How Corrupt is your Country?

The Corruption Perceptions Index compares 180 countries according to the degree of public-sector corruption perceived by business leaders and analysts. In the 2008 index, the United States was tied in 18th place with Japan and Belgium. (In 2007, the U.S. came in 20th.)
>

Source: "Harvard Business Publishing: The Daily Stat: January 6, 2009"
See Also:
"2008 Corruption Perceptions Index"

tips for living in a tech world

[[I meant to post this back on 12/19/08, but wanted to make sure the whole article was worth linking to. I think the examples are humorous in the ComputerWorld article, but would not recommend nor endorse any links beyond the actual text.]]

[[In honor of Paige]]

Top 10 Tech Embarrassments you'll want to avoid
Dan Tynan
December 18, 2008 (PC World) Call it the "oh-no second." You know -- the interval between clicking the Send button on a private e-mail and realizing you just cc'd the entire universe.

But it's not just e-mail. Thanks to the ease, speed, and reach of technology, we now have the potential to be bigger doofuses in front of more people than at any other time in history.

For example, nothing says "I am a professional" more than intimate messages from loved ones popping up on screen during a presentation to the board. Then there are the pricey pocket-size gadgets that always seem to wind up in the swimming pool, the washing machine, or worse. [...]

Here's a comforting thought: Whatever mortifying things you've done, somebody else has probably done worse. In fact, following are ten examples of real people who have been shamed by technology, along with some ways you can avoid a similar fate -- lest you end up in articles like this one.

Tech Embarrassment 1: Bad Husband, No Nookie
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 2: Is That a Laser Pointer, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 3: The Audience Is Listening
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 4: Your Cell Phone Is Not a Flotation Device
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 5: When You Animate E-Mail, the Terrorists Win
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 6: Change Your Wiki Ways
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 7: Good Morning...Now Please Clean Out Your Desk
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 8: Don't Show, Don't Tell
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 9: Photo No-No's
[...]
Tech Embarrassment 10: Twitterrhead

Read the full article here.

Reading East of Eden, Part 1

A friend of mine for whom I have great respect has long suggested I read the John Steinbeck novel, East of Eden, and listed it as one of his top books of all time. Since it wasn't a part of my personal library and my trips to a public library have been rather non-existent as of recent personal history, reading this book wasn't likely to happen. Instead, what little free time I had to read was spent skimming articles in my Google Reader (set yours up if you haven't done it yet!) and re-visiting "candy books" (such as Ian Fleming stories). Needless to say, these reads didn't require much thought, and hence produced little insight...

For Christmas, I received the Steinbeck Centennial Edition of East of Eden, complete with artificial deckle edge (or rough cut?) pages. I was excited to begin to reading, but concerned that I might be getting into the book with expectations too high. After thinking briefly about this supposed dilemma, I tried to set all other thoughts aside and just being to read.

Which wasn't hard to do. I was drawn into the story right from the beginning. I suppose that having spent some of my teenage years about 90 miles from where the story takes place I had little trouble imagining the Salinas Valley, the oak trees, and the river that comes and goes with the seasons. It occurred to me as I read Steinbeck's descriptions that I had seen (and was thus able to remember now 10 years later) these trees and hills and river, but had not noticed them, nor the many other things that Steinbeck associates with these aspects of life in the Salinas Valley.

I found myself not wanting to put the book down and managed to finish reading it fairly quickly. It stirred up thought in me, and I scribbled down notes while I read in a little notebook I got while visiting the Body Worlds exhibit in SLC. I didn't give this book and its themes the amount of thought they deserve (pardon me, I was on Christmas vacation), but I hope to share over the next few posts what did come to mind.

Although I've never fancied myself much of a literary critic (I'll leave that to the English majors out there), I've decided to share my thoughts. In short, I found the novel compelling and a must-read. I have read good books, intriguing books, books that make you think, fun books, and informative books. Despite the vast number of pages I've read (likely in the hundreds of thousands; I set a record in third grade during the March of Dimes reading contest and beat out 8th graders in both number of pages and difficulty of material) and the broad array of topics which have graced the pages (from spy thrillers to legal fiction and historical non-fiction; from academic articles and classic works of political science to magic how-to books; from how-things-work books to encyclopedia sets (ours at home was the New Book of Knowledge) to introductions to accounting and computer programming and histories and how-to's of code making and breaking; from biographies and autobiographies to various "sets" and "trilogies" to poetry and plays; and from religious and scriptural writing to the musings of philosophers), very few times have I turned the final pages on a book and thought to myself,

"This was a great book. I came away changed in some way, and now feel sad that I have to set its pages down. I look forward to picking this up again from my bookshelf and participating in another transformation."

East of Eden, to me, is such a book.

Question #63

Taking personality and skills tests...

63. Are you more satisfied having
* work in progress
* finished product

Thinking about this, I realized that I like the work in progress. I was always relieved and proud when I finished a research paper, but I was happy and excited while I was writing it.

Perhaps this will provide some insight into the many predicaments of life...

Using Biology to Animate

Click to start. It's long, but interesting- especially at minute 14.