Jim's Blog

Ok — there are lots of thoughts here … but

18 Jul 2011 – The CEO of GM talks about how, through the generosity of the American people, GM is being transformed —

”We are in the midst of transforming an iconic American company so 20 and 30 years from now (taxpayers) will look at this company and they’ll say, ‘Absolutely it was the right thing to do,’ ” Akerson said. ”And it shouldn’t be measured on did it sell for $43 or $53 (a share) or did they lose a couple billion dollars?”

GM was saved, he said, because of the extreme generosity of Americans…

Now, that was in July.  This past week, the same Akerson spoke to 300 students at Notre Dame —

A student asked Akerson whether he would take a public stance in favor of President Barack Obama’s job-creation plan, saying it could be a chance for GM to do some good and give back some of its profits after receiving a $50 billion government bailout. Akerson said that is not his job, saying corporations exist to make a profit and enhance shareholder value.

“We are not a job bank,” Akerson said.

Eric Schmidt gave the MacTaggart Lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival — full transcript here — some takeaways —

Of course, while I’m optimistic that computer science and the Internet are forces for good, I’m not naive.  As JFK put it, “I’m an idealist without illusions”.  There are many challenges we’re still grappling to address.  For instance: how do we make the world more open while still respecting privacy? How do we empower people without provoking anarchy? How do we ensure technology enriches rather than devalues relationships and culture?

These are important questions, but they aren’t new.  When the printing press was developed in the 15th century, some worried about information overload.  Critics of the telephone fretted about private conversations being overheard.  When radio was introduced, concerns were raised about it distracting children from reading.

These two exercises look good — probably a great way to lose weight while writing…

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/training-day/201108/lose-fat-2-exercises

Bean Bag 1, affectionately known as BB1, met an unfortunate demise this week. 

BB1 was murdered, see picture of suspect.

BB1 and BB2 have attended both Emory and Georgia Tech.  A friend of the arts, computer scientist, honorary member of ADPi, and a wanna be zombie.BB2, a constant companin is moribund over the loss.

BB2 has not commented as to its future education plans.

Scoble pr0vides an excellent interview with Victoria Bellotti.

She  manages PARC’s Socio-Technical and Interaction Research.  A good description of what ethnographers do, and how their research helps in the arena of social-technical interaction.

Given many public comments on the idea of hiring an administrator who wrote about Marx at KSU, I think this article from Salon raises good questions.  And it has a great quote for the President of Columbia University in 1948:

There will be no administrative suppression or distortion of any subject that merits a place in this University’s curricula. The facts of communism, for instance, shall be taught here — its ideological development, its political methods, its economic effects, its probable course in the future. The truth about communism is, today, an indispensable requirement if the true values of our democratic system are to be properly assessed. Ignorance of communism, fascism, or any other police-state philosophy is far more dangerous than ignorance of the most virulent disease.

Who among us can doubt the choice of future Americans, as between statism and freedom, if the truth concerning each be constantly held before their eyes? But if we, as adults, attempt to hide from the young the facts in this world struggle, not only will we be making a futile attempt to establish an intellectual “iron curtain,” but we will arouse the lively suspicion that statism possesses virtues whose persuasive effect we fear.

Found in Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors

This NYT editorial by Krugman — notes dangers of chilling thought and speech in academia.   See previous post on this topic.