Being a labour market researcher (yes, I've said it, I've revealed my identity yet again) I tend to use the approach or view that I use in my normal labour market analysis in other things as well. I ask people about their jobs and tenure, to examine their employability and how they fare accordingly etc. Well true, not all the time, but many times, more than others would do.
Anyhow, it struck me recently that the US president candidate race that is going on these days is quite remarkable when examined in this sense.
Of course I know I am not the first person who has thought of this, but let's look at our main candidates. (and believe you me, I am not the most enthusiast in following this race as well.. so my knowledge of it is actually quite remote)
The republican party candidate, and hasn't he won already, Mr. John McCain. He is the representative of the older worker's group. which is one of the most disadvantaged groups in the labour market. being 71, his chances of employment in the labour market should be actually down to the 1 digit levels!(In the Netherlands only 5% of older workers of over 55 who were searching for jobs actually found a stable job the following year)
The second candidate, Hilary Clinton, is also from the weak groups of the labour market in two accounts. She, being a woman, is naturally a weak group in the labour market, and on top of that she is also 60 years old which means her chances in employment as an older + female worker are in the normal labour market studies very very low.
Lastly, Barack Obama. Okay he isn't a older worker, he is a male, in his prime, normally considered the most productive age and probably has the highest employability chances. However, due to his ethnicity he can be included in the migrant workers group, even if his mother is indeed white American.(I always wonder about that if black+white=black, is it that stronger colours always trump the lighter ones? such as asian+white=asian?) Also his name which is a of an arabic/muslim origin, regardless of the fact that he is in fact Christian, as many studies conducted in Europe can show you, his name alone will decrease his chances of getting a job, even if every other criteria is the same.
So there you have it folks the three major groups that are most disadvantageous in the labour market fighting for the top spot of the labour market, US presidency. Of course they only have 30% chance of getting the spot--- just statistically thinking it was a race between the three of them. Ofcourse it can be said that McCain has 50% while as Clinton and Obama has 25% since they have to win the democratic contest.. but then again.. this is all numbers.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Friday, February 08, 2008
THREE!!
I loved the BBC three blobs when I was in Britain... watching loads of TV
but then the news came, that they might get rid of them...
Then I started to find the indents on you tube...
they are brilliant
They were made by the Wallace and Gromit people
Here are some montages I've found.
some related to special events
And then my favourite
but then the news came, that they might get rid of them...
Then I started to find the indents on you tube...
they are brilliant
They were made by the Wallace and Gromit people
Here are some montages I've found.
some related to special events
And then my favourite
Story of stuff
My friend sent me a link to this site which is called the story of stuff.
Story of stuff
It is about.. exactly what the site name says ... story of stuff.
However, it is not what we usually have in mind when we think of stuff or products.
The whole idea of this project is to make people, I think mostly aimed at Americans, more aware of exactly what it takes for us to consume things and what the consequences of this consumption is by taking a glimpse at the whole process of ..stuff.
Although for most, especially scientists or people who deal with these issues, it is a rather simplistic view on the world, it maps out the total process of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal.
Media driven NEED
The key point of this video is that we are trained or pushed by society and capital into thinking that we are in need of things, and this is driven by media which is funded by capital. That consumption, or the golden arrow of consumption, has been emphasized especially after the Second World War so that society can generate ever increasing need for it.
It also talks about how we ourselves realize ourselves through consumption these days and well media drives our needs for new stuff and buy stuff to make us feel better about ourselves or just to sustain a certain level of self image.
Production process
But more importantly, its the point that when we do this, we forget the exact process it came through or what disposing of it will do in the longer run. In other words, when we buy a product, as a consumer on its own interest, will try to buy the cheapest product available, which suits one's needs. Not taking the responsibility of how exactly this product was made to be sold for what it costs. What we fail to realize is that us, as consumers buying the product, we are in fact encouraging the previous processes of how this product came about (thus the extraction of natural resources, production= with harmful chemicals, exploitation of labour etc). The beauty of it all is that the product manufacturers are so good in hiding this and distracting our focuses elsewhere- in our realization of selves when we buy the product = marketing. Also the key ideas of capitalism are based exactly on such things, of how individuals acting on their own free interest will eventually end up in an equilibrium and of larger profit. (such is the ideas of the invisible hand market or economic liberalism)
MEAT and food
Although this video has not taken produce/food products as its main focus point, it is the same process. I think the reason why we are consuming vast amount of meat, more than doubled per capita in the last 4 decades, its because 1) its become more cheaper and available, 2) we have no idea about how it is produced. This is due to the picture of the happy cow we see on the cover of our ham. We imagine a world where ham grows from trees so to say.
We have turned ourselves into happy blissful consumers, for our own interests. We are at the point of time, where we are able to consume as much as we want to a point of Glutonny. Raised by parents who have suffered from wars, children of the mass media and marketing age we are used to easy consumption.
However, I think times are changing and although slowly, we have came to a point when we realize that this is not sustainable. The focus on economy and capital generation with short term projections will not do.
We must be responsible and take charge of what is happening.
Revolution from within
I think we are in a age or a new enlightenment, where we critique the ideas of pure capitalism. If up the era of after WW II (1950s) to the end of the cold war (1990s) can be categorized as the fight between capitalism and socialism, I think now is the time of true evaluation of our capitalist society not from a East vs. West view, but with a post-modernist view of socialism, a critique from within. Not only must we own what is rightfully ours so to say, it entails rightfully taking responsibility of our behaviours. And what I seen now more and more especially in the societies where capitalism has already flourished to its up most, is this type of need for change. People realizing that this societal structure cannot go on like this.
In this respect Marx may have been right. We might now go into socialism... hurrah~
Hard choices
Having said all this, one last point to make is that, although everything is easily said, and maybe easily understood however, it is hard for us to change our live styles to live more responsibly. Especially when we take everything into account. I have a friend, who have said that earlier on his life, he wanted to be aware of every consequence of his behaviour, especially as a consumer and a living being of this society, it ended up him not being able to do anything and being chronically depressed. He had a point there, it is that if we think of all things, it might lead us to a conclusion that its best to go rot in a flower bed somewhere because whatever you do, and however we live, we will destroy the earth somehow.
The key point is about balance, and trying to change your whole approach to things. First of all, to be more conscious of behaviour, especially your consumption behaviour- yes including food. I don't mean just buy organic food. Eat less! Eat just as much as you need. when buying anything think of the consequences of it- see where and how it was made - such as if it is fair trade, doesn't exploit labour, doesn't exploit the earth, - as well as how it looks and how cheap it is. (I've heard that in Germany there is a book called the little black book of manufacturing... or something that tells you all about the major manufacturers' production characteristics..)
Fair enough, living with these rules is not easy. If you go out and buy only organic food- first of all its hard, because with the exception of few major cities- such as Berlin, New York etc - its probably impossible to buy all organic, and will cost you at least twice as much and have been critiqued as being the new way of showing money of the upper middle class. But yeah, unfortunately this is the price we pay, but then again if many people think the same, this will form an interest group, pressure groups for politicians and government to really crack down on the food industry so that the organic mark becomes redundant because everything is grown organic.
And then comes the balance. its hard to find out exactly what is the right balance of things, so you don’t go kill yourself and are able to enjoy yourself, while being more conscious. How can we do this?
Help groups
The most important step is to reassess your ideas on what are your wants and needs are. You need shoes, but not need Pradas. You need clothes, but do not need five pairs of jeans of different designs every year. Its hard to re-train yourself into trying to really change your consumer habits, since we are almost forced into increasing our needs making ourselves believe that we need several things to survive by media and society. Think about your current living methods, and see what can be changed, little baby steps...
It might be that we actually need rehabilitation to really change our behaviours, and well the good news is that there are groups that can help - such as those who make you pledge not to buy anything for a year or the same but just for clothes. The bad news is that joining the group ain’t the end of it and this consists of a life time commitment.
Free time comes along the package
But then again, having said this, I've actually have experienced not buy anything other than food and essentials(okay I'm sorry but this included books and CDs) for a given number of months, not really as a rational choice but more because I was lazy, and you have no idea how liberating it feels. First you gain a lot of free time, because you don't have to go and waste time eye shopping, shopping for bargains, trying various things, and lastly finding something you like. All that time shopping is used on other things.
Story of stuff
It is about.. exactly what the site name says ... story of stuff.
However, it is not what we usually have in mind when we think of stuff or products.
The whole idea of this project is to make people, I think mostly aimed at Americans, more aware of exactly what it takes for us to consume things and what the consequences of this consumption is by taking a glimpse at the whole process of ..stuff.
Although for most, especially scientists or people who deal with these issues, it is a rather simplistic view on the world, it maps out the total process of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal.
Media driven NEED
The key point of this video is that we are trained or pushed by society and capital into thinking that we are in need of things, and this is driven by media which is funded by capital. That consumption, or the golden arrow of consumption, has been emphasized especially after the Second World War so that society can generate ever increasing need for it.
It also talks about how we ourselves realize ourselves through consumption these days and well media drives our needs for new stuff and buy stuff to make us feel better about ourselves or just to sustain a certain level of self image.
Production process
But more importantly, its the point that when we do this, we forget the exact process it came through or what disposing of it will do in the longer run. In other words, when we buy a product, as a consumer on its own interest, will try to buy the cheapest product available, which suits one's needs. Not taking the responsibility of how exactly this product was made to be sold for what it costs. What we fail to realize is that us, as consumers buying the product, we are in fact encouraging the previous processes of how this product came about (thus the extraction of natural resources, production= with harmful chemicals, exploitation of labour etc). The beauty of it all is that the product manufacturers are so good in hiding this and distracting our focuses elsewhere- in our realization of selves when we buy the product = marketing. Also the key ideas of capitalism are based exactly on such things, of how individuals acting on their own free interest will eventually end up in an equilibrium and of larger profit. (such is the ideas of the invisible hand market or economic liberalism)
MEAT and food
Although this video has not taken produce/food products as its main focus point, it is the same process. I think the reason why we are consuming vast amount of meat, more than doubled per capita in the last 4 decades, its because 1) its become more cheaper and available, 2) we have no idea about how it is produced. This is due to the picture of the happy cow we see on the cover of our ham. We imagine a world where ham grows from trees so to say.
We have turned ourselves into happy blissful consumers, for our own interests. We are at the point of time, where we are able to consume as much as we want to a point of Glutonny. Raised by parents who have suffered from wars, children of the mass media and marketing age we are used to easy consumption.
However, I think times are changing and although slowly, we have came to a point when we realize that this is not sustainable. The focus on economy and capital generation with short term projections will not do.
We must be responsible and take charge of what is happening.
Revolution from within
I think we are in a age or a new enlightenment, where we critique the ideas of pure capitalism. If up the era of after WW II (1950s) to the end of the cold war (1990s) can be categorized as the fight between capitalism and socialism, I think now is the time of true evaluation of our capitalist society not from a East vs. West view, but with a post-modernist view of socialism, a critique from within. Not only must we own what is rightfully ours so to say, it entails rightfully taking responsibility of our behaviours. And what I seen now more and more especially in the societies where capitalism has already flourished to its up most, is this type of need for change. People realizing that this societal structure cannot go on like this.
In this respect Marx may have been right. We might now go into socialism... hurrah~
Hard choices
Having said all this, one last point to make is that, although everything is easily said, and maybe easily understood however, it is hard for us to change our live styles to live more responsibly. Especially when we take everything into account. I have a friend, who have said that earlier on his life, he wanted to be aware of every consequence of his behaviour, especially as a consumer and a living being of this society, it ended up him not being able to do anything and being chronically depressed. He had a point there, it is that if we think of all things, it might lead us to a conclusion that its best to go rot in a flower bed somewhere because whatever you do, and however we live, we will destroy the earth somehow.
The key point is about balance, and trying to change your whole approach to things. First of all, to be more conscious of behaviour, especially your consumption behaviour- yes including food. I don't mean just buy organic food. Eat less! Eat just as much as you need. when buying anything think of the consequences of it- see where and how it was made - such as if it is fair trade, doesn't exploit labour, doesn't exploit the earth, - as well as how it looks and how cheap it is. (I've heard that in Germany there is a book called the little black book of manufacturing... or something that tells you all about the major manufacturers' production characteristics..)
Fair enough, living with these rules is not easy. If you go out and buy only organic food- first of all its hard, because with the exception of few major cities- such as Berlin, New York etc - its probably impossible to buy all organic, and will cost you at least twice as much and have been critiqued as being the new way of showing money of the upper middle class. But yeah, unfortunately this is the price we pay, but then again if many people think the same, this will form an interest group, pressure groups for politicians and government to really crack down on the food industry so that the organic mark becomes redundant because everything is grown organic.
And then comes the balance. its hard to find out exactly what is the right balance of things, so you don’t go kill yourself and are able to enjoy yourself, while being more conscious. How can we do this?
Help groups
The most important step is to reassess your ideas on what are your wants and needs are. You need shoes, but not need Pradas. You need clothes, but do not need five pairs of jeans of different designs every year. Its hard to re-train yourself into trying to really change your consumer habits, since we are almost forced into increasing our needs making ourselves believe that we need several things to survive by media and society. Think about your current living methods, and see what can be changed, little baby steps...
It might be that we actually need rehabilitation to really change our behaviours, and well the good news is that there are groups that can help - such as those who make you pledge not to buy anything for a year or the same but just for clothes. The bad news is that joining the group ain’t the end of it and this consists of a life time commitment.
Free time comes along the package
But then again, having said this, I've actually have experienced not buy anything other than food and essentials(okay I'm sorry but this included books and CDs) for a given number of months, not really as a rational choice but more because I was lazy, and you have no idea how liberating it feels. First you gain a lot of free time, because you don't have to go and waste time eye shopping, shopping for bargains, trying various things, and lastly finding something you like. All that time shopping is used on other things.
Blog hits!
Yes, I know I feel bad. I have completely abandoned my blog in the past few months.
But for good reasons!- was busy with work, sick and well other things I would rather not mention. ...
Whichever the case, I know that most of the people who come to this blog, don't come in to see what I've been writing up on, but go to very specific entries(approximately 20~30 people come every day for these entries). Just for the rest of you, who do read up on what I've been writing up on recently to see, I've taken the popular entry list from the program I have here on the blog... you can see it as well if you press the number next to the blog that show how many hits this blog had... approximately 6600 or so I think...
Anyhow here is the list of 6 Feb 2008 with the most popular blog entries
As you see its the 3D Korean beauty entry that has the most hits.. this is due to people who want to search up photos of beautiful Korean women... also the one with titles such as "beautiful Asians" also have high hit rates.
The other hits were the entries with the words "penis" and "porn" in them.
You can imagine why these may be hits.
The rest are those which are more informative... such as ... asparagus makes your urine smell, how to get good skin, dating range and how to find housing etc.
Anyhow it actually makes me a bit sad even to think that the vast number of people who come, come for very specific entries...
I wonder if they search around for other entries or just leave after seeing that?
Doesn't really matter since this whole blog started off as something for my release of brain discharge which may or may not be suitable for others.
Anyhow, I am back. and YES once again I am using up my working hours to write on this blog, regardless of who reads it or who doesn't!
But for good reasons!- was busy with work, sick and well other things I would rather not mention. ...
Whichever the case, I know that most of the people who come to this blog, don't come in to see what I've been writing up on, but go to very specific entries(approximately 20~30 people come every day for these entries). Just for the rest of you, who do read up on what I've been writing up on recently to see, I've taken the popular entry list from the program I have here on the blog... you can see it as well if you press the number next to the blog that show how many hits this blog had... approximately 6600 or so I think...
Anyhow here is the list of 6 Feb 2008 with the most popular blog entries
As you see its the 3D Korean beauty entry that has the most hits.. this is due to people who want to search up photos of beautiful Korean women... also the one with titles such as "beautiful Asians" also have high hit rates.
The other hits were the entries with the words "penis" and "porn" in them.
You can imagine why these may be hits.
The rest are those which are more informative... such as ... asparagus makes your urine smell, how to get good skin, dating range and how to find housing etc.
Anyhow it actually makes me a bit sad even to think that the vast number of people who come, come for very specific entries...
I wonder if they search around for other entries or just leave after seeing that?
Doesn't really matter since this whole blog started off as something for my release of brain discharge which may or may not be suitable for others.
Anyhow, I am back. and YES once again I am using up my working hours to write on this blog, regardless of who reads it or who doesn't!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Happy 2008~~
Happy New Years my dear fellow internet prowlers
and may I just add
fuck is it 2008 already? What happened to 1999?
and may I just add
fuck is it 2008 already? What happened to 1999?
Thursday, December 13, 2007
(Dutch )secretaries
Here in the Netherlands, being an office support staff is not a position where you serve others. No, on the contrary it is a position where you can order people around, since you have the information and the keys to office supplies.
I've written something similar about the dutch services before, but let me just add a bit more.
First of all, after having adjusted to the system here more since I've lived here for two years, I was able to "adapt" to their slow manner and impoliteness.
However, one thing I didn't know or forgot maybe was that you should never accuse them of not doing their job remotely wrong or bad. They will just make your life more miserable.
Ex) I have e-mailed our secretary who is in charge of faculty graduate issues to answer a very short list of questions which were needed for a meeting 2 weeks later. One week later, after no response I wrote back, nicely- i.e. please, if it isn't too much of a bother, many thanks in advance etc - to answer it back, and asked if she was alright. No answer and tomorrow being the meeting I went downstairs, to see she is chatting away with colleague.
I ask her if she got the e-mail and she says yes, and I ask her why she hasn't replied, she tells me it isn't her job to answer every single e-mail, and it wasn't something she could answer anyway. I told her it was two weeks ago and two e-mails and I asked her specifically if it wasn't her duty to forward it to someone else, which would've took 30 seconds. She goes, well I was sick and the sort, and I don't like you speaking to me like that. I ask her, well I have a meeting tomorrow with nothing. she starts to get really upset and trying to cry and kicks me out of the office. (in between that somewhere I asked her if it wasn't her job to facilitate the people at the graduate school - she answered "yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but yeah...")
I feel like I am dealing with a small infant, who cries all the time and pisses you off but you have to be very gentle with, or else you will pay for it, i.e. getting nothing done- which I will not be surprised if this would be the case from now on.
All in all, I have no clue what they do- seriously- but whatever it is, it ain't to facilitate people's work.
Maybe it is hiding valuable information in which none of us other workers are not capable of handling. Then again, this reminds me alot like the secretary - Carol- from Dilbert. so maybe it's a secretary thing not specifically a Dutch secretary thing- having said this my experience with Scottish/English/German/Korean secretaries are to the contrary.
I've written something similar about the dutch services before, but let me just add a bit more.
First of all, after having adjusted to the system here more since I've lived here for two years, I was able to "adapt" to their slow manner and impoliteness.
However, one thing I didn't know or forgot maybe was that you should never accuse them of not doing their job remotely wrong or bad. They will just make your life more miserable.
Ex) I have e-mailed our secretary who is in charge of faculty graduate issues to answer a very short list of questions which were needed for a meeting 2 weeks later. One week later, after no response I wrote back, nicely- i.e. please, if it isn't too much of a bother, many thanks in advance etc - to answer it back, and asked if she was alright. No answer and tomorrow being the meeting I went downstairs, to see she is chatting away with colleague.
I ask her if she got the e-mail and she says yes, and I ask her why she hasn't replied, she tells me it isn't her job to answer every single e-mail, and it wasn't something she could answer anyway. I told her it was two weeks ago and two e-mails and I asked her specifically if it wasn't her duty to forward it to someone else, which would've took 30 seconds. She goes, well I was sick and the sort, and I don't like you speaking to me like that. I ask her, well I have a meeting tomorrow with nothing. she starts to get really upset and trying to cry and kicks me out of the office. (in between that somewhere I asked her if it wasn't her job to facilitate the people at the graduate school - she answered "yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but yeah...")
I feel like I am dealing with a small infant, who cries all the time and pisses you off but you have to be very gentle with, or else you will pay for it, i.e. getting nothing done- which I will not be surprised if this would be the case from now on.
All in all, I have no clue what they do- seriously- but whatever it is, it ain't to facilitate people's work.
Maybe it is hiding valuable information in which none of us other workers are not capable of handling. Then again, this reminds me alot like the secretary - Carol- from Dilbert. so maybe it's a secretary thing not specifically a Dutch secretary thing- having said this my experience with Scottish/English/German/Korean secretaries are to the contrary.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Fuck... is it the end of the year already???
Is it me or is the time just flying by?
I mean I've heard it already, how when you are a little child because you haven't lived that many days up to that point, a day relatively seems long, where as when you are my age, - of a certain age, because you are comparing it to a longer phase of life, it just seem much shorter.
1 day for a 5 year old = 1/1825 of his life
where as 1 day for a 30 year old is 6 times faster..
which means 1 hour feels like 10 minutes. a week feels like a day, and birthdays just come like every second month or something!
And seriously, this is becoming ridiculous!
I am getting to the point where before I get used to writing down a year, 2007 for example, it passes, and I have to get used to writing down a new year!
I can't imagine what life will be when I am sixty... it will be twice as fast as now, which means, it will be literally, after I eat breakfast it will be dinner time, and well celebrating birthdays will feel a bit redundant.
Anyhow, for me, after the speed of life increase to a point where I can't control, I have started to keep my expectations of what I can do in a given day abit low. I mean like I feel like to wake up take a shower brush teeth take a dump and have three meals, get back in bed seems like an achievement on its own given the short time we have to do all of this! I mean if I manage to do anything on top of this, like floss for example, that day has been productive. No, I don't feel like I am a lazy person, who dilly dally all day. On the contrary, I am swift and agile- well I thought to be like that but these days, I don't know.
Looking around a bit on this idea of time and age, I realized that it isn't a new thing at all.(of course)
Well we have first of all, the all so famous relativity of time by Mr One Stone.... Einstein.
In his theory of General Relativity and more specifically Gravitational time dilation it is said that time pass at different rates in regions of different gravitational potential. Which means that we as adults being further away from earth than younglings, we feel that time passes much faster. (no just kidding) it is actually about if you were to be in a space ship which travels in the speed of light, what you perceive as a day will be like a year to the person left on earth because you are in that ultra super fast ship- and a different gravitational potential(here is a simple easy to understand description of this). So in these terms, when we are kids we are in space ships, which for them a minute feels like a hour for us. This is why kids move crazy fast and for us seem restless, since their lives are speed up 5 times more than what it is for us. But don't worry they all end up coming back to earth times eventually.
The psychological perception of time and its relativity to age has also been tested and proved by a group of researchers[this paper]. Through survey/experimental studies, they prove that the perception of the speed of time does indeed increase as you grow older. Also in addition to this, time to be speeding up as the Earth we live in gets older as well. In other words, we as in the people who live in current times, feel that time is much faster than people felt in the past.
Of course the validity of this argument and its methods are fully up to yous. But I would imagine you will not disagree with me on the point that time is flying by .. and well what do you know, there goes another five minutes of your life.
I mean I've heard it already, how when you are a little child because you haven't lived that many days up to that point, a day relatively seems long, where as when you are my age, - of a certain age, because you are comparing it to a longer phase of life, it just seem much shorter.
1 day for a 5 year old = 1/1825 of his life
where as 1 day for a 30 year old is 6 times faster..
which means 1 hour feels like 10 minutes. a week feels like a day, and birthdays just come like every second month or something!
And seriously, this is becoming ridiculous!
I am getting to the point where before I get used to writing down a year, 2007 for example, it passes, and I have to get used to writing down a new year!
I can't imagine what life will be when I am sixty... it will be twice as fast as now, which means, it will be literally, after I eat breakfast it will be dinner time, and well celebrating birthdays will feel a bit redundant.
Anyhow, for me, after the speed of life increase to a point where I can't control, I have started to keep my expectations of what I can do in a given day abit low. I mean like I feel like to wake up take a shower brush teeth take a dump and have three meals, get back in bed seems like an achievement on its own given the short time we have to do all of this! I mean if I manage to do anything on top of this, like floss for example, that day has been productive. No, I don't feel like I am a lazy person, who dilly dally all day. On the contrary, I am swift and agile- well I thought to be like that but these days, I don't know.
Looking around a bit on this idea of time and age, I realized that it isn't a new thing at all.(of course)
Well we have first of all, the all so famous relativity of time by Mr One Stone.... Einstein.
In his theory of General Relativity and more specifically Gravitational time dilation it is said that time pass at different rates in regions of different gravitational potential. Which means that we as adults being further away from earth than younglings, we feel that time passes much faster. (no just kidding) it is actually about if you were to be in a space ship which travels in the speed of light, what you perceive as a day will be like a year to the person left on earth because you are in that ultra super fast ship- and a different gravitational potential(here is a simple easy to understand description of this). So in these terms, when we are kids we are in space ships, which for them a minute feels like a hour for us. This is why kids move crazy fast and for us seem restless, since their lives are speed up 5 times more than what it is for us. But don't worry they all end up coming back to earth times eventually.
The psychological perception of time and its relativity to age has also been tested and proved by a group of researchers[this paper]. Through survey/experimental studies, they prove that the perception of the speed of time does indeed increase as you grow older. Also in addition to this, time to be speeding up as the Earth we live in gets older as well. In other words, we as in the people who live in current times, feel that time is much faster than people felt in the past.
Of course the validity of this argument and its methods are fully up to yous. But I would imagine you will not disagree with me on the point that time is flying by .. and well what do you know, there goes another five minutes of your life.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
WIFI like air should be free
As the use of internet becomes a necessity of life and our reliance on it increases, I believe that people should have the right to free internet access when ever and where ever they are, just as our right for clean water or clean air. It should be a public good, provided by the state as our main basic items for life. It should be free I would say, and well for the technicalities I haven't figured it out yet.
There has been some movement towards this, found in many university where you have free wireless access throughout the university campus, but also now in cities and countries.
It has been anounced that the city of Luxembourg - which is the capital of Luxembourg will provide free wireless internet throughout its land free of charge for its 75 thousand citizens and 125 thousand commuters by the end of 2008. They have projected that this project would cost approximately six million euros.
(see this article for more detail)
The city of Leiden also has an open wireless network since 2002 and many cities are now trying to plan such projects.
Whichever the case, this shows us the trend towards making internet like air.. a necessity for all.
There has been some movement towards this, found in many university where you have free wireless access throughout the university campus, but also now in cities and countries.
It has been anounced that the city of Luxembourg - which is the capital of Luxembourg will provide free wireless internet throughout its land free of charge for its 75 thousand citizens and 125 thousand commuters by the end of 2008. They have projected that this project would cost approximately six million euros.
(see this article for more detail)
The city of Leiden also has an open wireless network since 2002 and many cities are now trying to plan such projects.
Whichever the case, this shows us the trend towards making internet like air.. a necessity for all.
Friday, November 23, 2007
A way to fight low fertility issues
As a sociologist dealing with policy issues, labour markets and the sort- haha! my identity has finally been revealed!! - since the beginning of my studies - which was god knows when - dealt with the issue of low fertility rates across all industrialized countries, and the governments' strategies in tackling this problem.
One thing that has not been done, which was an idea I was toying with was the opposite of the child allowance- which is ran in most countries either through tax reduction for parents with children, or through flat rate benefits given out - we can tax the singles, or slash the singles - which is actually the same thing, flip side of the coin.
In the companies we can always discriminate against singles... as shown in the Dilbert comic below.
Ofcourse I am not serious about this, I mean like I would be the first in line to be discriminated against here, but it is an idea....
One thing that has not been done, which was an idea I was toying with was the opposite of the child allowance- which is ran in most countries either through tax reduction for parents with children, or through flat rate benefits given out - we can tax the singles, or slash the singles - which is actually the same thing, flip side of the coin.
In the companies we can always discriminate against singles... as shown in the Dilbert comic below.
Ofcourse I am not serious about this, I mean like I would be the first in line to be discriminated against here, but it is an idea....
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