The Deflated

by | Oct 11, 2005 | Uncategorized

<p>Just saw this on [l:http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1010-04.htm|Common Dreams]<br /> (originally from [l:http://www.latimes.com/|the LA Times]<br /> <b>SUV Drivers in Paris Get Wind Knocked Out of Them<br /> A clandestine group lets air out of tires as a form of protest. The vehicles' owners are not amused.</b></p> <p><cite>But five weeks after the clandestine crew of environmentalists launched a low-intensity war on SUVs in Paris, there are no casualties to report. Except, of course, for dozens of deflated gas-guzzling vehicles, said Sous-Adjudant Marrant (Sub-Warrant Officer Joker), the mysterious, masked leader of [l:http://degonfle.blogg.org/|Les Dégonflés]….The eco-guerrillas deflate tires without damaging them, smear doors with mud and paste handbills on windshields proclaiming that the vehicles are dangerous, polluting behemoths that do not belong in the city.</cite></p> <p>Brilliant! Perhaps some New Yorkers will join their friench brethren in taking up pencaps against...

Smart Mobs: Earthquake site

by | Oct 11, 2005 | Uncategorized

<p>[via <a href="http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2005/10/10/earthquake_site.html">Smart Mobs: Earthquake site</a>]:</p> <p><cite>The website allows people in the region to register as "safe and well", either directly or through local Red Crescent staff, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement. Relatives can also consult the list of those who have registered and search for names. </cite> </p><p>Well this sounds like [l:http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/main.html|Katrina People Finder] all over again. </p> <p>I read an interesting piece on [lk:http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003612.html|WorldChanging titled "Collaborative Response to Disaster"] it talks about how SMS networks and other distributed networks can be used in times of disaster. The last line is haunting:<br /> <cite>[l:http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003612.html|Maybe it's the lack of a demonstrable success story. The idea of using distributed tools for collaborative disaster alerts and response is relatively new, and the places that have moved most aggressively to adopt the model haven't been the centers of major disasters — yet. This situation won't last, though; the chance for distributed disaster tools to prove themselves is just a matter of time.]</cite></p> <p>During the first few days of the Katrina Disaster, I got an sms from Cingular asking me to reply to donate $1 to the relief efforts. That was pretty interesting. However I have not yet seen any immediate desaster response applications of SMS in America, we should be thinking of it as the Emergency Broadcast Network for the next generation. Severe weather warnings, mass transit security warnings or news about or during an incident (natural or...

The price of victory

by | Oct 11, 2005 | Uncategorized

<p>On primary night here in NYC I was doing dome back of the envelope cost per vote calculations. Well, with the help of Esther Greenbaum, I finally got down to business and ran the numbers. I am attaching my preliminary analysis. Feel free to tinker. My cost per vote is crude, net expenditures divided by number of votes. </p> <p>The big problem here is that all campaigns have certain fixed costs, like rent. So the camapaign that gets few votes looks like it spent the most per vote, because, well, it did. However that is not exactly what I wanted to show. It gives the appearance that there is a inverse correlation to spending per vote and number of votes received. This does not account for fixed costs.</p> <p>This is more a measure of efficiency. I have to come up with some other ways of looking at the data, and also dig into the detailed expenditure reports, then I would be able to isolate rent and other fixed costs (or come up with a reasonable average rent cost) and look at expenditures related to voter contact. The [l:http://www.nyccfb.info|CFB] should really do this for all matching funds participants because it is tax payer money, and we should demand accountability.</p> <p>I also tinkered with the idea of creating a ratio of contributors to votes. But again, the campaign that gets very few votes looks like it has a nice low ratio (because it does) but that doesn't mean the same thing as a campaign with lots of contributors, and lots of votes. What i would like to show is that campaign...

Reason: Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business

by | Oct 9, 2005 | Uncategorized

<p>[via <a href="http://www.reason.com/0510/fe.mf.rethinking.shtml">Reason: Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business: A <i>Reason</i> debate featuring Milton Friedman, Whole Foods%u2019 John Mackey, and Cypress Semiconductor%u2019s T.J. Rodgers</a>]:</p> <p><cite>The business model that Whole Foods has embraced could represent a new form of capitalism, one that more consciously works for the common good instead of depending solely on the <b>invisible hand</b> to generate positive results for society. The <b>brand</b> of capitalism is in terrible shape throughout the world, and corporations are widely seen as selfish, greedy, and uncaring.This is both unfortunate and unnecessary, and could be changed if businesses and economists widely adopted the business model that I have outlined here.</cite> </p><p>This article, and particularly the way John Mackey describes his business philosophy reminds me of the idea behind the [l:http://interraproject.org|Interra Project] and some of the work that I am doing for Public Intelligence (Jim Hightower's organization).</p> <p>It is a pretty good read, especially the part where Mackey responds to Rogers by pointing out:<br /> <cite>Cypress Semiconductor has struggled to be profitable for many years now, and their balance sheet shows negative retained earnings of over $408 million. This means that in its entire 23-year history, Cypress has lost far more money for its investors than it has...