What Caught My Eye Today

Belgium - More than 34,000 people rallied in Brussels to demand that Belgium's political parties form some kind of government. The country has had no government for the past seven months, a European record. Parliamentary elections held last June produced a stalemate. Flemish nationalists won in Flanders, the country's rich, Dutch-speaking north, while Socialists won the poorer, French-speaking south. Two thoughts here. First, perhaps Belgium should consider splitting. It seems to have worked for Sudan. Second, I find it curious, that the Belgian people are so concerned about the lack of a national government. Recent events suggest that governments aren't all they are cracked up to be. Hear me out on this one. I have some examples to back me up (as if any were necessary).

Tunisia - Protesters rocked the capital of Tunis demanding the resignation of the interim government claiming that it includes too many Cabinet members of the recently ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Ben Ali, it turns out, is quite the colorful character. In related news, The Tunisian government announced that it has issued international arrest warrants for Ben Ali and his family for theft of state assets, which include 1.5 tons of gold bars, worth over $56 million. Yeah, that will win back the support of the people. What is startling is how this singular event has sparked similar uprisings all over the region.

Egypt - Egypt's rising middle class is demanding greater political freedom and economic opportunity. Opposition groups are demanding that President Hosni Mubarak resign immediately and hand over power to a transitional government. This is a fascinating situation. At the heart of the matter, is the people's desire to remove Mubarak from power. Dude has been calling the shots in Egypt for 30 years, so it is understandable that motivation for change is strong. The problem though is that the same people calling for change don't seem to have an answer for the sort of change they are looking for. And then there is the United States which really finds itself in a dilemma. On one hand, Egypt is the United States' strongest ally in the Middle East and the peace treaty with Israel that it has abided by for the past 30 years, is due in no small part to Mubarak. On the other hand, the United States is the standard bearer for democracy, so it might be a bit hypocritical (to say the least)not to stand in support of the will of the people. Still, the democratic process does not guarantee things work out in the best interest of the United States. Let us not forget that democratic elections were responsible giving Hamas control of the Palestinian Parliament.

So again, I ask...Seriously, Belgium, is it really so bad not having a national government?

Passwords - The U.S. Commerce Department is spearheading a new online security system that has the potential to eliminate online passwords. The plan calls for a single sign-on using a device such as a digital token, smartcard or fingerprint reader. Once logged in, users would have access to any website that has signed up for the program. Being in the technology field, I could ruminate for quite sometime on the pros and cons of such a plan, but that would be about as exciting as watching dust accumulate on my vacuum cleaner. Instead, I found some fun-facts on passwords that you might find illuminating. If you are like me, shortly after reading this, you might find yourself changing some of those passwords.

• Most-used passwords:
  • 123456
  • password
  • 12345678
  • qwerty
  • abc123
  "Qwerty"? I never thought of that one. For me, "welcome" was always one of the most popular default passwords.
• Time it takes a hacker's computer to randomly guess your password:
  • 6 characters: lowercase - 10 minutes / lowercase + uppercase: 10 hours / lowercase + uppercase + numbers & symbols: 18 days
  • 7 characters: lowercase - 4 hours / lowercase + uppercase: 23 days / lowercase + uppercase + numbers & symbols: 4 years
  • 8 characters: lowercase - 4 days / lowercase + uppercase: 3 years / lowercase + uppercase + numbers & symbols: 463 years
  • 9 characters: lowercase - 4 months / lowercase + uppercase: 178 years / lowercase + uppercase + numbers & symbols: 44,530 years

Potpourri - The thing I like about statistics is how a little thing like numbers can make such powerful statements.

• Air travel - U.S. airlines did not record a single fatality in 2010 despite more than 10 million flights involving more than 700 million passengers. It was the third time in 4 years without a death.That's pretty impressive. That said, who else besides me would like to know how many flights actually departed and arrived on time last year? I'm pretty sure that number is also pretty close to zero.
• Millionaires - There are approximately 24.2 million people in the world with $1 million or more in net assets (more than the population of Australia), and control more than a third of the world's wealth.
  If you think that's disturbing, there are studies that suggest the richest 2% of the world's population controls half the world's wealth.
• 2012 Presidential Race - The Federal Election Commission has announced that 76 people have filed paperwork to run for president in 2012.
  God help us all.