Big Brother and Petite Brothers

I am amazed that so many people think that mainly the NSA is spying on them. How many foreign governments are also spying on us, I wonder. The technology exists and the temptation exists and the money is always there for that kind of things.
Of course, it is not Big Brother that is the most annoyuing, it is all the businesses that buy information about you and put you in a category to target. We don't want the government to spy on us, but every bank or business or geek is welcome to spy on us. Does it make sense?
Based on my age, I get every week a proposition to get buried lavishly, to buy a handy wheelchair and take care of my deafness and my life insurance. I am not targetted for the things I like: new dresses, antiques, books, elegant shoes, pralines, good wines, cheese and expensive perfume. Petite Brother is persistent, but stupid.
If I google "Russian stove" because I don't understand the description of a huge stove  in a book, I receive propositions to buy a Russian stove for a whole week. Nobody in their right mind would buy a big stove in Savannah, Georgia: it is too hot out here. How the ads moguls have the guts to say that "targetting works" is beyond me. I look once at a site like Overstock, and they "target" my Google page for several weeks. It makes me smile. I am an avid reader, I look at hundreds of things I am curious about, every week. I don't want them.

We have a tradition of being afraid of Big Brother, and it is enhanced by the fact that the Press will naturally report more on Federal excesses than on local excesses: it gives them more audience.
But frankly, who is most annoying? Who writes 100 pages instructions for a building permit? Who imposes the color of your house? Who decides that your grass should be no more than 7 inchers high? Who prevents you to grow vegetables in your frontyard? Who decides what you should recycle or not? Who sells lottery tickets to pay for education? We do know, isn't it,  that the lottery is a secret tax on the poor? It is all done by all the Petite Brothers around you,

Culture has us fighting Big Brother, but it is the Petite Brothers all over America who pull the carpet under your feet.

Make your own blessing

There is a fable that all French kids have to know, about an old gardener that everybody mocks because he is planting trees (at his age!)and will not benefit of their shadow; the old man replies that he tastes today the pleasure of planting.
My friend Anne-Marie Costrini is tasting today the pleasure of graduating as a Paralegal. You see her surrounded by her family in the middle of this picture taken by our local television WTOC. She is 91 years old. Anne-Marie still has a job; she is an A student and enjoys studying: she plans to go on and become a lawyer (you can see more about her here
So, if you think that it is too late for anything, shame on you!

Inventions that changed my life since the 1940s

What changed our life? The answer is probably different for every person, because we have different needs. Cell phones, for instance are not on my list. I think that they are a nuisance in the US but helpful in underdeveloped countries.Here is my list.

Because they saved my life:
1. Antibiotics
2. fiber-optic technology. Among many applications, I am specially grateful for the medical ones.

Because they ameliorate social conditions
3. the pill or not the pill: freedom to organize one's life. More than that. knowledge that you can organize your own life.
4. New vegetables. New species of flowers. I still got the gardening guide of my grandmother: it is incredibly poor, compared to what is available today. I am less convinced by modified animals generally made to satisfy greed, rather than the customer.

Because I lived alone most of my life:
5. good quality paint, specially latex paint
6. the invention of home improvement stores which gave women access to DIY
7.Television (like many Europeans, we got our first TV to see the moon landing)

Because I used to be an oceanographer:
8. weather and positioning satellites: it changed everybody's lives not only life at sea
9. Numerical weather predictions: climate models save countless lives every day

Because I am curious:
10. Computers, the internet, blogging
11. Finding black holes at the center of galaxies. That gives more sense to the universe.
12. Access to time. Dating the age of the earth, of artefacts, of climate changes, etc; it is all possible through our understanding of nuclear reactions.
13. the structure of DNA: a first access to the great secrets of life

Business in need of translation

Ultimate simplicity: Belgian flag for Belgian beer.
Image from http://www.neatorama.com/2008/03/16/beer-flags/

Try this ten days for ten dollars
As seen on TV: Free trial is outmoded, now you can try whatever for a ridiculous price. I find interesting that the two firms using this trick recently never tell you the price of the stuff on TV. Translation: the stuff is so expensive that they wont tell you the real price until it is too late.
Lifetime free replacement of anything
If it is a small business: they plan to go bankrupt immediately after the sale
If it is a big one: the shipping and handling will cover their cost
Ten tools in one
Translation: none of them tools works properly
Do you know your sleep number?
Smartest way to sell an air mattress!
Save 400 dollars with our car insurance
This is hard to translate, because all major companies promise the same thing. It does not make mathematical sense. Unless of course they share the market secretly: you in this state, me in that one, or me the old, you the careful drivers. But of course, they would not do that because it is illegal. Any translation?
Ads with dogs
Do not buy it. The product is not good by itself or it is too expensive. I make an exception for Bush beans, because it is an ongoing story where the dog plays against its traditional role.
Ask your doctor if this medication is good for you
Translation: your risk of being killed by it instead of cured is important.Scratch important, replace by not negligible.
What doctors (or some dealer) do not want you to know
Translation: We intend to make money out of a patsy like you. Because if the stuff worked, the doctors or pharmacists or whatever would sell it themselves, wouldn't they?
As seen on TV: "Post shredded wheat does not believe in progress"
Translation; some stupid pub firm has made a study showing that (a) a lot of ecolo buy the product (b)ecologists are usually conservative.
How many people like me will never buy Post again because of their stupid ad is not factored in.
What it says about CNN or MSNBC, I am not sure. Money pimp?

Do not tell God what to do

I was puzzled today. I usually follow the very slow progress of teaching evolution in our school system, and I found this despaired comment: "Somehow, we have a system that gives flaming incompetents this kind of power — that we willingly hand over important decisions about the education of our children to people who aren't qualified ..."from PZ Myers on his blog. You do not have to be an educator to be on the board of education: it is the idea and it is a good idea. However, positions on any board of education are not well advertised and not very interesting, because there is so much pure administration: there is no wonder that many people who get there have an agenda of their own. And frankly, they are not well educated, so they do not know what is a good education. I must say, however, that contrary to my fellow scientists, I resent much more creationists for trying to tell God what to do and how to do it than for misunderstanding the science behind evolution.
It is worth maybe having a second look at that system of boards of education: maybe just making it more attractive would do the trick.