The Ramblings of An Eternal Student of Life

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Science ... Society ...

I’m still a big science buff, and I now have a subscription to Scientific American. I even read it, cover to cover! Here’s a quick review of the July 2011 issue.

To be honest, most of the articles are about science and research at work; i.e. how the day-to-day workings of science (what philosopher Thomas Kuhn called “normal science” and “puzzle solving”) promise a variety of social benefits in the foreseeable future (e.g. better ways to control malaria mosquitoes or contain health care costs), or how researchers are getting closer to affirming or denying a theory regarding an unresolved issue (e.g., dark matter or chronic fatigue syndrome). Other articles inject a scientific viewpoint into a major policy issue, e.g. the question of HIV rates in southern states and what to do with the melted-down Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan. And there are still a few ‘pure science’ articles like SA focused on before 1990, e.g. about trends in the luminosity and surface temperature of visible stars, and the evolution of the eye. But certain SA issues have a handful of articles with broader, more game-changing implications, and the July issue was one of these. So, here is what I think was important.

In the neuroscience realm, I liked “The Limits of Intelligence” by Douglas Fox. I’ve read a lot of books about how the brain works with all its networked neurons and » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 8:40 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Saturday, August 13, 2011

◊ Germany, Manchester; China, Philadelphia . . . and Newark?

Current Affairs ... Society ...

Things aren’t going so well these days in the venerable land of Europe. Greece is bankrupt, Spain, Portugal and Ireland are on the verge, Italy is rolling toward the cliff, France and Britain are in continued recession, and the old cites of England, including London itself, are rioting and burning. Nope, not a good time for Europe.

It’s ironic that the western world fought two major wars and sacrificed millions of people during the 20th century to keep Germany from taking over Europe. But today, Germany is the only European nation that knows how to thrive in the modern world economy. The Germans, with some help from the Chinese (who else?), seem willing to take responsibility for much of the damage that has done by the less business-oriented, less productive members of the Euro community. Up to 2008, Europe could get by as a cultural museum floated by American tourist dollars. But now America is also losing ground economically, and the nations that are gaining it might not be as sentimental about Italian food, French wine, Greek ruins, Spanish fishing villages, London’s theater and all those old cathedrals and wonderful museums. I can’t see throngs of Chinese, Brazilians and Indians lining up outside the Vatican or the Louve.

About the only people who could re-start the engines of Europe are be the Germans. If the Euro Union is going to stick together, the Germans are going to call the shots. » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 2:32 pm Read Comments (3) / Leave a Comment

Sunday, August 7, 2011

◊ The Tao of Richard Wetherill

Society ... Spirituality ...

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a lot of full page advertisements in a variety of magazines composed mostly of text, having a small picture of an old 1950’s-style white guy named Richard W. Wetherill. Every now and then I’d try to read some of these ads, but they never seemed to say anything all that interesting. Whoever is behind these ads (the Richard Wetherill Foundation, I gather) obviously has a lot of money, and just keeps on posting them. A quick web search shows that these ads have appeared in Scientific American, Discover, Popular Science and Science Illustrated; the Foundation people are obviously aiming at scientific rationalists. But they have also hit The Smithsonian and The Atlantic at times, trying to broaden their audience a bit (but still aiming at the more educated reading population).

Well, persistence pays off; after 3 or 4 years of seeing these ads, I finally took a few minutes and tried to focus on their message. I also tried to find out a bit about Mr. Wetherill himself, who died in 1989, over 20 years ago. I’d also love to know just who is behind the big push to popularize Wetherill today. But as to Wetherill, he worked for a big railroad car manufacturer in Philadelphia, the Budd Company, as a training executive back in the 1940s. That was back when unions were powerful. I gather that Mr. Wetherill was concerned with union-management and employee-management relationships, which could be rather tumultuous. Well, at some point he decided to quit his job and become a management consultant. Later, he became a prophet, a “man with a message”. (The guy came from Jersey, but must have tapped into an old Main Line family with $$$, which probably pays for all the ads you see out there today). So he wrote all these books to get his message across.

Just what is that message? His ads talk about natural laws of behavior and laws of absolute right. This all has something to do with how people should get along, how political and social and business relationships » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 6:30 pm Read Comments (14) / Leave a Comment

Saturday, August 6, 2011

◊ Japan, Zen, and The Ventures

Current Affairs ... Foreign Relations/World Affairs ...

Being an old guy who grew up in the 60’s, I still like The Ventures and the surf guitar instrumentals that they were famous for. It’s well known amidst Ventures fans that this group had a special relationship with the people of Japan. They started touring there in the early 60’s, well before the other pop music stars of the west started noticing Japan. Actually, almost no one in the west noticed Japan back then. It was only 17 or 18 years since the big Pacific war (that they started) had ended with a nuclear ‘bang’, and no one much took ‘the Japs’ seriously anymore. Japan was starting to export stuff for sale in the US by then, but it was mostly considered ‘cheap garbage’. A few Zen-masters from the Japanese temples were starting to arrive on our western shores, as to take advantage of the nascent ‘beat generation’ and the search for meaning amidst affluent American bohemians. But for the most part, Japan was not on anyone’s radar anymore (an ironic choice of words, given what had happened at Pearl Harbor in December, 1941).

In just a few years, the sun would begin to rise once again over Japan. But in the misty pre-dawn of the Japanese cultural and economic resurgence, the Ventures found a niche, a place that became special to them. After the Beatles hit the music scene and the British pop invasion swept the surf craze aside, the Ventures became an “also ran” band, still useful on occasion for things such as the theme for the TV show “Hawaii 5-0”. However, they could still pack ’em in at the concert halls of Japan, and made annual tours to the Land of the Rising Sun. Believe it or not, despite all the changes in the music world, the group continued doing that thru the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s.

By now, the surviving Ventures are in their 70s (Don Wilson and Nokie Edwards; Bob Bogle and Mel Taylor both passed, but Mel’s son Leon still tours with the band on drums). You would think that in the wake of that terrible tsunami disaster back in March, » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 10:56 am Read Comments (2) / Leave a Comment

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

◊ Tea Party Triumph

Current Affairs ... Economics/Business ... Politics ...

Looks like the Tea Party has notched a major victory in its quest to change the course of American history. Yes, I certainly am referring to the debt limit extension and deficit reduction plan approved by the House and Senate and about to be signed into law by President Obama.

I just read an article on the Daily Beast site that is right on point. The “Beast” (a spin-off of Newsweek Magazine) and its writers are very much on the liberal side, and thus have a lot of admiration for the Saul Alinsky dream of grass roots organizing, of ordinary people rising up to take power from the elites who control our government. One reason why “Beast people” (and “HuffPo” people and “DailyKos” people and NPR people, etc.) love Barack Obama so much is that he was once a community organizer himself, who cut his teeth going door to door and attending countless evening meetings in church basements, right on Alinsky’s home turf (i.e., Chicago).

OK, so Beast writer Peter Beinart points out that the Tea Party is one of the most incredible, stupendous examples of the Alinksy dream realized. It just rose up from the grass roots and organized itself, » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 11:56 am Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Thursday, July 28, 2011

◊ Commode to Cadillac Politics

Personal Reflections ... Politics ...

I just read an article on the Texas Monthly site about Gov. Rick Perry, the latest heavyweight contender in the GOP Presidential nomination ring. Of course, Perry hasn’t announced yet, but most of the political reports indicate that he’s building a campaign organization and is out raising money. The latest speculation is that Perry will formally announce in the second half of August.

Is Perry viable? A recent Gallup poll shows Perry picking up strength. This poll sets forth a variety of different scenarios between the many present and potential GOP contenders, but the most important set of charts puts Romney, Bachmann and the six other dwarfs (Cain, Gingrich, Pawlenty, etc.) against the three “shadow” candidates (Perry, Palin and Guiliani) on an individual basis. Thus, you can see the effect that Palin alone would have on the present field, versus the Guiliani-alone effect, versus the Perry-alone effect.

In each of these three “trial heats”, Romney retains a 23% share. But Perry comes within striking distance at 18%, while Palin gets 15% and Rudy G takes 14%. More important is the effect on Bachmann’s support. » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 9:26 pm Read Comments (2) / Leave a Comment

Sunday, July 24, 2011

◊ Beat The Heat, India-Style

Foreign Relations/World Affairs ... Science ...

Eapen, my friend from work, work hails from India. The other day, we were talking about, what else, the hot summer weather. I asked him if he experienced similar weather in India, and he said yes, even hotter. Then he offered some traditional Indian wisdom on what to do about it. The village wise men and women in India say that on a hot day, you should start a fire and heat up some water for tea or some other hot concoction. And yes, the inverse holds also – when the cold Arctic winds are blowing outside, open the fridge and pop the ice cube tray, load up a glass and then quaff down a tall frosty drink.

Why? Well, according to Eapen and his ancestors, sipping a cup of hot soup or whatnot opens up the skin pores, blood vessels and other body passage ways. This allows the blood and other body fluids to “radiate” more – i.e. they have more area for heat-exchange with the surrounding environment. And so, even if the drink makes you hotter at first, after a while you will feel cooler. By contrast, that bracing icy drink in February contracts the pores and vessels, keeping the body heat trapped within. So again, you get a short-term effect (feeling cooler), but over time you feel warmer.

Actually, Eapen is pretty much Americanized, and thus allowed that this might not always work for unbelieving US natives. However, he did point out that the American custom of eating ice cream on a hot day while imagining it to make you cooler was quite irrational. Perhaps your mouth and stomach feel cool for a few moments, but as soon as the fats and sugars start to metabolize, your body certainly heats up as the barrage of excess calories floods your system.

Actually, I had a science teacher in high school who also made this point. And no, he was not Indian; his last name was Williams. (Ah yes, Jim Williams from East Rutherford High School; he was definitely one of the better teachers, as he actually had a sense of humor. Except about ice cream in the summer.)

Going back to India but sticking with science, » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 4:29 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Friday, July 22, 2011

◊ Too Darn Hot for the Mind . . .

Brain / Mind ...

It’s been a rough year weather-wise for the USA as a whole, but my corner of suburban New Jersey has missed the worst of it thus far. Thank goodness, no tornadoes, no floods, more snow than I would have liked, but even that gave way by late February. However, the nasty heat wave that has been parching the heartland has finally invaded the east coast, and we’re getting fried with the best of them. The ocean breezes cool things off near the shore, but crap out just a few miles inland. Thus, I am enjoying that unique combination of 100+ heat and Jersey-style humidity. The air outside is something like a chocolate fudge volcano cake just out of the oven — but without any of the sweetness.

In this weather, I still think about big questions; but I don’t get too far in pursuing the answers. For tonight then, I’m just going to ask the questions and leave them unanswered. For now, and probably for a long, long time, as these questions are about the human mind. Ah yes, the mind and consciousness, that mysterious middle-ground between the physical brain, and what we would imagine as “the soul” (perhaps rightly so, despite all the disdain by the scientists and Buddhists). Philosophers, psychologists, doctors, biologists and computer specialists have been arguing for decades and centuries about this topic. So, I guess that I’m not going to solve it all on a hot summer night in Jersey.

Nonetheless, here are my questions about mind and consciousness.

1.) Does consciousness evolve and emerge from the workings of a human mind when and because such a mind can attain a certain level of information integration, » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 8:37 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Sunday, July 17, 2011

◊ Things Got Out of Hand

Photo ...

Looks like things got a bit out of hand recently at the local char-broil restaurant. It was a popular place, so hopefully they will get an insurance settlement and rebuild in the near future.

◊ posted by Jim G @ 1:52 pm Read Comments (2) / Leave a Comment

Thursday, July 14, 2011

◊ Creativity, Content — An American Dilemma

Economics/Business ... Foreign Relations/World Affairs ...

There’s a rather unexciting business article in the front pages of the July/August Atlantic Magazine, entitled ‘Why Content Isn’t King’. It examines “how Netflix became America’s biggest video service—much to the astonishment of media executives and investors”. In this article, author Jonathan Knee tries to explain some basic economic concepts regarding fixed costs and efficiencies of scale and scope, and doesn’t really do such a great job of it. The conclusions of the article itself are rather mundane; overall I give it three and a half yawns.

And yet, this may be one of the most important articles that I have read in recent years about why America seems to have lost its groove in the world today. There has been plenty of commentary published in recent years about America’s economic role in a changing world. I am old enough to remember when the USA was the number 1 maker of things; in my lifetime, that has changed quite a lot. There were once factories all over the place in my corner of New Jersey; now there are almost none.

The manufacturing segment of the American economy is not dead by any means; the US still produces about 19.4% of world manufacturing output, versus around 22.3% back in 1995, and probably above 30% after World War 2. Highly automated factories in the Midwest and South bang out stuff with an efficiency that the old plants in NJ could never match. However, the Chinese have both efficient technology and cheap labor, and since 1995 China has gone from 4.7% to 19.8%. This trend arguably will continue — at our expense.

Back when I was in college in the 1970s, our teachers were already aware that America was facing increased competition from the East (back then, Japan » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 8:50 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

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