London's weather problems

As a result of Sunday's snowstorm, London's Heathrow and other nearby airports are totally out of service, with less than half the flights managing to depart or land, all with extreme delays.  Heathrow is unprepared to deal with the snow because it's atypical that it should be there at all, since it usually not cold enough.  And as a result everything shuts down during a snowstorm (kind of like in Washington D.C.).

Scientific studies already confirmed in 2007 that global warming is responsible for the increase in rainfall in England over the years.  In addition, climate change models have long forecast that the British continent will actually experience cooling as a result of "global warming," because the warm ocean current that now passes by the UK will change its path.  London needs to get a serious strategy for dealing with such weather problems in the future, since they're only going to get worst.  Because it's pathetic to watch such a developed cities basically close down one of the busiest European airports right before the winter holidays.  

WikiLeaks needs editors

With thousands of confidential documents obtained illegally from the U.S. Government, posted on the web and translated into five languages for the world to read, Wikileaks claims to be furthering its mission of fully transparent government operations, a goal that's supposedly good for society.  Founder Julian Assange vows to continue releasing documents and doesn't seem phased by global outrage and looming U.S. criminal investigations.  

Of course government transparency is desirable, so that democracies can be knowledgeable about how their taxes are being used, how the government is actually functioning, and what things should be improved.  But in order to have an effective government--one that is fully informed on situations globally, has intelligence units that advise it on possible foreign operations that have consequences domestically, and has strategies that involve anything other than laying all its cards out on the table for the world to see and prepare for--there needs to be confidential communications within that government.  Stealing such confidential communication and distributing it to the world unnecessarily jeopardizes U.S. foreign relations and global strategies, and provides no benefit to anyone.


Wikileaks needs to get some editors, who review all the documents the website plans to release and who use some discretion when posting them.  Does this document reveal some government corruption, fraud, or dishonesty that people should know about?  And do the benefits of posting it outweigh the costs?  That would be real news reporting.  

Advertisements: There must be a better way

Advertisements have gotten so out of control that we're forced to watch an ad. for a product we don't want in order to get to watch an ad. for a product we do want.  I try to watch the Black Swan movie trailer, and I have to sit through an HP printer commercial.  I listen to some Ben Harper on Pandora and a "song" about warm winter fleeces comes on.  Amazon pleasantly surprised me by not inserting an ad. before the Kindle video I willingly watched.

The amount and annoyance of TV advertisements is the main reason I gave up watching TV in college and grad school, switching to watching YouTube, Netflix and my own DVDs.  Recently I've found TV tolerable once again, since with the help of DVR, I waste only about 4-7 seconds at each commercial break to fast forward through the commercials.

Is having more ads. in every possible place beneficial for anyone?  The number of ads. on TV and their annoyance level (e.g., volume) increases, as networks seek to increase revenue and retailers seek to increase sales.  This surely isn't making people watch more ads. though, or watch more shows on TV.  Instead people find effective methods to ignore, mute or fast forward through all that.  Networks reduce the amount of real content they show to create ad. space, advertisers waste money airing the ads., I waste time and my sanity trying to ignore all of this to get to see the things I actually like.  I guess the makers of DVR win at least.

Admittedly, I like some advertisements because they are informative, entertaining and/or funny.  Can't we find a better way to target audiences?  Like publishing a list of all the commercials for products that are available online, so people can willingly watch them.  Having a website, linked to GMail, Facebook, and other social websites, that would suggest products you would like, and offer you places to watch their ads. and links to places those products are available to buy.  Making a better commercial may actually become a competition because of the side-by-side comparisons, like the Super Bowl, and the multiple of A*N, where A = Attention people give to commercials and N = Number of people who would consider buying the product and watch the commercials, would probably go up.  The alternative (aka, the current reality), is just cruel and wasteful.

Investing in Russia

With yet another hopeless Mikhail Khodorovsky hearing scheduled for December 15th, the unsustainability of the Russian government system is increasingly evident.  Few, if any, people who know anything about Russia would deny that its leadership is corrupt, and that bribery and favoritism have long been institutionalized there.  As usual, people who challenge corruption, refuse to comply with the demands of those in power, or otherwise get in the way, become its victims.  Khodorovsky's story is a prominent example.  The lack of a competitive economy means the system can't support itself in its current state for long.

Investment in developing countries (emerging markets) such as Russia is a popular trend, with promises to get into the market early and be the first to make money off the growing economy.  But nobody really knows when the market will actually emerge, and whether you will be on the brink of success or of losing everything.  Investing in Russia is both difficult and increasingly risky for U.S. companies, but hasn't deterred them from trying.

The main problem: Developing business in Russia without having government connections and/or giving bribes is hard.

Wal-Mart recently tried to get into the Russian market and acquire Kopeyka, a discount retail chain in Russia.  Because Wal-Mart was unable to agree on a deal with Kopeyka, however, a Russian retail chain X5 Retail Group--which is owned by a Russian millionaire--will be acquiring the discount chain to maintain and solidify its number one position as the top retail chain in Russia by volume.  Most likely Wal-Mart, like many other U.S. companies, is having a hard time agreeing on a deal, while Russian companies have no problem doing so, because the U.S. prohibits its entities from giving bribes under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Meanwhile, Pepsi Co. announced its decision to buy two thirds of the Russian juice manufacturer Wimm-Bill-Dann to get an even larger stake in the Russian juice market.  This investment seems likely to succeed because Pepsi Co. already has a large stake in the Russian beverage market, has lots of assets and leverage, and most importantly apparently involved former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the final sign-off of the deal.  Will be interesting to watch the situation unfold.

Cash for Guns on NY1

Brooklyn, NY came up with a great idea to collect illegal guns: Instituting a "no questions asked" program when people turn in handguns.  Anyone who brings a gun gets $200 in exchange.  People can turn in an unlimited amount of guns, but will only be paid for a maximum of three guns, or $600.  I found out about the program on NY1, Time Warner's news channel, but the story seemed so strange that I had to look it up.  The network reported that people receive $20 in exchange for each gun, with a max of $60 per person, and that over 6,000 guns had been collected and removed from the streets.  In later summaries of the same story, NY1 recited the correct figure once, but then the network continued to re-run the $20 recording.  Way to ruin the program NY1.  Who's going to go participate with monetary incentives like that?  I'm now slightly skeptical of future facts contained in NY1 news stories.