Wal-Mart – a nation unto itself?

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Steve Greenhouse writes a useful article on the economic & cultural implications of the Wal-Mart system:

We already know that Wal-Mart is the biggest retailer. (If it were an independent nation, it would be China’s eighth-largest trading partner.) We also know that it is maniacal about low prices. (Some economists say it has single-handedly cut inflation by 1 percent in recent years, saving consumers billions of dollars annually.) We know that its labor practices have come under attack. (It charges its workers so much for health insurance that about one-third of them do not have it.)

Battle of Information & Ideas

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Verlyn Klinkenborg nicely summarizes recent news in the recording industry’s battle against file sharing:

But this isn’t just a legal battle, of course. It’s a battle of information and ideas. A new book from Lawrence Lessig called “Free Culture” makes a forceful, cogent defense of many forms of file sharing. And ? perhaps worst of all from the industry’s perspective ? a new academic study prepared by professors at Harvard and the University of North Carolina concludes, “Downloads have an effect on sales which is statistically indistinguishable from zero.” This directly counters recording industry claims that place nearly all the blame for declining CD sales on illegal file sharing.

PC’s infested with spy programs

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Windows PC users are subject to an average of 28 electronic spies on their computer, the BBC reports:

The average computer is packed with hidden software that can secretly spy on online habits, a study has found.
The US net provider EarthLink said it uncovered an average of 28 spyware programs on each PC scanned during the first three months of the year.

Two options: be super diligent about what’s installed on your pc | use a mac.

Chicago Schools: Private Tutor Challenges

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Sam Dillon writes:

Over several months, a string of novice tutors from a private company offering federally financed after-school classes had tried and failed to control Room 207’s dozen rambunctious students. A supervisor from the company was dispatched to troubleshoot. Effie McHenry, Wentworth’s principal, was clucking her tongue in disapproval.
I just don’t think they’re prepared to deal with challenging inner city children,” Mrs. McHenry said of the company, talking past the supervisor to a visitor. “I think they expected to find children who’d just sit down and wait for them to expound. These kids aren’t like that. They need challenging instruction.”

MMSD Transfer Requests Rejected b/c of Race – WSJ

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Doug Erickson writes:

Dozens of Madison public school students are learning this month that their race can be the sole factor in whether they’re allowed to transfer to another district under the state’s open enrollment law.
The Madison School District said Tuesday it has denied 65 open enrollment requests for next fall because the shift of those students – all of them white – would upset the racial balance at specific schools.

National ID Does Not Equal Greater Security….

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Security expert Bruce Schneier writes about the reality of National ID cards:

The potential privacy encroachments of an ID card system are far from minor. And the interruptions and delays caused by incessant ID checks could easily proliferate into a persistent traffic jam in office lobbies and airports and hospital waiting rooms and shopping malls.
But my primary objection isn’t the totalitarian potential of national IDs, nor the likelihood that they’ll create a whole immense new class of social and economic dislocations. Nor is it the opportunities they will create for colossal boondoggles by government contractors. My objection to the national ID card, at least for the purposes of this essay, is much simpler:
It won’t work. It won’t make us more secure.