Wow!

Blogging of surprises, check out the following video of a kid seeing lobsters for the first time. This is the truest expression of amazement  and wow! I have ever seen.

Wow! Siverdome Sells for <0.4% of Cost to Build It!

If you thought you’d seen all there is to be surprised about, hold your breath as this will truly amaze you. Washington Post reports that the 80,000-seat enclosed Silverdome , built for $55.7 million in 1975 to house the Detroit Lions, has sold for $583,000. Stop and think about it and also take a look at the image below.

Yes, that is 1.04% of what it cost to build it in 1975. If you thought that is remarkable, now consider what the the $55.7M would be worth today. According to measuringworth.com: In 2008, $55,700,000.00 from 1975 is worth:

	$222,741,030.83	using the Consumer Price Index
	$180,034,654.23	using the GDP deflator
	$258,104,670.18	using the value of consumer bundle
	$218,906,961.66	using the unskilled wage
	$348,349,855.39	using the nominal GDP per capita
	$491,168,089.39	using the relative share of GDP

That would make the current sale price 0.32 % of the amount used to build the facility using the most pessimistic estimate of current worth ($180m).

It is simply incredible to think about the level of devastation the real estate market is experiencing in this wrenching recession. Who would have thought this type of depreciation was possible?

Media Bias

Taibbi has two commentaries on the state of media viewed through the prism of the Palin Phenomenon: (1) Yes, Sarah, There is a Media Conspiracy and (2) “Sarah Palin, WWE Star.” Below is my take on the state of media environment

The danger of the current media climate is that there is no rational assessment of the merit and demerit of ideas and candidates. As Taibbi puts is accurately, the decision for coverage and the narrative that gets cultivated about what is being covered is dictated by interests that do not always have the good of the public and country at large at heart. Profit incentives have got quite out off hand to the point where the popular outlets have completely abandoned their responsibility as the fourth estate of this democracy. There is nothing that testifies to this more than the following apt critique from Jon Stewart.

The other danger is that not only there is not that much responsible journalism, but also it is becoming increasingly easier for folks to be immersed solely in propaganda that seeks to amplify their point of view than challenge it. This reinforcement of prejudice and narrow-mindedness makes for increased polarization of the population. You can watch the videos I posted recently at Voices of the Times.

That is not to say I am not guilty of similar tendency. I, however, would like to think that I am more amenable to reason and have been willing to entertain ideas from the other side that are more than reflexive objection. I don’t hold dogmatic views about policy. There are some clear cut issues which do not stand to reason. Such is the issue of whether Sarah Palin merits to be the leader of the free world. Sullivan has been doing an excellent job exposing her for the incompetent and fabricated political figure she is. That she can command this much attention and credence is a symptom of the unfortunate media climate that exists.

In my small and humble attempt at blogging, I have made attempts at pulling together information that is relevant and interesting. As far as politics is concerned, I admit there is a bias towards seeing Obama succeed and giving him the benefit of the doubt and believing that he has the acumen and wisdom to make good decisions that are beneficiary to the country. Some of these benefits may not be apparent in the near term or may not even result in political fortunes for him or his party at large. The sober and determined effort he continues to display at tackling big issues is what gives me confidence about him. I am, however, not a journalist by profession. As such, not bound by the professional obligation to act as a medium through which unfettered information is channeled to the masses with out the influence of my own personal opinion. Journalists have an awesome responsibility to get to the unvarnished truth and communicate to the masses. It is not clear that the majority are playing this role effectively. What passes for being effective these days is acting as a mouthpiece for the talking points of opposing sides with the claim of balance and without a critical attempt to get to the truth.

In the advent of social media there is probably hope for the Truth to bubble out to the surface with the help of citizen journalism. The barrier to mass communication has been significantly reduced thanks to the great equalizer that is the internet. However, until effective aggregation and synthesis of the vast amount of information generated is developed, most of it may continue to be damped into the null information with little chance of it becoming relevant and available for informed decision making.

Voices of the Times

It is impossible to watch the following and not worry about the state of politics and political leadership in our country. The ability of a representative democracy to work effectively is predicated up on informed citzenary. Those with the means to inform abuse the privilege by inciting fear and hate. Those with the burden of leadership simply stand by and give credence to misconceptions and, even worse, exploit for their own political advantage.

Progress

It is incredible how much progress has been made in just a short one year. This is a wonderful summary of what is in the Senate bill, which for all the screaming and counter-screaming going on about public option or other tangential issues, has managed to accomplish a great deal. There is an incremental and impressive revolution going on under Obama’s watch that will do great things for our country. Those on the right are being as blind, reflexive, and short-sighted as they were during the campaign. The sad thing is that those on the left are also starting to show the same qualities. There is a lot of good that is being done within a framework of a political systems that has grown to be increasingly incapable of addressing significant problems, which Brooks addressed in a recent column.

In another column, Brooks also makes an accurate assessment of the under-appreciated role played by Geithner and the administration at large in their approach to dealing with the financial crisis. The short-sightedness is pervasive these days, not just in the way politicians behave, but also in how news is presented. To think that less than a year ago this country was on the brink of a major depression and that in just a short one year period the they have managed to stabilize the overall state of the economy is impressive. There are many liberals who were arguing of a major involvement of the government in taking over the financial institutions that was more than necessary. Those folks forget what is fundamentally unique about the US is what at once separates it from the many European countries they are quick to cite as an example. The essence of individual liberty and free will is at the heart of the innovative and transformative free market system that has allowed it to prosper and reach the level of superpowerdome that it solely enjoys. The role of a government in such a system is not one of a provider, but a regulator and overseer to ensure the inherent greed and self-interest of an individual entity do not overrun the collective good. One can make the case that past administrations have not played an effective role in that regard, but that is no excuse for wanting to institute a regime where the government plays an intrusive and controlling role in the way the economy operates. Given the lessons of the past, it is also no excuse for those on the right to continue to insist on unhinged market place where the greed of the few can put our economy at the risk of collapse and loss of trillions of dollars in wealth. Empty rhetoric about “big government” or “small government” is almost irrelevant as no sane person can now argue against the necessity of effective government.

The underestimate effect of the Great Recession on the job outlook of the economy continues to be a major concern. The undying truth about our system is that we shall make a recovery. The jobs will inevitably come because of the entrepreneurship and ingenuity of folks who are interested in advancing their own interest will need to hire help. Obama’s team will continue to try various things to stir the economy through recovery to a status of maximal employment. Some will fail. Others will surely succeed. One thing is certain, in the mean time, he is getting the folks in congress do the job they are hired to do. They are busy legislating and dealing with significant issues, which have long not been touched. I think the credit for that goes to the presidential leadership Obama has demonstrated in charting out few priorities (e.g. health, education, energy,…) to which congressional effort can be channeled.

Ardipithecus ramidus

Science magazine dedicates its pages to 11 papers that present a detailed analysis on and introduction of our 4.4 million year old ancestor, Ardipithecus ramidus, authored by a diverse international team.

 

“These 4.4 million year old hominid fossils sit within a critical early part of human evolution, and cast new and sometimes surprising light on the evolution of human limbs and locomotion, the habitats occupied by early hominids, and the nature of our last common ancestor with chimps.”

Fossils of A. ramidus were first found in Ethiopia in 1992. The authors uncertook 17 years of painstaking work to assess their significance and also arrive at the partial skeleton of a female nicknamed “Ardi”.

Military Expenditures: Price of Safety or Superpowerdom?

Below is a revealing chart, via The Economist, showing the list of big military per capita spenders. Is this the price of safety or superpowerdom? How much of these expenditures is truly directed towards achieving these goals?

“…Israel spends most on defence relative to its population, shelling out over $2,300 a person, over $300 more than America. Small and rich countries, and notably Gulf states, feature prominently by this measure. Saudi Arabia ranks ninth in absolute spending, but sixth by population. China has increased spending by 10% to $85 billion to become the world’s second largest spender. But it is still dwarfed by America, whose outlay of $607 billion is higher than that of the next 14 biggest spenders combined.”

Scientific Perspective on Healthcare Reform

If you take out the passion, obsession, and fear mongering out of the healthcare reform debate, you are left with hard to deny facts about cost, coverage, health outcomes, and geographic disparities. These facts are nicely summarized in the following video from NewScientist. Therein, they discuss data obtained from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Health Data 2009 site and Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care.

Healthcare Bill Will…

Why is Google not giving the healthcare bill a chance?

Heathcare Reform in Graphs: Cost, Coverage, Per Capita Spending, and Public Support

In the interest of setting up a one-stop reference regarding health-care reform, included here are graphs that highlight the issues of cost, per capita spending, coverage, and etc. Some of these graphs have previously been discussed here and here. More graphs will be be appended as they are discovered.

Heath spending by population: The graph below shows the relative distribution of health spending within the U.S. population. It clearly shows where the cost overruns are concentrated at.

Heath-care cost versus per capita spending: These graphs below clearly shows what is the critical issue at hand regarding reform efforts here in the U.S.; that is, the incommensurate cost to the quality of care being delivered to the population at large. The U.S. simply stands alone spending more than twice the amount while achieving equal or lower levels of life expectancy.

Comparison between rise health insurance premiums and wage increase: There is no denying that wage increases have been lagging significantly behind rises in health insurance premiums in the past decade.

Percent of Americans uninsured by age: A clear demonstration of who has the most to gain from the implementation of universal coverage. There is a rather drastic increase in number of uninsured going down in age from 65 to 20. Of course, because of Medicare, seniors of 65 years and above are almost universally covered.

Physicians’ opinion on coverage options: a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine showed a significant support for a public option.

Physicians’ Support of Options for Expanding Insurance Coverage and Medicare. Panel A shows the proportion of survey respondents who favored public options only, those who favored both public and private options, and those who favored private options only. Panel B shows the proportions of respondents (according to their medical specialty) who supported, opposed, or were undecided about the expansion of Medicare to include adults between the ages of 55 and 64 years.

Advancements in Automotive Safety

Here is an interesting video, courtesy of Marginal Revolution, showing the progress made in improving automotive safety features. It shows a crash between a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu and a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air. We have indeed come a long way!

The State of Politics in America

Tom Friedman makes an accurate diagnosis of the crippled state of politics in America today. He brings a much needed perspective to the assessment of the insanity in the rhetoric pushed by the far right in order to de-legitimize his presidency.

“Sometimes I wonder whether George H.W. Bush, president “41,” will be remembered as our last “legitimate” president. The right impeached Bill Clinton and hounded him from Day 1 with the bogus Whitewater “scandal.” George W. Bush was elected under a cloud because of the Florida voting mess, and his critics on the left never let him forget it.

And Mr. Obama is now having his legitimacy attacked by a concerted campaign from the right fringe. They are using everything from smears that he is a closet “socialist” to calling him a “liar” in the middle of a joint session of Congress to fabricating doubts about his birth in America and whether he is even a citizen. And these attacks are not just coming from the fringe. Now they come from Lou Dobbs on CNN and from members of the House of Representatives.”

The striking issue is that this president, who was elected by the largest majority in decades with a sweeping support across the political, generational, and socio-economic divides, is having to face legitimacy question. This is happening less than a year after the renewal of the American spirit brought about by his election, which lifted us all and made us proud to be alive at this juncture in the American journey.

There could be some partisan justification made for the lack of support President Clinton, having won with less than a majority support, and President Bush (43), whose accent ion to power came as a result of a messy and bitterly fought electoral process. There is no such parallel that can be drawn to the election of President Obama.

One only needs to look at this video to get a feel for the degree of misinformation that is prevalent and the unfounded apprehension expressed by his loudest critics. I sure hope that, much like Mr. Friedman, the sane voices will continue to step in forward and speak against this.

Mr. Friedman also talks about the deficiency of focus on the common interest of the country in addressing the difficult problems facing us. It has unfortunately reached a point where everything that the president does is meet with a knee-jerk opposition. My takes on these issues can be found here, here, and here. President Obama aptly put it long ago in stating:

“What’s troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics–the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and the trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem.” (The Audacity of Hope, page41)

Media Metamorphosis

Just watch. You’ll be amazed by the transformation that is taking place in the media landscape in such a short span of time with little fanfare or attention.

Epigenome

Incredible!

In Honor Of Senator Kennedy

In honor of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, I’ll re-post and share a poem I wrote a while back, In the Sense of Time. As he said it best, the dream will never die… He lives on in the dreams he birthed and in the dreams he fulfilled.

In the Sense of Time

In the sense of time I die

I die cell by cell

And piece by piece

Destined for a life mortal

In war and peace.

Yet I breath

Knowledge I absorb

Expressions of self

In spite of death.

In the sense of time we die

Yet dreams of a preacher

Live on to see

A destiny fulfilled

A changed generation

And a nation perfected.

The hope distilled

Of pain and despair

Seeing no end

Lives on to inspire

Elevating a son

Of a mother single

A bearer of light

A hope-vessel half-full.

In the sense of time we die

Dreams live

But you and I.

.

Impressive High-speed Robot Hand

Do you want to know how far robots have come towards rendering us almost replaceable? Check out this video showing Ishikawa Komuro Lab’s high-speed robot hand performing incredible acts of dexterity and skillful manipulation. Indeed, an impressive demonstration of advances in robotics and A.I.

Ramadan Kareem!

President Obama continues to extend the unclenched fist forward to improve relations with the Muslim world by building on the Cairo speech and extending best wishes to Muslim communities here in the U.S. and around the world. A smart strategy of forging good relations based on respect and understanding.

Multiverse?

Dr. Michio Kaku discussing about the universe…

He Did It Again!

Just look at the distance between him and the rest of the field at the finish line…

Alone

Hands tied together, he looked up

As if to beg for a sliver of hope

Mercy maybe to a life short lived

Looked down to see the suffering and misery

To find, the hands which were thought to be tied

Free, but crippled and incapable of reach

For the hope dangling upfront to silence the hungry mind

He sensed, though, without letting go off the inflated ego

That which tied the hands so as to hide

In the arm pit, deceiving the passersby and self

Denying much needed linkage, belonging, and meaning

Being among those who care with stretched out arms

Reaching for contact like a branch of a conifer tree

Spreading out and together growing forward…

Basked in sweet and agony, he sat upright

Upon the the realization he, too, has really become inanimate

Just growing and being, like the branch soon to be detached

Off the tree, left to rote on the ground

Where am I? He asked with no being near to respond

Even the room seemed like a grave; echoless and dark

Quiet, distant, alone; is it the essence of being, the meaning of creation?

With a sudden shock of death, he awoke again

To realize all that was just a dream, or so he thought.

He could see the old lady, gracefully aged sitting next to a son

He also heard the cry of a baby and the soothing of a mother’s sound

He felt comforted, he thought he wasn’t alone

Then, a rude awakening besets drenching him in more sweat

He was really alone, he concluded, having estranged from parents

And left his beloved now miles away; receding by the minute

Hands tied, can’t bridge the distance left behind

He awoke again, his hands reflexively reaching out and desperate

Stretched out to shake and hug; to rub and massage; to hold

“Well, hello!” the old lady sounded; “what is the matter, son?”

He could sense the roughness of a life hard-lived, and the warmth

As she held and pressed, life and hope into this inanimate vessel

He begged for this to never end, never to wake or sleep

“Thanks, mom!” He blurted out, while admiring the rising sun at the horizon.

Health Care Reform 101

Here is a distilled (<1000 words!) version of all the issues concerning the health care reform debate via Alec MacGillis of The Washington Post.

Spreading the Cost Saving Reform

The crux of the matter about health care reform is that something needs to be done to address the exploding cost of care, which is incommensurate to the quality of care provided and makes the U.S. an outlier among all the nations. Atul Gawande et al. discuss this in a recent article. Here is an excerpt:

“We have reached a sobering point in our national health-reform debate. Americans have recognized that our health system is bankrupting us and that we have dealt with this by letting the system price more and more people out of health care. So we are trying to decide if we are willing to change — willing to ensure that everyone can have coverage. That means banishing the phrase “pre-existing condition.” It also means finding ways to pay for coverage for those who can’t afford it without help.

Both of these steps stir heated argument, not to mention lobbyists’ hearts. But what creates the deepest unease is considering what we will have to do about the system’s exploding costs if pushing more people out is no longer an option. We have really discussed only two options: raising taxes or rationing care. The public is understandably alarmed.

There is a far more desirable alternative: to change how care is delivered so that it is both less expensive and more effective. But there is widespread skepticism about whether that is possible.

Yes, many European health systems have done it, but we are not Europe. And evidence that places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota or the Cleveland Clinic are doing it is likewise dismissed because their unique structures (for example, their physicians work on salary rather than being paid for each service) make them seem as far from Middle America as Sweden is.

Yet in studying communities all over America, not just a few unusual corners, we have found evidence that more effective, lower-cost care is possible.”

Please refer also refer to another informative article by Gawande in which the issue of cost/quality disparity across regions is discussed.

Getting Universal Coverage Will Be A Major Achievement

Granted it would be great to have a bill that will magically half the cost of health care, to the level other industrialized nations spend per capita, and still provide universal coverage. It would be great if we could simply control the exploding cost that is pacing to bankrupt our country. It would be great if we can ensure that a great nation like ours ensures that no single citizen is made to suffer for the lack of health care. It becomes quickly apparent that addressing all the issues concerning health care reform at once is no small matter in the current dysfunctional political and sensationalist media climate. As indicated in a previous post, I believe President Obama is poised to get a significant health care reform in place. Such a reform may not satisfy the aspiration of  liberals. It surely will not satisfy the conservatives who are bent on seeing him fail at the expense of what is best for the country or even those who oppose him on the grounds of principle. James Kwak gives a good synopsis of the coverage vs. costs balance that will be hard to strike in crafting a reform and expresses a similar sentiment as above by suggesting that even providing universal coverage will be a major achievement.

“Looking further down the road, though, perhaps a bill that provides universal coverage but falls short of “bending the curve” would still be a major achievement for the American people. Not only would it address one of the most embarrassing features of our society, but it would only increase the pressure to do something about costs. Today our health-care system adapts to rising costs by shifting the pain onto the unemployed and the poor. Universal coverage would make rising costs a shared national problem.”

The Price of Modernity?

The concept of friendship is one that is being loosely applied in the advent of virtual inter-connectedness that social media is affording. However, is modernity stealing the honesty and intimacy out of relationships and filling the void with superficial means of interaction? Is the essence of friendship being lost? What does friendship mean and what purpose does it serve? Those are the type of questions that are discussed in this article at Boston Globe. My take on the proliferation of social media and its impact on real (in the sense of non-virtual) interpersonal relationships can be found here.

“A growing body of experimental evidence suggests that, on the whole, we know significantly less about our friends, colleagues, and even spouses than we think we do. This lack of knowledge extends far beyond embarrassing game-show fodder – we’re often completely wrong about their likes and dislikes, their political beliefs, their tastes, their cherished values. We lowball the ethics of our co-workers; we overestimate how happy our husbands or wives are…

Whatever the cause, such findings challenge our idea of what friendship is. Friends and spouses are people to whom we are supposed to be able to confide anything – we draw support and a sense of well-being from the thought that our friends know us better than anyone else in the world, and like us nonetheless. Instead, it appears that there are whole regions of our personalities that they miss entirely, and we do the same with them.

The problem, Flynn says, is that interacting with people and sharing experiences with them doesn’t necessarily translate into knowing lots of things about them. The main hurdle is the way we talk to those we’re close to: our conversations are usually meant not so much to gather information as to establish rapport and to bond – in short, to make friends. And we do that by focusing on areas of agreement and avoiding topics that might cause friction. Our natural tendency toward comradeship makes us, ironically, leery of learning too much about the people we’re befriending.

The intriguing part of this article is that there may actually as much of a benefit from the allusions of friendship as there is from real and intimate ones. I find it hard to believe.

Indeed, according to Michael Norton, a psychologist who teaches at Harvard Business School, simply believing we have lots of close friends brings the same benefits as actually having them. In other words, if someone’s ignorance of one of his “friends” extends so deeply that he’s not actually aware that the person doesn’t like him, he may be better off for it. Even befriending entirely fictional people seems to do some good – a paper published last year by researchers at the University of Buffalo and Miami University found that television characters actually function as “social surrogates” for viewers, and watching a favorite show can be an effective way to alleviate loneliness.

Even in a close and strong relationship like a marriage, a certain amount of blindness may help. While the idea remains controversial, some researchers argue for the value of so-called positive illusions, the rosy image that some people hold, despite the available evidence, about their romantic partners. The psychologist Sandra Murray at the University of Buffalo has found that couples that maintained positive illusions about each other tended to be happier than those that didn’t.

Something similar may be at work in close friendships. And, according to Dunning, a slightly different form of social illusion may also arise. People naturally seek out those they see as most like them, and a falsely inflated sense of similarity may only further cement friendships.

In other words, one of the nicest things a friend can do is let us misunderstand them just a little.

“If you don’t know everything about someone else, you still enjoy the time you spend with each other,” says Delia Baldassarri, a sociologist and assistant professor at Princeton who has studied people’s perceptions of their friends’ political attitudes. “In certain ways, you may even enjoy it more.”

Health Care Reform Is Coming!

For all the hoopla and shameless hypocrisy of the opponents of health care reform, major change is on the way. And there is nothing the other side can do about it. Just look at this nice summary from Ezra Klein about what is already agreed upon and other pertinent issues.

“Here are the things that, broadly speaking, legislators agree about: insurance market reforms, including community rating, guaranteed issue, an end to rescission, an end to discrimination based on preexisting conditions, and an individual mandate. Subsidies for low-income Americans. Delivery system reforms. Health insurance exchanges. An expansion of coverage to about 95 percent of legal residents. Prevention and wellness policies. Retaining and strengthening the employer-based insurance market. Creating some kind of incentive for employers to offer, and keep offering, health benefits. Expanding Medicaid to about 133 percent of poverty.

Here are the things that legislators disagree about, but are discussing, and will probably figure out: whether subsidies should reach 300 percent of poverty or 400 percent. Whether there should be an employer mandate or something milder. Whether medium-size employers should be eligible to enroll in the health insurance exchanges. Whether health reform should cost $1 trillion over 10 years or $1.4 trillion over 10 years. Whether it should be paid for through new taxes on the wealthy or a change to existing tax subsidies in the health-care system.

Here are the things legislators don’t agree about: whether we should have a public option that is open only to the minority of Americans on the exchanges or a co-op option. How to handle abortion. How to handle geographic disparities in insurance costs.

Here are the things that aren’t under consideration but are alive in the public debate: socialized medicine. Euthanasia. Government-driven rationing. Death panels. Illegal immigrants.”

If President Obama succeeds in getting a bill that consists of even the items which legislators agree about, that will be an enormous accomplishment. I suspect that the president and his team are fully aware of the difficulty in instituting the needed reform all at once due to the gridlock of partisan politics. The pragmatism with which they operate and the laws of incremental returns dictate that the approach of “putting points on the board,” as Rahm Emanuel would put it, is one to go for. In fact, all the discussion about the public option could simply be a way of setting a high and, most likely, politically untenable bar by which most other measures can be compared. If they could achieve it, it would be great. If the outcome is setting up a co-op option in addition to instituting all those other significant reforms, that will still be a major victory. The president has stated time and time again that he intends to provide the same kind of health insurance choice the federal employees get. Here is what he promised:

If you’ve got insurance through your employer, you can keep your insurance. We estimate we can cut the average family’s premium by about $2,500 per year. If you don’t have health insurance, then we’re going to provide you the option of buying into the same kind of federal pool that both Sen. McCain and I enjoy as federal employees. We’re going to make sure insurance companies can’t discriminate on the basis of pre-existing conditions. We’ll negotiate with the drug companies for the cheapest available prices. We are going to invest in information technology to eliminate bureaucracy and make the system more efficient. We’ve got to put more money into preventive care. (Source: 2008 third presidential debate against John McCain Oct 15, 2008)

It looks to me that he is going to accomplish nearly all that he has set out to incorporate into the reform. By letting go of the public option and bracing insurance co-ops, as they are inclining to do, they will come across as having compromised while accomplishing the main objective of empowering citizens with the means to come together and wield bargaining power over insurers.

9.58: Lightning Bolt Strikes Again!

Simply Supernatural!

Fractal Dendrites on Ice

Here is another glorious manifestation of fractal geometry to go along with a previous post on fractals in nature. This time it is dendrites in the cracking pattern of a sheet of ice.

Here Comes the President!

You had to know President Obama was simply not going to allow the opponents of health care reform continue to spread lies and scare people in an effort to throttle this necessary and much too delayed effort at change. This is the kind of inspired, passionate, and reasoned argument, which he has shown to be capable of time and time again, that will win the day no matter the scale of spread of misinformation from the other side. Good job, Mr. President! Keep up the good fight!

Health Care: Canada versus the United Kingdom

Nate Silver has a great demonstration of and comparison between health care systems in Canada and the U.K., both of which are frequently vilified by the opponents of health care reform here in the U.S. Enjoy!

The Problem with Recommender Systems

Here is a recommender system that is clearly broken. Six to seven years back I purchased a book on graduate schools from Amazon. You can then imagine my surprise when I keep getting this type of solicitation to buy more of the same. Don’t they understand that this is a type of commodity you use at most once and over a very short period of time? Doesn’t it occur to them that I may be out of graduate school by now? You would think this is straight forward. But, apparently not to whoever setup this personalized recommender system for Amazon.

The problem with recommender systems

The Essence of Viral

The essence of viral spreading of information is one that can surprisingly be explained by quantum mechanical concepts, as discussed in a previous post, “Why Some Ideas Go Viral and Others Do Not.” Now, here comes a real world example, in fact one of ROL’s own escapade into the viral realm thanks to “The Little Imperfections.”

Below is a plot of weekly visitor count to this information domain, which I call Mount Little Imperfections. Here are a few observations that I find to be interesting:

1. It is evident that in a short few weeks, the visitor count exploded by ~ 2000% from the previous baseline at its peak.
2. The rate of decline from the peak takes place at a much slower pace than the rise. I believe this is the essence of what makes a give information viral.
3. The after effect of a viral incident results in a shift of the baseline of regular visitors (by ~ 300%). This goes to show why viral marketing works. That is, even in the after glow of a viral incident, there is a measurable effect in popularizing a given brand.
4. There is a discernible pattern to how a viral idea spreads. As can be seen, the rise and decline of the frequency of visitors viewing the “The Little Imperfections” post evolves in a weekly cycle. The number peaks on Mondays and declines successively throughout the week until the arrival of the next Monday. Empowered with this kind of data, one can identify the particular mode of transmission of information and  target it accordingly. In this particular case, it appears that the discovery of the post is made sometime over the weekend, then it is invariable shared via email. Most people connect back to the internet in a serious way, most likely, when they show up for work on Monday. It appears the viewer count for this post is the smallest on Saturdays for the most part. May be fewer people are plugged in on Saturdays than any other day of the week. It is remarkable how this cycle repeats itself without fail.

There you have it; the working of viral spreading of information in theory and practice.

Mount Little Imperfections

Modern Day Conservatism

Here is an intriguing quote:

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” – JK Galbraith

The Epitome of Hypocrisy

Working to address the inefficiency, waste, and unsustainable cost in the dysfunctional health care system (if there is one) is hard enough a task to bring about reform without having to deal with such hypocrites. How do they sleep at night?!

Happy National Relaxation Day!

I bet you didn’t know August 15th is a special day unlike any other. Yes, it marks the National Relaxation Day. It says a lot about the breakneck speed at which our everyday life unfolds for us to need a reminder to take time and relax. In any case, if you are not the relaxing-type and have no ideas as to what to do on this very day, here are some ideas, courtesy of eHow:

1. Take the whole day or part of the day off if possible. Sleep late. Lounge around the house. Just enjoy a lazy day.
2. Read a good book. Watch a movie or TV marathon of something you really enjoy.
3. Spend the day in a place that is tranquil and relaxing. Suggested places: a lake, the beach, the mountains, or a quiet cafe.
4. Spend time relaxing on your deck or patio.
5. Let voice mail take your calls. Let your e-mails wait until tomorrow. Take a technology break. Revisit your connection with silence and with nature.
6. Visit a spa. Enjoy a massage. Relaxation day is on a Saturday this year. Enjoy a weekend retreat in a serene place. Pamper yourself on relaxation day.
7. Do not cook on relaxation day. Order delivery food or dine out. Take a break from ordinary, daily housework and yard work.

What is Happening to Us, America?

What is happening to us, America?

Unable to listen, screaming at each others’ throat

Quick to affirm our rights, in a shouting match of sound bites

Denying the right of others, are we growing intolerant of the other

Who appears foreign, forgetting that this land we call home

Is a gift to all, to the peasant off the boat generations ago

To the immigrant of tomorrow disembarking of a Boeing plane

None owning her, a gift to the freedom seeker

In search of justice, equality, and opportunity.

Birthers of those who landed on her a long time ago

Why can’t they care for the new in rememberance of the old

The toil and persecution, the hunger and oppression they fled

That which is evident in the torment of of waterless eyes

Lifeless skin, barely hiding the bone – crushed by the weight of pain

Of the novice eager to belong and take a bite of burger

Founding a new and promised destiny to the next generation may be.

Why don’t we awake in awe of the privilege

That which our forefathers died for in order for us to bask

In the entitlement fight of the land.

Let us remember and celebrate, the gift of care and nurture

That this land gave to the slaves and slave masters alike

To the protestant and hungry, fleeing the oppression of bigotry

To the Holocaust survivor that found a safe home

The political refugee who found respite from having to look over his shoulder

To the woman made to live in a subhuman and subservient order

Coming home to a land, where her fight for civil rights

Would awaken a peoples’ conscious, mobilizing a nation.

Imperfect she may be, but malleable always

Willing to be shaped, by the blood and tears

Of those who choose to partake in the arching of her destiny

Towards a beacon of hope and a promise land for the free.

Fulcrum of Love

At the fulcrum, hangs the balance between I and we

Defining the equilibrium of love and belonging.

Does she worry about asserting of her right

Or her happiness, her body, or her income

All used to define the essence of an independent woman

Does he care just about his needs

Gratification of self, stroking of ego

Being the center of attention, effusion of machismo.

In the celebrated self reliance gained, at the expense

Of the lost interdependence of nurture

The feeding of care and compassion for the other

His hunger hers, her pain and joy always his

The lever tilting at the fulcrum towards me and I

Away from we, dissolving the bridge

Destroying love and care, exchanging  caress for self.

A Golden Glory

They claim thousands of years of glory

A civilization unlike any other

The foundation of humanity and being

Philosophy, architecture, art and history

But, where is civilization now

In a population, tied down to the barrel of a gun

Where is the glory now

In the millions of people suffering everyday

Poor, sick, illiterate, and hungry

Where are the marvels of architecture

In the home-less, destitute and lonely

For all the claims of ancestry to the glorious generation

Of vast wisdom, anarchy besets in the land

Steeped in the thousands of years of history

Where the force of military is used to silence the mass

To kill the innocent, to spread hateful ideology

Where is the golden glory of humanity

In the suffering of mothers and baby

Raped to death by the merciless children no less

Turned into killing machines fueled by

Guns and dope delivered for a profit that builds

An oasis of life nurturing and plenty

To children of arms dealer, the corrupt politician

And the drug lord, squeezing humanity out of the land.

In all the despair and imperfection there lies and example

A union of many bound together by a common destiny

Of immigrants: European, African, Asian, and Latino

From east to west north and south

Black, white, red, and brown; together as one

Protected by rule of law with unalienable rights

With a military standing guard of a nation

By the people, for the people, and of some people

A proud institution of protection and defense

With a might of destruction unparalleled

A testament to the perfect balance of power

Between professionalism and passion of voices

Striving to affirm their right; yearning to be heard.

Hubble’s Gift to Humanity

Songs That Heal

U.S.A.: The Outlier in Health Care Expenditure

In a previous post, a comparison of per capita spending and life expectancy for some of the developed countries in the world was compared. In it, the incommensurate cost to the quality of care being delivered to the population was discussed. Then (at the beginning of the year), the post was more of an exercise in the sharing of information. There is a new found urgency nowadays in ensuring that relevant information is shared and spread given the significant amount of attention the issue is getting from lawmakers and the population at large. It is instructive to take a look at yet another graph that highlights how much of an outlier the U.S. is in comparison to other nations of the world in terms of health care expenditure.

Transitions

Transitions (08/09)

Ill

Feeling ill, dysfunctional and sick

Lack of interest reaching the peak

Like a fruit wasting away; nearing harvest pick

Uncovered by fashion, which normally sleak

Hiding the rote, masking the stink

Frustration, disgust, and hate; piled like a rick

All matters of cure, unable to break

The vicious cycle, stuck in a wreck

Soul dripping away, essences of being leak

Left a flying zombie, fur seals in Raikoke.

Flying Thoughts

Like a bird in the sky

With wings spread out to fly

My thoughts sit above clouds

Textured and smooth, fluffy and light

Separating earthly life from heavens

Entrapped in a thin can

With a comfort of air conditioned home

Bound to a seat, in a moment of liberation.

Oh! The cruelty of creation

Delivering Adam and Eve to a land

Dry and sea forever tethered

To the ground incapable of flight

Forever looking up, pleading to heavens

Above, as if living and world that is flat

But, to the omni present blanket clothing the planet

All around the globe, a tapestry of clouds and dreams

Telegraphed upward in seeking and servitude sent.

There, on the planet live, with the vastness of ego

Paralleling the grandiosity of universe beyond

Left to fight for resources finite

In a mission of self-destruction.

Up here, thousands of feet in the sky

There are no gun shots, screams and disorder

All beings and thing aligned in one purpose

Driven journey, anxious to arrive at a destination

Clouds and dreams outside, dispersing in agreement

As if eager, to let go of unwelcomed guest

To the marching forward of the can

Pacing to return, in obedience of creation.

Hourglass

Speckles of sand flow

From one side to the other

In obedience to gravity

Marking the timeless evolution of time

In symbolism of a body figure sculpted at the waist

Into a proportion of man-made beauty.

The narrowness of the neck dictates

The flow of time in the hourglass

Separating the present from the past

Or is it a testimony to the depravity of delight

In the fullness of body and waist

Manifest in the religiosity of diet.

The bifrication of of purpose distinctly evident

While the diameter of the neck serves

To mark the passage of time infinite

That of the inward pulled and strapped

Serves only to please a fleeting standard

In vanity, of beauty and perfection misplaced.

Rollercoaster

The ups and downs rendered in formation

Like a marching band befitting of a dawn

The oneness of rhythms and the imbalance of movement

Up and jumpy, happy and limitless at once

Down and thumping, deafening and hardened in instant.

Where is the sigh when it is sought

Where is the melody when one dances

Fickle it is flowing between fingertips

Tangible in the wetness of skin left behind

But, echoless chamber filled with screams.

Where is the engine that could

Pumping more vivacious spirit than just blood

Without fail, day in day out without effort.

Why is humanity the combined sum of parts

Of limbs farflung and lungs charcoaled by smoke

Of flesh weak and enslaved of craving and addition

Of brain and heart like a hardened brick, fearing and knocking

All that is foreign, destroying the other and losing

Self with every chipped corner of fortitude and empathy.

Priceless!

This is the kind of priceless picture that really says more than a thousand words.

As the president said: “I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground.”

Well, the listening has began. That by itself is no small achievement!

Members of Hamas, wearing masks to conceal their identity, watch President Obama's speech at their training base in the Gaza Strip.

Parallel Universes

They ask why; why are you not jovial?

Alone, pensive, and distant

They ask why; why are you so banal?

Small, shallow, and trite

Their wills live on parallel universes

Governed by rules disparate and diverging

Unbeknownst to them the gulf widens

Like the parting of the sea, only to come

Together at last up on the awakening

On the emotional journey bridging the divide

The essence of completion in the co-joining

Of the complementary universes; through time warps.

falling; miserably!

Genetics, Intelligence, I.Q., and Success

What do Asian-Americans, Jews and West Indian blacks have in common? Well, these groups are considered to be relatively successful in the U.S. Nicholas D. Kristof provides, yet again, another insightful opinion piece on the connection (or lack thereof) between genetics, intelligence, I.Q., and success. He debunks the myth of the connection between genetics and intelligence (and success) by contrasting the experience of these genetically disparate groups of people.

“Asian-Americans are renowned — or notorious — for ruining grade curves in schools across the land, and as a result they constitute about 20 percent of students at Harvard College.

As for Jews, they have received about one-third of all Nobel Prizes in science received by Americans. One survey found that a quarter of Jewish adults in the United States have earned a graduate degree, compared with 6 percent of the population as a whole.

West Indian blacks, those like Colin Powell whose roots are in the Caribbean, are one-third more likely to graduate from college than African-Americans as a whole, and their median household income is almost one-third higher.

These three groups may help debunk the myth of success as a simple product of intrinsic intellect, for they represent three different races and histories. In the debate over nature and nurture, they suggest the importance of improved nurture — which, from a public policy perspective, means a focus on education. Their success may also offer some lessons for you, me, our children — and for the broader effort to chip away at poverty in this country.”

Truth Telling: A Pragmatist’s Foreign Policy

Many things can be said of the speech (I would say it is more of a lecture and a lesson in smart diplomacy than a speech) President Barack Obama gave to the Muslim world in Cairo, Egypt. One thing is certain; the president believes in truth telling and partnership built on mutual respect and appreciation. Below is the speech. Enjoy!