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| There are great benefits to connectedness, but we haven't wrapped our minds around the costs. |
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A Journey to Inspire, Innovate and Discover [PDF] |
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| Topic: High Tech Developments |
8:25 am EDT, Jun 18, 2004 |
On June 16, 2004, the President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond delivered its report to the White House. The report, titled "A Journey to Inspire, Innovate and Discover" was later released to the public at a press conference, held at the George Washington University Jack Morton Auditorium in Washington D.C. The Commission, chaired by Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, Jr., supports the President's new vision for space and the report contains eight findings and fourteen recommendations on how to implement that vision. The Commission believes that this new space agenda will significantly help the nation protect its technological leadership, economic vitality, and physical, economic and military security. "This is a great opportunity to inspire our youth and our teachers in the areas of math, science and engineering, to technologically innovate to build a space industry and a strong and skilled industrial base, and to discover new opportunities to gain knowledge of ourselves and our future." A Journey to Inspire, Innovate and Discover [PDF] |
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How Much Is That Uzi in the Window? |
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| Topic: Military |
9:43 am EDT, Jun 17, 2004 |
There simply aren't enough technical experts to do the job in Iraq (not to mention Afghanistan). It's not just snipers we need. How Much Is That Uzi in the Window? |
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| Topic: Business |
9:31 am EDT, Jun 17, 2004 |
As part of its overall strategy to emerge from bankruptcy court and restructure the company, United Airlines is hoping to get $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees. This plan should be thwarted. United is not entitled to a form of taxpayer support that was meant to stabilize the airline industry in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. United's woes nowadays have little to do with that tragedy. The fact that all of the old major airlines have lost money since the attacks is due to the economic slowdown, their loss of pricing power because of the Internet and competition from new low-fare carriers. ... Some of United's major competitors have been more adept at reinventing themselves ... It would be unfair for them to have to compete now with a partly subsidized airline. ... As for the viability of the overall aviation system, there is no need for the government to be worried. And United, the nation's second-largest airline, has 16 percent of the market and tremendous assets. If it cannot deploy those assets profitably, someone else will. ... meanwhile, NYT argues for a market oriented approach to the airline industry. To me, this is a contradiction. No Airline Bailouts |
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| Topic: Telecom Industry |
9:28 am EDT, Jun 17, 2004 |
The Bush administration is abandoning the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act, which spawned a new era of competition in telephone service. That is the net effect of its refusal to appeal to the Supreme Court a federal court decision striking down rules that gave local phone companies access to the Baby Bells' networks. Even more disturbing, the administration pressured the Federal Communications Commission, ostensibly an independent agency, to abstain from filing its own appeal in defense of its own rules. I find it very interesting, and also puzzling, that NYT takes such a strongly protectionist position on telecom ... The White House Hangs Up |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
9:21 am EDT, Jun 17, 2004 |
Of all the ways Mr. Bush persuaded Americans to back the invasion of Iraq last year, the most plainly dishonest was his effort to link his war of choice with the battle against terrorists worldwide. This is not just a matter of the president's diminishing credibility, although that's disturbing enough. The Plain Truth |
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Rate fight masks larger phone issue |
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| Topic: Telecom Industry |
12:05 am EDT, Jun 17, 2004 |
Consumers are rapidly switching to wireless phones, the Internet, and cable systems for communication. New rules could [will!] accelerate the technological shift. "This gives the local telcos the opportunity to strangle themselves in their own copper networks." For eight years the Bells and their rivals have battled over control of the old circuit-switched network, and even though the Bells appear to have won that war, it is becoming irrelevant. It's not especially creative, but it is destructive, and that's what we like to see. Rate fight masks larger phone issue |
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High Court Allows FCC To Throw Out Phone Rules |
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| Topic: Telecom Industry |
12:00 am EDT, Jun 17, 2004 |
AT&T: "This confirms that the Administration has set the industry on a path to higher prices, less competition, fewer jobs and depressed investment." MCI: "If wholesale rates go up, we will have to look at raising rates or pulling out of markets, or possibly both." Bah. Anything to hasten the inevitable telecom death spiral gets my vote. High Court Allows FCC To Throw Out Phone Rules |
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| Topic: Health and Wellness |
2:07 am EDT, Jun 15, 2004 |
Obesity and sedentary lifestyles accounted for approximately 400,000 deaths in 2000 compared to 435,000 from cigarette smoking, 100,000 from alcohol abuse, and 20,000 from illegal drug use. Soon enough, someone will invent an "exercise patch." Obesity and overweight rates remained steady from approximately 1960 until about 1980. Since then they have spiraled almost out of control. What caused this ...? The principal driver seems to have been the increases in rates of labor force participation by women. What would Freud say? It's not about sex, but it is about your mother, your sister, and your daughter. The Economics of Obesity |
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| Topic: Media |
1:50 am EDT, Jun 15, 2004 |
Grassroots journalists are dismantling Big Media's monopoly on the news, transforming it from a lecture to a conversation. At its core, We the Media is a book about people. Give the people tools to make the news, We the Media asserts, and they will. The book casts light on the future of journalism and invites us all to be part of it. We the Media |
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Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future |
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| Topic: Society |
1:46 am EDT, Jun 15, 2004 |
How would the world change if we learned to access, individually and collectively, our deepest capacity to sense and shape the future? Radical and hopeful, Presence synthesizes leading-edge thinking, first-hand knowledge, and ancient wisdom to explore the living fields that connect us to one another, to life more broadly, and, potentially, to what is "seeking to emerge." A PDF of the introduction is available for download. Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future |
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