Book of the day: The Shock Doctrine - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Who could have thought of the connections between disasters (natural or man-made), dictatorships and free-market economy? I certainly would not have seen it if not for this book, written by Naomi Klein.

The first example occurred in New Orleans, after Katrina hit. Free-market economist seized the opportunity to rush in and replace public schools by private ones. Later in the book she has also given examples in Argentina, China and most recently, Iraq. And all of them are connected to the highly regarded, Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman.

This book is certainly an eye-opener. Of course, one should always read the other sides to every story. Reviewers at Amazon pointed out that Friedman was actually opposed to the Iraq war.

Topic of the day: do Prop 8 contributors have the right to hide?

Will the people understand that giving money to support unfair legislations (e.g., Prop 8, gay marriage ban) cannot have it all? Simply because you are afraid of boycott of your business doesn't mean you should sacrifice people's right to full disclosure and transparency. If you are so afraid of boycott, my advice: next time think before you give your money. Just so you know, you could "vote" for it and no one would know about your vote.

BTW, Prop 8 proponents have also threaten to boycott businesses that did not donate to their campaign. It is another example of "if I do it, it is right. If you do it, it is wrong."

The irony is: the people who demand for extra right (right to hide their political contribution) are the same people who take away right from others.

Music of the day: Sonatas for Guitar by Bach

This is a free download offered by the local classical station KDFC. Just visit their website, scroll down and you will find the link (require signup and iTunes installed)

This is originally written for violin (Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001: IV. Presto) and arranged by Nicholas Goluses (also the performer) If you want to play it yourself, the tab could be found here.

BTW, KDFC refers this as MP3 but it's actually in AAC format (just like everything else offered on iTunes) I guess the term MP3 has lost its original meaning!

Topic of the day: New York Times selling its stake in baseball

If you know anything about American sports, you would know NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox are the biggest rivalry. The irony is: the newspaper NY Times actually owns part of Red Sox (not Yankees!) I wonder if they have to disclose this whenever they write about Red Sox. Even more ironic is that Red Sox should actually be a better investment than the newspaper business (lost $57.8 million in 2008 because of the decline of ad revenue)

I wonder if New York Times will be joining the following publications by stopping the print version and publishing online only:
- AsianWeek
- Dr. Dobb's Journal
- PC Magazine

Maybe it's just a question of "when?"

Tech of the day: cell phone camera beep sound

The approval rating of our congress reached record low (9%) last July. If you are wondering why, take a look at New York Republican Congressman Peter King, who introduced a bill to mandate all cell phone must make a loud sound when its camera is being used for taking picture. Mr. King: what's your priority?

Topic of the day: class notes seized and destroyed

An Economics teacher (presumably in a US high school) required all students in the class to turn in their notes at the end of the semester for him (or her) to destroy so that future students of the same class cannot copy such notes.

Isn't this strange? Why should he (or she) prevent the students from referring to their notes in the future? The teacher should not prevent future students from being lazy by taking away from current students! This is just wrong. Period.

BTW, it is interesting to look at the issue from the legal standpoint. Most legal opinions on the thread pointed out that the students have right to their notes so the teacher should not be allowed to take them away.

Topic of the day: Faking for the cameras

From the February issue of the Gramophone magazine, there is an interesting article about how actors and actresses play the role of musicians in movies. We have all seen many poor performances. On the other hand, some were quite convincing. The difference is of course related to how much efforts were put into preparations.

Some actors are pretty good musicians, like Jamie Foxx, who has no problem playing the actual piano parts and sang in the Ray Charles movie (he studied classical music in college!) It's different when he prepares for the role of a cellist in the upcoming movie, "The Soloist." Even though the soundtrack will be played by another cellist, he learned how to play cello, a new instrument for him, just so he would look like a real cellist in the movie, down to the small detail like how a cello is being held.

And you could imagine how hard it would be for a non-musician, like Jessica Alba, to play a blind violinist in the movie "The Eye." She has also put in a lot of effort learning the instrument, starting with "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

So, next time when we think Hollywood actresses are all about pretty faces, think again. Successful ones like Alba worked very hard at it.

BTW, this story also reminds me of my favorite music themed movie, "The Fabulous Baker Boys", starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff and Beau Bridges. The Bridges are not pianists in real life but their performances were quite convincing. Pfeiffer sang the actual parts in the soundtrack and I enjoyed her singing very much. (Her role was originally written for Madonna!)

每週冷飯:十年前的定位問題

前言
熟悉筆者的朋友可能都知道本blog的前身是99年至04年出版的零零誌，當年筆者結束零零誌，想省掉每年要交的註冊費，於是連域名00zine.com 也放棄了，之後一直後悔！等了四年才把00zine.com買回來重頭開始過。目前的形式是每日一篇，以英文為主（在公司蛇王寫blog寫英文沒有那麼礙眼），盡可能也會寫一點中文（長期停寫恐怕會退化），或重溫一下當年的舊作（當今中外雜誌也頗為流行“開倉”炒冷飯）

以下摘自原刊登於99年11月15日（第二期）的開場白，提到“互聯網的發展令人人只要有熱誠都可以參與［發表］個人化的訊息”，預視了三年後開始大行其道的blog，筆者也算有點遠見吧 :P

我們的“口號”是探討新世紀新人類新生活感受享受以至心理命理﹐我們認為這個新世紀的特色是多元化、全球化、互動化以及網絡化﹐互聯網的發展令活在這個新世紀的新人類一方面能夠輕易吸收各方面的新資訊﹐另一方面亦有機會和廣大群眾分享個人的認知和感受﹐接觸大眾已不再是大商業傳媒機構的專利﹐也就是說資訊已不再受他們操縱﹐人人只要有熱誠都可以參與提高全“地球村”生活以至知識水平的過程﹐這個新資訊網絡可以容納大眾化的內容﹐更可以容納小眾和個人化 (personalized)的訊息﹐這也是我們出版本刊的目標。本刊的作者們都是生活在這個新世紀的新人類﹐我們在每篇文章真誠地表達個人對該話題的認知和感受﹔原創性、真實性和個人化是本刊的“個性”(personality)﹐我想我們能為大家帶來一點新鮮的、與其他主流刊物/網站不同的東西。