Saturday, December 24, 2005
PCPhrases.com - Politically Correct Terms
It is Christmas for those who celebrate it, but if you are not celebrating Christmas, then today is just another day (unless you are celebrating something else, though the portion of the world's population doing this is absolutely marginal). I hate the political correctness being imposed on Christmas, but I am afraid it is a battle that will be difficult to win. "Season's Greetings" is an absolutely stupid term, at least "happy holidays" works if you know someone is going on a holiday. I gladly wish my Jewish friends a happy whatever they are celebrating, but I will not wish someone a greeting for the season.
pcphrases.com presents the following greeting, though I do not actually think it is copyrighted by them. However, it is a perfect exaggeration of what this stupid planet has come to:
"Politically Correct Seasons Greetings:
Please accept with no obligation,
implied or implicit our best wishes for
an environmentally conscious,
socially responsible, low stress,
non-addictive, gender neutral,
celebration of the winter solstice
holiday, practiced within the most
enjoyable traditions of the religious
persuasion of your choice, or secular
practices of your choice, with respect
for the religious/secular persuasions
and/or traditions of others, or their
choice not to practice religious or
secular traditions at all ...
and a fiscally successful,
personally fulfilling, and medically
uncomplicated recognition of the onset
of the generally accepted calendar
year 2006, but not without due respect
for the calendars of choice of other
cultures whose contributions to
society have helped make America great,
(not to imply that America is necessarily
greater than any other country or is
the only "AMERICA" in the western
hemisphere), and without regard to the
race, creed, color, age, physical ability,
religious faith, choice of computer platform,
or sexual preference of the wishee.
- DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTABILITY -
(By accepting this greeting,
you are accepting these terms.
This greeting is subject to
clarification or withdrawal. It is freely
transferable with no alteration to the
original greeting. It implies no
promise by the wisher to actually
implement any of the wishes for
her/himself or others, and is
void where prohibited by law, and is
revocable at the sole discretion of
the wisher. This wish is warranted
to perform as expected within the
usual application of good tidings
for a period of one year, or until the
issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting,
whichever comes first, and warranty is
limited to replacement of this wish
or issuance of a new wish at the
sole discretion of the wisher.)"
Anyway, being politically correct is not something I am particularly good at, thus I wish you all best for Christmas. If you are not celebrating Christmas, I hope you at least will have a great weekend.
It is Christmas for those who celebrate it, but if you are not celebrating Christmas, then today is just another day (unless you are celebrating something else, though the portion of the world's population doing this is absolutely marginal). I hate the political correctness being imposed on Christmas, but I am afraid it is a battle that will be difficult to win. "Season's Greetings" is an absolutely stupid term, at least "happy holidays" works if you know someone is going on a holiday. I gladly wish my Jewish friends a happy whatever they are celebrating, but I will not wish someone a greeting for the season.
pcphrases.com presents the following greeting, though I do not actually think it is copyrighted by them. However, it is a perfect exaggeration of what this stupid planet has come to:
"Politically Correct Seasons Greetings:
Please accept with no obligation,
implied or implicit our best wishes for
an environmentally conscious,
socially responsible, low stress,
non-addictive, gender neutral,
celebration of the winter solstice
holiday, practiced within the most
enjoyable traditions of the religious
persuasion of your choice, or secular
practices of your choice, with respect
for the religious/secular persuasions
and/or traditions of others, or their
choice not to practice religious or
secular traditions at all ...
and a fiscally successful,
personally fulfilling, and medically
uncomplicated recognition of the onset
of the generally accepted calendar
year 2006, but not without due respect
for the calendars of choice of other
cultures whose contributions to
society have helped make America great,
(not to imply that America is necessarily
greater than any other country or is
the only "AMERICA" in the western
hemisphere), and without regard to the
race, creed, color, age, physical ability,
religious faith, choice of computer platform,
or sexual preference of the wishee.
- DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTABILITY -
(By accepting this greeting,
you are accepting these terms.
This greeting is subject to
clarification or withdrawal. It is freely
transferable with no alteration to the
original greeting. It implies no
promise by the wisher to actually
implement any of the wishes for
her/himself or others, and is
void where prohibited by law, and is
revocable at the sole discretion of
the wisher. This wish is warranted
to perform as expected within the
usual application of good tidings
for a period of one year, or until the
issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting,
whichever comes first, and warranty is
limited to replacement of this wish
or issuance of a new wish at the
sole discretion of the wisher.)"
Anyway, being politically correct is not something I am particularly good at, thus I wish you all best for Christmas. If you are not celebrating Christmas, I hope you at least will have a great weekend.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
USA TODAY Online - The Birth Of A Newspaper On The Internet
I found another essay that I wrote while in college that I had yet to publish online. By now, of course, it is outdated and of little relevance to anyone, but perhaps it can be of use to a student somewhere for research purposes.
I found another essay that I wrote while in college that I had yet to publish online. By now, of course, it is outdated and of little relevance to anyone, but perhaps it can be of use to a student somewhere for research purposes.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
CNN.com - Iran bans Western music - Dec 19, 2005: "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad"
This Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a complete nut case and needs to have his head checked. His parents must have hit him with a brick when he was young, or he is simply pissed about being poorly equipped. In any event, the guy should be locked up. He is bad news.
This Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a complete nut case and needs to have his head checked. His parents must have hit him with a brick when he was young, or he is simply pissed about being poorly equipped. In any event, the guy should be locked up. He is bad news.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Excelsior Versus Starbucks - A Strategic Analysis Of The Japanese Coffee Market
Tonight, I finally got time to post a strategic comparison I wrote on Excelsior and Starbucks, the two biggest players in the Japanese coffee market. The essay originally contained lots of neat matrixes and graphs, but I quickly discovered that converting these from a Word document to html is rather tedious. Therefore, I posted the document without any graphics, but hopefully it still makes some sense.
I should mention that I love Starbucks, mainly because of their anti smoking policy. At almost all other coffee establishments in Japan, including Doutor and Excelsior, the smokers sit in the same room as non-smokers. Most Japanese coffee shops are rather small, thus sitting in the non-smoking section will make you smell like a tobacco factory after a few minutes.
I spent a short hour in a Starbucks today reading through parts of Muhammad Yunus' book "Banker to the Poor", which mainly is an autobiography on how the author founded the Grameen Bank. My favourite Bangladeshi colleague lent it to me, and I have been reading bits and pieces of the book during the last few months. The main reason he lent me the book is probably that he and Muhammad Yunus graduated from the same Chittagong university, but perhaps he also hoped that I could have some influence on the Nobel Committee. While Muhammad Yunus has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Economics several times, he should also be eligible for the Peace Prize. However, since the Norwegian committee mainly consists of left wing socialists and outright idiots, this is not likely to happen anytime soon. Some random Kenyan tree hugger (Wangari Maathai) won the prize in 2004, while some other completely random people have won it in the past.
Since the objective assessment seems to be that Muhammad Yunus created microcredit, he has probably won a few prizes already. However, if he gives up the principle of actually having poor people repay their loans, the Norwegian committee might consider him. Another candidate I would like them to consider is Bill Gates, who is donating more money to charities than most of us can imagine.
Another very interesting fact I read in Muhammad Yunus' book is that three million Bangladehis were killed in the country's independence war from Pakistan in 1971. This is an absolutely incredible number, and I can not claim to have heard it mentioned at all in newspapers back home. Wouldn't there at least be anniversaries and stuff on tv? While there is still debate ongoing about the exact figure, in terms of human suffering, the recent liberation of Iraq appears like a picnic in comparison.
Tonight, I finally got time to post a strategic comparison I wrote on Excelsior and Starbucks, the two biggest players in the Japanese coffee market. The essay originally contained lots of neat matrixes and graphs, but I quickly discovered that converting these from a Word document to html is rather tedious. Therefore, I posted the document without any graphics, but hopefully it still makes some sense.
I should mention that I love Starbucks, mainly because of their anti smoking policy. At almost all other coffee establishments in Japan, including Doutor and Excelsior, the smokers sit in the same room as non-smokers. Most Japanese coffee shops are rather small, thus sitting in the non-smoking section will make you smell like a tobacco factory after a few minutes.
I spent a short hour in a Starbucks today reading through parts of Muhammad Yunus' book "Banker to the Poor", which mainly is an autobiography on how the author founded the Grameen Bank. My favourite Bangladeshi colleague lent it to me, and I have been reading bits and pieces of the book during the last few months. The main reason he lent me the book is probably that he and Muhammad Yunus graduated from the same Chittagong university, but perhaps he also hoped that I could have some influence on the Nobel Committee. While Muhammad Yunus has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Economics several times, he should also be eligible for the Peace Prize. However, since the Norwegian committee mainly consists of left wing socialists and outright idiots, this is not likely to happen anytime soon. Some random Kenyan tree hugger (Wangari Maathai) won the prize in 2004, while some other completely random people have won it in the past.
Since the objective assessment seems to be that Muhammad Yunus created microcredit, he has probably won a few prizes already. However, if he gives up the principle of actually having poor people repay their loans, the Norwegian committee might consider him. Another candidate I would like them to consider is Bill Gates, who is donating more money to charities than most of us can imagine.
Another very interesting fact I read in Muhammad Yunus' book is that three million Bangladehis were killed in the country's independence war from Pakistan in 1971. This is an absolutely incredible number, and I can not claim to have heard it mentioned at all in newspapers back home. Wouldn't there at least be anniversaries and stuff on tv? While there is still debate ongoing about the exact figure, in terms of human suffering, the recent liberation of Iraq appears like a picnic in comparison.
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