The Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala, which is a real world leader in online education and media, has just released the full Hayek interviews organized by Armen Alchian of UCLA after Hayek’s Nobel Prize in 1974. The interviews are searchable and you can quickly and easily jump from place to place. Congratulations to UFM for this achievement. (And I’m pleased that I had recommended for an academic internship at UFM this last year one of the people who worked on it, Alex Weller of Penn State.)

I wonder about the claims about the iPad. It does look very cool and all, but if it runs off of a back lit screen, it’s not going to kill my Kindle, that’s for sure. One of the reasons for the Kindle being so popular is that you read it using reflected ambient light, like a book, so it doesn’t tire your eyes like looking at a computer screen (or a light bulb) does. If the iPad uses a back lit screen, it may be wonderful, but I’ll hold on to my Kindle.

See “Apple iPad Raises the Stakes for E-Readers,” by Priya Ganapati

I’ve suffered for some years from extreme back pain, which at one time quite severely crippled me, thanks to some crushed nerves and the mixture of agonizing pain and muscle atrophy that occasioned. I had some sessions with physical therapists and then undertook a systematic and persistent workout regimen, focused by my desire and resolution not to be crippled. In general, I’ve been free of extreme pain for years, until this trip to Afghanistan, when I hurt myself quite seriously, probably from a mixture of the long flights and schlepping about a great deal of weight in books and equipment. After getting back December 26 in substantial pain (especially when standing up), I started using the Spinal Stretch device that had been given to me by friends, but which I had put off using because I was not in severe pain (and I’m pretty busy all the time). Now I’ve got a very insistent incentive to put it to use. I’ve just been using it for a short time since getting back, but it seems that it has contributed to reducing the pain. (It’s hard to know how much, as I’ve also been doing lots of stretching and pushing hard at the gym to increase my strength.) Using the Spinal Stretch device is neither difficult (you just need to anchor it easily in any door jamb) nor unpleasant (and is in fact pretty relaxing and reduces the spasms that course through my back) and the theory behind it seems sound.

Anyway, it’s easy to use, doesn’t cost much, and seems to have a positive impact. And people who suffer from chronic back pain understand how destructive of normal life it is. So my advice is that it’s definitely worth a try.

I love pomegranates. They are wonderful. Maybe even my favorite fruit. I just wish that they were easier to eat.

Well, my colleague Peshwaz Faizulla (from Iraqi Kurdistan) and my colleague Austin Petersen (from Missouri) made a nice video showing how to do it. I bought some pomegranates on the road from Jalalabad to Kabul yesterday and today used my wicked sharp Gerber/Applegate pocket knife to do as Peshwaz had instructed. It was great!

A friend, Bright Simons, who is a member of the AfricanLiberty.org team, is featured in The Economist article (September 24, 2009) “Beyond voice: New uses for mobile phones could launch another wave of development“:

Bright Simons, a Ghanaian social entrepreneur, has devised a phone-based system called mPedigree to tackle the problem of counterfeit drugs. Some 10-25% of all drugs sold are fakes, according to the World Health Organisation, and in some countries the proportion can be as high as 80%. Under Mr Simons’ scheme, which is being implemented in Nigeria and Ghana, a scratch-off panel on the packaging reveals a code which can be texted to a special number to verify that the drugs are genuine. Most mobile-health projects are still at the trial stage, but a report compiled in 2008 by the UN Foundation and the Vodafone Foundation documented around 50 such projects across the developing world. Studies are now under way to quantify their benefits.

Bright is a voice for freedom, prosperity, justice, and peace, not only in Africa, but around the world. He is pioneering ways to help Africans to avoid the misery and death attendant on poor enforcement of trademark laws, drug falsification, and criminal fraud. (I spent some time with him this summer, as he was a participant in several programs in which I was involved last month in France, including the European Resource Bank, the Summer University, a Liberty Fund conference on “Universal Values and Cultural Pluralism,” and an international meeting on strategies for advancing liberty.)

NOTE: Bright is also a teacher at the Students and Young Professionals African Liberty Academy in Ghana. Anyone who’d like to help to fund the work of AfricanLiberty.org or the Students and Young Professionals African Liberty Academy, please do write to me. I can get your donations directly to them.

BBC: “Car harnesses fighter jet technology”

Bravo to Ford for not taking government money! This is a far better approach: actually make a quality product and sell it to people at a low price.

And this sounds nice:

Ford also demonstrated the self-park technology on its Lincoln brand.

Using sensors, the car will find a parking space and reverse park. The driver takes their hands off the steering wheel but still operates the accelerator and the brake.

I’m still happy with my Smart, which I can parallel park into some very tiny spaces.

I have no idea whether it’s in fact “eco-friendly” (it takes resources to make a phone with a solar recharger, and it’s not clear that the “environmental impact” is greater or less than for a phone that you charge from the grid), but this seems likely to be an improvement for people who lack reliable access to electricity: “Solar cell phones take off in developing nations“

Sometimes when I’m traveling and giving lectures or making presentations, the projector doesn’t work, or there was a mixup about who asked for it, etc. The 3M Micro Professional Projector is not a perfect solution, but it sure is a helpful one for small groups! (And it fits in a pocket, or nestled along with all the other electronics gear with which I travel.) I tested it out last night on a wall in my flat and it works reasonably well on my Mac, projects a viewable/readable image that could be seen by a group around a table or a small theatre-style audience. It also works well with the tripod I got for the Mino HD Flip camcorder. So I’m prepared.

I’m off shortly to India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, so it may come in handy.

I travel across a lot of time zones frequently (coming up…Kyiv to DC to London to Sao Paolo in a few days, with several nights spent on airplanes), so I use a lot of coffee to regulate my time. You get zapped for traveling with canned coffee through airport security (“Terror Coffee!”), so I travel with ….. (shiver) freeze-dried coffee crystals to ensure that I can get my morning fix. (My alarms on my cell phones wake me up and the first thing I do…after turning the annoying things off…is to chug some coffee.) I saw on Amazon.com the link to Java Juice. It’s pretty good, and the little packets make it past the airport security screening! (I’m enjoying some now in Kyiv, after a few hours of “sleep.”)

I got a great little machine, the Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder, for filming events, short interviews, etc. It’s simple. In fact, it’s so simple, I think that with a little work, even I will be able to use it. It pops right into my Mac and allows for quick uploading. I hope I’ll be posting videos in the near future!

(I’ll be off to Mexico soon, and then later in March to Ukraine. Then…a number of other countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.)

I love search engines.

I was puzzled about the fact that every time I clicked on a YouTube video, I was taken to the Japanese site. I don’t read Japanese, so, although Japanese pages are aesthetically pleasing, they are not very helpful. I was about to ask someone for advice, but before I did, I remembered how annoyed I get when people ask me for info without first doing a little searching on their own. (It happens a lot, and sometimes I respond with the web page that has the info and a note that the other person could have found it faster, without asking me to find it for him or her.) Voila!

(It helps to clear your browser cache and cookies first.)

Adam Smith

Lao Tzu

Well, I got one, as the other backup device I had for Time Machine decided it didn’t want to complete backups anymore.  Whatever.

Unfortunately, I can’t get the Mac to find the Time Capsule after it’s gone through the initial setups.  And, in this new age of internet connectivity, it’s not possible to find anyone to ask about it, nor is the tiny booklet helpful, nor are the “discussion forums” on the topic helpful.  Errrrr…….

Video: iPhone 3G unboxing and first look

**

I did the math and I figured that by cutting out taxi fares (which add up fast) and a few other things, I will end up ahead.

The purchase experience was non-stressful. No heavy-handed sales techniques. Friendly and well trained staff. And the car is great.

The best part (after the reasonable price)? I drove to my neighborhood, passed by a few parking spots because I feared they were too small, then said, “Why not try?,” and found that I could easily fit into one that I thought was too small. And there were comfortable margins on both ends.

(It’s so small, it could be considered a large iPod accessory with wheels. But it is astonishingly roomy inside.)

**I bought this one: a convertible “Cabriolet” with a blue and silver exterior and a red interior.

I should have mentioned that the MacBook Air I checked out at the Apple Store in Manhattan had a very cool new track pad that adds the features of the iPhone and Touch iPod, which allow you to pinch, expand, and in other ways easily manipulate the screen. Now I see that Apple has put them into all of the new MacBook Pros. Very cool.

I had some appointments in New York this morning, but managed to take a little trip to the Apple Store at Fifth Avenue. Wow! Not only is the design of the store beautiful, but the products are even more so. The MacBook Air is impressive and lighter than I had expected, but the 80 GB hard drive is not big enough for me. I’ll wait. On the other hand, the iMacs are so advanced and so easy to use and have such gorgeous screens, on which the iMac’s ability to generate multiple desktops can be quite helpful for organizing complicated processes. I want one. Would that I were rich…..but fortunately, the prices have come down, so that even I could afford one. (Not at the moment, but someday. And I’m still very happy with my MacBook, which I carry everywhere and at all times.)

The Smart Cabriolet … easy to park and good gas mileage.