Jason's Notes About Stuff

As I continue to go through my old blog drafts, this is another one from 2010 where I took down some rough notes and never quite put something together. At the time, there was significant press (and a movie ) about how Mark Zuckerberg has "stolen" the idea for Facebook from the  Winklevoss twins . I would argue that there was very little original or truly innovative ideas that went into the core functionality of Facebook. On the other hand, it was pretty innovative to build up a huge database of his classmates' information without their permission...  ☺ --- I've read  Atlas Shrugged cover to cover, and I totally get the theme and the very real problems it discusses. What I don't understand is how anyone thinks that modern intellectual property laws provide any type of solution. If anything, they tend to make matters worse, since people that come up with the most profitable ideas today are usually bound by agreements that automatically assign ...

( image credit ) I was recently going through old blog drafts and came across this one from nearly 8 years ago . It was basically just brainstorming about how to improve society in general. I'm proud to say that in the meantime, I've done my best to move the needle ever so slightly, becoming more involved in politics, including running for office at the provincial level and organizing my thoughts further in a wiki . I also now work for a charity that helps bring free education to those who need it most. My most recent efforts include promoting proportional representation and helping organize a Green regional association . Who's ready to join in and help? :) Here's my original brainstorming notes from June 2010: Communist? Capitalist? Democratic? Socialist? Does anyone really know what these terms actually mean anymore? Hybrid system. Use best aspects of existing societal structures. Freely available to all citizens of the world: - Basic educa...

Compare my company's website:    http://www.syllogisticsoftware.com/ with this one:    http://mindfulltech.com/ Yikes! They stole my intellectual property ! So should I go and sue them? Issue a "cease and desist" letter? Ummm... No. Why not? Because I'm not a moron and I don't have time and money to waste . Large corporations and entertainment companies waste countless hours and millions of dollars suing people about their intellectual property . Their products and businesses suffer greatly due to this distraction. It's a digital world. People are going to copy stuff. It's easy and free . I choose to not be bothered, and instead, focus my efforts on making my business better . Maybe they should too.

The traditional "for profit" economic model works great for most things . For instance, take the mythical "widget". You research all the different types of widgets, find out the best deal, and purchase it. Manufactures and suppliers compete to offer the best widget for the lowest price . You set a budget, and buy the "most bang for the buck" widget. Now think about healthcare. What if your child has cancer? What is your budget to save them? Are you going to be enticed by a discount coupon or "one day only sale" from one of the local competing hospitals? Are you going to make a rational cost-benefit decision? Or would you be willing to mortgage your house, cash out your RRSP, and sell everything you own , if it meant saving them? That's the problem. The standard "supply and demand" economic model does not apply. Now, I definitely think private healthcare has a role -- for elective and optional procedures. But for...

I wrote most of this a few months ago, but a recent watching of the movie Agora prompted me to edit and post it. Consider this quotation, attributed to Seneca, a Roman senator who was born around the year 4 B.C.: "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." There is a tendency to believe that religious extremism is a recent phenomenon, but if you look carefully, it seems to date back to the beginnings of civilization itself. The first ancient tribes had their gods and superstitious beliefs.  I'm willing to bet you didn't get very far in native tribal society if you started expressing doubts about the Great Wolf Spirit. It must have been around that time when rulers realized the power of controlling one's beliefs from a young age. If you can convince an entire population that their fate is controlled by some deity in the sky, you can get away with horrid behaviour and not worry about them turn...

2010-08-08 Update: Perhaps online privacy is important after all? The recent Google Buzz fallout has me confused. Why does everyone get so bent out of shape about public privacy ? Don't get me wrong -- I'm a big advocate of personal privacy .  People should be able to do whatever they want in their homes, behind closed doors  without being harassed -- as long as it's legal, of course :) Your online activities, however, are by default not really that private .  Maybe people just don't understand this. Even if you're using a brower's "privacy mode", anonymous proxies, etc., you're still leaving a digital trail behind you. Clearly things like credit card numbers , social security numbers, health information, etc. need to be protected, and that's what strong encryption and privacy laws are for. Likewise, it should be illegal for unauthorized snooping -- key loggers, spyware, etc. are like phone wiretaps and should be treated sim...

Feel like nothing is going right for you lately? Let me assure you: God is not punishing you for missing church last week. Allah is not angry about you sneaking that cookie during fasting time. Zeus is not being vengeful since you missed your last goat sacrifice. The stars are not mis-aligned. It's not a big conspiracy. There is no "secret." It's you. Seriously. Don't get me wrong: There are unexpected situations (good and bad) that come up periodically. It's a little something called life . But in the end, you are the one in control of your destiny. No matter what comes your way, you always have options. Don't sit there hoping, wishing, or praying.  Don't "try" to do something.   Do it! Want a better life? Make better choices and take action ! It's really as simple as that.

Now, I know I'm going to get some hate mail for this one, because I've had many a heated argument about it with friends before. Plus, I'm not actually a parent myself, so clearly I might "just not understand." But I'm going to try anyway. So what's the deal with parents lying to their kids about Santa Claus? I mean seriously, children are supposed to trust their parents. The world might be harsh and mean, but at least Mommy and Daddy are there to protect and nourish them, right? As a parent, you tell your children to look both ways before crossing the street. And you expect your children to believe you. You tell them not to take candy from strangers. You teach them right from wrong . And then you tell them that a fat jolly man in a red suit breaks into your house at night every year and leaves behind toys and candy. And they believe you. Why? Because they're your children and they trust you . Then, a few years down the line, they find out (usual...