Thirteen Thousand Points of Light, round the world
In this video, each moving point of light is a commercial flight, moving along its flightpath. The video shows 24 hours of aviation. Suggest you watch it on full screen to fully appreciate it.
hoopyfrood.org
The Blog at The End of the Universe : Musings on Life, the Universe and EverythingDie Deutscher Radfahrer and The Power of Time Off
March 2009, Esfahan, Iran.
I was having breakfast at the Amir Kabir hostel in Esfahan, where I was staying. As is common at hostels and while traveling, I was joined at my table by a fellow traveler. (In my ~17 days in Iran, I ate alone on only maybe three days. At least one meal a day with company.) I didn’t ask him his name. Lets call him Hans.
On Polyamory - Part Two
A followup to my earlier post about Polyamory.
Now that I’ve had time to think about it: I don’t support legal recognition of polyamory or relationships with more than two people.
My reasons?
- I think marital status should have nothing to do with state benefits. This entrenches it further.
- Not that this should matter, but many people in the poly community come across as uberliberal hipsters with an overblown sense of entitlement. I’m unwilling to let prohibitions against traditional polygamy be eroded for their sake.
- There is really no way to reconcile potential abuses with the desires of polys.
- It’s a way of expanding entitlements (welfare, dependents etc). I don’t want to pay for the expanded entitlements associated with 2+ person relationships.
- Travesties like this would be more common: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/02/08/4834833-sun.html
So, thats that. I’m sorry I wasted my time on this.
On Polyamory
As most regular readers of this blog know, I’m a strong supporter of gay rights, and gay marriage. Straight but not narrow and all that. I’ve been trying to figure out where I stand on the issue of Polyamory. On the one hand you have a small group of people trying to be happy in the relationships that bring them the most joy, i.e. relationships with multiple members. I think those relationships are legitimate and should have some kind of legal standing. On the other hand, there are fundamentalists like the Mormons and Muslims, where the women in polygamous relationships usually have very few rights. I think those “relationships” should have no protection under the law, in the interests of protecting the rights of women. How would society balance the rights of both of these groups?
To clarify: I’m not a polyamorist, however, I do think people should be able to freely be in the kind of relationships that bring them happiness.
Continued below the fold.
A conversation at the Doctor’s office
Admin: Could you fill out this form please?
hoopy: <fills out form, hands over health card>
Admin: Can I have your address and date of birth please?
hoopy: <telling her address and date of birth>
Admin: Whats your religion? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want, it’s just for the government statistics.
hoopy: Oh. ok. Agnostic.
Admin: <browsing options on computer> …don’t think they have that…
hoopy: Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Admin: hmmm. <…still browsing…>
hoopy: Atheist? Or none?
Admin: hmmm… how about “No Organized Religion?”
hoopy: works for me. <sitting down and reading Cosmo>
Stopping the Burka
An idea to end the practice of burkas / hijabs being worn in the west: Instead of making it illegal for women to wear the burka, lets make it mandatory for prostitutes to wear it.
- Heard somewhere.
cartoon by Terry Mosher, Montreal Gazette
Please direct criticism and death threats: here (NSFW). Thank you, come again.
You may also be interested in:
Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 3 of 3
The Lonely Planet is running a contest where participants submit pictures of food, for a chance to win a copy of a Lonely Planet Guidebook, and have their picture featured by Lonely Planet on their twitter feed.
It’s also a chance for me to showcase some of my favorite travel pictures. Hi Lonely Planet. In case I win, I can be reached on twitter, or at:
hoopyfrood . a t . hoopyfrood . do t. org
These are some of my entries. I am submitting 24 pictures. I will post them on this blog, eight at a time.
You can see all of the entries at:
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 1 of 3
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 2 of 3
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 3 of 3
Click below the fold to see the pictures.
Read the rest of this entry »
Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 2 of 3
The Lonely Planet is running a contest where participants submit pictures of food, for a chance to win a copy of a Lonely Planet Guidebook, and have their picture featured by Lonely Planet on their twitter feed.
It’s also a chance for me to showcase some of my favorite travel pictures. Hi Lonely Planet. In case I win, I can be reached on twitter, or at:
hoopyfrood . a t . hoopyfrood . do t. org
These are some of my entries. I am submitting 24 pictures. I will post them on this blog, eight at a time.
You can see all of the entries at:
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 1 of 3
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 2 of 3
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 3 of 3
Click below the fold to see the pictures.
Read the rest of this entry »
Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 1 of 3
The Lonely Planet is running a contest where participants submit pictures of food, for a chance to win a copy of a Lonely Planet Guidebook, and have their picture featured by Lonely Planet on their twitter feed.
It’s also a chance for me to showcase some of my favorite travel pictures. Hi Lonely Planet. In case I win, I can be reached on twitter, or at:
hoopyfrood . a t . hoopyfrood . do t. org
These are some of my entries. I am submitting 24 pictures. I will post them on this blog, eight at a time.
You can see all of the entries at:
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 1 of 3
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 2 of 3
- Lonely Planet Food Photo Contest Part 3 of 3
Click below the fold to see the pictures.
Employment vs. Production : A Parable
I don’t remember where I heard this story. But it goes like this:
Once upon a time, lets say in the 1980s, an American economist visited China. He was graciously welcomed by his hosts, the Chinese government, given an official minder, and shown around. He was shown many things the Chinese were proud of: the factories they were building, the Great Wall etc. Then he was taken to the construction site of a giant dam, where thousands of workers were industriously toiling away with shovels, building a barricade.
He asked his minders: “How come all these people are using shovels? You could get a couple of bulldozers and have a few people finish the job much quicker and more efficiently.”
His minder replied: “Yes, but we wouldn’t be able to keep all these people employed then.”
To which the economist replied: “Ah, so it’s employment you want, not productivity. Well in that case you should take away the shovels and give all these people spoons.”
It’s a story most decision makers would do well to keep in mind. Too often, means become an end in themselves. And a by-product of the ultimate goal becomes the goal. At the expense of all else. I’m sure there’s a management term for it. Michael Porter or Drucker or one of those gurus probably came up with something. Goal-derivative scope creep or something like that.
For more on the difference between Production vs. Employment and why Production is a more desirable goal, I suggest reading this post about it that goes into much more detail:
For my money, I would go for a system that is hell bent upon production and having produced, hell bent upon an equitable distribution. Given scarce resources, the most efficient production method is most desirable. If that means more computers in banks, so be it. So you have to lay off bank clerks. But if you look around, humans are somewhat inventive and entrepreneurial. The system adjusts — not smoothly or costlessly — but eventually. And if done with sufficient forethought, without too much pain.
by Gaddis
by Harris
by Sachs
