Mackay Taggart's blog
Bribery as Reported by the Victims, as Ignored by the West
Last week the UN statistics office published a damning report concerning corruption in Afghanistan. It was one of those studies, so often commissioned in the developing world, which produces shocking numbers, yet draws frighteningly obvious conclusions.
At the heart of the findings; a blunt assertion made by 59% of Afghan citizens that corruption exists as the greatest problem facing the war torn nation. More pressing than security, more important than unemployment, Afghans overwhelmingly seek the eradication of bribery.
Everything Old is Cool Again
What is it about my generation and our obsession with using modern technology to bring back dated trends?
Music shops have to returned to the stocking of their shelves with records. This, from a commercial perspective, makes sense. CDs are now outdated, cassettes are a distant memory and renting retail space to sell MP3s doesn't fit into any semblance of a logical business model. Records, to boot, provide better sound quality and allow for elaborate album art and liner notes.
The thing however that gets me is the influx in products that seek to marry the new with the old, making of course a few bucks in the process. Take the "USB turntable", a conventional record player with a digital output that plugs into your computer, thus allowing you to digitize your record collection by converting your 45 rpm to an MP3. A great product (cash gra), but one negates the beauty of MP3 technology; the convenience! Not only are records expensive, as are the USB turntables themselves, but you have to wait while your entire record collection is digitized in real time (sans track title, artist name, etc.....that you have to take the time to enter your self).
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