7 billion Time Bomb That Will Not Explode

7I decided to write the blog post today without any reference to articles primarily because most of what is being expressed about the world's population today is plainly overstated. For some reason based on forecasts and population models, it was decided that October 31, 2011 is declared as the day when the World's population reaches the 7 billion people mark. As usual, the neo-malthusians see this as another opportunity to scare people with the old and tired ideas about mass starvation and humanity running out of resources because over-population. Needless to say, this is all nonsense to me.  

I agree that a large part of the world's population today still live in materially deprived and sorry situations. I dispute the claim that these people living in sections of Africa, south Asia and Latin America are surplus and that the rest would of necessity be better off if they has just not been born. As if requires restatement, I concede that poverty is real and with employment, the primary issues that should concern people. At the same time, I am an unequivocal supporter of both the provision of contraceptives and maternal healthcare. What I find completely preposterous is that most articles in the major news outlets, including some that I have linked to before are using this opportunity to ring alarm bells about a crowded and heating planet.

So let me end with this: please stop patronizing poor people throughout the world and instead save our minds to think about providing females with more than basic education and opportunities for their advancement. Thereafter, get out of the way and let the population care for itself. 7 billion is not a problem, poverty and inflexible thinking are!  

Tax Code Madness

Despite my admission to libertarian attitude, I find it difficult o maintain that all problems are created by government. the one area where I think politicians give government a bad name is in trying to argue for why tax rates should be at one level or the other. That aside, I am keen to ensure that a limited government as measured by the proportion of wealth that it extracts from working people is kept to a bare minimum and the regulations for compliance as simple as possible. 

With that in mind, I see that nothing demonstrates the fact that when it comes to taxes, most politicians are all thumbs by the fact that the tax code of the US government runs into millions of words. granted that some politicians with an ideological persuasion may want to exaggerate its length, a tax code that is several times larger than the constitution of the US demonstrates that it was designed to fail. writing in Slate, Brian Palmer tries to make sense of the estimates given by some politicians in the republican party and says that all considered, the tax code could be in the 3-10 million range depending on whether supplementary notes and consonants are included or not. however one measures it, the tax code that long is not useful. No wonder one sees politicians coming up with beautiful-sounding but arbitrarily determined measures as 9-9-9.  

Random Error By Random House

The Internet makes publication of information easier but also exposes authors and corporations to full public glare for small but potentially embarrassing errors. I received a link to read an excerpt of John Grisham's latest book, the Litigators and noticed a very odd thing. Looking at the price stated for the Hard Cover version of the book on the website by Random House here today led me to wonder whether a novel would really be on sale for US 250 per copy, when the paper back is less than US$ 10 and the large print at US$ 29. I had to compare prices and looked up the cost on the Amazon website and confirmed my bet that there is an error on the Random House site. Now, if the webmaster for Random House would just make the correction. This is creating the impression that the the publisher's pricing mechanism is poorly informed as Amazon's price at US$ 15.22 is several times cheaper.

Sad End for a Despot

"For the region, today’s events prove once more that the rule of an iron fist inevitably comes to an end. Across the Arab world, citizens have stood up to claim their rights. Youth are delivering a powerful rebuke to dictatorship. And those leaders who try to deny their human dignity will not succeed". Barack Obama 

Light Still Travels Fastest

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this piece and made reference to a scientific experiment whose results suggested that some particles could possibly move faster than light. A careful review of the conditions of the experiment has been conducted with the result that the time differential occurred in the conditions that were set to measure the speed. This means that as I suspected, there was a measurement error in the set up and this created the distortion. While the explanation here requires better than average knowledge of physics, I think that it is still intelligible. As it explains, the measurement error did occur due to the experimental conditions.

I am unsure whether to be glad that my hunch was confirmed but I am still amazed that the error arose from the careful arrangement which was intended to provide accuracy. May I go on a limb now and state that time travel may never be possible. And that is not to state any new thing. 

Creative Destruction in Publishing Industry

In my view, it is in the decade after the Internet bubble ended that it is becoming clear that there are solid businesses ideas that can be based on the Internet and digital capabilities today. Amazon is one of the few corporations that seems to be particularly savvy at taking on old businesses using the Internet as a plank of the strategy. David Streitfeld writes that publishing firms are watching in disbelief as Amazon is cutting down the number of people in the transactions chain and contracting authors directly before publishing their work.

This bears a number of advantages for the author in terms of time saved and a chance to publish book. On the other hand, authors are sure that there income will be entirely dependent on the recorded sales as there is no upfront bonus payment. because a number of authors are taking up this offer with alacrity, I am certain  that in spite of the complaints, it seems that this approach is a useful alternative to the vertically integrated structure that traditional book publishers prefer.

There's no guarantee that the publishers will be wiped out but I think that as I have stated here and here before, publishers should not defend a flooded shore. They must move to higher ground and ensure that Amazon does not wipe them out. A book publishing and author payment model based on sending papers to physical book stores will not suffice. This is an industry that i would watch and while I do not advise on stocks, I would downgrade and keep downgraded the stocks for most publishers until it is clear that they have real understanding why they are losing readers first and now authors. Is this creative destruction at work?  

Demand for Counterfeit College Diplomas

A couple of weeks ago, I suffered the considerably minor inconvenience of missing the deadline for registration for a course due the fact that I misplaced the original copy of my college diploma. I was led to note that there is such a disproportionate great reliance on proof of college attendance through the presentation of paper credentials. And this requirement of proof of graduation is itself creating unintended effects by providing incentives for counterfeit papers presented to some employers who are none the wiser.

Reading this article by Schmidt and Al-Jawoshy of the NYT, I was reminded that the demand to produce certificates and diplomas as proof of educational attainment and therefore professional suitability for jobs is indeed serious. As the story states, a professor in one of the largest universities in Iraq has paid a dear price and is possibly in danger of further harm for his principled effort to stop the issue of diplomas to unqualified people. It should not be a life and death matter to defend the credibility of a university's certification system but perhaps a private sector business may develop from this.

Similar to Shaffi Mather's business that I blogged about here, I see an entrepreneurial opportunity for a firm to charge a fee to certify qualifications at college level in a place such as Iraq and possibly universally. 

How Cafes Allocate Seats

A small cafe that i visit from time to time has a growing clientele of two types. One category are those who come in for a quick bite over lunch and intend to get a quick meal and depart soon after without spending much time. A different category includes a number who are often alone or in pairs and sit in the cafe occupying the most comfortable seats while working on their laptops or tablets for extended periods of time. A couple of days back, I was there and noted that the lunch hour was very busy but a number of seats were occupied by single patrons whose were occupying spaces for up to four people because of the arrangement of seats.  

To my mind, given the fact that the second category of patrons were bound to stay for long on account of the complimentary wireless service, they were displacing the first category of patrons who were often in multiples but who could not together fit into the space that was occupied by the loungers. This presents a problem because it is obvious that the revenue from the first category of guests would be more than the rest and their displacement may lead to loss of revenue. My solution is that the cafe should consider auctioning the best seats in the cubicles or require that a minimum expenditure be required during the busy hours in order to maximize revenue. This may appear unfair but it is clear that the patrons who come for a quick lunch are the more profitable and therefore pay for both the space and the complimentary wireless service.  

iSalute Steve Jobs

Its a pity that my first two blog posts for the month have been about truly remarkable men who are no longer in this life. I intend not to compete with the brilliant pieces telling the story of Steve Jobs and highlighting the strength of his character and toughness of the man. Sometimes, it is sufficient to merely state that this was a remarkable man who death reminds me of a deep mystery of life itself and the limits of human understanding of our world. Fare thee well, Mr. Jobs. iSalute the life and your singular achievements. 

Steinman's Nobel Comes Three Days Late

There are all kinds of sensible reasons one can consider for why the Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously. Among them is to ensure that the prestige of the award is provided to the individual who carried out often important and difficult work. It is therefore a sad coincidence that the committee for the Nobel Prize on Physiological Sciences sent the happy message of the award to Ralph Steinman and learned that he passed on a few days prior to the announcement.  

Certainly a well-deserved prize and his name goes to the record of winners except that the repository of the award will not have his lecture for the prize. Congratulations are due to Ralph Steinman as this statement confirms that in spite of his demise, he reamins a winner.