Friday, September 18, 2009

Too many topics for one day...

Sometimes there are too many topics to write about. Here are a few that have caught our eye just today...

Having not completely bought the argument behind Wikinomics, the Commission was heartened to see "The Dirty Little Secret About the "Wisdom of the Crowds" - There is No Crowd," which correctly points out that small groups of people create most of what is commonly called "Crowd-sourced..." Key point: 1% of Wikipedia users are responsible for half of the site's edits.

Rick Woldenberg is continuing his fight to bring some semblance of common sense in the application of the CPSIA, and maybe getting some few folks in Congress to reconsider their actions... this week, he sends some simple questions to the new Chair of the CPSIA. At least he is keeping his sense of humor...

Yet Congress didn't learn from the CPSIA experience, and now we are seeing more "unintended consequences" as a result of
the new "Home Valuation Code of Conduct" (HVCC). Another law intended to help consumers is going to raise costs and lower value...

Of course Congress is not the source of all our problems. Sometimes it seems that the record companies, the artists, and the consumers are working together to kill the music industry. One blogger's solution -- Ban all music... The Commission is pleased to see that Modest Proposals are still in vogue.

Lastly, the Commission was interested to discover that apparently, and perhaps not surprisingly, having your heart broken increases your risk of a heart attack.