Links for the Weekend

It appears that Italy is really an ass backwards country and Silvio Berlusconi only made that worse. I highly recommend that you read the entire report on Italy if you have the time and the Economist subscription (if you don't and still want to read it let me know).

I am a supporter of anything that tries to eliminate the need for cash and at the same time looks to reduce the amount siphoned off by the financial sector. Here is the practical way of doing it and here is the revolutionary way. The practical way is very enticing from a personal business stand point where as Bitcoin strike me as a pyramid scheme / penny stocks.

You know what scares me? That politics and not highly respected economists determine our fiscal and monetary policy.

Suddenly that investment in drones and not pissing off Saudi Arabia is starting to make a whole lot of sense.

This is why I don't put "cases" on my electronics and nor would i cover up the front of my vehicle

This (and the rest of the articles done in conjunction with NPR Planet Money) is why I will be reupping my Wired subscription.

I always wondered why we didn't put giant solar projects in the middle of the desert.

I want all states to get on this non-partisan election bandwagon California is currently leading.

You know you read an old man newspaper (or one with a good sense of humor) when they explain the definition of 'lulz" and "script kiddie".

Some Thoughts on, well, Thoughts

You may or may not have noticed that I have taken an interest as of late in the growing pains and the potential growing pains that China is, or is going to start, experiencing. People love to report on the rise of China in absolute economic terms (second largest economy, largest holder of reserves, etc) but hardly do we ever hear about what the repercussions of those staggering economic terms mean. Yes we heard about the air quality problems durring the Olympics and yes people love to talk about their large population but it is still a forgone conclusion that we will all be speaking Mandarin come the turn of the century.

Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you that China will not be the worlds largest economy, that is going to happen, the numbers dictate as much. When? I have no clue. But I can tell you it is not going to be smooth sailing. China has many problems going forward; an unsustainable aging population, far too many more males than females, restive minority popilations, ubiquitous corruption, no government accountability, horrendous environmental standards, and a growing gap between the rich and poor, just to name a few. China is going to hit bumps, HUGE bumps, in its run to being a fully functional world power and what that will bring for the rest of us we don't know.

And that's to say nothing of India, the Arab Spring, the industrialization of an entire continent (Africa), Latin Americas rise, the relegation of America to just normal, and Europe's own stagnation/population problems.

We think we know what our world is like but in actuality we have no clue, the status quo is now rapid and unpredictable change. Information about disasters and social upheaval are delivered to us all within minutes not hours and not days of when they happen.  Governments no longer can control like they used to. Power is shifting.

It is, in my opinion, an evening out (or as Thomas Friedman would say, flattening) of the teams. Weaker teams are gaining while the more powerful ones are dealing with their age, but in the end they are all going to end up on the same level more or less. Black and white together make gray. All the colors of the rainbow together make brown.

When? I have no clue.

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A programming note:

I am no longer going to do breakdowns of magazines I read. I'm going to try and write about the topics and articles as they come to me and if I don't get to talking about them specifically I'm just going to dump the links on you over each weekend. If that works, great, if not, then I'll just try something else.

Links! Links! Links!

I have neglected you all but I promise not to once the nightmare that is playoff hockey ends Wednesday night. I plan on getting some thoughts on The Economist up this week (maybe tomorrow) now that I'm not listening to so much George R.R. Martin. In the meantime here are a bunch of links:

Want my thoughts on Rep Weiner? Look no further. I just so happens I sometimes answer via Ezra Klein's finger tips.

We should not have phone numbers any more they hold no relevance to what they are for anymore, we should just have handles.

Shocking: The Post Office is antiquated and loses money.

The EU may be struggling at the top but it still works well as a carrot.

Dictators really don't fool anyone with their silly games.

I still love my trains because it uses less actual infrastructure but anything that brings us closer to a world like in Minority Report is AOK in my book.

Why don't we do this all ready?

Some Thoughts on Who the Voters Will Blame in 2012

Not really all that relevant to the story but Is Rick Scott's zeal/ineptitude going to effect the 2012 election in Florida even though he is not on the ballot? His approval rating as of the end of March was 29% and if memory serves me correctly even his party turned on him over his rejection of high speed rail money. A lot has been made of what swing states with high unemployment (Florida's is over 10%) will do when it comes to the Presidential elections but nothing seems to have been made of who is to blame in these swing states. May Barack Obama get a pass because Floridians blame Rick Scott for their woes? In WI I'm sure Mr. Obama could get a pass on a lot of things simply because Scott Walker, the most visible Republican in the state, is not well liked either, not to mention what a certain Representative from WI has done to single handedly diminish GOP 2012 chances. . Of course this is all subject to change and I could be completely wrong but I think this is something that is going under reported and would love to see some polling on it.

Podcast's of the Week

Planet Money: The Internet and Music
I was very disappointed in the lack of imagination shown on the part of the music experts in this story. They insisted that the internet was not going to work for music and would only help those lucky few. The only problem is that they were trying to tie it into the current label based industry, an industry that does not seem to be the preferred or sustainable method.

Why does it need to continue that way? Do retailers still use large swaths of middle men and warehouses or did they develop just in time delivery systems to cut cost? Do companies still need to be locate
Labels need to be consultants, which I think Alex touches on briefly at the end of the podcast.

Planet Money: Do We Need the IMF?
Why was the IMF created? What does it do? Do we need it? Look no further.

Short answer: We don't know
Long answer: If it didn't exist we would not create it but since it does we might as well use it.

Fresh Air does Area 51
Looking for a definitive history of Area 51? Then look no further. Want borderline crack-pot theories based on anonymous sources? Also look no further.

Programming Note

Due to a wonderful vacation over the weekend I found myself unable to read/listen to this weeks Economist. That of course doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a quick perusal and pick out a couple to read. At a glance I would go with the briefing on Nigeria and the Special Report on Australia. The new issue comes out today so I should be back on schedule next week.

This is not related at all but it appears Yemen is falling apart. If this doesn't resolve itself soon I don't see how Saudi Arabia does not get involved.

Some Thoughts on Digital Communications

It is a well believed and respected notion that the Internet makes work and life easier. I am not here to dispute that fact, I'm typing this out on my phone on an airplane. But the difference is some things can never be replicated perfectly by advancements in technology regardless of how long we try to develop it.

For example, video conferencing has made connecting with colleagues, contractors and loved ones much easier. Checking in on projects doesn't require a flight halfway around the world and long trips for business does not need to mean radio silence between a family.

Though technology does make it easier the problem is things aren't invented in boardrooms, brilliant ideas don't come about solely at ones desk and physical intimate contact can not be replicated over video chat.

Executives need the retreats to better work with each-other, innovators need that casual setting of a bar to spitball ideas and everyone needs to come home to their spouse and tussle the hair of their children. Technology can't replicate that now and probably never will.