2015 January
2015 January 1
As airplanes vanish, a push for better tracking technology
All aircraft data should be uploaded in real time to either satellite or ground stations so that whenever a plane is lost or crashes, all relevant information is much more quickly accessible and the risk of tampering is lessened.
2015 January 2
Oil hits a five-year low on the first day of trading in 2015
Low oil prices will make it more difficult for us to transition to a new primary fuel source when the eventual peak in oil production occurs, likely later this decade.
2015 January 3
U.S. hits North Korea with new sanctions in response to Sony hack
This seems to be a tit-for-tat response and somewhat childish. Yes, the North Koreans need to be held accountable, and since they are not engaged in any meaningful way with the U.S. there may not be much that we could do to penalize them. However, the fundamental problem here is that the North Koreans are ignorant and have been thoroughly indoctrinated. One possible approach would be to fly over North Korea, drop thousands of radio receivers that would then be able to pick up broadcasts from South Korea or elsewhere informing the North Koreans about various truths of which they are unaware. Then we could inform the North Koreans that we will destroy any radio jamming equipment they deploy to block or overpower these signals. To avoid the accusation of having a double standard, we could also inform the North Koreans that they have the right to broadcast their messages to South Korea or elsewhere, as well. They cannot overfly those areas and drop radios, however, because they have the assurances that their signals will not be blocked. Education is the most powerful tool for the long-term development of a society.
2015 January 4
Boko Haram seizes Nigerian army base
It is saddening to continue seeing ignorant uncivilized people overrunning towns and cities enforcing strict religious laws that only make the population, especially girls, suffer profoundly. We are well into the 21st century and to see such a surge of truly barbaric behavior make incredibly large advanced across previously relatively stable populations and governments is truly depressing. Education as well as constant reminding of a population are what is need to keep up a society’s immunity to such regression.
2015 January 5
Indonesia announces crackdown on aviation industry after AirAsia crash
Enforcing all the required rules of air travel will result in higher ticket prices for passengers. This is one aspect of requiring the industry to internalize all costs. However, the benefit will be safer travel and few passengers traveling.
2015 January 6
Manhunt underway after two NYPD officers shot
The criminals should obviously be responsible for all costs associated with their crimes. This would include the items they stole and all injuries associated with the police officers shot. In addition, an estimated cost of all the emergency responders who would otherwise not have been involved had they not committed the crimes.
On a different note, this story illustrates why it is important to have a mechanism that encourages greater accuracy in reporting. Of course, I don’t think that author of this piece actually wanted to mislead, but she did anyway. (Although, I’m not sure if it was she who actually authored the caption.) The caption states that the two officers who were shot “had just finished their shifts”. But the text of the article states that the officers “were near the end of their shift”. This is a clear contradiction. I propose this tax mechanism to try and keep these to more of a minimum.
2015 January 7
Snow, bone-chilling cold across much of U.S.
The need to travel during such weather conditions could be lessened by instituting a 4-day work week, designing an educational system that doesn’t require as much in-class attendance and (for those who believe that anthropogenic global warming is causing more fluctuations in extreme weather events) require all producers of goods and serviced to internalize all externalities associated with their production.
2015 January 8
FBI probes Colorado Springs explosion near NAACP office
This is an event that more security cameras would have helped solve. In addition, if the population of the area had 50 years worth of reminders of the fact that they could earn some good money if they record and report suspicious activities to the police, maybe someone would come forward with some information. Or, if the criminal himself comes forward and identifies himself as the one responsible, he would be entitled to the reward that anyone else would have gotten for turning over the same information.
2015 January 9
Obama to unveil proposal for tuition-free community college
It sounds good and it may be good. However, the dilemma again is whether it is better to redesign the entire system for greater efficiency or whether it is better to just patch it up one more time and wait to reassess it again in the future. We already have free K-12 education. Now we want to extend it to K-14. People are already talking about extending it further to K-16 to include a 4-year degree. I understand the emotional logic, but at some point it must break down.
And here’s why. Free anything encourages waste. The power associated with charging even a token amount for a good or service is very significant in terms of checking unlimited demand.
I propose that tuition be charged for every student, birth through death. However, tuition would be one of the ways in which the tax code could be made progressive. The more a family earns, per capita, the more tuition would be required.
Furthermore, education today has become unnecessarily loaded with subject matter that is now obsolete. We have other subject that are more relevant and beneficial that should be taught to kids today. For example, calculus, and all the other higher math courses are not relevant unless a student has a chosen field which requires such knowledge. At the younger end of the spectrum (and this is far more controversial because of the fundamental nature of the change) we should revamp and simplify the English language to made it far easier to learn to read and write. I estimate it should take no more than 100 years, but the benefits are very apparent. We should do away with all these silent letter and ridiculous rules of spelling and transition to a phonetic system of reading and writing. Our young kids will be able to shift the equivalent of several months worth of learning time from these subjects to others that can be substituted instead.
By the time a kids reaches grade 12 or 14, they would have had enough time to engage in hands on work experience in their chosen profession and would be ready to enter the labor force far better prepared than current grade 12 or 14 graduates.
2015 January 10
Exercise injury may have left Harry Reid blind in one eye
This is an unfortunate injury, but many people suffer injuries related to exercising. Perhaps one way to reduce the number of injuries due to exercise may be to economically encourage more people to incorporate exercise into their daily lived. The more fundamental way to do that would be to require and enforce that companies internalize all externalities associated with the production of their goods and services. This will undoubtedly result in higher costs for all goods and services, causing a reduction in demand. People would engage in more physical labor (cleaning, repairing, etc.) things rather than purchase new things or replace broken ones. More importantly, people would not use their vehicles as much for transporting items because the need to transport items will be lower, the cost of operating the vehicle will be higher, and people would either carry their purchases by hand, or would use a bicycle as the method of transportation.
The flip side is that perhaps all this physical activity incorporated into people’s lives (especially bicycle riding) may actually increase the risk of injury population-wide. Whatever the case may be, it is an unassailable principle that all producers of goods and services should be required to internalized all externalities.
2015 January 11
German newspaper attacked ‘over cartoons’
Yet another example of why it is important for people to be educated and talk openly about religion. Such discussion tend to moderate extremists.
2015 January 12
Cuba has freed all 53 prisoners as agreed in U.S. deal – U.S. officials
The imposition of sanctions on Cuba for over 50 years illustrates the failure of sanctions to have their intended effect. Instead, it was the people of Cuba that suffered needlessly. Sanctions should always be a short-term policy. It was well within the right of the United States to impose sanctions, but a better way would have been a more targeted approach and more communication between the two countries.
2015 January 13
U.S. military Twitter account hacked
It is important that every communication taking place over the Internet be traceable. Nobody should have the right to disguise the origin of their messages or the identity of their computers.
2015 January 14
Yet another reason why humans should not be in space.
2015 January 15
Five Yemeni Prisoners Released From Guantanamo Bay
These prisoners should be charged and tried or released. Their continued captivity is causing more long-term damage to the US than their containment. The money spent on their detention would be better used to educate either them or their sympathizers in the Arab world.
2015 January 16
Oklahoma executes Charles Warner
Yet another expensive execution. It could have been done for cheaper, been quicker, and with less risk of complications. But even before it got to this point, there would have been several hurdles to cross to ensure that all costs associated with the crime had been paid.
2015 January 17
An Internet of Treacherous Things
What’s so frustrating is that it is humans who are designing these malware programs. As with all criminal behavior, it is always the small minority of the criminal population that is responsible for the majority of the problem. We need to find these people and put them out of commission.
Here’s how:
We need to harness the power of informants. Then we need to impose the proper penalties on the criminals. We need to harness the talent of these criminals to work for the benefit of law enforcement.
2015 January 18
Pope attracts world-record crowd in rain-swept Manila
This is another example of how one person acting as the head of a religion can garner so much attention. The most important factor for maintaining a rational society is a well rounded education.
2015 January 19
Syria begins destruction of chemical weapons facilities – sources
This is a big step towards a safer world. One step forward and 20 steps back. Unfortunately, these successes are too few and far between. To assure that more successes like these occur in the future, there needs to be a more comprehensive international military organization whose purpose it it to manage international disputes, ensure basic human rights on the macro level, and have the authority to monitor arms and treaty compliance.
2015 January 20
The Pope said what?!? More stunners from Francis
Pope Francis indicated a softening stance on birth control methods. The Catholic Church will eventually and easily agree to all birth control methods short of abortion or any other means of preventing the birth of an already fertilized egg.
2015 January 21
It is important that these people be included as part of society. They are just as human as anyone else. It is incomprehensible to think that so many of these people simply decided to take on the stress associated with their lifestyle choices due to rebellion or any other reason. As scientific research continues, it may very well be found that anomalies like these will have their roots associated with pollutants interfering with mental/genetic aspects of a person’s being. Every human being on the planet has multiple genetic defects or other developmental defects of one kind or another, even down to the seemingly trivial level of bad habits, like picky eating.
2015 January 22
Outbreak of 51 measles cases linked to Disneyland
To maintain a healthy herd immunity while at the same time giving parents the option to not vaccinate, governments should charge the parents of unvaccinated children a fee for that privilege.
2015 January 23
Amid turmoil, Saudi King Abdullah brought stability, pushed reforms
Unfortunately, the lack of a well rounded education of the common Saudi people inevitably means that when the grip on rule eventually weakens and is lost, the uprising that will take place will result in chaos, mass suffering and the eventual rule by more conservative kinds of governments. Such governments tent to rise from chaos because ignorant people are easily guided by perceived messengers from God. The U.S.’s support of several Saudi kings over the decades has built up resentment among the population that may develop to be as ugly as the revolutions taking place in Syria and numerous other Arab countries.
2015 January 24
Is redoing scientific research the best way to find truth?
First, if the result cannot be replicated, the original authors should be fined for publishing falsehoods. Second, all medical studies should be published to eliminate potentially duplication of efforts and contribute to the generally accessible knowledge base.
2015 January 25
Massive Pakistan Power Blackout Leaves 80 Percent in Darkness
Again, ignorant humans are causing suffering to millions because they don’t like how some people view their God. People must be educated!
2015 January 26
Kurd Militia Says ISIS Is Expelled From Kobani
The Kurds should have been given their own homeland decades ago. They qualify for it. They would have been a great stabilizing force in the region now.
2015 January 27
Russian spies used tickets and hats to try to hide New York activities, FBI says
It is very annoying to have caught spies and then have them turned over to their sponsoring countries with hardly any penalties. Spying should carry very severe penalties, even for US spies caught in other countries.
2015 January 28
U.S. to Give $2 Billion to Ukraine as Fears Grow of Full-On War
Again, the need for an international military organization is apparent in this case. To have one country unilaterally agree to give billions in loan guarantees to one party in a dispute can only mean that the stakes will get higher. Greater instability is assured and the general random chaos inherent in the evolution of events like these will result in consequences that are larger and more widespread than would otherwise have been the case.
2015 January 29
Better urban design could add years to your life
Designing cities to encourage exercise basically means designing them to be less convenient for cars. This would naturally encourage other forms of transport, namely carrying stuff by hand and cycling. How do we get the population to accept such inconvenience? Make operating cars more expensive. The primary way to do this is to eliminate all subsidies for fuel as well as for road repair. Make all drivers responsible for paying for roadway maintenance.
2015 January 30
UPDATE 3-Qatar Airways takes $1.7 bln stake in British Airways-owner IAG
There is nothing wrong with buying a stake in another airline, but Qatar must understand (in my world) the implications for tax purposes: income taxes, market share taxes and profit taxes.
2015 January 31
Sniffing Radio-Frequency Emissions to Secure the Internet of Things
If this company can actually successfully detect malicious hacking, and then make the giant leap to actually providing information about the hacker (which it does not claim to be able to do), then, in combination with this Proposal, this company would be able to make lots of money by collecting a percentage of the fines that governments would impose on them. (In an ideal world, of course.)