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When I read headlines like: Deaths as Israel storms aid ship or Israeli Massacres Go International; Commandos Kill 16 Free Gaza Activists I despair.  And then to read the vitriolic comments for and against the action, my sense of desperation grows.  I feel more strongly for the underdog and I can not fathom why such a rich and intelligent culture as Israel’s can not divine a peaceful settlement.  Very sad.  A dismal illustration of humanity’s self ignorance and destruction.

It would be comforting to believe that the production of synthetic bacteria in the laboratory is going to accelerate cures for disease, replacement body parts and sympathetic engagement with nature.  But that is not happening.  The positive hopes are the marketing headline.

The reality, proven by the track record of Venter and his hairy faced cohorts as well as other biochemical-industrialists, is that they are simply there for the money.  They want to control the market for genetic engineering.  They want to patent life.  That should be totally unacceptable to you.  But it isn’t, because you think they are good people, working for the common good.  What they are really doing is taking control of you – not your choices, but your biology.  And we are allowing it to happen.  Scientists will calmly say that there are issues and their controls are damaging.  As a banker I can be a bit more emotional, and fearful.  Precaution before permissiveness should be humanity’s approach.

BBC: Synthetic life patents ‘damaging’

BBC: Scientists make ‘artificial life’

I love the internet, mobile phones and technology that helps me stay in touch with people.

Living in a close community these technologies are almost redundant – you meet people all the time – at the shops, sports practice, the farm show and so on.  In fact some people hardly use them at all.  But if I want to stay in touch with my parents who are always travelling for the charity they work for, or my siblings who live abroad, or wider family and friends abroad that I see all too infrequently, or even colleagues, telephone, internet, etc are really great.  I can see them and they can see me – virtually.  This kind of engagement is really positive.

But when your only interaction with humanity is virtual you lose the richness of social dynamic.  You forget how to ride the waves of human emotion.  And if you’ve grown up with TV, video games, social networking etc but without the real pressures of making relationships work there is a good chance that your emotional development will be vacuous.  And that is what the research is showing.  So please get off the internet and go and try to make peace with someone in the flesh.  See your parents, brother, sister, friend and try to compromise.  It may not be as easy as clicking a few buttons on your computer or mobile phone, but it is real and it will help lift that depression.  Even if it makes you angry rather than happy, you won’t be despondent.

BBC: Young more lonely than the old, UK survey suggests

Open.coop wants to help to build a world-wide community of individuals and organisations committed to the creation of a collaborative, sustainable economy.  Their page on a dream communication system for the planet shows in pictures many of the emerging open approaches to managing humanity.  Check it out.

Well, you know I have a deep cynicism about Microsucks and Windoze, even if you haven’t read or heard it from me, the title gives it away.

So I was happy to see that some real people with real brains have created this page entitled Reasons To Avoid Microsoft.  The key/legend is fun before even reading some of the items:

And here’s an insight in to the fundamental problem with the Redmond approach (tip: it’s not about money):

There are advantages to openness per se, though not the one most often cited. Open source developers have got to be more careful and security-conscious than their closed-source counterparts. This encourages a better product overall. There is a corresponding disadvantage in closed-source software: obscurity may inconvenience blackhats a bit and help limit the number of potential attackers, but it works only so long as obscurity is maintained. Secrecy can be useful, but it is a fragile defense. Once the code is released, the software becomes an easier target than it once had been; but because it was developed with the assumption that it would not be released, it is likely to be sloppier and easier to exploit than [Open Source code].

Here’s a good primer on computer security.

While doing some background reading on transcoding I came across this page titled Computers but giving a pretty accurate description of a so called non-hardcore nerd.  It is very familiar.  So I must confess to being one.

This is the paragraph that clinched it:

… we non-hardcore nerds do have something very important in common with the hardcore nerds: we all believe that it is important to understand how things work, and when the opportunity arises, to make them work better. We are all uneasy at the thought that many non-nerds are willing to let other people figure these things out. We don’t feel comfortable not knowing how our computers work. This is why, for example, so many nerds, hardcore and non, are uncomfortable with Windows as an operating system. The idea that Microsoft knows better than anyone else how to write an operating system, and that it is OK for them to keep all the details secret because they have this great knowledge, to a nerd is patently ridiculous. Not only is it obvious to practically all Windows users that Windows has plenty of bugs (if you doubt this, surf the Microsoft Windows Update site sometime and count the number of patches released), but it is equally obvious to practically all nerds that Windows has plenty of flaws even when it is working properly. For example: do you ever wonder why Windows is the only operating system for which anti-virus software is a major piece of the market? Ever wonder why all of the big virus attacks that have made national or international headlines have exploited security flaws in Microsoft programs? (Hint: It’s not because all operating systems and software are inherently vulnerable to viruses. *)

Monsanto Plant Shut Down by Activists in Europe.  Although the video linked here looks like a news item it is more revealing because it gives a good summary of the crimes that chemical company Monsanto commits everyday.  Its only 7 minutes long.  Monsanto represents a destructive model of chemical agriculture which is keeping food out of the mouths of the poorest and even threatening our own food supply.

If you’re on a computer or phone you already believe it.  A study now gives evidence that technology increases happiness.  The main benefit is to facilitate communication.  This can be especially beneficial in both rural societies where people live are dispersed and getting in touch with your neighbour/community etc can mean a long walk/drive, and urban societies where people don’t know their neighbours but have friends elsewhere in the city.

Chartered Institute of IT: The Information Dividend: Can IT make you ‘happier’?

BBC: Technology linked to happiness, study claims

BBC: Celebrity tweets ’show happiness’

Shahbaz died in a car accident yesterday.  He is a wonderful person whose legacy lives on in the spirit of his family and all the friends that he touched with his intelligent, balanced, honest approach to life.  I miss him.

It is difficult to face death from life.  Grief is a part of that process.  Take some solace from the knowledge that we are all a small part of a big universe which changes fast, always.

Here’s what the Daily News said.

Shahbaz Mavaddat, the Southern Europe and Central Asia director of the International Finance Corporation, or IFC, was killed Monday in a traffic accident near the Aegean province of ?zmir.

Sybil Lazar, IFC’s portfolio manager for Southern Europe and Central Asia, and driver ?smail Yalç?n were injured in the crash.

The fatal accident occurred Monday at roughly 2:30 p.m. on the ?zmir-Ayd?n Highway as the vehicle carrying the two IFC executives hit a truck from behind. Mavaddat died at the scene, Do?an news agency reported, while Lazar was airlifted to ?zmir Atatürk State Hospital.

On Tuesday, officials from the IFC and the Canadian Consulate in ?zmir visited the coroner and were informed of Mavaddat’s death, Anatolia news agency said. His family has also been informed and the body will be sent to Canada, the agency reported.

In a statement, Lars Thunnel, IFC Executive Vice President and CEO, said Mavaddat was “a model of dedication to the IFC’s mission of integrity, in the conduct of IFC operations and of fairness to all staff.”

“To those who worked for him, he was a leader who inspired them to the highest standards – combining great business instincts and intellectual depth with human kindness,” Thunnel said. “And he did all of this in the most low-key, unassuming way. He will be sorely missed. We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife, Esther, and to his daughters, Carla and Ariana, whom he loved dearly.”

Mavaddat joined the IFC in 1994 and had over 20 years of international experience in project management, consulting and finance. He joined his current department in 2004 and was responsible for overseeing IFC’s work in Southern Europe and Central Asia.

Earth’s ongoing nature losses may soon begin to hit national economies.  The third Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), a major UN report, warns that some ecosystems may soon reach “tipping points” where they rapidly become less useful to humanity.  These tipping points include rapid dieback of forest, algal takeover of watercourses and mass coral reef death.

Ahmed Djoglaf, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), says “We continue to lose biodiversity at a rate never before seen in history – extinction rates may be up to 1,000 times higher than the historical background rate.”

“21% of all known mammals, 30% of all known amphibians, 12% of all known birds (and) … 27% of reef-building corals assessed … are threatened with extinction,” said Bill Jackson, deputy director general of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The relationship between nature loss and economic harm is much more than just figurative, the UN believes.   An ongoing project known as The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) is attempting to quantify the monetary value of various services that nature provides for us, such as purifying water and air, protecting coasts from storms and maintaining wildlife for ecotourism.  The rationale is that when such services disappear or are degraded, they have to be replaced out of society’s coffers.  TEEB has already calculated the annual loss of forests at $2 – 5 trillion, dwarfing costs of the banking crisis.

Humanity must stop consuming the planet.  We are consuming ourselves.

WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY?

• UN defines biodiversity as “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems”
• Considered to provide value to humanity in four ways:
• Provisioning – providing timber, fish, etc
• Regulating – disposing of pollutants, regulating rainfall
• Cultural – sacred sites, tourism, enjoyment of countryside
• Supporting – maintaining soils and plant growth

BBC: Nature loss ‘to damage economies’

CBD

Unep

IUCN

Red List

TEEB