Who is Vinny Oswego?

Can we have a playoff, please?

2009-12-30T14:45:00.000-05:00

According to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted two weeks ago, 63 percent of self-described college football fans favor replacing the current Bowl Championship Series with a playoff, while 26 percent want to keep the BCS. The other 11 percent lied about being fans, because if you are a fan, you have an opinion about this. If anything, this is a conservative figure; other polls have found that as many as 90 percent of college football fans disapprove of the BCS.

In response to this, Bill Hancock, the executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, said, "It's easy to support a hypothetical playoff on paper, but no one has come up with a viable way to actually create one without diminishing the value of the regular season and ending the bowl games as we know them."

Really, Bill?

I've seen a lot of playoff proposals, any of which would be better than the current system. My favorite comes from Dan Wetzel, who would have a 16 team playoff, with the champions of all 11 conferences and 5 at-large teams. All games except the championship would be home games for the higher seed. Wetzel has laid out a lengthy argument on why that would be the best system, so I won't go through the whole thing here, but I do think it's the best proposal I've seen.

That said, I'll reiterate that almost any playoff proposal would be better than the current system, in that it would allow more than just two teams to contend for a championship.

"Anything Tebow can do, Wall can do better"

2009-12-16T12:29:00.001-05:00

Improved Tebowisms:

Highlights: "- Tim Tebow was late for practice one day.The rest of the team had to run laps for being early. Tim Tebow has to practice."

- Whoever coined the phrase "defense wins championship" obviously never heard of Tim Tebow. Whoever coined the phrase "defense wins championship" was probably a caveman or a Florida fan. John Wall would later add the 's' to the end of the phrase, making it grammatically correct.

- Tim Tebow doesn't bowl strikes, he just knocks down one pin and the other nine faint. John Wall just bowls strikes, because he's awesome at bowling and not a cheater.

- Tim Tebow's house has no doors, only walls that he walks through. John Wall's house has doors, because he knows that a house with no doors is a stupid idea.

- When Tebow scores a touchdown it's worth 7 points without the extra point kick, but he always gives one back in the spirit of being a missionary. John Wall thinks he should've used some of those points against Alabama....
- Tim Tebow can get Chick-Fil-A on Sundays, John Wall said it was okay.

- Tim Tebow can dribble a football, John Wall showed him how. Wall is now trying to teach him how to throw one. It's an uphill battle.

My favorite: "Tebow has counted out pi to its final decimal place; John Wall has better things to do."

Read the whole list.

Worthy of The Onion

2009-11-20T15:36:00.002-05:00

When the Ann Arbor Chronicle pointed out an article in the Tampa Bay Business Journal critical of a subsidiary of Detroit-base Issue Media Group, I found my way to 83 Degrees Tampa Bay, which offers Tampa Bay-area humor about economic development issues, some of which matches the best of The Onion:

- Local Woman Aspires to Under-Employment
- Best Places to Be Laid Off From (funny enough to let the grammar slide!)
- Economics Professor Just Doesn't Get It

Applying "That's not what we do" to your personal life

2009-11-20T13:21:00.001-05:00

Today ,via I Will Teach You To Be Rich, I came across another great example of how saying "That's not what we do" is the backbone of strategy.

Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great (my review) and Built to Last, says that the best New Year's resolution you can make is a "Stop Doing" list. This is a similar concept to the second section, "Elimination", of Tim Ferris's The 4-Hour Workweek.

I often feel this way

2009-11-19T22:27:00.003-05:00

BLS fails Macroeconomics 101

2009-11-10T10:44:00.002-05:00

From the New York Times, via DeaneBarker.net

One of the first things we learned in macroeconomics (it was literally in the first chapter of my textbook, by this guy) was that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year.

GDP calculation is (relatively) easy when all production occurs within a single country within a single year. International trade and work across years complicate matters, and one common solution is to use a "value-added" calculation.

Consider a simple case: Elbonia has only one product, cogs. In 2007, they produced 100 cogs, which sold for $2 each. Elbonia's 2007 GDP was $200.

Slightly more complex: Kneebonia has only one product, widgets. Each widget is made of 10 cogs. In 2006, they entirely produced 100 widgets, which sold for $50 each, and had widgets in process consisting of 10 cogs at the end of the year. In Kneebonia, cogs are generally valued at $3 each. Kneebonia's 2006 GDP was $5,030 (100x$50 + 10x$30). In 2007, Kneebonia produced 100 widgets, and had no widgets in process at year-end. Kneebonia's 2007 GDP was $4,970 (99x$50 + 1x$20 for the value added in 2007).

International trade: In 2008, the Kneebonian executives realize that, rather than manufacture their own cogs for $3, they can import them from Elbonia for $2 and pocket the difference. Elbonia makes 2,000 cogs at $2 each, for an Elbonian GDP of $2000. Kneebonia makes 100 widgets, but because they didn't make the cogs, they only get to take credit for the value added of $30 per widget, so even though they maintained their widget production, Kneebonia's GDP decreases to $3,000.

So what did the BLS do wrong?

Well, the US has had an awful lot of outsourcing and offshoring lately. In some cases, the cogs were outsourced, and the BLS didn't adjust for the value added. In some cases, it appears that the entire widget assembly was outsourced, and the BLS just kept counting it.

What does it mean?

If the BLS has been consistently overestimating US GDP, it means that actual GDP growth has been less than reported, and recessionary declines greater. By itself, this doesn't necessary make a huge difference, although it may partly account for recent "jobless recoveries", but when factored together with the systematic undercounting of inflation and unemployment, which I've previously mentioned, it adds up to a much worse economic picture than the government has been reporting.

Saying "that's not what we do."

2009-11-10T08:31:00.002-05:00

Seth Godin reminds us that saying "That's not what we do" (with an understanding of why -- more than just because you never did) is the backbone of strategy, one day after a nice New York Times article about a new media outlet doing exactly that.

On The Texas Tribune's second day of operation, big news broke in their back yard, when a shooting left thirteen people dead at Fort Hood. Tribune staffer Elise Hu described the scene in their offices:

We were all sitting around talking excitedly about what we were going to do with it. And then you could see Matt [Stiles] was about to blow his stack.

You see, the Tribune is not, and was not intended to be, a general news outlet. Their mission is specific: to report on the politics and policy of Texas state government. So kudos to the Tribune for being willing to say, "that's not what we do." I wish more organizations had their discipline!

Carly Fiorina is a hack

2009-11-05T12:22:00.004-05:00

On the heels of her announcement that she will seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat from California currently held by Barbara Boxer, I thought I'd review the "high" points of Carly Fiorina's career.

- She led the spin-off of Lucent from AT&T. Lucent's IPO price was $7.56 per share, and it quickly rose to $84, meaning that the IPO left 90% of the potential money on the table. Within four years Lucent was struggling, and after 6 years, Lucent's stock had crashed to $0.55 per share. Obviously she wasn't 100% responsible for all this, but she certainly played a key role.

- As CEO of Hewlett-Packard, she was an unmitigated disaster. Over the 5 1/2 years she led the company, HP's stock price went from $55 to $21, a 62% decline, while competitor Dell gained 8% over the same time. She merged HP with one of the crappiest PC makers ever, Compaq. She got in a public dispute with HP board member Walter Hewlett, the son of co-founder William Hewlett. On the day Fiorina was forced out of HP, the stock price jumped 6.9% while the broader markets were down. She has subsequently been called the "anti-Steve Jobs" and one of the 20 worst American CEOs of all time.

- She was a key advisor to John McCain in his 2008 presidential campaign, during which she described Sarah Palin as "a person of great accomplishment", before sticking her foot in her mouth by saying that Palin lacked the experience to run a major company like Hewlett Packard, later adding that none of the candidates on the Democratic or Republican tickets had the experience to run a major business.

Sounds like a great nominee for the Republican Party!

Dave Ramsey's latest lie

2009-10-30T15:09:00.003-04:00

Dave Ramsey's latest newsletter had an outright lie, and he should be called out on this:

Washington recently announced that, for the first time since 1975, there will be no cost-of-living adjustment for more than 50 million Social Security recipients in 2010. This is just another sign that the system is mathematically doomed and shouldn't be counted on to fund you at retirement. [My emphasis]

The second sentence is just plain not true, and I'm sure Dave knows this. When there is no (or very low) inflation, there should be no inflation adjustment!

As the Social Security Administration's website states quite clearly:

Because there is no increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2008 through the third quarter of 2009, there is no COLA.

In other words, this has absolutely nothing to do with the solvency, or lack thereof, of Social Security.

Justifiable != necessary

2009-06-19T09:55:00.007-04:00

On a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, discussed his most recent book, War of Necessity, War of Choice. While Mr. Haass is certainly well-qualified and makes a good argument, in the end I don't think any war can truly be said to be a war of necessity; there is always a choice, however unpalatable in may be.

For example, on the show, Mr. Haass described several wars as "wars of necessity" (from the American perspective), including the American Revolutionary War, World War II, and the Korean War (in the beginning, though he mentioned that it developed into a war of choice with the 1950 UN offensive), while describing the Vietnam War and the current Iraq War as wars of choice. This is an overly-simplistic view which I'm disappointed to find in such a distinguished diplomat.

Each of the wars presented by Mr. Haass as a war of necessity may be a justifiable war (jus ad bellum, though not necessarily jus in bello), but there is a difference between justified and necessary. There were alternatives to each war mentioned: in the American Revolution, 15% to 20% of the white population were loyalists; on December 8, 1941, Jeannette Rankin saw an alternative to war with Japan; in 1951, British Attorney General Sir Hartley Shawcross acknowledged opposition to the Korean War, saying, "I know there are some who think that the horror and devastation of a world war now would be so frightful, whoever won, and the damage to civilization so lasting, that it would be better to submit to Communist domination. I understand that view–but I reject it."

Shawcross's view, as expressed in that quote, probably comes close to Mr. Haass's intended meaning of "war of necessity" -- not that no other options are available, but that any options are perceived as relatively unacceptable. If, for example, you had the choice between losing a toe and losing an arm, most people would choose to keep their arm. That doesn't make losing the toe necessary, but it does make it justifiable.

Kudos to Senator Coburn (R-OK)

2008-07-28T11:03:00.002-04:00

I don't agree with certain of his positions, but I must say, kudos to Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) for holding up $10 billion in unneeded spending.

"If we pass a new program, we either ought to get rid of the old program or we ought to make it to where it blends with this other one so it's effective," Coburn said in an interview last week. "Almost everything that they've offered has a duplicate program out there that they're not either eliminating or changing." He said the Senate was shirking its duty by failing to give closer review to the hundreds of bills that slide through by unanimous consent. And he said Congress should not be clearing the way for billions of dollars in potential new spending — even on meritorious projects — without making reductions elsewhere. Fearful of the public debt piling up, he said he wanted the opportunity to at least propose those cuts.

"We ought not be borrowing and expanding the federal government unless we get rid of stuff that is not working," he said.

More on inflation

2008-06-24T13:03:00.001-04:00

As a followup on my previous comments about inflation, consider Dow Chemical's announcement today that it will raise prices by up to 25% next month, following on a 20% price increase last month. For those whose math skills are shaky, that's 50% in three months (don't forget to compound!), which comes to 400% annually! Consumers won't see these price increases immediately, but rest assured that this will eventually work its way through the supply chain; manufacturers are not going to just absorb this price increase.

"Misery Index" - the real numbers

2008-06-24T12:57:00.001-04:00

The unemployment rate and the annual inflation rate are sometimes added together to create what is called the "misery index". A number of news outlets have recently speculated as to why things seems so bad for most people, but the misery index, based on the "official" government numbers, is a relatively low 9.6.

The problem is that, for decades, the federal government has been gimicking both indices. For example, since the mid-1990s, the unemployment rate excludes "discouraged workers" who are no longer even looking for work. As another example of a change made in the 1990s (from ShadowStats.com):

The Boskin/Greenspan argument was that when steak got too expensive, the consumer would substitute hamburger for the steak, and that the inflation measure should reflect the costs tied to buying hamburger versus steak, instead of steak versus steak. Of course, replacing hamburger for steak in the calculations would reduce the inflation rate, but it represented the rate of inflation in terms of maintaining a declining standard of living. Cost of living was being replaced by the cost of survival. The old system told you how much you had to increase your income in order to keep buying steak. The new system promised you hamburger, and then dog food, perhaps, after that.

If we use more traditional measures, unemployment is nearing 14%, inflation is nearly 12%, the misery index is 26% (far worse than the previous post-World War II record of 20.76 in 1980), and we're almost 4 years into a recession!

Making matters even worse (pointed out here), whereas in the 1970s, raises generally kept up with inflation, raises today (usually in the 2% to 4% range) clearly have not and will not.

How often does a 100-year flood occur?

2008-06-23T15:13:00.002-04:00

From the New York Times:

"We have had two almost 100-year floods and two almost 500-year floods in a 35-year period," said Nicholas Pinter, a professor who specializes in flood hydrology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. "Flood levels all along this stretch of the Mississippi have climbed upward, not just by inches but by 8, 10, 12 feet — up to 18 feet over historical 100-year flood conditions. So the simple answer is that floods are higher and more frequent.

"But the underlying theme to everything that's going on," Dr. Pinter added, "is that the current estimates for flood frequency and intensity appear to be grossly underestimated."

Unmodified screenshot

2008-06-17T16:00:00.002-04:00

The marketing of consumerism

2008-06-17T08:57:00.001-04:00

Here's a fascinating article on how the culture of consumerism beat back the prospect of a shorter work week and more free time.

...If as a society we made a collective decision to get by on the amount we produced and consumed seventeen years ago, we could cut back from the standard forty-hour week to 5.3 hours per day—or 2.7 hours if we were willing to return to the 1948 level.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2962

"Clinton, you invoked a political nightmare" by Keith Olberman

2008-05-28T08:35:00.001-04:00

Clinton, you invoked a political nightmare

By Keith Olbermann

Asked if her continuing fight for the nomination against Senator Obama hurts the Democratic party, Sen. Hillary Clinton replied, "I don't. Because again, I've been around long enough. You know, my husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know, I just don't understand it. You know, there's lots of speculation about why it is. "

The comments were recorded and we showed them to you earlier and they are online as we speak.

She actually said those words.

Those words, Senator?

You actually invoked the nightmare of political assassination.

You actually invoked the specter of an inspirational leader, at the seeming moment of triumph, for himself and a battered nation yearning to breathe free, silenced forever.

You actually used the word "assassination" in the middle of a campaign with a loud undertone of racial hatred - and gender hatred - and political hatred.

You actually used the word "assassination" in a time when there is a fear, unspoken but vivid and terrible, that our again-troubled land and fractured political landscape might target a black man running for president.

Or a white man.

Or a white woman!

You actually used those words, in this America, Senator, while running against an African-American against whom the death threats started the moment he declared his campaign?

You actually used those words, in this America, Senator, while running to break your "greatest glass ceiling" and claiming there are people who would do anything to stop you?

You!

Senator - never mind the implications of using the word "assassination" in any connection to Senator Obama...

What about you?

You cannot say this!

The references, said her spokesperson, were not, in any way, weighted.

The allusions, said Mo Uh-leathee, are, "...historical examples of the nominating process going well into the summer and any reading into it beyond that would be inaccurate and outrageous."

I'm sorry.

There is no inaccuracy.

Not for a moment does any rational person believe Senator Clinton is actually hoping for the worst of all political calamities.

Yet the outrage belongs, not to Senator Clinton or her supporters, but to every other American.

Firstly, she has previously bordered on the remarks she made today...

Then swerved back from them and the awful skid they represented.

She said, in an off-camera interview with Time on March 6, "Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn't wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June, also in California. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual. We will see how it unfolds as we go forward over the next three to four months."

In retrospect, we failed her when we did not call her out, for that remark, dry and only disturbing, in a magazine's pages. But somebody obviously warned her of the danger of that rhetoric:

After the Indiana primary, on May 7, she told supporters at a Washington hotel:

"Sometimes you gotta calm people down a little bit. But if you look at successful presidential campaigns, my husband did not get the nomination until June of 1992. I remember tragically when Senator Kennedy won California near the end of that process."

And at Shepherdstown, West Virginia, on the same day, she referenced it again:

"You know, I remember very well what happened in the California primary in 1968 as, you know, Senator Kennedy won that primary."

On March 6th she had said "assassinated."

By May 7 she had avoided it. Today... she went back to an awful well. There is no good time to recall the awful events of June 5th, 1968, of Senator Bobby Kennedy, happy and alive - perhaps, for the first time since his own brother's death in Dallas in 1963... Galvanized to try to lead this nation back from one of its darkest eras... Only to fall victim to the same surge that took that brother, and Martin Luther King... There is no good time to recall this. But certainly to invoke it, two weeks before the exact 40th anniversary of the assassination, is an insensitive and heartless thing.

And certainly to invoke it, three days after the awful diagnosis, and heart-breaking prognosis, for Senator Ted Kennedy, is just as insensitive, and just as heartless. And both actions, open a door wide into the soul of somebody who seeks the highest office in this country, and through that door shows something not merely troubling, but frightening. And politically inexplicable.

What, Senator, do you suppose would happen if you withdrew from the campaign, and Senator Obama formally became the presumptive nominee, and then suddenly left the scene? It doesn't even have to be the "dark curse upon the land" you mentioned today, Senator. Nor even an issue of health. He could simply change his mind... Or there could unfold that perfect-storm scandal your people have often referenced, even predicted. Maybe he could get a better offer from some other, wiser, country. What happens then, Senator? You are not allowed back into the race? Your delegates and your support vanish? The Democrats don't run anybody for President?

What happens, of course, is what happened when the Democrats' vice presidential choice, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, had to withdraw from the ticket, in 1972 after it proved he had not been forthcoming about previous mental health treatments. George McGovern simply got another vice president.

Senator, as late as the late summer of 1864 the Republicans were talking about having a second convention, to withdraw Abraham Lincoln's re-nomination and choose somebody else because until Sherman took Atlanta in September it looked like Lincoln was going to lose to George McClellan.

You could theoretically suspend your campaign, Senator.

There's plenty of time and plenty of historical precedent, Senator, in case you want to come back in, if something bad should happen to Senator Obama. Nothing serious, mind you.

It's just like you said, "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California."

Since those awful words in Sioux Falls, and after the condescending, buck-passing statement from her spokesperson, Senator Clinton has made something akin to an apology, without any evident recognition of the true trauma she has inflicted.

"I was discussing the Democratic primary history, and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged California in June in 1992 and 1968," she said in Brandon, South Dakota. "I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That's a historic fact.

"The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy. I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive, I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever."

"My view is that we have to look to the past and to our leaders who have inspired us and give us a lot to live up to and I'm honored to hold Senator Kennedy's seat in the United States Senate in the state of New York and have the highest regard for the entire Kennedy family. Thanks. Not a word about the inappropriateness of referencing assassination.

Not a word about the inappropriateness of implying - whether it was intended or not - that she was hanging around waiting for somebody to try something terrible.

Not a word about Senator Obama.

Not a word about Senator McCain.

Not: I'm sorry...

Not: I apologize...

Not: I blew it...

Not: please forgive me.

God knows, Senator, in this campaign, this nation has had to forgive you, early and often...

And despite your now traditional position of the offended victim, the nation has forgiven you.

We have forgiven you your insistence that there have been widespread calls for you to end your campaign, when such calls had been few. We have forgiven you your misspeaking about Martin Luther King's relative importance to the Civil Rights movement.

We have forgiven you your misspeaking about your under-fire landing in Bosnia.

We have forgiven you insisting Michigan's vote wouldn't count and then claiming those who would not count it were Un-Democratic.

We have forgiven you pledging to not campaign in Florida and thus disenfranchise voters there, and then claim those who stuck to those rules were as wrong as those who defended slavery or denied women the vote.

We have forgiven you the photos of Osama Bin Laden in an anti-Obama ad...

We have forgiven you fawning over the fairness of Fox News while they were still calling you a murderer.

We have forgiven you accepting Richard Mellon Scaife's endorsement and then laughing as you described his "deathbed conversion."

We have forgiven you quoting the electoral predictions of Boss Karl Rove.

We have forgiven you the 3 a.m. Phone Call commercial.

We have forgiven you President Clinton's disparaging comparison of the Obama candidacy to Jesse Jackson's.

We have forgiven you Geraldine Ferraro's national radio interview suggesting Obama would not still be in the race had he been a white man.

We have forgiven you the dozen changing metrics and the endless self-contradictions of your insistence that your nomination is mathematically probable rather than a statistical impossibility.

We have forgiven you your declaration of some primary states as counting and some as not.

We have forgiven you exploiting Jeremiah Wright in front of the editorial board of the lunatic-fringe Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

We have forgiven you exploiting William Ayers in front of the debate on ABC.

We have forgiven you for boasting of your "support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans"...

We have even forgiven you repeatedly praising Senator McCain at Senator Obama's expense, and your own expense, and the Democratic ticket's expense.

But Senator, we cannot forgive you this.

"You know, my husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California."

We cannot forgive you this -- not because it is crass and low and unfeeling and brutal.

This is unforgivable, because this nation's deepest shame, its most enduring horror, its most terrifying legacy, is political assassination.

Lincoln.

Garfield.

McKinley.

Kennedy.

Martin Luther King.

Robert Kennedy.

And, but for the grace of the universe or the luck of the draw, Reagan, Ford, Truman, Nixon, Andrew Jackson, both Roosevelts, even George Wallace.

The politics of this nation is steeped enough in blood, Senator Clinton, you cannot and must not invoke that imagery! Anywhere! At any time!

And to not appreciate, immediately - to still not appreciate tonight - just what you have done... is to reveal an incomprehension of the America you seek to lead.

This, Senator, is too much.

Because a senator - a politician - a person - who can let hang in mid-air the prospect that she might just be sticking around in part, just in case the other guy gets shot - has no business being, and no capacity to be, the President of the United States.

Good night and good luck.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24797758/page/3/

Earthquake

2008-04-18T08:42:00.001-04:00

Did you feel the earthquake this morning? I actually did; I woke up just about 5:40, and when I heard the dishes rattling a little, I though the cats were playing. Then I saw the blinds shaking and decided it was probably an earthquake. It didn't do much here, just enough to barely rattle dishes that were stacked on the drying rack. If things hadn't been completely quiet -- if it had come 30 minutes later -- I propably wouldn't have noticed it at all.

Comcast v. the FCC

2008-03-31T11:14:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago I commented on the Comcast - BitTorrent kerfuffle.

The two companies now appear to have settled their differences. In a joint press conference last Thursday, they announced that they are now working together to insure that Comcast's efforts to manage its network did not unfairly single out any applications. Comcast promised that by the end of 2008 they will only restrict bandwidth for individual users, and then only during peak usage periods when not to do so would cause service disruptions for others. BitTorrent said it was revamping its software to improve efficiency, and that it would work with Comcast to make the software and network function better together.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin, who had threatened Comcast with penalties over the BitTorrent restrictions, was much less charitable. While he said that he was "pleased that Comcast has reversed course" he also said it is not reasonable to "arbitrarily block certain applications," and went on to complain about the pace of Comcast's announced changes.

Hillary versus the US Constitution

2008-03-12T15:26:00.001-04:00

Following the announcement of Admiral Fallon's early "retirement" after he repeatedly and publicly disagreed with the Bush Administration over Middle-East policy, Sen. Hillary Clinton urged her colleagues to back a bill requiring Bush to get congressional approval before taking any military action against Iran.

This is one of the most absurd political maneuvers in a long line of such moves. While I think that any military action against Iran would be a terrible mistake, for many reasons, this bill is patently unconstitutional, and, should Sen. Clinton be elected, I'm sure she would ignore it, citing the president's role as Commander in Chief.

This is a strong hint that Sen. Clinton may have just as little regard for the Constitution as the current president. The real loser in this showdown will be the American people.

Comcast, TimeWarner, BitTorrent, and network neutrality

2008-03-11T12:06:00.001-04:00

As the FCC proceeds with its investigation into Comcast's blocking of BitTorrent uploads by broadband subscribers, it's interesting to note the different approach that Time Warner Cable has selected to deal with the same issue.

Comcast, intent on alienating both its customers and the FCC, argues that a "very small number of broadband users employ certain (peer-to-peer) protocols that utilize immense amounts of bandwidth in ways that are unpredictable and inconsistent and that can threaten to overwhelm network capacity and harm the online experience of other users. That is why, even with continuous upgrades and constant investment, the fact remains that network capacity is not - and never will be - unlimited."

Time Warner Cable, while supporting Comcast's arguments regarding network management, does not engage in any blocking or slowing down of traffic itself, instead announcing that it may start charging higher fees to heavy bandwidth users later this year.

Ashwin Navin, president and co-founder of BitTorrent, said that in an average month, over 40 million people use its software, a fact he said refutes Comcast's argument that the issue is about a small number of people using software applications like it.

The most insightful comments came from Marvin Ammori, general counsel at the public interest group Free Press, who suggested that network operators like Comcast are facing the reality that the Internet hasn't developed how they thought it would. He observed that when Comcast was building the bulk of its network, it bet on the fact that most of the traffic would be downstream, or into customers' households. As file-sharing applications grow in popularity, Internet service providers are having to fall back on network management as a way to ensure their networks don't collapse under the weight of customer-generated content.

One reason sex offender registries are a bad idea

2008-02-05T16:29:00.001-05:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0515234320080205?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

The problem with Amazon Recommendations

2008-01-11T13:24:00.001-05:00

Actually there are a lot of problems with Amazon Recommendations, but I want to mention a few that really annoy me. If you're too impatient to read the whole thing, the brief summary is that Amazon has ruined any credibility their recommendations might have by seizing on any connection, however insignificant, to something I've bought/rated/wishlisted, and by failing to consider correllations with items I've rated low. Their credibility would be better if they recommended fewer items with greater accuracy, but Amazon's strategy seems instead to be to recommend as many items as possible.

1. The only things I have ever ordered from Amazon are books, music (on CD), and movies (on DVD). Nothing else. I have never ordered any games or game consoles, I have not ordered any Blu-Ray or HD-DVD movies or players, and I do not have any of those items on a wishlist. So why on earth does Amazon keep recommending those things for me? I don't own an XBox (or XBox 360), a Playstation (or PS2, or PS3, or PSP), a Wii, a Blu-Ray player, or an HD-DVD player, so even if I really did want a copy of Bioshock (recommended for me because I added brown men's dress shoes to my wishlist?!) it wouldn't do me much good. RECOMMENDED FOR AMAZON: Give users simple checkboxes to select formats they are interested in. If you notice a user buying something in a different format, suggest that the user might want to add that format.

2. One rated item or wishlist addition spawns dozens or scores of recommendations. I added a Green Bay Packers Cheesehead hat to my wishlist, and got recommendations for "cheese can cooler", "Green Bay Packers #1 Fan Foam Finger", "Cheese Erasers - 10 pack", "Cheese earrings" (I've never bought earrings from Amazon, my ears aren't pierced, these are women's earrings, and my wife isn't a Packers fan), "Cheesehead (Youth size)", etc. Similarly, a positive rating for one Steven King novel ( The Eyes of the Dragon) led to recommendations for dozens of King's novels. RECOMMENDED FOR AMAZON: Be realistic and cautious. If you have recommendations for me that are only based on a single item that I rated, bought, or wishlisted, just give me the one recommendation with the strongest correllation.

3. I don't have a child, and I don't generally like "children's films" or "family films". I do like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, however, and I told Amazon when I bought Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . All of a sudden I started getting recommendations for all manner of children's films. These ranged from Cinderella (despite this film's status as a "classic", I have little interest in Disney's bowdlerized version of this story) to Barbie as the Island Princess. By the time I mark that I'm not interested in five or six such movies, Amazon should geet the clue and stop recommending them. RECOMMENDED FOR AMAZON: Don't just consider correllations among highly rated items, consider correllations among items I've rated low or told you I'm not interested in.

4. Telling Amazon that you own a movie leads them to recommend other versions (wide-screen, special edition, etc.) of the same movie. Some collectors might want every possible version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but I'm satisfied with just one. Similarly, if I tell Amazon that I don't want the wide-sceen edition of The Santa Claus 3, I also have to tell them I don't want it in full-screen, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, PSP, etc. (see also #1, above). RECOMMENDED FOR AMAZON: Have some sense. Don't make me rate movies more than once, and don't recommend another version of a movie that I've told you I own. If you want to really get things right, you might consider integrating the ratings I've put in the Internet Movie Database (which you own) into the Amazon recommendations.

Movies that "welsh out"

2007-12-14T15:23:00.001-05:00

Hollywood has an unfortunate tendency to choose a happy ending over a good ending. On the few occasions when the good ending wins out, the film tends to be a box-office disappointment (often for other reasons; think of The Break Up, which was inexplicably advertised as a romantic comedy, and is still listed as such by Amazon) and/or eventually released with an alternate "happier" ending (consider Butterfly Effect , in which the original ending concluded the movie perfectly, but only an alternate "happier" ending has been shown on television).

While happy endings can make us feel good for a moment, it is tragedies that are remembered as great. Compare two of Shakespeare's best-known romances: A Midsummer Night's Dream with Romeo and Juliet . Compare Oedipus Rex or Antigone with a comedy like The Frogs or Lysistrata. Compare the end of The Lord of the Rings with the end of the Harry Potter series (more characters die in Harry Potter -- in fact, to my recollection, only a handful of characters die in LOTR -- but Harry Potter ends on a much happier note than the melancholy last chapters of LOTR). Compare Cool Hand Luke with The Shawshank Redemption. I am sure there are some people out there who like to have everything tidied up nicely at the end, but for me, movies, stories, and plays like that just seem false. Life isn't like that.

I bring this up, having just read Time's review of the new movie of I Am Legend. I Am Legend is a great book by Richard Matheson, and part of what makes it great is Matheson's willingness to consider the unthinkable. The reviewer's comment that "It's funny how filmmakers are drawn to Matheson's subject of post-apocalyptic annihilation, yet feel the need to "fix" the story and welsh out on its conclusions," really struck a chord with me.

I will probably see this movie anyway, I will probably enjoy the first hour, and I will probably be disappointed by the end.

If you're looking for some good movies that don't "welsh out" at the end, here are 20 that I've enjoyed.

Cool Hand Luke, Titus, Fargo, Dancer in the Dark, Moulin Rouge, Unforgiven, The Break Up, Touch of Evil, Dr Strangelove, Terminator 3, A Fistful of Dollars, Casablanca, American Beauty, Falling Down, Fiddler on the Roof, Seven, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Memento, Twelve Monkeys, and Nosferatu (1922).

And the "hall of shame", 10 movies that ended the wrong way. Interestingly, the first three are all really the same story (damn you, Pygmalion!). The last two are pretty good up until the very end.

Pretty Woman, Grease, My Fair Lady, The Omega Man, Gladiator, You've Got Mail, Waterworld, The Postman, and The Patriot, Mean Girls, and The Lake House.

l4m3

2007-12-12T15:59:00.001-05:00

Merriam-Webster Inc. announced yesterday that their Word of the Year for 2007 is w00t.

There are so many problems with this it's hard to know where to start.

- When this announcement was made, there were still 20 days left in the year, more than 5%. That's like ending a football game with more than three minutes on the clock, or ending a marathon with 1 1/2 miles remaining!

- This decision was made by visitors to the Merriam-Webster website voting. Even if you accept that this decision should be made democratically, rather than by a panel of experts or by a computer algorithm, online voting like this just doesn't give truly representative results; does anyone really think that Ron Paul is going to win in a landslide, as many online polls suggest?

- No one but a n00b would spell it as "w00t." The word is "woot," and replacing the "o"s with"0"s is definitely n00bish. And if they're going with a democratic decision, they should have looked at this.

- Woot is not a new word. Consider that Woot.com was founded in July 2004.

Add to this that the folks at Merriam-Webster don't really seem to grok woot, and the only reasonable conclusion is that this announcement is l4m3.

How the mighty have fallen

2007-12-07T11:26:00.001-05:00

As a former Ann Arbor resident (and still an area resident) who is not a University of Michigan fan, this debacle of a coaching search is delicious.

All season, everyone around Ann Arbor assumed that Les Miles would leave LSU and return to Michigan, the school that chose Lloyd Carr over him in 1995. When he made it clear that he was staying in Louisiana, we heard a lot of sour grapes comments, to the effect that Miles is not really that good of a coach, and that Athletic Director Bill Martin was never really interested in getting him. Then the news was that, from the beginning, Martin's first choice was Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. Everyone around here assumed that if Martin offerred the job, Schiano would surely take it -- what football coach would choose Rutgers over Michigan? Apparently Schiano would.

At some point, Michigan fans are going to have to realize that their program is only great in their minds, and only of consequence in the mediocre-at-best Big Ten. For all that they claim more national championships, more wins, etc. than any other program, nearly all of those championships came at a time when football was a very different sport. Michigan has only won one national championship in the last 50 years (1997), and they shared it with Nebraska. From year to year, Michigan is simply not in the top tier of football teams; compare their recent "success" to the real success of Southern California, Ohio State, Florida, and LSU.

I couldn't be happier to see Lloyd Carr's last game coming against Urban Meier and Tim Tebow. Carr is going to go out with a humiliating blow-out loss.

"Web users tend to be like sheep."

2007-11-30T11:42:00.001-05:00

In response to criticism by MoveOn.org, Facebook spokesperson Paul Janzer wrote that, "Your feedback has made it clear that Beacon can be kind of confusing. To fix this, we are clarifying the way we inform you about a Beacon story before you decide whether or not you'd like to publish it on Facebook."

Janzer added that the site was working to make it clearer which retailers were participating in the program through "visual cues," as well as providing more information in help pages. The post makes no mention of discontinuing the program or bowing to MoveOn's demands for an "opt-in" system, where users specifically approve their participation before their purchases are broadcast to friends' pages.

In fact, the 46,000 users in MoveOn's protest group make up less than 0.1% of the site's user base, points out Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst with Forrest Research. That's far fewer than the hundreds of thousands of users who convinced Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to apologize and disassemble a more public version of the site's News Feed application in September of last year.

It's also less than the 436,000 users who have joined "Apple Students" fan group--a sign, according to Owyang, that Facebook's advertising tactic of associating users with brands will win out despite privacy protests. "When you look at how users actually care about personal information, the majority may be concerned, but are they going to do anything about it? Not likely. Typically Web users tend to be like sheep."

Found at Forbes

It's about time

2007-11-20T10:47:00.001-05:00

For months, I have been wondering when someone would call out Hillary Clinton's "experience." She has repeated claimed that she is the most experienced candidate for President, and based on most polls, people have bought it. But let's take a look at her actual experience (from her official biography at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, with some additional information from CNN):

2001 to present: junior Senator from New York

1993 to 2001: First Lady of the United States

1983 to 1993: First Lady of Arkansas

1979 to 1981: First Lady of Arkansas

1976 to 1992: Attorney at the Rose Law firm (named a partner in 1979)

1975: University of Arkansas Law School faculty

1974: Staff worker assisting the House Judiciary Committee during the investigation of the Nixon administration

I, for one, have a hard time accepting that being married to someone makes you experienced at what your spouse does. Executives in the private sector are well aware of this; when was the last time your heard about the spouse of a former CEO taking over? In fact, this is a large part of the reason that so few family businesses survive, and of those that do survive, family members often recede to a more passive ownership role.

So it made me very happy to read that Barack Obama is finally calling Hillary out on this issue . "My understanding is she wasn't treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. I don't know exactly what experience she's claiming," Obama told reporters in Iowa.

It's about time.

Between a rock and a hard place

2007-11-16T16:11:00.001-05:00

I never thought I'd find myself writing these words, but here goes...

Pat Buchanan is right.

Not about everything, probably not even about most things. But on this one issue, he could hardly be more right.

The recent hand-off from Alan Greenspan, the maestro of the Global Economy, to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke may turn out to have been a lateral far behind the line of scrimmage, leaving Bernanke holding the bag for a recession for which he is no more responsible than was the hapless Hoover.

Buchanan's point is that the Federal Reserve is now between a rock and a hard place. The softening economy, subprime debt going bad on the books of major banks, the inability collapse of the housing bubble, and the credit crunch, all taken together would normally make rate cuts a no-brainer for Bernanke.

But the Fed is responsible not only for the national economy. It is responsible for defending the dollar, which represents the real savings and wealth of the nation. And that dollar has lost more value in seven years than in any similar period in modern history. A euro, worth 83 cents the year Bush was elected, has risen in value to $1.47.

To put it another way, the Dow Jones Industrial Average spent most of 2000 around 10,000, and is currently a bit over 13,000. That sounds like a 30% gain, or about 4.3% a year -- not great, but not terrible. But when you account for the weakening dollar, the DJIA has actually lost 27%! Without getting deep into economic and monetary theory, the ideal solution to this would be to raise interest rates and reduce the monetary supply.

So Bernanke is faced with a no-win scenario. If he lowers interest rates, the economy is stimulated and people keep their houses, but we may be pushed into 1970s-style stagflation, or even an Argentina-style currency collapse . If he raises rates he fights inflation, but pushes the country into a recession, potentially a very deep one.

Personally, I think a recession would be far preferable to currency collapse, but for various reasons of political expediency, it appears that Bernanke is more concerned about avoiding a recession.

OMG! Racists in Ann Arbor! I am like so...

2007-11-16T15:34:00.001-05:00

The title screams: Racism lives in Ann Arbor! But a more acurate title might be "Drunkenness lives at U of M!"

Late Saturday night, I was walking up to the ATM on Church Street and South University Avenue, when a SUV full of drunk men yelled at me, "Fuck you, Afghanistan bitch!" I kept walking, ignoring this eloquent comment. They targeted me because I was wearing my keffiyeh, a checkered Palestine solidarity scarf, which is not in any way related to Afghanistan. I'm white and Jewish, yet I still experienced anti-Muslim racism.

Aside from the absurdity of expecting drunk racists to understand the difference between a keffiyeh and a hijab (well, maybe in Ann Arbor we should expect this), I think it's a bit racist on the author's part to expect people to be able to identify her as Jewish on sight, in the dark, from a moving vehicle. As someone with Jewish ancestors, I find the author's implicit assumption that Jews can be recognized this way to be offensive.

Farther in, we get the author's suggestions.

Beyond changes on campus, we must establish truth and reconciliation commissions, modeled after South Africa's post-apartheid resolution process - a process that is now being applied across America in communities that are no longer willing to sweep ongoing injustices under the carpet. Without addressing past wrongs, power dynamics will continue to be asymmetric, and the racial hierarchy will remain unchanged.

[The author] is an Ann Arbor-raised, Detroit-based emcee and activist.

I guess calling herself an "activist" sounds better than saying that she doesn't care about any particular cause, she just enjoys complaining about things and protesting.

Don't forget to read the comments, most of them clearly had more thought put into them than did the article.

By wearing a keffiyeh, it makes a statement that you sympathize with Palestinian terrorism. The keffiyeh serves no religious function and is ONLY used to make a political statement.

So let me see, you're a white, Jewish, hip-hop "artist" who sympathizes with Palestinian terrorism. Question 1: Where can I get your CD? That should be, um, interesting.

OK, you certainly don't deserve to be shouted at or have stuff thrown at you. I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume your values are confused due to your age and lack of knowledge. But your ignorance makes me sick and your "Jewishness" is clearly out of birth and not based on your values. So don't go holding that out as a shield.

When one of the wealthiest people in the world says taxes should be higher, maybe we should listen.

2007-11-15T13:59:00.001-05:00

Warren Buffett, the billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is known for speaking directly, sometimes bluntly. "Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise. Equality of opportunity has been on the decline," Buffett said, as the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on estate tax reform. "A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy....In a country that prides itself on equality of opportunity, it's becoming anything but that as the gap between the super-rich and the middle class is widening."

Buffett earned his billions by understanding people and money. If the free market rewards good ideas, then every American with a net worth of less than $52.4 billion needs to listen closely to what Buffett has to say.

Everyone lies

2007-11-13T14:35:00.000-05:00

TV's Dr. Gregory House has several rules for diagnosis. Number one is that "everyone lies." Number two is "I don't ask why patients lie, I just assume they all do."

Maybe political pollsters need to adopt a similar approach. In a recent Rasmussen poll, nearly half of respondents said it was very or somewhat important to elect a president with military experience. In the last four presidential elections, voters have chosen candidates with no meaningful military experience, even though in each case the major party opponent did have that experience. Voters chose draft-dodger Bill Clinton over World War II veterans George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole, then chose George W. Bush, who didn't even show up for his National Guard duty, over Vietnam veterans Al Gore (passed up the National Guard to serve as an Army reporter in Vietnam) and John Kerry (Bronze Star, Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts). Kerry''s service was actually mocked by Republican opponents, who took to wearing adhesive bandages with small purple hearts on them. Of current presidential candidates, only Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter and Republican Sen. John McCain have significant military experience, both in Vietnam, but neither are performing particularly well in polls, and it is likely that our next president will have little or no military experience.

I see three possible explanations. One is that voters really do want this in a president, the tracking polls are wrong, and McCain and/or Hunter will garner many more votes than current polling suggests. The second possibility is that, while voters do want this in a president, there are other experiences and qualities that they place a greater value on. The third possibility is that this poll is simply wrong, and voters don't really care about a presidential candidate's military background or lack thereof. Any of these possibilities suggest problems with the poll, which should lead us to also question the accuracy of tracking polls.

Running up the score

2007-11-13T10:10:00.001-05:00

Although I am a Green Bay Packers fan, I am also a fan of Bill Belichick. I think he might be the greatest NFL coach ever, and I think his team has a very good chance to go 19-0 this year. Not only do I not see any problem with his team running up the score against opponents, I think its actually the right thing to do. The players are professionals, being paid to do a job. The offense's job is to score points and the defense's job is to prevent opponents from scoring points. If the offense is on the field and not trying to score, they are not doing their job, and if a coach is not calling plays that will help them score, then that coach is not doing his job.

The same issue arose in college football this weekend, in an incident that got national attention when Wyoming coach Joe Glenn "flipped the bird" toward the Utah team after the Utes attempted an onside kick while ahead 43-0. Glenn was reprimanded by the Mountain West Conference on Monday, and rightly so. We hear enough stories about bad sportsmanship, trash talking, and on-field brawls, that a head coach should know better than to behave like this. If a head coach, a professional, an adult with years of experience, behaves like this, what can we expect from the unpaid 19- and 20-year-olds playing the game?

The only thing in this incident that I disagree with, is Utah coach Kyle Whittingham's later comment that the onside kick with a 43-0 lead was a "bad decision." Winning is never a bad decision, and neither is winning big. Utah was not playing a "warm-up" game against a I-AA opponent, this was a conference game. Whittingham should not apologize for his team's ability to score; if anything, Glenn and the Wyoming team should apologize for their poor performance on the field.

As a Kentucky fan, I have been on the wrong side of a blowout game many times. While its certainly no fun, every time I see my team lose badly, I know that it's not the fault of Steve Spurrier, Tim Tebow, Les Miles, or any other opposing player or coach. They did their job; it was my team that wasn't able or prepared to compete. The right response is not for the loser to blame the winner, but for them to make changes and adjustments so that the next time the teams meet the tables are turned. That's exactly what Bill Belichick did after losing to the Colts last winter, and that's why he is such a great coach.

News flash: headline lies

2007-11-09T11:59:00.001-05:00

Less than 24 hours after losing their reelection efforts, Ecorse's mayor and city councillors voted to slash their successors' salaries . The 5-2 vote Wednesday night cut council members' annual pay from $15,000 to $5,000 and the mayor's compensation from $69,000 to $12,000.

What you had to read well into the article to learn, is that the council was voting to adopt a decision by the Local Officers Compensation Board. Under state law, the Compensation Board members, appointed by the mayor for five to seven year terms, meet every other year. The commission's decision is binding unless two-thirds of the council members and the mayor vote to reject it.

Detroit population grew 4% from 2005 to 2006

2007-11-09T10:48:00.001-05:00

The US Census Bureau has adjusted its 2006 population estimate for Detroit, accepting corrected information supplied by the city.

The original estimate indicated that the city's population had fallen 8.5% in six years, from 951,270 in 2000 to 871,121 in 2006. The revised 2006 estimate of 918,849 means that the population has only fallen by 3.4% in that time. Because the city did not challenge census estimates prior to 2006, the 2005 estimate of 883,465 will stand, and official records will show that Detroit grew by 35,000 people (4%) in 2006.

"I think it's a ridiculous law because people are going to drink whether there are games involved or not. They're at a bar."

2007-11-09T09:32:00.001-05:00

That was a University of Michigan student's comment when the Touchdown Cafe's liquor license was suspended for 5 days because of bar patrons playing beer pong.

An unusual example of common sense

2007-06-29T15:30:00.001-04:00

Lansing, Michigan Mayor Virg Bernero (for whom I worked as a full-time intern several years ago) has suggested that the region would be stronger if his city merged with East Lansing. Even more surprisingly, East Lansing Mayor Sam Singh seemed open to the idea if Lansing resolves its budget issues.

Regardless of whether a merger actually takes place, the two cities are pressing ahead with plans for regionally combined services, including a consolidated 911 emergency dispatch system, a regional communications center that would handle such things as televising public meetings, and a fire station that would be staffed by firefighters from both cities.

Merging these two cities would be a great start, but my dream politician for Michigan would do something about the townships (like get rid of them!). Charter townships are a developer's dream, and a breeding ground for suburban sprawl, and rural areas no longer need such a small unit of government.

More evidence that the Bush/Cheney administration will say anything to get what it wants

2007-06-28T15:08:00.001-04:00

As if the almost weekly changes in stated justification leading up to the invasion of Iraq weren't enough, now we get this flip-flop.

Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney justified ignoring an executive order on the grounds that he is not part of the executive branch. This week, he argues that he is exempt on the basis of executive privilege.

Just one more instance of the Bush/Cheney administration acting as though they are above the law.

Reasons not to use U-Haul

2007-06-28T14:27:00.001-04:00

If I wasn't already avoiding U-Haul (due to bad experiences several years ago), I this investigative series by the Los Angeles Times would start me on a boycott.

Quote for the day

2007-06-28T12:17:00.000-04:00

"The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

- Chief Justice John Roberts, in the 5-4 majority decision that race cannot be a used as a factor in determining what school students attend.

What other mistakes willl John Edwards make?

2007-06-22T09:09:00.001-04:00

As I've written previously, I do like John Edwards, but I'm starting to question whether he would really be a good president.

His admission that he made a mistake in voting to authorize the invasion of Iraq is well-known; less well known is his 2001 vote in favor of a change in bankruptcy law that consumer advocates say made it harder for families to get out of debt, about which he wrote in 2005, "I can't say it more simply than this: I was wrong."

So what are we to make of a presidential contender who is repeatedly -- by his own admission -- wrong. It would be one thing if these were relatively inconsequential or obscure votes, but these were not. The bankruptcy bill was controversial at the time, and was extensively debated, and though not as heavily debated, no one disputes the significance of the Iraq war vote.

I still like John Edwards, but if he was wrong on these important issues, what else will he get wrong?

John Edwards' prescription for disaster

2007-06-14T09:46:00.001-04:00

Generally, I like John Edwards. I think many of his ideas are on the right track, and I wish I was able to see him speak while he is in Detroit today. Despite that, one of his health care proposals is so far off the mark that it has to be addressed.

First, his good idea: requiring health insurance companies to justify their rates by forcing them to spend at least 85% of premiums collected on health care. A handful of states, including New York and Florida, already have such laws, and this idea is ready for nation-wide implementation.

But Edwards' idea for controlling the cost of drugs would be a disaster. Edwards' plan would remove long-term patents from breakthrough drugs, allowing generic drugs to be produced much sooner. Unfortunately for Edwards (and for all of us, if this piece of his plan is implemented), removing long-term patent protection removes most of the incentive for pharmaceutical firms to conduct expensive research and development. Not only would patent removal lead to a decline in R&D (and hence in new drugs brought to market), but since branding would be the only difference among firms' products, we would probably see an increase in drug advertising -- exactly the opposite of what we should be working toward.

How to fix college basketball

2007-06-12T14:53:00.001-04:00

When you really dig down, the root of the problem with college basketball is the relationship with the NBA. The NCAA likes to talk about "student-athletes" while universities build palace-like arenas (and now practice facilities), pay coaches millions of dollars, and charge ticket-holders professional sport prices. The NCAA has not been able to decide if they are an amateur athletic league for students or a professional minor league, and they are trying to take the best (for them) of both.

My (unrealistic) proposal is to split the top tier of NCAA basketball (division 1-A) into a semiprofessional or professional minor league and a league of true student-athletes. Teams opting into the professional league might maintain some relationship to their schools, but would drop any pretense of academics; they would essentially be "basketball schools." They might implement some rules regarding player age or experience, but players would be paid like the professional athletes they are. Teams opting to remain amateur would operate more like the "lower" NCAA divisions, limiting or even eliminating athletic scholarships (and certainly banning athletic recruiting); players would be students who happen to enjoy the sport but are not on an athletic career path. With such a division, basketball players seeking a professional career would no longer be forced into pretending they want a college degree, the NBA could have a real "developmental league," and university administrators could spend more time and energy on improving the academic quality of their school.

The biggest problem I see with implementing such a system is that the schools that must be convinced are the schools with the most to lose, schools such as my alma maters of the University of Kentucky and Michigan State University, schools like North Carolina, Duke, Florida, UCLA, and Louisville. To ensure a smoother transition, and to make this proposal more palatable to these schools, they should be permitted to keep a substantial stake in their teams. For example, the "University of Kentucky Wildcats" might become the "Kentucky Wildcats," a minor league professional team owned and managed by the University of Kentucky. Or they might create the "University of Kentucky College of Basketball" (OK, School of Basketball in the College of Athletics).

Detroit Public Schools

2007-06-12T10:55:00.001-04:00

Maybe my math is wrong, or maybe the Free Press got their numbers wrong, but it seems to me that with a budget of more than $10,000 per student, Detroit should have great schools.

The problem with NCAA basketball

2007-06-12T10:12:00.001-04:00

The events of the last week at the University of Florida are emblematic of the problems inherent in the current arrangement of the NCAA.

First, after announcing his departure and signing a contract with the NBA's Orlando Magic, Billy Donovan asked to be released from that contract to return to Florida. The Gators welcomed him back with open arms, and for most practical purposes it is as though he never left.

In returning to Gainesville, Donovan accepted a six-year contract worth $3,500,000. At the same time, Florida football coach Urban Meyer received a six-year contract for $3,250,000.

Compare this treatment of college coaches with the treatment their players receive; if a player even retains an agent, it is unlikely he will ever be allowed to play college basketball again. At best he might be allowed to return after sitting out half of a season. And don't even think about paying your players; the "student-athletes" are supposed to be grateful for their college scholarships -- scholarships they only need so they can play basketball for a few years before entering the NBA.

Coming soon: How to fix basketball.

Running off

2007-05-22T09:18:00.001-04:00

Kentucky holds its Gubernatorial primary election today. Despite approval ratings which rival the President's, incumbent Governor Ernie Fletcher is expected to win the Republican nomination easily.

The Democratic nomination is a different story. It seems to be a relatively even four-way race among Steve Beshear, Steve Henry, Bruce Lunsford, and Jody Richards. In the most recent polls, Beshear has held a modest lead, followed by Lunsford, Henry, and then Richards; however, the four have traded the lead throughout the campaign, and none have even come close to achieving majority support. If no candidate reaches 40% of the vote, a runoff will occur, forcing the candidates to spend money that could otherwise be banked for the general election.

This creates a peculiar dynamic, in which front-runners try to steal votes, not from each other, but from the other candidates. Imagine Bush and Gore attacking Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader, respectively, rather than debating each other. (OK, so Gore did attack Nader, that's exactly the point!)

The problem is that, too often, political candidates argue that we should vote for them because they are likely to win, rather than because they are the best candidate.

The much bigger problem is that, all too often, this tactic succeeds.

The new twist in delayed flights

2007-05-17T09:26:00.000-04:00

I haven't flown in several years, and I have never been a frequent flyer. It seems like airlines are doing everything they can to keep it that way.

From long lines to check in, to delays and cancellations, to lost luggage, flying has never struck me as an attractive way to travel. If it didn't have the virtue of being far faster than any alternative, would anyone ever fly?

Things have apparently gotten much worse. Not only are flights being delayed, seemingly in record numbers, but there is apparently a new trend of people being forced to wait on the plane for hours. Consider this story of 180 people trapped on a 757 for 10 hours.

Passengers on the flight say they will always remember the pizza. After about five hours, a flight attendant announced that “an American executive” had ordered pizzas to be delivered from the airport. Five boxes arrived.

Flight attendants, who, according to one passenger, had been “missing in action most of the time,” cut the slices into tiny pieces — 70 in all. Flight attendants said that only those who “really needed it” should take one, a passenger said.

Via This Is Broken

Biased financial reporting

2007-05-16T09:25:00.000-04:00

Most financial reporting is absolutely terrible, not worth the electricity it takes to transmit it. There are many, many problems with financial reporting, but for this morning I want to pick out a subtle bias.

This is an image of Google Finance before US markets open in the morning.

Here's a close up.

By showing marks descending only to -0.25% but rising to +0.5%, it is implied that market declines will be less (and less likely) than increases. While this is true on a long term (multi-year) basis, for a single day it is false.

If even such a basic (and presumably objective) tool as a chart is so badly biased, what does this say about the state of financial reporting?

I'm back!

2007-05-15T12:42:00.000-04:00

After a hiatus of more than a year, I am back and ready to blog!

I am setting a goal for myself of at least one blog post every week through the end of 2007.

They may have been entertaining in person...

2006-02-07T14:22:00.000-05:00

...But the Rolling Stones' Super Bowl halftime show on television was a snooze-fest. Maybe ABC shouldn't have censored them, but I don't think that would have helped.

This halftime show should have showcased some of the great musicians who have come out of Detroit: Eminem, the White Stripes, and Motown (I know they did that a few years ago) to name a few. Instead we have aging hipster has-beens giving us this dreck.

On another note, although I am a fan of Aaron Neville's music, his rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was one of the most hiddeous I have ever heard. It's a good thing Dr. John and Aretha Franklin were there to maintain some semblance of listenable music.

Tags: music, Super Bowl, Rolling Stones, halftime show, Aaron Neville

When is a monarchy not a monarchy?

2006-02-07T08:51:00.000-05:00

When the people vote for it.

Tags: Nepal, government, war

Great blonde joke

2006-01-05T12:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Deane at Gadgetopia, here is the best blonde joke ever!

Tags: blogs, jokes, funny

Request for help

2006-01-04T08:15:00.000-05:00

It has recently come to my attention that my blogs (this one and also The Book Report are displaying correctly in Opera and Mozilla, but not Internet Explorer. If you can help me with this, please contact me at C M A D L E R at G M A I L dot C O M. Thank you in advance!

Tags: blogs, help, HTML

Gay priests?

2006-01-04T07:52:00.000-05:00

All the recent talk about the Catholic church allowing or barring homosexual men from serving as priests seems to gloss over one key point.

How do you tell the difference between a heterosexual and a homosexual priest?

This is the beginning of a great joke, but I am not going to share it here, because it also raises a valid point. If all priests take and (in theory) adhere to a vow of celibacy, what is the big deal? The question that follows is whether people are judged by their actions or their thoughts. I suspect that ~~most~~ all men have have fantasized about sex. Other people do not have access to our thoughts; the only realistic way humans can judge other humans is by their actions. So let me phrase my question another way:

If someone is celibate (as Catholic priests are expected to be), how do you know their sexual orientation, and does it matter?

Tags: Catholic, priests, sexuality, celibacy

Squidoo's success and failure

2005-12-16T13:28:00.000-05:00

Seth Godin has come up with an interesting idea with Squidoo.

The company, whose slogan is "Everyone's an expert on something," allows users to view and create 'lenses', each a single page devoted to a single topic. For example, Seth created What you need (okay, want) to know about Seth Godin. The second concept behind Squidoo, is chunking. "The best lenses divide the world into tiny bite-sized chunks. A long long list of links (which is what most web pages that fashion themselves as lenses contain) is completely useless to the average human. The goal here, remember, is not completeness, it’s to give me a toehold."

As much as I wanted to like Squidoo, I think it has some fundamental design flaws.

One of the argued advantages of Squidoo over a topical blog is that blogs put the most recent posts front and center. This is great if you are a recurring reader (though in that case you are probably getting the blog on RSS anyway), but may not be such a hot thing for readers who are new to the site. First because you may be expanding on a previously introduced idea, and secondly because your most recent post may not be your best post. To solve this problem, Squidoo offers a design which is fundamentally static; there is no expectation of new material except perhaps as information changes or becomes out of date. This solution creates a new problem, however; there is no new information, and therefore less tendency for readers to return!

A better solution is to offer links to featured posts either at the top of the page or in a sidebar. This offers a combination of the newness of blogs with the introduction of a static page like Squidoo.

If Blogger ever improves their service, you may be certain to find "featured posts" here.

Tags: Squidoo, blogs, Seth Godin, content management

Not so flippin' sweet

2005-12-06T14:06:00.000-05:00

Following on the footsteps of the "Vote For Pedro" t-shirts, the Napoleon Dynamite Quote Book, and the Napoleon Dynamite Talking Doll...

With the Napoleon Dynamite flip book, fans of the hit film can watch Napoleon bust a move anytime, anywhere.

This is the kind of crap you expect three months before a Disney movie is released, not a movie that's been out on DVD for nearly a year.

Napoleon Dynamite: It's a movie, get over it.

Tags: Napoleon Dynamite, geek, vote for Pedro, crap

Storytelling

2005-12-03T09:53:00.000-05:00

Toy Story

Toy Story 2

A Bug's Life

Monsters, Inc.

Finding Nemo

The Incredibles

This is a list of every feature film produced by Pixar. Six movies in ten years - a film every two years. By comparison, DreamWorks Animation has produced twelve feature films in just seven years - a film every seven months.

But consider the movies. While every Pixar film has been an enourmous success (both commercial and critical), DreamWorks Animation has struggled, producing such flops as: Antz, The Prince of Egypt, Joseph: King of Dreams, The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Shark Tale, and Madagascar. Even Shrek 2 sold far worse than expected.

Both companies have computer animation roots going back decades. The quality of animation between their films is very comparable. The difference is the stories. Pixar's expertise is in telling engaging stories through the medium of computer animated films, and they are willing to take time to ensure that the story is good. DreamWorks Animation, on the other hand, is committed to releasing at least two films every year. It's a lot harder to craft a good story when you're working on a short deadline.

Tags: movies, Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, storytelling

Most dangerous building in the world?

2005-12-02T21:09:00.000-05:00

A Taiwanese geologist, Lin Cheng-horng, has said the huge weight of Taipei 101, the world's tallest building, could be responsible for triggering a rise in seismic activity. According to Mr Lin it weighs 700,000 metric tons and exerts a stress on the ground below of 4.7 bars - some of which would be transferred to the earth's upper crust due to extremely soft sedimentary rocks beneath the Taipei basin.

Ironically, the building has been noted for its innovative construction. A 660-ton tuned mass damper is held at the 88th floor, stabilizing the tower against earthquakes, typhoons, and wind. The damper can reduce up to 40% of the tower's movements.

Tags: Taiwan, Taipei 101, building, earthquake

"The aisles will be running with blood."

2005-12-02T20:50:00.000-05:00

That's what Corey Caldwell, spokesperson for the Association of Flight Attendants, had to say about the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) announcement that small scissors, screwdrivers, wrenches, and pliers will be allowed in carry-on luggage. The change takes effect December 22, just in time for holiday travel.

Tags: airlines, security, terrorism, USA, TSA

Putting partisanship aside

2005-12-02T19:17:00.000-05:00

In just the past fortnight, we have seen the realization of a 'Grand Coalition' in Germany, a majority government controlling 78% of the parliamentary seats.

We have seen Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leave Likud (of which he was a founding member) to create a new party, called Kadima. He was joined by former Labor Party Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The last event in US politics that even comes close to this was Theodore Roosevelt running as a Bull Moose.

We can only hope that this tendancy to put partisan interests aside will find its way to the US. For the last five years the Democrats have done their best to put Republicans in charge, nominating candidates who, despite refusing to take a controversial stand, allowed themselves to be painted as extremists. Now the Republicans are trying to toss the hot potato back, as a president who ran to 'return dignity to the White House' faces indictments against Scooter Libby, and Tom DeLay, and criminal investigations ongoing against many others.

What if we had Colin Powell and Wesley Clark running together? John McCain and John Edwards? Hillary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice? I know that none of these are going to happen, but its still fun to dream.

Tags: politics, Israel, Germany, USA, partisanship

Special effects

2005-11-18T22:26:00.000-05:00

When each of The Matrix movies was released the special effects were considered cutting-edge. In the second movie, The Matrix Reloaded, for example, much was made of 'The Pile' (aka the 'Burly Brawl'), a scene in which hundreds of Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving) attack Neo (Keanu Reeves).

Watching that scene today, it looked like a poorly rendered computer game scene, not a climactic scene from the most-anticipated movie of the year.

Tags: Matrix, movies, special effects

How do you measure freedom?

2005-11-18T20:16:00.000-05:00

A leading research and advisory firm, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) recently ranked 20 middle-eastern countries on 15 indicators of political and civil liberty to measure the freedom of each country.

While most of the rankings fall as expected - Israel ranked as the most free, Libya and Syria as the least - a few items on the ranking might seem surprising to casual observers. The five most free countries on the list include three of the most volatile countries in the world: Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq. These high rankings reflect recent developments such as Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon and elections in Palestine and Iraq.

At the bottom of the rankings, Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, tied with Syria as the second least free country. Saudi Arabia held municipal elections in February of 2005 - its first elections ever - but the country remains an absolute monarchy. If nothing else, this survey should put to rest the lie that US intervention in the Middle East is about promoting democracy

Tags: Middle East, freedom, Saudi Arabia

War on Drugs

2005-11-18T16:28:00.000-05:00

John Walters, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said recently that the rising street price of cocaine in the US shows that the Bush Administration's policies in Latin America are working. Walters said the price of a gram of cocaine had risen 19% in seven months, and its purity had fallen.

The fact is that over the long term, cocaine prices have been relatively stable, and the recent increase is probably just temporary. For more details on why this increase will be temporary, take a look at Freakonomics, or at Beyond Politics and Reason. Or just take Macroeconomics 101.

Tags: drugs, economics, Bush, War on Drugs

Progress against malaria

2005-11-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

In another major advance in the fight against infectious diseases, recently concluded tests have shown an anti-malaria vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline's RTS S/AS02A, to be far more effective than previously believed. Malaria kills over a million people world-wide each year.

The initial six month follow-up showed that the vaccine reduced the risk of clinical malaria by 30%, and the risk of serious disease by 58%. It had been thought that the vaccine would only be effective for about six months, creating a significant logistical challenge to vaccinate African childern twice a year. In a recent report published in The Lancet, researchers working in Mozambique found the jab cut the risk of clinical malaria by 35% and nearly halved the risk of serious malaria even after 18 months.

Melinda Moree, of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, said: "We are very excited because there is a malaria vaccine that protects children from malaria and it actually lasts long enough to make it a real public health intervention that can have an impact on malaria in Africa."

Tags: disease, Africa, malaria, vaccine

Thought for the day

2005-11-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

Native groups across South Africa share a common commitment to ubuntu, a Zulu word roughly meaning compassion or respect for others. Traced back to the Zulu maxim "a person is a person through other persons," Archbishop Desmond Tutu explained this as meaning that I am not complete until you are complete, nor happy until you are happy.

- From Moral Courage: Taking action when your values are put to the test by Rushworth M Kidder

Tags: quote, South Africa, ethics, Desmond Tutu

Another one bites the dust!

2005-11-11T14:41:00.000-05:00

The global eradication of smallpox is one of the greatest public health successes ever.

Within two years we may see another such success. The BBC reported late yesterday that only six nations (Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan, and Egypt) have had recent polio cases, and that the disease could be completely eradicated within 18 months.

The World Health Organization was making major headway against polio, until 2003, when Islamic clerics in Nigeria organised a boycott of the polio vaccine, claiming it was part a western plot against Muslims. The disease subsequently spread to 15 African countries and was also detected in Yemen and Indonesia.

"This is the light at the end of the tunnel," said Bruce Aylward, WHO co-ordinator for the eradication of polio.

Bruce Aylward, coordinator for the polio eradication project, noted that the WHO is still needs to find $200m for operations in 2006. "Now it's simply [about] getting the financial resources to get this thing finished. You'll never get another chance like it."

Tags: polio, disease, WHO, eradication, Africa, health

How to build a better future

2005-11-11T08:26:00.000-05:00

The news from Grand Rapids was school closings.

The news from Holland was that striking teachers would be fired.

The news from Kalamazoo was that graduates of the Kalamazoo Public schools (enrollment of about 10,000 pupils) will get four years' tuition paid to any public college or university in Michigan. Students enrolled from grades 9 through 12 will get 65%. Students enrolled from grades 3 through 12 will get 95%. Students enrolled for all 13 years (K through 12) will get 100%. All they have to do is attend Kalamazoo Public Schools, graduate from KPS, and maintain a 2.0 average in college.

The long-term impact of this on Kalamazoo can not be overstated. It makes the public school district much more attractive (compared both to surrounding districts and to private schools). It gives hope to thousands of students every year that they can have a better future. It will build a more educated workforce in Kalamazoo, attracting better jobs. And, thanks to seven anonymous donors, it will not cost a penny of tax money.

Tags: Kalamazoo, Michigan, education, donation, school, scholarship

100 posts!

2005-11-10T09:57:00.000-05:00

The previous post was my 100th post on this blog! It took me 14 months, averaging approximately 1 post every 4.2 days, but that statistic is deceptive; several times I have gone almost a month with no posts, and I have written as many as 5 posts in a single day. Hopefully I can get to 200 posts a little more quickly; my goal is to write post #200 by next summer.

Meaningless records

2005-11-10T09:15:00.000-05:00

In a particularly pointless effort, Boeing has flown a new 777-200LR Worldliner jet 13,423 miles from Hong Kong to London, setting a new record for a commercial airplane (though not a commercial flight; the plane carried just 35 passengers -- pilots, Boeing engineers and an international assortment of journalists, all of whom had been carefully weighed with their luggage). The Earth’s circumference is approximately 40,000 km. So you can get from anywhere to anywhere in about 20,000 km. This airplane is flying an extra 1,500 km just for the heck of it.

There are some records that just don’t matter any more, and this is one of them. It’s as if someone had followed Magellan’s ship around the world, and then sailed another 50 miles at the end.

Tags: airlines, record, Boeing, news

Lest readers think I am biased against US media

2005-11-06T13:42:00.000-05:00

In a recent article entitled "Bird flu plan 'one of the best'" the Beeb quoted Professor Roy Anderson (cited as "the government's advisor on infectious diseases", though no title was given) as saying that the UK's plans to deal with bird flu are "as good as if not better" than the plans of other countries.

There is a big difference between the "as good as" quote in the article and "one of the best" in the article title.

Tags: BBC, bird flu, UK, news

American news

2005-11-04T09:56:00.000-05:00

After the apparently accidental death by electrocution of two Muslim teenagers, Paris has been wracked by riots for more than a week. Last night alone, more than 500 vehicles were burned.

After a unanimous UN Security Council condemnation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map," Iran's foreign minestry expressed surprise that the Security Council had never condemned threats made against Iran by the US and Israel or the crimes of the Israeli regime going on to say that Iran was committed to its engagements based on the UN charter. "[Iran] has never used force against a second country or threatened the use of force."

For some reason US broadcast news has been too busy telling us about what Michael Brown was wearing than to give us important international news.

Tags: politics, Iran, Paris, news

Worst food ever.

2005-11-04T09:39:00.000-05:00

The letter I just sent says it all:

To Whom It May Concern:

I have always been an adventurous eater and have enjoyed a wide
variety of salsa flavors (including mango, peach, artichoke, apple,
etc.) and I recently purchased a bottle of Salpica Mango Peach Salsa
expecting to have something deliciously sweet and spicy.

I have to tell you, your salsa is without a doubt, the nastiest thing
I have ever put into my mouth. In all honesty, the flavor was
unmistakably reminiscent of vomit.

Please do not send me any certificates for free products; after such
an experience I will never touch your merchandise again, and will
request that it be dropped from my local grocery store. I hope that
you will redesign the salsa in question, but again, it really doesn't
matter to me, because I will not try it again. All I am asking for is
an apology from whoever is responsible for this atrocious flavor.

Unless you enjoy the flavor of vomit, consider yourself warned.

Tags: food, salsa, nasty, vomit, Salpica, Frontera

What is a pirate's favorite holiday?

2005-09-19T12:21:00.000-04:00

Two for the price of one!

2005-09-14T10:48:00.000-04:00

Here it is, folks; the day we've all been waiting for. Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, both going bankrupt the same day!

I bet all those Northwest mechanics, striking from their $37/hour jobs, feel pretty stupid now. Yesterday they lost their jobs (Northwest began hiring permanent replacements) and today they will lose their pensions. Happy ~~retirement~~ job hunting!

Who would have predicted two of America's largest and best-known companies would become penny-stocks?

Plenty of people. At this point it is clear that the US aviation industry is an unmitigated disaster. United Airlines. US Airways. Delta. Northwest. Our biggest air carriers are completely and universally unable to turn a profit. Nor is this a recent phenomenon brought on by rising fuel costs, Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, or the September 11 attacks. For decades, the airlines have been playing this game, blaming external events for their failure and getting bailed out by the US government.

There are two solutions for this problem. One is to nationalize US aviation. The other is to let the free market run its course. No more bail-outs. No more emergency federal loans. If an airline can't turn a profit, they go out of business. Anything less will just prolong the problem, and increase the cost taxpayers must eventually bear.

Tags: airlines, strategy, Northwest, Delta, strike, union, bankruptcy

On the lighter side...

2005-09-09T23:03:00.000-04:00

Recent discoveries suggest that pterosaurs, the flying reptiles living at the same time as dinosaurs, grew to sizes that are frankly mind-blowing.

Newly found Romanian and Brazilian fossils indicate a wingspan greater than 40 feet, and possibly as much as 60 feet.

For comparison, today's biggest flying bird, the wandering albatross, has a wingspan of about 11 feet. Looked at another way, this is about the size of a commercial airplane capable of carrying 20 to 30 passengers.

Tags: bizzare, animals, paleontology

Jose Padilla follow-up

2005-09-09T22:49:00.000-04:00

What's that? You say you've forgotten who that is?

Let me remind you.

A US citizen, Padilla was arrested in Chicago in May 2002, on suspicion of planning to detonate a "dirty bomb." President Bush declared Padilla an "enemy combatant," a designation created by Bush that allows the military to hold someone indefinitely without charges. Since then, for three years, Padilla has been held in the Navy brig in Charleston, SC.

A ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that this was legal. Apparently you can become a federal judge without reading the US Constitution.

"The exceedingly important question before us is whether the president of the United States possesses the authority to detain militarily a citizen of this country who is closely associated with al-Qaeda. We conclude that the president does possess such authority," read the ruling written by Judge Michael Luttig, who is seen as one of Mr Bush's possible nominations for the Supreme Court.

Tags: President Bush, politics, Padilla, Constitution, Bill of Rights

Sticking our collective nose in other countries' business

2005-09-09T22:32:00.000-04:00

In the grand tradition of US intervention in Latin America, Roger Noriega, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Americas, suggested that Nicaragua's congress should think twice before impeaching their President, Enrique Bolanos. "If there were this kind of judicial mugging of President Bolanos I think the [inter-American] community would respond very, very forcibly," Noriega said.

Tags: Nicaragua, Latin America, impeachment, intervention, USA

Striking mechanics just don't get it

2005-09-08T15:20:00.000-04:00

Northwest Airlines' striking mechanics just don't seem to get it. The mechanics average about $70,000 a year in pay. They were willing to take a 20% pay cut, but no the 25% cut the company proposed. This represents a new average pay of $56,000 versus $52,500. Today in negotiations Northwest demanded even steeper cuts.

I know there is some hardball negotiating going on here, but the mechanics need to consider their position. Northwest has done reasonably well with its replacement workers, and has said it will begin hiring permanent replacements on Tuesday if a deal has not been reached. Northwest clearly has a lot of bargaining power here, since it has such an alternative. What alternative do the mechanics have? They will probably be lucky to get jobs that would match even the 25% pay cuts that Northwest was offering.

Tags: airlines, strategy, Northwest, strike, union

Insight from abroad

2005-09-06T09:50:00.000-04:00

The following is from a comment on this Gadgetopia post:

Hello, I am from Germany and probably get different informations than you get.

It is a terrible thing what happens in New Orleans at the moment. How can the wealthiest country in the world forget their own people?

Why don`t they get enough food and water to the people for five days?

Why can`t they evacuate 100.000 people in five or six days?

In many countries the USA have a problem with their reputation because of the IRAQ WAR. Your President MR BUSH seems to have special interests in OIL. And the people who voted for him were mostly white.

New Orleans doesn`t seem to have OIL nore WHITE People. It did not seem to interest him for the first three to four days. Praying is just not enough at some stage…

I just cannot imagine, that it is not possible to send s.th. to drink (coke, beer, water , whatever) and food to those people in 1 day. Why did it had to take 6 days????

You should ask your president these questions and don`t let him get away with his view to a great future.

Let me say one thing: Mr. Bush in one of the craziest COWBOYS you have ever had as a president…
Jens

Tags: Katrina, Hurricane Katrina, Bush, comments

SBC: A story

2005-09-06T09:12:00.000-04:00

Let me tell you a story about the telephone company. I call this little story, "I Want My Two Dollars! Two Dollars!"

Once upon a time, Carter lived in Ann Arbor, and he used either a calling card or a cell phone for long distance calls. So for the land line, he had local service from Ameritech, which changed its name to SBC, and no long-distance service at all. Carter was perfectly happy with this arrangement, and no one else seemed to mind much either.

Then he moved and when Carter called SBC to transfer the phone service he was told that they must select a long-distance provider. If you had tapped the phone line when Carter made that call, you would have broken the law. But you also would have heard a conversation something like this:

SBC Rep: You must have a long-distance provider selected.
Carter: But I don't use this phone for long-distance. In fact, I don't even use it for local calls! All I use it for is dialing up my ISP, which I get free.
SBC Rep: Dialing up to the internet? {Insert DSL sales pitch here}.
Carter: No. I'm not going to pay that much ($25 for the phone line + $25 for DSL = $50 to get online!). And I don't want a long-distance provider either.
SBC Rep: Tell you what. SBC has a long-distance plan with no monthly fee. So you only pay for the calls you make. If you don't make any calls, it won't cost you anything.
Carter: (Still pissed off about the hassle he just got from the gas/electric company, and tired of arguing.) Fine. Give me that.

So Carter moved to Livonia, and never used the phone except to connect to their ISP. In fact, most of the time the phone wasn't even plugged into the jack! Then Carter moved again, to Holland (the small city in western Michigan, not the small nation in western Europe). SBC didn't hassle Carter about transfering his service this time, and Carter didn't even think about the long-distance, which they had never used, and never paid for not using.

Well, the months went by, and then one day Carter noticed something on the back of his phone bill. Amidst all the irrelevant information and advertising was a little notice saying something to the effect of:

Dear customer, unfortunately for you, we have decided that we just aren't making any money off this long-distance plan. For some reason, the people who choose this plan (no monthly/annual fee, high per minute charge) don't really make a lot of long-distance calls. Who could have predicted that? So we're discontinuing this plan. You can stay on it as long as you want, but we're going to start charging you a $2 monthly fee.

As you can well imagine, Carter wasn't too happy about this. So one morning when the phone in question was inexplicably out of service, in addition to calling in the service request, Carter decided to take a minute to talk to someone about this.

Carter: Good morning! I noticed on the back of my recent bill that my long-distance plan is being discontinued and you are going to charge me a $2 monthly fee until I change or cancel the service.
SBC Rep: That's right.
Carter: Do you have any long-distance plans without a monthly fee?
SBC Rep: No, yours was the only one and now it's gone.
Carter: In that case, I'd like to cancel this long distance service. Seeing as how I never use it and didn't really ask for it - I was told that I had to have a plan - I am really not interested in paying for it.
SBC Rep: Sure thing. I do need to let you know there is a $10.44 cancellation fee.
Carter: (Blowing his top.) So let me get this straight. For a plan which I didn't want, have never used, and will never use, you are going to either charge me $2/month or $10 to cancel it!
SBC Rep: Those are the charges, yes.
Carter: I will not pay either of those fees. Those were not disclosed when I signed up for this plan and I have never agreed to them. I want you to cancel it at no charge.
SBC Rep: I am telling you now that if I cancel it you will be charged.
Carter: Fine. Then let me talk to your manager.
SBC Rep: I am an account manager [Note: if you don't know this is fancy language for salesperson].
Carter: If you can't do this at no charge, then I want to talk to your supervisor.
SBC Rep: My supervisor will have to charge you for this also.
Carter: I am sure there is someone in the company who can waive a $10 charge.
SBC Rep: $10.44. And no, there isn't.
Carter: (Having a creative thought.) What if I cancel all my phone service? Would you still charge me?
SBC Rep: No.
Carter: So you're telling me that SBC would rather lose me completely than just lose my long-distance service?
SBC Rep: (Getting frustrated.) Let me transfer you to someone in customer service who may be able to help you.
Carter: (Wondering who I've been talking to all this time - customer disservice?) OK.
SBC Rep: Before I transfer you {Insert DSL sales pitch here}.

That's right, after all that she actually had the nerve to try to sell Carter DSL (and at $15 above SBC's advertised price)! So eventually someone in customer service picked up Carter's call, and told him that despite what he read on his statement, and despite what the first person told him, there would not be a $2 charge. Did Carter believe her? (Give me a break! Would you believe her?) Of course not. So being a sensible person, (and mistaking Rep #2 for a sensible, if uninformed, person) Carter thought it might be a good idea to pin her down.

Carter: If I do get this $2 fee, will you reverse it for me?
Rep #2: You won't get a $2 fee.
Carter: I understand that. But another rep just told me I would.
Rep #2: I'm sorry they must have been wrong.
Carter: Obviously someone is wrong. I'm worried that it's you. If I get this $2 fee, will you reverse it for me?
Rep #2: You won't get a $2 fee. (Can you say 'broken record'?)
Carter: I understand that you are telling me I won't get a $2 fee. So if I do, it's a mistake, right? So if I get this $2 fee you will fix that mistake and reverse the fee for me, right?
Rep #2: (Not sounding entirely sure.) Right.
Carter: Great! Talk to you in a month when I need that two dollars back!
Rep #2: (Stunned.)
Carter: [click.]

Carter has learned his lesson. Next time he moves, he is not going to get a land-line at all. He will just going to get broadband from the cable company. The cost is about the same as a phone line + DSL, and the cable company won't give him shit about my long-distance provider.

Tags: SBC, customer service, phone

$1,000,000 Boing Boing award

2005-09-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

Flying Spaghetti Monster follow-up.

On August 19, Boing Boing offered a $1,000,000 award for anyone who "can produce empirical evidence which proves that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster."

Many bloggers offered to add further to the award, which was rejected "...because many of you offered sums payable in "whisky and wenches," or "ho's 'n' blow," neither of which really count."

Tags: Flying Spaghetti Monster, religion, FSM, boingboing

"The most powerful kiss in history"

2005-09-02T09:33:00.000-04:00

Louise Kelsey, 58, was working at the Park Hyatt in Melbourne, Australia on November 19, 2001 (the day before Uruguay's first World Cup playoff against Australia), when an Uruguayan soccer player kissed her against her will.

She said the player was flirting with her, saying she had beautiful eyes. He then grabbed her as she left and kissed her.

Ms Kelsey told the Victorian County Court her post traumatic stress disorder after the incident exacerbated her nystagmus - a pre-existing condition that causes involuntary eye movement. She was declared legally blind in August 2002.

The Park Hyatt's defence team does not dispute that an incident occurred, but it put forward a doctor, who said the kiss must have been "the most powerful kiss in history" if it caused its recipient to become legally blind.

The hearing is ongoing.

Tags: health, bizzare, blindness

In the wake of the storm

2005-09-02T09:11:00.000-04:00

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Michael Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, said a public health emergency warning was in place from Louisiana to Florida. He said there were grave concerns about cholera, typhoid and dehydrating diseases.

Mr. Leavitt's warning may have missed the mark, however; outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhoid are not probable because the microbes which carry them are virtually non-existent in the US, and so an outbreak like the one in West Africa is very unlikely.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) records from previous US disasters show the majority of medical problems after the events have been associated with diarrhoea and asthma. The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration are advising people to throw away food that may have come into contact with flood water and only to drink bottled water.

Dr Glenn Morris, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore, said: "The biggest problem is the sewage contamination of the water. Just splashing around in the water, if there is sewage contamination there is a risk you could get it on to your hands and get it into your mouth." He said viruses such as hepatitis A could be a threat as well as dangerous strains of E.coli.

As many wild animals have been pushed from their normal habitats into limited dry areas (and hence into closer contact with people), rabies may become a problem. Another problem may be mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile Viral Encephalitis. Stagnant flood waters may result in a booming mosquito population. WNVE killed more than 200 people in the US in 2004.

Fortunately, these diseases are not directly transmitted from person to person, and so as the water recedes and order returns to the area, any disease outbreak should die off quickly.

Tags: Katrina, Hurricane Katrina, disease, Health

Wasn't that a mighty storm?

2005-09-02T06:12:00.000-04:00

I've held off posting on Hurricane Katrina for nearly a week, but I can't keep my mouth shut any longer. There is only one reason that nine people died in Florida, hundreds in Mississippi, and probably thousands in Louisiana.

Human stupidity.

Human stupidity, for all the people in Florida who didn't evacuate. ("Oh, it's just a Category 1 storm.") Even a 'weak' hurricane is quite a force to be reckoned with, as nine families now know all too well.

Human stupidity, for the people in the Louisiana and Mississippi gulf coast who chose not to evacuate. They don't even have the excuse of the Floridians; this was a Category 5 hurricane, one of the strongest ever in the Atlantic, bearing down on them. There was plenty of time to evacuate; warnings were going out on Friday and the storm didn't hit until Monday morning.

When New Orleans ordered a 'mandatory evacuation', approximately 20% of the population (including the mayor) didn't leave. They can call it 'mandatory' until they are blue in the face, but this evacuation was clearly voluntary.

Here's the worst part, though. It seems that the evacuation order only applied to people with cars, and with money to pay inflated gas and hotel prices. More than 9,000 people took shelter (I know they don't want to call it a shelter, but please, look the word up; it is what it is) in the Superdome; many were waiting in line all day Sunday to get in. Why didn't 250 busses take these people to the Astrodome, out of harm's way, before the hurricane hit? Wouldn't that have been easier than waiting until 3+ days after the storm to evacuate? Isn't it likely that if evacuation had been free, a lot more people would have left?

I remember one September,
When storm winds swept the town;
The high tide from the ocean, Lord,
Put water all around.

cho: Wasn't that a mighty day,
A mighty day, a mighty day,
Great God, that morning
When the storm winds swept the town!

There was a sea-wall there in Galveston
To keep the waters down,
But the high tide from the ocean, Lord,
Put water in the town.

The trumpets warned the people,
'You'd better leave this place!'
But they never meant to leave their homes
Till death was in their face.

The trains they all were loaded
With people leaving town;
The tracks gave way to the ocean, Lord,
And the trains they went on down.

The seas began to rolling,
The ships they could not land;
I heard a Captain crying,
'God, please save a drowning man!'

The waters, like some river,
Came a-rushing to and fro;
I saw my father drowning, God,
And I watched my mother go!

Now death, your hands are icy;
You've got them on my knee.
You took away my mother,
Now you're coming after me!

Somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 people died in the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and it remains the deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the US. Katrina may surpass that number; as of last night more than 20,000 people were still missing.

Tags: Hurricane, Katrina, Hurricane Katrina, natural disaster

Nothing to lose means everything to gain

2005-08-24T10:47:00.000-04:00

A couple days ago I commented on the stock market's odd reaction to the Northwest Airlines strike. I stand by my comment, and apparently The Economist does too. While British Airways has cut $1.8 billion/year in costs and is in a strong financial position, they have been crippled by their recent strike. Northwest Airlines, on the other hand, anticipated the likelihood of a strike, and on the verge of bankruptcy with little to lose, didn't give much in their union negotiations.

Tags: airlines, strategy, Northwest, strike, British Airways

Exploding cigar, anyone?

2005-08-24T10:35:00.000-04:00

I hope Reverend Pat Roberston isn't planning to visit the United Kingdom; he may find himself stopped at the border.

Pat Robertson recently called for the assassination of Venezualan President Hugo Chavez, saying it 'would be cheaper than a war.' Wasn't there something in the Bible about 'Thou shalt not'...something...I'm sure someone as familiar with the Good Book as Rev. Robertson knows the saying! Apparently Rev. Robertson is also not familiar with the USA's long (and often comical) history of assasination attempts agains Chavez's friend, Fidel Castro.

Meanwhile, UK officials announced a plan to bar foreigners believed to inspire terrorism. Interior Minister Charles Clarke published a list of 'unacceptable behaviors' which would prompt deportation or a ban on entry. The list of activities, which covers any non-UK citizen in Britain or abroad, includes expressing views which foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in pursuit of particular beliefs and seeking to provoke others to terrorist acts.

Calling for the assassination of a head of state? Definitely on the list!

Tags: Pat Robertson, Hugo Chavez, UK, assassination, terrorist, Venezuala, politics

Great quote...

2005-08-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

"Actually I rarely think the market is right. I believe non dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it."

- Mark Cuban, yesterday in a blog post

Tags: quotes, Mark Cuban, stock market

Northwest Airlines employees strike

2005-08-20T11:39:00.000-04:00

Shares of Northwest closed down 10 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $5.38 Friday on Nasdaq, as the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, representing 5,400 mechanics, cleaners and custodians, went on strike.

I have to confess my surprise at this. I thought a strike, particularly a really crippling strike, would have been just the thing to tip the struggling airline into bankruptcy. Although bankruptcy is usually viewed as a negative, in this case it would allow Northwest to dump their pensions on the PBGC and restructure all their labor contracts. Today, bankruptcy could be a competitive tool in the airline industry.

Tags: airlines, business, strategy, Northwest, strike, bankruptcy

Feedster claim

2005-08-19T09:59:00.000-04:00

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster

Re-wilding America

2005-08-18T07:49:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time in the Pleistocene Era (between about 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago) some really big animals (the technical term for which is 'megafauna') roamed North America. Cheetahs and lions roamed the western plains, hunting pronghorns, camels, and elephants.

Nearly all of the North American megafauna species became extinct about 13,000 years ago - not coincidentally, about the time humans arrived in the area. This disappearance has left glaring gaps in the complex web of interactions, upon which a healthy ecosystem depends. The pronghorn, for example, has lost its natural predator and only its startling speed - of up to about 60mph - hints at its now forgotten foe. The human extermination of 'top predators' such as cheetahs, lions, and wolves, has lead to countless problems farther down the food chain, which many scientist believe could best be remedied by resoring top predators and megafauna to the ecosystem.

No, I'm not crazy and yes, you read that correctly. A recent article in Nature magazine discussed the idea of repopulating North America with megafauna. Although many of the specific species are long extinct, they have close relatives among the lions, cheetahs, elephants, camels, and antelopes of Africa and Asia. In addition to strengthening North American ecosystems, this would provide a safety net for the world's megafauna, which survives today almost exclusively in Africa.

While this would certainly not solve all of North America's ecological problems (global warming, habitat loss, etc.), it is an idea that, at the least, bears consideration.

Tags: megafauna, predators, ecosystem, environment, conservation

Behold His Noodlyness: the One True Monster!

2005-08-16T09:14:00.000-04:00

One of the most exciting developments in fundamental physics in the last twenty years has been the development of so-called "String Theory." In String Theory, all fundamental sub-atomic particles are visualized and described mathematically as microscopic vibrating strings. Although as yet unproven, many physicists believe that String Theory has the potential to become the long-sought "Theory of Everything," through which the fundamental physical nature of all matter and forces will become understood.

Obviously String Theory IS correct, although misnamed (a secular humanist conspiracy perhaps?). As NOODLE Theory clearly unambiguously reveals, He has created the fundamental subatomic particles that form all matter in this universe in His own quivering image! You, me, the Earth, the stars...everything in the universe...are all built of trillions of tiny jiggling noodles, microscopic copies of our Divine Saucy Maker. Truly He is everywhere and in all things!

-Steve Lawrence, PhD

President Bush on Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (8/2/05): "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes."

Summary of Stated Beliefs:
* The Universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster.
* All evidence pointing towards evolution was put in place by His Noodly Appendage.
* Global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct consequence of the decline in numbers of pirates since the 1800s.
* Bobby Henderson is the prophet of this religion.

Codes of conduct:
* Prayers are ended with "Al Dente" rather than "Amen".
* Followers are expected to dress in pirate regalia to help avert global warming.

Benefits of conversion:
* Like the great noodles they worship, Flying Spaghetti Monsterists have flimsy moral standards.
* Every friday is a relgious holiday. ("If your work/school objects to that, demand your religious beliefs are respected and threaten to call the ACLU.")
* FSM heaven is WAY better; it's got a Stripper Factory AND a Beer Volcano.

Read more about FSMism here, and then read the Words of the Prophet.

Tags: Flying Spaghetti Monster, religion, Kansas, pirates

Avast ye swabs!

2005-08-16T09:02:00.000-04:00

Today I be addin' "Pirate Mode" for me front page, thanks be t' th' Mediocre Minds Pirate Translator.

Arrrr!

Tags: pirates

More intellegent design nonsense

2005-08-16T07:44:00.000-04:00

Lyndon Johnson liked to tell a story about a Depression-era school teacher who was applying for a job in Johnson City, Texas, the president's hometown. The school board, he said, was divided on whether Earth was round or flat, so they asked him how he taught it.

"The poor fellow needed a job so much; he said, 'I can teach it either way.'"
Henceforth, if President Bush has his druthers - or if the school boards in Kansas, Pennsylvania and elsewhere that have decreed equal time for "intelligent design" in their classes have theirs - teachers will have to teach it both ways. Or maybe no way.

The idea of giving equal time to scientifically untestable beliefs that question established scientific principles says in effect that if enough people believe in something, you should not only respect that belief, but call it science. Yes, evolution is scientific theory; so is gravity.

The late Pope John Paul II recognized years ago that biological evolution had progressed beyond the hypothetical stage as a guiding principle behind the understanding of the evolution of diverse life forms on Earth, including humans. At the same time, he rightly recognized that the spiritual significance that one draws from the scientific observations and theory lie outside of the scientific theories themselves. To mush them up is to offend both, and some Catholic scholars have suggested that intellegent design (as known in the US: an alternative to evolution) is actually blasphemous.

Many people have been concerned by a recent New York Times opinion piece by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna and a close associate of the new pope, declaring, "Evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense ... is not true." Schönborn's opinion appeared to redefine the church's view on evolution, though he has since clarified that the article was based on personal opinion rather than Catholic doctrine. The two systems - belief in a divine origin and Darwinian science - aren't incompatible. They belong in different realms, and they're another argument why sectarian doctrine doesn't belong in public education.

There are no scientific studies that even mention intelligent design. It rests largely on the argument that DNA is too complex to have evolved through random selection. To shove it into the classroom as science is an attack on science itself (and in fact, many school boards introducing intellegent design have also inserted changes on the age of the Earth and on the Big Bang).

None of this would matter nearly as much if the United States were still leading the world in the training of scientists. But by almost any measure we are losing ground to China, India and other competitors in the global high-tech world. Teachers around the country say the president's statement will only encourage creationists and other fundamentalist activists who already have them afraid to discuss evolution.

Since his election campaign in 2000, the president led the cheerleading for tougher academic standards. His showcase No Child Left Behind education law requires teaching techniques and other school programs to rest on "scientifically based research" - the law uses the phrase 111 times. But apparently, when it comes to biology or geology, equal time for something that's scientifically untestable is good enough.

Excerpted from: Peter Schrag, Sacramento Bee, August 10, 2005

Tags: evolution, creationism

It Takes a Designer

2005-08-10T10:57:00.000-04:00

Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) came on the Diane Rehm Show this morning to discuss his new book, It Takes a Family. During the course of the interview, Senator Santorum made several comments that deserve more follow-up than Diane gave them.

A caller commented that he didn't believe that gay marriage was really a pressing issue. Senator Santorum's reply was that this is the most pressing issue in America today. He said that he was very concerned about the "breakdown of traditional marriage." I have two questions I would like Senator Santorum to answer regaring this. Did you marry for love, or was your marriage arranged by your families? Was a dowry paid?

Later in the same interview, Senator Santorum discussed the so-called "Intellegent Design Theory." In discussion of whether this "theory" should be taught in science classes, sociology classes, or anywhere at all in public schools, Diane asked one of her best follow-up questions ever, "Doesn't 'Intellegent Design' imply a Designer?" Of course it does, and unless the Senator is prepared to argue that humans are the creation of visiting aliens, it implies a deity.

Tags: Santorum, talk radio, marriage, creationism, evolution, Republicans

How to make basketball better

2005-08-04T18:55:00.000-04:00

In the last two or three years, the rookie of the year has been a high school player. There were seven high school players in the All-Star Game, so why we even talking an age limit?...As a black guy, you kind of think [race is] the reason why it's coming up. You don't hear about it in baseball or hockey...If I can go to the U.S. Army and fight the war at 18, why can’t you play basketball for 48 minutes and then go home?
- Jermaine O’Neal, Indiana Pacers’ forward

When the new NBA and players union decided to include an age limit (19, or one year after their high school class gradudates) in their new collective bargaining agreement there was widespread celebration from NBA and college coaches. The NBA coaches are happy, because they expect to get more experienced and mature players, and college coaches will no longer have to contend with NBA recruiters.

Unfortunately, this deal is not as good as these coaches have made it out to be.

First, for every Carmelo Anthony, delivering a national title to their team, there are twenty versions of Stephon Marbury and Tim Thomas: players who leave after one season, sending programs into downward spirals and costing coaches their jobs.

What if Lebron James was not allowed to play [in the NBA], would he still have gotten his Nike contract? I think he would have. So I don’t think he is going to college. So what does he do?
- Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski

In the future, players like James have only two legitimate options for that one year. They can go to Europe and get paid while competing against lesser talent, or (more likely) they can play in the NBA Developmental League, which will be the NBA’s version of a minor league. If the very best players go to the Developmental League, then the second and third-tier players coming out of high school — guys with a very realistic chance of making the NBA eventually — will begin to follow and fortify the league. As the NBADL rises, Division I college basketball will fall.

What solution is there for college basketball? Some (of the few who have acknowledged a problem) have suggested paying college athletes. College basketball, however, can never provide the basketball development experience that full-time play in a minor league could, and will never be as attractive to players anticipating a professional career.

The solution can be found in every NCAA advertisment: put the student back in "student-athlete". Recognize that someone desiring to become a professional athlete can be better served by a development league than by a university, and focus on those who simply play the game for fun before beginning their real career. Require college basketball players to pass the same admission standards and the same academic requirements as other students.

This is unlikely to happen because large universities, alumni, and the NCAA are too wedded to the current system (a minor league in denial about its nature). Alumni care more about their alma mater's win-loss record than its academic reputation, and universities (and hence the NCAA) are at the mercy of alumni money.

But wouldn't it be great to have real amature basketball, with athletes playing for fun and for respect in their spare time? Basketball players desiring to go pro could do so out of high school (through minor leagues) rather than faking interest in a degree. Universities and coaches would not be concerned with their players transferring because the players would be there for a degree first and the game second. We can always dream.

Note: Lest readers think that this is a "sour grapes" column, I am an alumnus the University of Kentucky (the winningest program in college basketball), lived for the past several years in metropolitan Detroit (home of the Pistons, NBA champions in 2004 and runners-up in 2005), and am currently a graduate student at Michigan State University. And when I was there, my high school had an outstanding program which produced several NCAA stars and NBA players. So I have nothing to be bitter about!

Tags: sports, basketball, NCAA, NBA

Nashville isn't even pretending any more

2005-08-02T21:11:00.000-04:00

I channel-surfed across a "country music" special on ABC tonight, and I was shocked at how little country there is left in the music. As I write this, I am watching a band consisting of three electric guitars, an electric bass, and a drum set. They are all dressed like a heavy metal band (ratty jeans, black T-shirts, tattoos all over) and the lead singer looks like a Kurt Cobain wanna-be (slightly long unkempt hair and a couple days' stubble on his face). The song sounds like something you might have heard on Top-40 radio fifteen to twenty years ago.

I have argued for years that "modern country" (or "young country" or "hot country" or whatever the local radio station calls it) is just rock/pop repackaged with cowboy boots, a hat, and a (usually fake) southern drawl. Apparently the labels have decided that its not even necessary to repackage any more, but that just calling it "country music" is enough.

If you don't believe me, try calling your local "country music" radio station and asking for Jimmie Rodgers ("the father of country music"). They probably won't even know who he is, and if they do, won't have his music, much less be willing to program it. Try asking for Hank Williams. Not Hank Williams Junior, not Hank Williams III (whose music is more country, and better than his dad's), but the Hank Williams. You might get lucky and find a station willing to play a couple of his songs (more likely they'll play a cover by Junior), but it's pretty unlikely. Even Johnny Cash, who has regained a measure of popularity over the last decade, is hard to find on "country music" playlists. Loretta Lynn recently released an outstanding new album, which many have suggested is the best in her long career, chock full of original material (she wrote every song on it), but you wouldn't know about it if you listen to "country" radio.

I'm not suggesting that country music, or any artistic style (music, literary, visual, or other), should be frozen in time. Change is inevitable. But no genre has done as much to lose its history than modern country music. "Oldies" stations keep older rock, R&B, and Top-40 songs and musicians in the public eye, but very few stations (mostly independently owned and operated) continue to play older country music. How many people even know what real country music sounds like?

Nobody saw them running
From 16th Avenue
They never found the fingerprints
Or the weapon that was used
But someone killed country music
Cut out its heart and soul
They got away with murder
Down on music row....

They thought no one would miss it
Once it was dead and gone
They said no one would buy them ol'
Drinkin' and cheatin' songs
Well there ain't no justice in it
And the hard facts are cold
Murder's been committed
Down on music row

For the steel guitars no longer cry
And the fiddles barely play
But drums and rock 'n' roll guitars
Are mixed up in your face
Ol' Hank wouldn't have a chance
On today's radio
Since they committed murder
Down on music row

From "Murder On Music Row" by Larry Cordle.

Tags: country music, music, culture

Priceless

2005-07-29T14:15:00.000-04:00

The first comment on http://www.gadgetopia.com/post/4181 is priceless.

Apropos of nothing, but priceless.

Tags: Blog, comment, funny

Water, water everywhere!

2005-07-21T07:56:00.000-04:00

Last night I glanced out of my apartment during a heavy thunderstorm, and saw droplets flying horizontally past the window.

Curious, I peered more closely and saw all the apartment community's sprinklers shooting away, deepening the standing water in the grass behind my home.

I know they want the grass to be nice and green, but this was absurd.

Are we at war with Eurasia or Eastasia today?

2005-07-20T07:05:00.000-04:00

A US citizen is arrested in Chicago and held prisoner for years. He is never charged with any crime, and so his case never goes before a jury. It sounds like something out of 1984, but it is a real case currently before a federal appellate court.

Jose Padilla was arrested at a Chicago airport in May 2002, on suspicion of planning to detonate a "dirty bomb," a conventional bomb laced with radioactive material. President Bush declared Padilla an "enemy combatant," a designation created by Bush that allows the military to hold someone indefinitely without charges. Since then, for three years, Padilla has been held in the Navy brig in Charleston, SC.

A South Carolina judge ruled that the government must charge Padilla with a crime or release him, a decision appealed by the Bush Administration to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The question they must decide is whether Padilla, an American seized on U.S. soil, should have been designated an enemy combatant. "I may be the first lawyer to stand here and say I'm asking for my client to be indicted by a federal grand jury," Padilla's lawyer, Andrew Patel, told a three-judge panel of the court.

The US Constitution says:

Amendment V:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Perhaps, having achieved the Presidency in a manner which was questionable at best, Bush now intends to do away with the Constitution. Since his election, half the amendments which constitute the Bill of Rights have been severely weakened (#1, 4, 5, 6, 10), with others (#2) already crippled by previous administrations. He has certainly ignored or weakened other amendments as well (#12, 14). Is his plan eventual nullification of amendment 22? With solid Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, and possibly as many as 3 appointments to an already-agreeable Supreme Court, are we headed for a new King George?

Tags: President Bush, politics, Padilla, Constitution, Bill of Rights

The Bush standard

2005-07-19T10:54:00.000-04:00

For months, President Bush has said he would fire anyone found to have leaked information leading to the unmasking of CIA officer Valerie Plame, a pledge which he reaffirmed as recently as June 10. Now that Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, have been implicated by Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time Magazine, Bush is quickly backing away from his promise, saying yesterday, "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said the standard for holding a high White House position "should not simply be that you didn't break the law," and the nation seems to agree with him. An ABC News poll released yesterday found that only one-quarter of Americans believe the White House is fully cooperating with the investigation

For Bush, who campaigned as a straight shooter with promises to "uphold the honor and dignity of the White House," this shifting stance on who he will hold accountable reveals how sensitive a special prosecutor's investigation of the CIA leak is becoming for Bush.

Tags: ethics, Karl Rove, politics, President Bush, news