Update - Skype call forwarding

Update to my review of Skype service: the cost of call forwarding is included in the subscription cost, and they've updated their help page to say so. Here is the email from Skype Support:

Thank you for contacting Skype Support.

You can set up a call forwarding feature, and let all the incoming calls to a number you wish to receive while you are away from your computer. If the country of your forwarding number is included in your subscription, the call cost will be covered with your subscription as well.

Please feel free to contact us again if you have any questions or concerns, and we will assist you further.

Best Regards,
Skype Support

The Final Medal Counts

By popular demand, this is an update to my previous post looking at the final Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Medal rankings by GDP, population, and a few other things:

Athletes from 86 countries received at least one medal.

The Bahamas receive top honors for total number of medals in proportion to their population. (2 medals and a population of around 307,451), followed by Jamaica and Iceland. Armenia drops to ninth place. Guess the islands got something.

Top 10 - Ranked by Total Medals to Population
Rank	Country	Gold Medals	Total Medals	Population
1	Bahamas	0	2	307,451
2	Jamaica	6	11	2,804,332
3	Iceland	0	1	304,367
4	Slovenia	1	5	2,007,711
5	Australia	14	46	20,600,856
6	New Zealand	3	9	4,173,460
7	Norway	3	10	4,644,457
8	Cuba	2	24	11,423,952
9	Armenia	0	6	2,968,586
10	Belarus	4	19	9,685,768

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe led for number of medals in proportion to per capita GDP, followed by China and Kenya.

Top 10 - Ranked by Total Medals to Per Capita GDP
Rank	Country	Gold Medals	Total Medals	Per Capita GDP
1	Zimbabwe	1	4	$ 179
2	China	51	100	$ 5,256
3	Kenya	5	14	$ 1,551
4	Ethiopia	4	7	$ 795
5	Cuba	2	24	$ 4,474
6	Russia	23	72	$ 14,840
7	Ukraine	7	27	$ 6,960
8	North Korea	2	6	$ 1,704
9	Uzbekistan	1	6	$ 2,269
10	US	36	110	$ 45,553

Pakistan is the most populous country not to receive any medals, followed by Bangladesh and the Philippines. The 10 largest countries not to receive any medals are:

Country	Population
Pakistan	167,762,040
Bangladesh	153,546,901
Philippines	92,681,453
Congo	66,514,506
Burma	47,758,181
Tanzania	40,213,162
Uganda	31,367,972
Nepal	29,519,114
Peru	29,180,899
Iraq	28,221,181
Saudi Arabia	28,161,417

The 5 smallest countries to receive medals:

Country	Population
Iceland	304,367
Bahamas	307,451
Bahrain	718,306
Trinidad and Tobago	1,047,366
Estonia	1,307,605

Within the Axis of Evil North Korea led in total medals, gold medals, medals to population, and medals to per capita GDP. Iraq was pretty much out of the running

Country	Gold	Total	Population	Per Capita GDP
North Korea	2	6	23,479,089	$1,704
Iran	1	2	65,875,223	$11,431
Iraq	0	0	28,221,181	$3,625

For additional rankings, check out the links on this previous post.

Review of Skype Service

In my fancy new graduate apartment building there are no phones, at least not the traditional analog sort. Noting that most students have cell phones, we were informed by email that in lieu of landlines there would be four Ethernet jacks per bed and we could certainly use one of the jacks to connect a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol …i.e. a phone that uses the internet) phone service. The suggested list of providers was: Skype, AOL, Gizmo, AT&T Callvantage, Verizon Voicewing, and Vonage.

I chose Skype because it seemed like the best deal. The basic service is free and lets you call other Skype users from your computer. For, $3 per month however, you can make unlimited calls in the US and Canada, and for an additional $30 per year you get a phone number at which people can call you (and you can choose your number from a list of available numbers). It includes voicemail but not call forwarding for which you must pay extra for the forwarded calls. [8/30/08 UPDATE: Call forwarding is included]

Also, I bought a special VOIP phone on Amazon, the Belkin Desktop Phone for Skype, for $80, although you can certainly use the service from your computer without a special phone. I bought the phone because it plugs directly into the Ethernet jack completely independent of my computer so I can use the phone even when my computer is off. So all told, I’ve got unlimited domestic phone service for under $9/month ($3 to call out, $2.50 to receive calls, and $3.33 for the phone if you depreciate it over 2 years).

The sound quality is surprisingly good. I’ve been making calls to landlines and cell phones for a week now using the Belkin and the call quality is almost as good as on a landline, and certainly better than on my cell phone. The only disadvantage so far is that to dial to the US from the Belkin phone I have to precede each number with +1, but that’s hardly an obstacle. (Other disadvantages include that the phone won’t work when the power is out, won’t work when the internet is down, and won’t identify your location to emergency services, but also having a cell phone mitigates those risks.) One feature I really like is that I can enter my contacts either on the phone or on my computer to the Skype program and the phone automatically updates to include these so I can speed dial them.

One piece of advice to others setting up their VOIP phones in a dorm room: give the phone half an hour to register itself with the network. My phone returned the message “cannot connect to the internet” for that long while I waited on hold for tech support before resolving itself.

A Race of Convicts

I was flipping through the book I Hear America Talking, a history of American words and phrases and came across this entry for "A Race of Convicts:"

...a term that angered the colonists and was a fairly common insulting sobriquet used by the British... It was an awful thing to say, especially insulting because it contained a lot of truth: between 1607 and 1776 about 40% of the English who came to the colonies were convicts, drunks, run-aways, debtors, and others who had less than idealistic reasons for starting over in a new land.

Our contemporary anti-immigration advocates should keep that 40% figure in mind concerning their ancestors since in the current wave of illegal immigrants/undocumented workers, the vast majority of the 12 million illegal aliens estimated to be in the US are otherwise law abiding.

Privatized Mass Transit

If you've travelled in developing countries, chances are you've seen shared taxis. Depending on the country they range from safe and efficient to incredibly dangerous, and in their best cases provide an example for a system of privatized mass transit that could be adopted to supplement automobiles and the traditional mass transit systems in the developed world.

One example that bears holding up: the Sherut of Israel. These vans are privately owned and operated and supplement the extensive traditional bus system. Some operate on fixed routes, both inter- and intra- city, and they often will deviate to accommodate a drop-off. They have every incentive to respond instantly to the market, and they do. You want to get picked on this corner and go to that super-market? Sure. The bus service is offering a fare discount on Thursdays? We'll beat it.

Used in conjunction with other approaches, our cities could greatly reduce traffic congestion and improve their mass transit systems without massive public investment simply by licensing private shared taxis.

The Other Oil Crisis

We've all heard about the oil crisis: the price of oil is high, we may be running out, the car exhaust causes health problems, and, oh yeah, it's contributing to global warming (or weirding.) And we're all familiar with the innovation the crisis is spurring in automobiles: electric cars, hybrid cars, fuel cell cars, and solar cars to name a few. But those innovations fail to address deeper concerns with an automobile centric society:

1. DEATH AND INJURY. The US Department of Transportation announced that in 2007 there were 41,059 deaths and 2,490,000 people injured in vehicle accidents, and those were the lowest figures in fourteen years. (As Robert Reich points out, the only reason the numbers are down is because the economy is slow and so people are driving less.) If a foreign country attacked and injured 1% of those numbers we'd be at war and spending billions of dollars, so why not address this issue. Also, as the developing world aspires to the US standard of living, we should consider that already over 1.2 million people die worldwide in vehicle accidents.
   
2. LOST TIME. In the US it is estimated the average driver spends 38 hours stuck in traffic per year. (In Los Angeles 98 hours, Houston 56 hours). This is not just frustrating, it is time away from families and time lost from productive working. Unlike time on a train, you can't work (safely) while driving. The cost of congestion is estimated to be over $78.2 billion annually.
   
3. SOCIAL INTERACTION. Cars are bubbles. The only way drivers communicate with others on the highway is with horns, lights, and often the middle finger. How many people have met their husbands or wives while commuting in separate cars on the highway? Sharing a public space, like a train compartment, would result in increased public discourse and a greater feeling of community, which we could use when addressing some of our other problems.
   
4. RESOURCE USE. The roadways are publicly funded for construction and repair. From 1998 to 2003 US highway spending alone cost approximately $80 billion per year. And building more roads only adds to the cost, and uses up more land.
   

Cars are of course an attractive method of travel. But often we think they are so attractive simply because they are the only reliable option. The time is for our leaders to make a serious commitment to building a public transportation system worthy of a first rate nation. Yes, there will always be times when an automobile is simply the best way to go, like on moving day, or to transport people to the hospital. For the rest of the time, we need reliable, clean, safe, fast public transportation.

Russian Casualty Figures in Georgia

A Russian general announced yesterday that in the conflict with Georgia 64 Russian soldiers died and 323 were wounded, a revision from earlier Russian statements that 74 had been killed and 170 wounded. Georgia's President Saakashvili said last week that by the "most conservative estimates" his armed forces had killed 400 Russian soldiers.

Comparing casualty figures for score keeping is a meaningless act, and we will probably never know the true cost in lives for any of the parties, military or civilian. What is interesting, though, is that the recent figures given by Russia seem to be plausible, a break from earlier practice.

Here are some possible interpretations of the numbers:

1. THEY LIE. Russia is well known for hiding their casualty figures in the Chechnya conflict. Soldiers' Mothers of Russia estimated 11,000 dead and 30,000 wounded Russian soldiers in Chechnya from 1999 through 2002, compared to official Russian statements at the time of 4,705 killed (a figure 57% lower than what Mothers of Russia estimated). If the same ratio were applied to yesterday's official statements then there were really 150 Russian soldiers killed. (Obviously there is no reason to think the same ratio would be used, and for all we know the number could be much higher).

2. THEY TELL THE TRUTH. Unlike in Chechnya, Russia won a swift and decisive military victory in Georgia and is now experiencing intense diplomatic pressure from the West to withdraw. Russia is being portrayed as the bad guys, and therefore may have an incentive to truthfully or even over-report their casualty figures in order to argue that the fight was not so one-sided.

3. GEORGIA CAN'T COUNT. Enemy body counts by any army, especially one in retreat, are hardly reliable, and the Georgians certainly had incentive to overstate their effectiveness. Also, they may have counted South Ossetian militia and Russian military as the same enemy since they were fighting both, and included both in the Russian casualties.

Move In Day

Thanks to my recent return from military service in Iraq, the school housing lottery administrators gave me my first choice housing, a semi-furnished studio efficiency in a brand new graduate dorm. It's a massive multi-building complex, replete with a pub and small weight room. If it weren't for classes I'd never have to go outside.

Now that I've settled in (and spent over $300 at Target), I'm ready to focus on the tasks ahead:
1. Study up for Finance II (i.e. try to remember what discount rates are)
2. Attempt to meet and befriend my new classmates (since my friends have all graduated)
3. Research the technology for my business idea
4. Write more

Iraq Exports Need to Grow

As the Memri Economic Blog reported, Iraq’s central bureau of statistics announced that total Iraqi exports of oil and goods rose by $11.9 billion from 2006 to 2007. ($41.26 billion in 2007 compared with $29.36 billion in 2006). However, $10.92 billion of that increase (92%) was due to crude oil. Since then oil exports have further increased, not just in value but in quantity, thanks in part to the improved security situation.

But, as I pointed out in my previous entry, the oil sector doesn't and won't employ many people (less than 1% of the population at best), so gains in oil production do not translate to increased employment. In a 2006 estimate the CIA estimated unemployment of 18-30%, while the Brooking Institution estimated 25-40% last year. In some villages it is much higher, and it has become clear that without employment there cannot be stability.

US administered microgrants are a small start, nurturing small service-sector businesses and restaurants, as are the small US sponsored "Industrial Zone" for vehicle maintenance, but neither can be expected to generate exports. Instead those service jobs will depend on the health of the oil industry and will suffer the swings of the market, more so when the US departs. At some point in the future we can expect the world to shift away from hydrocarbons, at which point Iraq better have an alternative money maker. The only other serious sector at this time is government, either employment by the Government of Iraq or payments from the US to stand guard (i.e. Sons of Iraq).

This article reports that one large company, Diyala Food Company, shut down, releasing thousands of employees. This is particularly sad when you consider that the US buys hundreds of millions of dollars of food for its military in Iraq, none of it from Iraq. The US should find a way to leverage its forces' huge logistical demands in Iraq, for everything from construction supplies and housing trailers to food. That would create companies that would be able to continue functioning after the US withdrawal.

The US and the Government of Iraq should consider the South Korean example. Before the Korean War the north was actually wealthier than the south due to greater natural resources. Since then, South Korea has experienced one of the fastest economic growth rates in history, largely due to heavy government sponsorship of large companies in key industries for export. There are many differences between Iraq and South Korea, large oil reserves in Iraq being one of them, but also similarities that may be instructive and which I will attempt to further explore on this blog in the future.

In Loving Memory

Last Monday my dog temporarily lost his vision so we rushed him to the vet hospital emergency room. After three nights the doctors diagnosed him with terminal cancer and predicted a life expectancy of a few weeks to months.

On Thursday he came home from the hospital a different dog. Before he would swallow whole any human food I gave him, and sometimes the hand holding it; now he refused even the finest ground beef bought specially for him. Before he could take marathon length walks; now he could barely drag himself to the bushes by the front door. Worst of all, his tail, which previously could have been harnessed as an alternative energy source to power China, now hung straight down between his legs.

He passed away today and my family is sad for the loss. We're also grateful that he was in our lives. In the bargain made eons ago between our two species, I got a good deal with this one. My family and I loved him and cared for him, but he gave at least as good as he got. For example, he somehow always knew instinctively if someone was sick, or even if my mother had a headache, and would shower them with extra affection.

He also taught us how to measure happiness in doggy units. That is, a walk makes you happy. A treat makes you happy. Seeing your family makes you very happy. Sun or snow makes you happy. Chasing a wild turkey, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, car rides, and chest deep snow makes you ecstatic. Baths make you sad. Drying off after a bath makes you happy.

A guard dog he was not; he just assumed everyone was good. Deliverymen to our house didn’t just leave packages. They rang the door bell and waited for their visit with the dog and his 100-horsepower tail. Sometimes the dry cleaner stops by twice in the same week, I think just to say hi.

I’ll always remember how joyfully he would gallop across a field of wild flowers for no reason except to run. We may have given him love, food, and care, but he gave us back an unconditional love and taught us that it’s the small things that are best to enjoy.

In loving memory of my Buddy, February 14, 1996 - August 17, 2008.

Scooped the Wall Street Journal

UPDATE 28 AUG 08: NEW POST WITH UPDATED FINAL STANDINGS

Last Wednesday, in an entry called Armenia Leads Olympic Medal Count, I wrote about ranking Olympic countries by the ratio of their medals to population or per capita GDP instead of by the number of gold medals or their total medal count.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal (Weekend Edition) made the same points in an article titled The Glory of Just Showing Up.

So I'm thrilled that the level of creativity and journalism at the Wall Street Journal is sufficient to meet the standards of this blog. =)

Today The New York Times Olympic Blog also published a response, in which they rank the countries using a weighted system (4 points for gold, 2 points for silver, 1 point for bronze). By their system China is in the lead.

Yesterday The Raw Feed proposed first applying a weighting system and then determining the medal to population ratio. By their count Australia is winning.

For updated rankings of total medals or gold medals by population without weighting, Simon Forsyth is keeping tally.

1000 Cameramen Named Bob at Beijing Olympics

If you've been watching the Olympics you may have noticed a multitude of cameramen wearing blue tunics emblazoned in large white letters "BOB."

No, their names are not all Bob. Actually, it stands for Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, which shoots video and radio for the media pool.

The left picture is of a BOB cameraman in action, and the second picture is of Ma Guoli, COO of BOB, in front of headquarters in 2005.

BOB projects their broadcasts will reach a "cumulative worldwide audience of more than 30 billion people", which is impressive considering there are only ~6.6 billion people in the world.