It could be done by changing the way short and long term investments are taxed. Right now there's not enough downside to speculation (i.e., demanding a significant return this quarter) or upside to true investing.
Also to blame for the short-sightendness of corporations are the executives who want to come in, raise the stock price (often by gutting R&D and laying off the most experienced employees) to pander to the speculators, and then bailing out.
Perhaps corporations should tie this year's compensation for an executive to how the company performs one or two (or three) years into the future, regardless of whether that executive is still there (unless he was fired for malfeasance). Or you could hand out bonuses today based on how the company did this year to those who were there two or three years ago laying the foundations for this year's performance.
Such compensation given with an eye to long-term performance could be taxed at a lower rate adding to the incentive.
In other words, use taxes and compensation plans to force people to look ahead by up to three years (I don't know if there is a benefit to a more distant horizon but there may be). If taxes were structured so that investors really were owners then they would have more interest in enforcing an ownership mentality on the executives.
This sort of compensation structure would change the way people think about the long term viability of the company and would prevent a lot of the damage I've personally witnessed at NCR, ICL, and IBM.
Using a debit card won't improve your credit rating as you didn't use credit. Using a credit card regularly and paying on time will improve your rating.
Also, there are a slew of consumer protection laws that do not apply to debit cards (such as the $50 liability if the card is stolen).
Although your bank may be voluntarily applying those rules to your debit card (such as allowing a "chargeback" - which can't be done since there was technically no charge to begin with, only a debit), no bank is required to comply with those rules.
See http://www.youngmoney.com/credit_debt/credit_basic s/040217_01 for a discussion on the differences between the two types of cards. In a nutshell: they are completely different and carrying a debit card is like carrying your entire bank account in your wallet.
The fact that your card may have "VISA" on it doesn't mean anything at all. VISA can be thought of as a manufacturer who has different products just as Ford has pickup trucks and mini-vans. The fact they both have "Ford" logos on them doesn't make them the same thing at all.
There is a reason banks push debit cards - it's in the best interest of the banks to do so.
How do I know these things? Just a few seconds of research on Google turned up the link above. Plus, I used to work at a company that wrote banking software and the business I own has a merchant account through which we accept MC, VISA, Discover, and Diner's Club.
I just visited your site. I really liked the pictures and getting to see what some of the rest of Kazakhstan looks like (not to mention your other pictures).
I've also been reading about this history of Kazakhstan this morning. I find it so sad to think about what the people have had to endure in these places. Everyone I met was so nice; it is hard to picture them having to live under a totalitarian government. I really hope their future goes much better.
I was there as part of a team from ICL (now part of Fujitsu) presenting some banking software to a group of about a dozen different banks. I was responsible for the technical end of the presentation (i.e., make sure the all the hardware / software / networking functioned properly) and to answer any technical questions the banks might have.
Most of the other Westerners I met as a result of this trip were there because of oil and other mineral interests. This was relatively soon after Kazakhstan had become independent and the Kazakhs were very interested in development and self-sufficiency.
I didn't see any sign of a McDonald's or other Western storefront while I was there but my time there was limited and there was a lot I didn't see. Almaty is quite a large city, somewhat reminiscent of Denver, so I didn't see most of it.
Almaty is right next to some large mountains and although our hotel was definitely in the city, there was a ski-lift only a few blocks away that would take you up the side of the mountains. It couldn't be more convenient for visitors to go skiing for the afternoon.
I would love the opportunity to go back there. The countries in that part of the world (the "stans") and their people are often portrayed negatively. I just wanted to let the people here at Slashdot, who probably haven't had a chance to visit KZ, know that it is very much worth doing.
There is a website at http://www.almadf.kz.nyud.net:8090/english/index.h tml that I found this morning which has a lot of photos showing how beautiful Almaty and its people are. I have no connection with that site and I have tried to avoid having it Slashdotted by using using Coral. Therefore I inserted ".nyud.net:8090" into the actual URL above.
I would like to know if there are there are any people from Kazakhstan reading Slashdot? I would have thought there should be. If you are from Kazakhstan and would like to make a friend in the U.S., please feel free to contact me at mailto:southcarolina1860-kazakhstan@yahoo.com
I went to Almaty (aka "Alma Ata", the old capital of Kazakhstan) back in about 1994. I really enjoyed it and found the people to be very friendly and enthusiastic.
I did find the food to be somewhat unique. Breakfast was usually a kind of roll filled with either finely chopped vegetables and/or finely ground meat. I don't know what sort of meat it was and it wasn't even always clear which buns had meat as everything was so finely ground up. It was all tasty though.
Lunch was fairly straight forward but the dessert was a peculiar electric green sweet foam. I couldn't identify the flavor but it was also pretty good.
Supper was quite interesting as, although the menu had a variety of items, it turned out what was actually available was either steak or spaghetti. No worry though, both were quite good as was the company!
The architecture, furnishings, and decor of Almaty were very interesting. For me, it was like an instant trip to the 1950s but in a parallel universe where everything was slightly unfamiliar.
The name of the hotel I stayed at escapes me right now but it was something like "The Cosmo". I think it has been renamed "Kazakhstan Hotel" based on the pictures I can find. There was a very impressive and very large tapestry commemorating the Soviet space program in the lobby.
The main thing about my trip was my time in Kazakhstan was far too short. It took ~48 hours to get there, I had ~48 hours there, and then it was ~48 hours to come home. I wish I had time to visit Baikonur Cosmodrome (we were invited to visit by our hosts) but we didn't have time. I'll always regret that.
Anyway, if you get a chance to go to Kazakhstan, you really should take it.
One thing that would help a lot would be for more people to be aware of Jury Nullification. While the laws would still exist, unjust laws would be ignored.
If I find the malware was in a directory like C:\Program Files\Malware\ I delete the directory and then create a file with the same name. I put some text in the file like "This is here to prevent Malware infections." and then I change the mode to be read-only and hidden.
Not perfect but it helps and I haven't seen it mentioned here.
The result I see coming out of this sort of action is that consumers will have less compunction about making illegal copies and committing other violations of intellectual property laws.
When laws are perceived as unfair they are ignored. The only way, at that point, to get compliance is draconian enforcement. That confirms the perception of the unfairness of the law. Eventually, the government behind the laws is also seen to be unfair and even corrupt. Revolution eventually follows.
I'm not saying people will revolt because they can't record "Friends" but that WIPO's decisions are more straws on the camel's back. Eventually, if people can still remember what it means to be "free" (and PC textbooks are not helping that), they will reach a breaking point and every "straw" will have contributed to that break.
Exactly! And when one realizes how ridiculous the claimed reason for such a ban is, one has to wonder what the real reason is. It quickly becomes apparent the only possible reason is to tighten the screws on the population and get them more conditioned to unquestioningly doing what they are told by the government.
In the next election we need to vote against every single incumbent in every office, regardless of how good we think they may be (everyone always thinks the problem lies with the other guy's candidate). Next time a message has to be sent that no elected official can assume re-election when the government is on the course it is on.
Wow, some states are nuts! Gun control is bad enough but "knife control"? I'm just glad I live in SC where you can apparently carry any knife, any way you like, the way a free citizen should be able.
It reminds me of a camping trip my friends and I took while teenagers in the early 1970s. We went for a walk at about 2:00 a.m. and eventually found ourselves on a two lane highway. After a while a sheriff's patrol drove by and stopped us. We were all carrying at least 12" sheath knives plus pocket knives (hey, what's a boy without a good knife?) - one was a switchblade (a US Air Force survival knife). The cop just looked us and our knives over and then let us go on.
The War on Drugs (aka "Prohibition II") "cut the balls off" this country and the War on Terror is going kill it. The people responsible aren't the GOP or the Dems, they are the "GOPDems", thus named because they are the two faces of the same group of people.
Maybe this is Amazon's way of asking to have people flood their servers with random searches in their name. As a result, the data would contain so much "noise" that amazon couldn't deduce anything from it.
I believe I had to do this when I entered the UK in the summer of 1981. The man at customs made me write down the name and address of every place I would be staying while I was in the UK visiting my uncle.
I can confirm that the Belkin TuneCast, as delivered, isn't worth anything at all.
With fresh batteries, the MP3 player cranked up the max, and the transmitter within two feet of the antenna it barely works regardless of which of the four stations I try. Worse yet, it seems really sensitive to the orientation of the transmitter and the best orientation requires that you hold it in your hand.
The quality of this Belkin product is causing be to question ever spending money with them on anything again. They should offer a free swap, to something that works, for anyone who shows up at a store with one.
I wish I could moderate your post up, it was very informative! I don't agree with them but at least it's a case of "broken as designed" (IMHO) rather than carelessness or laziness.
I'm sorry, you're spelling was so atrocious I couldn't make out your point. Would you please re-phrase it? Thank you ever so much!:-)
By the way, you did know NASCAR wants to build a track in the NYC area (Staten Island) because the demand is so high in that area and that nationwide NASCAR is more popular than the NFL? You'll need to start modifying your "NASCAR talk dictionary" to include phrases like "youse guys", "faddah", "muddah", and maybe even "chowdah".
Actually, the periods are not necessary in an acronym "unless an organization's style calls for them".
Anway, I can counter by claiming it is a trademark that started out as an acronym, therefore any spelling but "NASCAR" is incorrect. Finally, if "NASCAR" were just a word like "laser" and "radar" it would be "nascar" not "Nascar".
That's another good example! "Nasa" irritates me as well. I think the spelling can change when the word is no longer legally protected (trade or servicemark) for whatever reason. Even then, dropping the case on all but the first letter makes no sense. "NASCAR" should become "nascar".
That's a good point! However, I would counter that the authority on the spelling hasn't acknowledged any change and, since it's no doubt protected intellectual property, legally it's still "NASCAR" and not "Nascar". To eliminate the final possibility that the NYT is trying to refer to all related forms of car racing as "Nascar", I have only seen them use the term in an actual NASCAR context.
However, there are those who agree with Malthus such as Paul R. Ehrlich. I do think he was foolish for getting into that bet which was very poorly designed from Ehrlich's point of view. Any change in price of metal will not become apparent until a shortage is apparent. Since the supply is fixed, at some demand a shortage will occur. However, we don't know what the supply is so we can't predict when the shortage and price increase will happen.
I look at at it this way: the load on the Earth can be described as the population times the load per person. While current population trends do seem to show the global population will plateau in the late 21st century (but this is not guaranteed), there are no indications the increasing load per person is going to plateau.
To the contrary, there is every indication the load per person is going to increase dramatically over the next couple of hundred years as the 3rd world gains a 1st world life-style. The development of clean new energy sources is not keeping up at a technical level.
As energy becomes scarcer its price will rise. This will raise the cost of growing and delivering food. Even if agricultural developments hold down the cost of growing the food there is no viable way of reducing the cost of delivery in sight. The increasing cost of delivery will also affect all other products. E.g., importing from China will no longer be cost-effective with dramatic results for both China and the U.S.
As far as the populations of Europe and Japan are concerned, that's not really an answer to the problem. Instead of the populations declining thereby reducing the load on the Earth they are importing people to maintain the load. This also has significant political implications as Europe is coming into a second (and more complete) "Ottoman Empire" scenario, this time by immigration not invasion.
The U.S.'s population has doubled since I was born in 1957 and has increased 50% since I graduated from high school. The change is palpable. What had been "Labor Day weekend traffic" when I was young is now daily traffic. Everywhere I go in the U.S. people talk about how crazily their area has grown over the past ten or twenty years and yet they don't understand they aren't unique but the norm across the country.
I concede, it is not clear what is going to happen over the next couple of hundred years. There are those of us who think Malthus was basically right. I think you can only get four quarts out of a gallon bucket but maybe the bucket is growing and I'm just not convinced.
However, my observation that reducing the threat of global warming and other forms of pollution is theoretically most easily done by reducing the population is, I think still true. We know how to reduce the population, we don't know how to obtain sufficient clean energy.
The solution to the global problems of energy, pollution, food, etc. is fewer people. Malthus was right, advances in technology over the past 150 years or so have simply forestalled what is otherwise inevitable.
Even if there is some end run around Malthus's predictions, we don't know what it is today. Therefore, population reduction is still the quickest available solution today.
Finally, if each North American / Western European consumes X times what people in other parts of the world consume, logically the first thing to stop is the movement of people into the areas of North American / Western Europe (i.e., stop creating new North Americans / Western Europeans).
It's not just corporate email. The "New York Times" now routinely spells "NASCAR" as "Nascar" as well as mangling other acronyms. I have written to them several times to find out what is going on but they haven't replied. I think it's the result of using MS Word which has a nasty tendency to downcase things.
Since we're on the subject, I'll bring up a related complaint: I think the program which checks your spelling is a "spelling checker" and not a "spell checker" (unless you're some sort of warlock or witch). I know, I need to relax and get used to it but it does bother me.
Slashdot Mirror
It could be done by changing the way short and long term investments are taxed. Right now there's not enough downside to speculation (i.e., demanding a significant return this quarter) or upside to true investing.
Also to blame for the short-sightendness of corporations are the executives who want to come in, raise the stock price (often by gutting R&D and laying off the most experienced employees) to pander to the speculators, and then bailing out.
Perhaps corporations should tie this year's compensation for an executive to how the company performs one or two (or three) years into the future, regardless of whether that executive is still there (unless he was fired for malfeasance). Or you could hand out bonuses today based on how the company did this year to those who were there two or three years ago laying the foundations for this year's performance.
Such compensation given with an eye to long-term performance could be taxed at a lower rate adding to the incentive.
In other words, use taxes and compensation plans to force people to look ahead by up to three years (I don't know if there is a benefit to a more distant horizon but there may be). If taxes were structured so that investors really were owners then they would have more interest in enforcing an ownership mentality on the executives.
This sort of compensation structure would change the way people think about the long term viability of the company and would prevent a lot of the damage I've personally witnessed at NCR, ICL, and IBM.
It's a typo. The correct spelling is "ouroboros" (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ouroboro s).
Using a debit card won't improve your credit rating as you didn't use credit. Using a credit card regularly and paying on time will improve your rating.
Also, there are a slew of consumer protection laws that do not apply to debit cards (such as the $50 liability if the card is stolen).
Although your bank may be voluntarily applying those rules to your debit card (such as allowing a "chargeback" - which can't be done since there was technically no charge to begin with, only a debit), no bank is required to comply with those rules.
See http://www.youngmoney.com/credit_debt/credit_basic s/040217_01 for a discussion on the differences between the two types of cards. In a nutshell: they are completely different and carrying a debit card is like carrying your entire bank account in your wallet.
The fact that your card may have "VISA" on it doesn't mean anything at all. VISA can be thought of as a manufacturer who has different products just as Ford has pickup trucks and mini-vans. The fact they both have "Ford" logos on them doesn't make them the same thing at all.
There is a reason banks push debit cards - it's in the best interest of the banks to do so.
How do I know these things? Just a few seconds of research on Google turned up the link above. Plus, I used to work at a company that wrote banking software and the business I own has a merchant account through which we accept MC, VISA, Discover, and Diner's Club.
I just visited your site. I really liked the pictures and getting to see what some of the rest of Kazakhstan looks like (not to mention your other pictures).
I've also been reading about this history of Kazakhstan this morning. I find it so sad to think about what the people have had to endure in these places. Everyone I met was so nice; it is hard to picture them having to live under a totalitarian government. I really hope their future goes much better.
I was there as part of a team from ICL (now part of Fujitsu) presenting some banking software to a group of about a dozen different banks. I was responsible for the technical end of the presentation (i.e., make sure the all the hardware / software / networking functioned properly) and to answer any technical questions the banks might have.
Most of the other Westerners I met as a result of this trip were there because of oil and other mineral interests. This was relatively soon after Kazakhstan had become independent and the Kazakhs were very interested in development and self-sufficiency.
I didn't see any sign of a McDonald's or other Western storefront while I was there but my time there was limited and there was a lot I didn't see. Almaty is quite a large city, somewhat reminiscent of Denver, so I didn't see most of it.
Almaty is right next to some large mountains and although our hotel was definitely in the city, there was a ski-lift only a few blocks away that would take you up the side of the mountains. It couldn't be more convenient for visitors to go skiing for the afternoon.
I would love the opportunity to go back there. The countries in that part of the world (the "stans") and their people are often portrayed negatively. I just wanted to let the people here at Slashdot, who probably haven't had a chance to visit KZ, know that it is very much worth doing.
There is a website at http://www.almadf.kz.nyud.net:8090/english/index.h tml that I found this morning which has a lot of photos showing how beautiful Almaty and its people are. I have no connection with that site and I have tried to avoid having it Slashdotted by using using Coral. Therefore I inserted ".nyud.net:8090" into the actual URL above.
I would like to know if there are there are any people from Kazakhstan reading Slashdot? I would have thought there should be. If you are from Kazakhstan and would like to make a friend in the U.S., please feel free to contact me at mailto:southcarolina1860-kazakhstan@yahoo.com
I went to Almaty (aka "Alma Ata", the old capital of Kazakhstan) back in about 1994. I really enjoyed it and found the people to be very friendly and enthusiastic.
I did find the food to be somewhat unique. Breakfast was usually a kind of roll filled with either finely chopped vegetables and/or finely ground meat. I don't know what sort of meat it was and it wasn't even always clear which buns had meat as everything was so finely ground up. It was all tasty though.
Lunch was fairly straight forward but the dessert was a peculiar electric green sweet foam. I couldn't identify the flavor but it was also pretty good.
Supper was quite interesting as, although the menu had a variety of items, it turned out what was actually available was either steak or spaghetti. No worry though, both were quite good as was the company!
The architecture, furnishings, and decor of Almaty were very interesting. For me, it was like an instant trip to the 1950s but in a parallel universe where everything was slightly unfamiliar.
The name of the hotel I stayed at escapes me right now but it was something like "The Cosmo". I think it has been renamed "Kazakhstan Hotel" based on the pictures I can find. There was a very impressive and very large tapestry commemorating the Soviet space program in the lobby.
The main thing about my trip was my time in Kazakhstan was far too short. It took ~48 hours to get there, I had ~48 hours there, and then it was ~48 hours to come home. I wish I had time to visit Baikonur Cosmodrome (we were invited to visit by our hosts) but we didn't have time. I'll always regret that.
Anyway, if you get a chance to go to Kazakhstan, you really should take it.
One thing that would help a lot would be for more people to be aware of Jury Nullification. While the laws would still exist, unjust laws would be ignored.
There are some good links on this subject at:
As the saying goes There are four boxes to be used in defending our freedom: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Use them in that order.
If I find the malware was in a directory like C:\Program Files\Malware\ I delete the directory and then create a file with the same name. I put some text in the file like "This is here to prevent Malware infections." and then I change the mode to be read-only and hidden.
Not perfect but it helps and I haven't seen it mentioned here.
It looks like there is an XP client for iDisk.
The result I see coming out of this sort of action is that consumers will have less compunction about making illegal copies and committing other violations of intellectual property laws.
When laws are perceived as unfair they are ignored. The only way, at that point, to get compliance is draconian enforcement. That confirms the perception of the unfairness of the law. Eventually, the government behind the laws is also seen to be unfair and even corrupt. Revolution eventually follows.
I'm not saying people will revolt because they can't record "Friends" but that WIPO's decisions are more straws on the camel's back. Eventually, if people can still remember what it means to be "free" (and PC textbooks are not helping that), they will reach a breaking point and every "straw" will have contributed to that break.
Exactly! And when one realizes how ridiculous the claimed reason for such a ban is, one has to wonder what the real reason is. It quickly becomes apparent the only possible reason is to tighten the screws on the population and get them more conditioned to unquestioningly doing what they are told by the government.
In the next election we need to vote against every single incumbent in every office, regardless of how good we think they may be (everyone always thinks the problem lies with the other guy's candidate). Next time a message has to be sent that no elected official can assume re-election when the government is on the course it is on.
Wow, some states are nuts! Gun control is bad enough but "knife control"? I'm just glad I live in SC where you can apparently carry any knife, any way you like, the way a free citizen should be able.
It reminds me of a camping trip my friends and I took while teenagers in the early 1970s. We went for a walk at about 2:00 a.m. and eventually found ourselves on a two lane highway. After a while a sheriff's patrol drove by and stopped us. We were all carrying at least 12" sheath knives plus pocket knives (hey, what's a boy without a good knife?) - one was a switchblade (a US Air Force survival knife). The cop just looked us and our knives over and then let us go on.
The 70s were good compared to today when carrying a lighter onto an airplane is going to be a crime in a few weeks.
The War on Drugs (aka "Prohibition II") "cut the balls off" this country and the War on Terror is going kill it. The people responsible aren't the GOP or the Dems, they are the "GOPDems", thus named because they are the two faces of the same group of people.
Maybe this is Amazon's way of asking to have people flood their servers with random searches in their name. As a result, the data would contain so much "noise" that amazon couldn't deduce anything from it.
There is an interesting model brief on this at http://www.poclad.org/ModelLegalBrief.cfm.
I believe I had to do this when I entered the UK in the summer of 1981. The man at customs made me write down the name and address of every place I would be staying while I was in the UK visiting my uncle.
I can confirm that the Belkin TuneCast, as delivered, isn't worth anything at all.
With fresh batteries, the MP3 player cranked up the max, and the transmitter within two feet of the antenna it barely works regardless of which of the four stations I try. Worse yet, it seems really sensitive to the orientation of the transmitter and the best orientation requires that you hold it in your hand.
The quality of this Belkin product is causing be to question ever spending money with them on anything again. They should offer a free swap, to something that works, for anyone who shows up at a store with one.
I wish I could moderate your post up, it was very informative! I don't agree with them but at least it's a case of "broken as designed" (IMHO) rather than carelessness or laziness.
I'm sorry, you're spelling was so atrocious I couldn't make out your point. Would you please re-phrase it? Thank you ever so much! :-)
By the way, you did know NASCAR wants to build a track in the NYC area (Staten Island) because the demand is so high in that area and that nationwide NASCAR is more popular than the NFL? You'll need to start modifying your "NASCAR talk dictionary" to include phrases like "youse guys", "faddah", "muddah", and maybe even "chowdah".
Actually, the periods are not necessary in an acronym "unless an organization's style calls for them". Anway, I can counter by claiming it is a trademark that started out as an acronym, therefore any spelling but "NASCAR" is incorrect. Finally, if "NASCAR" were just a word like "laser" and "radar" it would be "nascar" not "Nascar".
That's another good example! "Nasa" irritates me as well. I think the spelling can change when the word is no longer legally protected (trade or servicemark) for whatever reason. Even then, dropping the case on all but the first letter makes no sense. "NASCAR" should become "nascar".
I am certain "NASCAR" is legally protected which makes the NYT just plain factually incorrect. Good papers make an effort to be correct.
That's a good point! However, I would counter that the authority on the spelling hasn't acknowledged any change and, since it's no doubt protected intellectual property, legally it's still "NASCAR" and not "Nascar". To eliminate the final possibility that the NYT is trying to refer to all related forms of car racing as "Nascar", I have only seen them use the term in an actual NASCAR context.
However, there are those who agree with Malthus such as Paul R. Ehrlich. I do think he was foolish for getting into that bet which was very poorly designed from Ehrlich's point of view. Any change in price of metal will not become apparent until a shortage is apparent. Since the supply is fixed, at some demand a shortage will occur. However, we don't know what the supply is so we can't predict when the shortage and price increase will happen.
I look at at it this way: the load on the Earth can be described as the population times the load per person. While current population trends do seem to show the global population will plateau in the late 21st century (but this is not guaranteed), there are no indications the increasing load per person is going to plateau.
To the contrary, there is every indication the load per person is going to increase dramatically over the next couple of hundred years as the 3rd world gains a 1st world life-style. The development of clean new energy sources is not keeping up at a technical level.
As energy becomes scarcer its price will rise. This will raise the cost of growing and delivering food. Even if agricultural developments hold down the cost of growing the food there is no viable way of reducing the cost of delivery in sight. The increasing cost of delivery will also affect all other products. E.g., importing from China will no longer be cost-effective with dramatic results for both China and the U.S.
As far as the populations of Europe and Japan are concerned, that's not really an answer to the problem. Instead of the populations declining thereby reducing the load on the Earth they are importing people to maintain the load. This also has significant political implications as Europe is coming into a second (and more complete) "Ottoman Empire" scenario, this time by immigration not invasion.
The U.S.'s population has doubled since I was born in 1957 and has increased 50% since I graduated from high school. The change is palpable. What had been "Labor Day weekend traffic" when I was young is now daily traffic. Everywhere I go in the U.S. people talk about how crazily their area has grown over the past ten or twenty years and yet they don't understand they aren't unique but the norm across the country.
I concede, it is not clear what is going to happen over the next couple of hundred years. There are those of us who think Malthus was basically right. I think you can only get four quarts out of a gallon bucket but maybe the bucket is growing and I'm just not convinced.
However, my observation that reducing the threat of global warming and other forms of pollution is theoretically most easily done by reducing the population is, I think still true. We know how to reduce the population, we don't know how to obtain sufficient clean energy.
The solution to the global problems of energy, pollution, food, etc. is fewer people. Malthus was right, advances in technology over the past 150 years or so have simply forestalled what is otherwise inevitable.
Even if there is some end run around Malthus's predictions, we don't know what it is today. Therefore, population reduction is still the quickest available solution today.
Finally, if each North American / Western European consumes X times what people in other parts of the world consume, logically the first thing to stop is the movement of people into the areas of North American / Western Europe (i.e., stop creating new North Americans / Western Europeans).
It's not just corporate email. The "New York Times" now routinely spells "NASCAR" as "Nascar" as well as mangling other acronyms. I have written to them several times to find out what is going on but they haven't replied. I think it's the result of using MS Word which has a nasty tendency to downcase things.
Since we're on the subject, I'll bring up a related complaint: I think the program which checks your spelling is a "spelling checker" and not a "spell checker" (unless you're some sort of warlock or witch). I know, I need to relax and get used to it but it does bother me.