Monday, November 20, 2006

One of the best cases for limited government ever made.

This Nobel Prize winner puts it pretty straightforwardly. To paraphrase: Government is not a way to put unselfish and ungreedy persons in charge of the greedy and selfish. History and experience show that government instead provides people with the greatest drive to get power over others a means to prove that "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Friedman is very practical. On numerous subjects he admits that involving government starts with motives that are good, but the implementation fails badly. He notes that sometimes the motives are pure, other times they are simply spin, but in most cases he advocates learning from how things actually work, rather how people hope they could work.


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Myths about the developing world, debunked

With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, Hans Rosling debunks a few myths about the "developing" world. He creates a new oxymoron: Exciting statistical graphics. Really impressive: some of the best you will see anywhere.

Rosling is professor of international health at Sweden's world-renowned Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a non-profit that brings vital global data to life.

(Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 20:35 - More TEDTalks.)



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Sunday, November 05, 2006

Convert files free online?

If someone you've sent a file to, or a file you've received, can't be opened, try these first:

zamzar.com
media-convert.com


Free online file conversion.

Tag it

What are all these icons?


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Thursday, November 02, 2006

Raptor Strike in slow motion




I was driving with my video camera on the seat next to me in the Fall of 2005 when I noticed a bird hovering. Zooming in I realized it was a raptor, and as I watched it dove down next to me for a strike. (Excuse the overtitled video: I was just learning the software.)


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