugwash society.
I hope you're all well. A +.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
phugh
FISH. I miss good seafood, fresh sushi and real ethnic variety, beyond the English curries and English fried food.
Friday, October 22, 2004
Cambridge pics
I've been getting some requests for what Cambridge looks like. A good (albeit fairly standard) place to start with is http://www-digitalstudios.arct.cam.ac.uk/shapewalks/home.aspx . Some nics pics if you click on the Historic Highlights title. You gotta keep in mind though that it's all fairly tiny: it'll take you about 5 minutes to go around the center of town. And if you're wondering where I am in all this, i'm about a block behind number 11 on the HH map, and my department is across the street from number 15, same map. Still, everyone gets around town on a bike. Which is great except for the lucrative business of stealing all of the university students' bikes (reports of bikes stolen within the first or second day of ownership - with a good lock - are not uncommon). I had to use the bike yesterday to get back and forth quickly for a meeting, as a result of which I spent the entire lecture wondering if it would still be there. (Almost).
[Oh and a quick note on the meaning of 'college' for the americans: college here is a subdivision of the university. Everyone belongs to a college. It's got nothing to do with your department though. You pay your fees to your college. Your sense of loyalty (should) go to your college, and most people sleep in their College and eat there. For undergrads as well, it makes a big difference as all the tutorials are taught by the college. Not the same big deal for post-grads though. There's just over 30 of them in Cambridge, each with its own building and peculiarities in terms of history but also traditions for formal hall. Oh and each college has a different set of colors, so different scarfs, t-shirts and assorted paraphernalia.]
I came to a sad realization on Wednesday night: I'm the oldest of the women in the program. And by a few years... I was actually proud of being the only married woman (as Val is well aware!), but being the 'doyenne' is perhaps something i wasn't prepared for. I'm so used to being the absolute youngest in a group. No worries, i'll get over it in no time. Besides, some of the men in the class are in their 40's, and one is just about twice my age.
that's all folks for today...
[Oh and a quick note on the meaning of 'college' for the americans: college here is a subdivision of the university. Everyone belongs to a college. It's got nothing to do with your department though. You pay your fees to your college. Your sense of loyalty (should) go to your college, and most people sleep in their College and eat there. For undergrads as well, it makes a big difference as all the tutorials are taught by the college. Not the same big deal for post-grads though. There's just over 30 of them in Cambridge, each with its own building and peculiarities in terms of history but also traditions for formal hall. Oh and each college has a different set of colors, so different scarfs, t-shirts and assorted paraphernalia.]
I came to a sad realization on Wednesday night: I'm the oldest of the women in the program. And by a few years... I was actually proud of being the only married woman (as Val is well aware!), but being the 'doyenne' is perhaps something i wasn't prepared for. I'm so used to being the absolute youngest in a group. No worries, i'll get over it in no time. Besides, some of the men in the class are in their 40's, and one is just about twice my age.
that's all folks for today...
Thursday, October 21, 2004
initial ramblings
Arg. This is trial number 3 and my posts keep disappearing. So here we go again... after much prodding from various friends upon our departure from Seattle, I jump into the Blogging world. This won't be the expected "intro to life in Cambridge" though, given the timing of things, here are a few ramblings based on a summer reading (Michael's Moore Stupid White Men).
Don't expect all postings to be political or controversial though, in fact I hope that some will be generally enjoyable.
With that said, some scary considerations:
Don't expect all postings to be political or controversial though, in fact I hope that some will be generally enjoyable.
With that said, some scary considerations:
- 67% of people on welfare are children (who still wants to cut welfare?)
- 40% of women who divorce between the ages of 25 and 34 end up in poverty.
- The US is one of a very select group of countries in the world to execute both children and mentally disabled. Somalia is the only other country who did not sign the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Iran, Nigeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan are the only other ones who want to be able to execute their juveniles. That's some good company...
- If you agree with the principle that you can judge a society by the way it treats its weakest members, that doesn't bode well for the US. Consider another population group: in some counties, only 1 in 900 defendants have a jury trial, all others are (politely?) asked by the PD to sign a guilt plea, regardless of whether they in fact are guilty. 1 in 900, that's some stark odds...
- John Gray points to a 'policy of mass incarceration'; 'imprisonment as a means of social control on a scale beyond all others except Russia'. If you then realise that in the UK less than 1 in 1,000 are in prison and that in the US it's about 1 in 100, and that the UK is generally agreed to be a safer place, when then: are US citizens 10 times more dangerous on average, or is there something else going on?
Ok, well if you're this far, let me change topic for a second.
Yes, Cambridge is a bit odd and some of the buildings are 800 years old. Yes, graduation is done in Latin (as is Oxford's by the way). Yes, some colleges require you to wear a graduation-type gown to dinner. And Yes, you are mandated to live within a 3 mile radius of the city center if you wish to receive a degree from this institution (the radius is a bit bigger for PhD students, but not much). That's all for today's taster.
A +.
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