Scratch Padtag:qvp.ca,2010:/b/pad//12010-08-10T17:19:20ZBy Babak Seradjeh
A Collection of Sorts
gerdâye i az varaqpârehâ
گردآیه ای از ورق پاره هاMovable Type 3.33Angelina, Fallujah, Reasontag:qvp.ca,2010:/b/pad//1.622010-08-10T17:12:58Z2010-08-10T17:19:20Z Some of my friends are sharing a link to this propaganda piece: Cancer rate in Fallujah worse than Hiroshima, on the World Socialist Web Site. The original study is this: Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq...Babak Seradjeh
and
and
Some of my friends are sharing a link to this propaganda piece: Cancer rate in Fallujah worse than Hiroshima, on the World Socialist Web Site.
The original study is this: Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq
2005–2009. But it wouldn't open at the time of this writing. [The server overwhelmed by anti-imperialists?! :-)] So I, too, have to link to an "anti-imperialist" website I have no information about... . Anyway, here's the original article.
But, wait! Let's see: why compare 2005-2009 data to Egypt and Jordan — and not Fallujah before 2004? Or at least to the rest of Iraq in a longer time period? (There's a long list of similar questions, but I don't have the time right now.)
Example: the study says, right in the abstract, that
There were 34 deaths in the age group 0–1 in this period giving a rate of 80 deaths per 1,000 births. This may be compared with a rate of 19.8 in Egypt (RR = 4.2 p < 0.00001) 17 in Jordan in 2008 and 9.7 in Kuwait in 2008.
These comparisons are meaningless. Take a look at this Wikipedia article on infant mortality rate. You'll see that 27 countries have an average infant mortality > 80 per 1000 with the high of 160.3 in Sierra Leon. Iraq is the 27th one with an average of 81.5. This is, to be sure, terrible! But it also shows that the situation in Fallujah is like the rest of the country.
This is what I extracted in a matter of 5 minutes. It's convenient to jump to sweeping conclusions, link to WSWS, or maybe even put on a khaki and stand in front of a hammer and sickle red flag and pretend to care about human rights like this Canadian clown.
But when our destiny is at stake, we must stand to reason.]]>
Silencetag:qvp.ca,2009:/b/pad//1.582009-09-07T17:46:16Z2009-09-07T17:51:28ZSilence for there is too much to do. Silence because there is nothing to do. Silence in the face of grave danger. Silence in the routine clockwork of a complacent life. Silence out of being speechless. Silence out of being...Babak Seradjeh
and
Silence for there is too much to do. Silence because there is nothing to do. Silence in the face of grave danger. Silence in the routine clockwork of a complacent life. Silence out of being speechless. Silence out of being completely predictable.
Silence must be broken.
Apple's DRMtag:qvp.ca,2007:/b/pad//1.402007-02-17T23:58:16Z2007-03-20T09:22:22ZSteve Jobs, Apple's CEO, has published an essay on Digital Rights Management (DRM) system that Apple uses to sell music on its online music store, iTunes. The songs purchased from iTunes are DRM-protected and only play on Apple's iPods. He...Babak Seradjeh
and
and
has published an essay on Digital Rights Management (DRM) system that Apple uses to sell music on its online music store, iTunes. The songs purchased from iTunes are DRM-protected and only play on Apple's iPods. He makes a neat back-of-the-envelope calculation to estimate the fraction of DRM-protected songs people carry in their iPods:
Through the end of 2006, customers purchased a total of 90 million iPods and 2 billion songs from the iTunes store. On average, that’s 22 songs purchased from the iTunes store for each iPod ever sold.
Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats.
He argues that 3% is hardly enough to lock people in to iPods and iTunes for their music.
There is also a piece toward the end where he states that the biggest obstacle for doing away with DRM are the four big music companies. This, however, he argues is not rational, since
In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves.
This means that 10% of the music sold has been DRM-protected. This is 7 percentage points higher than the earlier estimate of the DRM-protected content carried by people in their music players (iPods). This may be a real effect: people carry a larger fraction of DRM-free music than is sold because they share them more easily. But the "share effect" is clearly very limited: less than 10% of the DRM-free music sold seems to have been shared.
One might expect that with online purchases this effect might be bigger due to the greater ease of sharing already digital music and the relative hassle of digitizing audio CDs. But this must only lead to a rather small increase of the "share effect". Even a factor-of-two increase stands no chance of disturbing the profits of the music industry compared to the boost getting rid of DRM would bring to the market.
See also: The phantom menace arguing against the use of "piracy" and "theft" for software (and by extension, any digital content) duplication.]]>
Electrons or Humans?tag:qvp.ca,2006:/b/pad//1.352006-11-29T02:38:07Z2006-11-29T02:40:01ZWhich is more interesting: the electrons' behaviour, or humans'? Which is more important? Which is easier to understand?...Babak Seradjeh
and
Which is more interesting: the electrons' behaviour, or humans'? Which is more important? Which is easier to understand?
آمریکا، آمریکا ...tag:qvp.ca,2006:/b/pad//1.252006-04-21T19:29:46Z2006-11-12T08:51:03Zمهدی ِ ژرف یک نقد ِ جالب درباره یِ نوع ِ نگاه و نوشته ها ی ِ سیما یِ فرنگوپولیس نوشته. من هم یک کامنت زیر ِ نوشته یِ مهدی نوشتم که برا یِ ثبت در تاریخ :) با کم...Babak Seradjeh
and
and
ژرف یک نقد ِ جالب درباره یِ نوع ِ نگاه و نوشته ها ی ِ سیما یِ فرنگوپولیس نوشته. من هم یک کامنت زیر ِ نوشته یِ مهدی نوشتم که برا یِ ثبت در تاریخ :) با کم ی ویرایش اینجا هم می نویسم:
به نظر ِ من یه چیز ی که منتقدان ِ جامعه یِ آمریکا از نوع ِ فرنگوپولیس نفهمیدن این ه که «مسئله» داشتن و حل کردن در واقع وضعیت ِ طبیعی ِ زندگی ِ فردی و جامعه است و شرط ِ پیشرفت. مهدی میگه این که «چه» مسئله ای نوع ِ جامعه و درجه یِ پیشرفت ش رو تعیین می کنه که من هم موافقم. ولی یک چیز ِ جدی تر هم هست: من فکر می کنم این آدم ها به دنبال ِ جامعه یِ «بی مسئله» (شاید مشابه ِ آرمان ِ کلاسیک ِ جامعه یِ بی طبقه) هستند و تنها اون رو شایسته یِ ستایش می دونن. این دید ِ فلسفی نادرست، آگاهانه یا ناآگاهانه، باعث می شه که نتونن این دستاورد ِ بزرگ بشری رو درک کنن که مسئله داشتن مشکل ِ ما (آدم ها، جامعه، ...) نیست بلکه روش ی که آدم ها برا یِ حل ِ این مسئله ها در پیش میگیرن. این فرق ِ تعریف کننده یِ جامعه یِ آزاد و غیر ِ آزاد ه.]]>
Constitute This!tag:qvp.ca,2006:/b/pad//1.242006-04-09T01:30:32Z2006-11-12T08:51:03Z The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran has 177 Articles and 14 Chapters. It establishes an authocratic Islamic order in all aspects of life. The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba has 137 Articles and 15 Chapters. It...Babak Seradjeh
and
The United Kingdom has no written constituion. It is a democratic constitutional monarchy.
]]>
Helping Googletag:qvp.ca,2006:/b/pad//1.222006-02-06T04:09:50Z2006-11-12T08:51:03ZJew (singular) is a word that has come to be used in a somewhat derogatory sense. That is Google's explanation of anti-semitic sites showing up in its search results for a query on jew. This post is part of a...Babak Seradjeh
and
Jew (singular) is a word that has come to be used in a somewhat derogatory sense. That is Google's explanation of anti-semitic sites showing up in its search results for a query on jew. This post is part of a google bomb effort to prevent this irrational linguistic mutation. (Through Curiosity.)]]>
گفتهها ی بی ارزشtag:qvp.ca,2006:/b/pad//1.212006-01-18T21:40:46Z2006-11-12T08:51:03Zبعضی از دوستها یِ من متوجه نیستند که تا زمان ی که ایدهها و گفتهها شون درباره یِ مسایل دنیا دانسته یا نادانسته نسخه یِ گرتهبرداری و تمیز شده یِ ایدهها و گفتهها یِ کیهان و رسالت و ذوبشدهگان ِولایت...Babak Seradjeh
and
بعضی از دوستها یِ من متوجه نیستند که تا زمان ی که ایدهها و گفتهها شون درباره یِ مسایل دنیا دانسته یا نادانسته نسخه یِ گرتهبرداری و تمیز شده یِ ایدهها و گفتهها یِ کیهان و رسالت و ذوبشدهگان ِولایت و جنتی و رفسنجانی و خامنهای و این قبیل آدمها ست همین قدری هم که به احترام ِ دوستی حاضر میشم اینها رو دوباره بشنوم از حد ِتحمل ِ عمومی ِمن برای ِحرف ِمفت بیشتره.
Equality: The Sad Story of Statsiticstag:qvp.ca,2005:/b/pad//1.192005-12-24T20:55:57Z2006-11-12T08:51:03ZAdam Smith Institute Blog has an intersting post on the new statsitics emerging from the UK Equal Opportunity Commission which carry the news headline, Women in private sector paid 45% less than men, says equality watchdog. But in actual fact...Babak Seradjeh
and
intersting post on the new statsitics emerging from the UK Equal Opportunity Commission which carry the news headline, Women in private sector paid 45% less than men, says equality watchdog. But in actual fact they compare part-time female workers with full-time male workers. If they do the more sensible comparison of part-time female workers with part-time male workers, the conclusion will be a complete reversal of the fact and numbers: the part-time pay gap is actually 28% in the public sector and 10.9% in the private.
This of course does not mean that the gaps do not exist, and also not that these data tell the whole story. As Tim Worstall of the Adam Smith Institute puts it:
Quite the most horrible thing about this is that there is indeed a gender gap in wages and we'd rather like to know why. Is it because employers discriminate against women? Or against part-timers, the majority of whom are women? When that part of the Government concerned with such issues deliberately conflates the two for propaganda reasons we'll never find out.
]]>
NY Transit Striketag:qvp.ca,2005:/b/pad//1.182005-12-21T03:15:11Z2006-11-12T08:51:03ZThe New York Transit Worker Union's illegal strike is going to cost their union $1m a day in fines, and the individual workers two workday wages for every day of the strike. But it is estimated to cost the NY...Babak Seradjeh
and
illegal strike is going to cost their union $1m a day in fines, and the individual workers two workday wages for every day of the strike. But it is estimated to cost the NY economy even more—$400m a day. This economic cost will be levied on millions of ordinary people with ordinary jobs, many of them much less-paid than the strikers'.
If the transit workers were unhappy with their wages, and could find a better-paying job, they would take it, right? So that means that there are no such job offers. Instead they are demanding that their wages be raised by the management of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But where do they expect the raise in their wages and benefits should come from? It should come from somewhere at any given time. Since the MTA is state-owned, it is the state that should provide the extra dough. The MTA itself has a huge surplus. That surplus has investment value. Does raising the wages with that money represent an investment? Perhaps if the workers work more efficiently at higher wages it will. In fact if they worked more efficiently there would be no need to that extra cash: the more efficient the transit, the more efficient the economy, the higher the real income of the people in the economy, and the higher the taxes that finance the MTA. But that is not what the workers want; they want more money, all else remaining the same as before. In fact, "Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected," TWU chief Roger Toussaint says. TWU signs say "We move NY. Respect Us!" That is, they consider their demands to be their rights.
In terms of its economic effects, the 34,000 strikers' action is equivalent to each of them setting a $10 bill on fire about every minute. Those bills mostly come out of the pockets of ordinary people. Of course if one person actually does that he is likely to end up in jail. But when 34,000 persons in a union do that, they justify it as a "right" and as a demand for "respect."
But wages are not matters of right. They are matters of economy. They are prices of labour; like prices of other goods. That labour is provided by human beings does not change the economic role of its price, i.e. wages.
On the other hand, if the MTA was privately-owned, perhaps by shareholders, a raise (or decrease for that matter) in the wages and benefits of its workers would manifest itself in a change in the share prices, as the present value of the future consequences of that move. It would be then easy to determine whether the wage raise (or decrease) was economically sensible or not.
But with the existing state-ownership of the MTA and their workers unionized in TWU, it is inevitable that such economic decisions are eventually made by political wranglings and bullyings (from both sides) that amount to sending billions of dollars up in smokes in a matter of days.
Follow-up I wrote a piece over at FToI on the parallels and anti-parallels between Transit Workers Strike: Tehran and New York.]]>
<![CDATA[‘Thank You,’ Again!]]>tag:qvp.ca,2005:/b/pad//1.122005-05-07T11:10:11Z2006-11-12T08:51:03ZBabak Seradjeh
and <![CDATA[‘Thank You’]]>tag:qvp.ca,2005:/b/pad//1.112005-04-22T07:07:55Z2006-11-12T08:51:03ZBabak Seradjeh
and شعرtag:qvp.ca,2005:/b/pad//1.102005-04-20T04:44:49Z2006-11-12T08:51:03Z من همیشه علاقه ی ِ زیاد ی به شعر داشتم. ولی انگار که این علاقه تازهگیها خیلی کم شده. انقدر که تقریبن میشه گفت که از بین رفته. دلیل؟ دوری ِ زبان. «فارسی من رو فراموش کرده!»...Babak Seradjeh
and
من همیشه علاقه ی ِ زیاد ی به شعر داشتم. ولی انگار که این علاقه تازهگیها خیلی کم شده. انقدر که تقریبن میشه گفت که از بین رفته. دلیل؟ دوری ِ زبان. «فارسی من رو فراموش کرده!»
Good, bad, wrong!tag:qvp.ca,2005:/b/pad//1.92005-04-15T03:01:09Z2006-11-12T08:51:03ZA good cause can become bad if we fight for it with means that are indiscriminately murderous. A bad cause can become good if enough people fight for it in a spirit of comradeship and self-sacrifice. In the end it...Babak Seradjeh
and
A good cause can become bad if we fight for it with means that are indiscriminately murderous. A bad cause can become good if enough people fight for it in a spirit of comradeship and self-sacrifice. In the end it is how you fight, as much as why you fight, that makes your cause good or bad. —Freeman Dyson; Wikiquote
I agree with the first part of this statement, but the second part makes my hair stand up: By that token, any and every evil that we have come to know throughout history, including notably Nazism, Communism and religious extremism, is turned into a good cause. A rather uncanny way to turn the underlying humanism of this statement and its owner upside down.
Dyson is a very respectable man, particularly adept at skillfully concise statements about mathematical or physical truth. Unfortunately, this quote is not one of them.]]>
Connectionstag:qvp.ca,2004:/b/pad//1.62004-07-09T04:24:12Z2006-11-12T08:51:03ZThe BBC weather update is quite more than that. One can look at it as a continuous update on the connectedness of the world as well. In their tour around the world map to comment on the weather the BBC...Babak Seradjeh
and
The BBC weather update is quite more than that. One can look at it as a continuous update on the connectedness of the world as well. In their tour around the world map to comment on the weather the BBC also indicates where its audience might be interested in knowing the weather conditions; i. e., where they might receive the BBC programmes, or just happen to be or go. Two or three years ago they would gloss over the middle east by a very short report on Saudi Arabia while giving a noticeably longer report on India. The southern part of the Iranian map would be just visible and of course my unjustified hopes to hear about the homeland's colourful weather were always dashed.
It is now about a few months that the BBC weather people have a regular stop over Iraq, explaining how it is going to be dazzlingly sunny in Baghdad. This now reveals a bit of the western part of the Iranian map, but leaves it still hopelessly unnoticed!