A Bird's View

The Power of Charts

2010-01-11T12:20:00.000-05:00

She has the funny

2008-09-28T16:21:00.004-04:00

I now await the TV appearances of Sarah Palin with the same anticipation and laugh-readiness as I do for Rick Gervais or (late) Mitch Hedberg: "This is going to be funny". I recommend reading George Saunders' essay in the New York, My Gal, one time and a half: it's funnier when you read her real words in the introduction again and realize that she speaks the way he wrote his text. I guess Saturday Night Live did it best when they simpled quoted her - it IS comedy material.

On the day she was announced, I wondered whether she'd be dropped from the ticket quickly. Now, I'm not so sure I want it. I think she's a burden and a clear signal about McCain's approach to decision-making. On the other hand, her election and proximity to the presidency is really scary. Is it worth taking the chance? According to the latest poll numbers, yes. So let's brace for the vice-presidential debate on October 2nd!

In the mentime, let's take the names of conservatives who defend Palin. They pretty much dropped their credibility in the process and can hardly be seen as intellectually honest defenders of an opinion.

Opinions are born, they are not made

2008-09-28T14:13:00.003-04:00

This has been evident to me for a long time. Biology plays a big part in one's political opinion. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's always decided from the start, as events can make a person change his mind (and biology). But opinions certainly run into people's veins as much as in their brain.

This is probably in part why politics in the US are so polarized. How else to explain the steady 55-45% range in which every ellection is decided? Right now, the conditions could hardly be better for Democrats and nevertheless, they can't pass that 55% threshold. I think it would be very similar if it were the other way.

Let's face it: what is your gut feeling to people's responsibility? To paying taxes? To the military? Can you quote much data to support those opinions? And did you find the data or the opinion first? This is a good reason to talk our own opinion with a grain of salt.

Agree to agree

2008-09-28T01:10:00.003-04:00

I was just thinking lately: Darn, I wish I had a blog to talk about the election!

So here it is: I don't get why McCain is proud that Obama said "I agree with Senator McCain" a few times at the first debate. It's not like Obama changed his mind, so it probably means that they were in agreement before. Both could have said this. In a race that's supposedly about post-partisan politics, why mock the guy that reaches across the aisle?

Keep your life and work separated - especially email

2008-03-09T19:01:00.003-04:00

Never ever ever write personal stuff in an email sent from your work account.

500,000 emails from 150 Enron employees are available freely online with -get that - a search engine. Sweet. My favorite, an example for authors seeking to be concise and punchy, is ""So you were looking for a one-night stand, after all?"

When I found this database a few years ago, it was the first time that the rumor spread in all respectable office came to life before my eye: They monitor our email. While I don't think that They have any interest in literally monitor our writings - I can barely keep up with my own inbox - I sure know that They archive each and every of our messages. It may come in handy sometime. I wouldn't even be surprised if they have a certain legal obligation to do so (although it doesn't apply to some).

Writing an email at work is like writing a memo. Imagine it printed on letterhead paper, hand-delivered, then filed. That's how I see each and every email I send. It's useful in the short term because you never know who's going to be copied on a reply or a forward or when the blame game starts. It's also useful for later when your email become public. They may not look for penis jokes (hopefully this expression won't attract too much traffic here), but They may find them anyway.

So here's the story of the day: Microsoft executive are caught complaining about... Windows Vista.

Parisians are reinventing the wheel

2007-07-27T18:15:00.001-04:00

"The lesson for the next U.S. president: raise the taxes on fuel. A lot."

I've blogged a few times about this before and even went to the legislative branch of the government to insist. I'm glad that this NYT article shows the good side of a higher price for gas: better urban transportation. Using a car in the city is counterproductive and popular mainly because it became so when it was convenient (when there were less cars) and now the habit is impossible to lose.

I bike to work and can't say that I enjoy it very much, mostly because of this car culture. I wish more people were biking, including the mayor, so that the city adapts better to cyclists. I love the Circulator as a convenient and simple way to take the bus. It's actually the only bus I ever take because i can never figure out when and where the other ones are going. What about that: a simplification of bus lines that goes like this: a grid of blue buses that only go north-south (painted in blue) and red buses that only go East-West. You could jump in any bus at any time with at least an idea of where it's going.

The 33 victims of Virginia Tech

2007-04-22T18:30:00.000-04:00

On the Mall today, it was impossible not to think about the victims of Virginia Tech. As in the rest of the country, the flags were at half-mast. The sun, the chaotic and comforting noise of a dispersed crowd, and the warm wind came across as pleasures 33 people would not enjoy today.

When I read about the shootings, I am overtaken by rage. Such a waste. Such an empty, meaningless event. A stupid and uncalled for death for the victims. I read about them and it only gets worst. For some reason, I often think of Jamie Bishop and Mary Karen Read — I think because I could imagine being friend with him and because she seemed so pure and well-meaning.

When I read about Cho, it also fills me with rage and powerlessness. In class, I want to be the student who goes to him, slap him behind the head and screams, an inch from his nose: "WILL YOU ENGAGE? ARE YOU DEAF OR JUST STUPID?" I want to grab him by the arm that morning, as he leaves his room, and shout: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" I want to reason him, explain that he has no right of life and death over his colleagues and professors. I want to take the guns from his hands, throw them away and teach him a good lesson with my fists. I imagine him, sitting on the floor, looking at me bashed up but enlightened, as if awakening from a dream.

But this is not what would have happened. The man was sick. I have been confronted to mental illness in the past and had the chance not to know it for a few weeks. I say the chance because it allowed me to take seriously a sick person before understanding what was going on. He was not himself, he was even hurting himself. He was about to lose my friendship when I was told that he refused to take his medication as of late and turned this way. From that moment on, I ignored his attacks and resolved not to add to his burden by withdrawing my support and friendship. The illness was making enough damage.

That's why Cho is the 33rd victim of this rampage. He was sick. It's obvious from the videos and his actions. I'm sad for him who also lost his life. He lived a miserable life. No one in his right mind wants to be isolated and despised the way he was. The sickness drove him crazy. He should have been treated, protected from himself. Instead, he was the deadly victim and instrument of an untreated disease.

Chemistry strikes again

2007-03-12T10:11:00.000-04:00

Teenagers are a pain in the neck, aren't they? They should learn to behave, they should control their tantrums, they should get a grip.

Once again, it may just be the hormone balance in their brain. Researchers from the State University of New York have found an hormone in teenage mice that make them more anxious rather than less, as it does with kids and adults.

God, are you there?

2007-03-10T18:27:00.000-05:00

The second installment on this new series called: "We're all vegetal", here's on my evidence that hormones in our brains control us. First, it makes us socially awkward. Now, it makes us believe in God:

(...) religious belief is an outgrowth of brain architecture that evolved during early human history.

What if we're programmed to believe in God, does that mean that God exists or not? Certainly not a point for Him.

I suspect that I am a plant

2007-02-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

Every week I read something about how the chemicals in my brain decide my behaviour. I want hard to be a free will person, but I'm faced with evidence of the opposite. Today, from the New York Times (Flame First, Think Later):

"Neurological patients with a damaged orbitofrontal cortex lose the ability to modulate the amygdala, a source of unruly impulses; like small children, they commit mortifying social gaffes like kissing a complete stranger, blithely unaware that they are doing anything untoward."

For some time, I've thought of making this a recurring theme on this blog, so as to accumulate the evidence in one place and, who knows, maybe find someone who concurs.

97% of statistics are made up

2007-02-19T23:32:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of the Harper's Index - statistics like pictures: worth a thousand words.

My favourite recent statistics is "Percentage of Americans who cannot say in which year the September 11 attacks occurred: 30" (November 2006)

Without any context, these statistics are not much more than brain teasers. You can't draw policy and barely use them in an argument. But they're fun. Here's my take.

Life expectancy
US: 77.2 years
Canada: 79.7 years

Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (2003)
US: 15%
Canada: 9.9%

Source: OECD.

iPhone iFun

2007-01-09T23:21:00.000-05:00

I'm a self-confessed Mac fan and user, although not an evangelist. But I stick with them and even ended up buying a MacBook Pro despite my early criticism.

To me, the unveiling of the iPhone today was an historical event. I'm with Steve Jobs who draws a line from 1984 (Mac) to 2001 (iPod) to today (iPhone). This thing looks like the real thing. Apple gets the right thing right: the ease of use. No matter the functionalities, if they're not accessible, they might as well not exist. Last month, Microsoft has turned Office upside down with their new ribbons - not to add functionalities, but to make the existing ones accessible.

Sometimes I think Apple and Steve Jobs must be amazed at the lack of competition. Once they release a product, the flaws of the competition appear so obvious. Actually, for me it's more that I don't even dream of getting rid of the annoyances such as incredibly clumsy web surfing on smart phones. But Apple does.

To me, the most attractive feature is the portable Google Maps. I have the sense of orientation of a rock and this means liberty.
The multi-touch is the biggest technological breakthrough. It will be commonplace in a few years. You've seen it first on the iPod (after the Jeff Han presentation!).
I'm slightly disappointed with the drive size (4 to 8 Gb) but it will soon increase as the flash technology improves.
I'm surprised that Steve Jobs didn't demonstrate the camera. I guess it didn't work too well for now.
By the way, how did they get a functioning unit 5 months ahead of release?!
No word on the processor to drive this mini OS X?
Wireless: does it mean I could install Skype and call for free?

I can hardly see myself getting one because I don't like to talk on the phone, and certainly not geting hooked in a 2-year contract. But don't get anywhere near me if you have one.

People dismissed the iPod when it was introduced. Have a good laugh when people will dismiss the iPhone until it is officially introduced.

Is Josiah Bartlett president of Ireland?

2006-12-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

From the cover page of the White Paper on Irish aid:
"First and foremost, we give aid because it is right that we help those in
greatest need. We are bound together by more than globalisation. We are bound
together by a shared humanity. The fate of others is a matter of concern to us.
From this shared humanity comes a responsibility to those in great need beyond
the borders of our own state. For some, political and strategic motives may
influence decisions on the allocation of development assistance. That is not the
case for Ireland. For Ireland, the provision of assistance and our cooperation
with developing countries is a reflection of our responsibility to others and of
our vision of a fair global society."

Amen.

Keep talking: your brain is safe

2006-12-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here is some news that debunk the link between cell phones and cancer. Believe me, it will be forgotten tomorrow as the urban legend lives on.

The iPod will never be successful

2006-10-18T19:52:00.000-04:00

Mac users defend their platform as if it were the baseball team of their first born. They are equally critical of everything Apple does and very rarely will a new product be positively received.

You don't believe me? Look at those comments on the day the iPod was launched.

Lost love: Washington city plan

2006-09-27T22:46:00.000-04:00

I thought that one of the things I liked about Washington was the city plan. It's based on a grid but with circles (eg Logan Circle) that look like stars as the diagonal streets radiate out of it. The East-West streets have letter names (eg P Street) and the North-South ones, numeral names (eg 14th Street). The diagonal avenues have State names (eg Florida Avenue). The city is divided in four quarters (NW, NE, SE, SW), originating from the Capitol.

I have the sense of orientation of a falling leaf, so I marvel at how easy it is to find one's way with such a system. You're at 4th and P NW and you want to go at 17th and U NE? Head East (in the direction where numeral names go down) and North (where letter names go up).

The circles and diagonal streets bring variety into what would be a monotonous city plan of right angles. It creates small parks or large intersections where the eye can take a larger view of the city.

That was my perception before. I have cooled off to Washington's city plan.

First, it's not applied rigorously. Follow me on 17th street NW as we cross P Street, Church Street, Q Street, Corcoran Street, R Street. Have you noticed something? Q street is not right after P street! It's probably because Church street is an interrupted street. Good explanation, but I get confused (and lost) anyway. And how can I go from Church street to Corcoran street if I don't know my way? It's back to map again as the street organization can't help me.

Second, the circles don't seem well organized. I rarely drive, but when West Wing makes fun of Dupont Circle on National TV, there must be a problem. For a pedestrian, they are also unpleasant as they create detours out there in the open where you can perfectly see that you're wasting your steps.

Third, those diagonal streets may vary the landscape but they also create many awkward corners. Are we supposed to cross here? To go over there? Is there enough time? What if I want to go there? It's places you have to get used to before being at ease and that's not good planning to me.

My green Giant

2006-09-18T22:06:00.000-04:00

When asked if I do sports, I reply that I'm a cyclist. Not much of an athlete, but if there's anything that I both like and do regularly, it's biking.

About 8 years ago, I bought my first real road bike. It was a long decision process involving too many humiliating lectures by salespeople who loved their knowledge more than customer service. But in the end, I found my green Giant and I have a clear memory of leaving the dealership sitting proudly on it.

Ever since, I participated in amateur competitions, covered thousands of kilometers and commuted to many jobs and universities. My green Giant was both able to do it all and ill-adapted to all: sturdy but heavy, not-so-narrow, seat too low for competition and too high for commuting. It was the perfect bike.

Yesterday, Washington stole my bike.

Honky town

2006-09-15T20:44:00.000-04:00

Trees border the street in HONKight proces HONK that guides and protects equally the pedestrian walking his dog, the cyHONK sitting straight with her eyes on the horizon, and the cat on a a morning adventHONK. The sun is way into his rise to power HONK this morning and makes the HONK green of the grass sharp and inviting. HOOOOONK HOOONK HOOOONK.

Car horns are spoiling my stay in Washington.

Swiss people must be among the most restrained people in the world. Yet, they managed to peeve me with their honking anyway. Imagine what I'm going through in DC. It's New New Delhi in here. Honking came to mean anything: "You're not fast enough", "You're in my way", "You could have caught this green light", "Want a ride? I'm a cabbie!", "You don't drive like me!", etc.

Anything, but "CAREFUL! Wooo! That was close!" as they were meant to be. For those who never left Washington, you will be surprised to hear that honks are first, foremost and only meant to signal a danger. (kudos to myself for resisting to the urge of using capital letters)

I contemplated the idea of outlawing horns, but you can't punish the sense-abiding citizen for all those self-important drivers. So I resorted to my very own solution: I stare. I try every time I hear honking to catch the eyes of the culprit and send a message: "Why is it that you're so annoying?"

What honkers do not understand - but who can blame them for not having gone through physics - is that the sound of a horn is not directional. It blares the whole environment. Nobody knows who they're honking at until they look (unless they are 2 inches away from their target). Pedestrians hear it, all cars around hear it. People in their houses hear it, damn it! In a dense city like Washington, it must be 500 people at a time who hear a car honking.

So, what is so important that it deserves to alert all these people?

Inequality doesn't have to rise

2006-08-18T14:04:00.000-04:00

As someone with an interest in economic inequality, I am uplifted by this analysis of Paul Krugman in the New York Times of today.

Since the 1920's there have been four eras of American inequality:

The Great Compression, 1929-1947: The birth of middle-class America. The real wages of production workers in manufacturing rose 67 percent, while the real income of the richest 1 percent of Americans actually fell 17 percent.

The Postwar Boom, 1947-1973: An era of widely shared growth. Real wages rose 81 percent, and the income of the richest 1 percent rose 38 percent.

Stagflation, 1973-1980: Everyone lost ground. Real wages fell 3 percent, and the income of the richest 1 percent fell 4 percent.

The New Gilded Age, 1980-?: Big gains at the very top, stagnation below. Between 1980 and 2004, real wages in manufacturing fell 1 percent, while the real income of the richest 1 percent -- people with incomes of more than $277,000 in 2004 -- rose 135 percent.

It sounds like bad news and it mostly is. But it is also a reason to believe that things can be turned around, that inequality is not a fatality.

A fight is a fight is not a rose

2006-07-24T15:19:00.000-04:00

Whether you're interested in the Middle East conflict or to your own domestic fights, you should read "He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn't" from Daniel Gilbert, an Op-Ed in the New York Times of today.

"Research teaches us that our reasons and our pains are more palpable, more obvious and real, than are the reasons and pains of others. This leads to the escalation of mutual harm, to the illusion that others are solely responsible for it and to the belief that our actions are justifiable responses to theirs."

I was glad to read this, but I would have gone a step further. In my own life, I try (and too often fail) not to consider an aggression as a justification for a retaliation. All aggression is forbidden and unjustified. All too often, what we really want is for the other not to attack us in the first place. There are much better ways to achieve this than to attack in return.

I believe this is how I was raised. My parents would say "I don't care who did what first - this fight has to stop." As usual, there was more wisdom in there than I thought back then.

This is no Confucius material

2006-07-21T15:46:00.000-04:00

Brace yourself.

"It must not be forgotten that in the end ODA [official development assistance - international aid] is implemented for Japan's own sake. In other words, ODA is implemented to enhance the happiness and to raise the profile of Japan and its people in the world (...). ODA is essentially about having other countries first use the precious money of the Japanese people for the benefit of the Japanese people later on. "

Those proud words were said (in a public statement!) by the Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs in January 2006.

Let's reflect for a second.

GDP per capita
- Japan: $27,967
- Least developed countries: $1,328

Life expectancy
- Japan: 82
- LDCs: 52.2

Adult literacy rate
- Japan 99%
- LDCs: 54.2%

Infant mortality rate (per 1000)
- Japan: 3
- LDCs: 99

And it goes on and on.

This sickening comment by the minister of one of the richest countries in the world illustrates the fundamental problem of aid: people from developing countries do not vote for politicians in rich countries. Thus, there's no incentive for politicians to care for the fate of developing countries.

All that's left to be done is for voters in rich countries to tell their politicians that they care and that only those who care about international aid will receive their votes. One day (and I can't believe it's not today), politicians will be covered in shame for making comments such as those above.

-----

Update: According to Wikipedia, Taro Aso is in the race to be the next prime minister of Japan. Have a look at his controversial statements...

Will democracy lose in Mexico?

2006-07-06T18:48:00.000-04:00

As I've said in the past, "In a well-functioning democracy, those who deserve the congratulations are not the winners, but the losers who give up power." That's why I'm so worried about Mauel Lopez Obrador refusing to give up in the Mexican election. He refuses to concede victory to Felipe Calderon who beat him by 0,57%. He wants to contest the irregularities. Sure, it's tight. But in a country where democracy hasn't quite settled, every politician should contribute to its reinforcement. Much worst than 6 years of your opponent in power is the loss of democracy. International observers have said that the election was fair. Let's move on.

Obrador says that the "country's stability is at stake". He should hear his own words and accept defeat.

Life for Rent

2006-06-28T23:51:00.000-04:00

I was on the market for an apartment for the last weeks and I've finally found a place where I want to spend the next two years of my life. It means had a lot of discussions about renting vs. Buying. I've been, once again, showered with opinions of people who think that buying is so much better than renting.

I beg to disagree.

To start with, the economics are not as straightforward as it seems. I grind my teeth every time I hear "Paying a rent is throwing money out the window!" Rarely do I dare to say what I really think: no, it's not. You get housing in return. It's an expense like a meal at the restaurant, like a show ticket or whatever else whose consumption is limited in time. Yes, you spend money and after a while, you don't have access to the good you paid for. So what? Life goes on. Don't go thinking that you own forever all that you buy. It's mostly the opposite: so many things that you buy are actually rented. Think of your clothes: if you buy a shirt for $60 and wear it for 5 years, how is it different from renting it for $12 per year? As life goes by, you throw away as much as you accumulate since "oh boy when you're dead you don't take nothing with you but your soul, think" as said a great Asian philosopher.

Your life is rented.

Everything you own is rented: you own it only for a period of time. You can buy a house, but you can also rent it for 40 years.

There's a much more complex aspect of the economics of renting vs. Buying and the New York Times has done a very good job at explaining it. In cities like Washington, you don't make any profit from buying over renting. I won't go into details, but think of all the money you can't invest in mutual funds because you gave a cash down. Think of annual taxes, of renovation, of the closing cost of a buy, etc. A house can really be a money pit.

There's also a question of timing. As I don't pay a cash down, taxes and whatnot, I can afford a much better rental than what I could afford to buy. It might (or might not, as we saw above) reduce my likeliness of having a large house in the future. But do I want to live now or visit Italy with a cane at 70? Should young parents live in a small apartment (and move to the suburbs once all the kids want is to go out downtown) or rent a large house from the beginning to raise their kids?

Domestic economics are about finding the perfect balance between earning, saving and spending. It's not all about irresponsible spending, but neither is it about useless savings. And most of all, one should always remember that we are not eternal and that ownership and accumulation are a lost race in the long run.

I can predict the future

2006-06-20T00:13:00.000-04:00

If you want to know the weather forecast in Washington DC, just call me. I'm way better than the weather man - it's not that hard: the poor guy doesn't even seem to have a window by which he can see the clear blue sky he's denying on his website.

So, here's what you might want to ask.

- "Are you carrying an umbrella today?" If I answer yes, then you know it won't rain. I won't complain: it makes for a very effective umbrella.
- "Are you working today?" I say yes, then you know it will be Hell's Barbecue in DC from 7 am so that I arrive at work soaked in my own sweat from walking 30 minutes in my navy suit. At least, my work relates to fighting global warming so it pumps me up for the day.

Today, you might have asked: "What are you doing this afternoon from 4 pm to 6:30 pm". I would have said: "I'm playing non-American football at the Ellipse". Then you would have known why your neighbour Noah had been so busy for the last 6 months making round trips at the pet shop and Home Depot.

It rained like Zeus had been holding it for the last 5 days.

My glasses don't sport wipers, so I took them off. But then again, nor are my eyes, so it didn't help much. I was wearing a white t-shirt, much to the enjoyment of the ladies (I wish) and I didn't have an umbrella (see question 1 above).

So there in the rain, we had our very own End-of-the-World Cup. Thank God it stopped raining for an hour or so during the game, otherwise we would have had to switch to the rules of water-polo. The upside is that we looked like warriors, sport addicts, not the sissies that we really were secretly wanting be home and dry.

Game was fun. No need to mention who won here because it was just about having fun and I wasn't in the winning team. I got to plunge once to block a kick, hurting my back and my leg in the process, in exchange for a "Great play!" shouted from afar. Good enough for me. I didn't score, but I take consolation in the fact that very few on my team did.

If you left at the end of the game, you missed the end of the show. Remember: I was still outside and vulnerable. I guess a cloud saw me and decided to have a go at it. The rain fell like cloud #2 wanted to outdo cloud #1 that had reigned over Washington two hours ago. I believe it was a tie.
As planned in the Grand Master Plan it stopped raining when I arrived home. I'll leave my freezing encounter with the A/C of the building for another post. Let's say that I had the fourth season in one day that I was missing and it wasn't summer.

The front page issue that you never noticed

2006-06-13T23:31:00.000-04:00

Did you know that the presentation of your newspaper provides jobs, heated debates, heros and villains, and awards? As I can spend half an hour pondering over a 1 mm space, the kerning of a letter or else, I wasn't that surprised.

As I'm doing a little graphic design on the side, I got to search newspaper front pages and discovered two amazing resources. First, there's Today's Front Pages from News Musem. All the front pages from today. Some might find it interesting to see what's news around the world - and I do - but what I find most interesting is how newspapers look. I've been surprised at the unity between them. Is it a question of fashion or mergers? Hope it's note the latter.

The second resources is the Best Newspaper Design from the Society of News Design (they have a society!). The Guardian, from the UK, well deserves its price. I like Rzeczpospolita
too, but I find it just "very good", not "awesome" like The Guardian.

I got to go back to my fake newspaper and to fine tune the product by looking at real front pages and try to catch the details that differentiate a real newspaper from an amateur one. So far, I haven't quite arrived...

The birth of the American Aristocracy

2006-06-05T09:39:00.000-04:00

I got into a heated discussion (or at least, my brain got overworked) about social democracy - the classical "How to tame capitalism?" dilemma. My friend, a middle of the road liberal (I mean, middle of liberal, not middle of the US spectrum) was about satisfied with the Canadian model and the level of inequality it leads to. I was positive that there are some ways to make it better, to find a way to keep the engine of capitalism running, but to better redistribute its benefits. I suggested a 100% estate tax. This means that all inheritances would be given to the government rather than to the relatives or descendents of a deceased person.

My friend was at first skeptical, saying that he would want to do all that he could to assure the future of his children. I can understand this. But isn't the best way to ensure the future of children to teach them to be resourceful and to make their own way through life rather than relying on daddy's accumulated wealth? This may sound like a very American perspective, since the US are champions of the "take care of yourself" approach. But apparently no: Congress is about to vote to repeal the current estate tax that affects only the richest 2% of the population - those who have more than 2 million USD to give in inheritance.

To understand how counterproductive that is, be it from a liberal or a conservative perspective, read Sebastian Mallaby's column in the Washington post.

Barthelona

2006-06-04T09:56:00.000-04:00

Because of circumstances beyond my control, I got a month of holidays in May (hence the blogging silence). I seized the opportunity to spend a week or so in Barcelona. It became officially my favourite city in the world. How can you beat such architecture, the beach, the atmosphere? It puzzles me that the whole planet hasn't emigrated to Barcelona yet.

Your Prius Pollutes my World

2006-06-03T19:22:00.000-04:00

Who knew that a Jeep Wrangler can be 5 times more energy efficient than a Honda Insight? It is, if you go beyond the milleage per gallon. See this study from CNW.

More on that once I read it all myself...

Take this Internship and Shove It

2006-05-30T11:09:00.000-04:00

The title of this post is stolen from the title of an op-ed in the New York Times of today.

Hallelujah!

This issue needs all the attention it can get. People are working for free and often have no choice but to do so. As the author says, it creates an oversupply of cheap labor that drives the salaries down. May it be that yours too is affected? It's an issue that touches more than just interns.

Cell phones are a drug

2006-05-04T16:37:00.000-04:00

For a full year, I've had my first cell phone in my pocket, set on vibration for minimal annoyance. Or so I thought. After a few months, I started feeling my phone vibrating. I would check and apparently no one was calling. At some point, I would feel the vibration of my ringing phone, except that I didn't have my phone with me. Even now, as I rarely carry my phone with me, I can feel a muscle vibrate on my thigh. Apparently, I'm not alone.

Talk like an Egyptian

2006-05-04T09:56:00.000-04:00

I picked the nickname "Mozza" some 10 years ago, the first time I ever chatted on the Internet. I front of the computer, I was told to come up with a nickname. I turned to my friend eating mozzarella and I wrote "mozza". Ever since, I've been happy with this name, gender neutral, anonymous, easy to pronounce in most languages, catchy, often available for registration, etc. A stroke of luck.

Recently, I got a lot of traffic from Egypt - well, a lot by this blog's standards. I was puzzled. It appeared that these visitors were looking for "mozza" on blog searches. I was even more puzzled. Did my post on hybrid cars have such an effet there? I decided to search for a "mozza" myself.

It turns out that there's an Egyptian Mozza. And that mozza means "hottie" in Arabic. Not so gender neutral after all. Wait, it gets better: this liberated Egyptian woman is posting salacious stories about her liberated life. Well, liberated by Egyptian standards. Don't bother looking for those stories though: the best stuff seems to be in Arabic.

So to all my Egyptian visitors: welcome. Unfortunately, I'm no liberated Egyptian woman, so please follow the link above if that's what you're looking for. In the meantime, I'll keep my nickname - which I also share with the singer Morrissey apparently.

Get A Mac !

2006-05-03T16:46:00.001-04:00

Years ago, Apple had a TV ad with an executive making a presentation with a PC in front of a large crowd. Of course, the PC freezes. Members of the audience start shouting suggestions: "Type this!" or "Restart!". After 20 seconds, someone shouts the ultimate solution: "Get A Mac!"

Now Apple has turned this catchphrase into a marketing campaign with TV/web ads.

I'm a Mac user - it's not a confession, it's a source of pride. Nevertheless, I'm not so hot about getting people on the Mac. I gave up years ago. As long as I can use one, I don't mind what people are using - after all, the compatibility issue is a thing of the past.

Most Mac users would disagree however. Much like those of us who discover a new band and want to share it with our friends, Mac users advocate on and on about their Mac. They want PC users to switch. Will these ads help?

Maybe, but I'm not so sure. The ads are cocky. I'm sure Mac users will like it. That's good once you're in the club, but it's a turn off if you're not. Would you join a club just because you're told you're stupid not to?

Overall, I don't find the ads very funny, nor much informative. The impersonation concept is not bad - I tended to think that I could spot a Mac user just by its clothing too - but I'm not sure about the implementation. The PC guy looks serious, down-to-earth. The Mac guy looks cool. When buying a tool such as a computer, most of those who spend their own money prefer to appear practical than cool, no?

I think it's a good thing that Apple puts the emphasis on the Mac. We almost forgot it with the iPod and iTunes. Long live the Mac!

What would you do for a free photo?

2006-05-02T13:39:00.000-04:00

I'm on holiday and shouldn't spend too much time in front of a computer. But this made me laugh.

Adios Cuba

2006-04-28T09:01:00.000-04:00

Ask an expatriate: the downsides of living abroad are many. I thought I knew them all, but there's one that is slapping me in the face as I'm, once again, touring home during a holiday: the end of vacations.

An expatriate wants and is expected to go back home as often as possible. It's a way to keep in touch with family and friends. There aren't too many of those, thousands of kilometres away from home. Sure, you find new friends, but old friends will always be home. So a typical holiday becomes a trip back home, a touring of cousins, friends, cities, places and people. And the next holiday, 6 months later, is the same. And the next, and the next.

When is it that you're supposed to take a real holiday and discover a new part of the world? Or relax on a beach? Or hike in the Alps? Apparently, if you don't have at least 5 weeks of holidays per year, you might as well forget it. If you don't go back home when you have a chance, your family and friends will ask how come you don't. You might get nervous that you'll lose touch with them. You might plainly lose touch with them, making reunions awkward.

There's got to be a way around it. It must lie ahead on the road of experience abroad.

The "scenic" route from adolescence to adulthood?

2006-04-20T12:55:00.000-04:00

The New York Times just toured the room and failed to see the elephant in the middle.

The most emailed article today is The Bank of Mom and Dad. It shows how young adults rely on their parents' financial support at the beginning of their professional life. It explains how salaries have decreased, rent has increased, etc. creating the need for external support to take off.

But no mention of so-called "internships".

"Internships" are no longer apprenticeships - they're underpaid, if at all, normal jobs. Interns get normal entry-level responsibilities, are expected to work full-time and receive very little or no salary compared to the normal pay scale. Internships are mandatory for people wanting to build careers in very competitive fields such as international relations or communications. They competee against each other and, contrary to unionized worker, receive no protection from the law. You can hire someone and not pay them as long as you call it an internship. That this is not yet a scandal escapes my understanding.

Better: there are internships offered at Anti-Slavery International and the International Organization of Labour. Oh, the irony.

How to stop democracy on its tracks

2006-04-20T12:11:00.000-04:00

Psst - I have secret and valuable information: the biggest world news at the moment is this: Berlusconi refuses to concede defeat after the latest election in Italy. If it were given its right place, it would be all over the front page of all newspapers.

In a well-functioning democracy, those who deserve the congratulations are not the winners, but the losers who give up power. Democracy is not about receiving a legitimate right to power from the people - it's about accepting that people have withdrawn their support. In every undemocratic society, you have groups who claim - sometimes rightfully so - a legitimate right to exercise power. It's only that the ruling elite doesn't want to give up. When, in a democracy, losers refuse to give up power, we walk a very thin ice.

Europe seems a stable system and we're not really worried about democracy there. It's telling of the success of the European Union considering how those concerns would have been natural 60 years ago. But we should be careful not to be overconfident. Berlusconi's behaviour is as threatening to democracy as it gets. It creates doubts in people's mind, leading to a loss of legitimacy for the elected government; it creates confusion within the ministries as to who's giving orders; it casts a doubt on the basis of a democracy: the elections.

Al Gore needs to be praised for giving up his claim to power after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of George Bush in 2000. There might have been reasons to doubt the outcome, but what really matters is democracy - not the party in power for the next four years. Berlusconi, if he loves Italy more than himself, must understand that sooner rather than... too late.

Duke: Proper trial optional

2006-04-18T17:41:00.000-04:00

Let's have some intellectual fun again, let's spin out our prejudices, let's show how stupid we are, let's hurt for the pleasure of discussion, let's make our minds based on uninformed opinions.

Let's discuss the Duke University rape accusations.

For the weeks and months to come, I know I will be angry every time I will hear about the case. Everybody will have an opinion and nobody will have access to the facts. We will heart of this through the medias and we know that they magnify what's news - not exactly a "fair justice" process. It's ok if you want to be entertained - not so much if you want to call a fair judgment.

Even when someone tries to discuss things objectively, calling for moderation before we make judgments without the facts, she'll say something as stupid as:

"Frankly, I admit, I am really curious about her fingernails. If there was a violent struggle, why isn't there skin or DNA on the nails?"

I can see many reasons: she might have had her hands held, she might have grabbed clothes instead of skin, she might have used fists instead of open hands, etc.

For the duration of that trial, we should sit on the bench and wait for the judicial process to unfold. Instead of discussing the case itself, we should seize the opportunity to discuss racial and social tensions. Why is it that this university is so white in such a black neighborhood? How can justice be done in such a high profile case?

Why I don't like hybrid cars

2006-04-17T18:02:00.000-04:00

They're the vehicle of choice of Paragons of virtue. They're incentivized with tax breaks. They're cool and allow their drivers to look down on other people. They're deemed good for the environment.

Then why don't I like hybrid cars?

I'm green and have argued repeatedly in the past, including in public and political settings, that we should reduce our oil consumption. I make a point of not owning a car. I sigh and argue when I hear about "high oil prices". I wish everybody would take the environmental impact more seriously.

Then why don't' I like hybrid cars?

Because hybrid cars are not good for the environment. They're just "less bad" - at best.

First, a car is a car is a car. Its construction involves a lot of energy and resources. Most of the time, it will only be parked in a driveway or in the street. If more people got a Zipcar, we wouldn't have 90% of the available cars standing still.

Second, hybrids still consume oil and pollute the environment. They go at the pump just like any other car. And add to that their battery. What will happen with these once hybrids start showing up at the dumps? I never heard of it - which is a good reason to be concerned.

Third, hybrids are not more efficient than all other cars. They're not even always the most efficient car of their category. A Prius doesn't do better than a Civic on highways. The new Lexus hybrid is much worst than most cars - it's even below the national average.

Finally, environment-conscious Europeans haven't embraced hybrids. Why is that? Because there are alternative solutions to dual power with its additional equipment that makes the car heavier... and less efficient.

Let's get over hybrids, back to the main point: we should consume less oil.

What can you tell the IRS that they don't know already?

2006-04-08T12:35:00.000-04:00

Ever since the day I filled my first tax form, I never understood how a society could rest on such a complicated system. 12-16 months after the fact, you're asked about the fiscal details of the previous year. Did you have medical expenses? How much? Which were deductible? See the two-pager on deductible medical expense, then fill form J-9, then G-11 and you're done. Now let's move to tuition fees, work expenses and retirement savings.

I've also realized with experience that having an accountant preparing your tax report doesn't make things much simpler. You still have to collect all the documents during the year and pick the relevant ones to give your accountant.

This is why I'm sympathetic to this solution: "With a small adjustment in processing procedures, the revenue service could send you a tax form already filled out with the information it has for you - a Simple Return - rather than a blank tax form." See the whole piece in the New York Times.

With Internet services that ask you questions ("How much did you earn") and then fills the form for you, the accountant's role is becoming more and more an advisory service ("Did you know that this was deductible?"). This can save you money, which is the only reason why I would be reluctant to accept the idea that the IRS would fill my tax form.

"It's chilly in here", said Satan

2006-04-05T13:37:00.000-04:00

I was just back from ski in hell, had parked my flying saucer home and was about to go in the backyard to pull the teeths from my chickens when I saw this news:

Apple Allows Windows on Its Machines (Apple)

For 2 minutes, I looked for signs of an April Fool. Actually, even now as the news start to make sense and appears on the front page of the New York Times, I still wonder if it's an April Fool or not. That alone says how big and unexpected, just a few months ago, this announcement is.

Less than a year ago, Apple machines weren't even compatible with Windows. They were running on PowerPCs, a competitor to Intel. And Intel was the enemy. And Windows too. Now it looks like my Mac is about to turn into a PC.

Not that I mind. Apple considers itself as a hardware company so this is just one way to sell more hardware. Go Apple. As long as they keep developing Mac OS X - 75% of the reason why I'm a Mac user - they can allow any alien on other people's machines. Hey, I might even install Windows one of these days!

I expect Apple to gain a bit of market share with high-end and style-conscious users. As long as nobody will offer technical support, I don't expect the mass market to pay much interest. Those who needed Windows but weren't convinced by the emulation solutions offered - often too slow.

And Bono is happy

2006-04-04T15:19:00.000-04:00

Here's bad news for my rhetoric and good news for the rest of the world.

Aid rose 31.4 percent to $106.5 billion, a sum which represents 0.33 percent of their gross national income and is half way toward the long-standing U.N. goal of 0.7 percent.

After years of polishing a speech on how the West is greedy, I'll have to adapt it and update my statistics. It's good news for the developing world, development agencies and... national industries. Yes, much of this "development aid" goes to rich countries' industries and consultants. It can be tied aid (money that goes only to a country's industry) or untied aid, in which a country pays for an industry located in any country - but it happens to be in developed countries most of the time, anyway.

I'm surprised by this statistics.

But even after stripping out debt relief, aid rose by 8.7 percent, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.*

My experience and theoretical knowledge of debt relief tells me that countries shift their aid from specific programs to debt relief. I wouldn't have expected an increase once the debt relief money was withdrawn. Then, it must really be good news.

This is a huge leap for the US:

U.S. aid as a proportion of national income rose to 0.22 percent, its highest since 1986, from 0.17 percent in 2004.

Congratulations, Americans!

* It's the Organisation, not the Organization. Link to the original press release.

Update: From the Financial Times: "According to OECD rules, rich governments’ commercial loans such as export credits, count as part of a country’s aid effort when they are written off, even though a borrower country may not be servicing that debt. Non-governmental organisations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and ActionAid, criticise the practice of counting debt relief as aid, arguing that official commercial debt, such as export credits, subsidises the companies of the wealthy countries and is not comparable to spending on activities such as combating HIV-Aids."

But mostly: "Excluding debt relief, the UK was one of only three countries whose aid contribution fell in real terms last year. The others were Germany and Portugal." The UK, champion of aid increase in 2005! Put your money where your mouth is!

I change climate, ask me how

2006-04-03T12:44:00.000-04:00

This is too good to be true. It's a veiled request for culture jamming from GM.

Chevrolet is asking web surfers to create an ad for their Tahoe. They provide images and music and you provide the titles. You can really write whatever you want. Any idea what to say for another SUV?

I wonder if GM doesn't mind the bad publicity and is actually using it to promote their truck. I mean, the image they provided - it's almost as if they gave us the narrative.

Anyway, here's my ad.

Update: The New York Times has an article on the topic. Looks like jamming the ad is what most people did.

The French are better drivers

2006-03-16T09:23:00.000-05:00

My socio-political conversations are changed forever. I've received the hard copy of the OECD in figures yesterday and instantly became addicted.

Did you know that...

Belgium (341) is more densely populated that Japan (338)?
Between 1993 and 2003, Germany has reduced its CO2 emissions (-3.7%) while Finland has increased them (31.2%)?
The proportion of people 65 years old and over in Japan has gone from 5.7% to 19.5% from 1960 to 2000?
In Greece, 19 people per 100,000 of population are killed in car accident, while there are only 10 in France?
On average, the highest rate of personal income tax is higher in the US (45.2%) than in the European Union (44.6)?

Nor more conversations running on bogus perception, like the one I had last week-en where the German nagged the French because he pretended that the German are better drivers. According to the OECD statistics, the French have 1.5 accident with injuries for every 10,000 of population while the German have 4.3.

Careful what you say in front of me: I'll be carrying that gold mine everywhere I go.

Ports and Bridges

2006-03-10T13:52:00.000-05:00

Keep it to yourself, but, for once, I'm with W. Bush. More precisely, I agree when he says, about the now infamous "port deal" where a company from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) would have bought a British company in charge of some US port facilities:

"In order to win the war on terror, we have got to strengthen our friendship with moderate Arab nations" (Bloomberg, March 10)

Trade is a strong pacifier - anything that puts the interest of nations in common is a pacifier. Those shared interest become a reason to collaborate and learn about each other, and in the end to care about the fate of the "other".

Working for peace means building those bridges. It means building trust. And showing a Middle East company that Americans don't trust them is the wrong signal to send.

I take comfort in the fact that Jimmy Carter was also supporting the deal. Although the end of that same article seems to confirm my fear: the Arab world may take it personally as a sign of distrust from the Americans. This is not how you fight terrorism.

Fast Feast (2)

2006-03-09T13:09:00.000-05:00

I see two reasons, each of them sufficient, to call it fast food.

Lifestyle: It relates to how quickly food is prepared and consumed. In "fast food" restaurants, benches and chairs are usually uncomfortable. The slow food movement is largely a reaction to this lack of respect for eating. Taking the time to eat properly, to enjoy the food beyond the commodity necessary to survive, is a way of enjoying life.

Health: The nutritive value of the food is poor and it can often be bad for your health because it's fried or fat.

This may seem pretty straightforward or self-evident, but it's often overlooked in the attacks on fast food. I sure don't mean to defend it as most of the time, I prefer to avoid it. But when in a hurry, healthy fast food may do it.

Now, the big question: is Subway "fast food"? I guess so.

Fast Feast

2006-03-08T13:02:00.000-05:00

From a visit to Subway, came this existential question:

What's fast food?

This seemingly trivial question led to some serious thinking and theorizing. How does one thing qualifies as fast food or not. McDonald's is an easy culprit. But Subway can't be cornered so easily. It's not fried. It's not that fat.

I'll leave it at that for now and will get back with the answer than came out of a conversation with friends. Feel free to share your impressions in the meantime.

Parking on the highway

2006-03-06T17:17:00.000-05:00

So, there's really reason to worry about commuting in DC.

The Washington region’s freeway system has become significantly more crowded over the past three years according to a major new aerial traffic study released today by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB). From 2002 to 2005, the first hour of evening rush hour (4:30 P.M. to 5:30 P.M.) experienced the greatest increase in lane miles of congestion—64%.
(Metropolitan Washington Council of Governements, Feb 15, 2006)

The DC area has "high occupancy vehicles" lanes which you would expect to quickly lose their appeal since all Washingtonians would beg their colleagues to share their car in order to save an hour or two a day. But no. Much to my dismay, my colleagues who car-pool told me that they get in and out of work in a zip on those lanes. Good for them, but it means that not enough people are using those HOV lanes.

Nevertheless, the authorities recommend the construction of more of those HOV lanes. Despite my anecdotal evidence, it seems to work (see page 12 of this presentation). The only area where traffic has improved are those where they built those HOV.

Pick your Oscar battle

2006-03-05T18:43:00.000-05:00

Not that I refuse to change the topic, but here are my picks for the Oscars.

- Best movie: Brokeback Mountain
- Best actor in a supporting role: Jake Gyllenhaal (altough I was also impressed with Matt Dillon in Crash)
- Writing (Original screenplay): Crash (I wish I saw Match Point)

I should know, I've seen about 10% of the movies nominated this year.

Update: Please, give me some points for purposefully not predicting that Heath Ledger would win. He mumbled so much in Brokeback Mountain that I could hardly understand what he was saying. No Oscar for you.

Gay as a picnic basket

2006-03-02T12:12:00.000-05:00

I pointed a few weeks ago at Brokeback Mountain spoof videos. Now, the New York Times is running a story about them. It feels a bit like the journalist tried to give them a larger meaning to justify his article.

Which brings me on the delicate topic of homosexuality.

I don't understand why gay men are seen as "girlie". I think it could have gone the other way, as a matter of perception. After all, gay men want no business with women, "those sentimental and fragile persons". They just care about real men. Gay men might as well have been perceived as more manly than straight guys.

Gay people are just as diverse as straight people. Some are delicate, some are tough. How did straight people cast gay men as girlie? It sounds like a difficult spin to me, but it mostly succeeded.

All of this to say that homosexuality has a lot to do with perceptions and social spins. Personally, I don't even know why we care so much about other people's sexuality. Why is it that some don't want people to be gay in the first place?

Once, an a colleague told me: "If you allow homosexuality, everybody will be gay". Can you imagine a better coming out?

Listen to my music

2006-03-01T17:55:00.000-05:00

It seems that a lot of people disagree with me that your musical tastes should not be socially-driven. At least, that's what I read in the Washington Post today. People are using iMix on iTunes to discover new music and share their tastes. I think I would be more at ease with this. You can put whatever suggestions you want in a playlist/iMix, without actually changing what you're listening to in order to please the crowd.

Beating Google at its own game

2006-02-27T14:40:00.000-05:00

Google Maps/Local have revolutionized my use of online maps: I started using them. As is often the case, I thought they were perfect until Ask.com improved on them this week. Here's what I needed (almost) without knowing it:

- Walking directions. I don't drive so I don't need to avoid one-way streets.

- Clicking to add locations.You know you're going at the corner of Smith and Johnson. Just click on it, no need to find a complete address.

- Multiple destinations. This way, you can ask how to get to the White House through Halliburton for instance.

Also, their aerial pictures seem slightly better than those of Google. That's it - I switch. More details here.

For the record (and make sure you're disappointed too with the state of the technology), here's what I would like to see:

- If I don't mention a different destination city, take for granted that it's in my departure city. I use online maps to find directions within the same city 98% of the time.

- Control over what information is displayed: name of cities, civic numbers, street names, etc.

Straight Shooter (from another angle)

2006-02-26T10:13:00.000-05:00

I'm gradually changing my approach to decision-making. I use to look for the best option. I would weight every aspect of a decision twice or thrice before testing my opinion on a decision. It would create long decision-making periods, anxiety and doubt. You should have seen me picking a computer - thank God, I'm limited to a single supplier.

But now, I try to settle more quickly with a choice that satisfies me. I no longer look for "the best", I look for "good enough". I make quicker decision and I'm generally happy with them. I go on with my life and enjoy the choice I made. It means less anxiety and the pleasure that I miss, I'm unaware of it since I don't know all the options. But won't it always be the case anyway?

This article in The Guardian seems to suggest that I'm right.

Advice to jobseekers

2006-02-25T17:42:00.000-05:00

Do you want to know why I'm at work on a Saturday?

I'm applying to my own job.

With experience in large organizations, I've come to learn that they have extensive and virtuous hiring policies that stress transparencies and equal opportunity. I've also learned that these policies are seldom implemented the way you would expect it.

The best indicator is the hiring process, the competition for a position. Yes, the job is advertised in websites and wherever else the policy says it has to be posted. Yes, employers call some people for interviews. But often, they have a very good idea of who's gonna have the job: the person who is already employed under a different title. Often, it's someone with no social benefits, a lower salary, but the same responsibility or almost. The employer decides that this person is well-qualified and offers him/her the be "staffed". But this means going with the official procedure mentioned above.

In my particular case, I can't take the job for granted. My boss will seriously review all candidates and will even interview a few of them. But seriously, who doesn't think that I'm a better candidate than average with months of experience in the job and a good name internally?

The problem is not so much the hiring of the consultant for the staff position. It's how you pick the consultant in the first place. That's where the policy's really ignored.

I'll be the Last.fm

2006-02-25T11:56:00.000-05:00

Following my post on Pandora, Aidje suggested Last.fm as another way of discovering new music (thanks for taking the time, Aidje). It's a website that keeps track, through a plugin, of the songs you play on your computer. The website then makes suggestions of music you should like by creating your own music station based on your music history.

I've tried to install it unsuccessfully. But I don't mind much. I understand that music is a way to socialize, but I avoid social pressure as a way to chose my music. Last.fm post your music statistics on your profile page from where you can link to friends who, I guess, have similar tastes. What Radiohead/U2/Coldplay fan wants to be caught, like me, with Air Supply and Jann Arden in their top ten? But then again, should I be self-counscious when listening to music, thinking "I don't want this to appear on my Last.fm profile?"

So, it's a good concept, but I'll pass.

MyBook Pro

2006-02-24T00:50:00.000-05:00

I'm disappointed with the new MacBook Pro from Apple. It doesn't look as good as my Titanium PowerBook - which remains a piece of ageless beauty to the geek in me. The MacBook Pro just doesn't have that pure elegance, that little something that makes a shape look like it's always been there, as is the case for the TiBook. Also source of grief:

The screen is noticeably smaller.
The MacBook Pro is not really thinner, something you'd expect after all those years.
Battery life is shorter. This is quite disappointing, although probably due to the new processors.
The standard hard drive is still only 80 Go.
And I don't like the name, MacBook Pro.

But you know what is it to be part of the Apple cult?

I'll probably get one anyway.

(secret: but I might wait for the next revision)

Writely So

2006-02-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

I'm not quite an innovator, but I'm an early adopter. It means that I like to be among the first people of the mainstream to adopt or at least try out new technologies. I usually hear about them in the media and will give it a look out of curiosity. For instance, I waited until the iPod came out to buy an MP3 player - which was back in 2002.

It's in that spirit that I'm currently using Writely, an online word processor. The first reason to use it is to collaborate with colleagues and friends on a document. No more single version that goes from one person to another - everybody can contribute at the same time or when they're available (instead of waiting for their turn). It seems simple, but it fosters creativity very much.

The second reason, which I pretend to have invented, is to collaborate with yourself. I created a "Gifts" file where I write ideas of gift. May I be at work, at home or visiting, I can always add an idea. Other ideas of self-contributions are "Health" (I can never remember when was the last time I had this back pain, doctor) and "Profiles" where I work stuff I learn about people I know (Gary doesn't like sushis!). I also suggest opening such a document for "legal" follow-up with an insurance for instance (I called you on the 13th to say this and you told me that, etc.).

Discover and enjoy!

(Don't Go Back to) Rockville

2006-02-22T08:50:00.000-05:00

I went on a symbolical trip this week-end: I went to Rockville. Every R.E.M. fan knows "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville", one of the rare songs written by the bassist, Mike Mills. It's typical R.E.M.: rock but pop with a catchy chorus. When I noticed "Rockville" on a map and realized it was only a few miles away from my place, I had to go. "What's in Rockville?" - I had to see it for myself.

Well, now it's your turn.

From what I saw, it's a long line of stores and shopping centers. It's a boulevard full of cars and SUVs. It looks like that even on the most sunny and springish day.

It made clear that the reason the US are so rich is overconsumption. It's increasingly oriented towards selling stuff, no matter the price of it. The price seems quite clear in those pictures.

Conclusion: Don't go back to Rockville.

I forgot to share my opinion on Iraq

2006-02-21T14:30:00.000-05:00

I've always been surprised that the left has been so unanimous in criticizing the war in Iraq. After all, it was meant to throw out a dictator and promote democracy in a region that doesn't have too much of it. How come then so little leftists have supported it, despite its flaws? I think no one has better summarized it than Francis Fokuyama in the New York Times on Sunday.

"The problem with neoconservatism's agenda lies not in its ends, which are as American as apple pie, but rather in the overmilitarized means by which it has sought to accomplish them."

Attacking the left for failing to promote democracy misses this point. They're also all about democracy (representative, that is). But the problem is not that the right fails to understand this: it's that the left itself is about to forget it. I find too many leftists complaining that it's not the job of the US to promote democracy. Actually, it is - just like it is the job of any democratic state, but even more so because it's the most powerful and rich country in the world.

Promoting democracy means respecting it with religious zeal. The scandal of the 2000 election should never happen again - and I don't mean the Florida scandal, but the fact that Bush received less votes than Gore. It means promoting one person-one vote everywhere, even at the World Bank and the United Nations where money and sovereignty are placed above democracy (it's easier to understand at the WB in my opinion). Promoting democracy means to support efforts like those in Haiti and Palestine - including the respect of the election outcome. By all means, it doesn't mean to show up in tanks and F16 and then distribute voting ballots, but let's keep in mind that the end is not the problem with the war in Iraq. It's the means.

A Second Opinion on The White Men's Burden

2006-02-21T09:59:00.000-05:00

After my humble comments on Bill Easterly's recent piece in the Washington Post, you might want to read what a Nobel Prize of Economics and current pope of the development scene, Amartya Sen, has to say about it in Foreign Affairs. He's not so enthusiastic and brings his usual cold head to the debate.

(By way of the PSD blog.)

Top 5 Reasons for Running on the Way Back from Shopping

2006-02-18T20:06:00.000-05:00

It's good exercise.
It keeps you warm.
It shortens your time in the cold.
It gets you home sooner.
With "Exit music (for a film)", it feels dramatic

Readers, this is Leonard

2006-02-18T11:11:00.000-05:00

We're news addict, but we wouldn't read anything. So time for me to introduce a personal favourite: Leonard Pitts Jr. from the Miami Herald. I discovered him about a year ago when he won the Pulitzer. After reading his winning columns, I thought that he absolutely deserved it.

He's a gifted writer. He carries original ideas, like his pick on affirmative action: "White men are the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action this country has ever seen." He sounds both passionate and reflexive.

Yesterday, he hit the nail on the head once again: Cheney's accident is not about a hunting mistake, it's about the secretive manners of this administration. I've rarely seen such a constant columnist. He himself draws up my respect for the Miami Herald. Apparently, I'm not his only fan (here, here, and even here on the right). Of course, not everybody likes him. I'm sure you will.

Pandora Boom Box

2006-02-18T01:26:00.000-05:00

Ah, the feeling when you want everybody to share your discovery. "Hey, read that book - it just turned me upside down!" or "Go see that film - I almost peed in my pants!"

It never works.

For me at least, it doesn't. I systematically fail to transmit the hype that I feel. People respond politely, move on quickly to the next topic, forget to ask me the name of the author, etc.

So here's my latest eureka, my new favorite radio station: Pandora. It builds a radio station based on a song you suggest, finding similar-sounding songs.

That's exactly what I was looking for: old but new music. When I'm on a hunt for something new, I don't have the patience to go through iTunes and randomly try new stuff based on a genre. I want some kind of guidance, a higher success rate. Pandora's the best radio station to play in the background - the music's always good and sometimes you can make discoveries or be surprised.

There's still room for improvement. Songs are sometimes out of place. But you can give Pandora a better idea of your taste by saying wether or not you like the song that's playing. I wish I could pick the criteria myself: piano, acoustic, orchestral arrangements, whatever. But now I have to guess what song will bring me the type of music I want.

Anyone tempted to try it at least?

Google Goes Beta (for real)

2006-02-17T23:20:00.000-05:00

Google Video has disappointed me. It was off to a bad start a few months ago with many criticizing its appearance. It's ironic that many couldn't find what they were looking for, so that the interface had to be changed to feature the premium content from television.

But I'm not in the market for videos. So, what I'm interested in is more the procrastination content - hence the "popular" videos. Here comes the disappointment. The page rarely changes. If you click the link "Another 15 popular videos" 3-4 times, you'll quickly have seen them all. If you come back a few weeks later, don't expect too many changes. If ever you've been on Google Video, chances are that you've seen this Octopus Vs. Shark video. Not bad, but if you got terabytes of content, I guess you could move on faster than that. It must be that too many people rely on this "popular" function - like I do - so the solution is to push more content to the users. That's probably why they added new functions such as "more videos from this user". Practice makes perfect.

Also, the service must be used largely by male college students eager to impress their friends with a good laugh. See the selection of Superbowl ads that quickly showed up in the popular section. That being said, there are also hilarious examples like Brokeback to the Future or Top Gun Brokeback Squadron.

And of course, there are gems that you have to uncover yourself. As a Mac user for more than a decade by now, I was very pleased with this historic video taken at the 1984 shareholders meeting of Apple. Steve Jobs with a bow tie? It's only matched by Bill Gates on stage (not in this video). It's interesting to see the 5 ads, who forever stayed in the shadow of the infinitely famous 1984 ad. I must say that it's not intellectually very honest to say that all you need to learn to use a Mac is how to click a button. All you need to learn to program in C++ is typing on a keyboard?

Overall, Google Video has a steeper learning curve than the other services - probably because they come in a market were Apple has set the standard, rather than Microsoft (Hotmail vs. Gmail). So, for once, this is a Google service that's really a beta.

And then they leave you

2006-02-16T18:08:00.000-05:00

This morning, I was walking to work when I had this illuminating idea for a blog post. I was pleased with it but immediately thought that I should avoid blogging it during my work day. Enjoying the exceptionally warm air of the morning and the music in my ears, I was a poker face on the outside but internally happy to have something to feed the beast one more day. So at the end of the work day, I opened my blog and started my entry.

And this is what came up.

I had forgotten my idea.

The Snowman's Last Word

2006-02-15T18:31:00.000-05:00

Maybe defenseless, but some resilient snowman.

Straight Shooter

2006-02-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

I knew we'd have fun with this. Here's my favourite reaction to Cheney's accidental shooting of a friend.

"'The CIA assured Cheney that Harry Whittington was actually a pheasant,' added Democratic speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum."

It's worth reading the Washington Post article to get the whole sample.

Save the World: Do Nothing

2006-02-13T20:34:00.000-05:00

William Easterly is the author of one of the most entertaining book on international development, The Elusive Quest for Growth. He's witty and has an original opinion in this milieu: aid doesn't work. In terms of name recongnition, he must be second only to Peter Bauer in defending this opinion. Easterly is Jeffrey Sachs' nemesis.

Easterly, preparing the release of a new book, makes his point in the Washington Post today: The West Can't Save Africa. Here's the sentence that says it all:

Economic development in Africa will depend -- as it has elsewhere and throughout the history of the modern world -- on the success of private-sector entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs and African political reformers. It will not depend on the activities of patronizing, bureaucratic, unaccountable and poorly informed outsiders.

He's convincing: decades of foreign aid later, Africa (and many other countries) is still in a poor state. It's about to take them longer than the West to lift out of poverty, despite all our good intentions. There has to be a better way and maybe it's to leave them alone.

The problem is that Easterly's doesn't address the fundamental questions for Westerners: What can we do to help? How is it that our wealth can't be of any help in this war on poverty? Are we suppose to look at wars, diseases that can be cured and lifelong poverty without lifting a finger?

Our rich nations have multiple social nets for their own poor: we subsidize education, many offer healthcare, there's unemployment insurance. Despite - or thanks to - all of those subsidies, rich nations have developed roundly in the last centuries. If we consider the world as one large country where the rich is obliged to the poor - be it for the morals or the economic value - we might draw lessons on how to help the poor without removing the incentives to get out of poverty.

(Thanks to the PSD Blog for drawing my attention to the Washington Post article)

Forbes and Me

2006-02-12T19:46:00.000-05:00

I knew I wasn't the only one! Forbes places the Capital Beltway as one of the top 10 worst places in the US for commuting. I'll take pictures and comment on the whole issue.

Snow storm in DC Leads to Sordid Affair

2006-02-12T15:07:00.000-05:00

These pictures were taken two hours apart today.

What's more defenseless than a snowman? This is the work of cowards.

Let It Snow, Let It Show

2006-02-12T12:01:00.000-05:00

It snowed in Washington last night. For the first time, it stayed overnight. I had not realized how much I missed snow. It changes the air. It creates excitement. you say to your friends outside of town: "It snowed today!" and they go "Wow!"

I hear that Washington isn't used to snow, despite getting some every year. A few centimeters can block the whole city - schools and offices are closed. Funny enough. In December, some regions in Canada got their biggest snow storm in 30 years. A total of 40 cm in 12 hours, I think. A young friend of mine who lives in the area wrote me: "I had school anyway". I wonder if mindsets don't change more than temperatures when you cross the 49th parallel.

Green by Default

2006-02-11T13:40:00.000-05:00

Following my entry on my daily commute, I've realized that it's a topic I'm quite concerned with. I detest commuting - I've never had any patience for it. In the past, I've even moved within the same small city to be closer to my new job. I'm also very critical of the way people commute. One day, I'll post about urban gridlocks.

When I searched for "commuting" on Technorati, I had the surprise to see the Private Sector Development blog from the World Bank, a personal favourite of mine that I've previously quoted, as the first result. It points to a lovely tool from BP to calculate one's carbon footprint. I'm proud to report that I only use 5 tons of CO2 per year, way below the national average of 19 tons. But the real reason is that I live in a brand new apartment and that I've no car. Yes, I have a few energy efficient lighbulbs and I try to turn off the lights when I leave a room, but I'm taking 15-20 minutes shower...

Bird Skin

2006-02-11T12:56:00.000-05:00

At long last, I've personalized the appearance of my blog.

I am grateful to...
- A woman wandering for posting comments and waking me up
- Desperately Wandering for showing me how to change my banner
- Jennifer for the overall inspiration
- Image After for the free picture of a bird
- ImageShack.us for hosting my pictures
- Susannah Gardner for making me realize that I'm probably not using the right blogging tool
- Myself, for spending 4 hours setting up this tiny graphic update

So, what did I do?
- Created the banner, keeping the same name for my blog, but changing the tag line (felt ridiculous to write that birds can't see tiny details when I use a bird of prey)
- Enlarged the template - never understood why the default version was so narrow
- Changed the size of the date - previously way too big

Snake Skin

2006-02-10T15:58:00.000-05:00

Yes, I changed the template once again. I messed up the previous one myself to a point of no return. I'm no so in love with this one, so I'll be looking into creating my own .

As a note to myself, here are some of the tools I'll use.

Are you using the right blogging tool?
Tips for blog templates

But that might mean finding a theme for this blog. Hum... What am I interested in (blogging about) and that is not already too covered by wittier blogger?

The War of the Words

2006-02-10T13:19:00.000-05:00

What to do of these Muhammad caricatures that are inflaming Europe and the Middle East but so far miraculously spared America? Charles Krauthammer makes a good point when he says "The mob is trying to dictate to Western newspapers, indeed Western governments, what is a legitimate subject for discussion and caricature." Like most Westerners, I can't accept this and I shout, from the top of my lungs, "Free speech!"

My fear, however, is that we fail to grasp the meaning of those caricatures in the cultural context of the Middle East. The sense of outrage is of astronomical proportions. Will the protestors really understand the value of free speech in this context where we defend it for our own advantage, at their expense? Should it be promoted in such a conflictual context? I don't think the free speech message will make any inroads in the Middle East thanks to these caricatures.I think we should drop the issue altogether and find other ways to promote free speech in the Muslim world.

The Empress has no clothes

2006-02-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

Japaneses are considering allowing women to become empresses. To a Westerner used to Elisabeth 2 since the early 50s (and many others before), the only surprise is that it is not yet the case. But to a Japanese conservative, it's burning matter.

"If Aiko becomes the reigning empress and gets involved with a blue-eyed foreigner while studying abroad and marries him, their child may be the emperor," Takeo Hiranuma, a top member of Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and head of a block of politicians opposed to female monarchs, said last week. "We should never let that happen."

(Princess Kiko Shocks Japan with Pregnancy, Washington Post, February 7th, 2006)

So, a male emperor couldn't fall in love abroad and marry a blue-eyed gaijin? I take this as a very derogatory comment on Western women. Ladies, don't let yourself be tossed around by those conservatives who doubt your virtue and qualities. Show them how to seduce an emperor.

Commuting in Washington

2006-02-05T23:47:00.000-05:00

I live only 10 minutes by bike from work. I am nevertheless fed up with the commute. I know it by heart: this traffic light is always red, Dupont Circle is always dangerous, one day my life will end on this broken piece of concrete at the corner of 18th and P, etc. Traffic is notable for three things in Washington. First, they're a bunch of honkers. I'm a zealot about honks: only use them to signal a danger. But here, it's India: you're not fast enough, your traffic light was almost red, go back into your lane, I don't like your tie, etc. So I give at least 2 angry looks to aggressive drivers per commute. Second thing about Washington traffic is that people have no respect for the yellow light. If they can see the yellow light up there on the horizon, it means to them that they have time to catch it. No matter if it turned red 1-2 seconds ago when they finally arrive at the crossroads. Third thing: sirens. It's like the whole city is constantly on fire or being robbed or whatnot. Today, 16th was even blocked for the presidential motorcade. Now, that's a phat way to commute.

I've tried walking, but then it takes me three times as long. The bus doesn't get close enough to my work, plus I just can't understand its schedule. So I have to bike day in and day out and face noisy drivers, dangerous corners and stubborn traffic lights. It's only 10 minutes.

An Anti-Lobby Panel to rule them all

2006-01-18T15:45:00.000-05:00

If a robber is caught, would you ask his friends to rewrite the law so that it doesn't happen again? In more general terms, would you ask those who break the law to rewrite it? That's exactly what's happening with the lobbying bill that will be presented to the US Congress.

There's no doubt in my mind that lobbying laws would be much more stringent if they were written by people who don't benefit from lobbying and are forced to ban it by public opinion. Imagine a group of people who hate lobbying the way lawmakers abhor murder and seek to prevent it through laws and punishments.

There's no way out of politics here: these people have to be chosen by the public somehow. If they're elected, they'll be subject to lobbying during their campaign. I favor a system like the Supreme Court where members of the Anti-Lobby Panel are picked by the executive and legislative powers jointly and then are free to act within the limits of their mandate - which should be, no doubt about it, far-reaching.

Canada: Time for a change?

2006-01-14T09:39:00.000-05:00

What if your political dream was true? What if the party you support was in power forever? That's what's happening to Canadian liberals. Their party has been in power for the last 12 years. But numerous scandals have arised in the last year, proving that power corrupts. You would think that the time for a change has come.

The Canadian Liberal Party occupies the center of the the political landscape. To its left, the New Democrats; to its right, the Conservatives. Unlike what happened in the UK, those main opposition parties have not been reformed to move towards the electorate. The New Democrats have stood still and, if anything, the Conservatives have moved further right in the direction of the Reform Party they merged with some time ago.

Changing party is necessary in a democracy, be it only to clean up the system, to remind everybody that we're in a democracy where no one is entitled to power. It can also bring new ideas, reinvigorate your own party during its time in opposition.

This is what is making many Canadian liberals to think about voting for the Conservatives. I believe Canadians should be more patient. Conservatives should be told that they won't be in power as long as they veer so far from the mainstream. Let's wait until the next exlection where conservatives will reconnect with Canada before giving them the right to be in the driver's seat.

West Virginia Mine Accident: Forget Miscommunication

2006-01-04T15:10:00.000-05:00

In West Virginia, suffering families of dead miners are looking for someone to blame. By giving them false hopes, Ben Hatfield has become the target of their wrath.

Ben Hatfield should not receive so much blame for letting families believe that 12 miners were still alive for a moment. He made a mistake and probably feels horribly sorry for what he did. The emotion of the moment carried everybody away. He probably was told the news by someone else. And once we find this person, once we put a face on this mistake, we'll see a human being embarrassed to death, probably deeply regretful and who meant no harm. Another victim.

A tragedy happened in West Virginia: 12 people died in a mine accident. It's not that for a few hours, people were led to think that their closed ones were alive, as painful as it might be. Now let's focus the inquiry on mining security, not on informal communication channels. This is what will prevent another of those tragedies.

Ben Hatfield might not be off the hook.

(By the way, 42 people were killed in Iraq today. Thought I'd mention.)

Relax, it's Christmas. Or it was.

2005-12-26T13:14:00.000-05:00

On a lighter note, News of the Weird, by the Washington Post.

Another bad good news: debt relief

2005-12-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

Too bad I don't have the time to comment on this: IMF Approves $3.3 Billion in Debt Relief for Poorest Countries, New York Times, December 22, 2005.

I'm not a fan of debt relief. The mere fact that Bush is backing the idea should provide a hint...

Is Wikipedia any good? Ask a referee

2005-12-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

I've been using and promoting Wikipedia for more than a year now. I was unsettled by the recent attacks on the website and was reconsidering my trust in the instrument. And now comes exactly what we need to really assess Wikipedia's quality: a scientific approach.

Nature has compared the accuracy of Wikipedia and Britannica. Their finding: "Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries". Is that enough to trust Wikipedia blindly? Sure not, but it's a good time to lower the guns against it.

It is sure untimely that Wikipedia's founder put his foot on his keyboard... Seriously: violating one of Wikipedia's fundamental rule. That's poor.

My Wikipedia tip: Use the "Discussion" section of each Wikipedia article. You can find there heated debates that will tell you as much on a topic that the entry itself.

World Bank Shocks the Free Trade Community

2005-12-19T15:22:00.000-05:00

Because of the recent Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization, the most significant news on trade released this month may go unnoticed:

"In a recently released book, the World Bank says that the potential
benefits for the world's poor of a far-reaching trade deal "are significantly
lower" than it had previously thought."
(World Bank Reconsiders Trade's Benefits to Poor, Paul Blustein Saturday, December 17, 2005, Page D01)

As a development persons who believes in free trade mainly on the basis that it will benefit the poor in developing countries, that's a bummer. It comes at a moment where papers have surfaced questioning the capacity of developing countries to even benefit from access to rich markets, give their lack of infrastructure.

Sometimes, I think it's a good thing nobody's reading this blog...

The thing is: development is complicated. No really, don't laugh at the simplicity of the argument: development is complicated. No wonder it has barely happened in the last 60 years and that, when it happened, people can't agree on what caused it. Trade is just one factor of development, but think of the issues at stake:

What markets could a country really access if given the opportunity: does it have the infrastructure (means of transportation, relatively large-scale production, quality control, etc.)
Will transportation on longer distances create more pollution?
Who will lose their job if a country national industry can't compete with importations? More important: how to help those losers of free trade?
How much will be lost in trade tariffs? The budget of some developing countries rest on those revenues in proportions up to 50%.
Who will gain? Will it only be large corporations with the capacity to export - which means dealing with multiple tax codes, large administrations, health and environmental regulations, etc - or will small entrepreneurs also be able to export in open markets?

And that's only from the top of my head. All of these points are debatable. Even if you win a point, you haven't proven that trade is beneficial or harmful.

All this complexity leads to oversimplification, something most serious minds are uncomfortable with. You are either with or against freer trade. Its effect are positive or negative. Why? Again, you need to simplify: because it opens markets to the poor. Because it brings cheaper goods, increasing productivity, freeing resources for other products. But in truth, who knows? Being against of in favour of free trade remains an act of faith.

This article also mentions a reason why I don't like regional trade agreements:
"Moreover, some developing countries already enjoy virtually unrestricted
access to U.S. and European markets under special trading arrangements. One
example is Mexico, which ships goods duty-free to the United States under NAFTA. The lower Washington drops its barriers to all WTO member countries, the more Mexico's competitors could gain sales in the U.S. market at Mexico's
expense."
Now, Mexico will be one more force against increased access to the US market for developing countries. Indeed, regional trade agreements create new vested interests who will resist change.

The Real Price of Oil

2005-12-18T10:50:00.000-05:00

Those who think that oil is too expensive in America should think of the price producing countries are paying for such a cursed resource. On that topic, the New York Times has an excellent article today:

"The harms suffered by these countries (and many others) are symptoms of
what is known as the resource curse. Though it seems counterintuitive -
countries with a lot of oil are lucky and rich, right? - a succession of
studies, the most notable of which was conducted by the economists Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner, show that countries dependent on natural-resource exports
experience lower growth rates than countries that have nonresource economies,
and they suffer greater amounts of repression and conflict too" (The Price of Oil, Peter Maas, 18 December 2005)

The 90% snapshot

2005-12-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

Google is to the Internet what Photoshop is to graphic design: a neverending parallel universe, a vast domain in itself. A fantastic way to procrastinate. So, faithful to my bad habit, I made an experiment today: I typed "90 percent" in Google News and here's what I found.

LED lights can cut holiday lighting costs by 90 percent
90 percent of top firms invest in China
Pacifier Use Could Cut Crib Deaths by 90 Percent
Construction of new fire station in Beverly 90 percent complete
Mobile penetration in Australia is 90 percent

I don't know what is it I have with LED, but my favourite story is the first one.

The big story, starting next week: trade

2005-12-02T19:45:00.000-05:00

Trade is about to be the main issue in the news: this month, trade ministers from member countries of the WTO will meet in Hong Kong to discuss the future of international trade. A search on Technorati makes me think that the blogosphere hasn't quite caught up with that fact yet.

So, let's get ahead of the curve and freshen up our facts on trade. As usual, the BBC has an outstanding coverage. I especially like this feature showing some statistics on poor countries and trade.

On a lighter note, after Brad Pitt, another star gets into the fair trade bandwagon: Chris Martin, from Coldplay (and the blogging has begun). I'm glad to hear this, although I have to disagree with one of his comments: "The debt cancellation agreed at the Gleneagles gathering was “tremendous”, he said." Maybe at first glance, but some countries have cut back their aid budget in other sectors to make up for the cost of this debt cancellation. Careful what you ask for: you got debt cancellation, not an increase in aid...

On the impossibility to vote in Canada

2005-11-29T22:02:00.000-05:00

Canadians are in a political catch 22. The Liberal Party occupies most if not all the middle ground of the political spectrum, but they're caught in a corruption scandal. As a result, Canadians can't vote for the Liberals, but can't vote for another party either. There's the Conservatives, what some may call liberals in the US, but they're too far right for the Ontarians and Quebecois. And then there's the New Democratic Party, seen too far left and having a hard time getting its member to go through a real modernization. In Quebec, voters can also vote for the federal version of the separatist party (indeed) and that's what they do.

Now that the Liberal-NDP coalition government has been defeated by a no-confidence motion, Canadians will have to face this dilemma once more. My prediction (as poor as usual and based on data pre-dating the campaign) is that they will reelect the same parliament: a relative majority of Liberals, then Conservatives second, a lot of Bloc Québécois in Québec and then some NDP here and there.

Internships - Horror Stories

2005-11-28T23:44:00.000-05:00

About every intern has an horror story about his or her experience. Personnally, my last experience was to be grossly unpaid but having to buy my plane ticket from the middle of nowhere to my workplace on the other side of the ocean. Another didn't get paid because of her nationality - as if you're not supposed to be paid according to your work. Some are expected to work overtime, even on week-ends, as if every minute you work as an intern is not already a sort of overtime (but overtime is paid!).

If any intern wants to share his or her experience here, I'll gladly welcome them here and give them a voice. Washington is full of interns and those internships are very sought-after. But the fact is that his competition creates the problem: if you turn an internship down, someone else will pick it and get the experience that you need. But if some solidarity emerge between the interns, if some sort of organization, like that in France, takes off, the situation might change.

It could start with your story.

Life will find a way

2005-11-27T00:22:00.000-05:00

When I commented on intelligent design a few weeks ago, I wrote:

"The war in Iraq, the deficit, the Supreme Court nominee, all of this are very significant events. But intelligent design is a civilisation defining issue. How can a country, in the 21st century, engage in this irrational debate?"

It's not surprising, but it's comforting to read something awfully similar on the BBC website today:

"[It] seems to me that the central political question facing everyone here, far more important than any to do with Iraq or the deficit or Guantanamo Bay, is whether or not the Republican party, after decades of flirting, has finally got into bed with an irrational sect." (Justin Webb, Dinosaurs, evangelicals and the state, November 26, 2005)

The people in Kansas or anywhere else for that matter who defend the teaching of intelligent design alongside Darwin's evolutionism need to be ridiculed as they deserve. They are not just an oddity, they are a danger to the United States. I can't believe for the life of me that their idea will get any traction outside the US, but the US are still the only left superpower for the moment. Let's hope reason and science are not blacklisted there.

Interns of the World, Unite !

2005-11-24T19:17:00.000-05:00

How about an unpaid and quasi-mandatory job? Souds like exploitation and slavery? It's called an internship. It's unpaid most of the time or people get a small portion of a low salary (like $500 a month). You have to do it to get a job in some high-education fields, like international relations or marketing. No experience, no job - but an internship, sometimes yes.

And if you think "They shouldn't take the job if it doesn't suit them", you forgot why unions were created in the first place. Alone, no one can beat the system. If you turn it down, you find yourself at home, jobless.

That's why it's good news to hear that the French interns are protesting against their situation. There's been strikes in France against this modern exploitation.

"The Web site organizing the strike, www.génération-précaire.org, claims that French companies are using poorly paid interns to fill jobs that otherwise would go to full-time employees, thereby limiting the ability of young people to secure meaningful employment." (Interns in the French Firms Stage Protest, International Herald Tribune, Nov. 24, 2005)

Hopefully this movement will spread to cities full of interns like Geneva and Washington.

Fuel is not expensive in the US

2005-11-22T13:04:00.000-05:00

One of my pet peeves is the complaint against so-called "high prices of oil". This is especially annoying in the United States where they have the cheapest gas in the whole developed world - and the most outrageous means of transportation. But as usual, the US are not too outward-looking and probably ignore, in large majority, that they are getting a deal at the expense of the rest of the world who's making efforts to curb consumption.

Those who say that the demand for gas is not elastic - that oil is the only fuel to get you there - are missing the point (debunking this myth was what got Paul Krugman going as a professional economist in the 70s). Here are a few ways to reduce consumption:

- Get smaller cars
- Walk or bike
- Combine trips

The lack of fuel taxes in the US is a problem that the whole world has to live with. If only they were interested in what the world does and discusses, they might realize the burden that they represent and stop whining. Thank goodness, some are more enlightened on the issue.

Update: Indeed, there are many voices now discussing the positive aspects of higher gas prices. I'm not too keen on ethanol and biodiesel, but at least it gets the debate going on the effects of gas consumption. What Spencer Reiss doesn't mention is that gas taxes can also be turned into subsidies for new technologies. Yes, it is sometimes necessary to intervene in the market to speed things up, especially when health and the environment are at stake.

Trade is the new debt relief (Brad Pitt and trade)

2005-11-21T14:42:00.000-05:00

The most interesting thing about this Washington Post article (Trade and Aid: The Stars are Aligned), is that trade is becoming the next common cause of do-gooders, after debt relief. Excerpt:

DATA, the activist outfit that sponsored Pitt's tutorials, has convinced
development groups that traditionally ignored trade that they should sign on to
a pro-Doha platform. American religious leaders, who have long campaigned for
Third World debt relief, are planning to use a meeting with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice next week to lobby for trade liberalization.

This take on trade is likely to divide the left because many won't accept to give up the losers, as they see it. And for too many of them, it doesn't mean to exploit the new possibilities of an open economy, but to keep things as they are right now.

Make protectionism history

2005-11-14T17:54:00.000-05:00

For those who still don't believe that freer (and fairer) trade is a progressive's fight:

Currently, international trade is neither free nor fair. Trade rules allow
rich countries to pay large subsidies to a small number of companies to export
food. These policies encourage over-production, destroy the livelihoods of
millions of poor farmers in developing countries and hurt the environment. (Source: Trade Justice, makepovertyhistory.ca)

This is not to say that trade should be freed overnight - transition measures are needed. But commitment to open trade should come as soon as possible - meaning December 2005.

In Praise of Cheap Labor?

2005-11-10T12:14:00.000-05:00

During my grad studies, I made a presentation with two friends on the book No Logo from Naomi Klein. Instead of doing something formal, we played the roles of Phil Knight, from Nike, an activist (my male friend refused to dress up as a girl however) and a journalist. I had a blast impersonating an evil Phil Knight (I was wearing a black suit, black shirt, black tie - white running shoes) as cocky as possible.

As you could expect from a young political scientist in the making, I had little sympathy for my character - and I was in a very friendly environment in that classroom. I don't think I could have believed back then what I'm about to say.

Maybe I was wrong.

I use to think that using cheap labour in developing countries was shameful. Now I think: do I really want to curb job creation in developing countries? This same idea is expressed in this post from Minpundit, who also refers to an article (In Praise of Cheap Labor) by Paul Krugman. And no need to make a very complicated study, or to focus once again on US national security, to see that trade is pacifying: the European Coal and Steel Community has pacified Europe at last, after centuries of fighting. France and Germany hand in hand? Impossible to imagine just 60 years ago.

Good leftist discussion on free trade

2005-11-09T18:16:00.000-05:00

Some of the most interesting conversations on free trade are currently happening at the TPMCafe. A good example is the discussion that ensued a post by David Sirota (Do free traders think the American is stupid?). Not that the original post is of very high quality, but the discussion that follows shows fairly well the various opinions - although not always in an extremely polite fashion - typical of the debate on the left on free trade.

As I said in my comment, a list of opinions from the American public doesn't tell us if they're informed on a certain issue. It's using statistics to impress an audience, but failing to make a point. Too bad.

Alan Blinder's post (Progressives should be for progress) is also worth reading.

The left should not oppose free trade

2005-11-04T21:18:00.000-05:00

I was also at the Quebec Summit of the Americas in 2001. The funny thing is that I was on the outside of the barriers, with protesters facing a rather aggressive police. I think if I were to go back today, I would work with the independant media again as I still strongly believe in free speech. A lot of information on police violence has emerged from this independent coverage before making it to the mainstream.

But on the issue, I've changed. I now understand why countries share their sovereignty and I think it's a good thing. I see why we would like to create economic growth, wealth that could be redistributed. I see tht where there are losers of new trade rules, there are also winners - and that winners can be those who need it the most.

I think the left who opposes free trade makes a mistake that could tarnish its reputation in the future. Under many circumstances, the left has been on the good side of the battles: equality for women, end of racial segregation, social welfare to name just a few. The left has won history so far, but it's also been wrong and it will be the case again if it keeps on opposing free trade.

What if international trade was not evil?

2005-11-04T17:15:00.000-05:00

Left and left are now divided over free trade. It used to be fairly simple: in economics, the classical left was protectionist, fearing global companies, promoting local shops and national sovereignty; while the classical right was in favor of Smith and Ricardo's theories on trade that said: the freer, the better. Those were the good ole days.

Today, the right has its protectionist in rich countries who couldn't care less about poorer countries. And the left has its free trade champions who see gains for the poor in access to market. The problem is not free trade per se, but the way it's done. Just like Oxfam (and fair traders), I'm one of them.

Protectionism has become a battle to protect jobs in rich countries against jobs in emerging countries (there goes my political career...). The contradiction between fighting for a better world and fighting to restrict the capacity of poor countries to attain economic growth has become too apparent.

Sure, there will be losers in rich countries when an economy reduces its trade barriers. But there will be winners too, most probably more of them, and the losers have the support to find new ways to participate to the economy: strong education systems and social security for instance. There is no such thing in developing nations who are waiting for an access to our markets.

Also, there's no such thing as a "loss of sovereignty" when a country signs a trade agreement - no more than there's is a loss of sovereignty when they sign a "good" agreement like the Kyoto Protocol. The sovereignty becomes shared, not lost. Countries agree to abide by shared rules because they see a gain to it. For global warming, it's obvious that no nation alone can win the battle. For global trade, there's an overall potential gain from an increase in global output.

The real scandal is that foreign nations do not have a say on a country's trade regime, because all trade partners are affected by that regime. Shouldn't the basis of democracy be that everyone has a say in the conduct of affairs that affect him/her? Then foreign affairs of foreign nations are to be included, and that's what international agreements are for until we find a better way to share responsibility.

All of this to say that I find myself an odd bedfellow of George W. Bush when he says"The Doha round really trumps the FTAA as a priority". Non-global trade agreements are not just a step towards open frontiers, they're an obstacle. Energies to open trade and fight potential losers would be better invested in the real goal: a global market where everyone has a chance to compete.

Call me a free trader. I'll say thank you.

Update: the left-of-the-center Prime Minister of Canada is on the same page.

Lobbying against development

2005-10-31T14:51:00.000-05:00

It's incredibly difficult to face the farm lobby in developed countries. Farmers have large networks of friends and relatives whom they convince of their position. They don't take international development into account, focusing instead on their situation. Who can blame them?

Inequality creates poverty

2005-10-28T17:31:00.000-04:00

Two centuries ago, kings would not have refrigerators nor cars or hot tap water. But they were not seen as poor. This shows how poverty can be a relative matter. In this world of perceptions, inequality can be the cause of poverty. This Business Week review of a book by Benjamin M. Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, highlights this issue:

As Friedman notes, there is plenty of evidence that people judge their
well-being by comparing themselves to others. As the average income in a country goes up, so do expectations. As a result, the level of GDP per person in a
country, taken alone, doesn't necessarily say much about the level of happiness.

This should be kept in mind when talking about raising income per capita. Some say that as long as the poor gets richer, we shouldn't worry that the rich get even richer. Actually, we should: we're creating poverty.

(from the World Bank's PSD Blog)

Debt relief doesn't mean more aid

2005-10-27T18:09:00.000-04:00

I've never been a fan of debt relief for poor countries: it's rarely an increase in foreign aid anyway.

"The debt relief deal, though welcome, will only generate $750 million a year in
new foreign aid - that is a 1 percent increase in total aid, assuming governments do not take the money out of the budgets of existing aid programs."
"Ranking the Rich 2005", Foreign Policy, September/October 2005

Well, they do. At my job, I've seen it first hand: a government has cut its budget to a development bank because the recent debt relief had been too costly. They had to find money somewhere else - within the official development assistance (ODA) budget, that is.

Funny to see how many self-righteous countries are actually ranking lower than the US: France and Spain at the forefront. Yes, they both beat the US hands-down at ODA as a percentage of their GDP, but this ranking clearly shows that many more factors impact on development.