Beyond Blogging, etc.

Would blogging set off something unexpected that becomes the next killer application for the web? I have a feeling that we're at the very beginning of something revolutionary in communications. Historically, any advances in either transportation or communication, sets off a real and tremendous change in people' lives in general. These days we are riding the communication wave. Transportation, on the other hand, has stagnated for a very long time. Nothing really new has evolved since the introduction of passenger flight a half a century ago. PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) remains, to the dismay of its devote and fanatic believers, a pipe dream. Rail has been going downhill with some exceptions, yet its heir, the car, hasn't evolved much. And as a transportation solution, its taking us to dead end.

But back to blogging; people are raving about it for the wrong reasons. There are those who think that it could actually bring them fame or fortune. I don't like disappointint them, but they remind me of the average teenage basketball player aspiring to be the next Mike Jordan. It's not impossible, but it's a one-in-a-million chance. Same goes for aspiring actors and aspiring writers. Just take a look at these two links to get a more 'realistic' picture. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/384be1be-9eb1-11da-ba48-0000779e2340.html and http://www.2blowhards.com/archives/000809.html#000809

Yet who said that every blogger has to strike it rich in order for us to call the blogging phenomenon a success? Maybe we are asking the wrong question. I still believe that blogging is a revolution. But it's an evolving revolution. How it will affect us in the end is anyone's guess.

“We Shoulda Attacked The Saudis”

I don’t like writing about politics in general, let alone ‘polarized’ topics, but could someone please tell me what they mean when they refer to Saudi Arabia as being a “better candidate” than Iraq on the "war on terror"? Should the U.S. military be in Saudi Arabia now instead of in Iraq? Why? To get rid of terror once and for all? To set a model for democracy? And would the Saudis have welcomed American soldiers with rose petals, too? If choosing Iraq was a tragic miscalculation; then on a scale of 1 to 10, what would have choosing "The Cradle of Islam" been?

Already, thousands of Muslim youths are flocking to Iraq against incredible odds just to attack "The Great Satan"; could we begin to imagine what the situation would be if the democracy-building, rose-seeking, freedom-defending soldiers were scattered between Mecca and Medina? And would it be politically possible, then, to ban 'foreigners' from entering "occupied Mecca" even if it was realistically impossible to do so? Two million yearly pilgrims (many of whom wait a lifetime) would just have to postpone their ‘hajj’ until the conflict is over.

Or maybe they don’t mean a better “military” candidate. Maybe they’re talking about attacking the Saudi money that’s “fueling terrorism”. But then when they say "Saudi money"; are they referring to the Saudi government, or the Saudi people (of whom a fraction is donating their money, to whatever cause, anyway)? For the former; I doubt very much that the Saudi monarchy has anything to do with even the thought of it. As for the latter; that would, indeed, raise some very interesting questions. Should the actions of ordinary citizens (let alone unlawful citizens or even renegades) make a whole nation liable? Would the United States be liable if some of its citizens did incredible "terror" damage to, say, Nicaragua, for example.

I'd Like to Buy the World a Joke

I love water. Everyone does. It's THE most basic necessity of life. I thought about this the other day. What if, for one year, we picked a city where all the advertisements targeting the people were only for water? Just inducing them to drink water. What would the health implications be? What would the economic implications be? I, for one, believe that they would be positive. The more people drink water, the less they drink sodas and other unhealthy beverages. The less they spend money on those unhealthy beverages.. For the beverage industry, this is a catastrophe, but then, life goes on. Unless everyone prefers bottled water, then no need to worry about "Big Water" conglomerates filling the void and turning us back into mindless, brand-conscious consumers. (What was I drinking when I wrote that?)