| Sunday, November 24, 2002 |  |
| A Capitalist Game |
 I have introduced a little capitalist experiment to my family in the form of a game. You know, capitalism is when you have some capital and you look around for what you can invest it in, in order to get it to grow as much as possible, so you get more back. That is as opposed to the worker / poor person / paycheck-to-paycheck mentality, which is that you look at what stuff you have, and you go work to get money so you can buy. some nicer stuff. Most of my life, including at this moment, I've been in that second category, spending all my money every month, or sooner, and I've had quite some disdain for the capitalist way of thinking. But, hey, I'm open to re-evaluating things once in a while. And what I do like is the idea that wealth is when you do more with less, and create big results with small means. So, here's the simple game:
Each of us, me, my wife Birgit, my son Zachery (16) and my daughter Marie (19), start with 100 dollars. The object of the game is to make it grow. We will check each week how we're doing. Since we all, me included, have very little idea on how to do it, we might support each other as to where to look for means that might work. But the idea is to develop some kind of business, preferably multiple streams of income, that will expand with as little work as possible, even while you sleep. And you'd be free to use no money at all, or to borrow money, and to involve other people's talents, etc. I'm tired of working myself into the ground, and having my family just sort of take that for granted. Both they and I need an education in how to work smarter rather than harder. As to my kids, they would otherwise be ready to just go out and join the job market, get a low-paying job, and spend it all every month on buying stuff on credit. That's not really a legacy I'd like to leave them with. [ Diary | 2002-11-24 15:02 | 4 comments | PermaLink ] More > |
| Covert Iraq oil business |
| Excellent article with many references, by Larry Chin, Online Journal. The U.S. imported 290 million barrels of crude oil from Iraq in 2001, at below market rates, because of U.N. sanctions. The US was "the main market for Iraqi crude" according to the Middle East Economic Survey. It seems a lot like the threatened war is simply an attempt to eliminate Russia, France and China from the competition from the oil there, and to put the U.S. oil companies in complete control of the resources. [ Information | 2002-11-24 15:53 | 1 comment | PermaLink ] More > |
| The eyes of a child |
 "Something animated and vital looks out from our childrenÂ’s eyes. Whatever it is, we recognize it and know it is precious. Yet except in rare cases today, that spirit is broken early and irreparably. The light goes out all too soon. We know, because at some inarticulate and dimly conscious level, we are those children. We feel the wind of spirit move us at odd moments, but put it down to nostalgia or temporary possession by some impractical flight of fancy. We shake it off and get back to work. Robbed of a voice to speak of these things, something animated and vital looks out from our own eyes, but only in rare, unguarded moments -- and even then, wary, circumspect, suspicious. We let no one see what we fear no one will understand." --Chris Locke[ Inspiration | 2002-11-24 23:18 | 2 comments | PermaLink ] More > |
| From Weblog to Moblog |
Justin Hall has an excellent article about what might happen when weblogs go mobile. Potentially we might bring more of our lives into the story. Just about all cellphones can do text messages now, and the new generation have built-in cameras and can send and receive multi-media messages.A weblog is a record of travels on the Web, so a mobile phone log ('moblog'?) should be a record of travels in the world. Weblogs reflect our lives at our desks, on our computers, referencing mostly other flat pages, links between blocks of text. But mobile blogs should be far richer, fueled by multimedia, more intimate data and far-flung friends. As we chatter and text away, our phones could record and share the parts we choose: a walking, talking, texting, seeing record of our time around town, corrected and augmented by other mobloggers. [ Information | 2002-11-24 23:18 | 1 comment | PermaLink ] More > |