The Icarus Syndrome

BOOK REVIEW: VIDEO 0:50 By cfr

The Icarus Syndrome

The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, Peter Beinart, HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0061456466 http://tinyurl.com/2cpncbv

In The Icarus Syndrome, Peter Beinart tells a tale as old as the Greeks—a story about the seductions of success. Beinart describes Washington on the eve of three wars—World War I, Vietnam, and Iraq—three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that history was over, and the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand. And each time, a war conceived in arrogance brought untold tragedy. more> http://tinyurl.com/2cpncbv

• Peter Beinart http://peter-beinart.com/bio/
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Fed: U.S. recovery hurt by overseas woes

By Chris Isidore – Federal Reserve policymakers believe the U.S. economy is still recovering, but they acknowledged the pace of growth has slowed over the past two months, due greatly to problems overseas.

Since the Fed’s last meeting, concerns about the risk of sovereign debt defaults in several nations in Europe have roiled financial markets, stirring uncertainty about whether the global economic recovery is in danger of stalling.

Some economists wonder whether the Fed will have the necessary tools to restart economic growth if the U.S. falls into another recession. more> http://bwbx.io/YwfW

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Reality check – Americans like their broadband service

By George Ou – With over 40 million broadband homes since 2008 with more than 6 Mbps of connectivity, one would expect that there would be more applications that require and thrive at 6 Mbps.  There are such applications, but they either involve 99% piracy or they involve premium services where consumers have to pay additional fees to the content provider.

The bigger problem for the Internet elite geek culture is their knee jerk assumption that bigger bandwidth automatically equals more innovation, but the reality is that throwing bandwidth at the problem is rarely the solution.  It’s quite possible that future innovations lie in lower bandwidth but more intelligent end points. more> http://bwbx.io/82yF

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Bright Ideas: From Concept to Hardware in the First Lasers

By Dwight E. Neuenschwander – Almost everyone living in a technological society today owns or uses a laser. Compact disc players, supermarket checkout scanners, laser printers, and laser pointers are among the applications we encounter daily. Some specialized laser applications include cauterizing scalpels in surgery, industrial cutters and drills, surveying, artificial guide stars for astronomical observatories, and seismology.

This year, 2010, we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the invention of the laser. If you ask people at random, “When were the principles first conceptualized that make lasers possible?”, many guess some date around 1960. That’s correct if you mean the construction of a working laser. But the concept of “stimulated emission” that makes lasers possible was first articulated by Einstein back in 1917! It took four decades for technology and circumstances to catch up with Einstein’s vision. more> http://bwbx.io/b2BW

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Follow up analysis of the Telstra – NBN Co agreement

By Paul Budde – [Australia] Even though the agreement is still in principle, Telstra would not have become a party to it if it was not sure that this is the best way forward for the company, so this is clearly an indication of Telstra’s vision on how it intends the company to grow into the future.

As long as the $11 billion deal with Telstra will not undermine the viability of the rest of the industry and will not be used to undermine competition, in principle this amount should not pose any problems. The majority of the money will be used for services rendered by Telstra to NBN Co and will be paid-out over many years. more> http://bwbx.io/lrFY

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