“Free state-funded Universities” – is it a fraud?

That’s a nice question to pose !

If the state provides free-to-all public Universities (as in Greece for example) is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is it curing inequality? No!

Even Karl Marx int the Critique of the Gotha Program had identified the problem that this creates!

The “poor” are paying taxes so that everyone (even the “rich”) can study for free. And guess what, it’s the richer people that can send their children to universities , while the other have to work to make a living!  So the “richer” have all the benefits, the education, the higher income but they share the cost with the rest of the taxpayers. Is that fair?Is that “social justice”?

Good intentions dont always have a good result, especially when the State is paying with the taxpayers money!

So you have a very nice phrase, such as “free public Universities” and you see how this not only creates but also perpetuates differences in opportunities and in income!

Are we in trouble?

Is this generation in lots of trouble?

Is everything going to be worse for us, compared to our parents?

I could say that this is a possibility.Our parents and grandparents fought for a better future, now we have to fight to keep it!

The sad story is that the earth could be getting a non-desirable place to live. It’s not the hurricanes or even the global warming I am talking about. It’s only getting too crowded with lots of wastes around us. Even if we dont care about losing a part of biodiversity (by extinguishing a few more species), it’s bad thing for human people as well!

The world could be changing to be more environmentall, to protect or to create a viable environment for all of us – and for our children.

Take a look at  World Changing! – worldchanging was founded on the idea that real solutions already exist for building the future we want. it’s just a matter of grabbing hold and getting moving.

On the other hand it’s getting better.

The percentage of people living in absolute poverty worldwide is obviously dropping.They get more access to clean water and education. Most of us will be able to buy more than our parents could. We consume more and better quality goods. It seems that there is less possibility for a world war now , than a few years earlier. World is getting a better place to live – one step at a time!

I am not yet convinced that the world as we know it will end sometime soon from a huge hurricane or tsunamis striking every coast of the planet.I feel that the solution lies inside human nature – it will be studied by scientists and engineers will solve the problems in ways that will make the next generation live in a cleaner environment than we did!

Picture by Rick Smit, titled: Forest in Netherlands

Watching TV online

This is an Updated List of sites who offer free online TV.

A few days ago “The Venice Project” , an interactive software for distributing TV shows and other forms of video over the Web using peer-to-peer technology, was renamed to Joost.

In a slightly different area, Apple is offering movies for purchase and download through the iTunes Stores.

IMHO,they re all fighting for a market not shaped yet.

Tell me baby

Red Hot Chilly Peppers
Album: Stadium Arcadium

Tell me baby what’s your story
Where you come from
And where you wanna go this time
Tell me lover are you lonely
The thing we need is
Never all that hard to find
Tell me baby what’s your story
Where do you come from
And where you wanna go this time
Your so lovely are you lonely
Giving up on the innocence you left behind
Picture by Owen B. – flickr

Universities in Greece

One main problem with greek universities, as stated by a yound student on a tv show is that “noone cares”.

When studying in Greece actually nobody cares if you re a genius or stupid. No one gives a damn about your presence. You get that feeling from the first day that there is a well hidden secret to be revealed to you from the professors.But there are no secrets!

The harsh reality is that there are a few gifted students and a few hard working teachers fighting to give the most they can in a non-productive system. The majority is just pushed softly to average or below average studying.

They say that the nail that stands up gets hammered. This is not the case for studying in Greece. I would rephrase it like “Noone cares! You can work hard or not work at all , nobody will notice..!”

Is change good or bad?

I always thought that change, especially when it comes to big technological leaps forward, is a good thing. I ve come to believe that this is not true.

I think that people dont want to see changes unless they re a part of it. And they rarely are a part of it.

People should know when the world is changed around them. But they dont have time and they dont have the need to do so. And they reject change. They believe that the world is the same as it has been in the 20th century. They refuse to see that we live as citizens of the world. They refuse to understand how this changes everything. They refuse to see how our lifes are extended everyday by a few minutes. They dont want to see that the world is a nice place to live, and it wasnt always so.

It s this change that makes people frightened and anxious. But it’s a good thing to me. It’s hard to embrace everytime but it’s good to know that change is good.

Anti-Globalization is a Crime

In the era of globalization it’s a crime to stop free market. It’s a crime against your fellow citizens to demand the end of free market. It’s unethical and cruel to deprive somebody from the right to exchange with the rest of the world. And the camouflage is socialism, caring for the poor, saving the rainforests, etc.

It’s unbelievable how propaganda is used to conceal the facts about free-market capitalism. Was communism defeated with the collapse of USSR? most probably yes. Was that the end of the road for capitalism? Nope. Still have to persuade the people that it’s the best system. There’s still a big bulk of people waiting to be persuaded for the simple facts that most economists can assure you about:

Free market is good for the developed countries.More than obvious. People in developed countries live in a situation everyone would envy a few decades ago. They re kings of today.

Free market is great for the developing countries. Absolutely obvious. Since1970  world absolute poverty and malnutrition has dropped to the half. From 33 to 15% . Will you let these people sell their products or not? Let them work in factories and get rich for their standards! If you stop the so-called “sweatshops” you convict a country to growing rice for the next century!

It’s not a utopia ,there are still criminals and dangers.But wtf! Isn’t it obvious that free market capitalism works great in the “western” countries? And now what? We don’t want anybody to enter the club?

Google buys YouTube

Breaking news..

In this article it says it’s confirmed , while here you can see the rumor spreading!

I am not sure if that’s true – however I think it was ( or will be) the right thing to do for Google.

1) Videoblogging is definitely going to be a big part of the future of the web. Google videos was a failure, while youtube is the most popular of its king right now. They re stepping into the market of the future big time – acquiring the market leader of the present time.

2)Google has already failed bigtime with some ideas. Why not buy somebody else’s ideas? ( I guess it’s becoming like Microsoft afterall)

3) Google will figure out some way to make money out of it. I am pretty sure about that. They are the leaders in ads and that’s their main source of income. I dont have the slightest doubt they ll find a way to drain more cash off youtube.Right now youtube is losing 1$ million per month, but google could make a cash-cow out of it in the next year.

Ig Nobel Awards

Here you can see the famous Ig Nobel Awards.

MEDICINE: Francis M. Fesmire for his medical case report “Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage”; and Majed Odeh, Harry Bassan, and Arie Oliven for their subsequent medical case report also titled “Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage.”

 

The patent for hiccups cure should be awarded to Steve Jobs… The Mac is the digital machine that cures hiccups in the first place. (not yet rectal )
ORNITHOLOGY: Ivan R. Schwaband and the late Philip R.A. May for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers don’t get headaches.

Woodpeckers with a headache… at last a piece of research that makes sense. In fact I care much more about headaches than how Universe was formed.When the creation of Universe stops giving me a headache maybe I ll think about it again.

BIOLOGY: Bart Knols and Ruurd de Jong for showing that the female malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae is attracted equally to the smell of limburger cheese and to the smell of human feet.

Even if you can’t get a girlfriend due to unpleasant feet odour, no need to worry. You can get a date named Anopheles gambiae. That’s a cool name. Nobody cares if it’s a mosquito after all.
CHEMISTRY: Antonio Mulet, José Javier Benedito and José Bon and Carmen Rosselló for their study “Ultrasonic Velocity in Cheddar Cheese as Affected by Temperature.”

Ultrasonic velocity of cheddar and temperature? Is there anything we need to know before using this cheese? “This recipe is gonna blow you away! “

(Steve Jobs was talking about transition to Intel CPUs, in WWDC 2006)

Open Source vs Communism

I am really sick and tired of people comparing open source software to Communism. This doesn’t make any sense at all to me.Is OSS the rage against free market? No. Open source software is the cure from the free market for overpriced end-user software . Open source promotes groups working together and open standards. Nothing to do with communism, nothing to do with socialism. No free-market supporter objects cooperation!

Proof Number 1 : Open Source commercial software is probably more expensive than windows.It’s not a free contribution to society.Even if it was, that would be charity – nothing to do with marxism. Check this out. They re not charging for the use, they re charging for support. Different model, still want to make a living.

Proof Number 2: Eric Raymond , anarcho-capitalist open source movement founder.

If Ubuntu for instance was communist, it would be funded with the money of all of us, we would have to use it everywhere (monopoly, no other distros) and the poor coders would have to persuade for the “social need” for the kernel to reach the next version.