Kony

After seeing mentions of this video in the news, I was somewhat curious. But then my eleven year-old son was looking over my shoulder as I posted on Sunday and asked where I got my ideas for posts. I told him I read things in the paper, saw them on TV or the Internet. He then asked why I hadn't posted about Kony yet. So I watched the video and decided I also should take action.

Watch the video and try to keep a dry eye.

Sub-Saharan Africa is such a big mess with warlords and religious wars, failed states and piracy, rebels and armies committing atrocities, that it makes me just want to throw up my arms and wash my hands of the entire continent. After all, "What can I do?"

Well, this video answers that question quite succinctly. Force the US government to assist in the arrest of the number one war criminal at large. By the end of 2012. And he outlines the specific steps to achieve this end. They are steps that my children are willing to make. Why shouldn't I make them also?

Now there has been some negative publicity about this movement so let's spend a little time addressing it.
Sure, one of the founders was caught running around naked in San Diego but that was attributed to exhaustion and stress from the criticism. (And it did look like a nice, sunny day...)
There have been complaints that his approach is too simplistic for this complicated region and that the government Kony is fighting uses similar tactics. That's OK by me. Start at the top, capture criminal # 1 and then work our way down the list. DO NOT get involved in African politics.

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what the world looks like on the morning of April 21, 2012. Who's with me?

Polls define leadership style nowadays



Obama aides in Chicago
Daniel Borris NY Times

 According to a recent article Obama has a 'Chief Scientist' who specializes in consumer behavior, and an “Analytics Department” monitoring voter trends. All in an attempt to get a few extra percentage points in the upcoming election. They sift through Facebook, test various messages sent to different profiles of Internet users to see which get the best responses in terms of commitments of money or time. Seems like they do everything but what used to matter in an election.

Remember when leaders used to stand up for what they believed and gather a following based on them and move into elections based on those beliefs? Then the people would vote and we'd get a referendum on what really matters in America. Freeing slaves, Prohibition, Civil Rights, Supply-side economics. Whatever happened to those days?

The Republicans are not much better, with Romney switching his views on abortion to match the voter's wishes. I'm sure he'll exit the Republican primaries becoming more moderate again.

Who out there has the courage to stand by his/her convictions and put them to the test in front of the electorate? If there are any, they seem to be encouraged by their aides to take the weasely way out. Too bad. Elections are getting to be a lot less fun nowadays.

Saudi women can finally sell lingerie

What's wrong with this picture?

With women banned from retail sales in repressive Saudi Arabia, they were forced to buy from South Asian men. While the restrictive laws were designed to prevent men and women from interacting, the reverse became true as Burqa-wearing women were forced to discuss intimate details with non-related men.

The law also resulted in funny sights such as this.

In 2006 the law was repealed and women were supposed to be able to sell lingerie but, with the restrictions on driving and the lack of trained women, nothing really changed.

But Social Media came to the rescue again. With a Facebook boycott garnering 1300 signatures, King Abdullah put his power behind the rule and gave the shops until June to comply.

While it's a small victory over petty rules that dominate women's rights in Saudi Arabia, there are two very interesting aspects to it that excite me:

1. Facebook, the oil lubricating the entire Arab Spring protests, was involved again and the Saudi royals recognized its power and bowed immediately to the pressure before things became worse for them.
2. Now that the women have a foothold in retail, they will gain experience and start taking over in other areas. They will have to be able to commute to jobs either by a newly developed public transportation system or a relaxing of driving laws.

Could this small change could be to Saudi Arabia what Rosie the Riveter was to the US women's rights?

Zuckerberg is the devil

Hah! I told you he was evil! Read this small NY Times article about Mark Zuckerberg's temptations to possible employees, especially the insightful comment at the end, for proof of his aspirations:

A Walk in the Woods With Mark Zuckerberg

By NICK BILTON

NY Times, July 11, 2011
          You might think a long quiet walk through the woods with Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is a treat only his closest friends and dearest family get to enjoy. Yet a chummy stroll with one of the richest men in the world is actually reserved for a few select potential Facebook employees.
          Although the hiking path is often the same, through a wooded area of Palo Alto that skirts Stanford University, those invited change each time.
          Several people who have been courted by Mr. Zuckerberg told the same story. The 27-year-old chief executive surprises them with the idea of a walk through the woods. A little startled by the invite, people often agree, and are then led across the Facebook parking lot where they eventually end up hiking along a trail that reaches a Silicon Valley lookout. This is where Mr. Zuckerberg delivers his pitch.
          The individuals who shared these stories asked not to be named as they were asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement with Facebook during the interview process. Facebook did not respond when asked if this was a regular practice by Mr. Zuckerberg when trying to hire high-level employees.
An intimate walk with Facebook’s founder is of course a rarity in the competitive battle to work for the company. Getting a job at Facebook is considered one of the top career moves in Silicon Valley. Potential employees go through a long and arduous interview process that includes an online application, phone interviews and then in-person sessions with more Facebook employees and managers.
          But a handful of rock-star engineers and designers get to leapfrog that entire process.
          A potential employee who took a walk with Mr. Zuckerberg earlier this year said the encounter began with a very unexpected e-mail.
          “I opened my e-mail one morning and there was a message from Mark Zuckerberg. I almost choked on my coffee,” said the person. “He asked me to come down to the Facebook campus in Palo Alto to discuss possibly working for the company.”
          When the visitor arrived, he met Mr. Zuckerberg in his office, and was then immediately whisked away to the wooded trail. More than one potential employee who experienced the same encounter said the entire experience was “pretty disorienting.”
          “Zuckerberg said money wasn’t an object and that if I wanted the job — and why wouldn’t I, he questioned — the paperwork was already ready to go back at the office,” said the person, who ran a small start-up Mr. Zuckerberg was trying to acquire. “The entire experience was totally surreal. I really felt like I was on a date.”
          Another person who was taken on the same walk last year said that when they arrived at the end of the trail, they were confronted with an amazing view of Palo Alto. There, Mr. Zuckerberg stood and explained the technological history of the area.
          “He pointed out Apple’s headquarters, then Hewlett-Packard and a number of other big tech companies,” the individual explained. “Then he pointed to Facebook and said that it would eventually be bigger than all of the companies he had just mentioned, and that if I joined the company, I could be a part of it all.”

Here is the most recommended comment of this story by Kevin Koshy:

Hmm... Reminds me of a story in the bible when the devil took Jesus to a high place and showed all the kingdoms of the world, telling Jesus he would give them all to him only if he could bow down before him.

US Military using 'Internet in a Suitcase' to overthrow dictators

Clever, clever! Seizing the day, a US military project is placing 'Internet in a suitcase' in the hands of civilians living in brutal dictatorships in an attempt to aid them in their protest movements. With a combination of wireless laptops linked to secure cell phones, none of which are hooked to the government's systems, they are placing at the disposal of democracy-minded civilians, a way to communicate with each other that cannot be blocked by the host country. Here's how it works:

Read more details in the NY Times article. The military saw the advantage while in Afghanistan when they noticed that the Taliban would shut down the cell-phone system at night to run their own plans. They started placing cell-phone towers within their own protected bases to ensure that people could communicate.

This is a big step up from Voice of America where, instead of us beaming American propaganda across an Iron Curtain, we are leaking the Internet across these country borders to allow locals see what's happening here. Then they can organize their own protests using the existing social media without interference.

But will we deploy this within the brutal dictatorships that are our ostensible allies: Saudi Arabia and Bahrain?
Doubt it!

Facebook

Cast of Rent

I remember when my wife took me to the Broadway play 'Rent' and I sat there stewing in my seat. The only character I could connect with the 'evil' landlord who wanted to kick out all the low-lifes and drug users squatting rent-free in the building he OWNED so that he could sell it.

I'm getting deja vu now with the popularity of 'The Social Network'. Am I really supposed to root for the slimy thief who stole the Winklevosses idea while pretending to work for them? Just because they are tall, great-looking, aryan, olympic athletes with rich parents? Sorry but I can't.

Reading the story in the Times reveals that the Winklevosses have a legitmate claim to a settlement, especially since they sold their competing site to Facebook as part of the settlement. But Zuckerberg screwed them again during the settlement by lying about the company's valuation when converting their settlement dollars into shares.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

...according to court documents, the parties agreed to settle for a sum of $65 million. The Winklevosses then asked whether they could receive part of it in Facebook shares and agreed to a price of $35.90 for each share, based on an investment Microsoft made nearly five months earlier that pegged Facebook’s total value at $15 billion. Under that valuation, they received 1.25 million shares, putting the stock portion of the agreement at $45 million.
Yet days before the settlement, Facebook’s board signed off on an expert’s valuation that put a price of $8.88 on its shares. Facebook did not disclose that valuation, which would have given the shares a worth of $11 million. The ConnectU founders contend that Facebook’s omission was deceptive and amounted to securities fraud.

Read the whole article here:

Times Article about the Winklevoss lawsuit

Watching the movie made me sicker and sicker as I saw this jerk screwing people over, one after the other. I know that the story about the Winklevosses was true from the articles I read and the interviews I've seen. The co-founder, Eduardo Saverin seems to own a 5% stake in the company now, down from the 30% he owned at the founding. That story hurt the most, watching Zuckerberg screw over his only friend for money. I don't know if his motivation was jealousy over the popularity of his friend as the movie suggests.

Fro those who want to see more, here is a video of the Winklevosses explaining their argument with Zuckerberg:

And here is a video of the creep himself. Notice how he almost never blinks his eyes? That must be a true sign of an evil heart.

Finally, for a lighter view on the story, here is Saturday Night Live's spoof of Zuckerberg: