Home of DJ and technophile Jonathan Puddle (aka J Puddy)
Archive for December, 2006
Blood Diamond
15 years ago
I knew a bit about the dodgy dealings in the diamond industry before going to see this movie. My wife in fact does not wear a diamond on her finger; her engagement ring is adorned with a moissanite. But having now seen Blood Diamond there’s even more going on than I had realised.
I’d recommend you go and see it. For a few reasons… first and foremost (because this is a movie review) it’s a GREAT piece of cinema. Incredible performances from Honsou and de Caprio. Best actor material for both of them. To those who’ve not seen the film and are wary of Leonardo’s South African accent, I know a lot of South Africans, and while I haven’t heard their opinion, I thought he did a bang-up job. Both of their characters are totally convincing, and the movie is very well made.
Second reason (because this is not just a movie review), it’s important. Just like Hotel Rwanda was important, this film shows a side of things that many people are oblivious to. In case you’re not aware of anything in the movie, or anything about the crooked crooked diamond industry, I’ll give you a few choice morsels:
- The price of diamonds is controlled. When a new oil deposit or gold deposit is found, the price for that item will fluctuate. Supply has theoretically increased which drives the price down, which can generate more interest, potentially driving the price up. Diamonds, however are controlled. De Beers controls a massive amount of the world’s gem diamond industry, which allows them to keep costs regulated (high). I don’t know whether this is true, but the movie exposes the possible use of diamond warehousing in order to stop the market from being flooded with diamonds. Price fixing, my friends.
- Diamond mines have historically used slave labour to dig out the stones. We can probably assume that this still happens in some places, though I hope not.
- What this movie focusses on, is the issue of conflict diamonds. The occurance of war around diamond deposits, in this movie specifically regarding Sierra Leone, and the civil war that raged around the diamond mines.
This will sound idealistic, but lately I’ve been thinking about what it would take for me to become a rich philanthropist, and do what I can to help out in Africa financially. For my part now, I’ll stay away from earth-dug diamonds. Synthetic diamonds are being produced more readily now (and they’re not fake diamonds, they’re identical to earth-dug diamonds), and moissanite has been readily available for some time. For your part, go see Blood Diamond, and bookmark Doctors Without Borders.
Microsoft, up until the year 2007
15 years ago
by Jonathan Puddle
in Tech
I’ve got a 2 part story coming up here, a story of reinvention, of dreams lost, and of dreams reborn. This is the first part.
-
Microsoft. In the last forever…
It’s a known fact, that almost 10 years ago, Microsoft had already defined office productivity software. Microsoft Office is the most widely used office productivity software in the world, by far, and is Microsoft’s bread and butter. It allows Macs to do “work stuff” too. In the last 10 years however, Microsoft have not done too much to improve upon their formular. They’ve “sat upon their laurels,” as it were.
Up until some time between March 2001 and April 2005, Microsoft (arguably) had also defined what a computer operating system was, and how you could expect to interact with it. The largest detractors to this theory are those who use Mac OS X. Apple had successfuly proven year in and year out up until OS X’s release, how you could take a box of useless hardware and make it even worse. OS X, especially the Tiger release (which is the only release I’ve used that I don’t get the feeling is missing things), was a big leap forward for operating systems and graphical user interfaces. Apple was ahead of the curve, as it usually is. However, the Apple community (while growing swiftly, we’re told) is still a niche market. Microsoft Windows – in its various flavours – is the most widely used operating system in the world. Subsequently, Microsoft Windows is the most attacked and hacked operating system in the world, and Microsoft has shown time and again an inability to keep in step with security measures necesary to keep their child safe.
Up until November 2002, Sony had fairly well defined what a video game console was, and what you could expect to do with it. Nintendo built consoles that people loved, and has played ahead of the curve like Apple, but Sony had the winning mix of games and a stable controller layout, which made the Playstation the defacto standard. It has enjoyed significant market share for a good long time.
And – this will cause fallout on a nuclear scale – I believe that up till now, but perhaps only a little while longer, Apple has defined the MP3 player. iPod, with it’s recognizable white earphones, is the bidniss.
To be continued…
The news, on Thursday December 14th
15 years ago
by Jonathan Puddle
in Tech
Lots of interesting buzz today. My tabs consist of:
Blue Dragon (Xbox 360 game) Outsells Wii Games in Japan
Possible New Star Trek Animated Series
Comodo Personal Firewall and the Sexoholic
05 years ago
After reading excellent reviews, I’m trying out Comodo Personal Firewall 2.3.6.81
And I recommend YOU try the Sexoholic! Take a shot glass, add a few drops of tobasco sauce (enough to cover the bottom) and then fill it up with Drambuie. Enjoy.
American Income Tax may not be legal
05 years ago
Watching a fascinating video right now documenting the notion that various taxes paid by US citizens were never ratified as legal by the US government.
I’ll let that sink in for a second.
I don’t know if this is all true, but if it is it’s pretty shocking stuff. Federal income tax, that everyone’s been paying since the turn of last century, may not be legally enforceable. The taxes that do come in, it’s said, go to US debt, and don’t even touch the various services people assume their taxes are paying for.
Check out the website, and the video.
This is crazy stuff…
Recent Comments