shyspeak.netshyspeak.netSpeculation and perspective on current events relating to society, technology, religion and politics. 
Articles
Blogging Zlín: Part 5
2008-04-20 07:31:00 So, we woke up about 8:30 am after a very restful night’s sleep. We had arranged for Hanna to make breakfast for us at 9 and, once again, were not disappointed: scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles, yogurt, fresh bread with butter, jam and honey and fresh orange juice and coffee. After breakfast we ... More About: Europe , Travel , Journal , Czech Republic , Blogging
Blogging Zlín: Part 4
2008-04-19 05:45:00 Cindy and I have returned to the Czech Republic and once again are staying at the Penzion Uno in Zlín. The trip was uneventful after we finally got off the ground in Atlanta (our plane was delayed an hour while maintenance workers changed some “valves” in the engine). This time we flew into ... More About: Europe , Travel , Journal , Blogging
Brittney?s Problem
2008-04-13 00:41:00 Her: “I feel so sorry for Brittney Spears!” Me: “Why?” Her: “She achieved her success so quickly and has not been able to adjust to it. She’s engaging in all this destructive behavior because she can’t find a way to cope. I think she really needs help!” Me: “Actually, I think the ... More About: Problem
Based on Obama?s Foreign Policy Experience, I Could be President
2008-04-11 14:50:00 Senator Barack Obama, campaigning for President in Levittown, PA, claims his foreign policy credentials stem from “real-life” experiences abroad. Apparently growing up in Indonesia, spending three weeks in Pakistan with a side trip to India and having ties to relatives in Kenya gives one the requisite foreign policy experience to be President of the ... More About: Politics , Rants , Travel , Cain
McCain?s Housing Flip-Flop
2008-04-11 05:23:00 After cautioning against any sweeping government housing-crisis bailout, Presidential-hopeful John McCain proposes a–well, how would you describe it?–a sweeping government housing-crisis bailout. McCain’s plan would cost taxpayers $3 to $10 billion and “would allow certain homeowners whose houses are worth less than their mortgages to apply for assistance.” In addition, “their lenders would ... More About: Politics , Business , Housing , Flip
Troop Withdrawals and Funding
2008-04-11 03:49:00 In an unsurprising move, President Bush decided to suspend troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer. Based on the assessment presented to Congress by Gen Petraeus that the current progress was “fragile and reversible.” Therefore, between now and the end of July, we’ll draw-down from 20 to 15 brigades before taking a 45-day pause ... More About: Politics , Terrorism , Middle East , Military
Boycotting the Olympics
2008-04-09 01:36:00 There have been numerous calls, recently from Senator Hillary Clinton, for the United States and/or its elected officials to boycott the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Bad move! Although I decry the Tibet an human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese, to boycott the Olympic games as a form of national protest will not ... More About: Politics , Sports , China , Olympics
Global Poverty Act, a Step to Global Governance
2008-04-04 03:25:00 A bill was introduced in the Senate by Barack Obama (D-IL) that, if passed, would move the United States dangerously close to giving up its national sovereignty. The Global Poverty Act of 2007 (S.2433) would “require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of ... More About: Politics , Governance , Step
A Bel Canto Treasure
2008-04-01 05:13:00 I picked up a copy of French soprano Natalie Dessay’s Italian Opera Arias. This is a nice collection of bel canto favorites from Verdi , Belinni and Donizetti. I truly enjoyed these recordings! Dessay’s Violetta, from Verdi’s la Traviata, is very strong, emotional and intelligent; she quite adeptly illustrates the shifting moods ... More About: Music , Culture , Lucia
So, Is Obama a ?Typical? Black Person?
2008-03-22 15:24:00 Earlier this week sports radio host Angelo Cataldi asked Presidential hopeful Barack Obama about his recent speech on race at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in which he referenced his white grandmother and her prejudice. Obama told Cataldi that “The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity, but ... More About: Politics , Black , Person
Is Lying Ever Justified?
2008-03-14 14:19:00 Is there ever a moral justification for lying? No. I?m often criticized for being too black-and-white in my perceptions, but I cannot think of any instance when lying is justified. Even when my wife asks, ?how do I look in this dress?? I?m compelled to tell the truth. If I think ... More About: Business , Essays , Lying , Justified
Is There Reality in Truth?
2008-03-14 14:05:00 In the book, If Aristotle Ran General Motors, author Tom Morris writes, “Truth is just that mapping of reality that corresponds to the way things are.” I find this a very interesting concept and am in total agreement. Mr. Morris is basically saying that ?truth? equals ?reality.? Therefore, truth would be an ... More About: Business , Reality , Relativism , Essays
Is Business Ethics for Everyone?
2008-03-08 22:33:00 Most people involved in business, from the CEO of a large corporation to the assembly line worker, will eventually face an ethical dilemma. Although the breadth of responsibility for some business members is much broader than others, all have a responsibility to stakeholders. Because everyone within the business entity can potentially impact the ... More About: Business , Ethics , Essays
Market Driven Minimum Wage
2008-03-05 00:43:00 I believe the market should determine the level of employee compensation. An employer is interested in hiring an employee at the lowest possible cost. Conversely, the employee is interested in obtaining employment at the highest possible wage. This conflict results in an equilibrium wage being paid to employees by employers. Basically, ... More About: Business , Market , Ethics , Essays , Minimum Wage
Goodwill for North Korea?
2008-02-26 21:34:00 The New York Philharmonic, conducted by maestro Lorin Maazel, performed a historic concert in the North Korea n capital city of Pyongyang. They earned a five-minute standing ovation from the audience with their third and final encore, the playing of the Korean folksong, “Arirang” (a song of love and loss). Of the diplomatic impact ... More About: Politics , Music , Culture , North Korea
Pakistan Elections Blow to Musharraf and Terrorists
2008-02-19 21:28:00 Pakistan held their parliamentary elections and the people have spoken–they’re not happy the Musharraf government. With the vote-counting nearly complete, the two main opposition parties have secured 154 of the 268 contested seats with Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party leading with 86; the pro-Musharraf party trails with only 39 seats. It’ll be interesting to ... More About: Politics , Elections , Middle East , Pakistan
Kosovo Declares its Independence
2008-02-17 20:55:00 Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia today and now stands as the world’s newest country. Administered since 1999 by the United Nations, the new nation is banking on US and EU support to bolster its failing economy; the US and EU are expected to grant diplomatic recognition of the new state. Kosovo is also ... More About: Politics , Europe , United States , Russia
Roger Clemens: Just Another Juiced Jock!
2008-02-14 04:18:00 In his five-hour Senate testimony today, Yankee pitcher and seven-time Cy Young award winner, Roger Clemens , denied under oath that he ever used steroids or human growth hormone (HGH). This, of course, contradicts the sworn testimony of Clemen’s former trainer, Brian McNamee, who says he did. So, one of them is lying and ... More About: Politics , Juiced , Jock
9/11 Justice
2008-02-11 19:41:00 Finally, the United States will seek justice for the 9/11 attacks! The Pentagon has charged six Guantanamo detainees with murder and war crimes in connection with the 9/11 terror attacks. Among the six is Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks. The military is recommending the six be tried together before a ... More About: Politics , Bush , Terrorism , Middle East , Military
Pelosi: Iraq is a ?Failure?
2008-02-11 12:08:00 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said twice yesterday that Iraq “is a failure,” and the President’s troop surge has “not produced the desired effect.” Pelosi argued that “[t]he purpose of the surge was to create a secure time for the government of Iraq to make the political change to bring reconciliation to Iraq”… “They have ... More About: Politics , Middle East , Failure
Bhutto Supporters Balk at Scotland Yard Findings
2008-02-09 05:40:00 In mid-January, Scotland Yard , who was called in by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to investigate the murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto , concluded that Ms Bhutto was not shot, but died from head trauma. They also reported that the supposed government cover-up was nothing more than shoddy police work. So, it should come ... More About: Politics , Middle East
My Weekend Visitor
2008-02-08 05:30:00 Laughing, clapping hands Happy squealing squeaky shrill Granddaughter at play More About: Poetry , Weekend , Visitor
Increase the Deficit to Balance the Budget?
2008-02-05 02:49:00 President Bush unveiled his FY 2009 budget request today. If enacted, the $3.1 trillion dollar plan would increase the federal deficit beyond $400 billion (up from $162 billion in 2007!). The Bush plan seeks to boost defense, while cutting more than 150 discretionary programs. Since the purpose of government is defending the ... More About: Business , Balance , Budget , Deficit
Open Source Increases Utility
2008-02-02 20:08:00 Is information meant to be free? That is the question that plagues the masses in this Internet age. There is really no legal debate regarding ownership, it is quite obvious the developer actually owns the intellectual property. This ownership gives him or her the right to hide the source code of the ... More About: Business , Microsoft , Open Source , Open , Source
Lack of Commonsense Restricts Artificial Intelligence Evolution
2008-01-26 18:35:00 Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer system to perform functions that generally require intelligent thought. Although the system can make choices and determinations about problems posed to it, it can only respond to the extent it?s programming allows. The computer system?s inability to think outside this programming ultimately limits its ... More About: Technology , Evolution , Intelligence , Artificial Intelligence , Lack
Theme Change
2008-01-25 17:31:00 I’ve once again changed the shyspeak.net theme. The new theme is called “Tarski”, an elegant and very flexible theme developed by Ben Eastaugh and Chris Sternal-Johnson. The theme is named in honor of Alfred Tarski, a 20th-century logician and mathematician. Tarski is considered a pioneer in the study of formalized logical ... More About: Change , Theme
More Time for Democracy
2008-01-21 16:22:00 Pakistan President Pervez Musharaf on the first leg of his “European Tour” and speaking to an international assembly in Brussels decried the West’s “obsession” with democracy and pleaded for more time to allow his country to achieve higher standards of human rights and civil liberties. Musharaf said, “While we believe in democracy and human ... More About: Middle East , Time , Pakistan , Musharraf , Democracy
A Terrorist Gets Life
2008-01-19 17:33:00 Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a 25-year old Canadian citizen of Iraqi descent, was sentenced to life in prison after planning to kill federal agents and prosecutors. Jabarah was an al-Qaeda member who admitted to being sent by Osama bin Laden to bomb U.S. embassies in Manila and Singapore. He pleaded guilty to the foiled ... More About: Terrorism , Life , Justice , Terrorist
A Clean Slate for Network Vulnerabilities?
2008-01-19 16:52:00 An important aspect of network management and potentially the most unpredictable is information security. As the name implies, information security is concerned with monitoring and controlling access to data on a network. This in itself is a daunting task, but companies with a web presence can be even more vulnerable to security breeches. ... More About: Business , Network , Vulnerabilities , Clean , Slate
Convenient: Scotland Yard Thinks al-Qaeda Killed Bhutto
More articles from this author:2008-01-13 19:21:00 Scotland Yard has completed their investigation of the Bhutto murder and have come to the conclusion that al-Qaeda was responsible for her death. They also concluded there was no government cover-up, simply poor police work. Still, they can’t say exactly who is responsible for the killing. Scotland Yard disputes the Pakistan i government ... More About: Politics , Middle East , Scotland , Al Qaeda 1, 2, 3, 4 |
|
 |
|
 |
