RayBenjamin.Com

I don’t much like Windows. I don’t hate it with a pathological hatred, like some people, but I do think that monopolies are bad things, in general, and Microsoft’s effective monopoly grip on desktop operating systems has been incredibly hurtful to the computer industry and humanity in general. By suppressing competition, we’ve been robbed of the real benefit of a free market economy, innovation.

Fortunately for Microsoft, but not so fortunately for me, the people who write the games I love to play don’t write them to run on Linux. They write them to run on Windows. So, while I’d love to use Linux as my normal desktop operating system, I’ve been reluctant to make the leap.

An announcement on June 18, 2008, brought the day of my emancipation from Windows a little bit closer.

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I like having fresh baked corn muffins for breakfast. After experimenting for quite a while, I’ve come up with a recipe that makes great tasting muffins that aren’t quite as bad for your waist-line as they taste.

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My wife recently bought me a copy of SimCities Societies, produced by Electronic Arts. At first glance, it looked like a long held wish had been granted and someone had finally come out with an updated version of SimCities that would bring back some of that old magic and take advantage of all the new nifty hardware. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get the game to run for more than an hour without it locking up my entire computer and forcing me to reboot.
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There are people who are opposed to wind turbines. Some of them are worried about the effect nearby wind farms would have on their property. (I find this argument pretty lame when you’re talking about turbines that can barely be seen on the horizon, but hey, I’m not a multi-millionaire Senator with an ocean view.) Others have become worried about the effect on the environment, which is odd, since wind energy is one of the cleanest sources of energy. These people worry that birds and bats will be killed by the turbines, and undoubtedly, some birds and bats will die. But, in the end, the wind turbines will save far more birds and bats than they’ll kill.  Read the rest of this entry »

Why don’t auto manufacturers add plugs to their hybrid vehicles? Some have claimed it’s because they are afraid it would confuse consumers. How dumb do they think we are?

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I am talking about economics, not cooking. When you have lots of companies all competing for your business, you get great products, great prices, and lots of jobs. You get economic diversity. Biological diversity produces healthy environments that are more resilient to changing conditions. Even though the plants and animals in the region compete for many of the same resources, they also contribute to the overall welfare of the whole. I think the same is true of economies. When you have lots of businesses that are all competing, everyone does better, overall. But such an economy cannot exist where there are monopolies. Giant corporations distort the economic and political structures around them.

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There’s a huge shortage of qualified math and science teachers.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. These days, it’s a lot more lucrative to do just about anything than to teach. Our high-schools have terrible problems with discipline. They have shortages of everything but trouble. And with families getting smaller and there being more childless families, no one wants to pay to fix the problems.

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High-school should prepare you for the basic requirements of life. When you graduate, you should be equipped to enter society as a productive individual. Unfortunately, our current educational system seems to focus only on getting good marks on standardized tests, not on preparing our children for real life.

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If you ask most people, they’ll tell you they don’t have a great opinion of the current educational system. You’ll hear the same thing from people in the U.S., India, and other developed nations. Some third world countries are often struggling just to feed everyone. They don’t have the time or money to devote to providing an eduction. What’s worse is that educational expenses are rising. It’s harder than ever to afford a good education, further widening the gap between the privileged and the poor.

The One Laptop Per Child, OLPC, project is a good start, it puts a computer in the hands of children who might otherwise never have been able to afford one. But it’s not enough, not by itself, besides having access to the Internet, the children of the world need a place to go where they can learn. They need a way to learn without teachers, if necessary, and get documentation of their efforts, so they can get jobs. They need a free university on the Internet. For lack of a better name, I call it the University of the World.

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Watching the presidential candidates debate is painful. No one says anything new, no minds are changed, and they are all talking about the wrong things.

But Senator Clinton is making me regret ever supporting her.

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