How Milton Friedman Saved Chile
Milton Friedman gave Chileans the intellectual wherewithal first to survive the quake, and now to build their lives anew. [...]
What Chile did have was intellectual capital, thanks to an exchange program between its Catholic University and the economics department of the University of Chicago, then Friedman’s academic home. Even before the 1973 coup, several of Chile’s “Chicago Boys” had drafted a set of policy proposals which amounted to an off-the-shelf recipe for economic liberalization: sharp reductions to government spending and the money supply; privatization of state-owned companies; the elimination of obstacles to free enterprise and foreign investment, and so on.
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Eulogy for Robert B. Parker by his son, David
We all know of his passion for social justice, civil rights and noblesse oblige, and because these traits are enshrined in his work, it’s easy to take them for granted. But we’ve only to remember how hard-won they were. In building his character, he had to reject the narrow-minded and bigoted conservatism of his parents and his parochial upbringing. A larger life beckoned him. He dared to eat the peach. He rode away from his mundane origins on a kind of daft confidence that allowed him to transform himself as needed but without losing his center. In contrast, I didn’t have to reject his values to build my character. I wanted to be like him.
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The Future of Web Content – HTML5, Flash & Mobile Apps, by Jeremy Allaire
I think it’s critical to first frame and understand this discussion with the broader political economy of Internet software platforms. Most of the debate and discussion over HTML5 vs. Flash vs. Native Apps has little to do with what is the right technical approach, or whether something is open or closed, it has to do with the expressions of power and control that drive the businesses of the Internet’s dominant platform companies — Apple, Adobe, Google and Microsoft.

Each of these companies seeks to create unique runtimes and APIs that provide a strategic wedge that can drive other aspects of their business. [...]For Apple, this is hardware and paid media (content and apps) sales. For Google, this is about creating massive reach for their advertising platforms and products. For Adobe, this about creating major new applications businesses based on their platform. For Microsoft, it is about driving unit sales of their core OS and business applications.
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10 luminaries look ahead to the business of reading
The tablet is the Holy Grail for media people: a more portable, more visually interesting way to deliver news that can be constantly updated. I’m very excited to see what will be possible in the relatively near future in terms of presenting information, curating content — the whole realm of things that magazine making is all about.

Unlike the computer screen, a tablet might be able to create for the reader more of a sense that you are in this carefully constructed closed garden; when you’re online you feel like you’re always just a click away into the great sea of media. I think that environment will be good for editors and content creators, and it can probably be useful for advertisers too.
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Lina’s comment: The luminaries include Matt Mullenweg, Kevin Rose, Marc Andreessen and Jimmy Wales.

Stephen Fry: why the Apple iPad is here to stay – Guardian.co.uk
There are many issues you could have with the iPad. No multitasking, still no Adobe Flash. No camera, no GPS. They all fall away the minute you use it. I cannot emphasise enough this point: “Hold your judgment until you’ve spent five minutes with it.” No YouTube film, no promotional video, no keynote address, no list of features can even hint at the extraordinary feeling you get from actually using and interacting with one of these magical objects. [...]
The moment you experience it in your hands, you know this is class. This is a different order of experience. The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it’s not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop – it is a whole new kind of device. And it will change so much. Newspapers, magazines, literature, academic textbooks, brochures, fliers and pamphlets are going to be transformed (poor Kindle).
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Roger’s comment: A refreshingly well-written appreciation of the Apple iPad, its desirability and potential. The article is a delight to read.

Adobe Co-founder John Warnock on the Competitive Advantages of Aesthetics and the ‘Right’ Technology
When Acrobat was announced, the world didn’t get it. They didn’t understand how important sending documents around electronically was going to be.
We met with [someone from] the Gartner Group, who said, “This is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard in my life.” But I said, “No, people have been trying to figure out universal document formats for decades, and no one has succeeded. The reason we can succeed is that we don’t have to ask anybody’s permission. No one has to do any development. We can capture the PostScript files and convert any PostScript file into a PDF file. And no one has to say this is a good idea or a bad idea. We can just make it a fait accompli.” [...]

I’ve thought about calling him [note: Steve Jobs, re: Flash on iPhone] and saying, “Steve, you know, at this point you want might to engage the partnership again.” Because I think otherwise he is going to get some competitive pressures from outside that he is not going to like.
He has never been great at hitting that middle ground [between] openness and proprietary [products]. He has always seemed to lean to the proprietary side, to want to own everything. I think this is one case where he probably would do better if he didn’t do that.
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Lina’s comment: Ironic how J.Warnock potentially “makes the case” for iPad (as a combination of aesthetics & right technology), yet Flash is not supported by iPad either…He may have to call Steve Jobs now.

Here’s a list of ideas I have used or saved for future use:

• A personalized caricature portrait (www.sprattiart.com). This looks amazing & of high quality. It is also very original!
  Cost: around $275
• Or, even his own comic book, starring him as the superhero you know he is. From yourcomicworld.com. You can choose the subject and describe his traits & habits…the comic artists will do the rest.
  Cost: $700-$1100
• Does he paint or take good photographs – create a calendar of his art or photo work, buy it for him – and alternatively list it for sale, publicly, on his behalf  (if you are sure he would love it).
  There are many options for this, here are a few places to start:
  lulu.com,  digilabs.net, createagift.co.uk (I have used all three, results were good), gettingpersonal.co.uk, photobox.co.uk
  Cost: around $20-$25
  Shameless plug: Roger’s Art 2010 calendar on lulu.com
• Is he crazy about his dog, cat, canary…whatever? He must have taken hundreds of photos of it. Make a coffee table book out of his pet’s photos & buy it for him.  Same websites as above apply.
  Cost: $30-$70
• Or, you can even create fabric out of his artwork (& buy it for him) . www.spoonflower.com
  Cost: $18-$32 per yard

• Does he like colourful things – which are hard to find? Have a look at Etsy.com, for all sorts of handmade clothes, accessories, cosmetics – and you can shop by colour!
  Cost: $-$$$
• Do you have more than enough words to express how much you love him? Put them into a love song for him.
  www.tailoredmusic.com
  From the website: “You can set your lyrics to a variety of genres, including Jazz, Pop/Rock, Country, Alternative, Classical, and more. When you’re ready, our studio musicians will record your songs and email the MP3 & WAV files to you. The process usually takes 5-10 days.”
  Cost: $199-$299
• Conspire with his family (get the photos and info) and create his family tree, which he can share online. www.myheritage.com. Or, on the same website, upload his photo and show him which celebrity he most looks like!
• Does he sell a lot of stuff on eBay? Buy him this portable photo studio, to improve his product photos and sales.
  Cost: $49.99
• Does he shoot a lot of videos for YouTube or his own video channel? Get him a clapper board, so he feels like a true director!
  Cost: $10
• I am not a Harry Potter fan, but this Kymera Magic Wand Remote Control looks too cool to pass.
  Cost: $49.95
• Does he type a lot & finds it tiring? Buy him the (apparently) world’s most ergonomic keyboard from safetype.com It looks very odd, but they make a very convincing case, and it’s money-back guaranteed.
  Cost: $189-$295
• I love this clever pen! The Pulse Smart Pen is simply revolutionary – one of these gadgets that make everyone go “wow!”. Just watch the example usage videos and count your wows! It records everything you hear and links it to everything you write, so you can replay it and not miss a word. The ultimate note-taking aid.
  Cost: $145-$170 for the Pen (comes with 2 ink cartridges), $7.95-$24.95 for a special notebook or journal pad, if you would like to offer a complete package.
• Does he like to eat & shop for healthy foods? Two ideas:
  Buy him the 100 Healthy Food Magnets – each food magnet includes key nutrients, calories, fat, fiber, and protein information.
  Cost: $22.95
  Or, buy him The World’s Healthiest Foods book. We have it – it has great nutritional information & recipes, it is a very useful reference and inspiration. “Heal with food”.
  Cost: $39.95
• Humour – who doesn’t want to laugh?
  Buy him the New Yorker’s Complete Cartoons book. That’s a book with more than 2,000 cartoons and two CD-ROMs with all 68,647 cartoons ever published in the magazine.
  Cost: $49.95
• Does he have favourite quotes? Or does he write short poems? Get him a Lightpoem from shapeways.com. Worth browsing, as it has some other amazing gifts you can make, which they manufacture with 3D printing. Free shipping worldwide (appreciated).
  Cost: $70-$95

Last-minute possible (no shipping necessary):

• Give him his own typeface! If you can get a sample of his handwriting, you can submit it online and then get the typeface (font) and give it to him to install on his computer. He can then type on his PC with his handwritten characters. Cool, huh? www.frontifier.com
  Cost: 9$

• Is he interested in improving his writing skills?  Give him a writing course as a gift. E.g. www.writingclasses.com
  Cost: $125-$545
  Or, if he is into travel writing, check out Matador Travel Writing School:  matadoru.com
  Cost: $125/month for 3 months, or $350 one-time payment
• Is he interested in turning himself into a brand? Buy him a “Brand-Me” course from Design Aerobics. (They have other cool design stuff for gifts too, from $ to $$)
  Cost: $69
• Does he enjoy jokes and satire? Buy him a JibJab.com membership, and/or create a movie starring him. It’s easy!
  Cost: $12 annual membership, plus about $5 per video download.
• Does he like to send e-cards to his friends & family? I normally prefer real greetings cards, but Jacquie Lawson’s e-cards are an exception. They are so beautiful, almost magical. (Roger – who hates e-cards – loved them!). Just preview “The Dancing Piper” or “Santa’s Flight” in the Christmas cards section and you’ll see…
  Cost: $12 for a year’s membership.
• Loves to visit stately homes & gardens in England? Buy him an annual membership to the National Trust (from the US – or from the UK). They have some of the most wonderful properties, gardens and tea rooms. We always visit some of them when in England.
  Cost: $55-$62.50 one-person annual membership ($80 for 2 people).
• Speaking of travel, who doesn’t love to browse & get the inside scoop on the most wonderful locations and hotels? Buy him a membership to exclusive services & guides, like Nota Bene, Indagare or Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report
  Cost: Nota Bene – $420/year, Indagare – $250-$1200/year, Andrew Harper -  $195/year, or $500/year (plus $400 initial setup)
• “Experience gifts” are a bit tricky if you don’t know the person’s schedule & tastes very well, but Isango.com offers some attractive, easy to gift activities & tours.
  Cost: $$-$$$
• Donating to charity in someone else’s name I find  presumptuous & unoriginal. If you must, I like Kiva.org, where you can make micro-loans to specific people and track the progress of the individual who receives your loan.
  Cost: $25-$10,000
• If he doesn’t have it already – buy him his own domain (e.g. johnsmith.com) & web-hosting for it (www.godaddy.com – domain registration & hosting,  www.medialayer.com – hosting). If he always meant to start blogging but found it hard (technically) to get started, install WordPress on his domain (on your own, if you know how, or hire somebody to do it for you), and just give him the login codes. He will be able to start posting right away.
  Cost: $9.99 first year domain name registration, from $9.95/month web hosting, around $100 WordPress installation (note: GoDaddy.com offers an easy, WordPress quick-install option with their hosting).
• OK, you may find this silly, but we could not believe Outlook does not offer a “print selection” or “print from page x to y” option. What happens if you have to print some emails and they include pages-worth of previous correspondence but you only want to print the latest reply?  Finally, we found this little plugin that works well & fast:  Blueprint for Outlook. If he nagged about Outlook’s printing problem, he will thank you forever.
  Cost: $19.99-$49.99 for a single license.

Cheeky note:
All the links above are direct, non-affiliate links.
If my list is a god-send for you, feel free to tip me for the ideas!

Americans Will Come Down on Side of Freedom
It may turn out to be one of the most important facts of the 21st century that the American people — as exemplified by, but not limited to, the “tea party” fighters — came down on the side of freedom over fear. I don’t know that there is another people on the planet who would have had a similar impulse and judgment. It is, to use a word, exceptional (as in “American exceptionalism”).

It is why we live in hope this Christmas season that we may yet claw back our government in time to protect our grandchildren’s freedom and prosperity.

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The silence of Mammon
[...] Most hard-headed business people are no doubt reluctant to make these arguments. They are more concerned with balancing their books than with engaging in worthy debates about freedom and democracy. But they would do well to become a bit less reticent: the price of silence will be an ever more hostile public and ever more overbearing government.
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Commercialism Only Adds to Joy of the Holidays – By Onkar Ghate
I’m an atheist, and I love Christmas. If you think that’s a contradiction, think again.
Do you remember as a child composing wish lists of things you genuinely valued, thought you deserved, and knew would bring you pleasure? Do you remember eagerly awaiting the arrival of Christmas morning and the new bike, book, or chemistry set you were hoping for? That childhood feeling captures the spirit of Christmas and explains why so many of us look forward to the season each year.

You may no longer anticipate Christmas morning with that same childhood excitement. After all, even if you still make a wish list, couldn’t you just go out and buy the items yourself? Yet the pleasure of exchanging gifts as a token of friendship and love remains. Particularly when you receive (or purchase) a gift that could come only from someone who knows you well—say, a shirt that broadens your style or a new wine that becomes one of your favorites—it serves as a material reminder of a spiritual bond.[...]
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Lina’s comment: Exactly so. I am also a Christmas-loving atheist.

Some more of my favourites:

Bonus: I’ve discovered today these fantastic Christmas e-cards.
Roger hates electronic cards in general, but he loved these…they are sublime!

I love Christmas!
It is such a wonderful time when most people are in a good mood and kinder than usual to each other. Smiles come easier, little hiccups are dismissed faster, we do more fun things with our friends and family, we play with children. If we are lucky, we get snow! What is not to like?
What, an atheist who loves Christmas? Yes, indeed.
Like Oriana Fallaci, I consider myself a “Christian Atheist” – meaning I appreciate some of the legacies and traditions – which I now enjoy in a secular way. I can and do thoroughly enjoy Christmas without going to church.

How I love to spend the Christmas break:

1. Take time off work – or reduce work to an absolute minimum (this usually follows a great “push” to finish projects before the holiday season, so the break feels even more deserved and precious).

2. Put up holiday decorations around the house – lots. And lots of candles.

3. Scout for the most interesting and evocative wrapping paper & ribbons and wrap Christmas presents.

4. Receive Christmas presents!!!

5. Read, read, read – especially the new books I received as presents (ah, the luxury of having time to read uninterrupted…)

6. Paint Christmas-themed illustrations, cards, snow-scenes…and generally have fun dabbing a brush into bright colours and mixing it up.

7. Watch Christmas movies (especially romantic comedies…a bit fed up with the, too “didactic”, sometimes right-down absurd, religious ones).
(Some suggestions: The Holiday, Holiday in Handcuffs, Love Actually , You’ve Got Mail )

8. Listen to great music on my stereo – especially Christmas songs & classical and romantic music.

9. Start the New Year’s calendar – usually featuring Roger’s art (like his 2010 calendar below)

Roger Art Calendar 2010   (Buy this on Lulu.com)

10. And of course, prepare my new year’s  resolutions.

How do you like to spend Christmas?

I have bought many Christmas songs (mp3) or CD collections over the years – I will be posting my favourites here…starting with this list of my top favourites (they fit on a single CD – the order is as on my own CD and flows very well).

Enjoy and be merry!

Part 2 is here: More Christmas songs!

Who Needs the Grid?- The Atlantic
Since the boxes are “fuel agnostic,” customers can run them on existing propane, natural gas, or ethanol sources. But they’ll also run on plant waste, or almost anything else containing hydrogen and carbon. And the eventual “killer app”? Processing wind- or solar-generated electricity with water to create storable oxygen and hydrogen, then reversing the process to generate electricity at night or in low-wind or cloudy conditions. [...]
But the truly disruptive aspect of Bloom’s fuel cells isn’t their clean, quiet, affordable efficiency. It’s their ability to operate independent of a power grid. That’s critical for developing countries, which lack infrastructure. It could also allow Bloom to revolutionize energy-generation in industrialized nations.
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Lina’s comment: The type of solution I was hoping for and I thought was due…John Galt-like energy. Combined with wireless electricity transfer, I think it points to a bright & energy-rich future, without compromises between living & prospering and a clean planet.

A Winter’s Tale – The Atlantic
The Squaw Valley Olympics was the first Winter Games to be televised exclusively (and extensively) on one network (CBS); it was the first time instant replay was used; the first electronic tabulation of results and scores involving speed, distance, and style (IBM); the first Winter Olympics held in the western United States. It was the first time women competed in speed skating, and the first time the biathlon was an Olympic event. It was the first and only time that all alpine and skating events, and the 80-meter ski jump, were within walking distance of one another. Skiers and skaters watched and cheered at each other’s events on the way to and from their own competitions. It was the only modern Olympics where all the athletes and coaches lived and dined in one village.
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Lina & Roger’s comment: Very interesting & moving. We would love to visit!