Google's magic and flops

Google is constantly coming up with new services to offer it customers.
some have been excellent, others have flopped badly.

Email: this is one service google has mastered; I can not recall the last time I used yahoo or hotmail.

Picasa: another excellent service...I store most of my photos on picasa--so that I can access whenever, wherever I am.

youtube: though this was an acquisition, its still an excellent service (it has given lots of people publicity and allowed millions to access videos and information that they would not have been able to access without youtube)

Google Search engine: this is clearly the heart of google, no other search engine comes closer...its comprehensive, though I have heard some complaints about how the engine uses your previous searches to prioritize new searches (this can be a good thing or a bad thing)

Google docs: allows you to save your documents online so you can access them wherever you are. I have used this service a couple of times and its quite useful.

Google Buzz: this is a failed service, it was supposed to be a social media tool sort of like twitter ( a micro blogging/messaging tool. It never became popular and eventually google killed the project.

Google+: this is another social networking tool that was supposed to imitate facebook. It has received lukewarm reception since its launch. I presume google will kill this project within a year.

Google Play: its the latest of google's launch. Its an online shop for music, books, apps, and movies. The service is presentable though I could help but compare prices of their services with other service providers. Most of their movies are renting for 3.99. Very costly in comparison with redbox, netflix etc. They have a large category of free books and this is what caught my eye...lots of classics that I have been saying I will read and now they are readily available for free on my comp. I hope this service becomes popular and the prices are marked down.

There are other services that google offers which are not as popular but very helpful. I definitely love google's boldness to try new things all the time.
Is there a google tool that I didnt mention that you use?

back for a short while

First post this year...wow!!!
I have definitely neglected this blog.
Lots has been happening in my life and I guess writing has not been a priority.
Working two jobs, reading, making an honest attempt to be more social and getting in shape are some of the things that have kept me away from blogging.
I have now quit one job and soon to leave the other in preparation for bigger things.

Lots has been happening that I could write about but am sure there are bloggers that have covered most of these issues.
One issue that has been on mind lately is "emotional roller-coaster" How people can quickly fall for someone and with the same speed fall out of love. I would like to understand the mental process.
Is falling in love a mental process or an emotional process? What criteria does one use to decide to pursue someone in a "love" sort of engagement? are those criteria decided by the heart or the mind?
Am sure we have all fallen for someone....using hide-sight what made you fall for that person---was the attraction driven by your thoughts about that person or your feelings about that person? Can you differentiate between your feelings and your thoughts?

Invisible Hand and Government Intervention

Can we depend wholly on Adam Smith’s invisible hand? In his famous book: The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith states: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow citizens.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

What will self-love lead to?

Will it lead sellers to deceive their customers or will it lead sellers to do the right thing that benefits both the seller and the buyer?

Many economists have argued that if we leave it to the invisible hand, sellers will deceive their customers to deceive buyers. They will take advantage of their customers’ innocence and ignorance to overcharge then and pass off on them shoddy products. They will cajole customers to buy goods they do not want.

Clearly we have seen this happening here in Kenya. If you go to Luthuli, Kirinyaga rd in search of building material of vehicle parts; you will most likely find retailers who will take advantage of your innocence by overcharging you or sell you inferior products.

So the question is: should be leave it to the invisible hand to control the conduct of both the consumer and the producer?

If left alone, the market activities may affect people other than those directly involved. It may affect the air we breathe, the water we drink, the safety of the food we eat.

Some economist have insisted that: the market must be supplemented by other arrangements in order to protect the consumer from himself and from avaricious sellers, and to protect all of us from the spillover neighbourhood effects of market transactions.

The only problem with outside interference is: it tends to overreach its mandate and sometimes becomes worse than the disease itself.

Kenya

Plagued by corruption

Dog eat dog in caption

Country of building and tearing down

Men and women in alcohol they drown

Political leaders switching parties like business suits

Less concerned of constituents’ interest than personal pursuits

More political parties than provinces in the country

Yet they hear not of the public outcry

Starvation, mistreatment and depravation

Lots of talk but no transformation

Economy on the rise and well

The pockets of the rich swell

And the have-nots on the same trend they dwell

What happened to the middle class?

What is this opaque glass?

That obstructs the mass

To greater reach we can all enjoy

If politics, greed and jealousy does not destroy

And hard-work, community, and vision we employ

Mi Amor

Impeccable and wonderfully made

Irresistible beauty without façade

Unbridled charm so luring

Tender soft touch so curing

Such great emotions you whisk

Giving my all I can only risk

For you I will wait

For you I will wait

Through your persona you mesmerize

Yet how little do I realize

Innumerable passion you have to offer

Hidden deep within your coffer

Many have tried to enter

Yet no admittance can they muster

How can I gain entrance?

To what seems to be an enclave

Is there a key, a password?

I suppose am not the one

Better yet, the time is not now

The future maybe fruitful

But the mystique lingers for now

With hope I shall be patient

Patient for that which I desire

That which you hold with such secrecy.

I wrote this poem in 2006; just thought I should share it since I have hit a writer bloc for now.

Is hope selfish?

"I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope, For hope would be hope for the wrong thing." T. S. Eliot
When I read this quote it invoked lots of questions about what I have always thought about hope. Society teaches us to hope
According to Wikipedia, “Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life.[1] It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best"

Human beings are known to do things that are in their best interest. So our definition of “positive outcome” is relative. Our “wants” are self centered, indicating that they might not be the “right thing”, but the most satisfying thing.

Where do we draw the line between the right thing and the wrong thing? Whose point of view are we looking at right or wrong from?

If you wanted a particular outcome to an event, yet this particular outcome would harm others would you continue to hope for that outcome?
How do you look at hope?
Have you ever thought that which you hope for can be wrong?
If you acknowledged that which you hope for is wrong would you continue to hope for it (if you expect some gratification from it)?