Seizure of Arms stashes

Every time I see a TV news report of a seizure of an illegal arms stash, I find myself being amazed at the attitude of the reporters who seem to build up the idea that the public is being relieved of a tremendous threat to their safety. But never do these reporters ever try to answer the question: "Why do these stash of arms exist?"

To me it seems that the reasons criminals accumulate arms is because they want to be prepared for a possible confrontation with armed opposition, which quite often might include those people who legally have the right to have extensive arms ar their disposal ... that is to say law enforcement agencies.

What I'm thinking is that if authorities in any country did not possess extensive and powerful armed weapons, then those who oppose them, or who might wish to, wouldn't go to the bother of building up their firepower.

This line of thinking is an extension of the idea that violence begets violence, and while it might be argued that the legitimate arms holder only have their arms in order to do their jobs and protect the public from anti-social elements, it might also be true that if they weren't armed in the first place the criminals wouldn't be as violent as they appear to be.

I don't claim to have the answer to the elimination of violence in the world, but I do believe we need to start looking for ways of stopping the bullies without resorting to the same tactics which the bullies use so that our "good" bully beats up the "bad" bully. Sooner, or later the good bully is going to be tempted to abuse his power and when he does he will be the bad boy.

The Woman in the other time zone

Last night I had a most fascinating dream.

I dreamed I was beginning an intimate relationship with an exotic woman who told me that she, and her entire family lived in a different time zone. She explained that they did this to constantly remind themselves that they were different from the rest of the people around them.

I became acquainted with her when she came to do some work for me. What I didn't know until we began our relationship was her different time zone. In effect she was living one hour different from me. If I asked her to come to work for me at 8 am she arrived on time, but it was 7am in the world in which she lived and while I thought she finished the day a 4pm, she was leaving at 3pm according to her watch.

She told me, that if she committed herself to me, she would be willing to live in my time zone, but if I wanted to really become accepted by her family I'd have to adopt their time zone.

Of course this was just a dream, but it seems to me that the idea could be expanded into an interesting story or novel. If anyone is inspired by the idea, please feel free to use it ... and let me know: I'd be delighted to read what you come up with.

How To Leave A Trackback

I wonder if I will ever see a day when I'm not amazed by something or other on the internet.
Well, today, I've just learned about Trackback from Marcus Hochstadt. How To Leave A Trackback In this blog he demonstates how this works byproviding this link to where his learning all began, which was a blog entry by Kirsten Farris. You want to learn about Trackback too? Do what I did, and follow these links. Then try it out, maybe by tracking back here where YOU first started your lesson.

In this blog environment the link you use for trackback is named "Permalink". You can right-click on it and copy it's content to use in the post you want to make.

An irony of life

I just realized recently that one of the great ironies of life is that when you finally reach the stage where you can have the privilege of parking next to the door, your doctor insists that you park two or three blocks away in order to get more exercise!

The other side of the coin

Keywords:

Humor,

wikipedia,

Uncyclopedia

Recently I've been spending a lot of time fooling around at the Uncyclopedia ( http://uncyclopedia.org/)

I suppose there are some who would say that I've been wasting my time, but I differ in as much as I believe that humor is an essential part of living a good life.

The Uncyclopedia is a wiki, founded as a spoof of Wikipedia, which is in my opinion one of the really great marvels of the Internet. If you're not familiar with it, I'd encourage you to use it and what's more participate. It seems a bit daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy.

Surely you know something about some thing which is unique, or special, and you may also have some need to exercise your sense of humor which is just like any other ability we have: if you don't use it, you loose it.

Try them both, I'm sure you'll find it time well spent.

Confusion about profits

Keywords:

profit, economics,

prejudice, commerce,

business,

spyware, adware

Recently I've become involved in a project which involves publishing books on various topics. One of the books deals with adware and spyware, which is a hot topic of much concern these days to most everyone who has a computer connected to the internet.

One of the most frequent objections I noted to spyware/adware is that the intruding software collects data which may be private and confidential and that this may then be used by some unknown party to earn a profit!

What I find strange about this attitude is that it seems to imply that if the person using the information were not using it to make a profit it might not be sooo bad, perhaps even acceptable.

There is a prejudice rampant in the eyes of many people that equates profit with something evil. I cannot accept this and I don't believe that anybody who has ever thought about it very much would stick with that attitude. Yes, there may be greedy people who seek to make unreasonable profits, and there are too many people who seek to make profits using illegal, immoral or unethical means to do so, but that does not make profits, nor the wish to earn them bad.

In fact, if we look at the way history has developed, a very great amount of the progress which we have enjoyed over the time we have been civilized has beed due to people who have sought to make a profit by providing some kind of product or service which other people wanted, and the lure of profits was the incentive which gave many entrepreneurs the spark they needed to invent or provide new and better solutions to old problems.


Returning to the issue of adware/spyware, I agree that much of it is a menace today not because private information is used to make a profit but simply because it is used, without permission, and that it is gathered often without the awareness of the person who is being targeted using his own resources without agreement. The issue of profit is simply incidental.

To pee or not to pee. That is the paradox of parsley

Keywords:

Parsley, bladder disorders,

Prostate Enlargement,

nocturnal urination

I feel sure that even Shakespeare would not be unhappy with the licence I've taken with one of his famous lines when it's pointed out that after men pass the age of 50, it is very common for them to experience the need to get up several times during the night to urinate..

This is, at the very least, an annoyance, and in the worst of cases symptomatic of some serious problems.

If you are experiencing this you need to know about parsley.

The paradox is that while parsley is a diuretic, which means that aids in the elimination of liquid from the body, drinking a small amount of a tea prepared boiling a handful of parsley (preferably fresh) in about a quart or liter of water, will cut down on the number of times you will feel the need to get up in the night to visit the bathroom.

I don't know where I first learned about this, but I've tried it, and I find that if I brew up about a liter of the tea and keep it in the fridge, drinking about 2 wine glasses of this a day, my need to get up in the night, is at least cut down by half, and I can often pass an entire night without making those little excursions.

The flavor is not particularly disagreeable, and you may even find it pleasant once you get used to it.

Parsley, in different forms has various other health benefits, but this use alone puts it near the top of my list of favorite vegetables.

Microsoft Giving away Pendrives

Keywords:

Microsoft, Windows,

pendrive,

marketing survey

As a reward for responding to a questionaire concerning licencing of Windows by corporate users, Microsoft is giving away a pendrive with supposedly "useful information" recorded on it. If you'd like to respond to the survey use this link: Mystery Solved See the icon on the right side of the screen. Oh, you must be a US resident to qualify.

Naturally Ridiculous - 100%

Keywords:

Natural, man-made,

advertising, promotion,

language

For quite some time I've been ruminating about why we have become so fixated on things which are "natural".

Yesterday, at the Music Festival in Viña del Mar in Chile, Tonka Tomicic was selected as the festival's queen on a platform of being a 100% Natural Model.

Now, I'm not in the least bit criticising her, and even find what I've seen of her personality most appealing but 100% Natural is ridiculous!

Like almost all uses of this phrase that we see today, it is liberally interpreted to apply to the subject in the way which the promoter finds convenient, but other aspects are completely ignored or considered irrelevant.

However attractive and delightful this woman is I would not be the least bit surprized if she had had orthodontic work done sometime in her life, if she had died, tinted or colored her hair (it certainly was cut by someone), had depilated her body, and either performed or been subjected to any number of processes or practices in her lifetime that are anything but "natural" in the purest sense of the word.

In fact, I'd dare to guess that if any person, man or woman, were to be presented to the public who was truely and completly natural in every possible way the result would not be pleasing at all.

The other day I noticed on a packge of peanuts and raisins the sticker "Oil-free, 100% Natural" and had to ask myself, what is natural about finding salt on raisins and peanuts wrapped in a plastic container?

Why are natural shampoos supposedly better? In nature, cavemen washed their hair with nothing more than water -- if they washed it at all!

I think we can find in our daily lives many examples of things, from foods to medicines and various practices where not only do we prefer a man-modified version but might even find that the result we desire from it is better in the artificial, synthetic version that the natural one.

Why have we fixated on this idea that anything man-made is less desireable than what is found in nature?

In practice, I think that many combinations of man-made and natural things end up producing the most desired and attractive result. Man has a capacity to "improve" on what nature provides. Sometimes, perhaps too often, he errs or doesn't notice his incomplete understanding of some natural phenomena, but that doesn't mean that it is better to drop everything that he has done and return to a natural state.

We have the capability to learn from our mistakes, so if we discover some instance where a natural version seems better than a fabricated one, let's use that as a opportunity to learn more about what we might improve on, instead of rejecting the natural intelligence which we have been given.

Half a Century Old -- Almost!

Keywords:

Visa, Credit Cards,

attitude,

Mickey Mouse

I recall that many people were shocked when they learned their favorite cartoon character, Mickey Mouse, was 50 years old. That was in 1978.

That didn't bother me much since Mickey had been around before I was born, but now I've been given a jolt by realizing that another icon from my life is nearing it's 50th anniversary.





The icon I'm referring to is the VISA CARD which I've been using almost since it's beginnings, except that when I was first introduced to it I knew it as CHARGEX.

The event that brought this fact to my realization happened just a few days ago. I had parked on a public street in Pucon, Chile and had to pay for my parking fee when I discovered I had no change and the parking attendant only received CASH.

That I didn't have cash wasn't unusual, for many years I have formed a habit of having little or no cash, using a credit card for virtually all my needs. This habit was developed through acquiring a Visa Card which paid me a percentage of every transaction which I made and the fact that most everything I used to use cash for was available through using a credit card.

Well, that habit has continued even as I wander around in places like Chile where almost everything can be purchased using a credit card, but this one event started me thinking ....

Here I am, using a payment system almost all of my adult life -- nearly 50 years -- and yet today in places like Chile (and I'm sure many other countries) there are adults who have never had a credit card. In fact, I know many people in this country that don't even have a bank account!

What's the point? Simply this: there are many areas of our lives that we take for granted and consider totally normal, but if we were to step back and look around us we might be surprisedd to learn that what is sooooo normal for us, is not necessarily normal for others.

More escapes from reality

Keywords:

tourism, entertainment, spectator sports, movies, television,

Recently I wrote a blog entry in which I wondered how the world would be affected if the escapist nature of tourism were refocused.

In further thinking about this theme, it is easy to see that the tourist trade isn't the only area where tremendous time, energy, and money is directed toward escaping from a dreary reality.

One might easily say that most entertainment, spectator sports, the movie industry, much of television, radio, the music business, a great deal of magazine, newspaper and book publishing activities are all offering to differing degrees different ways of escaping from a daily routine.

Now I can imagine someone bringing up the old refrain "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," but I think it is a pretty poor justification for not attempting to consider the possibility of trying to turn a substantial portion of our diversions into efforts which will do more than simply distract our attention for a few moments from a reality which we don't find agreeable.

Play, at one time, was used as a way of instructing children (and possibly others) skills and lessons which would serve them in the future. There still are some games around that intend to do this, but I believe that probably the majority of the toys, games and diversions which are sold and used today don't even pretend to begin to consider what, if any, educational value they might be to the user or participant.

Many of the professional, spectator sports that exist today, have their roots in activities that were originally used for training soldiers and keeping them in good condition, but what value does a spectator gain? The answer to this is one of the principal reasons why Gadafhi chose to ban spectator sports in Libya. (I'm not necessarily endorsing all of Gadafhi's ideas, but this is one which might be worth thinking about.)

If we were to examine the history of art, music and literature I'm sure we'd discover that many of the great inspirational classics were created (or at least became classics) because they gave the observer, listener or reader something more than just a brief period in which they might forget about their dreary lives. How much of what is produced and popularized through radio, television, motion pictures, magazines, etc today, have any residual value except for wrapping fish?

When one starts to add up the millions of people who work directly and indirectly in activities which might be considered diversionary, and all the resources which are consumed every second of every day to produce something which has absolutely no lasting value to anyone the numbers would be overwhelming.

As I stated when I was wondering about tourism, I'm not judging anyone who is participating in any aspect of these activities as being bad or even with evil intentions. But when one takes into account how much of the time effort and energy used in the world is directed toward useless ends, it becomes difficult to even begin to imagine how much to world would improve if even a significant fraction were redirected toward ends which would help better everyone.

Here are just a few hastily-thought-of suggestions of how the satus quo might be improved:

1. Every animated cartoon were created with the idea of educating the audience with something useful
2. Every songwriter chose to leave his listener with some attitude, information or skill which would help them live a better life.
3. Every person who attended a sporting event as a spectator were required to participate in some physical activity as part of their entrance fee.
4. Every paperback novel and magazine article introduced a new term, or useful idea to the reader.

Of course I'm dreaming if I believed that this would become a reality in my lifetime, but, in the meantime by raising these thoughts, perhaps I might encourage a few individuals to look at their own lives and activities and perhaps start asking themselves: "How can I change what I do to either improve myself, or improve things for others?"

The dark side of light

Keywords:

light bulbs, consumer fraud,

scams, Westinghouse,

Eco Light, Ecolite

If you were to set out the requirements for a perfect scam, I think you'd come up with something like:

1. Must be easy to find victims -- almost anyone could be one.


2. The victim would not know they'd been scammed and,


3. If a scam were suspected, the victim wouldn't come after you.

If these were your requirements, I think I've discovered an ideal candidate for you, except that it's already being run: Long life light bulbs That link, by the way isn't the scam, it's simply to inform you about the product which is being used.

Why is this such a good candidate for a scam?

1. Almost everyone uses light bulbs.
2. The cost is relatively low, even though the Long Life Economic Light bulbs cost at least 5 or 6 times a normal light bulb.
3. The projected life span of 3000 to 6000 hours or more is such a long time span that it is almost unlikely that anyone would track their usage.
4. If someone did discover that there was a shorfall in the life span, the actual value which might be recovered is so little that for all the time an effort required the victim wouldn't be likely to even attempt to make a claim.

I happened to stumble across this because I recently moved into a new house and installed several of these low cost long life bulbs. Because there was a large surface at the base of the bulb I noted the date of installation.

Two of these bulbs (different economic brands "Eco Light" and "Ecolite" )went into an area which were used a maximum of one hour daily.

The first was rated at 3,000 hours life and by my estimates received no more than 330 hours of use before it needed to be replaced. The second, was rated at 3 years life and need to be replaced after 7 months.

I have another bulb, a Westinghouse bulb, which is rated at 6000 hours life which is still operating, but at 1 hour useage a day, it will be more than 16 years before I know whether or not it has lived up to it's rating. Chances are that even if I live that long, I'm still not going to have the original proof of purchase which may be required in order to request a refund.

Although the first two bulbs obviously didn't live up to their claimed ratings, the one which lasted 330 hours would have only needed to operate a few more than 400 hours for it to work out as being more economical than the standard 60 watt bulb it replaced if you take into account it's higher initial cost together with the 15 watt power consumption it had.

So, perhaps these long life bulbs are still a better value than their counterparts which they replace, but it seems that the low cost, unknown brand varieties are certainly not living up to the claims which they make on their labeling.

Whether the big reputable brands like GE, Philips, and Westinghouse will fare any better is still in doubt to me, and since their initial cost seems to be about 3 or 4 times more than the cheaper versions, it still seems risky to believe that they will result in any substantial savings to the user.

So, if you're going to try these long life low power bulbs, be forewarned that you might not get what you are expecting.

A really dumb promotion

Keywords:

Marketing, promotion, loyalty rewards, GNC,

I've been involved with marketing and promotional efforts for many years but I've yet to see a stranger, non-sensical kind of promotion than that being used by the vitamin brand of GNC .

There are two types of loyalty programs in broad use, one which rewards loyal and frequent customers with prizes or benefits (like frequent-flyer programs) and the second which aims at increasing a customer's use of a product or service regardless of their prior history.

It's really difficult to understand what GNC is attempting to achieve with their Gold Card program which, in short has the following characteristics:

1. You must pay $15.00 a year for the card.
2. It can be used ONLY during certain days of the month.
   The US version allows the first 7 days. A Chilean version is more restrictive and convoluted: it permits just the first Monday, Tuesday or Wednesay of each month.
3. The benefits are subject to change at any time.

While GNC products are generally perceived as being high quality, they are not bargain priced. In fact, they may be among the higher priced in their category. The card offers holder (initially) a 20% discount.

Simple math shows that a person must spend at least $75 to simply break-even BUT what happens if they need a product which GNC sells a day before or after the limited time span which the card provides the discount?

Chances are, that a client, who might have every intention of purchasing their brand, would be annoyed at not being able to get the expected discount unless they were willing to wait till the following month. Would they buy the GNC product anyway, or would they wait til the next month?

My guess is not. I'd expect that a significant number of consumers would be inclined to see if they could find an alternative product at a lower price and might even vow to NEVER use the GNC brand again.

A good incentive program needs to be simple for the customer to use unless there is some kind of exclusive, highly desirable benefit that a client is prepared to suffer some inconvenience to obtain.

GNC's card program seems to fall short and, in my view, runs the danger of actually costing them more in lost sales than they might gain from those who don't mind the limtations imposed by it.

Of course, my perceptions might be wholly off base and I'd be delighted to have someone explain to me the benefits which a program such as this can bring both the customer and the company which uses it.

Will we have any privacy left?

Keywords:

Privacy, liberty, civil liberty, big brother, government surveillance.

Almost everyday it seems I run across a new report or example of ways in which our personal lives are being laid bare to others.

Perhaps some of these intrusions can be justified, but I've yet to be convinced that the end benefits to the individual outweigh the costs to him.

Usually most of the arguments, on closer examination, reveal that the real benefits go to narrow interest groups or, in some cases, other individuals who wish to control other's lives.

The latest example I've seen is a humorous piece (turn on your sound), showing what might happen when you order a pizza. It's funny, but it also scares me to think that to some extent this may already be happening.

A dream world vs a better reality

Keywords:
tourism, vacation,

economy, escapism,

self-development, growth

A recent blog posting by Michael Phillips on the value of tourism in a local economy has caused me to remember my thoughts about a certain aspect of the tourist trade which I have found disturbing.

From a certain point of view, it seems to me, that, in essence, almost all tourism, the vacation business, the "get-away-from-it-all" type of concept is nothing more than an illusion.

After all, what is a person left with after their dream vacation? They step into a fantasy world for a few hours, days or weeks in which they pretend to live a life they cannot hope to continue living, and in the end return to a dull, dreary, routine, often in debt to pay for their brief fantasy over the next few months or longer.

Now, I wonder if most people wouldn't be better served, wouldn't have much more rewarding lives, if, instead of trying to escape from their drudgery for a couple of weeks a year, they were to invest the same amount of time, energy and enthusiasm into looking for and developing some purpose and meaning in their lives as a whole.

Phillips blog spoke of the economic value in just one local economy. When I imagine the enormous worldwide economic value of tourism, vacation travel, tourist services, financing costs, and every thing else involved, including the enormous number of people who earn their livelihood working in these fields it makes me wonder how different the world might be if all this were directed to improving the human condition, rather than simply attempting to escape from it, or providing an escape.

On a very simplistic level, there may not be much difference between a person running an opium den and a person who provides some tourist service: they are both catering to a weakness of their client and helping them to avoid reality.

I am not judging the people who own or work in tourist-related activities as being bad, and I'm certainly not passing any moral judgment on anyone or their activities, but I am wondering how the world would be different if there were a shift in focus from escapism to a search for meaning and growth.

What's going to happen in 2006? Predictions

Keywords:
Predictions, 2006, technology, trends
.

Predicting the future is easy if you don't care about people coming back and telling you where you were wrong. But, if you put any thought into your predictions, based on a careful review and a good understanding of what's happening, it can be useful to look ahead -- even if you're wrong.

I came across a web page which has some ideas that seem to be perceptive and interesting about:

Broadband penetration

Implications of increased broadband

Voice Over IP

VideoVideo over IP

Google

Videocasting

Growth and Scalability

Implications of Growth

Blogging, podcasting, vidcasting

Internet server Crash

Issues about Trust

wikipedia

Take a look at: 2006 Predictions. If you're interested in the developements in the world of technology you'll find this fascinating

This blog is estimated to be worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Free University Education

Keywords:

Education, university,

distance-learning, MIT,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Did you know that anyone can get a university education free?
MIT has put on line 1,250 courses in the following fields:

Aeronautics and Astronautics
Anthropology
Architecture
Biological Engineering Division
Biology
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Comparative Media Studies
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Economics
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Engineering Systems Division
Foreign Languages and Literatures
Health Sciences and Technology
History
Linguistics and Philosophy
Literature
Materials Science and Engineering
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Media Arts and Sciences
Music and Theater Arts
Nuclear Science and Engineering
Ocean Engineering
Physics
Political Science
Science, Technology, and Society
Sloan School of Management
Special Programs
Urban Studies and Planning
Women's Studies
Writing and Humanistic Studies

They call their offer OpenCourseWare and describe it as a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world.

OCW is a publication of MIT course materials, it does not require any registration, is not a degree-granting or certificate-granting activity nor does it provide access to MIT faculty. It does, however, give anyone the opportunity to audit any of the courses offered and be guided, the same as a registered enrolled student in those courses.


Use this link to learn more about MIT OpenCourse Ware ...

Complaining Effectively

Keywords:

customer service, complaints, personal relations

Recently I've been spending a lot of time talking about poor customer service and expressing the idea that it is important to complain when things are not as good as you'd like them to be.

Often we don't like to complain because it makes us look bad, or cranky, or it may produce an unpleasant situation that we'd rather avoid.

In business practice, it is often experienced that unsatisfied customers frequently don't complain, they simply stop doing business with the firm that gave them cause to complain. This creates quite a challenge for those businesses which sincerely want to improve, not only to redress the wrongs that they may have committed that have lost them customers, but also in winning new customers.

So, if you think your complaint, if it is something which a business can control, is not appreciated, think again. If you bring to the attention of the owners or management a fault which is costing them business, they may actually be delighted to receive your complaint.

HOW to Complain

Often, when you have a complaint, it is a situation which you find disturbing and you might actually be angry over something you've experienced. You want to strike out and hit someone. Of course, complaining under these conditions is likely to be unpleasant, but it doesn't need to be.

Try to cool yourself down before making a complaint and see if you can approach the situation in an objective frame of mind. Attempt to separate yourself from the situation so that you see what happened wasn't a deliberate personal attack against you, but rather an unfortunate event which you think the business will be happy to rectify, if you give them a chance.

Put yourself into the shoes of the person you a going to confront and see which approach would make you feel more cooperative:

• "You guys are always trying to rip-off your customers with your shoddy service and inferior products. I'm not going to let you get away with this, I demand that you fix this NOW or I'm going to see that you suffer ..."
  
  or
  
• "I know that you probably didn't intend for this to happen, you seemed to me to be such a helpful and sincere person, but I've ended up with a problem that has left me unhappy with what I bought here yesterday and I'd really appreciate it if you would help me see how we can resolve the situation".

This, of course, is just an example, but the important point is the attitude which you display when you make your complaint known.

I know that I have often spoken or acted in ways which alienate others, so I don't consider myself a saint in this regard, but I do believe that even in some of the most horrible situations I've faced, there might have been better ways of doing them.

In this light, I would like to let you know about a newsletter I've been reading for quite awhile that has always provided me with helpful tips in dealing with people under difficult circumstances. It's called Winning Without Intimidation and it's available without any cost. If you check out the web site I think you will agree with me.

An unusual Credit Card Error

Keywords:

Banks, VISA, credit cards, customer service

Today I had a most unusual experience, and in recounting it I want to give a public commendation to the customer service representative from TD VISA, named Abby.

I'm usually quite meticulous in reviewing my charges on my credit cards, and have, infrequently, found incorrect charges which, to their credit, TD VISA has always been exemplary in dealing with. I have only the highest complements for the service I've received from TD VISA in all the years I've been a customer.

Today I did something I never did before: I totaled up the charges for the month and compared my total with the total purchases on the statement.

I found a difference of $2.00

At first I couldn't believe it. I checked my addition several times and then called customer service and spoke with Abby. She ran her own total and agreed that there was a difference of two dollars and immediately told me that she'd issue a credit for the difference AND bring this to the attention of her supervisor. She also agreed to review all the statements I've received in the prior year.

I don't know if the root of this was some kind of internal theft, an error, or what, but my point in posting this is to suggest that it might be worthwhile, at least occasionally to thoroughly review your statements and ask for a clarification if there is anything you don't like or even anything you don't completely understand.

You may discover that everything is all right, but there's also a chance you might find something unusual, just as I did.

I believe that much fraud and identity theft which is so common these days would be nipped in the bud if more people would exercise greater vigilance in their accounts.

If you find any unusual things, or have had special experiences with customer service people in these fields, please comment: I'd be pleased to hear from you.

The abuse of statistics

Keywords:

Statistics, politics,

democracy, elections,

Chile

.

If you were invited to a party and were told that nearly half of the people there didn't like you, would you have some reservations about attending?

What if you were asked to lead a group in which you knew, even before you started that 5 out of 10 of the members were against you. Would you think twice about taking on such a job?

While I'm not about to discuss, Chilean politics, per se, I want to note that yesterday, Chile elected a new president, Michelle Bachelete, their first female president, with about 53% of the votes, her oponent, Sebastian Piñera, getting 47%.

It's clear that Bachelete gained a majority of the votes, but what is equally obvious, if you look at the figures is that nearly half of the votes were against her.

If you add to this, the fact that there were approximately 3% of the votes submitted in blank or spoiled, and consider that these abnormal votes could have been made in protest, then she received only a very slim majority ... somewhere around 51% of all the votes cast.

Jorge Luis Borges once defined democracy as an abuse of statistics. I tend to agree, especially when most people today live with the illusion that their participation in an election has a vital role in their future or the future of the world.

One of the major failings of the present democratic system in my eyes is that fact that people are forced to choose from a pre-determined list of choices. What if they don't like any of those choices? They are then required to select the lesser of the evils.

Use the just completed Chilean presidental election as an example. This was the second round, and there were just two candidates: the two who had received the highest number of votes in the first round, about a month ago. Regardless of what happened, one of these two candidates would be elected president.

What would have happened if there were a third choice on the ballot which offered people the chance to vote for

• NONE OF THE ABOVE

Would the 3% of blank ballots have been cast for this option?

More importantly, there were possibly another 30% of votes which were supposedly transferred from the candidates who were eliminated from the first round. Conceivably, in this election, the majority of the votes, might have been cast for the option of "None of the Above"

If this were the result, obviously the voters would be telling the politicians in the country that they didn't like any of the choices they had been presented with and they had better come up with a new list.

I realize that even this option, if it were available, would not be a complete solution to all the weaknesses and imperfections which democracy currently has, but the fact that it has never been made available in any election that I've heard of, is one of the reasons why I consider the popular notion about democracy to be an illusion and think that Borges may have been right on the mark.