A Yankee Endorsement

The Brain has a platform that I can get behind:

Big Bang: The Return Tour

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is ready for it's debut. Physicists at CERN will fire up the latest and most bad-ass particle accelerator ever constructed tomorrow. It's purpose is to smash sub-atomic stuff together to recreate the matter and conditions present in the universe immediately following the Big Bang. Everyone in the physical sciences is waiting with baited breath to find out what will happen. Will they find the Higgs boson? (Stephen Hawking bets 'no' - but he's lost similar bets before.) Will a tiny black hole be formed that will engulf us all? A few people - some more balanced than others - allow for the possibility.

Personally, I think that with media assembled and the world watching, the guy in charge of this $8 Billion flashlight will suddenly turn in his chair, don a cape, and declare, "Now watch the power of this fully armed and operational battle station!"

Whatever happens, the LHC is an engineering marvel. Individual components themselves are technological wonders.

Get information on watching the hoopla live here.

He Spoke His Mind

Alexander Solzhenitsyn died Sunday in his Motherland of Russia. He achieved acclaim for his vivid depictions of a harsh life in the Soviet prisons and exile in the hinterlands. He wrote from experience, having been banished for speaking his mind against a the totalitarian system that had taken control of his beloved nation.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was already in my Shelfari collection, included in what I call my personal "Library of a Free Man". I have now added Gulag Archipelago to my "Plan to Read" list.

Solzhenitsyn was no friend of capitalism, but he deplored authoritarianism and the communism from which it sprung even more. In a society ruled by fear he spoke his mind - the censors, secret police, and political puppet masters be damned. For that we praise him today.

Rest in Peace, Alexander Isayevich.

(c) Economist

Russians mourn dissident hero Solzhenitsyn

An Icon of His Age

A profile in courage

We Know What's Best for You

This post from Alex at Marginal Revolution was so nicely put together that I decided to just put the whole thing here.

The Los Angeles council has just passed on ordinance banning new fast food restaurants in a poor section of South/Central LA. William Saletan calls it Food Apartheid and writes: We're not talking anymore about preaching diet and exercise, disclosing calorie counts, or restricting sodas in schools. We're talking about banning the sale of food to adults....It's true that food options in low-income neighborhoods are, on average, worse than the options in wealthier neighborhoods. But restricting options in low-income neighborhoods is a disturbingly paternalistic way of solving the problem. Milton Friedman once said: I don't think the state has any more right to tell me what what to put in my mouth than it has to tell me what can come out of my mouth. Friedman was talking about drug prohibition but today the target could just as easily be food prohibition. Hat tip on the Friedman quote to Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek.

Once again, Friedman was right. I don't know about you, but I don't need any government paper-pusher telling me what I can choose to eat where. These politicians are not here to help, they want control over you. Never forget that.

Cosmology Round-up

"We have water [on Mars]," confirms one of the scientists leading the Phoenix robot lander mission to the Red Planet. The Martian soil is not quite like what we expected. One of the critical questions under investigation by the Phoenix team now is whether the water is or was ever liquid long enough to support life. This is exciting stuff.

Liquid hydrocarbon lake detected on Titan. The lake, likely composed of methane and/or ethane, was found by the Cassini probe. Scientists think that Titan, largest moon of Saturn, has an environment and climate somewhat similar to that of Earth, albeit not water-based.


















Only 10 more space shuttle missions left. While the shuttles are marvels of technology, they are getting old fast. Remember that they were introduced in the late '70s. Personally, I can't wait to see the next generation of space vehicles. Unfortunately, I don't think we are quite at this point, yet.

Evil Villain: the Musical!

What? A 3 part mini-play from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the series) starring Doogie Howser and the captain from Firefly. Why? Because the writers had some time to kill during that strike awhile back. When? Now until the 20th. Then you have to pay. You'll all pay. Mwhahahahaha!


I had to watch the Bad Horse number several times. It's just so delightfully evil.

Hey Ya!

It's Monday, so enjoy a dancing otter.




Is there anything cooler than an otter?

Mind Games

Here's a puzzle for you:

Suppose you are a secret agent and you have been captured by your crazy arch-villain nemesis. Your arch-rival, being overly dramatic and not quite thinking his plan through, locks you in room. There is only one way in or out of this room and it is sealed by a vault door. Your nemesis informs you that the only escape is to turn the door latch in exactly 9 minutes. Turning the latch any time before or after 9 minutes will result in poison gas being pumped into the room, killing you. The only items in the room are two old-fashioned hourglass type timers, with the larger one counting down 7 minutes, the smaller counting out 4 minutes.

How do you know when to turn the latch?





Adapted from Vincent Janoski's post on the Geekdad blog.

Guns are still legal

The Second Amendment says, "I ain't goin' out like that."


Gee, I never knew the Constitution was a House of Pain fan.

I would encourage every American to read the D.C. v. Heller decision. The majority opinion doesn't contain a lot of legalese and is, for the most part, straightforward. The dissenting opinions are a little more tedious to review. The footnotes in both are worthwhile, as well.

If you're lazy, and I presume you are, here are the highlights:

• The 2nd Amendment codifies an individual right that pre-dates the Constitution and was enshrined in English law as early as the mid 17th century.
• The amendment does not create this right, rather it is a recognition of a right that exists for all free people.
  
• Storage and use of a commonly available firearm, such as a handgun, for the defense of self or property, especially within the home or place of business, is protected by the 2nd Amendment. This means that the D.C. rules dictating that firearms be rendered inoperable are unconstitutional.
  
• The militia is the body of the people fit to fight. It is not the creation of state or federal government, as is the US Army (the raising of which is a Congressional power enumerated in Article I), but a ever-present subset of the population that may be called upon at any time.
  
• The Founders believed that the best protection from abuse by a powerful government, internal rebellion, or foreign invasion is a general population that keeps arms in the home and knows how to use them.
• Congress and the state assemblies have some leeway to regulate firearms, analogous to legislation criminalizing yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. For example, sawed-offed shotguns can be prohibited per the 1939 Miller decision because they have no common use in the military/militia.
  

Travel Day

I'm off to Washington, D.C. and vicinity today. Just hope this doesn't happen to me...

Ramsey's (Senate) Kitchen Nightmares

Inspired by the recent stories of the mismanagement of the U.S. Senate dining hall and associated eateries, I started to think about how that master of restaurant revitalization, Gordon Ramsey, would handle the situation. I think it would go a little something like this...

Ramsey (voice over): I'm in Washington, D.C. at the Dining Hall of the United States Senate. You'd think that the puff-chested windbags that run the place would demand first-class service, but the restaurant is a mess. It's lost money almost every year it's been in operation. Last year alone, the Senate restaurants were $2 million dollars in the red.

Ramsey (walking into dining room): F#@* me - nobody is in here. It looks like the cafeteria on a battleship. It's so dark and institutional. Let's try the food.

(Sampling something lumpy and the color of card board) Christ! I've had better food in a Malaysian petrol station. I don't know how the senators are going to explain this.

(Cut to Ramsey talking to several Senators) Ramsey: So, you're losing money.

Sen. Diane Feinstein: Yes.

Ramsey: Do you eat here? Do your staffers eat here?

Feinstein: No, all the Senate staffers seem to eat on the House side of Congress.

Ramsey: Doesn't that tell you something?

Feinstein: Our staffers are working hard with their colleagues in the House on important legislation for the American people... (drones on)

(Cut to Ramsey walking out of building) Ramsey: These senators are clueless. Neither they, nor their own staffers will go anywhere near the f*^@ing Dining Hall, yet none of them will lift a f$!@ing finger to do anything about the absolutely awful state of things. Only two new menu items have been added to the menu in the past ten years! No wonder nobody wants to eat here.

If I ran my restaurants that way, I'd be putting a "closed" sign in the window before the next election.

(Cut to Ramsey back in kitchen with Senators) Ramsey: Do any of you have experience managing a restaurant?

Senator: I sit on the Agriculture committee.

Ramsey: I want you to look at this kitchen. (Cut to scene of dirty dishes, greasy stoves, and wilting vegetables) Would you want your kitchen at home looking like this?

Feinstein: Of course not! I'd fire the cook and housekeeper if they left this mess for me to see!

Ramsey: Do you see all this food, the stuff that is just rotting on the counter? This is all just f^&#ing wasted. You might as well just pay your staff to throw food in the trash. Actually, if that gruel that I was served earlier is any indication, I'd recommend you pay them to throw it all in the garbage.

Why don't you fire these incompetent sods and get some real cooks in here?

Feinstein: It is our obligation to provide a well-paying job to these hardworking people, many of whom are disadvantaged and... (drones on)

Ramsey: But they are costing you millions!? You are losing money everyday by not changing.

Feinstein: These people are contributing to the economy of the... working mothers... ex-felons... minority advancement... undocumented workers... the American people understand that their tax dollars go to good causes subsidizing the jobs of...

Ramsey: I want you to seriously consider hiring a professional manager.

Feinstein: That sounds like privatization! We can't outsource this vital function of government!

Ramsey: Get it in your head, no one is eating here. This food isn't fit for a dog. You would be charged with aggravated assault if you gave the daily leftovers to the homeless.

Feinstein: I've worked hard to provide for our noble but displaced...

Ramsey: I give up. You f^#$ing politicians are entirely blind to what obviously needs to be done here. I just can't figure out if you are in denial, a complete idiot, or just like things being complete f@&%ed.

How to spend your free time...

If you have not done so already, pop over to --Ballista--> to read the commentary on the extraordinary days of June during WWII. Then, after reflected on the mettle of the soldiers and sailors who made those days so extraordinary, lighten up with one of the movies Ballista reviews in a few earlier posts.

Scrabble Scribble

I was setting up to play Scrabble (you remember Scrabble, right?) the other day when something struck me. I noticed that when selecting the initial 7 letters the other players and I picked them from all around the container. This is only interesting when you consider that the letter squares have, supposedly, been well mixed and are randomly distributed across the box. We were trying to randomize our selection of already randomly arranged squares! Of course, if the squares are truly randomly distributed and it should not matter from where in the box you draw the letters. I should be able to pick 7 squares all adjacent to each other and get 7 random letters. Yet my brain tells met that I have to pick from all box to achieve the best selection of letters. There's a psychological term for this type of behavior but I can't recall it at the moment.

Am I the only one who thinks its intriguing how our brains work to influence our behavior?

I had this very experience last year from Dilbert's perspective - a meaningless chart crammed with colored shapes because the client was too stupid and lazy to read a report. This is why I refuse to work in corporations of any significant size.

You're a MOTOR company, right?

This is something of follow-up to my recent posts on gasoline prices and automobile manufacturing. Several major car companies, including Nissan, Toyota, and GM, have announced plans for new all-electric or hybrid products to be introduced over the next 4-odd years. After some additional pondering on the matter, I have an important questions:

You guys are MOTOR companies, right? The word MOTOR is there in your name - General MOTORS, Toyota MOTORS, etc...

So why can't you just build me an electric motor to replace the internal combustion one in my current car? I really like my current car. It's extremely reliable and gets almost 30 mpg on the highway (and it was built in the early '90s). I'm confident there are engineers out there who would love the challenge of retrofitting a shiny new electric motor into my car and replace the gas tank with some sort of battery/power cell. Maybe I need to go into the retrofit motor business and become the next Henry Ford.

Milestone or Inflection Point?

I suspect that today is the last day I will ever pay less than $4 for a gallon of gasoline. I saved the receipt from the first time I paid more than $3 a gallon - it was just after Hurricane Katrina hit when there was wide concern that gasoline deliveries would be interrupted. Here is my prediction: the internal combustion engine is doomed. It's tombstone has already been carved and is just waiting for the DoD to be added by an alternative. My bet is electric or hybrid electric originating from nuclear plants. Corn ethanol is a complete folly. Actually, any agriculturally-based fuel input, be it switch grass or sugar or otherwise, is a bad idea as it will invariably compete for farm land with food products. The world wants to eat more than it wants to drive and the backlash will only continue if we don't wise up to basic realities.

However, for the time being, the oil companies are providing a safe harbor for investors weary of the fall-out from the housing/financial market crunch. Oh, yes, some decry the profits of ExxonMobil, et al. But their arguments mostly neglect the facts that Big Oil is losing money on refining operations, their overall margins are a mere 8%, and the largest shareholders of the energy companies are mutual funds and pension plans. So, retirees, teachers, policemen, and all sorts of individuals with retirement accounts are personally gaining from the profits. Probably no comfort to you, but remember that when politicians and other "activists" yap about "windfall profits" and new taxes, it will really mean less money in the pockets of senior citizens and public-sector employees.

Back to alternative fuels... the company that can provide a fuel with the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas at $1 per unit is going to make a lot of money. A lot. I call that opportunity.

Constructive Criticism

The astute are aware that I link to the blog of my buddy, Ballista. Now I want to proffer some advice to my friend. Lay off the third-person references. I know you are a secretive sort, but use some pronouns every now and then. You are going past the silly Norm MacDonald/Bob Dole thing and entering into freaky territory. I'm just saying.

And when did you turn into the all-Russia, all-Red alert, all-the-time blog? We get the point (hehehe). I miss the cutting sarcasm of old.

That's life

"Nowhere or in a circle."

Me, out walking with a friend, explaining where the two forks in the path lead. Could this be a metaphor for something?



Photo by Daniel Séguin.

My New Favorite Brit

Jeremy Clarkson is my new favorite Brit. He just breaks me up with his snarky wit. He's funny in that English condescending way yet slightly goofy. Almost like John Cleese but less spastic and more intellectual. For those of you unfamiliar, Clarkson is longtime co-host of the popular BBC show, Top Gear, a more entertaining version of Car & Driver featuring more exotic cars, celebrities on a test track, and cool car-centered challenges. I could go on and on about Top Gear, but I'll suffice to say go find out more yourself - this post is dedicated to Mr. Clarkson.

In addition to discussing "motors", Clarkson is a thinker. He writes frequently on culture, politics, and "nitwits" in his Top Gear blog and in the Times of London. His bio from the Times describes him thus:

Jeremy Clarkson's career as car reviewer and BBC Top Gear presenter has made motoring into show business, but he has earned himself the description of an "equal opportunities loudmouth" for his opinionated commentary on all aspects of life.

You might guess that my affinity for Mr. Clarkson is based on more than his reviews of Aston Martins, and you are correct. I also like his voice. No, no, there's more. On many topics, I agree with his point of view. He's unapologetically British, as I'm unapologetically American, and that pretty much boils down to both of us wanting everyone else to bugger off and leave us alone to enjoy life as we see fit. He also has no compunctions about calling Communists, well, Communists, e.g., the Chinese, union laborers, and quite a few politicians. Perhaps not too surprisingly, some in Britain (and maybe some in America) would like to see Mr. Clarkson elected Prime Minister. I say, "BULLY!" To preview a potential PM Clarkson's policies, you can read about how he would rule the world, here.

I'll leave you with a teaser for Jeremy and Top Gear. Here he is, all 6 foot 5 inches of him, in the world's smallest car.





My former favorite Brit, you ask? This guy:

Dude, you're getting a Ford

Why can't I purchase and customize an automobile in the same manner as a laptop?

No, seriously. Stop snickering at me.

I can go online to Dell.com or half a dozen other computer companies and build a laptop to my preference. I get 4 different types of processors, 4 different sizes of RAM, 5 varieties of hard drive, not to mention pre-loaded software. My computer arrives several weeks, if not days later.

So why can't I build a car online? Not like the current attempts by Saturn and other makers. I'm thinking about the details, not the major components like the chassis and suspension; real wretch heads can continue to buy and install after-market parts for those. But parts like the head- and taillights, sound system, interior styling, gauges, side view mirror styles, should all be easily customizable before delivery to the buyer. Before delivery to the dealer, even. In fact, if mass customization could be implemented to the auto industry, dealers wouldn't have to stock so much inventory. That means less upfront costs to the dealer - and lower overall costs because of no, or less interest payments on loans to buy inventory. And valuable cars would not be sitting out in vast parking lots open to damaging weather, theft, arson, and other events that add to insurance and carrying costs. This system also has the potential to do away, once and for all, with those insipid "close out sale" advertisements that your local dealer runs every other month on radio and television. (Do you have to be a special kind of jerk to produce those ads?)

Okay, I'm rambling on the financial aspects. Back to the heart of the matter. Let's take the Honda Civic as an example. Instead of my local dealer trying to find a Civic somewhere in the US with the exact options I want, I go online to select my options. Instead of just choosing the color of the interior, I should be able to select the seat style. I want 4 types of sound system, not just basic CD or 6-disc surround sound. I want a variety of spoiler and grill options.

Perhaps another question I should be asking is whether Americans will wait 2 weeks upon ordering a customized Honda before it arrives in their driveway, fresh from the plant. Unfortunately for my mix-and-match desires, I think not. People like and are excited by the convenience and thrill of driving off the lot with their new baby, I suspect.

New line of thought... is there room in the marketplace for a middleman who purchases those Hondas wholesale (plain vanilla probably), then customizes to the wishes of customers via online ordering?

I will probably devote far too much time and far too many brain cells to pondering this alternative auto shopping experience. Yet, I just can't get past thinking that that the only reason we as consumers do not see radical changes in auto manufacturing and delivery (a la other manufacturing industries) is that we as Americans attach too much sentimental value to the this industry. I, for one, reason that when Detroit represents your status quo, it's time for a change.

Pity Party?

Have you heard about this credit crisis thing? Yeah, been kinda popular in the press lately. Lots of stories of problems, write-downs, foreclosures, layoffs, fraud, defaults, and failures in the real estate and financial markets. Given that, which groups of workers do you think have been crying themselves to sleep every night?

So, imagine my grin when a friend forwarded me this flyer for a business networking event in Philadelphia.

Unless the drink special is Jonestown Kool-Aid, I don't think this will be a particulary "Happy" hour for those young professionals. My advice to them, save your money and spend your time looking for a refrigerator box. You'll need it after the bank you once did business with repossesses your BMW and your shiny new condo. But don't feel too bad, when the bank takes the condo back, it will only be worth 1/3 as much as your mortgage, so the bank is really doing you a favor. And the labor market is not all bad... I hear that demand for crop pickers is sky high. Cheers!

Three for Thinking

InnoCentive. "Win cash awards of up to $1,000,000 for your creative solutions to Challenges"

Flypaper. "The easiest way to create, edit and share interactive content that can be used for live presentations or over the Web"

Technology Review. "The authority on the future of technology." Published by MIT.

Wanted: Spell Checker

Raise your hand when you have found the 'Oops'.

Match Maker, Match Maker...

2008. The year of the online match-maker wars. History will recall the tens of thousands of teary-eyed singles cut down in the cross fire. Indeed, the web rivals were a match made in HELL!

Ok, I've already discussed fat overweight people on television. So now it's on to those annoying commercials for Chemistry.com or whatever it's called. You know the ones, with the poor souls thoroughly flummoxed by the rejection of their application by E-Harmony. But I'm digressing from what I really want to say.

I would really like to conduct a research study of the success of these various match-makers. I'm curious what effect, if any, their matching/comparison algorithms have on the outcomes of paired couples. Specifically, I wonder if people convince themselves that the man or woman they get matched with are "really great" only because some computer program tells them so. Admittedly, this would be a daunting task, separating out the effects of all the variables, but surely some freakonomist out there could crunch the data. There are probably some ethical issues, too, but come on... these people are rejects anyway. The computer said so.

I Love Technology

This is simply amazing. I have a special affinity for technology that fuses dispersed visual content with an interactive experience. To echo some of the comments on the TED.com web page, this guy needs to get together with this guy. I seriously wish I had even the slightest clue how to design and build software like this - I'm lucky if I can get macros to function in Excel - because these applications are just so cool.

Let's hope that Microsoft doesn't muddle Photosynth all up.

The Scale Must be Wrong

Have you seen the National Body Challenge programming on Discovery Health yet? It's great television. One series has sets of obese twins getting fit over a period of months. You see them go from flab to fit through exercise and moderated eating. No invasive surgeries, no wacky diets. Plus, the twins all confront the psychological factors that have led to their over-eating. All this is what people really need to see - individuals taking responsibility for themselves and their behavior and achieving fitness, physically and mentally. No shortcuts, no gurus, no blame, nothing purely superficial.

I really enjoyed watching these people overcome their obesity from the comfort of my bed while eating Chinese food.