April 30, 2005
Microsoft Caves on Gay Rights
Microsoft withdrawing support for gay rights is kind of weird. From a business sense. What we they afraid of? A boycott? Right. It's not like we're talking about killing dolphins here.
I thought about how Starbucks embraced gay workers by extending benefits to domestic partners. It was pure genius. Fan boys praise Starbucks for their enlightment. I imagine their GLBT and progressive workers work a little bit harder.
My memory is a little bit fuzzy, so bear with me. Clinton was in office. Domestic partner benefits had just been extended to federal employees. Starbucks was one of the first companies to follow suit. Howard Schultz got to share a stage with Clinton.
Schultz is a marketing genius. Gates and Balmer less so. I can't predict the consequences to Microsoft. Missing an opportunity to improve Microsoft's public image can't be good. And I'm sure GLEAM members and their sympathizers will be just a bit less productive.
Perhaps one difference is that in the early '90s, Starbucks was young and hungry. Whereas present day Microsoft is wealthy, conservative, and risk adverse.
I thought about how Starbucks embraced gay workers by extending benefits to domestic partners. It was pure genius. Fan boys praise Starbucks for their enlightment. I imagine their GLBT and progressive workers work a little bit harder.
My memory is a little bit fuzzy, so bear with me. Clinton was in office. Domestic partner benefits had just been extended to federal employees. Starbucks was one of the first companies to follow suit. Howard Schultz got to share a stage with Clinton.
Schultz is a marketing genius. Gates and Balmer less so. I can't predict the consequences to Microsoft. Missing an opportunity to improve Microsoft's public image can't be good. And I'm sure GLEAM members and their sympathizers will be just a bit less productive.
Perhaps one difference is that in the early '90s, Starbucks was young and hungry. Whereas present day Microsoft is wealthy, conservative, and risk adverse.
Environmental Heresies
Wow. Criticisms of the environmental movement gets tiresome.
Steward Brand argues that environmentalists will have to update their positions on population growth, urbanization, genetically modified organisms, and nuclear power. Well, yea. The world changes.
Like most technophiles, Brand believes that new and improved technology will save us all. There's just two small problems. First, technological progress is always a tradeoff[1], [2]. Second, no amount of technology can overcome bad policy [3].
The world's population is projected to top out at 9.1b in 2050, up from 6.4b today. Slowing growth rate or not, that's still a bunch of people. Our earth simply does not have the necessary carrying capacity [4].
I sympathize with Jeremy Rifkin-style alarmism over GMOs. We all need critics to challenge our actions, beliefs, and status quo.
My biggest GMO-related criticisms are policy related. I don't want Monsanto and their ilk making such weighty decisions on my behalf. I'm also still befuddled by how the patent (intellectual property) protections have been extended to the life sciences. Lastly, I remain concerned about declining biodiversity.
Brand is right to praise pebble-bed reactors. They're way cool, efficient, can be mass produced, and operate utterly fail-safe. However, at best, nuclear energy is a temporary (50 year) fix. What then? Back to square one, with the added bonus of a lot more waste to cope with.
Brand would be well-served by browsing these Wikipedia entries on future energy development and world population. Like Homer Simpson discovered, the internet is on computers now. Coolness.
[1] Diffusion of Innovations
[2] Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
[3] Secrets of Cheney's Energy Task Force Come to Light
[4] Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Steward Brand argues that environmentalists will have to update their positions on population growth, urbanization, genetically modified organisms, and nuclear power. Well, yea. The world changes.
Like most technophiles, Brand believes that new and improved technology will save us all. There's just two small problems. First, technological progress is always a tradeoff[1], [2]. Second, no amount of technology can overcome bad policy [3].
The world's population is projected to top out at 9.1b in 2050, up from 6.4b today. Slowing growth rate or not, that's still a bunch of people. Our earth simply does not have the necessary carrying capacity [4].
I sympathize with Jeremy Rifkin-style alarmism over GMOs. We all need critics to challenge our actions, beliefs, and status quo.
My biggest GMO-related criticisms are policy related. I don't want Monsanto and their ilk making such weighty decisions on my behalf. I'm also still befuddled by how the patent (intellectual property) protections have been extended to the life sciences. Lastly, I remain concerned about declining biodiversity.
Brand is right to praise pebble-bed reactors. They're way cool, efficient, can be mass produced, and operate utterly fail-safe. However, at best, nuclear energy is a temporary (50 year) fix. What then? Back to square one, with the added bonus of a lot more waste to cope with.
Brand would be well-served by browsing these Wikipedia entries on future energy development and world population. Like Homer Simpson discovered, the internet is on computers now. Coolness.
[1] Diffusion of Innovations
[2] Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
[3] Secrets of Cheney's Energy Task Force Come to Light
[4] Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
April 29, 2005
Scare Crow
Here's one of the agitprop graphics I cooked up regarding the Ruling Party's enthusiasm for torture.
Bad Taste
I just tried an Odwalla Super Protein Latte drink. (Courtesy of my employer.) It's not completely disgusting. And I am getting a caffeine buzz. The Super Protein is not nearly as bad as the Odwalla Vanilla Al'mondo drink. Now that's vile. I don't have anything against soy drinks. Well, not much, anyway.
What I don't get is how these drinks get to market. Almond and soy? Together? Yuck. Separately, fantastic. Much like a beer milkshake. Who green lights these ideas?
I met some Odwalla dudes on a plane a few years back. We chatted about drinks, marketing, competition, logistics, etc. I learned that pasteurized Tropicana's Pure Premium Original Orange Juice consistent taste comes from oil additives. Hmmm.
I eventually got to ask them a question I'd long held: Why doesn't Odwalla, or somebody, produce ethnic, regional, and seasonal drinks? I love horchata (cinnamon flavored rice milk), melon flavored aqua frescas, mango lassi (mango yogurt smoothie) and karkady (sweet hibiscus tea).
The Odwalla stuffed shirts gave me the stock "Yea, those are really great ideas" brush off.
Well, somebody should take my suggestions.
What I don't get is how these drinks get to market. Almond and soy? Together? Yuck. Separately, fantastic. Much like a beer milkshake. Who green lights these ideas?
I met some Odwalla dudes on a plane a few years back. We chatted about drinks, marketing, competition, logistics, etc. I learned that pasteurized Tropicana's Pure Premium Original Orange Juice consistent taste comes from oil additives. Hmmm.
I eventually got to ask them a question I'd long held: Why doesn't Odwalla, or somebody, produce ethnic, regional, and seasonal drinks? I love horchata (cinnamon flavored rice milk), melon flavored aqua frescas, mango lassi (mango yogurt smoothie) and karkady (sweet hibiscus tea).
The Odwalla stuffed shirts gave me the stock "Yea, those are really great ideas" brush off.
Well, somebody should take my suggestions.
