On New Employment Ambitions

I don't have big employment ambitions, but I enjoy watching Dilbert.

Why I Hate Microsoft

Microsoft is the most known software producer with its flagship product, Windows, operating around 90% personal computers. Is it because Windows is so good?

The success of Microsoft was based on the following:

• they won the market of personal computers in 90-s (mainly used for typing documents)
  • by buying 86-DOS and selling it to IBM,
  • by producing Windows which required less resources than its competitor OS/2,
  • and by giving the users nice-looking Word and Excel;
• once owning the market, they are doing everything to kill any possible competitor.

I hate Microsoft because of the last point. Their tactics can be both legal and illegal (looking at the number of legal processes associated with them). Sometimes they buy the competitor, or buy their customers, or make some special deals with hardware vendors, etc.

Windows might be good for some users, but it does not fit all (e.g., it is not good for the job I am doing). The lack of competition is screwing the development of personal computers.

Dear Santa, please make so that Microsoft goes bankrupt till the next Christmas, otherwise there is no-one else to stop their greed.

News

News is also a business, so they won't offer you anything you don't want to buy.

Reachmen's World

It is a well-known fact that money makes politics and in some countries lobbying is a common practice. In Latvia it is still done behind the scene, but hopefully soon all these deal will become transparent for the public. At least now there are some articles like this one(in Latvian) which bring some of the deals into the light.

On Virtual Countries

When I got upset by the nationalistic moods in discussions around the elections in Latvia, I started to think of a country that would appreciate their citizens despite their ethnic origins. Certainly, none of the existent countries would match, so I started to think of a virtual country that doesn't have any territory, but is recognized by others and has most of formal attributes, such as passports, government, (virtual) diplomatic missions, etc.

Of course, I asked the mighty internet if anyone had already had such idea, and, of course, they had. An article of the DaVinci Institute covers the possibility of creating new countries. It shows that it can be both good and bad. For example, international corporations, such as Microsoft, can declare themselves as independent countries to avoid the pressure from local governments.

On Nationalism and Politics in Latvia

October 2, 2010 is the day when the new parliament is going to be elected in Latvia. As you might know, only 60% of Latvia's population are ethnic Latvians. The other part is composed of ethnic Russians (27%), Belorussians, Ukrainians, Poles, Lithuanians, Jewish, etc. I have very international ancestry that defines me as non-Latvian (even though my grandmother comes from Mitava/Jelgava), and I am very upset to see the internet full of nationalistic calls from ethnic Latvians.

Dear Latvian nationalists, please acknowledge that there are 40% of non-Latvians living in Latvia. If you really want "Latvia for Latvians", please do something about them, because trying to ignore them proved to be an ineffective approach. Yes, I know the history. Independent Latvia was forced to self-annex to the USSR under the threat of war in 1940, and most of these 40% of non-Latvians came from other USSR territories after 1940. Some of these 40% have now even the right to vote, and they vote for their "Russian" parties who promise them more rights, such as making Russian a 2nd state language.

Please Change the World Again

The movie is called "Home" (2009). It tells you many facts accompanied with catchy images. You know most of the facts. In 15 years we will run out of drinking water, get all our planet's ice melted, exterminate 95% of animal and plant species, etc. You also know the main reason for that - the human activity in the last 50 years.

We, "the wealthy nations", got the power to extract and use a lot of resources to surround ourselves with luxury conditions. We are wasting them very much and you know that as well. We might witness the end of our civilization with our own eyes, but it is still not too late. We, "the wealthy nations", can change the world again. Start with learning about the harmful activities, non-consuming the products resulting from these activities, and forming the mechanisms to limit them.

Human life doesn't cost anything. Every moment some people die, and some new people are born. We have intellect and power, but without any worthful ideals we are no better than a horde of hungry locust. Most parasites breed fast until there is plenty of food and die out as fast when the food is finished. Is it also our scenario?

Benzine or Gas?

Economics so far is not about making our life better, it is about filling someone's pockets. So it doesn't matter if your car runs on benzine or gas. Soon they will rise prices on benzine because it is not ecological, and on gas, because of a higher demand.

Western Mantra

Everything is getting better and better, all the time, all the time ...

On Dating Scam

Hello! You don't know me, but I shall be very glad to know you better. My name is Irina. I from Russia. To me of 25 years. I tired of games and I look for serious relationship. Could it be you? I am a pleasant woman, I like sport and I love kids. I shall write more about myself and I shall send the photo when you on write to me the letter. Thenks!

Irina. irinchik@yahoo.ru

I received many messages like this one, sometimes with pictures of beautiful women in attachment. I did not really believe that so many women in Russia are so desperate to get out of the country that they broadcast it over the internet through spamming channels. I got curious what is behind it and the internet, of course, already has the answer.

The phenomenon is called "Dating Scam" or "Russian Dating Scam". The women profiles are fictional. Once you respond to such a message, an impostor will attempt to convince you to transfer some money for travel expenses, legal fees, etc. There are several initiatives against dating scam. Those include on-line databases of faked profiles, e-mail black-lists, etc.

If you know any person who is involved in such a dirty business, make him suffer until he understands his mistake.

Iededzies par Latviju

Recently I visited the capital of European sex-tourism - Riga. Not in touristic purposes, but to cheer up my mother who lives there.

I don't read Latvian news frequently so I always take a bunch of newspapers on the plane. This time most of them were talking about the crisis. In the South Tirol you don't hear about the crisis because it is doing good.

In Latvia, however, the situation is tragical. Here and there I heard the evidences for it. The government doesn't have enough money to pay out pensions in March 2009. Every day up to 10 companies go bankrupt. Some facts and figures about Latvian economy can be seen in this article.

The government is viewed as incompetent even by extra-loyal electorate. One guy as a joke wrote a petition asking Sweden to occupy Latvia. I would suggest to follow the approach of ancient Russians and to hire a professional government from Sweden.

The country is deep in debts and will have to pay them back in the following years. My aunt said: "You are a smart boy, whatever you do, don't return here." So, should I still feel patriotic?

Money As Debt

"Money as dept" is a 47 minute long movie by Paul Grignon explaining How's and Why's of the current monetary system in a very easy way.

I liked it very much and I recommend to watch it for everybody > 3 years-old :)

Here is a version with Russian dubbing-in.

On Greediness

Greediness closely relates to selfishness. I'm not a saint myself, but let me give you a situation I had to observe several times.

Imagine you found an abandoned peach tree full of ripe (big, sweet, juicy, etc.) peaches. How many peaches would you take?

I would take some 5 for me and for my friends and leave the rest for the others. A greedy person would come with a trolley and take as much as he can. A more greedy might even cut the tree to get the ones from the top.

Now, a more difficult situation. Imagine you found a pile of diamonds. How many would you take?