Sojka's Call

If you get sick of looking at all the advertisements on webpages then try Readability. The writeup below is from Pogue's Best Tech 2009 list. READABILITY The single best tech idea of 2009, though, the real life-changer, has got to be Readability. It’s a free button for your Web browser’s toolbar (get it at lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability). When you click it, Readability eliminates everything from the Web page you’re reading except the text and photos. No ads, blinking, links, banners, promos or anything else. Times Square just goes away. You wind up with a simple, magazine-like layout, presented in a beautiful font and size (your choice) against a white or off-white background with none of this red-text-against-black business. You occasionally run into a Web page that Readability doesn’t handle right — no big deal, just refresh the page to see the original. But most of the time, Readability makes the world online a calmer, cleaner, more beautiful place. Go forth and i...

The only solution to the drug problem is to legalize all drugs. Why? Am I saying this so I can do drugs legally or get more drugs? No I do not advocate drug use either. My children were raised to understand the problems associated with drug use. The reason the US needs to legalize drugs now is that the so-called war on drugs has corrupted our society and other countries as well. Recent killings in Mexico highlight the depth of the corruption in that country. Ensign Melquisedet Angulo Córdova, a special forces sailor killed last week during the government’s most successful raid on a top drug lord in years, received a stirring public tribute in which the secretary of the navy presented his mother with the flag that covered her son’s coffin. Then, only hours after the grieving family had finished burying him in his hometown the next day, gunmen burst into the family’s house and sprayed the rooms with gunfire, killing his mother and three other relatives, officials said Tuesday...

Parents should trust their own analysis of their children's learning capabilities. I can still remember being told to hold my son back a year in preschool for no other reason than he was a boy and on the young end of the curve for other children in his grade. It had nothing to do with his ability to learn, comprehend or socialize. I am very happy I did not listen to the well-intentioned advice. He now is in his 4th year of engineering school and doing fine in all aspects of his life. The quotes below from a recent article summarizing recent cognitive neuroscience research illustrate the capabilities many young children have that teachers of preschool and grade school age children may completely miss because of their own education which has created blind spots to what is possible. Many 4-year-olds cannot count up to their own age when they arrive at preschool, and those at the Stanley M. Makowski Early Childhood Center are hardly prodigies. Most live in this city’s poorer dis...

Lots of excellent photos of recent scientific achievements, applications, natural phenomenon and new technologies. Link is here.

This article on growing wine biodynamically explains one winemakers understanding and vision. A few highlights of the article are his analogy of fertilizer to salt; his opinion about plant cloning (don't think I agree with this one yet); and how the natural yeast growth on grapes is a sign of a healthy system. These concepts would apply to any fruit, vegetable or ornamental plant. Link is here.

This could revolutionize how we store and interact with data. Think if you could just store pictures and did not have to tag that picture like today to say what was in it. Also, then you could just store pictures of information and completely eliminate digital text - what would that mean to us? Pictures take up more storage but with the cost of data storage lowering by leaps and bounds (1 TB HDD's Google demonstrates quantum computer image search - tech - 11 December 2009 - New Scientist

Watch and you be the judge. Please post your comments! Addendum: when first posting this video yesterday I had not completed watching it. Long, at 1 hour and 15 minutes, it does not waste your time. For those of us that were convinced of man-induced global warming by the ice core data presented in The Inconvenient Truth, I recommend you watch this (around 22 - 30 minutes in) and know the science of understanding that data has changed since the movie was made. I consider myself an environmentalist and when the co-founded of Greenpeace says to watch out (towards the end) I listen to him. If you have an open mind to this subject, please watch. If you are more dogmatic in your beliefs about Global Warming then you will probably not make it through the first 15 minutes.

This video talks about the so-called fabricated evidence on global warming from the hacked CRU emails.  I think it does a good job of debunking the idea that the scientists were deliberately falsifying data.  It does not attempt the impossible effort to show fully supporting evidence for the whole idea of global warming. My previous post on global warming contains a graph I find difficult to ignore and that seems to show the earth is currently in a normal temperature fluctuation. The entire argument on global warming, so far from what I can see, is that there are scientists who believe the rate of temperature increase is abnormal and not the temperatures per se at this time. Please review and post your comment!

In the Confucian Analects, Confucius introduces the Eastern concept of Ren.  Ren is described in a couple ways and though difficult translate directly the English equivalents are virtue (noun), virtuousness (adj), and virtuosly (adv).  That Ren can be used in many lexical categories is not surprising since language translation is difficult especially with concepts.  Western scientists have recently done studies on young children to determine if humans have an innate desire for sociable and helpful behavior.  But biologists are beginning to form a generally sunnier view of humankind. Their conclusions are derived in part from testing very young children, and partly from comparing human children with those of chimpanzees, hoping that the differences will point to what is distinctively human. The somewhat surprising answer at which some biologists have arrived is that babies are innately sociable and helpful to others. Of course every animal must to some extent b...

The French guy in this video is really taking it to the limit. It looks like you could never get hurt doing this, but, watch the whole thing....

There is more information and evidence coming out everyday that the global warming scenario painted by many scientists and public figures may not be true.  The Al Fin web blog has many articles summarizing the recent disclosures.  While doing some more research on my own I came across this graph which portrays the current temperatures as within normal fluctuation for the last 5000 years.  While I was convinced in the beginning by Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth movie that the earth was in the throes of a man-made global warming disaster, the skeptic in me is coming to the forefront.  When I look at the graph above I see the earth's current temperature well within normal fluctuations of the last 4500 years and thus it is very doubtful that current temperatures or trends are any kind of issue. With all the problems in the world, and, the small odds that there is even a global warming problem and even smaller odds that it is man-induced, I find it s...

In the previous post "What Will Happen?" the subject of possible scenarios as population demographics evolve was discussed. Some of this ties in with previous discussions about States Rights and other supplemental reading I did at that time and recently when investigating Wilber's analysis based on Spiral Dynamics and recent IQ trends. I apologize for the long post and encourage you to read the previous blog if you missed it so you have the proper context for this discussion. I think you will find it worthwhile. 1. Here is a link to some data on IQ trends.... http://alfin2100.blogspot.com/2009/04/mainstream-projections-of-world-iq.html The trends and the analysis support a Wilber-like conclusion of a societal breakdown if current trends continue. 2. States Rights. One of the biggest impacts to States Rights over the past 100 years was the passage of the 17th amendment. See brief synopsis here.... http://www.laughtergenealogy.com/bin/history/senators2.html and ...

Ken Wilber talks about current sociological trends using spiral dynamics as the lens to view the forces, expectations and possible outcomes. There are three clips (1st one voice only, 2nd is video, 3rd uses voice only) that talks about the various scenarios. Here is the link to the media.... http://integrallife.com/node/58142/?utm_source=monthly_mailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nov_2009 If you are not familiar with Spiral Dynamics then check out what the colors mean for describing the reality view of various parts of the world population. Link to Spiral Dynamics overview.... http://www.spiraldynamics.org/Graves/colors.htm I am interested in how Wilber's views might correlate or not with other predictive models like The Third Wave by Toffler, Daniel Quinn's books, etc. Please post your comments on the blog!

These are really cool vids and show the evolution of the internet, video on the internet, social media sites, and advertising to name a few. 2009 2008 2007

Very interesting article on Twitter and its potential use(s). One use explored was in the business world though Enterprises would be very reluctant to use because the information shared could not be controlled. The question is whether the control of that information really buys the business anything or not. It seems obvious that you would not want competitors to know early what your next product is going to be but have studies been done to see if this is actually true? Link to article here.

Video of a guy skiing the Alaskan backcountry with a helmet cam on. He gets caught in a avy and slides around 1500'. This guy was real lucky. Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo . Link to website with some good commentary and Q&A blogging here.

Heart melting video of an elderly father and his grown son....... Link to original website post Video : What is that? YouTube Link (about 5 minutes) Posted using ShareThis

The south is bad for your health according to these statistics. Become a Yankee and live longer! Link to article

Why can't we have a civil discussion and not try to change everyone to our belief, or, worse - label them evil to justify violence? Frank Schaeffer, former Religious Right advocate talks about his reformation and the problems he sees from Sarah Palin and Jerry Falwell on the right to Richard Dawkins on the atheist left.

This video of Clay Shirky (bio below vid) is good since the man lives in a technological world that most people over 50 do not participate in. The interesting bit about how a new political party could evolve in the US is around 15 minutes into the vid. That is not to say the first 15 minutes is not worth watching. Guys and Girls - I recommend watching this. We are already part-way there and you might as well get on the train or at least know how to buy a ticket and board when you need to make the trip. or, if that link does not work watch it in three parts on youtube... 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o0fyxvGnBw&feature=related 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab7ZT6wYv0Y 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pouP2DEJsas

This is really bad of me but I cannot resist. The two sides of Sarah Palin. 1. WSJ.... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125813907900447449.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories 2. ???..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsGioqX3J_s I guess all media coverage is good!

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States." This could get health care and social security fixed quickly!

More data and opinion on the rise of Independents in the US. The Republicans have completely marginalized their party and Democrats are doing their best continuing the giveaways to Wall Street. Look for another mainstream politician besides Lieberman to go Independent. I believe Lieberman is too much of a neocon to be viable, but, someone with charisma will emerge. Too bad Ron Paul will never capture the attention of America. ================================================================================== Timothy Egan - A New York Times Blog November 11, 2009, 9:30 pm The Betrayal ST. LOUIS – So long as Budweiser, the King of Beers, was enthroned in this pleasant and nobly resilient middle American city, the blows of corporate condescension from the other giants who abandoned the Gateway Arch could be endured. But then, last year, came a kidney punch that still hurts: Anheuser-Busch, which had survived Prohibition and the micro-brew craze, was sold to a Belgian brewer. Bud was no...

The Op-ed piece below from David Brooks articulates want he believes Independents want. His points at the end about less government intervention in the economy and reduced government deficits are most likely true. I am not so sure about the strategy for a politician winning back the Independents. Most Independents don't want to be "won back". They are going to stay Independent once they make that decision to go that route. And, I believe the Independents of this country are going to start voting for Independents. Look at the Lieberman example in Connecticut. He won as an Independent though his long standing as a Democrat certainly made him well known to the electorate. Look for more well-known politicians and celebrity/business icons moving into politics to do so as Independents. Be ready to fully embrace the good ones and work for them. It is the only way to shake up the current too-cozy, two-party, too-awful-to-talk-about political system today. Post your commen...

Probably the religious right Republicans who got Dede Scozzafava to quit the race and installed an accountant with no political experience as the candidate believe it wouldn't have mattered if Ms Scozzafava won or the Democrat, Bill Owens, who prevailed. They believe both were bad, I guess. In a district where Republicans dominant it is almost certain that Ms Scozzafava would have won if Rush, Palin and Beck had stayed out of the local politics. They put their noses in it and lost the chance to keep a Republican in Congress. The Fox spin on this is funny - they say it was all good. I still think that someone is going to create a new party or redirect a current party to the path of fiscal and foreign policy conservatism and leave the religious right behind. Link to news article here .

The current brouhaha going on in the New York congressional race to replace John McHugh who was recently appointed as Army Secretary is a rallying point for Pubs on all sides of the argument. The article on CNN http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/10/29/feehery.gop.majority/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn by John Feehery sums up the back and forth drama. The interesting thing for me were the posts by readers. It seems there is a sizable number of Americans who want a conservative government that stays out of religion and abortion but that believes in small government, low taxes, minimal/no foreign intervention - the things I call conservative. It will be interesting to see if somehow a real conservative party either emerges from inside the Republicans or forms outside. Or, is the far-right religious conservative wing the future of the Republicans and the USA? When we see who wins this race it may start to answer that question. Post your response on the blog please!

Fox News has clearly demonstrated that they are a political action group. They should not be treated or viewed by anyone as a News Organization. Please watch this video..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3LUid0IZ2w&feature=topvideos What do you think? Please post your comment.

I believe they are right. With this much bearish sentiment on the greenback, the times must be getting ready to change. I already missed out on buying Newmont puts early in the week. I think the dollar gyrations are just heating up and there will be more opportunity. Maybe I should look at the VIX too. Please post your comments. Thanks! The Daily Reckoning Wednesday, October 28, 2009 # Gold falls again as dollar rallies on lackluster consumer confidence, # A closer look at that housing data...minus the "recovery" spin, # The upside of Peak Oil, a few stocks to play it, and plenty more... ------------------------------------------------------------ Bill is off trekking around the Andes somewhere, so let's go to Joel Bowman, with a few words from Taipei, Taiwan... Dollar up, gold down. There's something we haven't written for a while. An ounce of our favorite metal dipped another $7 yesterday after falling $13 on Monday. It was the fourth straight session ...

What a cool website. This specializes in items that are only hand-made. Now if they can provide a local connection we will really be getting back to person-to-person and lowering our carbon footprint. Nonetheless, this is a great concept and should be supported. http://www.etsy.com/

This presentation by David Gillespie is brilliant..... http://www.slideshare.net/DavidGillespie/digital-strangelove-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-internet I love a couple quotes.... "Data is the bank. Meaning is the currency. Intent drives data + meaning." It took me a few times through to understand what he is saying. Lots of great info on people I should read up on more like Clay Shirky, Faris Yakob, and Marshall Mcluan (read him 30 years ago - don't think I understood most of it then). Would enjoy if you post your comments. Regards, Mike

Check out the link to this speech on the economy from May 27, 2009. I think this is still relevant. Shorting Moody's back the end of May would have been a good call. Is it still? http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11124944/David-Einhorns-Ira-Sohn-Presentation

The undated Charlie Reese article has been making its' way around the Internet lately. It got me to thinking about the American public and the two party system we currently enjoy. I think we, the American public, are being played the fool by two parties who really are two sides of the same coin. The politics of division is the ole' divide and conquer strategy played to perfection. Apparently we enjoy being duped. The Japanese just voted out the party that has been in control 62 of the last 63 years because following the same strategy our Fed is using now, they have had deflation and a contracting economy for 20 years. Is it going to take 19 years more for Americans to wake up? I hope not, but, hey, get ready for a long-haul. We had a choice in the last election to pick someone who understands economics, but, our country is not ready for a Ron Paul. He is not slick enough, is too honest, and does not beat a war drum or terrorist drum, or health-care drum or whatever beat ...

snopes.com: Cash for Clunkers Posted using ShareThis People love sending the sensational Glenn Beck video around and I have already received it twice. That guy is such a drama queen and it behooves me why anyone would listen to anything that twit says. As the Snopes site says (click link above), Glenn, of course, made people think the gov't was going to take over their computers and then their lives if they went to the "cash for clunkers" website. His story was a total crock, just like he is everyday of his life. Get a life! Don't watch Glenn Beck. Go for a walk or run or bike ride. Read a book. Do a Sudoku. Pull weeds in your garden. Be constructive. Don't waste your time on stupid TV shows!

Is the war in Afghanistan all about who controls the drug trade? Recent news portrays a war on drugs that is one-sided to say the least. It is not too hard to see a portrait of the entire war as one to help out the war lords who fought the Soviets. Those same war lords then fell on hard times during the Talibans rule when the drug trade in Afghanistan was almost eliminated and was certainly by any measure the lowest in recent history. See World Bank report for statistics.... http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21133060~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:223547,00.html Now the US military is targeting only Taliban drug trade. Why not target all drug trade? The couple recent articles in the NY Times underscores a policy by the US government that seems to support the view that the US is involved in promoting the drug trade. What do you think? August 10, 2009 U.S. to Hunt Down Afghan Drug Lords Tied to Taliban By JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON — Fi...