The New Ministers with Old Challenges

The boring reshuffle ‘party’ is over now. Some ministers stay, but some go. Some new ministers spark a glimmer of hope, but some remain questionable.

To be precise, Indonesians can pin much hope from Dahlan Iskan as State-Owned Enterprises Minister. But Mari Pangestu as Tourism Minister and Jero Wacik as Energy and Mineral Minister, in my opinion, don’t fit the bill.

Nobel Economics Prize Should Go To China, Not America

Of late 2 Americans – Thomas J Sargent and Christopher A Sims - are awarded Nobel Prize in economic sciences. This adds the number of Americans clinching the prize. Based on Wikipedia data, 46 out of 69 of prize economics winners are Americans. They might deserve it in the past, but today it is questionable.

It seems Nobel committee to be out of touch with today’s reality, given the fact America (and western countries) whose economies are operated based on the works of their scholars studded with Nobel Prize are grappling with economic/financial crisis.

Steve Jobs and the Spirit of American iCulture

Apple (along with Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) can only thrive in America, not in China, not in South Korea, let alone Indonesia. China gave birth Baidu, South Korea raised Samsung, but they only the followers – of course shrewd followers – not the inventors. And the greatness of American technology and business is not merely about human resources or technology mastering, but it’s about culture.

What does really make America incredible? Is it spirit of capitalism that offers freedom and brings competition?

The Death of Einstein’s Theory!?

Update: Feb 24, 2012. Einstein's theory is still right
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/22/einstein-was-right-all-along-faster-than-light-neutrino-was-product-of-error/

Nothing can exceed the speed of light.

That is according to the most famous physicist on earth, Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity (1905). The theory also determines that the age of something that travels fast approaching the speed of light can significantly prolong its age. This has been observationally verified with evidence of the longer age certain particle in atmosphere going down to the earth.

Then, of late, the news from CERN, the world’s largest physics lab came and made Einstein’s theory of speed of light questioned. The CERN’s scientists had sent a beam of subatomic particles, neutrinos, from Cern, Switzerland to Gran Sasso, Italy traveling 732 km long and surprisingly, the speed recorded was 60 billionths of a second earlier than if traveled by light. It's very small, but it's enough.