A Day Without a Mexican

adaywithoutamexican.com When Viacom's outdoor unit pulled down a billboard in Hollywood on Friday because of a few complaints about its "offensive" content, it inadvertently boosted awareness for this mockumentary. The filmmakers respond to the community complaints to a billboard that was posted Friday April 23 in Hollywood. "The message on the billboard is not offensive, it is provocative. The film is a dialogue-opener. By focusing on the contributions of the Latino population and the weight of their absence, we hope to set new terms for negotiating our participation in building the future of California."

Imagine if California woke up... including respect... Alcatraz is Not an Island

And
another backdrop
to politics

"She Was Obsessed with the Role of Beauty Queen"

Carm Little Turtle, 'the rugged terrain of northern Arizona or the mountains and clouds of New Mexico, a backdrop to the politics played out symbolically between men and women,' but she also says, 'aesthetics are more important than the articulation of meaning' - 'fresh, innovative, and humorous views of contemporary American Indian life' - 'richly textured visual poems.'"

How Migrating Birds Do It

Dean's World: "A group of researchers at the University of California at Irving claims that they have figured out how exactly birds manage to migrate northward and southward for hundreds of miles with sometimes startling accurancy. The upshot: a chemical reaction in their little bird brains allows them to sense the Earth's magnetic poles--sort of like having a built-in compass in their heads."

Office of Foreign Assets Control

U.S. Treasury - Sanctions Program Summaries Recently the White House has announced and OFAC has issued a new General License with respect to Libya. For Americans, any and all commercial and often any private activity with parties in Cuba, Syria, Sudan, and other nations are governed by OFAC. Check here before making any new friends.

My Story: Libya has some well-healed players standing behind what is called the 'largest public works project in the world' -- also known as the Concrete Nile and estimated to hold the Nile's volume of water over 200 years. When fully built out Libya's exports into Europe can shift markets. Things take time though. I managed a program to request a $250mm export license to Libya in order to sell ductile iron water pipe. Considered but refused.

My Story: In the mid-90's I asked OFAC if they'd consider exporting stamped steel knives and forks from North Korea to South Africa. Low on funds, South Africa needed the product and North Korea had an old factory that stamped perhaps the lowest cost cutlery on earth. OFAC told me to wait a couple years, but things looked more optimistic then.

My Story: After an associate met with Burma's leadership, I asked OFAC to consider activity in the oilfield, transporation and tourism fields totaling well over $300mm. But Burma will not take advantage of many positive opportunities even if OFAC had given a green light.

It's always been important to me to interact, confront and build relations with problematic contacts rather than merely retreat at first glimpse. OFAC provided clear structure and limitations that I would use to counsel my commercial players and friends.

Everything isn't Under Control

"A Culture of Cool and blatant anti-intellectualism make for a very poor culture and it has already cost us dearly. Nice essay on 'What is Cool', here. Cool is indispensable-- and readily, endlessly, dispensed. You can get it on every corner (for the right price), though it's highly addictive and its effects are short-lived. If you're here for cool today, you'll almost certainly be back for more tomorrow." From Everything isn't Under Control

But it was only the butt

The bullet entered his butt and completely destroyed everything in the lower section of his stomach ... everything was torn apart.

The Army Times reported that "a security consultant with a private company contracted by the government, recorded the first known enemy kill using a new - and controversial - bullet. The bullet is so controversial that if Thomas, a former SEAL, had been on active duty, he would have been court-martialed for using it. The ammunition is 'nonstandard' and hasn't passed the military's approval process."

In a brief but intense firefight, Thomas hit one of the attackers with a single shot from his M4 carbine at a distance he estimates was 100 to 110 yards. He hit the man in the buttocks, a wound that typically is not fatal. But this round appeared to kill the assailant instantly, like hitting somebody with a miniature explosive round.

The frangible APLP ammo will bore through steel and other hard targets but will not pass through a human torso, an eight-inch-thick block of artist’s clay or even several layers of drywall. Instead of passing through a body, it shatters, creating untreatable wounds. From Marylaine Block

Wake up! You need more sleep

globeandmail.com: More than one-third are seriously sleep-deprived, a new study says, leading to a moodier, clumsier and generally less alert adult population.

34.7 per cent average less than six hours a night. For good health, on average, adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep per night. Six hours is "far less than you need." Sleeping too much is worse than sleeping too little. People who slept more than 10 hours nightly were more than twice as likely to die early. Sleeping even one hour more or less than the ideal seven hours raised mortality risks substantially — 35 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

There are a number of signs that an individual is sleep deprived, including a loss of enthusiasm for life, a less resilient emotional reserve, increased physical and mental mistakes and more difficulty learning and remembering.

Municipal Information Utility

usatoday.com The Supreme Court said that states may block cities and other local governments from setting up shop as phone service providers. The court ruled 8-1 that while Congress intended to broaden competition in the telecommunications field, it did not mean to set up messy confrontations among states, private phone companies and local governments. Justices had been asked to interpret the 1996 telecommunications law designed to bring consumers nationwide choices in phone service.

Our sky belongs to us too!! We can set up anywhere!!

When living in Fairfax, CA in 1980, I penciled a revenue scenario for the Town Council where communications and media services were licensed to operate as a Local Community Development Corporation. The outline proposed that this new Town Corporation would capitalize a private sector Municipal Information Utility Corporation with the charter to license and develop information technologies on behalf of the town's citizens. The revenue stream figures, working with local communications providers as well as international firms, indicated that the town could double its budget. And then the state stepped in, spooking the entire formation, and twenty-five years later, all this remains stifled.

We should not let legislatures prevent initiative at the local level.
We must realize that innovation occurs where we live.

---

Municipally Owned Broadband Networks: A Critical Evaluation (Revised Edition)
By Shirl Kennedy
Broadband Networks--MunicipalSource: The Heartland InstituteMunicipally Owned Broadband Networks: A Critical Evaluation (Revised Edition)From executive summary: "This analysis, revised and updated to reflect national and local changes during the past two years, finds the case for municipal ownership of broadband networks is even weaker than it was then. Broadband services that were scarce two years ago are now plentiful and reasonably priced. New data from communities that attempted to build and operate municipal broadband systems suggest taxpayers would be very much at risk, even under financing schemes involving certificates of participation. A broadband initiative in Illinois’ Tri-Cities area (Batavia, St. Charles, Geneva) continues to be a useful case study and precautionary lesson for other communities with similar plans."Full policy study (89 KB)

History of Rat Control

colbycosh.com History of Rat Control in Alberta--a study of what is probably the single most successful government program in the history of the universe.

Indian reservations and Metis colonies presented a special problem in public relations. Natives did not want to have rats but were only familiar with strychnine, and assumed that all poisons had the same properties. Warfarin baits were removed or destroyed by Natives because they feared for their children, pets and livestock. David Stelfox with Alberta Agriculture held a series of meetings with Natives and casually chewed on warfarin-treated rolled oats while discussing rat control and the physiological effects of warfarin. His behavior had a startling effect on the Natives, for they expected him to die before their eyes.... They don't make civil servants like that anymore.

Abuse of women in cloak of shame

smh.com.au: "Human rights campaigners say the US military often arrests wives and daughters during raids if the male suspect is not at home. US officials have acknowledged detaining women in the hope of persuading male relatives to provide information, a strategy that violates international law. US military officers at Abu Ghraib admitted on Monday that rape had taken place in the cellblock where 19 'high-value' male detainees are also held. Asked how it could have happened, Colonel Dave Quantock, who helps to run the prison, said: 'I don't know. It's all about leadership. Apparently it wasn't there.' Journalists were forbidden from talking to the women, who are kept upstairs in windowless 2.5-metre-by-1.5-metre cells. The women wailed and shouted."

Lessons from Warren Buffett

money.cnn.com: "How do you learn from a master? Start by listening to what he has to say."

Wazaa genius?

"A genius is someone who can do anything
except make a living." Joey Adams

The Corporation - A film

thecorporation.com
"A film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, and Joel Bakan is resonating with audiences all over the world. The feature documentary analyzes the very nature of the corporate institution, its impacts on our planet, and what people are doing in response. Based on Bakan's book 'The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power', the film has been generating popular support from street level to the boardrooms of the Corporate Social Responsibilty movement. Wins Audience Award at Sundance."

An Internet Armorial

designsofwonder.com
"The largest online coats of arms database."

I captured this from my old weblog. I lost it and all its files but found a couple pages on the Internet Wayback Machine. We take a look back to get an idea where we've been in order to try to evaluate where we are going.

Hayes is not my family name. I changed my name in 1969 in an impulse to rebuild a poor upbringing. I was born Williamson but raised by Smiths and Holts and Hook and others. My great great great grandmother was a McIntyre and my mother says they lost more sons in the War of 1812 than any other family. My great grandfather, a Smith, was a Nebraska farmer and explored land throughout central and western North America. He had an Order of the Royal Canadian Gentleman Adventurers of the Hudson's Bay. He is said to have pointed out that the land at what is North Battleford, Saskatchewan would become a site for an important settlement because of its water and escarpements. My grandfather had built Canada's largest art and picture framing factory in Winnipeg, Manitoba with over 400 employees in the 1950's but was wiped out in an early 1950's flood. I spent several years growing up at this factory. One year in my teens, I helped my grandfather repair two 100 sq. ft. 500 year old fresco from Florence, Italy for a customer I only remember as Lord Gort yet he died in 1946 so I am uncertain who provided these marvelous works to us.

Cooling Los Angeles

California is grappling with high spikes in the cost of fuel, and we've known for years that California suffers from smog. Hashem Akbari, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who specializes in "cool communities" technology, estimates that 1-degree temperature increase boosts smog in Los Angeles by 3 percent. Higher temps mean more air conditioners. A 1-degree rise in temperature can mean a 2 percent increase in the demand while a four degree drop in summer temperatures could be achieved in L.A. by planting trees over 5 percent of the city’s area--about 10 million trees--and replacing dark roofs and blacktop with lighter-colored materials. That drop in temperature would result in a 10 percent drop in ozone levels, and conserve billions in cooling costs. A more aggressive program could have an even greater impact. "Cooling Los Angeles by 4 degrees," says Akbari, "would have the same effect [on smog] as turning all of the on-road vehicles into electric cars. This is so huge, nothing else compares."

Bears, bulls, donkeys, and elephants

Arthur I. Blaustein is adjunct professor of social and economic policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He published a news-opinion piece at the American Cynic where his claims can indeed be supported by the numeric data.

Blaustein's claims are simply laid out to try to dispel the widely-accepted notion that Democrats don't manage the economy nearly as well as Republicans. The professor takes a look at the different presidential administrations in place since World War Two -- five Republicans and five Democrats. He then asks eight questions that most people would agree represent good management of the American economy. He asks, "Which president produced...?"

Largest growth in the gross domestic product?
(Answer: Truman, [D])

Largest growth in jobs?
(Carter, [D])

Largest increase in personal disposable income after taxes?
(Johnson, [D])

Largest growth in industrial production?
(Kennedy, [D])

Largest rise in hourly wages?
(Johnson, [D])

Lowest Misery Index (inflation plus unemployment)?
(Truman, [D])

Lowest inflation?
(Truman, [D])

Largest reduction in the deficit?
(Clinton, [D])

As you can see, the Democratic presidents were able to make a clean sweep of these 8 categories versus the Republicans.

Now, I can already begin to think of reasons why some of these scores should be noted with an asterisk. For instance, #1 because our economy was deliberately converting from war production to consumer production. I worry that #2 was enormous growth in low-wage, low-skill jobs. Perhaps #5 was the result of minimum wage law extensions in the 1960s to farm workers and educational institutions. Could #7 be another way of saying "the biggest recession"? And, of course, #8 could be said to have come from the Republican-dominated Congress as much as it did from Clinton.

However, Blaustein did present one other interesting fact. During the 20th century, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen, on average, 7.3 percent annually under Republican presidents. Under Democrats, that index has risen 10.3 percent per year. For those who know the power of compound growth, this is an enormous difference.

Web's economic data library

economy.com/freelunch: "FreeLunch.com provides 100,000 economic, financial, industry, and demographic data series-all for free! View, chart, or download the data directly into Excel. Includes all major economic indicators, stock indexes, national income and product accounts, exchange rates, regional employment and unemployment rates, and more! Registration is required."

Seeing is believing

japan.com/technology A Japanese inventor named Kohei Minato has created a new kind of motor. It uses magnetism to perpetuate the motor motion. As a result the motors uses 80% less energy than a conventional motor, while still maintaining the same horsepower. Minato assures us that he hasn't transcended the laws of physics. The force supplying the unexplained extra power out is generated by permanent magnets embedded in the rotor. 'I'm simply harnessing one of the four fundamental forces of nature,' he says. Sound to good to be true? Well he's already started selling the fan to a chain of convenience stores in Japan. Text linked from Geeknik.

"I am not in this for the money," Minato says. "I have done well in my musical career, but I want to make a contribution to society -- helping the backstreet manufacturers here in Japan and elsewhere. I want to reverse the trends caused by major multinationals. There is a place for corporations. But as the oil industry has taught us, energy is one area where a breakthrough invention like this cannot be trusted to large companies." Minato was once close to making a deal with Enron. But today, he is firmly on a mission to support the small and the independent -- and to go worldwide with them and his amazing machine. "Our plan is to rally smaller companies and pool their talent, and to one day produce the technology across a wide range of fields."

Effectiveness of a Yahoo Store

marketingexperiments.com "A Yahoo! Store can achieve significant traffic through Yahoo! Shopping and other Yahoo!-based promotional elements, BUT it is dangerous to become too dependant on Yahoo! for your growth. Recent changes at Yahoo! have given us reason to pause and re-examine Yahoo! Stores as a marketing channel. Is Yahoo! as effective as it once was? "

How to Save the World

blogs.salon.com Four years ago Dave Pollard of salon.com wrote a well-received paper entitled A Prescription for Business Innovation: Creating Technologies that Solve Basic Human Needs. He's updated it, broken it into three manageable pieces, and presents the first part the second part, and the third. And some commentary.

Global Ecovillage Network

ecovillage.org: "Ecovillages are urban or rural communities of people, who strive to integrate a supportive social environment with a low-impact way of life. To achieve this, they integrate various aspects of ecological design, permaculture, ecological building, green production, alternative energy, community building practices, and much more."

Budget schools

lists.psu.edu The Economist offers a description of, and more or less endorsement of, low-cost private education as offered by Sunny Varkey, a wealthy Dubai-based entrepreneur, through his firm, Global Education Management Systems. It's not a pretty picture: the bare-bones education would focus only on core subjects and "good discipline, established chiefly through selection." Of course it's easy to pare costs when you don't have to consider the low-margin subjects and the more difficult students - but, of course, this is how private schools end up being a drain on the public system, cherry-picking the high-margin students and leaving the more difficult cases for the public purse (where subsequent higher than average per-student cost will then, of course, be branded as 'inefficiency'). Link from OLDaily.