The inauguration is a huge national event, but to me it is just one great big party. This inauguration has more significance because of the historical ramifications, but still, is it worth the $170m price tag?
With the current state of the economy, it would have been a PR bonanza if the Obama team had scaled down some of the festivites and donated the money to a worthy cause like job training, homeless shelters or an anti-global warming initiative.
Nathan Lustig
Were Flight 1549 Passengers Lucky the Pilot was American?
In Outliers, Gladwell talks about how Korean Airlines reduced its crashes from the most in the world to one of the safest airlines in the world. He argues that pilots from countries where it is difficult to question superiors suffer more frequent crashes than pilots from countries where questioning superiors is the norm.
I bet the passengers on Flight 1549 who had read Outliers were glad that the pilots where American and not another nationality.
If you haven’t read Outliers, see my previous post on why everyone should read it.
UW Grad New CEO of Yahoo
Carol Bartz was named the new CEO of Yahoo! today, replacing Jerry Yang. I know nothing about her, other than she’s a UW grad, which is good enough in my book!
Yahoo! faces huge challenges ahead and hopefully she can turn them around.
EDIT: My brother informs me that Bartz gave a guest lecture in one of his UW Computer Science classes this year and that she seemed smart and interesting.
Isreali/Palestinian Conflicts on Second Life
The biggest news over the last week has been Israel’s bombing and subsequent invasion of Gaza to try to stop Hamas from firing rockets into Israel.
Israel’s response has led to outcry from countries sympathetic to the Palestinians’ plight and local protests in the Arab world, London and Florida, among other places.
Now, these same protests have made their way to Second Life. For those who don’t know, Second Life “is a free 3D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using voice and text chat.” Users create avatars and can live a complete “second life” online, complete with land ownership, jobs and virtual currency.
A blogger from New World News, a Second Life blog, recently interviewed the creator of Second Life Israel to see what all of the commotion was about. He found that:
“Lots of people yelling,” Beth Odets, the creator of Second Life Israel, tells me. “They were going on and on with slurring obscenities about murderous Israeli forces, etc.” She gives me a screenshot taken during the incursion, festooned with anti-war or pro-Palestinian signs, some depicting dead Arab children.
She ended up closing SL Israel to all outsides for a few days so that things could calm down. Later, she reopened it and while there has still been some protesting, many people are talking about their experiences on both sides of the conflict. This positive dialogue may someday lead to more understanding between the two sides.
Hopefully, this virtual dialogue will be a tiny step toward creating understanding and empathy between both sides of the conflict so that a solution can happen.