“The Human Behavior Experiments” documentary on Sundance
A few nights ago, I caught a fascinating documentary on the
Sundance Channel entitled The
Human Behavior Experiments that revisits the question of why human beings
commit unethical acts under particular social conditions. It reviews Stanley
Milgram’s famous experiments on obedience to authority in the 1960s as well as
Stanford’s prisoner-guard study in the 1970s and Columbia’s work on group think. The
film is definitely worth the two hour investment for anyone interested in
psychology.
World cup - Who should I cheer for?
World Development Movement put together this ranking of countries competing in the world cup on ten separate economic and political issues. The data comes from recognised sources such as the UN and World Bank. From the WDM: "The issues themselves were chosen by WDM based on the criteria that we as globally concerned football fans might consider when choosing who to support when our home team isn’t playing (or if they didn’t qualify)." The data tables are particularly striking when you look at a country the size of Ghana and any superpower side by side.
Don’t beleve the hype, Dell is still kicking butt
I’ve read numerous articles in the past month about Dell’s slowing growth
and company management reevaluating its strategy going forward. In my opinion, this is a
classic example of Wall St over-reaction and research analysts applying pressure that could be detrimental
to a well-functioning organization.
I’ve had two interactions with Dell in the same period that this news has
surfaced. I ordered a new X1 laptop and it arrived ahead of schedule from
the factory. This is particularly impressive because each machine is
built-to-order. Within a week of receiving it, I broke the screen.
When I called Dell to complain, they happily sent me a replacement, which also
arrived ahead of schedule. Yesterday afternoon, I ordered an external
hard drive to back up my media library - Maxtor One Touch III - and guess
what?….it arrived today less than 24 hrs later. Oh by the way, shipping
and handling was free!! Also worth noting, I never experienced long hold
times when I called.
I’m impressed with Dell and based on my last few interactions with the
company, they’ve retained me as a loyal customer. With customer acquisition costs soaring, particularly in the fickle consumer electronics market, the value
of treating your customers well has never been higher. Dell seems to understand this and is
responding accordingly.
All hail eBay
Some friends came over recently and remarked at the excessiveness of the three bicycles in my apartment. I had to agree with them, but I realized that all three were purchased on eBay. First, the mountain bike five years ago in SF; next, the racing bike for the triathlons over the past two summers; and most recently, the commuter bike for getting around NYC. I’ve posted a photo of these three bikes below. My takeaway from this exchange, however, is that I’m still enamored with eBay. It empowers individuals to create their own free markets and as a result, is still the most powerful business model on the internet!! While I’m not in the business of making stock recommendations, eBay has been sagging. In The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, he reports that 700,000 individuals currently list eBay as either their primary or secondary source of income. With less than 20% of the world population on the internet today, that means beaucoup de growth opportunity in eBay’s future.
World Cup - Ghana
I was lucky enough to catch most of the Ghana-Czech world cup match yesterday. In the biggest upset of the world cup thus far, Ghana controlled the match and beat Czech Republic 2-0. Getting behind Ghana wasn’t difficult for me. They are one of the smallest and poorest countries repsented in the tournament. After the match, defender John Paintsil raised an Israeli flag in celebration. After some research, I discovered that Paintsil has played in the Israeli soccer league for several years, currently with Hapoel Tel Aviv and previously with Maccabbi Tel Aviv. The Israelis responded well to the recognition and issued a public statement of thanks. Unfortunately, Ghana’s next match is against the U.S. so supporting them will be more complicated.
Biking NYC
I just purchased a 2001 bianchi milano commuter bike from ebay (pic below). Price paid for those curious: $240. I’ve been looking for a good bike to ride around the city and this thing fits the bill - retro design, internal gears, splash fenders, bell and LED light on the seat for night driving. Yesterday, after stopping by the bike shop for some assistance with assembly/repairs, I took my maiden voyage from my apartment in brooklyn to a meeting on 79th and Broadway. Only 40 min - about the same as subway and what a rush!! There is something about biking in the city that is totally exhilerating. Watching all the traffic moving in different directions, predicting movements and potential danger and generally, figuring out the method to the madness gives me a satisfaction and transforms my commutes into real experiences. The exercise ain’t bad either…..
Al Gore’s powerpoint campaign launching platform - “An Inconvenient Truth”
Saw the film on Sunday. Its a provocative presentation of research and facts that outline the plight the world faces with global warming. Global warming is clearly a problem of global proportions (hence the word global), but one of which America is the largest perpetrator. Some takeaways from the film - why aren’t other countries putting more pressure on the U.S.? After all, the world doesn’t belong to us, despite the beliefs to the contrary of so many living on this land. We’re all going to suffer the same painful death and its surprising no other nations can stand up to America. Do we exercise that much power and influence on the world stage that we can do whatever we want, even if it includes destroying the very world we control? This sounds like some sort of maniacal cult leader reminiscent of Jim Jones, albeit on a larger scale….the largest. Also, if the isn’t political, why did it include 15 min on the 2000 election. I don’t see the connection there. My prediction is that Al Gore will use this film as a campaign launching platform and for good reason. A better Democratic candidate has yet to surface. I predict Al Gore will win the democratic nomination in 2006 over a capable challenger in Hillary. The country is not ready for a woman president, and even less ready than in 2000, when we all took a big right turn. My rationale is the following: all the voters who supported Gore in 2000 will do so again. Combined with the former Bush supporters who have either: a) become disillusioned with their choice and/or b) realized the acute errors in their thinking, will rally behind a candidate who is running on a similar platform, albeit boosted by: i) an image that is more likable and ii) the addition of a cause that is national and global and unequivocally affects everyone. Al Gore will be the next President of the U.S. and I pray that he will get our country back on course.
Updated July 6, 2006 -
In this month’s Wired, Lawrence Lessig seems to agree:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/posts.html?pg=6
In the very beginning…
The journalist in me is crying for a medium to express himself. And so….my blog has begun.