Imagine taking a picture with your mobile phone of a product and then having comparison prices and other data (reviews, store locations to buy it etc.) shown on its screen.
I am also loving Evernote, a digital file cabinet application. Its new iphone app is particularly good - you can take pictures (white board, signs, scans etc) and word recognition software allows the text within images to be indexed and searchable. Also, it has a voice memo function, which is something I’ve missed on the iphone prior to this point.
Evernote would be the ultimate killer app if it also integrated with Amazon’s Kindle, so my notes and highlights on the kindle are also indexed and searchable. Amazon should acquire Evernote simply for this functionality.
Kwak is an incredible Belgium beer that’s brewed by Monks, and was favored by the coach-driven in the 19th Century. At Den Anker in Cape Town, it’s even served in the traditional bowl shaped glass, which was designed to minimize spillage, while riding in a coach. The glasses are difficult and expensive to replace, so the bar tender insists that you remove your left shoe as a deposit for the glass. The shoe is placed in a basket and hoisted to the rafters of the ceiling until you’re done!
Many in the West believe Islamic society, which is primarily centered in the Middle East, to be backward.
But, early Islamic society was way more literate than Europe, and between 700 and 1200 the Moslem civilization was arguably the most tolerant and cultured society in the world, and had many technological achievements (Singer, 1958):
The Lateen sail, which allowed for the building of larger and faster ships than the Roman square rigged ships.
The Moslems were the first to use a tidal mill in Basra around 1000 ad.
In 793 ad, the fist paper factory was set up in Baghdad, and by 1000 the entire Islamic world was enjoying bound books.
The Islamic world made substantial advances in textile production.
Al Jaabir and Al Razi wrote books that for centuries were the recognized standards in the field of chemical technology.
The Moslems invented greatly improved glass and ceramic products.
They produced a flammable petroleum akin to kerosene, and their perfume and acid industries were far superior to anything known before.
In mechanical engineering, from water mills to clocks, the Moslems were for centuries far ahead of the West.
In metallurgy, craftsmen in Toledo and Damascus produced swords of a quality that was proverbial in the West.
Egypt in particular became famous for its sugar and confectionery products.
[source: The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress by Joel Mokyr]
Hopefully, the region will invest its oil wealth wisely, to fuel economic progress after the oil is depleted or eclipsed by green technology.
1. The borders should be sealed and fortified. Terrorists and bombs from Syria and Iran should not be able to freely flow into Iraq. Biometrics should be used, to identify terrorists more effectively.
2. The provinces and not the national government should primarily hold power. The government structure, in this respect, would more resemble Switzerland than the United States. This would reduce the tension and power struggle between the Southern Shia provinces and the Baghdad Shia province, as well as empower the Suni-Arab majority provinces, who believe they are disenfranchised (the Sunis overwhelmingly reject the Iraqi government and constitution, and resent the American “occupation”, which they believe is propping up an illegitimate Shia government).
I recently visited Robben Island in South Africa and found it interesting that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher believed Nelson Mandela and his cohorts to be terrorists! During the apartheid, the blacks were disenfranchised…
Also, prior to the American Revolution, the American colonies were disenfranchised from the British government, and George Washington and the American revolutionaries were considered terrorists… (especially since they didn’t abide by the warfare rules of the day - they ambushed the british troops rather than marching in formation.)
3. Oil revenue should be distributed to the citizens of Iraq, in a similar way that Alaska distributes oil revenue to citizens of Alaska. If people are not hungry, and able to subsist, than they are less likely to buy into extremist propaganda. The Iraqi government has a $35 billion surplus! That buys a lot of bread, as well as potentially funding small business lending and education initiatives aimed at developing the economy.
