Links December 2011

Barry Ritholtz wrote an insightful post quoting Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig, who warns that the nation’s biggest banks are putting the U.S. capitalist society at risk [1]. Big banks oppose capitalism.

Glenn Greenwald has written an insightful article for Salon about the modern definition of American excellence being the killing of supposedly bad people without any due process [2].

Mazuma Mobile buys used mobile phones [3]. They can send a post-pack to ship your old mobile to them. This is good for the environment and also saves some money.

Sam Varghese has written an informative article about the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement that will probably end up benefiting US corporations at the expense of Australian citizens [4].

Cory Doctorow has written an informative article for The Guardian about the BBC DRM plans[5]. He received information that was denied in a FOI request which shows how poor the BBC case is and how bad the Ofcom oversight is.

Sam Harris has written an insightful blog post about self-defense [6]. He also has many other posts that are worth reading.

Aparna Roa gave an interesting TED presentation about her robotic art [7].

• [1] http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/06/hoenig-capitalism-at-risk/
• [2] http://www.salon.com/2011/10/22/a_remaining_realm_of_american_excellence/singleton/
• [3] http://www.mazumamobile.com.au/
• [4] http://wildcard.gnubies.com/?p=1433
• [5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/14/bbc-hd-drm
• [6] http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-truth-about-violence/
• [7] http://www.ted.com/talks/aparna_rao_high_tech_art_with_a_sense_of_humor.html