Of Beijing Olympics & China going green !

Author : Noor Al Zubaidy

The Beijing Olympics 2008 did get a lot of attention. First because of the situation in Tibet, and some people were in favor of boycotting them. And then because the Olympics usually get a lot of attention because the country who is hosting the games will be presenting the preparations for the public.

A lot of people were waiting for the Olympics, I'm sure about that. But for me, I'm not much of a sports fan, so I wasn't very much interested in the Olympics at first. Then when I heard how the Olympics have changed Beijing for the better, it made me happy that Beijing in hosting the Olympics while I know many people aren't because of what the Chinese authorities have done with the situation in Tibet. The reason why I'm happy that the Olympics are held in Beijing is because it's becoming greener because of the Olympics.

Athletes need fresh and clean air to perform their best and Beijing has a very alarming air pollution which is why they have been trying to make the Olympics greener for the athletes. They have been doing their best to reduce air pollution, and according to what I read, they have been quite successful. It's wonderful how the Olympics are helping our world! I always thought that people who want to play sports or exercise at the gym could do so in a much greener way by exercising in the great outdoors or walking in the park instead of walking in the gym and so on, but I never thought that sports can be of much help since they are trying to make a city's air less polluted. A city which millions of people live in will have less polluted air. Just thinking of what positive affect that could have is amazing. I really think it's wonderful news, and if these global events are greener, many people will be more aware of how important it is to try and live a greener life for the sake of our planet.

Leadrship 1 : Leaders

Author : Waed Sweilmyeen

Location : Jordan





I won't be adding anything to anyone's knowledge when I say humans were always led ,neither will I be enriching it by saying that we need leadership in order to exist.

All communities , even animal's communities , need leadership to sustain there existence and arrange themselves in a way that allows them to prevail for the longest time possible .

A leader takes full responsibility of the herd he is leading.
He must provide the necessities of life provide security and defend those he is leading. But most importantly , a leader must not be imposed on those he is leading but chosen by them due to his leading character and excellence ! A leader simply rises above those who are to be led !

A leader was thought of as an eagle .
An eagle mates for life which stands for a leader's faithfulness !
Once a leader dedicates himself to his cause , he must never back off or else he is not a leader .

An eagle never settles and so does the leader. A leader soars up and rises with his people towards the better all through his life.

An eagle is known with his vision , and vision is one of a leader's many traits . A leader should be able to see beyond , to see further than anyone else.

An eagle never flies in a flock and leaders do not coexist ! There is only one leader per herd for if there were many , inevitable chaos will arise.


Now , why am I talking of leaders and will be talking of them in our next issue ?
It is because we are addressing future leaders with this newsletter , those who have it within themselves to rise above others and excel .


Do you see yourself as an eagle ?
If so , never listen to those who say ordinary kids can't lead because they don’t know that all our leaders were once kids and they too thought of themselves as eagles when they were growing up.
So until my next article , do look deep inside you and decide for yourself what are you going to be .

Public Interests and statutory monopolies- how to beat the predicament?

Author : Ashok Murthy
Location : India

Human behaviour is somehow predisposed to recognize, identify with and respect only those elements that can be seen, felt, heard or recognized by the sense organs. Thus it comes as no surprise that the owners of intellectual property are having a tough time to not just protect their rights in the intangible but to actually ensure that the people learn to understand that a property, whether tangible or intangible represents something that needs to be respected.

Somewhere along the way, the blame cannot lie with the common man but rests with the often unsympathetic owners and the high prices that follows such statutory monoplies in the form of patents or trade marks or copyrights, as the case maybe. This article could perhaps prove to be a corollary for people who recognize the dilemma in not wanting to break the law but still not deny themselves the subject matter of the amazing human intellect.

Open Source :

Microsoft and other companies cannot deny the fact that the prices attached with their softwares and products cannot be reasonably expected to fall within the limits of affordability of the common man. While hardware prices continue to drop, the software prices haven’t followed in the same momentum. Thus piracy becomes the obvious choice for the consumer.

While Microsoft may cry foul at linux or ubuntu or other open source softwares, ultimately these softwares made by companies and released into the open source without any license fees or royalty attached has proved to be not only better softwares but a consumer’s dream because they can avail the softwares free of cost thanks to the open source nature of the licenses. My advise to consumers, search for open source substitutes to licensed software. Open office instead of Microsoft office and so on. This will reduce the scope of the piracy industry as well as force the IP owners to reduce prices in order to meet competition from open source players.

Compulsory licensing :

Key drugs covering life threatening ailments suffered by a good percentage of poor population, they have proved to be mankind’s greatest hope in the fight against these ailments. However when they fall within the patent protection system, the high prices that follow the monopolistic regime is every government’s nightmare and every poverty stricken family’s suffering. The answer to this lies in the patent system itself. Any member will be entitled to apply with the relevant patent office and ask the government to compulsorily license the patent protected drug. The descriptions and background information of such patented medicines is released in the hands of generic drug makers which presupposes the increased supply of the drugs in the market forcing the prices to fall. South Africa, Thailand and many other countries have successfully used this system to ensure better treatment of life threatening diseases like AIDS.

Anti Trust laws :

Very often agreements between two or more IP owners may involve terms and conditions ranging from ability to operate in markets, prices of products within the same domain, arrangements to give discounts at the cost of the competitor’s, etc. These practices eliminate competition, increase monoplies and invariably prices increase to the consumer’s detriment. Very often IP assets become playing fields for companies seeking market monoplies resulting in a very unfavourable environment for the ultimate consumer. While IP laws deal with monoplies, anti trust laws deal with preventing unlawful monoplies and encouraging competition. So it follows naturally that where monoplies are obtained unlawfully, anti trust laws can be used by the state as well as by any concerned member of the market, to bring in a complaint against such trends and seek such remedies necessary to promote a competitive environment conducive for the common consumer’s interests. Microsoft has incurred the wrath of the anti trust department with their insistence to reduce interoperability of softwares and intel has recently suffered huge fines for offering discounts to their customers in order to ensure that their competitor’s products are not purchased. One would very well want to file a complaint with the local department of justice or fair trade commission should one such shady deal come to their knowledge.


Communicate :

Not all IP owners are capitalistic monopoly hungry douche bags with an “I hate consumer interests” attitude. If there is an aggrievance with the high prices or whatever else that’s bothering you, communicate it to the IP owner, it may actually change things. Prepare petitions, signature campaigns. Encourage the open source movement. Market power fails when there is no market to cater too. If a product is too highly priced, donot buy it at all. When demand falls, profits does too, the companies will be forced to reduce prices.

But ultimately when one buys pirated products, it is not disputed that somewhere along the way the piracy industry is a customer to the IP owner too. A pirated copy of a movie or software can be made from an original copy bought legally. To make the IP owner realize his flaws, one has to protest and the protest follows the decision not to buy anything that involves his product. The economic version of non violent protest by Gandhi logically follows a will and a commitment to what is at the end of the day ethically and morally right. It is hard but what is easy may not be what is right.

This is the dilemma a legitimate consumer faces, but one he has to beat for somebody has to take the moral highground in the battle to ensure the balance between public interests

What is natural ?

Author: Victoria Maravi
Location : Peru




Natural: Original; constituting the original substance of anything; as, native dust. --Milton. (Webster Dictionary)



Homosexual relationships go against the natural order of things; eating processed food is not natural; letting women acquire leadership roles is unnatural; living in a non-nuclear family will give you an unnatural, mutant child… Alright, I am exaggerating with the last remark, but haven’t we heard (or made) these allegations several times during the past few years? Everywhere in the world, people build up arguments based on what they consider as “natural”. However, I think we have been using this word in a thoughtless manner.

Let me start with processed food. Here we are confusing natural and organic. Processed or, roughly speaking, junk food is known to be unhealthy for our bodies in the long run because we are predisposed to eat food that takes longer to digest and does not contain chemicals. However, subsequent generations will probably not be able to digest organic products because people in the lower social strata are being fed with this processed food at cheaper prices and it is not likely this trend will change. Consequently, we will evolve and adapt to this processed food.

We can now focus on the argument against women in power. I believe this has more to do with social dynamics than genetic predisposition: hopefully everyone here agrees that we have lived in a patriarchal society for a very long time and women have been labelled as the weak or submissive gender. In the Stone Age, men hunted for food. Afterwards, men fought in medieval wars. This tendency continued until our time, when we have begun to focus our life on intellectual tasks. These do not demand brute force anymore. In these circumstances, men and women are equals. Only conservative people claim women cannot reach powerful positions. Maybe, in the future, the situation will be reverted and women will seize more power. However, this is something we cannot predict accurately.

I shall refrain myself from comments on homosexual relationships. Let’s just say I added this in the introduction for attraction drawing purposes!

Even if people are right, if it is true that I have made illogical arguments and organic food will always be eaten, women will never attain power and we will never consider non-heterosexual relationships proper… In the next few years, our society will develop so rapidly that we will end up on intergalactic trips, eating protein pills and bearing hermaphrodites on laboratories. Yes, this is probably the most artificial, “unnatural” environment ever.

So, frankly speaking, who cares what others do? What if it’s not natural for you? As long as we do not disrespect someone else, the world will be a fine place. Even if the future scenario I depicted never occurs as global warming may kill us all :).

Cheers!

"Photo courtesy of: Wesley* and sparktography (Flickr users)"