Malcolm Gladwell reviews “Collapsed” by Jared Diamond

My favorite author reviews one of my favorite book.

n “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” Diamond looked at environmental and structural factors to explain why Western societies came to dominate the world. In “Collapse,” he continues that approach, only this time he looks at history’s losers—like the Easter Islanders, the Anasazi of the American Southwest, the Mayans, and the modern-day Rwandans. We live in an era preoccupied with the way that ideology and culture and politics and economics help shape the course of history. But Diamond isn’t particularly interested in any of those things—or, at least, he’s interested in them only insofar as they bear on what to him is the far more important question, which is a society’s relationship to its climate and geography and resources and neighbors. “Collapse” is a book about the most prosaic elements of the earth’s ecosystem—soil, trees, and water—because societies fail, in Diamond’s view, when they mismanage those environmental factors.

Link

Make Money from Blogging – 5 Monetizing Methods

By Cindy D. | Published 03/14/07 | Make Money from Blogging | #1

1. 5 Monetizing Methods
2. Brief Explanation

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5 Monetizing Methods
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Okay from what I’ve learned, currently there are 5 ways to make money from blogging.

1. Direct advertisers
2. Get a blogging job
3. Sell products through affiliate links
4. Place contextual ads on your blog (Google Adsense)
5. Get paid by reviewing products or websites.

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Brief Explanation
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#1 Direct advertisers – Advertisers pay you to place their ads on your blog.

#2 Blogging job – You get a job as a regular
blogger. Blogging job pays a bit low and requires a lot of commitment.
However, it’s a different story if you write for a popular blog. I
heard that political bloggers can earn a lot of money because they are
required to update news and write story almost hourly.

#3 Affiliates - Affiliate means to direct your blog’s traffic to online merchants and help them selling their products. For example, I sell tea pots online (haha b/c you are English). So I set up an affiliate program which you join. As a tea lover/drinker, you talk about tea and tea products, the joy of drinking and etc. And somewhere in those posts, you mention tea pots, so you place either my site’s banners or links to my products. If I sell products to visitors coming from your blog, I will give you a commission, either a percentage of the sales or a fixed price.

#4 Google Adsense – You’ve probably seen Google’s
ads every where on the net. If you don’t, let do this: google
something, let say “blog.” Now, do you see a vertical bar on the right
side? These are Google’s ads which are shown based on thecontent of
your search. Advertisers pay Google money for every single “click” on
these ads and every “impression” (ads appear on a site or search
result). This is Google’s core business; they make a lot lot lot of
money. Google has this program called Google Adsense. Once you join
this program and display them on your blog/site (s) along with your
content. If somebody clicks on these ads, you make money. The entry
requirement for GA program is rather low. If you have a site or a blog,
you can join. But beware that a click is only worth a few cents. (The
clicks will have more value if you have a specific and targeted blog.)
However, unless you get a lot of traffic–thousands of visitors per day,
you can not make very much money with GA. You probably make about two or three dollars or less per month.

#5 Review websites and blogs – You get paid for reviewing website and products. For beginners, this might be the best choice.

Video – History of Poland in 10 minutes

This video reminds me of Poland, the first European country I’d ever lived.

Film #2: New Year Baby

USA (2006)/74 min

One Christmas Day, my parents called a family meeting. They sat down my brother, two older sisters and me – to reveal secrets after 25 years. My mother told us that my two sisters aren’t actually my sisters. They are the children of my mother’s sister, orphaned when their parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge. We learned my older brother isn’t actually my full brother. He is my half brother – the surviving child from her first family. My mother’s first husband and daughter died in the genocide.

Socheata, the film director, recalled a fateful family meeting which changed her life. Upon hearing the shocking news, she determined to investigate the past, to seek an understanding her family’s secret and to discover her root, even the horrors it might entailed. Her parents, the half-brother and Socheata made a trip to Cambodia so she could learn more about her native land and especially make some sense about the stime during the Khmer Rouge regime.

The film does a great job of balancing personal interviews, the author’s narration and animation sequences. Yes you read it correctly. Through out New Year Baby, animations are used to portray past events which I find very effective as it enables the audience (especially visual types) to quickly grab the essence of the story. The film director or producer of the American animation Tarzan once said that they chose animation technique because they found it impossible for human actors to perform and express certain actions and emotions. Later I found out that the primary use of animation was that photos and video footages of the Khmer Rouge were not available.

New Year Baby is an excellent documentary. It’s not so much a film about genocide but about family, about Cambodia’s people and a patch in its history. Also the film showed a human side of the people who used to work with the Khmer Rouge, forcing you to question your concept of “the enemy.” See the movie trailer . (3 min 13 sec)

For more information, visit www.newyearbaby.net.

Let’s Leave Together

I watched a documentary about crimes in Brazil last week with a high expectation that I would learn more about current situation. The film seemed to be promising at first but turned into a sleep inducer. I couldn’t see some of the sub-titles because apparently the film producer/distributor thought that white texts would look great on a white/yellow background. I dozed off for a few minutes and wanted to leave but soon decided to stick out to the end for two reasons: no matter how boring, this film would provide me some tidbits of facts about Brazil. While slouching on my seat, I wondered if anybody shared the same sentiment. But everybody appeared to be focused on the movie.

Then it happened. One guy got of his seat and left. Bravo to this initiative man! Within less than a minute, a second person followed. Then a group of three and four joined the deserters. This abandonment took place for about 20 minutes before the movie theater regained the calmness.

I found it interesting. I bet many in the audience thought about leaving, but none took the initiative and left. The mini exodus only took place after the act of the first man. I also noticed that most of the people who walked out were sitting on the back seats where they could see those who left before. Almost everybody who was in front stayed until the end of the movie.

I wondered why?

• Maybe these front-rowers liked the film.
• They didn’t want to look too conspicuous to others by leaving. People tend not to do some thing if all eyes are on them.
• Or they never saw the people who left, thus not affected by this herding behavior.

Ad: AGLOCO – Get Paid to Surf the Net!

Film #1: The Operation/ Zatah

Production: Germany (2007)
Scope: Bashkortostan, Russia
Category: Human Rights
Length: 42 min

When Alyosh went to have a smoke outside a club in December 2006, he could not have imagined that he would be beaten up and taken away to spend the night in a police cell. He was not alone – the night ended in a similar manner for at least 347 other inhabitants of Blagoveshensk, a city in Bashkortostan, which is an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation. They were victims of a preventive raid ordered by the Ministry of the Interior. The official reason for this operation was to reduce crime in the city. But Ludmila Alexeyeva, from Moscow’s Helsinki Committee, sees it differently: at the time of the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine, the authorities in Russia were allegedly afraid of unrest in its autonomous republics. Consequently, they attempted to nip any possible civil disobedience in the bud.

This film caught my attentions for two reasons:

1. I didn’t know there was an autonomous region other than Chechnya in Russia.
2. I’ve developed an interest in political, economical development and people’s attitude and behaviors in post-Communist European countries.

Although Russian politics is nothing news, seeing it up close in action is priceless and ironically funny. When asked by the film crew for his opinion about the raid and people’s reaction, he commented: “…History will say whether it is wrong or right.” After months of refusing to answer to the victims and considering their claims, the police finally admitted that there were some mistakes and decided to take action. Teach the police about Human Rights. The scene which portrayed the lesson is by far is the most funniest (sadly). I couldn’t suppress my laughter as I thought I was watching an elementary classroom in my native country.

Teacher: (speaking very slowly and spelling out words.) You can not hit them ….it violates human rights.
Police: (huh facial expression)
Teacher: (slowly) Do you understand?
Police: What are human rights?
Teacher: Human rights are …
Police: (huh and take notes)

The victims filed a law suit against and received many threats from the government. Many of their neighbors and co-workers turned a blind eye because they fear for their own security: losing their pensions, jobs, flats…

So happen next? You probably know. [link ]

One World Documentary Film Festival 2007

The One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival opened yesterday in Prague. Good! I need to watch more of those things to balance the uncountable number of commercial movie I’ve watched over the course of my life.

I had this idea the other day to watch as many films as possible and blog about each of them. Will run to the city and buy a film pass.

For more information, visit www.oneworld.cz

Film Watched

1. The Operation (Germany) [trailer]
2. New Year Baby (USA) [trailer]
3. Jesus Camp (USA) [trailer]
4. The Railroad All-Stars (Spanish) [trailer]
5. Palestinian Blues (Palestine, USA) [trailer]
6. Jonestown: The life and death of the People’s Temple (USA) [trailer]
7. Children of the Solidary (Poland, France)[trailer]
8. Wrong Time, Wrong Place (Germany)[trailer]
9. The End of the Neubacher Project (Austria, Neitherlands) [trailer]
10. Acts of Men (Brazil, Germany) [trailer]
11. Yaptick – Hasse (Russia) [trailer]
12. Please Vote for me (China) [trailer]
13. Black Sun (UK) [trailer] [site]
14. A lesson of Belorussian (Poland) [trailer]
15. Three Comrades (Neitherlands) [trailer]

The Purple Cow and I

The picture was taken at Prague Airport, terminal 2, upstairs at the departure lounge.

You have to see my expression when I spotted the cow and couldn’t help glancing at him while waiting for an appropriate time to take this picture. I bet that my boyfriend had no idea why in the world I wanted a picture with a weirdo looking cow. But he should as he was the one who showed me the funny Czech commerical “Milka.”

The reason which got me so worked up (not because of the video) was that I recently decided to study Seth Godin’s Permission Marketing. I’ve been following his blog more and read his free e-books…If you’ve never heard of Seth Godin and don’t care about Internet Marketing, just know this: he wrote the bestseller “Purple Cow.”

I changed my mind. Maybe you should know about him a little. Read his stuff, many of which are free or check out his blog, I guarantee you learn at least a thing or two.

Video – If You Only Know How Czech Think of Milka

The only reason I posted this video is to demonstrate my post about Seth Goldin’s talk in which he mentions the Purple Cow. By the way, Milka is known for their infamous Purple Cow.

Ad: AGLOCO – Get Paid to Surf the Net!

Technorati Tags: Bohemian Biz, Video, Czech, Milka, Funny

A Year of Living Dangerously by FRANCIS FUKUYAMA

Andrew’s email response to the article

I read the article. Yes, it’s interesting. I think it’s right about many things – I was in Sweden and Denmark and I can easily see how people from happy friendly cultures like the Middle East or South America must feel disconnected from the boring formal Europeans. One big mistake that I think Europeans make is the way that they show their national pride. Europeans don’t accept immigrants as true members of their own country for 2 or 3 generations. “She’s not a real Swedish, her parents are from Syria.” Swedish people automatically assume some people are not born in Sweden based on how they look. I think Europeans are too proud of their national heritages, so they don’t want to “let new people in”, or else they will ruin it. For sure Sweden felt like a closed society to me. Apart from the crappy weather, this is the main reason I left. But try USA or Canada or Mexico. Do they seem as closed to newcomers?

We are not nationalist in this way like Europeans in USA. Anybody could be an American. probably this is because we are used to massive immigration, but Europeans are not. Also traditions do not matter as much to us, we scorn sophistication and high culture. The highest ideal of an American is the poor immigrant’s son who went from rags to riches (even though this is extremely uncommon) using his brains and hard work, maybe getting lucky, maybe being willing to screw some people over in the process.

Of course, this article is only talking about part of the terrorism problem – the part in Europe. What about Sep. 11? Was that a result of Muslims feeling out of place in Europe? I don’t think so – Saudi Arabians did it – master planned by Osama bin Laden, who had never been outside the Middle East, who has clearly stated his reasons – American military occupation of the Muslim holy lands, and excessive political influence in Muslim countries.

I agree with president Bush that democracy in the Middle East is a solution to this problem. But I disagree that this is the way we should do it. True democracy in Iraq will fail because the USA will always want to have influence in Iraqi politics
(because their oil is so valuable), we will never close our military bases there or in Saudi Arabia, and we don’t really want democracy there – we just want stability – so the oil can flow freely.

My proposal is to encourage democracy and liberalization in the Middle East, but indirectly, and definitely non-militarily. How do we do that? Most importantly, reduce our interests in the region – which is oil. The less we want oil, the less likely we will be to send troops there to protect it. Many ways to do that – like not driving cars… I think this is the main thing. No terrorists from Congo. Or Mongolia. The countries over there with the most oil are the least democratic. Happens every time. Except for Norway. How else? Humanitarian aid. Money for development of schools and roads. Why do the Colombians love Scandinavians but not Americans? Because our aid goes to forcing a political solution upon them that is supposed to benefit us. Scandinavians know that the more you give (really give – not expecting a measurable benefit), the more you get (like respect). What if instead of spending 5% of the federal budget on a military overthrow of Iraq, USA spent just 1% federal budget on health and education in Middle East? A far wiser investment, I think. And finally – the USA and Europe have to simply be a better example to the world of freedom and democracy. Show Muslims that they are free to come and live with us how they choose, not feeling as outsiders, as the article says is so important.

Honza’s response

Amazing comments to the FRANCIS FUKUYAMA article, I almost don’t have anything to add

Regarding the situation in Middle East. It’s good to realize that many of these problems escalated after the Fall of Berlin war and USSR. It changed the balance in this region and gave the US the possibility to acquire a dominant position in this part of world. It had led to the frustration among many people in Middle East which escalated in their anxiety against western countries which has, unfortunately, strong roots since the Israel x Palestinians conflict began.

I definitely agree that money invested to all wars in Middle East and effort spent for securing oil reserves could be better invested into the research in the renewable energies to minimize our dependency on the imported oil.

A., I wish you could see the United Nation Association Film Festival (http://www.unaff.org/) which Zizu and I had a chance to attend couple weeks ago. We have seen many movies with topics covering topics like poverty, globalization, oil factor ( http://www.theoilfactor.com/ ), and many others. I’ll be more than happy to talk more about them when we we meet for Thanksgiving.

[Link to the article]