Race Against the Machine
October 26th, 2011A few weeks ago, a reader sent me a gift, an ebook from Amazon. I don’t have a physical Kindle reader, so I downloaded the Kindle application for Windows and, in a few seconds, I was able to read the book.
I went to look at the Amazon page for the book, A Zombie Prescription by Jose Santos, and noticed that it cost $1.99.
A buck ninety nine!? Really?
I wondered if it was common for authors to publish their books on Amazon for such low prices. Yes, it’s very common! Next, out of curiosity, I wondered if anyone ever became wealthy by selling Kindle books for a buck or two or three, totally bypassing the traditional, bloodsucking publishing industrial complex.
Be sitting down for this one…
Amanda Hocking has made two million dollars by selling her young-adult fiction stories though Amazon’s Kindle store. The ebooks cost between $1 and $3. See The Very Rich Indie Writer, if you’d like to read more about what Amanda Hocking has done.
Ok, what’s the point?
The point is that a twenty six year old woman, who was an assisted living worker until 2010 (that’s hard, low wage work, in case you don’t know), became wealthy by combining her skill as an author with the digital marketplace that Amazon provides.
In other words, the ascendency of the machine definitely cuts a couple of ways.
As grim as it is, for most, there are opportunities for individuals to attain results (asymmetric results) that are far beyond what was possible before.
I’m not saying to peg your hopes on becoming a millionaire ebook author, but rather to be open to work opportunities that do not lend themselves to automation, and/or where the market is too small for large organizations to care. Get the machine on your side, instead of the other way around.
You might be able to outsource yourself to a place with a drastically lower cost of living. That’s what Becky and I did. I earn a bit of money from Cryptogon, do some trading, and Becky runs her small business. All of this is done completely over the Internet. You don’t have to be a computer person. Becky doesn’t even go on her computer everyday. If it wasn’t for having to see how many orders she had received every two or three days, I doubt that she would spend much time online at all.
These are just a couple of examples of how people are using the machine to escape the traditional grind. Maybe some of you would like to share your experiences with using technology to find opportunities for work that might not have existed before.
Via: MIT Technology Review:
Recent advances in information technologies may be driving people out of work and enriching the already rich, a new book argues. The book challenges the long-held view that new technology displaces workers in the short term but always creates more jobs in the long term.
Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Center for Digital Business at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the center, cowrote the new e-book, Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy, which is released today.
Brynjolfsson and McAfee argue that technology seems to be doing three things simultaneously: enabling CEOs and other leaders in some fields to earn outsize incomes; replacing people with software in certain kinds of service jobs; and—as factories automate at a faster pace—benefiting owners at the expense of workers.
Some 60 percent of the wealth created in the United States between 2002 and 2007 went to the top 1 percent of Americans. This is not merely the result of financial deregulation or favorable Bush-era tax breaks; information technology has enabled the far-broader sale of digital goods and expansion of software-aided management, the pair argues.
Related: I don’t like recommending The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, because Ferriss is a shallow megalomaniac, but the book is worth reading.
Related: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal
Related: More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not People
Obama to Leno: Libya ‘A Recipe for Success’
October 26th, 2011A recipe for success?
The grinning, shill, international terrorist President of the United States talks up the regime’s atrocities on a late night comedy show, with the host, audience and millions of people out in TV land going along with it…
Holy shit.
To me, Obama’s “recipe for success” looks and sounds like a child with the lower half of his face blown off. The child’s horrifying screams emerge through a pulpy, gaping cavity where his mouth and jaw used to be. You shouldn’t watch that video, if you know what’s good for you, but it reminds me of the words of Harold Pinter:
It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.
This is why that sack of shit president can sit there and talk about saving civilians as their shredded bodies gurgle and shriek in terror.
Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening.
Via: AP / NPR:
President Obama defended the U.S. role in bringing down Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, rejecting assessments that the international coalition he helped assemble amounted to “leading from behind.” “We lead from the front,” he told late-night television host Jay Leno on Tuesday.
Laying out an argument for his emerging foreign policy doctrine, Obama distinguished the U.S. steps in Libya from the invasion and nine-year war in Iraq. He argued that by building a broad international alliance of European and Arab nations against Gadhafi, the United States saved American lives and money and achieved its goal.
“Not a single U.S. troop was on the ground,” he said. “Not a single U.S. troop was killed or injured, and that, I think, is a recipe for success in the future.”
Research Credit: CB
Gold: Quasi Inverse Top Hat
October 26th, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Squinting hard, I see a bullish inverse top hat (gap close) shaping up, target $1920.
Spot gold, daily interval
Canadian Dairy Farmer Willing to Die for Food Rights
October 26th, 2011Via: Mother Nature Network:
The right to decide what one can eat and drink seems a very basic human right. Yet, even that simple freedom can be trampled upon. Take Michael Schmidt for example. He is a biodynamic farmer with a masters degree in agriculture and has been an instrumental voice for both the rights of farmers and consumers.
Over the last 17 years Schmidt has tried to work with authorities to find solutions for providing raw milk legally to people in Canada. He feels that informed consumers should have the right to drink clean raw milk. The Canadian government disagrees. So his farm was raided as if he had contraband and his farm family terrorized. This happened despite the fact that nobody has ever gotten sick from drinking his milk. Similar situations have happened in the U.S. as well. I wonder if they sent SWAT teams to the farm that produced the cantaloupes that have made so many ill?
He was acquitted of all charges at first, but the Province of Ontario decided to appeal the acquittal and Schmidt was then found guilty of 15 of the 19 charges. I find it ironic that in a world full of evil and injustice so much attention is directed at consumers’ food choices. Michael has since gone on a hunger fast only asking that a constructive dialogue happen. He is now on his fourth week, and I want to see this man eating soon.
‘We’re ICE… The Warrant Is Coming Out Of My Balls’
October 25th, 2011Via: ACLU:
On the night of October 20, 2010, Angel Escobar and Jorge Sarmiento were in bed in their small, two-bedroom apartment in the Clairmont complex in Nashville. The doors and windows were all shut and locked. Suddenly there was a loud banging at the door and voices shouting “Police!” and “Policia!” When no one answered, the agents tried to force the door open. Scared, Jesus hid in a closet. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began hitting objects against the bedroom windows, trying to break in. Without a search warrant and without consent, the ICE agents eventually knocked in the front door and shattered a window, shouting racial slurs and storming into the bedrooms, holding guns to their heads. When asked if they had a warrant, one agent reportedly said, “We don’t need a warrant, we’re ICE,” and, gesturing to his genitals, “the warrant is coming out of my balls.”
State Debts Total Over $4 Trillion
October 25th, 2011Via: Reuters:
The total of U.S. state debt, including pension liabilities, could surpasses $4 trillion, with California owing the most and Vermont owing the least, according to an analysis released on Monday.
The nonprofit State Budget Solutions combined states’ major debt and future liabilities, primarily for pensions and employee healthcare, unemployment insurance loans, outstanding bonds and projected fiscal 2011 budget gaps. It found that in total, states are in debt for $4.2 trillion.
The group, which follows state fiscal conditions and advocates for limited spending and taxes, said the deficit calculations that states make “do not offer a full picture of the states’ liabilities and can rely on budget gimmicks and accounting games to hide the extent of the deficit.”
The housing bust, financial crisis and economic recession caused states’ tax revenue to plunge, and huge holes have emerged in their budgets over the last few years. Because all states except Vermont must end their fiscal years with balanced budgets, states have scrambled to cut spending, hike taxes, borrow and turn to the federal government for help.
Big Food’s Co-Optation of Nutrition Professionals
October 25th, 2011Via: Food Safety News:
For years now, I have been hearing about the food industry’s influence on the annual conference of the American Dietetic Association — the nation’s largest gathering of nutrition professionals–with some 7,000 registered dietitians in attendance. Last month, I witnessed it for myself and discovered the corporate takeover by Big Food was worse than I even imagined.
The top-paying sponsors, whom ADA called “partners,” were Coca-Cola, Aramark, the National Dairy Council, and Hershey (their “Center for Health and Nutrition” – really). “Premier sponsors” included PepsiCo, Mars, and General Mills.
The exhibit hall seemed more like a processed food trade show than a nutrition conference. I saw very few booths with actual information, apart from that being peddled by the likes of Nestle, Kraft, and McDonald’s, along with (of course), ubiquitous product samples, tastings, and myriad swag. (Oddly, Monsanto’s booth featured its branded, soy-based lip balm.)
But the worst cooptation came during the “educational sessions,” which should have been off limits to marketing. Numerous panels were hosted by industry players, including, “Dairy Innovations,” brought to you by (surprise!) the National Dairy Council, which also hosted a media-only session, as did others.
“Culinary” demos were offered by cooking experts such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hershey, and McNeil (maker of the fake sugar, Splenda). For attending several “Expo Impact Sessions,” described by ADA as “scientific and evidenced-based,” RDs could even earn continuing educational units. Who better to teach, “Are Sugars Toxic: What’s Wrong with Current Research?” than the Corn Refiners Association? I attended a silly session called “Snacking and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines” brought to me by the largest snacking experts in the nation, Frito-Lay, who also had a huge booth touting their deceptively-labeled “natural” products, nearby the monstrous booth hosted by parent company PepsiCo.
Related: Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry by John Stauber
Maine Congresswoman Unveils Bill to Support Small Farms, Local Food Production
October 25th, 2011Via: U.S. House of Representatives, Chellie Pingree:
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said today she will introduce a bill later this week that includes provisions that would significantly change the nation’s food policy. The Local Farm, Food, and Jobs Act would expand opportunities for local and regional farmers and make it easier for consumers to have access to healthy foods.
“This is about healthy local food and a healthy local economy. When consumers can buy affordable food grown locally, everyone wins,” Pingree said. “It creates jobs on local farms and bolsters economic growth in rural communities.”
Pingree’s bill is a package of reforms and new programs that will encourage production of local food–not only by helping local farmers and ranchers become more profitable and productive, but also by helping consumers buy locally through improved distribution systems.
Pingree says farmers markets and other local food outlets are growing rapidly and creating jobs all over the country.
“We’ve seen explosive growth in sales of local food here in Maine and all across the country. This bill breaks down barriers the federal government has put up for local food producers and really just makes it easier for people to do what they’ve already been doing,” Pingree said.
Recent reports found the number of farmers markets in the U. S. has grown 150% over the last decade, and supporting new farmers markets is expected to create thousands of new jobs.
Research Credit: R
Bodies of Gaddafi Supporters Found Executed in Sirte
October 25th, 2011Via: BBC:
The bodies of 53 Gaddafi loyalists have been found at a hotel in the Libyan city of Sirte after apparently being executed, a human rights group says.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the victims – some of whom had their hands bound – died about a week ago.
It is the latest accusation of atrocities in Libya committed by both sides during the eight-month conflict.
Van Rompuy: “The Most Important Thing Is to Strengthen Economic Convergence”
October 24th, 2011Via: AFP:
European Union leaders on Sunday agreed to change the bloc’s treaty if necessary in the interests of economic convergence and discipline, EU president Herman Van Rompuy said.
“We decided to explore the possibility of limited treaty change,” Van Rompuy said. “The aim is deepening our economic convergence and strengthening economic discipline.”
Speaking after EU leaders held crunch talks to nail down a solution to the worst economic crisis in its history, Van Rompuy said there was general agreement to ramp up discipline to save the euro, even if difficult treaty change was needed.
“Limited means not a general overhaul of the institutional architecture,” he said. “We also said that we would need the agreement of all the 27 (member states) before we can decide on a treaty change.
“The most important thing is not to change the treaty, the most important thing is to strengthen economic convergence,” he said.
The previous day, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had called for an EU treaty change allowing nations that live beyond their means to be hauled before the European Court of Justice, an idea that failed to win wide support.
