Internment

I just read an interesting interview with George Takei (Sulu from Start Trek) talking about his childhood in the internment camps set up by the Americans for any Japanese-Americans living there during the second world war. It is one of those things that is easily forgotten, America has a strange and dark history. After internment it had the McCarthy hearings, but thankfully, gradually things started to get better with the civil rights movement. George talks about being involved, meeting Martin Luther King, and how he feels a similar movement is now needed to enable him to gain legal equality for his sexuality. It makes me feel humble to think how many battles some people have fought in their life, how far society has progressed. My own partner, as a woman and with Indian parents, may not have been able to make progress in her career to the point where she could set up her own legal practice, perhaps twenty or possibly thirty years go. I just wish amidst all the progress there were no backward steps.

Rosa Parks

It was sad to hear today that Rosa Parks has died aged 92.
Reading some of her comments has left me wondering about a few things.
The first thing was her correction of a longstanding mistake:
History too often maintained "that my feet were hurting and I didn't know why I refused to stand up when they told me. But the real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long."

Another point I think should be considered is that it was not unknown for people to resist these disgraceful laws, they were not meekly followed, it was simply the case that so often resistance was dealt a swift and painful blow:
"It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in."

Another thing I have always wondered about is who was the man that asked her to move? What are, or were, his thoughts? For me this is perhaps the most critical question we can ask. Why is it that people want to treat each other so badly? I am always led by such wondering to consider every aspect of ordinary life, to make sure I am not guilty of doing bad things to others, just because that's the way things are. Sadly I always come back with the same answer, yes I continue to exploit others and will continue to do so because that's the way things are, and I don't have the strength to stand out or stand up, or even sit down.

I just hope there are more Rosa Parks to stand up to me, and others who will seize the significance of these acts.

New Music

After a long time since my last purchases:

News and Spin

I spotted a couple of headlines the other day that caught my eye:
The first came from the BBC;

Warner Bros backs two DVD formats
Hollywood film studio Warner Bros says it will back both the HD DVD and the Blu-ray next-generation DVD technologies.

The second arrived in my news feed at the same time and discussed the same story, this time covered by CNet;
Warner joins Blu-ray DVD camp
With Sony and its Blu-ray technology ahead in the DVD-format war, a second studio says HD DVD is just not enough.

Intriguing I thought, the same story with different spin. I had decided to write this article before being surprised by another BBC article in my feed, only 5 hours after the first;
Sony wins major DVD studio ally
Sony's bid to be Hollywood's format of choice for the next generation of DVDs is boosted by studio decision.

I then checked the original BBC story that I had saved, and it linked to this 'new' story.

An interesting occurrence of interpretation, incidentally I favour the second interpretation.

Business trys to make profit - shock

I was reading an article in the Observer about drink companies looking to exploit the new licensing laws and thought I would throw down and opinion.
It is not a surprise that a company is looking to make a profit, it is probably good that they wish to share the profit with the staff who make it happen. My first concern is the idea that a few marketing tricks can be successful, why is it that people fall for tricks? In this case I guess it is easier than normal because the customer is drunk. Secondly, on a more general point, I do not accept that alcohol is the problem in these situations. The problem is the need people have for getting massively drunk on a regular basis. It is not surprise that people, at some point in their life, will get massively drunk, either by accident or design, the real concern is why people are so unhappy with their lives that they need to escape so often and to such a degree.

Finally, on the licensing laws themselves, one of the aims of the legislation is to reduce binge drinking and create a more continental style of drinking. To ensure this happened one could consider adding a small addition to the legislation; research suggests that the amount of seating in a pub affects the amount of drinking. In particular a marketing trick used by pubs is to limit the number of seats to pack as many people in as possible, this then increases the amount of alcohol consumed per person. To counter this we could add some calculation of seating ratios in to the granting of licenses to pubs. I would ensure that those that had a more generous supply of comfortable seating had more generous licenses. If a pub chooses to pack large numbers of people in to a small area I would restrict the license.

Ultimately we need to address the issues surrounding peoples need to be so drunk so often, in comparison to this licensing laws are trivial.

Chess... with Boxing

You like Chess?
You like Boxing?
You'll love Chess Boxing

My Heroes

Just a little piece I liked from a company that is producing web based applications that I admire.

Taxing Times

It is quite common for people to simultaneously request lower taxes and more investment in services. If this is not achieved then it is due to government inefficiency, and only by putting in place some sort of privatised middle man can we reduce costs. Most people don't actually notice the tax they pay, of course they want more income and to pay less for goods, but they don't notice the tax. However those that pay a tax bill are far more likely to be notice the amount of tax they pay, this is usually the higher earners, including the media and opinion formers.
One of my motives for considering this is due to the many discussions now taking place on the merits of a flat rate income tax, something I oppose simply because in changing our existing system we would without doubt move the some of the tax burden from the rich to the poorest.
What I would like to see is a way of "hiding" the tax collection, this would serve to reduce the animosity and hopefully simplify the collection. So far the best idea I have come up with is a small micro tax on transactions collected from the banks, who then pass on the cost via interest rate changes rather than flat fees. If this is successful we could possibly remove income tax, which is not really paid by salaried individuals but taken before they receive their real wage. Transaction charges exist at the moment in the form of VAT, but is equally awkward to collect as "VAT deductable" is a complex science.
There will always be a debate about how much tax should be raised, big government versus little government, which is fair. My concern is that too much debate is driven by the feeling of being "hit" by a tax bill, and also a feeling that "my" money goes towards other people. The other area that should be covered is to ensure that people receive a tax invoice, marked paid, indicating what services they have consumed, which I suspect would be a surprise to many; we just need funds to pay for it.

Health Warning

A recent report released and covered in the BMJ suggests that SUVs should carry a health warning for pedestrians. Before I go on I must admit to a vested interest here as I own a SUV.
Whilst I welcome the analysis as to why a pedestrian impact with a SUV is more likely to cause death, I am a little suspicious of the conclusion that they should carry health warnings. I require extra information before I can agree with this idea, whilst leaving aside a discussion of the benefit of such a system. Firstly on there own analysis a HGV should also carry health warnings, which is not mentioned and I wonder why. More importantly I would like to compare car types for the following information; what proportion are involved in accidents with pedestrians , at what speeds do these accidents occur, and also what percentage of accidents result in fatalities. My suspicion is that many SUVs are driven at slower speeds and with more care, but I have seen enough idiots in SUVs to know this may not be the case. The final area I would like explored is the reduction in fatalities and serious injury to the occupants of SUVs in accidents and to see if on balance SUVs are safer.