I'm sure the parents whose children died of drug-related issues want to strike out at Silk Road. But their argument seems to sound much like those who want to blame the gun manufacturer for how their product is used. Now even I, a gun-regulation-nut, thinks that not a fair position. Just how much responsibility should the maker of a product bear for the misuse of is product. If Ulbricht really just wanted to create an anonymous and untraceable way for people to communicate, should that in principle be illegal? And if he made a lot of money from his design should he be punished so harshly for its misuse? Did he promote its use among drug dealers? I don't know, but it seems to me the answers to those questions should have a bearing on the outcome.
'via Blog this'
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Mysteries, No. 1) by Louise Penny | LibraryThing
Audiobook: I almost quit listening to this book right in the beginning. I wasn’t sure where it was going, but the quality of the writing was much better than average so I kept on. Good thing. It’s a very interesting book, although I must say I didn’t care much for Gamache’s treatment of his new team member, Nicole. It appeared that he was only interested in a lackey at the feet of the master, rather than an independent thinker, a quality he called arrogant. But that’s OK, one doesn’t have to like the characters.
You can read summaries of the plot all over the place; no need to be redundant here. I liked the use of the painting providing clues and being at the heart of the dead artist’s relationship to the community. Some interesting details of archery and painting and a nice start to a series that I will certainly follow.
Not to mention fun details of Quebecois tensions with regard the “English.” “Quebec works in reality, just not on paper.” That was the response to a character complaining about the loss of rights to the English who live in Quebec, the French seemingly running the show.
'via Blog this'
Monday, May 25, 2015
Raid and the Kid by Harri Nykanen | LibraryThing
Nykanen is a Finnish writer of noir. I stumbled on his name in a review of other Finnish authors and thought I would give him a try. Despite its 280 pages, it felt like a novella.
Raid is an assassin who stumbles on a kid being chased by some South American drug runners. The kid had found several kilos of cocaine being smuggling in shipments of bananas. Son of the grocer where the bananas had been mistakenly shipped, the kid (who is much older than I would consider as a kid) decided to sell what he could, naively unworried about those who actually thought they owned the coke. Raid gets the kid out of his immediate predicament, but he knows they’ll be back so he decides to have the police get involved to take the heat of the kid and his family. Enter police Lt. Jansson who unwittingly has been investigating two murders seemingly unrelated to the coke.
The irony of this book is that it’s about 75% police procedural and really very little of the title character. Not a problem, just an observation. I would hope the author might have plans to develop a series around the police characters who, in the main, are far more interesting than Raid. Fast, uncomplicated read. Sometimes complications can be a good thing.
'via Blog this'
Organic, GMO and Industry and what "Natural" means
An excellent article by a scientist who started out defending organic food but after some research discovered some interesting history and facts. She includes some thoughts on what "natural" means. Some selective quotes below:
"I thought organic farming was based on evidence, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t designed by studying what would be best for the environment. On the contrary, to my surprise I found it’s roots were actually in biodynamic agriculture – a method that emphasizes spiritual and mystical perspectives on farming. What? How could I have missed such a point for a decade? The picture I was beginning to piece together was that being ‘organic’ was based on the idea that modern farming – industrial agriculture – was bad, and the old ways of farming were better. That whatever natural was, that was better."
"I began to question if there even was a ‘natural way to farm’? If natural was defined by, say, the exclusion of human activities, then surely there was nothing natural to farming. On the other hand, if we accepted humans as a part of nature, and our continued innovations as part of *our nature*, then all farming was natural. Saying that more traditional farming practices would be inherently better than those using more advanced technology wasn’t a concept that could be settled by a romantic appeal to nature. Only careful definitions of ‘better’, followed by observations, testing, and evaluation of evidence could tell us something about that."
The entire article is at: http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/05/22/natural-illusions-biologists-failed-attempt-to-defend-organic-food/
"I thought organic farming was based on evidence, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t designed by studying what would be best for the environment. On the contrary, to my surprise I found it’s roots were actually in biodynamic agriculture – a method that emphasizes spiritual and mystical perspectives on farming. What? How could I have missed such a point for a decade? The picture I was beginning to piece together was that being ‘organic’ was based on the idea that modern farming – industrial agriculture – was bad, and the old ways of farming were better. That whatever natural was, that was better."
"I began to question if there even was a ‘natural way to farm’? If natural was defined by, say, the exclusion of human activities, then surely there was nothing natural to farming. On the other hand, if we accepted humans as a part of nature, and our continued innovations as part of *our nature*, then all farming was natural. Saying that more traditional farming practices would be inherently better than those using more advanced technology wasn’t a concept that could be settled by a romantic appeal to nature. Only careful definitions of ‘better’, followed by observations, testing, and evaluation of evidence could tell us something about that."
The entire article is at: http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/05/22/natural-illusions-biologists-failed-attempt-to-defend-organic-food/
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Meaningless evaluations
Whenever I go to have my car fixed, I'm treated to the inevitable request at the end of the service, to fill out a questionnaire on how they performed. I also always get the admonition to be sure to give them 10 of 10 because anything below that is considered failing. If I have any issues, I need to talk with them, but not use the questionnaire to point out a deficiency
I recently spoke with someone in the hotel industry who said their company did the same thing. Anything below a perfect score was failing. I no longer fill out these questionnaires because it is apparent they are not being used to improve service, but rather to brag about how great they are. After all, if you always get perfect scores from your customers how great you must be.
Evaluations should be used to find out what you are doing wrong so it can be fixed rather than to just get a pat on the back. I see this in grading papers as well. I try to use my evaluations to point out where students need to improve, what they need to do better, but students simply want the high points not necessarily to improve. (I over-generalize about students, of course. There are many exceptions. I find few in the business world, however.)
Personally, if I were running a business, I would want customers to be honest and then use the results to measure improvement over time. My hotelier said they were used to fire staff who didn't get perfect scores for the business. That's crazy and counter-productive. Evaluations need to be used for improvement not punishment.
In the meantime, I quit filling out the dumb things.
I recently spoke with someone in the hotel industry who said their company did the same thing. Anything below a perfect score was failing. I no longer fill out these questionnaires because it is apparent they are not being used to improve service, but rather to brag about how great they are. After all, if you always get perfect scores from your customers how great you must be.
Evaluations should be used to find out what you are doing wrong so it can be fixed rather than to just get a pat on the back. I see this in grading papers as well. I try to use my evaluations to point out where students need to improve, what they need to do better, but students simply want the high points not necessarily to improve. (I over-generalize about students, of course. There are many exceptions. I find few in the business world, however.)
Personally, if I were running a business, I would want customers to be honest and then use the results to measure improvement over time. My hotelier said they were used to fire staff who didn't get perfect scores for the business. That's crazy and counter-productive. Evaluations need to be used for improvement not punishment.
In the meantime, I quit filling out the dumb things.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)