Category: Policies

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DELIBERATION: Jim Turner Dissects Paul Krugman

07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence

Jim Turner, #2 to Ralph Nader in the day, is co-author of VOICE OF THE PEOPLE–The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life.  This is his contribution to the current dialog.

My view is that Krugman's article —

America is divided by two very different views of government
Saturday, January 15, 2011

— as usual for him, is a clear and articulate presentation of the Order Left position.  Like his counterparts on the Order Right, it is long on proscription and short on empathy—lots of shoulds, theys, and inevitables, some but few mights, wes, and possibilities.  In this particular instance Order Left Krugman attacks his equally narrow Order Right adversaries over taxes and health as examples of a general indictment of political failure and takes no notice of the free right or the free left.

I admire Krugman as an exponent of his confined view and, when I accept his premises, often agree with him.  Nonetheless, he leaves out or minimizes, in this and other columns the fact that one of the biggest divides we face as a nation is the divide between a relatively united country and a significantly unrepresentative politics.

When I originally read this Column I picked out three points I thought were key to Krugman’s inability to successfully address the situation facing all Americans which he seems to want to do.

Continue reading “DELIBERATION: Jim Turner Dissects Paul Krugman”

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First Interactive Graphic Novel for iPad is about CIA’s involvement in Iran (1979)

04 Education, Corruption, Government, Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Misinformation & Propaganda, Mobile, Open Government, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Technologies

Operation Ajax tells the true story of the CIA’s involvement in the Middle East and the roots of the modern American conflict with Iran.

Experience history through the eyes of a nameless protagonist, whose identity was redacted from declassified CIA records, as he recalls the dramatic and real events he was involved in with heads of state, covert agents, and underground political activists.

Inspired by the investigative journalism of best-selling author Stephen Kinzer and his work “All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror“, Operation Ajax is an original story.

Operation Ajax is the first nonfiction narrative that takes you into a new immersive graphic entertainment experience, designed for the iPad from the ground up. It was debuted at Event: 18 Jan, NYC Society for Ethical Culture – Iran Hostage Crisis 30th Anniversary Meets WikiLeaks – All-Star Panel

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Soil Mapping

01 Agriculture, 03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Health, Earth Intelligence, Geospatial, History, info-graphics/data-visualization
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A global consortium has been formed that aims to make a new digital soil map of the world using state-of-the-art and emerging technologies for soil mapping and predicting soil properties at fine resolution. This new global soil map will be supplemented by interpretation and functionality options that aim to assist better decisions in a range of global issues like food production and hunger eradication, climate change, and environmental degradation. This is an initiative of the Digital Soil Mapping Working Group of the International Union of Soil Sciences IUSS

In November 2008, an $18 million grant has been obtained from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to map most parts in Sub-Sahara Africa, and make all Sub-Saharan Africa data available. From this grant there are also funds for coordinating global efforts and for the establishment of a global consortium. Several institutions have assumed a leading role in this effort and have made substantial financial and in-kind contributions.

http://globalsoilmap.net


Related:
World soil information
World soil museum

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REFERENCE: IBM Advanced Information Operations

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Augmented Reality, Collaboration Zones, Collective Intelligence, Communities of Practice, Geospatial, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), Key Players, Methods & Process, Mobile, Policies, Real Time, Reform, Research resources, Strategy, Threats

Posted with permission.  Provided by Dr. James Spohrer in response to a request from Phi Beta Iota for a “snap-shot” overview of the “soul” of IBM going into the 21st Century.

1. Cities: here is a short IBM video (YouTube 4:15) on cities as the nodes in the planetary system of systems

Features Mike Wing, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Julia Grace.  Cities as planetary accupunture points of intervention.  Cities are HUMAN–computers cannot handle the unpredictable.  Dominos analogy–everything is interconnected and knowledge or information are the “energy” being exchanged among individual people, the HUMAN element. It is the mixture of people and hardware, and software that is so elegant and exciting.

2. Universities in Cities: My current job at IBM builds from the notion that universities are the knowledge batteries of city/regions… see slide #34 in this presentation on Service Science: Progress and Directions (64 Slides), connected with Handbook of Service Science (Springer, 2010).  NOTE:  Downloading presentation enables viewing of Notes for each slide.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Overview of IBM University Programs focusing on 5 R's (Research, Readiness, Recruiting, Revenue, Responsibilities); Quality of Life balance between local and global optimization; Ecology–study of all things in relation to all life forms; and Holistic Service Systems with cities and within cities, universities, and the fundamental “intelligent” building blocks.  Emphasis on information information exchanges and life-long learning.  Slide #34:

3. Connecting Universities and Cities Locally and Globally: My global team at IBM University Programs is funding connecting the universities locally with their cities, and globally with each other – networked improvement communities in Doug's language… Really connecting service systems, see Slide #16 in this presentation.

Continue reading “REFERENCE: IBM Advanced Information Operations”

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NIGHTWATCH Extract: China Moves In on North Korea

02 China, 02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Strategy

North Korea-China: North Korea will develop the islet of Hwanggumpyong on the Yalu River Delta linking Sinuiju with the Chinese city of Dandong as a special economic zone in cooperation with Chinese businessmen, Chosun Ilbo reported 18 January. North Korean Cabinet already approved a law on the development that will be announced in March or April.

Comment: This is another example of Chinese business tutelage for North Korea. All other special economic zones have either failed for lack of investors or been troubled by North Korean government meddling. In the last category are the Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast and the Kaesong joint industrial park, north of Panmunjom.

One would surmise that a joint venture with the Chinese would be relieved of the unpredictability of North Korean leadership whims, which have undermined the profitability of the joint ventures with the South Koreans. More importantly, every Chinese economic lifeline tossed into the North Korean economic morass is a burden on China and a restraint on North Korea.

The Chinese are moving slowly, but steadily based on their understanding of the magnitude of North Korean economic mismanagement. Thus far, they appear to be helping North Korean enterprises that have prospects of profitability, such as textiles, and Chinese enterprises that benefit from North Korean geography, such as ports and infrastructure on the Sea of Japan.

North Korea never has been self-reliant and its condition of dependency on the global economy has steadily deepened under Kim Chong-il. The Chinese appear determined to salvage what they can and rebuild the rest of North Korea in a different, more sustainable direction, slowly, by converting some North Korean activities into extensions of China's economy.

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

Phi Beta Iota: The Chinese are out-thinking and out-maneuvering the USA on all fronts, and in a fascinating twist, may be egging the USA on to the same military-industrial death march that led to the end of the Soviet Union.  The above development should be studied in relation to WASHINGTON RULES: US-Korea-China-NK NAFTA.  In both instances, leaders are making strategic moves for reasons they consider valid, but that have nothing to do with the well-being of their respective publics.

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