I was thinking about the Saddam Hussein trials for some reason, and I think that inspired this idea about how to solve the problem of unemployment. No, I’m not suggesting that we make all people who are out of work dictators and depose them – there’s not enough countries to go around, and if they would have to share them they wouldn’t be dictators anyway.
The idea has to do with the trial itself. If all court procedures were based on the example of those against former heads of state they would keep a lot of people busy for a long time. With enough shenanigans like critisizing the authority of the court, threatening the judges and hunger-striking a trial for petty theft could take a month, murder cases and large financial messes several years.
But, you may say, a large part of the unemployed population doesn’t have a job because they are unable to get a higher education, so there’s no way all of them could achieve a degree in law. Well, that is easily solved by requiring different levels of education depending on the severity of the crime. At the top of the list you would require a degree from a prestigious university, but to defend (or prosecute) someone for shoplifting or parking violations you would only need a basic education from a franchised law firm. People could get their basic degrees at Hamburger & Law University, and you would only have to go to the nearest McDonald’s and supersize your meal with the level of defense you need.
It could be that this solution only last for a while, since eliminating unemployment surely would reduce the crime-rate drastically. But for some reason I don’t think that would be a problem with all those lawyers around.
Tags: thoughts
February 21, 2006 at 12:51 am · Filed under Random ramblings & reflections
I only have a quite moderate interest in sports, but I still find the Olympics to be a nice break from regular routine. Maybe it’s because I sort of fill up most of my sports qouta during those two week events.
I don’t really like the fact that it is in Europe, though. I’ve always thought there is a certain something about staying up at odd hours, and maybe pay extra attention to some sport I’ve never bothered about while waiting for something else to start. That’s how I discovered curling, for example. That’s a typical olympic sport for me, not something that concerns me otherwise. And at times I’ve also found speed skating strangely mesmerizing, especially the longer distances. Probably something with the steady sching…sching…sching of the skates. And the female competitors, athletes with physiques that make you believe they can crack walnuts with their… sorry, I got a bit carried away.
Otherwise, I’d say the hockey is the main event for me. And this time there’s no risk that we’ll lose to Belarus… If I was asked to list most memorable sporting moments I would probably I would probably put the 1994 final against Canada as number one. That was one intense game. The cat behaved nervously for days after seeing me and mom jumping and screaming like crazy when Forsberg nailed that last shot.
I’ve also always had some fascination with the opening ceremonies. Probably my mother’s fault, she used to make a bit of an event out of that. And there’s nothing like a ridicilously extravagant display of pseudo-cultural kitsch once in while, is there? I actually think the whole concept is quite silly, but silly can be entertaining in itself. The displays have become somewhat more tasteful lately, though. The Greeks put up a quite appealing show in the last summer games, though. And I think the people who created the Torino opening did a good job as well. I think they finally have come to the conclusion that you only can have so many stiltwalkers, acrobats on strings and 15-person parade float-costumes before it goes over the top. Having had a bit of an interest in the movement I specifically liked the Futurism-inspired bit, with the dancer Bolle (dressed in the Futurists’ idea of a suit) performing against Umberto Boccione’s sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. The decision to include something as un-olympic (to me, at least) as a Formula 1 car burning donuts felt like a nice touch, and I guess it was a good representation for the love of speed shared by both the Futurists and later generations of Italians. But overall, I guess the aesthetics of the whole thing had the tradional gaudyness of “culture for the masses”.
Oh, and there’s one thing that puzzles me. The olympic games always comes with the message of peace, and all that, but still the flag was raised by some special Alpine soldiers. I know flag-handling has always been a military thing, but isn’t it at least a bit contradictory?
Tags: Art, sports, thoughts
February 11, 2006 at 12:08 am · Filed under General
I had some spare cash and decided to replace my old mouse, a Logitech MX700 cordless optical mouse, since it was suffering from recharging issues. And despite those problems I decided for another Logitech mouse, mostly because the ones I’ve had before have been very comfortable. And from what I can from a few days of use, this is the most comfortable mouse I’ve ever had.
The general setup is the same as the MX700, a cordless mouse with a base station that fills the functions of wireless reciever and recharger. A small difference is that the cable from the AC adapter plugs into the base station intead of connecting to the PS/2 plug. I can’t say if that’s good or bad, there’s one more cable on the desk, but one less in the spaghetti behind the PC.
The scroll wheel, with “tilt” funtion for scrolling sideways, has a nice, smooth action, and sits between the “cruise control” buttons that also scroll the page. On the thumb side are the back/forth buttons – a feature I can’t live without after a few years, they are so useful I feel impaired when going online with a mouse that doesn’t have any – and a button for application switching. All the buttons have a feel that I think is best described with the word “quality” – not flimsy, and not to stiff. I havn’t bothered installing the software yet, and it seems the tilt funtion and application switching are driver dependent.
Logitech claims that the MX1000’s laser engine has 20 times the resolution of regular, LED based optical mice. I don’t put too much value in numbers like that, but after trying it with Photoshop and other graphics apps as well as a few games I can say that it feels much more accurate than my old optical mouse. And the ball mouse I used when waiting for the old, erratic mouse to recharge is on a stone age level in comparison.
I’ve mentioned the buttons, but the other aspects of the design of the mouse body are excellent as well. I thought the MX700 was a very comfortable mouse, but trying it after having used the MX1000 for a few days it felt almost as unwieldy as your average brick. The shape is just right – the thumb rests comfortably in the deep groove, the opposite side is easy to grip both with the little finger alone as well as with ring finger and pinky toghether (I alternate between those two modes of gripping depending on what I’m doing) – and the general hand position is very relaxed. The mouse’s “feet” are also good, it slides better over the pad than any mouse I’ve had.
I also think its appearance is quite striking, especially they way Logitech made the MX series’s left and right mouse buttons “invisible” by making the top part in one single piece. Makes the design stick out of the general mass of mice in a subtle way, you see it is different but it takes a moment to see why. I don’t now if it’s true for the regular blue version, but the top of the black/charcoal “Midnight” version I got has a glossy, laquer-like finish that’s a nice change from the regular matte plastic that computer hardware usually is made of. The plastic of the sides has a smooth, rubbery texture – and I can say from experience that that is better than the real thing, I had a rubber clad mouse that became a little icky after a couple of years’ exposure to skin.� The only thing that could have made it look better is if the battery LEDs were blue, but that’s probably just me being a sucker for blue LEDs in general.
So far, everything I’ve said has been positive and I havn’t found any traces of major flaws, but nothing is perfect. One slight annoyance is the battery LEDs I mentioned. It’s not that they are too bright, but the fact that they go out when the mouse has been inactive for 5-10 seconds, and I find that little glint when I switch from keyboard to mouse a bit distracting. Maybe it’s just me, and I guess I’ll get used to it pretty soon. Then there’s the non-replacable battery – I know from experience that though lithium-ion batteries live longer than older types they do lose capacity over time, and that could affect the possible lifespan of the mouse. The mouse is also relatively heavy (175 grams according to my scales), but personally I like the extra weight.
But overall, I think the MX1000 is simply excellent, and I don’t regret buying it a moment. Without doubt the best mouse I have ever used. The price might seem a bit high, but for anyone who spends a lot of time at the desk I’d say a comfort/performance mouse like this is well worth checking out.
Some links: Logitech product information, DesigntTechnica review, HEXUS.net review. I havn’t compared prices, but it’s availible at amazon.com
and amazon.co.uk
for those who like to shop there (and help amateur bloggers afford a nice cold beer or two by clicking their links ;)).
Tags: gadgets, tech
February 5, 2006 at 1:06 am · Filed under Computing & techiness
