Speaking of which, Hawaii's got a little problem with too much solar for its outdated infrastructural system (outdated in terms of governance and management, not tech): http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/1/9/hawaii-s-solar-boomistoomuchofagoodthing.html
I can't resist posting this, if we're talking about infrastructural problems. Last night I tripped over Stewart Brand's 1999(!) suggestion that the internet could "easily become the Legacy System from Hell that holds civilization hostage. The system doesn't really work, it can't be fixed, no one understands it, no one is in charge of it, it can't be lived without, and it gets worse every year."
Now there's a crisis for someone to write about.
]]>One example is the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, which was recently closed. One of their reactor complexes was supposed to get a 10% power upgrade through a new generator system that crammed more steam tubes into the generator. Unfortunately, the new steam tubes vibrated under pressure, springing leaks and wearing out much too soon, and the plant owner decided it was too expensive to fix it.
Sounds like a technical problem, right? People don't build many nukes, so it's understandable if something unexpected goes haywire when they're pushing the limits. Um, yeah. I found out that the same vibration problem was first seen in an experimental nuclear reactor in Santa Susana back in the 1950s, and the problem had been discussed by nuclear engineers for decades as an example of what not to do. Knowing this bit of context the whole San Onofre redesign look like something straight out of the Simpsons.
]]>WHich is one thing that worries me in this crazy expertise and professionalism destroying system we have just now, how much time and effort is wasted not to mention resources and people, because all the knowledge and experience people build up is chucked out, whether by companies downsizing or by not setting up paths whereby people can gather such expertise and knowledge.
]]>Actually, the Alevis have it especially hard since they are also outside of the confines of Shia Islam, but from personal experience, e.g. some neighbours, doner inns and fellow students, the Alevi contingent of Turkish Germans is still somewhat similar to the Sunni ones with music and like, though Alevis seem to be more, err, "liberal" in other areas.
As for Iran, it seems that up to the 16th century, most of it was predominantly Sunni, this only changing with the Safavids:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid_conversion_of_Iran_to_Shia_Islam
So, well, there is some debate if Omar Khayyam was Sunni or Shia or something else, Rumi was quite certainly Sunni, but they wrote in Farsi or related languages. OTOH, the Fatimids were Shia, but I guess they used Arabic. The former are part of Persian culture, of an importance prompting some current Iranians to make them Shia, the latter are part of Arabic culture. That's what I meant when I wrote "Religious affiliations are not that important, I guess."
Sorry if I didn't make myself clear.
]]>This is a problem in our technical world even when people are not downsized or whatever.
In computer tech the good folks who want to advance will not sit in the same job for a couple of decades. And typically the folks willing to sit in a job for decades don't care about "institutional knowledge". Especially in areas like computer tech where 50% of what you know today is worthless in 1 to 3 years if you want to advance.
Back to the nuclear tech issues. My father spent 30 years at a gaseous diffusion nuclear fuel plant. After 20 years he was one of the managers in charge of the production line. (There were 4 or 5 as they needed 24/7/365 coverage.) And he knew he and his peers would never make plant manager. Corp management was smart enough to know that they had to bring in new blood and push them up through the ranks so that all the knowledge of "how things really worked" didn't all walk out the door over a few years as all the WWII vets like my dad retired.
The problem with large corp IT systems is they loose this knowledge and have to expensively rediscover it for systems that last 10 or 20 years. In the early 80s some people from Travelers Insurance that we worked with on a project were talking about year 6 or 7 of their 3 year project to remove all of the code left over from the days of paper tape teletype processing. Said code was running on IBM 370s VMs running a 360 OS running an autocoder (I think) emulation that processed files that carried the punch tape formats from the 50s/60s. They were working hard on it before everyone who really understood the old system retired or died.
]]>It seem like the Shia leaders in Iran (Chomenei, if you ask) think Alevis are Muslims, so it seems the Alevis are not that "outside of Shia". OTOH, they don't keep all of the Five Pillars, e.g. fasting in Ramadan, or at least not all Alevis fast, so there is some room for discussion.
Add to this quite some Alevis say they are no Muslim religion, though then, other Alevis stress they are.
Yes, it's all somewhat complicated, though I could see similar problems with e.g. Universalist Unitarians.
]]>Africans in places where there is little infrastructure have been using cell phone minutes as currency for years now, actually.
http://gigaom.com/2007/05/27/in-africa-money-not-necessary-for-mobile-banking/
Note the date of the article.
]]>It's too bad the Libertarian die-hards won't listen to rational arguments. Experimentation is always welcome in finance but crypto-currencies are going to fail when huge blockchains start crashing their transaction processing systems.
Oh BTW, Bitcoin and HYIP frauds are now preying on each other: http://alfidicapitalblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-intersection-of-hyip-and-bitcoin.html That is the ultimate in hilarity.
]]>Bit coin volatility is due to the small number of venues using it, and its uncertain legal status. As more vendors accept it and its legality becomes clearer, it becomes less volatile.
The idea that bit coin is deflationary in any significant sense is based in the author's assumption that it is the only currency in use in an economy, like a government monopoly currency. But it is only one of many crypto currencies and it is not administered by a state monopoly bank or banking cartel.
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