Thursday, July 29, 2004
Got sent this link by a friend. Very funny (and balanced even) flash cartoon about the upcoming election.
Man, Bush and Kerry both suck.
Joel M. (via Scott)
Man, Bush and Kerry both suck.
Joel M. (via Scott)
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Dr. Gwynne Dyer on 9/11 in response to the notion that the terrorists hate freedom:
So once more, with feeling: the 9/11 attacks were not aimed at American values, which are of no interest to the Islamists one way or another. They were an operation that was broadly intended to raise the profile of the Islamists in the Muslim world, but they had the further quite specific goal of luring the United States into invading Muslim countries.
Hating American freedom is a lot like hating unicorns, I think. It's a mushy, soft-headed idea that is only taken seriously by the credulous. Sure, Americans are more free than, say, ethnic Kurds in Turkey, but that isn't to say that they are particularly free at all in many ways.
Joel M.
So once more, with feeling: the 9/11 attacks were not aimed at American values, which are of no interest to the Islamists one way or another. They were an operation that was broadly intended to raise the profile of the Islamists in the Muslim world, but they had the further quite specific goal of luring the United States into invading Muslim countries.
Hating American freedom is a lot like hating unicorns, I think. It's a mushy, soft-headed idea that is only taken seriously by the credulous. Sure, Americans are more free than, say, ethnic Kurds in Turkey, but that isn't to say that they are particularly free at all in many ways.
Joel M.
Finally, a sensible opinion on the furor over Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne. Is he going to collect the X Prize? Yes. Is this going to lead to a sustained human presence in space? No.
Joel M.
Joel M.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Just a personal note: I've signed up for G-Mail. My address is joelpm@gmail.com. I will keep my hotmail address for the time being and send out a mass mail if I decide to stop using it as my main account.
Joel M.
Joel M.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
A little thought experiment:
Distributing media, such as music, books, images and movies, is a problem. Whenever you have a lingering problem like this, an industry forms and people start making a living by addressing the problem.
One day, some bright nerds come up with the idea of hooking loads of computers together. This has the totally accidental byproduct of, eventually, solving the lingering problem of media distribution. Now I can record myself spanking it in the shower while singing "Hell's Bells" if I want, and, after I upload it, anyone who wants to hear it can. All that's left is convincing people that they want to hear it, which doesn't pay that well.
The result is that one of the industries around the problem, music, is kicking up an unholy stink. Their product is the easiest for a bright kid to make in mamma's basement, and a lot of people stand to lose their livelihood. Other, tougher to produce, industries such as the movies aren't as worried, but they can extrapolate the shape of the future and are already bitching.
So where is the experiment? Just try to imagine what other lingering problems out there are making people a packet of money, what they stand to lose if their pet problem suddenly vanishes, and what they may do to proliferate the problem. Think crime. Think cancer. Think pollution. Think transportation. Think food.
Joel M.
Distributing media, such as music, books, images and movies, is a problem. Whenever you have a lingering problem like this, an industry forms and people start making a living by addressing the problem.
One day, some bright nerds come up with the idea of hooking loads of computers together. This has the totally accidental byproduct of, eventually, solving the lingering problem of media distribution. Now I can record myself spanking it in the shower while singing "Hell's Bells" if I want, and, after I upload it, anyone who wants to hear it can. All that's left is convincing people that they want to hear it, which doesn't pay that well.
The result is that one of the industries around the problem, music, is kicking up an unholy stink. Their product is the easiest for a bright kid to make in mamma's basement, and a lot of people stand to lose their livelihood. Other, tougher to produce, industries such as the movies aren't as worried, but they can extrapolate the shape of the future and are already bitching.
So where is the experiment? Just try to imagine what other lingering problems out there are making people a packet of money, what they stand to lose if their pet problem suddenly vanishes, and what they may do to proliferate the problem. Think crime. Think cancer. Think pollution. Think transportation. Think food.
Joel M.
