VABALOG

Stig’i saatusest ja Islandi naistest Amazoni kleinditeeniduse ja HP statistikani

Hulgaliselt aknaid ootavad sulgemist, mis tähendab, et aeg on neis sisalduvatest artiklitest üks pikem postitus kokku keevitada.

Arvestatav osa islandlastest on jõudnud järeldusele, et nende majanduskriisi peamiseks põhjustajaks on liiga mehised väärtused koos neist tuleneva kultuuriga. See arvestatav osa on mõistagi Islandi naised, kes on otsustanud nii riigi kui suuremate ettevõtete juhtimisse aktiivsemalt sekkuda ning natuke naiselikust ja feminismi mängu tuua. The Guardian valgustab seda huvitava arengut:

Waagfjörd points a finger at young, inexperienced men who, she says, became too dominant in the boom. “I was in the US for six years, and when I came back 10 years ago, at the age of 40, things had really changed. Suddenly there were a lot of young men about 35 or 30. They used to call to try to sell me derivatives which were really complicated. They thought they were really clever, but they were still living at home with their parents.”

Elín Jónsdóttir, a 42-year-old lawyer with two children, worked at the Icelandic financial regulator until 2005 and is now managing director of Arev, an investment firm set up by Jón Scheving Thorsteinsson, the former chief executive of Baugur UK. She believes the boom and bust is not a men versus women situation but a question of different value systems. “During the boom we saw what we would typically say are masculine values, but it is dangerous to stereotype. These so-called masculine values are common in women as well, and the variability within each group is much larger then the variability between the groups.”

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Mida sa teed, kui oled sigarikas ja tahaks stressivabalt pidu panna nii, et järgmisel hommikul sind keegi vägistamises ei süüdistaks, mõned sündsusetud pildid sinust veebis ei vohakas või saa õhtu lõpus peksa ei saaks? Selgub, et vähemalt Las Vegas võtad ühendust mehega, kes on nii sõbraks kui kaitseingliks:

Part companion, part publicist, part chaperone and part guardian angel, Mr. Jones, who lives in Las Vegas and works for a pair of casino owners, specializes in setting up elaborately arranged outings for athletes where every detail from transportation and tickets to the members of the entourage is premeditated. He says this weekend’s annual NBA All-Star festivities, which have emerged as one of the biggest blowouts for athletes and their hangers-on, is one of his busiest times of the year.

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Kes Top Gear’i vaatab on kindlasti teadlik sellisest elukast nagu Stig, kuid hiljuti õnnestus Briti meedial Stigi identiteet lõpuks avalikust saladusest lihtlabaseks faktiks taandada:

The BBC has a policy of never commenting on the identity of the Stig, who has a cult following around the world. A spokesman for Top Gear said yesterday: “We never comment on speculation as to who or what the Stig is.” 

Privately, staff at the corporation could not hide their frustration. “It’s bloody annoying,” one show insider said. “You wouldn’t write a piece saying that Santa didn’t exist.”

Artiklis avaldatakse ka üks nimi, kuid mina seda kena mütoloogiat rikkuma ei hakka. Teadupärast juhtus midagi sarnast omal ajal ka musta Stigiga, kes lennutati pärast identiteedi avaldamist lennukikandjalt merre. Üllataval kombel on hiljuti selgunud, et musta Stigi saatus ei olnudki päris nii lõplik kui arvata võis:

Adding further layers of mystery to the legend of the Stig, the press release continues: “how he survived, nobody knows. Some believe he used the nitrous octane equipment from the Jag to breathe. Some believe he can communicate with dolphins and they cared for him. Has he returned because he can sense White Stig has had his identity exposed?”

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Ars Technica’s ilmus hiljuti postitus, mille kohaselt võib praeguse majandusolukorra kohta nii mõndagi öelda kui vaadata HP kvartaalseid majandustulemusi. Tõenäoliselt pole siin veel alust kaugele ulatuvateks järeldusteks, kuid midagi siiski:

“There is definitely an alignment between—or at least some alignment between GDP and unemployment and printing. So when you get down to the end of the day, when you don’t have a job, you are not printing as much is typically how it works. And we have some pretty sophisticated models.”

All of that not working and not printing added up to a pretty ugly quarter for HP, but the company’s first quarter results speak to much more important themes than just a dearth of demand for ink. Looking at HP’s quarterly earnings is like looking at a snapshot of the downturn’s impact on the entire tech industry, and a close reading of it reveals how the ground is shifting beneath everyone’s feet.

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BusinessWeek’is ilmus hiljuti lugu Amazon.com’i kleinditeenidusest, kus tuleb juttu nii klienditeenindus filosoofiast laiemalt kui ka üksikasjadest, mis tavalise kliendi jaoks jäävad nähtamatuks. Olnud Amazon.com’i klient tänaseks juba 11 aastat ning isegi ühe kaebuse esitanud (raamatuid ei tulnud lubatud ajaks ja kui neile teada andsin, siis saatsid uued – paar päeva pärast uute saabumist jõudsid ka “eksinud” minuni) võin julgelt kinnitada, et Amazon’is on tõesti selline suhtumine nagu artiklis kirjas:

Still, as carefully as Amazon plots and plans, sometimes things go wrong. Last November, 23-year-old Lindsey Smolan splurged on an iPod and a pink case from Amazon. The iPod arrived, but the case didn’t. Two weeks later, Smolan e-mailed Amazon and asked for a refund. After a little thought, she e-mailed again, asking for a free cover. “I didn’t use my iPod because I was waiting for my case, and I’m a valuable customer,” she says. Amazon agreed. She got the iPod case gratis.

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Naomi Kleini  viimasest teosest olen paaril korral varem  juttu teinud, kuid nüüd kirjutab isegi selline “paremäärmuslik” väljaanne nagu The Guardian, et kriiside puhul on kalduvus poliitikutel pigem enda võimu ulatust suurendada kui vähendada vastupidiselt Kleini valelikule üllitisele:

Arianna Huffington had called Klein’s book “prophetic”. As the Obama team began drawing up plans, she proved just how right she was, declaring: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. And it might be this particular crisis that will make it possible for the Obama administration to do some really innovative, bold things on healthcare, on energy independence, on all the areas that have been neglected.”

None of this should surprise us. It’s crazy to think that most governments will respond to a crisis by reducing their own powers and deregulating the economy, as Klein would have us believe. Political leaders naturally respond to crisis by riding in as the man on the white horse and taking control.

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