Marty Manley on economics, politics, technology, and culture

Archive for March, 2006

Texas wisdom on immigration

Have you noticed that Bush is not as insane on immigration questions as, say, Bill Frist? Possibly it’s because he was
governor of Texas and actually had to deal with folks who lived here productively, responsibly, and illegally up close and in
person.

But does God LIKE surprises?

Wired founder and gonzo futurist Kevin Kelly on the next 100 years of
science:

Open Source software: the wisdom of crowds?

The Economist ran a nice report on Open Source last week, including a
view of its strengths and potential limitations that struck me as on the
money. Open source software is built by volunteers and costs little or
nothing to use. There are a lot of examples, but the ones that everyone
cites are Linux (an operating system for enterprise servers) and MySQL
(a database), Firefox (the browser you should be using), and Apache
(serves up web pages). Three (and ideally all four) of these products
helped bring you this web page.

Can I Come Out Now? The Anniversary of Three Mile Island

At 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979, a pressure valve in the Unit-2 nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island failed to close and the reactor core began to overheat. The
event horrified the residents of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 10 miles upstream, killed the US nuclear power industry, gave Jimmy Carter one of his few
Presidential
moments, and instantly revitalized the sagging career and political fortunes of Jane Fonda.

Immigration Reform: La Causa or La Raza?

Why did the leaders of huge demonstrations for immigration reform
frequently invoke Cesar Chavez’s birthday this weekend? Chavez is an
unlikely icon for open borders and alien amnesty. Few people have sent
as many undocumented workers back home to Mexico as Chavez did
when he fought for La Causa — the cause of farmworkers

How Come They Got the Smart One?

On the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the heads of state of both Great Britain and the United States spoke about the war. George "The terrorists haven’t given up. They’re tough-minded. They like to kill. There will be more fighting ahead." Tony  “This is not a clash between civilizations. It is a clash [...]

Intellectual Property Gone Beserk

Mother Jones has a hysterical list of examples of IP gone mad. Excerpts:

Heroes of the written word: David Remnick

Who else do I read with a passion? I confess a deep affection for David Remnick who was a fine writer before he became the editor of the New Yorker

Christopher Hitchens, National Treasure

Hitch shoots and scores. Today’s Stone Face of Zarqawi in the Wall Street Journal is Christopher Hitchens at his finest and gives lie to the comforting notion that “the war in Iraq has nothing to do with the fight against al Qaeda”. Money shot: “Knowing that their own position was a tenuous one (a fact [...]

The New York Times Shills for "Open IPOs"

Open IPOs (using an auction to set the opening price of an IPO) are fashionable. The New York Times loves them and today profiles WR Hambrecht, the pioneer of Open IPOs.

I hired Bill Hambrecht to take my company public in an Open IPO. It failed. Here is the story.

Does Outsourcing Increase Income Equality?

Fortune is reporting on a government study that documents the first decreases in US income inequality in a generation. Why? Outsourcing is reducing the “education premium” in the US.

The Time is Right for E-books

Like music five years ago, today’s book industry is ripe for an iPod. Here is why eBooks are back and why, when they hit, many brick and mortar book stores will start to look like the fading relics that many music stores do now.

Jam Side Down Award: Percival Lowell..

… who is honored on Google’s homepage today as Google launches, what else: Google Mars. Percival was brother of poet Amy and Harvard President Abbot. [ed: I learned as a kid that " Boston is home to baked beans and cod, where Lowells speak only to Cabots and Cabots speak only to God". Those Lowells? [...]

Can we chat?

Today’s remembrance: in 2004, 10 bombs exploded in quick succession at the Atocha station in the center of the Spanish capital and at two smaller stations, Santa Eugenia and El Pozo. 191 people died in an attack linked to al-Qaida and nearly 2,000 injured. The government blamed Basque separatists, the ETA, even though the attack [...]

Here we go

Here we go…. Q: A new Blog! Who are you?A: I work as CEO of Alibris, a book company that I started with Dick Weatherford in 1998. I have an unusual professional history, having led business, government, and nonprofit organizations including labor unions. I am also a husband, a dad, a voracious reader, and a [...]