Government as Guarantor of Privacy?

16th July, 2010 - Posted by Minter Dial - 5 Comments

(Update July 28) With the massive leak of over 91,000 documents from the US Army operations in Afghanistan to wikileaks, the notions of security, confidentiality, privacy and piracy have hit the front pages of mass media around the world.  The role of the internet and the oversight of governments on issues of privacy, in particular, is » Read More

State of the Spam Business: Spam Pollution

2nd May, 2009 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

State of the Spam BusinessHow many legitimate (non junk or spam) emails do you receive in your inbox? It may come as a surprise to you that only 3% of the world’s supply of emails are legitimate, at least that’s what a recent Microsoft survey says. On a personal level, I know that I have » Read More

Obamania Worldwide – The Dreams & The Reality

12th November, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - 8 Comments

OBAMANIA & OTHER REFLECTIONS ON A SUNDAY MORNING The effect of the Obama victory overseas has been impressive. Much like the initial outpouring after September 11th, 2001, since November 5th, 2008, I have come across a newfound sense of support for the US from many different corners of the world, and the support is » Read More

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly Educational Systems

20th May, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - 6 Comments

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Teachers – How to get rid of the bad apples? As much as I would love to continue praising the great teachers in my life, it occurs to me that many countries feel that their educational systems are in dire straits. With my Franco- Anglo- American educational » Read More

China steps up efforts on Ecology

13th January, 2008 - Posted by Minter Dial - 1 Comment

China bans free bags! In a second post (“Getting rid of Plastic Bags” May 2007) on the topic, I read in the Herald Tribune with a mixture of satisfaction and curiosity about China’s intended policy to ban the giving out of free plastic bags in shops (effective June 1 2008). » Read More

Global Power Rankings China versus ROW

2nd November, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

China is making progress up the Global Power Ranking if you count market caps. Chinese publicly traded companies are now dominating the top 10 list of biggest market capitalizations worldwide. This Figaro article of 30 October highlighted that 5 out of the top 10 largest market caps are Chinese, including world #2 PetroChina » Read More

Rice: Climate change a problem

28th September, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - 2 Comments

Was quite interested to see that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has openly stated that “climate change is a real problem.” A statement that has taken a long time to come. At a meeting, held in DC, of the 16 most polluting countries, the BBC reports that Rice “challenged leaders to reduce their dependence on fossil » Read More

Google my rights – privacy beats piracy

16th September, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

In preparations for the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) meeting 24 September, in Montréal, Google’s Keeper of the Data, Peter Fleischer, has been on the bandwagon for a worldwide protocol for the protection of private data on the net. Fleischer spoke, on 14 September, at a conference in Strasbourg, organised by » Read More

Wind turbines ahoy

20th August, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - 2 Comments

With the number of wind turbines worldwide projected to hit a capacity of 90,000 megawatts/MW (or 90 gigawatts/GW) of electricity, I am proud to say that I have at last come right up close to the base of one of these (at least) 30 metre tall constructions. On our family trip, we took a » Read More

Psychiatry is politics… and dollars and cents

5th August, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - 4 Comments

I had never been fully exposed to the downside of psychiatry until I visited this week the exposition “Pyschiatrie: la vérité sur ses abus” in Paris at the Hotel Castiglione, 40 rue deFaubourg St Honoré. Sponsored by Citizens’ Commission on Human Rights CCHR* (French ccdh.asso.fr or English cchr.com), this exposition is based on the » Read More

China: Do you see 2020?: Financial Ascent vs Demographic Descent

30th July, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - No Comments

Last night, at the MSG (not-in-my-salad) Arena, there was a curious heavyweight boxing match between two Chinamen. One, in the gold shorts, was the China of Optimism (CO). In the other corner, wearing satin red shorts, was the China of Porcelain Doubt (aka PCDo). The bout was about to enter into its » Read More

The Untranslatables – Part 3 of the Things we say…

24th July, 2007 - Posted by Minter Dial - 2 Comments

Having always enjoyed learning languages, I revel in the difference between one language and another. Amongst my musings, I conjure up reasons to explain a language’s structure or vocabulary. Herewith are some of my favorite, if frivolous, observations about a few of the languages I know. In French, there is frileux, a word that means “sensitive » Read More

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