Project Implicit

Project Implicit is a fascinating method for associating an individual's preference between two concepts. The test I just took was between imprisonment and capital punishment for example. The results of the test are often surprising.

The project was recently discussed on Slate and in Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Securing the Middle East with a Nuclear Iran?

The Globalist's Thomas P.M. Barnett suggests that a nuclear armed Iran may be a stabilizing force in the region. His "Blueprint for Action" presents a number of interesting possibilities in a development that has so brought about few new perspectives.

In the recent increase in tensions between Iran and the West it is important to distinguish between the Iranian government and the Iranian people. With this in mind, one can better analyze Iranian political maneuvering from a domestic and international perspective.

Current efforts by U.S. and E.U. officials to seek a referral of Iran to the U.N. Security Council provides little hope for an acceptable outcome. China's tremendous thirst for energy makes an oil and gas embargo improbable. It also remains to be seen if such an embargo would damage Iran or the world economy more. It seems officials are seeking a Security Council referral without plans for a successful end-game. With this in mind, one must be willing to consider alternative perspectives.

"In many ways, the Shiite revolutionary spirit died a long time ago in Iran, leaving behind a cynical political order where the mullahs pretend to rule, the citizens pretend to obey and the government pretends to reform.

Iran is a frightfully young society, full of ambition for a better life and chafing under what the majority of the population consider to be the rather idiotic rule of the religious fundamentalists, one that offers them no future worth pursuing in an increasingly globalized world that demands far more rational rule sets."

Rice Reshaping USAID

Condoleezza Rice recently remarked on the creation of the position of director of Foreign Assistance within the State Department. This new director will also serve as the USAID administrator.

Rice believes this will allow for the better coordination of U.S. development efforts while others are concerned that this will allow State Department concerns to subsume USAID objectives.

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security was also heralded as an important effort to allow various government entities to work more closely with one another, yet the failure of the U.S. government to respond adequately to the Hurricane Katrina disaster called into question such logic. It remains to be seen whether aligning agencies into one organizational structure produces a more effective system.

Alexander the Great

The future of hockey is here and his name is Alexander Ovechkin

Build, therefore, your own world

Here's a quote by Emerson I recently encountered:

"So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes. It shall answer the endless inquiry of the intellect, - What is truth? and of the affections,— What is good? by yielding itself passive to the educated Will. ... Build, therefore, your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions. A correspondent revolution in things will attend the influx of the spirit."

Saving the world isn't easy

A new set of television ads by the Red Cross seems to suggest that since saving the world is so difficult we should just donate some blood instead. Curious.

Glenn Beck gets his own show on Headline News

FAIR reports that "CNN’s Headline News has hired radio talkshow host Glenn Beck to host a one-hour primetime show, according to a Daily Variety report (1/17/05). Variety quotes CNN Headline News president Ken Jautz's description of Beck: 'Glenn’s style is self-deprecating, cordial; he says he'd like to be able to disagree with guests and part as friends. It's conversational, not confrontational.'"

Beck's comments suggest a personality far more violent and incendiary than Jautz lets on.

In one instance, he explained his disdain for the relatives of the September 11 victims by saying, "'Oh shut up!' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining. And we did our best for them."

He went on to vent his hatred for the victims of Hurricane Katrina:

"When you are rioting for these tickets, or these ATM cards, the second thing that came to mind was--and this is horrible to say, and I wonder if I'm alone in this--you know it took me about a year to start hating the 9/11 victims' families? Took me about a year.... But the second thought I had when I saw these people and they had to shut down the Astrodome and lock it down, I thought: I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9/11 victims.... And that's all we're hearing about, are the people in New Orleans. Those are the only ones we're seeing on television are the scumbags--and again, it's not all the people in New Orleans. Most of the people in New Orleans got out! It's just a small percentage of those who were left in New Orleans, or who decided to stay in New Orleans, and they're getting all the attention."

He also fantasized about killing Michael Moore:

"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out--is this wrong?"

I wonder if these recent attempts by MSNBC and Headline News to appeal to the Fox News crowd will actually cause a backlash among more mainstream (and sensible) Americans. Do they realize the level of vulgarity being spread in the name of conservatism?

Broadband in the U.S. sucks

Sorry I've been a bit slow on the posts lately. I promise to pick things up as the new year gets going in fully swing.

Lawrence Lessig provides an apt critique of U.S. broadband policy and conveys the daunting proposition that we are slowly falling behind the rest of the world in internet infrastructure. If only policymakers could set aside special interests and develop an innovative policy to ensure America's youth will have access to cutting edge internet technologies.

This is no time to be complacent.

You know, I thought our 5 mbs for $50 was a decent deal. We did get that introductory $19.95 rate from Comcast for the first three months, but that's long gone. But then I find out that in France you get 20 mbs (four times as fast!) for $36 a month. What the hell is going on here?

"Today, in the world where the duopoly increasingly talks about returning us to the world where innovation is as the network owners says, broadband in the US sucks."

Let There Be Wi-Fi

"Broadband is the electricity of the 21st century--and much of America is being left in the dark."

An article from the Washington Monthly encourages American policy makers to close the digital divide in the U.S. or risk falling behind Asian innovators in technological expertise.