For the last week, or so, I have been stalled out. It is not that I haven’t started all sorts of Blog Posts, it is just that they have faded out. I would have such a great thought or insight and then it would just sit there, like a duck hit on the head with a mallet, or scamper away, hiding under the closest cliche (would you prefer cliché). Going back to China, I have about 200 false starts, so I thought I would just post a couple of starts to get them out of my hair.

….a bill that would require a kill switch on all smartphones sold in California has stalled in the State Legislature amid opposition from the telecommunications industry. New York Times May 3, 2014

I wonder why the telecommunications industry is against something that would make their product safer. Reading that, it sounds sarcastic, but I’m not. It can’t cost very much money, it would obviously cut down on smartphone theft which is now a big part of all theft, and it would make customers happier. It certainly doesn’t make them happier to know that the telecoms are fighting this.

Is it a knee jack reaction to more government control? That doesn’t seem likely, this is an industry that has government control everywhere and, as this bill illustrates, the industry knows how to control the controllers. Or, at least, influence the controller’s. This industry knows how to work with and around the government.

It is not just the telecom industry. I see it in the fight over the minimum wage. Last Christmas Season, WalMart – among others – report declining sales and attributed it to – among other things – people’s declining income. However, that did not stop WalMart – among others – from fighting an increase in the minimum wage.

On a much bigger scale, I wonder why – even – oil companies are fighting the very idea of Global Climate Change, after all alot of oil company CEOs have grandchildren. What are they going to tell them?

Names

A Jonathan Chait quote I was going to do something with but I have no idea what. It is an interesting idea, though, I wonder if Barack Obama hurt or helped the president get elected.

Democrats will run Jack Conway against Rand Paul. This puts the Kentucky Senate seat in play — Rand is the favorite but Conway has a shot. I have a pet theory that a politician’s name is a major factor — I’d guess being named “Jack Conway” is worth several points more than being named “Daniel Mongiardo.”

Hathaway and Lawrence

I thought that this was an interesting article about archetypes. I really had no idea that anybody didn’t like Anne Hathaway until I read it but I certainly can see Jennifer Lawrence as the Cool Girl. It would not surprise me to read that she had a pickup truck.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/the-happy-girl-vs-the-cool-girl-why-people-dont-like-anne-hathaway

Kodak and Microsoft

I read an opinion piece the other day that opined that Microsoft would be gone in ten or fifteen years. My first thought was That is impossible. and then  I started thinking about Kodak. When the picture above was taken, Kodak was a colossus and now they are almost gone.

As an aside, the woman, above, is named Maria. I had met Maria in Najab, Guatemala  – I know her name is Maria and it was in Guatemala, I am less sure about Najab – and I then saw her hawking hupils to tourists in Antigua several days later. I gave her my backup camera and a roll of film as asked her to take some pictures. At first she didn’t want to because her husband would think I was hitting on her. I still think that is charming. Look at how she is holding the camera, she looks like a pro; it made me realize how smart she was and how much more she knew about us than we knew about her. End aside.