Issue #66
Last Update October 31, 2009
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National and Correcting an Imbalance by Gerry Krownstein October 31, 2009 A situation not anticipated by the founding fathers threatens to disrupt our democracy. The Constitution is a masterful balancing act, playing powers off against each other so that no one group can assume total power. The legislature is juxtaposed to the executive and judicial branches; each is powerful, but not powerful enough to swamp any of the other branches - certainly not powerful enough to ride roughshod over a combination of the other two. Within the legislative branch, power is split between the local representatives in the House of Representatives and the statewide Senators. The House is charged with initiating all fiscal legislation; the Senate controls treaties and confirmations. Both are required for any piece of legislation to become law. The House is the voice of the majority. The Senate is the protector of the interests of the small states. It was a brilliant compromise in 1787, but changes in the distribution of our population has led to a tyranny of the minority. continued Commentary September 2009 This month marks the beginning of our ninth year of publication. Our first issue, September 2001, was almost ready to publish when 9/11 occurred. Some of the articles we had planned seemed trivial compared with the seriousness of the times, and we quickly replaced them with a few articles acknowledging the events of that day. From that rocky beginning, we have built an on-line magazine that comments on national and world events, translates into layman's terms cutting-edge developments in finance and technology, reads and summarizes the documents that most legislators (and newspeople) don't bother to read, but which affect the lives of all of us, and reviews restaurants, plays, concerts, CDs and books. Occasional humorous pieces have appeared, some of them satirical and some of them just lighthearted. We have tried to keep to a monthly schedule, with occasional time off for good behavior, so that we can remain timely commentators on the issues of the day. continued Commentary August 2009 Hysteria on the right has now reached the point where it is seriously flirting with thuggishness. From the Sarah Palin-inspired threatening chants, to disruption of "town hall" sessions where right-wingers shouted down anyone who wanted to ask a serious question, to openly carrying loaded weapons to meetings and speeches, to racist signs at right-wing marches, conservatives seem to be focused less on debate than intimidation. What looks like the early stages of Mussolini's Black Shirts or Hitler's SA has begun an attempt to make this nation ungovernable, with the hope that a right-wing authoritarian state will be the successor to our democracy. continued Why Are we There? by Gerry Krownstein August 28, 2009 Remind me again why we are in Afghanistan? I used to know. After 9/11, with the support of the American people and most of Western Europe, we issued an ultimatum requiring the Afghan government (the Taliban, for most of the country) to hand over Osama bin Laden and the rest of the Al Qaeda leadership. The Taliban refused, and we sort of invaded. Most of the hard work of displacing the Taliban was done by regional warlords whom the Taliban had displaced. The next step was to have been the capture or killing of bin Laden and the rest of the Al Qaeda high command, but president Bush diverted our attention to Iraq. and bin Laden et al got away. Since then, Al Qaeda and the Taliban have been working at destabilizing western Pakistan and regaining a foothold in Afghanistan. A lot has changed since our initial invasion, including our President. What seems not to have changed is the penchant to pursue a war without defining our goals. continued GOPLand Goes Private by Gert Innsry July 31, 2009 Ms. Innsry once again reports from the nation of GOPLand, which she has visited many times. Welcome back to GOPLand, miss. Since our recent defeat at the hands of the Dems, we have been trying to hold on to our core principles, and have been much inspired by our American counterparts. Their noble refusal to cooperate in any alteration to what must be a perfect health care system has been a source of admiration here in GOPLand, and we have been analysing the structure of that health care system so that we can apply its lessons to a broader spectrum of social needs. As a visitor to GOPLand, I strongly advise you to join one of our Visitor PMOs and FMOs before leaving the airport. What's that? You're unfamiliar with PMOs and FMOs? I'll explain. continued WCDM 2009 - Pandemic Planning by David Katz June 29, 2009 This year's World Conference on Disaster Management, held in Toronto, highlighted the current concerns of business continuity, disaster recovery and crisis management professionals. A four day conference and exposition, it presented tutorials, panel discussions and lectures by prominent people in the field, designed to enhance professional knowledge, share experience and convey the latest information in areas of interest to the attendees. In addition to the many sessions on business continuity best practices, disaster recovery techniques and crisis communications which were applicable to planning for and dealing with disruptive events regardless of kind, there were sessions devoted to the three topics most on people's minds: pandemics, ecological and weather related disasters, and terrorist activity. continued Settlement Corridors by Gerry Krownstein June 28, 2009 President Obama is pressing Israel to suspend the growth of settlements on the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu is resisting, as almost all previous Israeli governments have resisted such suggestions. New building for natural population growth must be allowed even in the event of a freeze of new settlements. Both Mr. Obama an d Mr. Netenyahu completely miss the point. The problem is not the size of the settlements, or even the number of the settlements; the problem is that the structures put in place to ensure the safety of the settlers make implementation of a two-state solution completely impossible, and serve to create hostility and friction during the occupation. continued Business and Smartphone Apps by Sten Grynir October 24, 2009 Smart phones are the Swiss Army knives of the digital world: in one small gadget, you have every device you could need. Not that these phones really replace your laptop, camera, guitar tuner, TV, guidebook, first aid manual, ebook reader, newspaper, compass, level, GPS and piano, but if lost in the woods with only a smart phone you could make your phone function as each of these, and more. The results would, in some cases, be unsatisfactory, and certainly not as good as the dedicated device, but they would be good enough for an emergency. To give you an idea of the scope of the app offerings, here is a short roundup. There are four major smart phone platforms to consider: Apple's proprietary iPhone OS, open source Android, Palm's proprietary Palm webOS, Blackberry's Java-based platform and Windows Mobile. continued Usury by Gert Innsry September 30, 2009 In the good old days (pre Reagan) there were usury laws that kept the lid on gauging by banks and credit card companies. Maximum interest rates were set that provided a fair rate of return to the lender, while ensuring that a steady stream of modest payments would get the borrower out of debt. The stagflation of the late 1970's put an end to that. With inflation-driven interest rates in the double digits, the usury laws had to be weakened for any lending to take place at all. Unfortunately, as with most economic matters, the free-market, get the government out of my hair so we can all get rich ideology resulted in the baby being thrown out with the bath water. Instead of pegging interest rates to inflation, resulting in a fair rate that allowed banks to profit, the usury statutes were all but eliminated, leaving banks and credit card companies free to charge whatever rates and fees, at whatever terms they wanted. While inflation (and the bank lending rate) remained high, the gauging remained invisible. Now that inflation is non-existent, the true scope of greed and arrogance has become obvious. It's time to rein the banks and credit card companies in. continued Tech Frustrations by David Katz August 11, 2009 The Kindle and the iPhone are gadgets that represent an entire view of modern technology. The Kindle allows you carry an entire library with you wherever you go, and to read it comfortably. The iPhone is the Swiss Army Knife of portable gadgets; with appropriate apps it can function as almost anything electronic you wish, so that in one package you have a telephone, still and video camera, recorder, stereo, TV set, web browser, guitar tuner, word processor, spreadsheet manipulator, email client, stock ticker, newspaper, book reader, compass, in short everything but a knife, fork, spoon and safety razor. As Samuel Johnson said in another context, “... it is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all.” continued Fear of Competition by David Katz July 31, 2009 It's amazing how strongly Republicans feel about competition and free-market capitalism, except when it threatens the profits of their corporate donors. Although they cheerfully ignore the effects of monopolies, cartels and limited competition in their pretense that the free market exists, any hint of real competition, especially when it comes from a non-profit organization or the government, is met with cries of dismay, “socialism!” and moans about the death of competition. This is especially true in health care. continued Cheap Technologies for Crisis Management by Sten Grynir June 18, 2009 The World Conference on Disaster Management, held this month in Toronto, exhibited and discussed technological tools for disaster/business continuity planning, crisis communications and incident management. In an interesting session, Scott Phelps, Associate Professor at Southern Connecticut State University, pointed his audience to a number of inexpensive and easily available tools that could be of great help during a crisis. A mix of hardware, web services and software, these inexpensive tools could be of great use when normal services are unavailable. continued IT360 Computer Conference by Peter H. Salus June 16, 2009 The first week in April I attended IT360 at the Toronto Convention Centre [sic]. To put it bluntly, it was a disappointment. Attendance was far below where it had been, say, two years ago. At that time it was a two-and-a-half day event with several Linux (Jon 'maddog' Hall) and BSD (Dru Lavigne) notables in attendance. continued Military Robotics by Sten Grynir May 18, 2009 iRobot is probably unique amongst the military robotics suppliers in having a robust consumer division, maker of the Roomba and similar cleaning devices. Its military/government arm makes a whole range of land and sea robots with military and police functions. These include the Packbot, essentially a mobile robotic platform to which cameras, sensors, gripping tools and other useful accessories can be attached, the Negotiator, and SWAT team unit that allows negotiation in hostage situations without endangering SWAT personnel, the SUGV, a robotics surveillance platform, the Seaglider, for undersea data collection, and the Ranger, for underwater surveillance, mine detection, coastal defense and oceanography. At the Robobusiness conference and expo in Boston in April, Vice Admiral Joseph W. Dyer (USN Ret.), head of iRobot's Government and Industrial Robots Division, outlined the uses of military robotics in a talk titled “How Robots Make War More Survivable”. continued RoboBusiness 2009 by David Katz May 14, 2009 Technical robotics conferences are good for finding out what the critical technological problems are that face the creation of fully autonomous machines, but to understand where robotics is likely to impact our lives in the next year or two, the RoboBusiness Conference and Expo is probably the best place to be. This year the conference was held in Boston in April, and provided a measure of the degree to which robotics impinges on each of us. There are four main areas of robotics use currently: manufacturing (which does not have a large presence at Robobusiness); toys, games and educational kits; consumer appliances; medical and therapeutic; and military and governmental uses. Military and Governmental uses will be the subject of a later New York Stringer article (see Military Robotics); this article will concentrate on the other non-manufacturing uses. continued Arts and Reviews Heritage Ensemble by David Katz October 29, 2009 One of the joys of New York is the opportunity it affords for both preserving a tradition and melding it with the traditions of others to form something new, yet evocative. The Heritage Ensemble, a quintet led by its founder Eugene Marlow, is the perfect example of this process at work. Starting with Jewish liturgical melodies and Yiddish and Hebrew folk tunes, the Ensemble transmutes this material into jazz, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and neoclassical pieces that expand the ethnic scope of the music without abandoning its Jewish origins. continued Dialogos by David Katz October 10, 2009 The reason one attends live concerts instead of just listening to CDs is the possibility that one will be present at a thrilling event, a live performance that approaches perfection. Dialogos, a French vocal ensemble participating in the Music Before 1800 concert series, provided just such an experience on October 4th. The program, performed by four female voices, organized a series of religious and secular works illustrating the earliest Western polyphony into a vocal murder mystery. continued Pirates of Penzance by Gerry Krownstein August 31, 2009 Pirates of Penzance is one of the Big Four Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, along with H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado and the Gondoliers. Since it is performed so frequently, it is hard for it to seem fresh. The Chautauqua Opera Company made it seem like a brand new work in their August production. The staging and bits of business, the acting and singing, and the quality of the sets were all at the highest level. In short, it was one of the best Pirates of recent years. continued New York Mandolin Orchestra June Concert by David Katz June 10, 2007 The New York Mandolin Orchestra is one of New York's oldest amateur orchestras. Founded in 1924, it has an uninterrupted history of presenting classical, ethnic and jazz music to an eager public. Mandolins come in variations that parallel a string orchestra, with first and second mandolins playing first and second violin parts, mandolas substituting for violas, and mandocellos and mandobasses handling the traditional cello and bass parts. The New York Mandolin Orchestra supplemented these instruments at its latest concert with oboe, violin and concertina. Ably conducted by Jeffrey Ellenberger, this concert spanned musical styles from Bach to the Beatles. continued
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