Archive for January, 2009
But Will They Thank President Bush?
Saturday, January 31st, 2009A Fair Question
Saturday, January 31st, 2009Yet More Change We Can Believe In?
Saturday, January 31st, 2009From NYT to cvilleweekly
Saturday, January 31st, 2009Marketing politics with lies
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
The stimulus package also helps prevent this.
The problem — this very dull post went on to explain — was if you started to make dishonest arguments. That is, you twist facts or leave out information in order to make your argument. Or when you claim certain principles are deeply-held when you’re actually willing to sacrifice them when convenient.
A good example of the dishonest argument came my way earlier today from the Heritage Foundation:
President Obama anticipates that spending over $800 billion will create 3.7 million new jobs. That means each job will cost more than $200,000, which is roughly equivalent to 5 times what the average American worker earns! [ Ask Heritage, the Heritage Foundation's membership site ]
Can you see what’s wrong with this? I don’t think you even have to squint.
This criticism of the bill pretends the only metric of success of the stimulus package is how many jobs are created. But large parts of the stimulus package are targeted at infrastructure improvements, education, green research, and health care — all of which are likely to have much greater effect, even if less measurable.
Green research alone is likely to spawn a new industry or two. And the economic value of increased Internet bandwidth and having bridges that don’t collapse into rivers is certain to be well worth the time and money spent.
$800 billion doesn’t just buy jobs, and the value of these investments will be felt long after the current economic crisis has passed. But the Heritage Foundation wants you to get angry and become a member, so they’re making a specious and misleading argument. That’s not a policy discussion. It’s not political philosophy.
It’s not anything but a marketing come-on.
On bowling
Saturday, January 31st, 2009Will AT&T sell computers again?
Saturday, January 31st, 2009AT&T may be headed back into the computer business. Back in the early eighties, AT&T was selling some of the best personal computers available, made by Olivetti in Italy under contract. The group I supervised at AT&T did site inspections at the Olivetti factories. AT&T also was selling the first Unix-based PC, made by Convergent Technologies. That little one piece desktop computer was one of the most brilliant early PC designs, and it was far more powerful and capable than the DOS-based boxes at the time. But AT&T made a lot of mistakes, which is fodder for another article, and eventually got out of the PC business.
AT&T's success with the iPhone has some folks wondering if they might not be getting ready to roll out a netbook, a small, lightweight laptop. If it comes with a built in cellular modem, all of a sudden, you can carry around a laptop that has a 'net connection almost everywhere, just like an iPhone.
And what if this netbook was made by Apple, and ran the same operating system that runs the iPhone and Apple's bigger laptops? And what if AT&T sold these little beasts for $99 with a two year cellular data contract?
All of a sudden, every other cellular company is in very deep trouble...
Google may damage your computer?
Saturday, January 31st, 2009If you are in the mood for a chuckle, take a look at the screen shot here, where someone discovered that Googling Google gives you a search results page warning you that every single Google service may damage your computer. Note: By the time I wrote this, Google had apparently fixed the problem.