As far as the long-tern economic damage, we really have no clue yet. These are matitime economies, depending on fishing and the import of essentials and exports of commodoties for their incomes. In many of the hardest hit areas, especially Indonesia, the fishing fleets are wrecked and beached far inland, the fisherman are dead, the the port facilities are also wrecked and the people needed to run and repair them are also dead. In addition, the underwater topography of many of the shipping channels has probably also changed, requiring redredging. Getting these areas back on their economic feet will require a couple years and sustained technical assistance. Many areas, Aceh especially, may never really recover due to the immense loss of life.
This is not just a matter of money: nothing can really replace the loss of human capital. Indonesia especially may never really recover, but will be handicapped for decades. If I was a betting man, I would not be laying money on the long-term viability of the current Indonesian government.
Take a second look at that list. Most of that information is public record, freely available to anyone who goes to the trouble of requesting it. All of this is due to the Freedom of Information Act. Chances are, this company has people who are specialists in FOIA processes and do nothing but fill out the appropriate forms all day. The state exceptions you see listed are due to the different privacy & public access laws in many states. Remember, open access to Government records is a two-way street: sure, you get to see what they are doing, but other people can get information on you.
If all you are ever voting for is an MP or a preferred party, sure, old fashioned checkbox ballots work fine. However, American ballots are a bit more complex. This November, the typical voter will have to cast votes for Federal offices (President, Senator, and U.S. Representative), State offices (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Secretary of Agriculture, various other State executive offices, plus State Supreme Court Justices), and local offices (local judges, city/town council, school board, Sheriff, Mayor, County Commission, County Surveyor, Assessor, Clerk, right down to even the dogcatcher in some places, plus many more offices).
An American general election ballot can have close to 30 offices on it, and varies from place to place. Plus, hand counting generally requires multiple people/observes from each party, plus independent observers. Automation was first used not just to speed up tabulation, but reduce the sheer numbers of volunteers needed to count ballots and reduce opportunities for fraud. American elections may be national in scope, but they are administered at the local level. Before those of you from oversea start suggesting we do it the way you do, take a moment to understand how different the American system is from what exists in Europe and most parliamentary democracies.
Dean's principal problem was not the hostile media. The media is hostile to all candidates--after all, when was the last time you heard a Campaign talk about how happy they are with the coverage of their candidate? Dean's problem was he got stuck in a feedback loop with his base--while his base loved everything he said, the rest of the electorate didn't, and the base was all that Dean's campaign managers listened to. The internet makes it much easier to for minorities to organize and be far more vocal than in the past, but a vocal minority is still a minority. The organization capabilities of the internet made it far easier for Dean to get crowds to his speeches, which made it appear his support was far broader than it was. It used to be three hundred people at a speech early in the campaign was indicative of far greater support, but in Dean's case is simply meant that there were three hundred people in that area who supported him.
All the things about Dean that his base loved--his irreverence, his red-faced speeches, his jokes--many other voters found annoying and un-Presidential. Some of Dean's policy proposals just made him look silly (like the campaign finance reform proposal where you give $100 to a candidate, the candidate gets "matching" funds of $500 from the Federal campaign funds, and you get to take a $100 credit against your next income tax bill. Net result: $600 flows to the candidate from the Federal coffers, and you don't lose a dime). It didn't help matters that his base could literally see no wrong with their candidate. I read the Dean Campaign blogs for a while, and they were a scary place. When a campaign becomes incapable of criticizing their candidate, a bad ending is almost ensured. Dean's decline in the polls came not so much from voters deserting him, but from all of the "undecided" voters who made up their minds right before the election all choosing other candidates, mainly Kerry.
I suspect Dean's die-hard supporters will find comfort in the "media assassination" and "Democratic Establishment was scared of us" theories to explain the collapse of their candidate, the fact is in elections, there are winners and losers, and it really doesn't matter how "right" you believe your candidate is, because the other candidates also have supporters who utterly believe they're "right" as well. In the end, the winner is the person who does the best job of persuading other people to support them, not the person who may be right. Just because Democracy doesn't produce the outcome you desire does not mean it isn't working. You win some, you lose some, move on to the next battle.
Having had the dubious pleasure of working in a college bookstore for a year, I've learned quite a bit about how things work in the text book world.
First, it?s the publishers making the money, not the bookstore. The constantly renewed editions, bundled materials, and so on--that's all on the publishers end. Often, the reps from the publishers work closely with the profs to ensure students pay as much as possible. The bookstore orders exactly what it's told to. If we could get it used, we did--the store's margin on used books was larger, especially as my store was a Follett store, and had access to Follett's used book warehouse.
Second, when you get less than ten percent of what you paid, it's not because the store is trying to gouge you. When we bought a book back that we knew we could sell the next semester, the student typically got back fifty percent of what they paid. If we did not need it the next semester, then we could only buy it for the wholesale network, and then you're subject to the laws of supply and demand, as well as the fact that books, due to their weight, are expensive to ship in bulk. In order to buy back as many as possible at the best price possible, we always tried to get the book lists from the Profs before buyback started. Unfortunately, many Profs can't be bothered to turn in the list until right before classes start, forcing us buy books from wherever we could at whatever the asking price was.
Third, college bookstores don't make all that much money from books. Most of the money, especially at the big-name campuses, comes from the merchandise. The book section is labor intensive, and you wind up losing a lot of money when books have to be returned to the publisher (store pays return shipping), from theft, and from Profs who do stupid things like asking us to order non-returnable custom printed packets of articles that cost the store $200 a piece, and then turn around and give the students free photocopies of the packets after they complain. For a class of 30?well, you can do the math and figure out how much the store took a bath on.
Yeah, students are getting screwed, but don't yell at the hapless guy behind the help counter or who?s working the buyback station. By all means, make do with the older editions or Indian copies. Also, here's a tip: If the Professor wrote the book, and it's not the principal text for the class, don't buy it unless it becomes clear you need it. Profs often require you to buy their book when they have no intention of using it. (We were once yelled at by a professor when he found we were selling used copies of his book. See, he doesn?t get royalties from used copies.)
There were problems part way through the production of Wolf's Rain, which led to the recaps. It also went off the air in Japan before it was finished. The last four episodes are being done as OAV's--video only releases. My bet is the recaps will be left out of the broadcast run and the four OAV episodes tacked on to make it 26 episodes. Hopefully, the OAV's bring it to a good close. We shall see...
Dreamworks has already licensed the film, and will release it under their Go Fish label next spring, practically simultaneous with the Japanse premier. So quit bellyaching about a long wait.
In addition, the aforementioned TV series, GitS:Stand Alone Complex, has also been licensed by Bandai Entertainment USA, which actually helped finance it. It should see domestic DVD next year, probably about the same time as the movie is released to theatres.
Ever looked at a ballot for a U.S. general election? We don't just vote for President and Congressman in an election. Depending on the timetable for the state in question, on a general election ballot, an American is often voting for President, Congressional Representative, and Senator on the Federal level; Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the State, Agriculture Commissioner, State Treasurer, State Supreme Court Justices, State Delegate and State Senator on the state level; Mayor, Councilman, County Commissioner, Sherriff, Tax Assessor, County Clerk, Prosecutor, Circuit Court Judge, Magistrate, School Board, Dog Catcher, and who knows what else on the municipal level.
In short, tabulating paper ballots with all those offices on them would be a nightmare. Using a seperate ballot for each office whould be a logisitical nightmare at the polls and could cause mass confusion. America went to automated systems because it was the most efficient way to handle an election where they are often over 20 offices that people must cast ballots for. For an election where all you have to decide is your MP and maybe a preferred party, pen and paper are fine.
Speaking as an employee of a defense appropriations lobboying firm, I found everything Mr. Reed said to be spot-on. Keep in mind, it's not just Fortune 500 companies that hire lobbyists. Pick up a copy of the Washington Reps book, a phone-book sized listing of registered lobbyists and all of their clients. When you start going through the lists of clients, you'll find social advocacy groups, research universities, labor unions, and many small companies. All of these groups retain lobbyists because they realize just how much the things that go on in Washington affect what they do.
On the client list of the firm I work for, you'll find many small companies with innovative technologies that want to sell to the Department of Defense but have neither the knowlege of Defense procurent processes nor the time required to deal with the Pentagon. They hire us so that they can focus on their product and leave the bureacratic wranglings to us.
However, as any good lobbyist will admit, about 60% of the registered lobbyists in D.C. are pure trash, who promise their clients the sky to get them to sign, and then soak them for a year's retainer and do nothing. This happens in large part because of how ignorant many people are of how government is structured and the basic legislative process. It is not uncommon for a prospective client to not even know who their own congressman is when they first meet with us. One of the first things we do with a client when they sign is instruct them in the basic procedures of how a bill becomes law.
This ignorance is how bad legislation often becomes law. The DMCA happened because the content industries were onn Capitol Hill pushing their agenda while the electronics manufacturers were nowhere to be seen. That's changing, as many manufacturers are now waking up and fighing things like mandated DRM. In short, the best way to beat one monied interest is with another monied interest (the insurance lobbies and the drug makers' lobbies are constantly at each others' throats. If it wasn't for big insurance companies, the drug makers might have gotten patent extension through a few years ago).
The fact is, the surest way to lose is to remove yourself from the process. The tech sector has kept itself out far too long, and is now paying catch-up. That's the price you pay for smug self-satisfaction.
Slashdot Mirror
As far as the long-tern economic damage, we really have no clue yet. These are matitime economies, depending on fishing and the import of essentials and exports of commodoties for their incomes. In many of the hardest hit areas, especially Indonesia, the fishing fleets are wrecked and beached far inland, the fisherman are dead, the the port facilities are also wrecked and the people needed to run and repair them are also dead. In addition, the underwater topography of many of the shipping channels has probably also changed, requiring redredging. Getting these areas back on their economic feet will require a couple years and sustained technical assistance. Many areas, Aceh especially, may never really recover due to the immense loss of life.
This is not just a matter of money: nothing can really replace the loss of human capital. Indonesia especially may never really recover, but will be handicapped for decades. If I was a betting man, I would not be laying money on the long-term viability of the current Indonesian government.
Take a second look at that list. Most of that information is public record, freely available to anyone who goes to the trouble of requesting it. All of this is due to the Freedom of Information Act. Chances are, this company has people who are specialists in FOIA processes and do nothing but fill out the appropriate forms all day. The state exceptions you see listed are due to the different privacy & public access laws in many states. Remember, open access to Government records is a two-way street: sure, you get to see what they are doing, but other people can get information on you.
If all you are ever voting for is an MP or a preferred party, sure, old fashioned checkbox ballots work fine. However, American ballots are a bit more complex. This November, the typical voter will have to cast votes for Federal offices (President, Senator, and U.S. Representative), State offices (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Secretary of Agriculture, various other State executive offices, plus State Supreme Court Justices), and local offices (local judges, city/town council, school board, Sheriff, Mayor, County Commission, County Surveyor, Assessor, Clerk, right down to even the dogcatcher in some places, plus many more offices).
An American general election ballot can have close to 30 offices on it, and varies from place to place. Plus, hand counting generally requires multiple people/observes from each party, plus independent observers. Automation was first used not just to speed up tabulation, but reduce the sheer numbers of volunteers needed to count ballots and reduce opportunities for fraud. American elections may be national in scope, but they are administered at the local level. Before those of you from oversea start suggesting we do it the way you do, take a moment to understand how different the American system is from what exists in Europe and most parliamentary democracies.
Dean's principal problem was not the hostile media. The media is hostile to all candidates--after all, when was the last time you heard a Campaign talk about how happy they are with the coverage of their candidate? Dean's problem was he got stuck in a feedback loop with his base--while his base loved everything he said, the rest of the electorate didn't, and the base was all that Dean's campaign managers listened to. The internet makes it much easier to for minorities to organize and be far more vocal than in the past, but a vocal minority is still a minority. The organization capabilities of the internet made it far easier for Dean to get crowds to his speeches, which made it appear his support was far broader than it was. It used to be three hundred people at a speech early in the campaign was indicative of far greater support, but in Dean's case is simply meant that there were three hundred people in that area who supported him.
All the things about Dean that his base loved--his irreverence, his red-faced speeches, his jokes--many other voters found annoying and un-Presidential. Some of Dean's policy proposals just made him look silly (like the campaign finance reform proposal where you give $100 to a candidate, the candidate gets "matching" funds of $500 from the Federal campaign funds, and you get to take a $100 credit against your next income tax bill. Net result: $600 flows to the candidate from the Federal coffers, and you don't lose a dime). It didn't help matters that his base could literally see no wrong with their candidate. I read the Dean Campaign blogs for a while, and they were a scary place. When a campaign becomes incapable of criticizing their candidate, a bad ending is almost ensured. Dean's decline in the polls came not so much from voters deserting him, but from all of the "undecided" voters who made up their minds right before the election all choosing other candidates, mainly Kerry.
I suspect Dean's die-hard supporters will find comfort in the "media assassination" and "Democratic Establishment was scared of us" theories to explain the collapse of their candidate, the fact is in elections, there are winners and losers, and it really doesn't matter how "right" you believe your candidate is, because the other candidates also have supporters who utterly believe they're "right" as well. In the end, the winner is the person who does the best job of persuading other people to support them, not the person who may be right. Just because Democracy doesn't produce the outcome you desire does not mean it isn't working. You win some, you lose some, move on to the next battle.
Having had the dubious pleasure of working in a college bookstore for a year, I've learned quite a bit about how things work in the text book world.
First, it?s the publishers making the money, not the bookstore. The constantly renewed editions, bundled materials, and so on--that's all on the publishers end. Often, the reps from the publishers work closely with the profs to ensure students pay as much as possible. The bookstore orders exactly what it's told to. If we could get it used, we did--the store's margin on used books was larger, especially as my store was a Follett store, and had access to Follett's used book warehouse.
Second, when you get less than ten percent of what you paid, it's not because the store is trying to gouge you. When we bought a book back that we knew we could sell the next semester, the student typically got back fifty percent of what they paid. If we did not need it the next semester, then we could only buy it for the wholesale network, and then you're subject to the laws of supply and demand, as well as the fact that books, due to their weight, are expensive to ship in bulk. In order to buy back as many as possible at the best price possible, we always tried to get the book lists from the Profs before buyback started. Unfortunately, many Profs can't be bothered to turn in the list until right before classes start, forcing us buy books from wherever we could at whatever the asking price was.
Third, college bookstores don't make all that much money from books. Most of the money, especially at the big-name campuses, comes from the merchandise. The book section is labor intensive, and you wind up losing a lot of money when books have to be returned to the publisher (store pays return shipping), from theft, and from Profs who do stupid things like asking us to order non-returnable custom printed packets of articles that cost the store $200 a piece, and then turn around and give the students free photocopies of the packets after they complain. For a class of 30?well, you can do the math and figure out how much the store took a bath on.
Yeah, students are getting screwed, but don't yell at the hapless guy behind the help counter or who?s working the buyback station. By all means, make do with the older editions or Indian copies. Also, here's a tip: If the Professor wrote the book, and it's not the principal text for the class, don't buy it unless it becomes clear you need it. Profs often require you to buy their book when they have no intention of using it. (We were once yelled at by a professor when he found we were selling used copies of his book. See, he doesn?t get royalties from used copies.)
At least I'm capable of speaking in my own words, rather than cutting and pasting something from an online quote repository.
Freedom cannot be exercised without security.
---me
There were problems part way through the production of Wolf's Rain, which led to the recaps. It also went off the air in Japan before it was finished. The last four episodes are being done as OAV's--video only releases. My bet is the recaps will be left out of the broadcast run and the four OAV episodes tacked on to make it 26 episodes. Hopefully, the OAV's bring it to a good close. We shall see...
Dreamworks has already licensed the film, and will release it under their Go Fish label next spring, practically simultaneous with the Japanse premier. So quit bellyaching about a long wait.
In addition, the aforementioned TV series, GitS:Stand Alone Complex, has also been licensed by Bandai Entertainment USA, which actually helped finance it. It should see domestic DVD next year, probably about the same time as the movie is released to theatres.
Ever looked at a ballot for a U.S. general election? We don't just vote for President and Congressman in an election. Depending on the timetable for the state in question, on a general election ballot, an American is often voting for President, Congressional Representative, and Senator on the Federal level; Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the State, Agriculture Commissioner, State Treasurer, State Supreme Court Justices, State Delegate and State Senator on the state level; Mayor, Councilman, County Commissioner, Sherriff, Tax Assessor, County Clerk, Prosecutor, Circuit Court Judge, Magistrate, School Board, Dog Catcher, and who knows what else on the municipal level.
In short, tabulating paper ballots with all those offices on them would be a nightmare. Using a seperate ballot for each office whould be a logisitical nightmare at the polls and could cause mass confusion. America went to automated systems because it was the most efficient way to handle an election where they are often over 20 offices that people must cast ballots for. For an election where all you have to decide is your MP and maybe a preferred party, pen and paper are fine.
Speaking as an employee of a defense appropriations lobboying firm, I found everything Mr. Reed said to be spot-on. Keep in mind, it's not just Fortune 500 companies that hire lobbyists. Pick up a copy of the Washington Reps book, a phone-book sized listing of registered lobbyists and all of their clients. When you start going through the lists of clients, you'll find social advocacy groups, research universities, labor unions, and many small companies. All of these groups retain lobbyists because they realize just how much the things that go on in Washington affect what they do. On the client list of the firm I work for, you'll find many small companies with innovative technologies that want to sell to the Department of Defense but have neither the knowlege of Defense procurent processes nor the time required to deal with the Pentagon. They hire us so that they can focus on their product and leave the bureacratic wranglings to us. However, as any good lobbyist will admit, about 60% of the registered lobbyists in D.C. are pure trash, who promise their clients the sky to get them to sign, and then soak them for a year's retainer and do nothing. This happens in large part because of how ignorant many people are of how government is structured and the basic legislative process. It is not uncommon for a prospective client to not even know who their own congressman is when they first meet with us. One of the first things we do with a client when they sign is instruct them in the basic procedures of how a bill becomes law. This ignorance is how bad legislation often becomes law. The DMCA happened because the content industries were onn Capitol Hill pushing their agenda while the electronics manufacturers were nowhere to be seen. That's changing, as many manufacturers are now waking up and fighing things like mandated DRM. In short, the best way to beat one monied interest is with another monied interest (the insurance lobbies and the drug makers' lobbies are constantly at each others' throats. If it wasn't for big insurance companies, the drug makers might have gotten patent extension through a few years ago). The fact is, the surest way to lose is to remove yourself from the process. The tech sector has kept itself out far too long, and is now paying catch-up. That's the price you pay for smug self-satisfaction.