Friday, February 09, 2007

Disinterested passion

Whilst many of the Americans I have met have outside of U.S. appear to have a balanced viewpoint about what is happening in the world, the impression I get domestically is that there is a severe lack of critical thinking taking part in there that engages the general populace (no questioning of god, unpatriotic to not support a war, etc). Whether I agree with someone or not is besides the point, I want my co-citizens to challenge assumptions and decisions (especially those made by elected representatives). This is arguably the most patriotic thing they can do; this is something that has taken a back seat in the U.S.

Anyway, now that that stage is set, it was with some pleasure and subsequently hope that I found the following:
  • The movie "Why We Fight" - on the origins of the "military-industrial complex" quote
  • Fora.tv (videos of lectures)
From Fora.tv two lectures that quickly caught my attention were (and I recommend you watch them though they are long - particularly the Q&A parts):
  • Scott Ritter on Iran
  • Richard Dawkins talking about his latest book

In the former, although I don't agree with all his opinions I do respect his vociferous challenging and apparent passion and recognise that there are other viewpoints to situations. The latter, ...... well let me just say that I learned something about public speaking from him. :-)

Friday, February 02, 2007

New Year's Resolutions: January 31st Results

So, the time has come around to show progress on my New Year's Resolutions.
After having overestimated my current starting state I went to -6% in early January, but am pleased to report that I am now at -1%, with the main improvements being bodyfat and typing related. My investment target is down a small amount purely from the portfolio value (part of that category's target is to inject further funds). The ergo results remain the same as at the start of January because my training program has no test (2km in this case) pieces at the moment.

2007 Goals Rating: -1%(@Jan31)