Tasers

Taser International will be selling their sleek new X26 model with an optional video camera add on. This is intended to protect cops from lawsuits that accuse them of improper taser use. The rechargable audiovisual recorder module can connect to a Windows PC using a USB cable. Perhaps we will see a similar system appear soon for the tactical rails that have become standard on most law enforcement pistols. This is particularly important when SWAT teams shoot babies.

Campsite Database

I would love to use a website that has a comprehensive database of all of the campsites in the US or world including pictures, fees, GPS coordinates, and a good description of the sites. It would be best if I could do a search for something like lakeside campsites within 100 miles of my zip code, then look at pictures of each site and choose the one that I like most. It would also be nice to have a message board associated with each campground so that users of the website can post comments about what to bring, how good the facilities are, and what to check out in the surrounding area.

Trypanosomes Genome Sequenced

I am very happy to hear that the genetic sequences of three virulent parasites have been determined. This information will be extremely valuable for the rational design of new drugs including small molecules and perhaps interfering RNA. What really impressed me about this research however, is just how cheap it was. The total cost for the project was in the ballpark of 32 million dollars, some of which came from the national institute of health. Knowing how tremendously beneficial this will be, I am convinced that our tax dollars are far better spent on this than on overpaying Haliburton, KBR, or other military contractors. Considering that popular support for the war in Iraq was based on a series of lies by the Bush administration, and that its cost exceeds 200 Billion dollars and the lives of over a thousand Americans and countless Iraqis, perhaps it would have been better to let Saddam have his fun for a while and cure some tragic diseases or switch the whole country over to alternative energy instead.

Bad Communication by Doctors Without Borders

Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontieres, announced that they had already reached their budget for the disaster relief caused by the waves in the Indian Ocean and that any further contributions to their organization should not be designated as only for that operation. Although I really like their organization, I found this to be a particularly bad move. You would think that a bunch of doctors would realize that it is a bad move to send the message, "We already have enough money for project X." It would just be too easy for the last part of that message to get lost in translation or for someone to mistake another organization for theirs and not provide a donation because they think that they heard it does not need any more money. What they should have done is communicate the message directly to their donors that any contributions would be better spent on their general operating budget than on one disaster relief program that is already particularly well funded. As far as I am concerned, they are trying to be too good.

What kind of people donate money to an aid organization and say that it can only be used for one particular project? Do they think that disasters elsewhere in the world are less important?

Proper Behavior

Not too long ago, I was eating in a rather fancy Italian restaurant where the tables are very close together. The group of people at the table next to mine were talking about something that was unmistakably related to a radio show that I listen to. I wanted to join their conversation, but I felt that it would be considered inpolite to do so.

I disdain the idea that a culture would value politeness over friendliness. Talking to strangers is fun, and occasionally it can yield an exchange of valuable information. I wanted to offer the group of people at the table next to mine a recommendation for a restaurant that I thought they would like. Thanks to my culturally induced reluctance to talk to them for fear of being improper, they may not try it anytime soon.

Motivation for the Saddam Story

Why would the government suggest to the media that there may be hidden messages in a press release from Saddam?

First off, they want to do anything they can to make him look bad in order to maintain support for the war.

Second, they would like an excuse to silence him.

Third, they would like to manipulate the public perception of the motives held by the insurgency. The government would like us to think that the insurgents are killing allied troops and beheading journalists and aid workers because they are a bunch of Muslim nutcases or because Saddam told them to do it. What they do not want the American public to think is that the main motivation of the insurgency is revenge. When we have killed approximately 100,000 over there, you would expect someone to get pretty pissed off that their home has been destroyed, their children have been killed, and there are American soldiers that hassle them at every turn. Al Jezeera tries to show that side of the story, and Rumsfeld and others call it terrorist television.

Perhaps Fox News should be called Genocide Television.

Schorr Propagates Propaganda

Although I usually enjoy the commentaries of Daniel Schorr, I was quite displeased to hear him indicate that Saddam Hussein may be attempting to direct the actions of the insurgency from prison. Schorr suggested that Hussein's lawyers may have used certain keywords at a press conference in Jordan that were actually cryptic instructions for the insurgency. This sort of an accusation is wrong on so many levels.

First off, you have the nature of Saddam himself. He has been repeatedly described by experts as a perpetual optimist, not the sort of person that would have a sophisticated contingency plan in case of his capture. To make arrangements like that would have been a display of weakness that is extremely uncharacteristic of him and the Iraqi people. Furthermore, in his world, if an enemy leader is captured, they are publicly shot, not allowed to stand trial and release statements to the press. Why would he expect treatment that is any different?

Second, there is the nature of the insurgency. It does not seem to have any sort of large scale organization, but rather it seems to be organized into small cells. A rebellion that is not lead by the inner circle of the Baath party would have no way of knowing how to puzzle out the meaning of a secret message. The individual insurgents seem to be motivated by revenge, a desire to free their country from occupation, and religious zeal, not loyalty to their former leader.

Any anouncements that Saddam makes from jail are purely an attempt to maintain dignity.

Jet Boil

While perusing the Outside Magazine gear of the year web site, I became aware of a company called Jetboil. These guys are doing exactly the kind of thing that I want to do as an entrepreneur, they have created an innovative, durable, aesthetically pleasing, and generally well designed product that makes use of some rather simple scientific concepts and easy to implement technology.

Far too few manufacturers make enough effort to perfect their products before releasing them into the market. It appears that none of the industry leaders bothered to examine ways to improve the efficiency of heat transfer from backpacking stove burners to the pots above them, something that would seem like a very logical task for an engineer working on such a project.

Its nice to know that two guys can still build something in their garage that is vastly better than the so called top of the line products made by venerable companies, but more than a little bit disturbing to realize just how uncommitted those companies are to producing a nearly optimal product. At least the software industry sort of does this, and yet linux is still vastly better than its commercial counterparts.