Tim Oren is now an Armed VC with a little help from Marc Danziger, formerly Armed Liberal, whom he met via Winds of Change blog.  Marc has unmasked his identity and joined Spirit of America as its COO to help spread the spirit of America abroad by sending donated supplies to countries like Iraq.

To be honest, I think the effort amounts to dumping sugar into a sea of hate but it's a Good Thing for our spirit at least.  Maybe I am soured by the spread of anti-American sentiments among young Koreans.  I tried to engage them online but they have constructed a strong echo chamber around them to protect their warped viewpoints.

Iraq will be worse even if Iraq becomes a strong ally of America and Iraqis are drowned in everything American for the next 50 years like Korea has been.  Internet?  It's the very substance their echo chamber is made out of.  Still, we need our idealistic delusions like every Miss Universe needs her beauty sleep.

Update:

Enough people misunderstood me about this post that I think further clarifications are needed.

I like good people and good will.  America is particularly abundant in both which I like very much.  But practicing good will with hope of return in kind is not a good thing IMHO.  So what use is good will?  While dumping sugar into a sea of hate will not change the sea, it does change those who are doing it.  Primary benefector of good will should be the practitioner.

I want to see more people join the effort Spirit of America is making so their daily lives will glow with the warmth of good will.  But I don't want to see people feel the pain of betrayal later when their good will is paid back with terrorism.

If a god appeared and said sacrificing one million Iraqis at his altar will turn Iraq into a peaceful democratic nation overnight, would you be willing?  How about hundred thousand?  Ten thousand?

I've been revisting my positions on the price we are willing to pay for whatever it is we are doing over at Iraq and I am finding our notion of acceptable to be rather disturbing.  How is civilian casualties expected in wars different from ritualistic sacrifices?

How about genocide?  Is there anything that we value so much that we would be willing to commit genocide?  Democracy?  Freedom?  National Security?  Oil?

Is it the bloodshed and sufferings that makes us squirmish?  What if there was a button that could instantly send all followers of Islam to some other place without killing them?  Would you press the button?  What if the buttoned worked the other way by leaving earth to the Islams and sent rest of the planet elsewhere?

If I am told that every single keystorke I made in my life destroyed a planet in some remote galaxy, am I supposed to be horrified?  What if I am the last man on earth?  Is compassion still useful?

More I examine the substance of morals, more it unravels until there is nothing left to hold.

Do you want to feel bad this Friday?  Read this.

There was an incident with one of the cars. We shot an individual with his hands up. He got out of the car. He was badly shot. We lit him up. I don't know who started shooting first. One of the Marines came running over to where we were and said: "You all just shot a guy with his hands up." Man, I forgot about this.

To top it off, read this report about the health of Mother Earth.

I have been thinking about popular P2P networks and how slow and frustrating they can be when the file you want is large or rare.  My conclusion is that current P2P networks cannot be scaled to share large resources in timely fashion without some fundamental changes in the way they work.

One such change is P2P2P (Pay to P2P).  This idea is to use money to make P2P Wishlist more compelling.  If I want something, I share that 'wish' along with 'bid' price on P2P networks.  People with files others are interested in, finds the 'wishes' they can fill at the price they want.

In reality, all this takes place automatically and the prices are not price of the goods but price of time.  If you want it 'now', it will cost you more than if you wanted it sometime between next 36 hours.  Quality of goods also matters but that is taken care of by a rating system.

The neat thing about P2P2P can support streaming such as movies-on-demand or live video of concerts easily where current P2P systems can't.  It could encourage enterprising individuals to become TSP (Timely Service Providers) by setting up a few servers and hustle to serve valuable files and streams to people who are willing to pay for time.

A: You want to see a movie?
B: What's available?
A: Fred's On-Demand has Bambi for $5 at 7PM, $3 at 9PM, and $1 after midnight.  Hmm.  Some guy named Chuck is offering to stream Bambi off his laptop for a dollar at 7:24PM.

According to a recent report from International Institute of Strategic Studies, thinktank,

Iraq has become the new magnet of Al-Qaeda's war against the United States … The US-led war in Iraq has increased the risk to Western interests in Arab countries.

I didn't enjoy reading the editorial, but I found myself nodding my head.  Urgh.