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Comment Re:Imagine being a young Somalian, and choose (Score 2, Interesting) 666

by NikolaiKutuzov (#30295284) Attached to: Somali Pirates Open Up a "Stock Exchange"

That’s an interesting thought. So the woman gets paid and then the next day is robbed and killed by a roving gang or a warlord’s hunt and terminate party. The other investors complain to the Somalian Stock Exchange that they don’t feel safe investing because their money can’t be guaranteed. Business suffers as a result until the Stock Exchange or some other business springs up and offers protection for that money.

Thats exactly how every modern government in Europe came into existence. The British, the Dutch, and the Portuguese started out as pirates - Drake, the Ostindian Company, Spanish ... it was organized crime supported by the local powers in being (i.e. kings & queens), and it got formalized after a while. The alternative way for people to make a living is go and conquer the neighbourhood, which is what Russia, Germany, and some other countries did in lieu of some decent sea routes to plunder.

I wouldn't ridicule this too much, it is a good development - a stock exchanges *does* need the protection of property and lives, and will lead to people you can negotiate with and that know the value of trust. Those people currently have the choice between starvation and becoming criminal. You can talk to them - try bargaining with some well-fed, middle-class, well-educated jihadist who is convinced the universe owes him more and thats why he's going to blow up himself together with some civilians if they don't stop listening to Popsongs.

Comment Re:Why SF is dead. (Score 1) 479

by NikolaiKutuzov (#30187692) Attached to: Has Sci-Fi Run Out of Steam?

During most of the 20th century, "progress" was a big theme. We don't hear that phrase used much any more. The number by which one measures "progress" for the average Joe, "per capita median real income for urban wage earners", peaked in 1973. (Median income, not average income; the average is biased by wealth concentration to rich people.) Back then, a guy without a high school diploma could get a job at GM and make enough to buy a house, two cars, a boat, and an education for his kids. That's over. (You don't see that number mentioned much any more. It was heavily publicized back when the US boasted "the highest standard of living in the world".)

That's why SF is dead. The plausible future sucks.

Although I would offhand agree with a lot of things you said, the US census bureau seems to dissagree with you and sees raising median real incomes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States, specifically
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Household_income_65_to_05.png

Maybe you're over 35 too, from here on, the world will always be a worse place than when we were young :D

But seriously, there was a lot of gloom and doom in the seventies and eighties, when everyone expected we'll die from pollution or simply exterminate ourselves in an atomic war (I have several dozen novels dealing with that possibility alone). Still there was lots of great SF.

I don't think there is less good SF around, its just that the future has become more complicated. I mean, these days William Gibson is not writing SF anymore, he's writing plain novels."At some point there, we left the present and entered the future" (http://xkcd.com/652). I'd say its the abundance of progress, which makes predictions so hard. Come one, compare the youth of someone in the 80ies to todays kids: always online? always being able to chat, mail, watch porn, play, flirt, and reserach for homework? Time is moving fast. Regards

Submission + - Finding programmers for a non-profit project?

Submitted by
NikolaiKutuzov
NikolaiKutuzov writes: "Hi everyone, I've been working on-and of on web-based database project designed to store, group and display historical and economical data. The idea of the project is to make it possible for people in the social histories to find a quick way to citations and data they otherwise have to look up in printed sources. This would significantly reduce a lot of research time for journalists, historians, sociologists and economists in researching data like unemployment rates, production numbers and alike.

Put very short, my database is a wikipedia, but with built-in citations and for data only.

A proof-of-concept was the base for my university thesis some years ago. However, since then several factors have kept me from launching the website into the open, main reasons being: a) Having a more than 9-5 job I find it hard to keep coding after working overtime already. b) Being over 30 I do have a life and a gf that I want to spend time with c) Having never properly studied programming and database design, it takes me much longer to solve problems than a professional programmer.

The idea has been tested for general validity at my university, and the database design has been reviewed by the two database experts I know, who say its sound. What needs to be done is the "fleshing out" part — layouting and customizing the forms, validating and santitarizing the database inputs, and beginning beta testing. My question is: Is there a good platform/forum to find coders that might be interested in a strictly open source/non profit venture like that? I would dislike to loose all involvement in the project, but I would love to get some help by some people willing to program in PHP or AJAX and SQL. That means I need people that can commit to a project that might take several months or longer, and which have a reasonable (hopefully better) talent and knowledge of coding then myself, and who do not expect anything else than fame from this. Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance."

Comment Re:Ah, paranoia (Score 1) 746

by NikolaiKutuzov (#29348399) Attached to: Police Swarm Bungie Office Over <em>Halo</em> Replica Rifle

Generally speaking firearms doesn't stop people getting killed. It just means they'll be killed in a different way. At least that's what the '98 to '00 statistics seem to say.

But finding usable data on non-homicide crimes that (doesn't) involve guns is going to be even trickier.

Nitpick: The EU has 27 members.
If you include statistics from the new members like Bulgaria and Romania who battle corruption and organized crime, then you can get to a "average" as high as the US.

However, if you compare the US to more similar countries like the UK, France or Germany, which had a similar economic development and enjoyed a similar time of prosperity and peace, you will find that the US has a homicide rate wich is FOUR TIMES that of Germany (4.55 vs 1.17) and three times that of Swizerland or Spain. And the homicide rates in France or the UK, the Benelux or Scandinavia are similar, and that is where the majority of EU citizens live. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate)

If you use numbers, please use them right. The conclusions you drew were wrong.

Comment Re:other potential things (Score 1) 433

by NikolaiKutuzov (#27486199) Attached to: Nine Words From Science Which Originated In Science Fiction
To me, there was always a difference in outlook and politics, too: Science Fiction considers possible scientific or social developments and examins how society or individuals cope and react to them. Its question "What will we do if it happens?" is inherently concerned with the well being of humans. "Classic" Fantasy, on the other side, is rarely concerned with real humans, and in most cases reinforces chauvinist and sexist stereotypes. Which is one reason Terry Pratchett managed to tuirn a whole genre on its head so effortless. Harry Potter is again one hero high above the ordinary people. Caveat: There has been progressive fantasy (Michael Moorcrock comes to mind) and pretty reactionary Science Fiction (A.E van Vogt, Heinlein), but still the basic premises of those two genres differ vastly.

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