paul reed

Fantastic parody from IBM sales…

Parts 2 and 3.

There has been a lot of chatter recently about the Great Firewall of China, but the New York Times’ decision to restrict who can read a certain article about last weeks London terrorism suspects raises some questions about freedom of information.

On one hand if the NYT knew the information could be damaging, then why publish it at all? The print version happily lives on both sides of the pond due to the frequency of trans-Atlantic flights, so they knew the information would get to the UK one way or another (and in fact was published locally in the UK by The Times and the Mail). On the other hand, would withholding it all together have been any better? After all, reporting the facts is what the press are supposed to do, not censor things that may be controversial or bias (don’t get me started on how the US media love to editorialize rather than report …).

In this instance, however, it seems like the NYT are really just trying to cover their backs and avoid any legal ramifications. It’s sad when a renowned news source doesn’t have the the conviction to report something for fear of the ramifications on itself.

Found an article on CNN/Money from April about the relative cost of living in different states. Interesting to see how this has changed since my previous post in 2003. Maine moves into the dubious number 1 slot at 13.5%, nudging DC down to third place. Alaska still remains at the bottom on 6.6%, although the spread between the highest and lowest has closed to 6.9% from 7.4%. The national average has risen a massive 0.9% to 10.6% with 19 states exceeding this. Massachusetts, which often goes by the nickname “Taxachusetts”, comes in surprising at number 28; below that average now by 0.3% at 10.3%, a rise of 0.4% in the three years.

Spot on episode of Zefrank. I’ve nothing else to add.

In trying to fix a link on an old post, I found that Condé Nast have published
more journeys of a lifetime. I liked the previous list, but I’m not so sure about some of the additions to this new list; they seem more like check-box things to do, rather than real journeys. It is interesting to see what was dropped and what remained on the list:

1. Break the bank in Monte Carlo, Côte D’Azur, France
2. Buy a diamond in Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Camel trek through the Sahara, Morocco
4. Climb Kilimanjaro, Tanzania *
5. Cross the Namib Desert by hot-air baloon, Namibia *
6. Cruise the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula
7. Dine à deux at the Upper Cupola, Shanghai, China
8. Fly down to Rio, Brazil
9. Go from Moscow to Beijing on the TransSiberian Express *
10. Have a house party on the Great Wall of China
11. Live la vie de chateau, Ile de Ré, France
12. Machu Picchu by rail, Peru *
13. Sail into New York, USA
14. See Angkor Wat at sunrise, Cambodia
15. Snorkel with sea lions in the Sea of Cortes, Baja California, Mexico
16. Stay up all night watching the aurora borealis, Finland
17. Stay within sight of the Taj Mahal, India
18. Watch dawn appear from the top of Pyramid Four at Tikal, Guatemala
19. Watch Real Madrid at the Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid, Spain
20. We’ll always have Paris, France

This time I’m 1 for 20, as I have sailed into New York. Not on the Queen Mary II as suggested, but on a real sailboat!

* denotes those trips that stood the test of time from their previous list.