Joseph Steig's Weblog

Thomas Friedman agagin: "Hummers Here, Hummers There."

Mon, 26 May 2003 01:01:34 GMT

"And so the circle is complete: President Bush won't tell Americans the truth, so we won't tell Saudis the truth, so they won't tell their extremists the truth, so they can go on pumping intolerance and we can go on guzzling gas. Someday, our kids will condemn us for all of this."

Eating Apes

Sat, 24 May 2003 17:44:14 GMT

The killing of a chimpanzee--a species that can make tools and is capable of laughter--is that an act of murder? This book explores the "bush meat" trade, that follows the newly accessible lands opened by expanded forestry activity in Africa.

Warren Buffet on why his tax rate shouldn't be 10% of that of his receptionist.

Fri, 23 May 2003 12:18:18 GMT

"The taxes I pay to the federal government, including the payroll tax that is paid for me by my employer, Berkshire Hathaway, are roughly the same proportion of my income -- about 30 percent -- as that paid by the receptionist in our office. My case is not atypical -- my earnings, like those of many rich people, are a mix of capital gains and ordinary income -- nor is it affected by tax shelters (I've never used any). "As it works out, I pay a somewhat higher rate for my combination of salary, investment and capital gain income than our receptionist does. But she pays a far higher portion of her income in payroll taxes than I do. She's not complaining: Both of us know we were lucky to be born in America. But I was luckier in that I came wired at birth with a talent for capital allocation -- a valuable ability to have had in this country during the past half century. Credit America for most of this value, not me. If the receptionist and I had both been born in, say, Bangladesh, the story would have been far different. There, the market value of our respective talents would not have varied greatly. "Now the Senate says that dividends should be tax-free to recipients. Suppose this measure goes through and the directors of Berkshire Hathaway (which does not now pay a dividend) therefore decide to pay $1 billion in dividends next year. Owning 31 percent of Berkshire, I would receive $310 million in additional income, owe not another dime in federal tax, and see my tax rate plunge to 3 percent. "And our receptionist? She'd still be paying about 30 percent, which means she would be contributing about 10 times the proportion of her income that I would to such government pursuits as fighting terrorism, waging wars and supporting the elderly. Let me repeat the point: Her overall federal tax rate would be 10 times what my rate would be."

Getting Rich One Way

Fri, 16 May 2003 09:20:41 GMT

"So you get rich with a dozen different types of tax-funded help, you become a Republican, and you live happily ever after complaining about how much you pay in taxes. Maybe President Bush was right after all, that is the American dream." from Slate Magazine.

Is it any wonder?

Wed, 23 Apr 2003 06:58:33 GMT

From the Washington Post: "The administration hopes the U.S.-led war in Iraq will lead to a crescent of democracies in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, the Israeli-occupied territories and Saudi Arabia. But it could just as easily spark a renewed fervor for Islamic rule in the crescent, officials said. "'This is a 25-year project,' one three-star general officer said. 'Everyone agreed it was a huge risk, and the outcome was not at all clear.'" Why the United States didn't anticipate this is beyond me. We backed Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war because we saw it as backing a secular state against the Shite fundamentalists of Iran. Now that there's no secular government in Iraq, is it any wonder that there's a rise of Iranian-backed, Iraqi Shite fundamentalism?

Thanks for Nothing

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 10:59:29 GMT

"But at least we have the satisfaction of knowing that we share a $10 trillion economy with some smiling companies that are doing well as a result of the war." from an amusing and appropriately bitter article by Michael Kinsey in Slate

Confessions of a strongman

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 08:38:10 GMT

"There were times when I felt really worried. There were moments when it looked like we were getting bogged down and 10 days in you were worried about how long this was going to go. Had we miscalculated?" -- Prime Minister Tony Blair, from The Guardian, April 18. Can you imagine the US President saying such a thing?

The Return of History

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 00:55:05 GMT

I have to recommend a book, "The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity" by Tariq Ali. I've really just started the book but a quote from the last chapter, titled "Letter to a young Muslim," points to central theme: "Dear Friend: Remember when you approached me after the big antiwar meeting in November 2001 (I think it was Glasgow) and asked whether I was a believer? I have not forgotten the shock you registered when I replied 'no', or the comment of your friend ('our parents warned us against you'), or the angry questions which the pair of you then began to hurl at me like darts. All of that made me think, and this little book is my reply for you and all the others like you who asked similar questions elsewhere in Europe and North America. It's heavily interlarded with history, but I hope it will suffice. When we spoke, I told you that my criticism of religion and those who use it for political ends was not a case of being diplomatic in public. Exploiters and manipulators have always used religion self-righteously to further their own selfish ends . . ." . . . as we appear to be doing right now in Iraq. Are President Bush and Osama bin Laden both pointing to the same end, the end of modernity and the horrific return of wars of fundamentalisms? Let's hope not . . . I'm not a pacifist. I've always suspected that the US would find smoking guns pointing to chemical weapons in Iraq. I've been fearful of the trajectory on which Saddam was headed. But the American subtext of religious fundamentalism is unavoidable. Will it stay submerged and subserviant to very different, secular ends? Or will it emerge as the real master?

Titans

Wed, 09 Apr 2003 12:32:58 GMT

From a Washington Post article, about differing views of the Iraq conflict from American and British forces. Note that the quote is from a US general. "Americans tend to see the fight as a medieval clash of the titans, with the population on the sidelines," said one U.S. general. "The British view it as a fight between two sides for the support of the people."

Is the United States a Microsoft or a Lunus Torvalds?

Wed, 02 Apr 2003 17:20:18 GMT

American is a country that defines itself by its creative capability, its ability to produce opportunity and possibility. This drive to create new worlds is why the entrepreneur is today's westward explorer, the iconic individual at the heart of the American psyche. And it's why this war has taken on such an particular American resonance. The believe in the right to create a new order in Iraq is firmly rooted in who we are. From whisperings it appears that the intellectual class in the Middle East (see Thomas Friedmann's column in today's NYT) is quietly intrigued by what this new order could mean for the entire Middle East. But will we get that this new world is not entirely ours to create? Will we define manifest destiny by a new code or the old code? At what point will we recognize that the "consumer" of this creation has to take over from the "producer" and shape it in a way that we can't currently imagine? I don't think an analogy to the open source movement is too far off. Will the United States in the end act like Microsoft or Linus Torvalds?

FastTrack Schedule

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 09:38:08 GMT

There's a very good, cross-platform project manager that's much cheaper and less complex than MS Project: AEC's FastTrack Schedule. I've been using the OS X version and recently I downloaded the Palm complement. It syncs perfectly with desktop files. It's the most impressive Palm software I've ever used. Pricey at $99 but I may pay the money. The product is actually easier to use on the Palm, in many respects, than on the desktop because certain ways of manipulating a GANTT chart lend themselves to pen-based computing. And the whole thing works perfectly with OS X.

Truth and war

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 14:36:31 GMT

A good article in the Boston Globe (which may not be available without charge by the time you read this) about dramatic differences between Western and Middle Eastern media images of the war. To quote: "The Arab world sees pictures of bloodied bodies of young children. They watch scenes crowded with corpses, including gruesome images of dead American soldiers. Americans see almost none of that. Their view of the war in Iraq, through television and print, is dominated by long-distance photos of bombs going off in Baghdad and intimate battlefield scenes conveyed by reporters who are traveling with US and British soldiers."

IBM or Digital?

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 09:35:30 GMT

I'll admit it. Last week, like the stock market, I got taken in by the assessment that this war could be over quickly. It won't. Is it really true that the Bush team got taken in by their own ideology and believed that despite Europe's disbelief in "America the liberator" enough Iraqis would believe to send Saddam packing? Now what's clear is a substantial number of troops would rather fight any invader no matter how "freedom loving" and that those who might rise up are cowed by memories of what happened last time they rebelled . . . and our President's father made a u-turn and left them hanging, many literally. To continue with my business analogy of the 23rd, it's like the Bush team is a big corporation trying to market products to a demographic who's buying patterns are simply outside their comprehension and analysis. Can elephants learn to dance? Do we have an IBM White House? Or is this Digitial Equipment Corporation? I wonder if our President has read Lou Gerster's latest book.

Pacifica

Tue, 25 Mar 2003 11:56:38 GMT

It's saying nothing new to say that people buy SUV's because the engender a sense of personal security. I can personally testify to a longing for a Toyota Landcruiser for just this reason. And it's nothing new to say that it's a security of the individual that's at odds with the security of the country (increased fuel consumption) and at odds with the security of drivers of smaller vehicles. But is all this bunk and the reason people really like SUV's is because those are the vehicles that have been most effectively presented to them by advertising campaigns. It will be interesting to see the effect of the emerging "cross" vehicle category (Chrysler Pacifica, for example), based on a car platform, with some of the attributes of an SUV but more of the attributes of a station wagon. As security is to SUV's, what deep desires can be associated with these vehicles?

Dancing with the elephant

Mon, 24 Mar 2003 00:39:37 GMT

I find a curious positive regard for this war from entrepreneurs who on all other things would be left-leaning and expected to suport the peace protests. The virtually unilateral action that my country has taken against Iraq breaks a contract with Europe and with the world, that America would keep its sword sheathed except in defense. But pre-emption is something that I and business friends I talk with can understand. Despite that we're very concerned that success in this war will give President Bush carte blanche (are French words still permitted . . . ?) to effect a radical right wing domestic agenda, we find outselves giving begrudging support to this military action. I think that we, and probably naively, identify with the aggressive "first to market" approach it represents. But we better identify with the perspective of Tony Blair than that of the Bush team, the latter which seems to be negatively about America's defense rather than positively about the creation of a new world. In fact, at risk of extending this line of thought too far, the President does indeed act with all the vision of a large corporation threatened by a competitive landscape it doesn't like and doesn't understand. Prime Minister Blair, on the other hand, acts like a nimble entrepreneur who recognizes that he has to play a dangerous and creative game, risking a lot in his dance with the elephant if he's to have any hope of tipping global forces in a direction that fits his global, social vision.

D-Day

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 06:55:37 GMT

Again and again, Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist articulates what I can't. His column today does it again. He says, "Our future hinges on doing this right, even if we got there wrong." Now that our country is in the position it's in, we can hope that our leaders get an "attitude lobotomy" and start engaging with the world with its concerns instead of always and only thinking about our immediate term interests.

Entourage not Mail.app

Tue, 17 Sep 2002 03:24:35 GMT

Here's why I'm back to Entourage as my mail ap, rather than Apple's Mail.app. First, after a mysterious, aborted sync with Entourage's new Palm snyc that seemed to destroy random contacts in my Entourage database, I ditched the thing in favor of Mail.app. Quickly I realized a few things. First, Mail.app is really slow. Much slower than Entourage. Second, e-mail formatting is a lot weaker. For those of you who type all your e-mail in lowercase, you could care less but for me, this is important. But most important: when I use Entourage, I keep the files on my laptop. When I'm working at my desktop, I firewire connect my laptop as a slave hard drive to my desktop. With Entourage I can easily use the same mail files. With Mail.app, because of where the files have to reside, in the Library folder, I couldn't figure out how to do the same thing. So, hello Entourage again. Good to be back. Oh, and I'm still using Daylight for contacts and calendar. The calendar is pretty slow but contact management is great and you can select a contact, click "send e-mail" and simply launch Entourage from Daylight. Works for me.

Hydrogen storage system solved?

Thu, 12 Sep 2002 01:37:39 GMT

From theCarConnection.com: "Peugeot will also launch an important concept car at the Paris shaw. The H2O has two functions: first it is a compact fire engine (based on the very successful 206) that can be very useful in urban areas and secondly, the H2O demonstrates a new system that Peugeot developed for producing hydrogen on board. On board the vehicle, there is never more than 2.5g of hydrogen, the equivalent of a glass full of petrol. Hydrogen is produced from a solution of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) and a catalyzer. The engine, fuel cell and hydrogen production are located in the front of the H2O, whereas the NaBH4-reservoir is in the rear. This reservoir is not bound to have a specific form, which is the case with the hydrogen tank, which always has to be cylindrical. With this system, PSA seems to have found the solution for storage and transportation of hydrogen under pressure."

Relaxing during the work week

Tue, 10 Sep 2002 04:58:49 GMT

Has anyone noticed that it's stressful to relax? When you're in action, working every day, there's always tomorrow to accomplish what you didn't accomplish today. When the weekend comes, suddenly stress is produced by not being able to act. Solution? Get a hobby!

DayLite

Mon, 09 Sep 2002 02:06:29 GMT

I have just been saved from sneaking out to by a Win machine by software put out by Market Circle. This product, DayLite, is the first real CRM application for the Mac. For those who have used a CRM before, it does explicitly what a program like Entourage tries to do--create the relationships between calendar events, tasks, to-do's, e-mails and track projects by their different components (meetings, participants, deadlines etc.). It's invaluble if you're managing multiple projects, multiple people. We'll see how well it works . . . I'll keep you posted. The only thing it lacks is e-mail (which the love of my Windows life, Goldmine, does have). But I've decided to switch over from Entourage to OSX Mail--as I type this it's importing all my Entourage folders. All this was sparked when I used the latest version of the Palm-Entourage Conduit on my Handspring, the thing crashed and it seemed to have randomly eliminated 1/3 of my contacts. Possibly Handspring's fault because of their lack of full support of OSX, but in any case, default response is to blame MS. Now if only Market Circle can draw on the address book of OSX. Probably too much to ask.

Traction Avant

Sat, 07 Sep 2002 02:11:28 GMT

LE MONDE, LA FAMILLE, LA TRACTION. In mid-August we were greeted to the site of hundreds of French Citroen cars in our town, for the bi-annual Citroen club rally, first time in the USA. Seeing so many of those Citroen 2CV "snail" cars is quite a site. But the most interesting to me was the Traction Avants, the first popular front-wheel drive car. These low-slung, long-fendered vehicles were sold from the 30's to the 50's. Now there's a group of aficionados who rally these cars around Australia, through Asia and across America. LE MONDE, LA FAMILLE, LA TRACTION. For a few minutes I wanted to ditch my life and go off and join them--the limo versions of these vehicles are big enough to sleep in. As the hat I bought from them says, with a Jules Verne quote: "All the greatest achievements in life have been done in the name of exaggerated hopes."