Techpocalypse In The Making

Imagine this: You sit down at your computer with your morning coffee and login to your favorite tech blog only to be greeted with an error message saying the site has been block. With a look of puzzlement you check over your Internet settings to make sure nothing is preventing the site from loading. When you cannot figure it out you head over to Google, which also appears to be blocked. You then try YouTube to see if there might be a video to help you, blocked again. You figure this must be a problem with your computer, you head over to other sites like Wikipedia and Reddit to see if you can connect to it, blocked. You keep trying site after site with no avail until you finally get through to a major new network’s site and discover there is nothing wrong with your computer or these websites, the culprit here is that the government has blocked all traffic to them.

The scary fact is, this scenario is not a bad dream, it is what Americans are teetering dangerously close to and could be facing very soon if the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) passes. The Internet we know today could and would very likely be completely destroyed if these two bills were enacted into law in their current forms.

Both of these bills have been proposed in order to stop the illegal downloading of pirated material and greater enforce copyright infringement laws. The bills allow the Attorney General to step in and block a website that has copyrighted material or has the means to get to copyrighted materials, all with out due process. The website’s owner can also be held liable for any of the content on their site, which will lead to criminal prosecution and lawsuits.

Unfortunately that is not even the worse of it. Say you have a cover band that plays all the classics and you are all pretty good. You get your significant other to shoot video of your band’s jam session which shows everyone rockin’ out to Panama by Van Halen; you then decide to post it up on YouTube to show your fans the band’s backstage antics. Congratulation, everyone in your band is now a felon under SOPA. Why might you ask? You posted a copyrighted song, which typically sells for $1 on iTunes, and your video was watched more then 2,500 times. The record companies now say you have stole $2,500 from them and you and your band mates will be prosecuted with felony copyright infringement.

Foreigners are not exempt from this either. Let’s say you are a Briton living just outside of London and host a blog featuring entertainment news from around the world. A big name artist just released a new album and you excitedly post up the info on your blog to. Yup, you have just committed US copyright infringement and will be served with a notice from the US Government. You have the ability to counter their notification with one of your own stating that you are not in any violation of any copyright laws since you just wrote a brief article explaining how this album will be great and why you should buy it. It will not matter though, you have a comment section on each of your posts and there is something that has been deemed “dedicated to the theft of US property” posted (which is just about everything). Congratulations once again, you have committed perjury and will be extradited to the US to stand trial.

You may be wondering by now who is responsible for this pending doom? SOPA is the brainchild of Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and co-sponsored by 12 other bi-partisan Representatives, including, much to my dismay, John Coyners (D-MI). PIPA was sponsors by Patrick Leahy (D-VT) along with a pretty good laundry list of other Senators. It is a collaboration of idiocy on a scale only the government is capable of. Mix in the RIAA and MPAA’s evilness and you got one ugly piece of legislation.

Effectively what we are doing, is allowing a large group of old, computer illiterate, technophobic people to dictate to the world how the Internet can be used. I cannot trust these people with making simple decisions with regards to the country, why on Earth should I let them make a policy for the WORLDWIDE web. It is little wonder why Congress’s approval rating keeps dropping, they are out of touch with reality.

This is not to mention how unconstitutional all of this is. The First Amendment is being scoffed by denying Americans the right to freedom of speech, just as the North Koreans and Chinese do with their Internet. Destroying the Fifth Amendment is also being flirted with as well by not giving web hosts proper due process before censoring their site. It is pretty hypocritical of our government to claim that every nation should be free (we will bomb freedom into you if we have too), but work so hard to continually take away our freedoms here at home. SOPA and PIPA are not the first or last of the freedom busting policies the government loves so dearly.

If for some reason this bill passes and ends up becoming a law after all the channels it must go through, you will see quite an ugly uprising. The censorship will anger people for sure, but the massive spike that will be driven through the heart of the technology world is the huge amount of job loss. Think about how many people make their living off the Internet, now destroy there place of work and see what happens. It is like torching a shopkeepers store and then wondering why he is not open for business the next day.

I hope you can see why SOPA and PIPA are so dangerous to everyone who uses the Internet worldwide. The US Government is not only out to destroy the Internet for Americans, it wants to bring down the entire global structure. This is, of course, all in the name of keeping some kid from downloading a couple of songs or movies. This is equivalent of bring a nuclear bomb to a fist fight. But I suppose it stays strong to the American spirit, you know if it is worth doing it is worth over doing.

Passing this bill will lead to an Internet Apocalypse I promise you, and if does comes to that all I can say is, “God help us all.”

Overworked & Under Paid? That's the American Way!

If you are lucky enough to have a job, chances are you typically do work that should be handled by 2 or 3 people in the name of “streamlining”. Better yet, you probably do work that is vastly outside of the job description you applied and were subsequently hired for. This has been going on for what seems like forever; you turn 22, you get out of college and then corporate America owns your soul till you are 65. It is a cycle that puts more and more stress on each generation and there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon.

Numerous studies have placed the US as one of, if not the, most overworked nation in the developed world, yet Americans get stuck with the stigma of being lazy. We are comparatively a sweatshop when you look at other countries and the benefits their workers get. To illustrate this let me share with you a pretty shocking statistic from the International Labour Organization; “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers.” [1] We can throw the French out of the mix since they are sort of a special bunch, but it still illustrates my point, we work too much.

Why do we work so much? It has been ingrained into our head that we need to work as much as we can to show our worth in an organization and that hard work will let you advance. We also work to ensure that our jobs do not get outsourced to either another domestic company or another country. Finally, we do not stand up for our worker’s rights, we just let whoever walk over us and make us slaves to the system. I am not for an instant saying that hard work is a bad quality and that we should all slack off more, what I am saying is that it is OK to take a breather when you need it.

When the Recession started in 2008 companies cut hundreds of thousands of jobs, 780,000 between January and March of 2009 alone, and just kept going in the name of “streamlining” and “efficiency”. After cutting these jobs and letting the country settle down a bit from realising that we were not as doom as we thought, companies saw that they could get just as much work done with fewer employee. Fewer employees, in turn, meant less money they needed to spend for payroll. By 2010 US corporate earnings had risen 12% more then their earnings prior to the big crash, thus more profit, which was, do not get me wrong, a good thing. [2] However, this meant the average American worker had to put in longer hours, take on more work and have their stress levels increased due to these business practices and constant worry about whether they would continue to be employed.

Compared to other G-7 nations, the US has one of the highest unemployment rate and one of the lowest number of union members among the 31 countries in the Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development (OECD), at just 12% of employees. [2] So why it is that our economy is growing by leaps and bounds and corporate profits are soaring, but no jobs are being created? The simple answer is greediness of those at the top. CEO’s, on average, make 185 time more then the average worker and in some organization they can make up to 343 times more. To put this into perspective the average wage for the American worker is $33,190 while the average CEO can make $6.1 million to a staggering $11.3 million. [3] [4] So while you work harder and take on two other jobs which were left unfilled after a round of layoffs, without a change in pay I might add, there is a CEO somewhere who’s salary keeps rising due to the higher profits your hard work is responsible for. Now if that does not knock the wind out of your workaholic sails, I’m not sure what can.

So why do we not take breaks from our work? The sad answer is that we can’t. Of the 31 countries in the OECD the US is the only country that does not have some sort of legislation stating employees must get paid vacation time. Yes, there are employers that do give paid vacation time and it is a nice benefit with the job, however compared to the rest of the developed world we get significantly fewer days on average with 13. A similar employee in the UK would enjoy on average 26 days, a Finn would be granted on average 30 days and a Frechman would clock in at an average of 38 days. In fact every country in the OECD, excluding Canada and Japan, have some sort of policy saying employees must get at least 20 days paid vacation (Canada and Japan are 10 days). Unpaid vacation is often offered for employees, but many workers simply can not afford to lose one day of pay since their budget depends on it. [1] [5]

It is even worse if you desire to start a family. Paid maternity leave is not mandatory in the US, the only industrialized nation in the world that does not require it by law. Europeans typically enjoy at least 20 weeks of paid parental leave and the rest of the industrialized world enjoys an average of 12 weeks. [6] This does not even begin to touch on issues as the child gets older. In 1960 only 20% of moms worked outside the home,while the rest were “employed” full time as a stay at home mom (I’ve been around kids for a few hours at a time, I cannot imagine what stay at home moms go through daily). Now at least 70% of households in American have both parents working, leaving only 30% of mothers and fathers to stay at home with their kids. [1] This means kids are being raised in daycare, by a nanny’s or worse, fully by the TV, instead of having their parents interact with them. It is no wonder why so many kids do not respect their parents, they are never around to establish a parental authority.

There is also the impact on your “life balance” when you are overworked, you begin to put off things so you can stay that extra hour or two at the office or finish that last report. By the time you leave work you are so mentally exhausted all you want to do is go home and flop on the sofa. If you have kid you are more likely to deny their requests for playtime on the ground that you are too tired, or inadvertently take out your stress on them or another loved one.

Even those who do get vacation time rarely use all of it and typically do not take a long period of time off because they simply cannot afford to. They would be so backed up and behind with their work when they return they simply cannot justify taking time off. Even when an employee does manage to convince themselves to take a week long vacation, they still end up feeling guilty and check their e-mails anyways, even though they are supposed to be “out of the office.” This is because of a unspoken expectation that it’s irresponsible to leave business unintended for a week. It is like we have lost the ability to relax and enjoy life.

So here we are, a nation of overworked, underpaid, stressed out, workaholics who cannot seem to leave work at work. It is partially due to our work culture and to our lack of standards, but the real reason is we let it get to be like this. We allowed the companies to own our soul and let them govern our quality of life. We allowed them to let us be stressed out and in constant fear over the stability of our job because the company might not meet its projections (even though they would still turn a sizable profit). And we allowed them to take away from life’s great moments, like having and enjoying kids or going on a vacation of a lifetime. For whatever reason companies all to often overlook that a happy employee is going to be more loyal, a harder work and look out more for the company’s best interests. All I can do is scratch my head on why they do not seem to understand this. Maybe the impending apocalypse will be that all of the corporate drone out there will finally turn into zombies and kill us all. Just remember you can make some serious zombie fighting gear out of office supplies!


[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

The Big Three: Why Not Us?

With the North American International Auto Show in full swing, Detroit is once again thrown into the world’s spotlight. Only a couple years ago this was an embarrassing display of sub-par vehicles from the “Big Three” and where Detroit’s automakers were repeatedly humiliated on their own turf. We were living in a world where the Chevy Cobalt, an aging Ford Focus and the Dodge Caliber were the best small cars we could muster. Our market was awash with what could only be described as American junk.

Over the past few years the “Big Three” seemed to have enough of this and decided it was about time someone did something to put Detroit back on the map for something other then murders, corrupt mayors and unemployment (or a unemployed, corrupt mayor who murders for that matter). The first glimmer of hope started appearing throughout 2009 into 2010, after your taxpayer dollars propped up the failing industry. This was suddenly the wakeup call the “Big Three” needed, their eyes opened to the fact that if they did not step up their game the government would not bail them out again.

By the time the 2011 model year hit, changes within the “Big Three” were coming quickly with redesigns, refreshes and all new models that were not half bad and proved to stack up well to the competition, along with blazing new trails. They continued their momentum through the 2012 model year as well. This lead to cautious optimism.

Chevy had replaced the god-awful Cobalt with a more civilized and nicer Cruz, as well as paved the way for the first electric-gas hybrid vehicle with the Volt. Buick imported the Opel Insignia and slapped a badge on it, making it the first Buick in a long time that people under the age of 60 liked. Chrysler refreshed the 200 and 300 to actually look halfway decent, and then continued to make them better and better. Ford showed off its European-platform-bound-for-the-US cars like the Fiesta and Focus, as well as introduced an all new Explorer. Jeep redid their entire line and made a Grand Cherokee that could compete with the world market, instead of just having a bunch of off-roader fawn over it. The American auto industry started to rise up from the ashes and really show that they were back and meant business.

The “Big Three” also went ahead and cleared house of brands that were no longer relevant in the market, much to the dismay of a few broken hearted fanboys. It was an excellent way of bolstering their financials and saving the company millions of dollars. Chrysler also became the Italian’s lovechild at the same time as well, which not only gave them a stronger financial backing, but also provided platforms that were not horribly dated.

Granted the “Big Three” got some pretty good breaks along the way with Toyota’s unintended acceleration issues, stale model fleet and having questionable reliability rear its ugly head. Honda had similar issues surface too, especially when Consumer Reports said the Honda Civic was “not recommend”. The German competition falter a bit too, especially with the entirely beige and bland line of Volkswagen. The premium sedans and sports car continued to reign supreme, but the average middle class sedan was heavily being favored towards the Americans for once.
Chrysler’s ad campaign also took the city by storm during the 2011 Super Bowl and causes a sudden burst of Detroit pride, something we have not had in a long time. I was initially critical of the “Imported from Detroit” ad campaign and still have issues with them using the 300C, which is made in Canada. However, they seemed to have nailed and brought a very positive image to the brand, I can’t fault them for that since people wanted to buy their cars.  

Now we come to the 2013 model year, which is going to be a big one for the American and why this auto show is extremely important for Detroit to steal the show. Toyota, Honda and Nissan have all have fought back. Toyota has really started to breakout of their blandness with a rather sporty looking Toyota Camry. Honda was also able to get their grove back and Nissan continued to produce very sporty sedans.

Fuel economy has also really popped back into the limelight as well. Many of the vehicles that were bought between 2001-2007, during the SUV era, are coming to the end of their life span and need to be replaced. A huge majority of these people are now interested in securing a fuel-efficient vehicle to get away from their monster fuel bills of the past. Hybrids have also lost their stigma of being cars for pompous, tree hugging celebrities and are slowly becoming more mainstream.

So why is this year so big? We are finally seeing the Alfa-ized Chrysler products come to market, which makes car enthusiast exited they finally get an Alfa, even if it is wearing a Dodge frock. We are also getting the Mondeo badged as a Ford Fusion, this is a car that journalist, consumers and enthusiasts have been pleading with FoMoCo ever since we lost it with the Contour. Cadilliac is going to attempt to take on the BMW and Audi big boys with its new ATS, which if they succeed will be a huge win for GM.

Chrysler has hedged its bets on the Dart and it needs to be a winner for the company to remain standing in its current condition. They also need to make up ground for the abysmal failure that is the Fiat 500. So far they have managed to hold firm in the luxury market with the upscale model of the 300 and they announced a bombshell in the performance sector with its 560hp Charger Redline which is like the GT500 but for a family.

Ford needs to continue its wave of success with the new Fusion, its bread and butter sedan, and trounce Toyota and Honda at a segment they know how to win. They also have to deliver a knockout punch with the regular and plug-in hybrid versions of the Fusion too. If they can be crowned king of the eco-segment, it would grant Ford some serious advertising power over Toyota and be able to slap the smugness away from them.

GM better hope they made the Cadillac good enough to compete with the BMW 3-series and Audi A4. They are two incredibly difficult opponents to topple, but it can be done if GM skips the corner cutting and shoddy materials. Past that their two concepts were rather lackluster and did not really showcase what they needed too. The Code 130R (what a stupid concept name) is an answer to a question that did not need asking, GM already has a V6 Camaro that would outperform the 130R if it were ever produced (which I doubt it will). Build it for under $20,000 and then they will have a winner with the younger crowd like the Hyundai Genesis had. Or just put the R&D dollars into making the V6 Camaro better.

So has Detroit succeeded? Time will have to tell on that one and we will know by this time next year barring the Mayans haven’t killed us off first. But I think they have a shot. The Dart is the Neon replacement we all wanted, the Fusion is the car we have all dreamed Ford would bring back and the ATS will be competitive in America as a sports sedan even if it struggles in Europe.

Their continues to be that glimmer of hope that not all is lost in Detroit and you can tell the city is itching for another renaissance to fuel up the Motor City. Take the Lions for example, four years ago the Lions went 0-16, much like the American auto industry, but they were able to bounce back and make it to the playoffs. If the Lions can do it, I really do think anything is possible. And to echo the headlines from a few days ago, "why not us?"

Hit the Reset Button

After being on hiatus for a while, I figured now was as good as time as any to jump back into this whole thing. The main reason is the obvious impending doomsday date of December 21, which is rapidly according us (for those keeping track, it's 347 days away). I mean what sort of blog would this be if it's content didn't match the title?

The other reason is the forthcoming election and all the hilarity, stupidity and head scratching that will entail. There's nothing that should make you question humanity more then politicians "taking action".

Over the next couple of days I'll post my first few topics, which I'm currently working on and hopefully I can make something of my blog before it's the end of the world as we know it.