Steve Barth | Reflexions

Geert Wilders’ NY Speech: delete or reply?

Thanks for emailing the New York speech by Geert Wilders. My first reaction was simply to delete for the same reason others were clicking forward. But the email helped me understand something I've been working on about the difference between knowing, learning and the replication of information.

My ancestors in Europe (and America) were themselves ostracized, restricted, blamed, persecuted and evicted because of their middle-eastern origins, adherence to timeless religious and cultural beliefs and dietary preferences. So my instinct was to dismiss Wilders as a demagogue. His rhetoric has been used before, almost word for word, to stir fear about Chinese, Catholics, Jews or other groups.

Judging by the American panic his speech has created, Europeans are somewhat more inoculated to it, having been infected before. Are the Dutch any more inconvenienced by Halal than they are by Kosher consumers? Are France's mega-mosques any more threatening to secular society than California's mega-churches? Are there really more hate crimes committed by extremist Muslims in Europe as there are attacks on minorities by radical skinheads? Is a woman's decision to wear a hijab somehow more offensive than a man covering his head with a yarmulke? Should we be any more concerned that Pew found half of French Muslims may put faith before patriotism than that Pew found 40% of Americans see a conflict between religious teachings and modern society (although US Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus each only surveyed at about 30%)? And are demands for Islamic holidays more ominous than similar demands to take off on Columbus Day, St. Patrick's Day or Yom Kippur?

Our Little Robot Turns Four

I like to tell people that there is no better knowledge management technology than a good coffee machine. Coffee is an attractor, bringing people into an ideal state for reflection, insight, conversation and collaboration.

In 2005, we bought a super-automatic espresso machine, as a consolation for not remodeling the whole kitchen: Gaggia Synchrony Compact purchased from Whole Latte Love for about $650. It was Achille Gaggia who invented the modern espresso machine in 1938, which uses steam pressure to extract the best flavor and aroma from ground beans, along with the signature crema—the golden brown foam of nitrogen bubbles that smooth out the experience of drinking an espresso.

A super-automatic is essentially a coffee-making robot, Put whole beans in the hopper and fill the water reservoir, and the Synchrony grinds and pumps cups of espresso or crema coffee at the touch of a button at the perfect pressure and temperature. Then the mechanism expels the spent puck and readies itself for the next shot. Our preferred way to enjoy coffee is to express about 2-4oz of coffee and then add an ounce or less of milk or creamer to cut the acidity of the coffee. In Spain and Latin America, this is often called a cortado.