Elin & Johanna w/ Lucia gown

Getting ready for their 2011 Swedish school Christmas party in Costa Mesa.  Elin is singing Santa Lucia in Swedish... sorta, and Johanna interrupts her midway.

The wonders of the universe: All the delightful ways we will get our sh*t pushed in

There is much nastiness that awaits the fate of our planet and universe in the distant future, and much has been written about them in rambling articles.  Below, is my attempt to create a coherent future timeline of earth and the universe.  Not for the faint of heart.....

Every billion years, the sun becomes 10% hotter.  In 1 billion years, the sun will become so hot that it will begin to destroy the earth.  The earth's climate and surface will become arid, and life will move underground.  In 2-3 billion years, the oceans will evaporate (no more motion in the ocean) and trap heat in the atmosphere.  Our neighboring Andromeda galaxy that is moving closer to us at 120 kilometers per second will collide with the Milky Way.  Our solar system will either escape the combined galaxies or move close to the chaotic center in a region known as Clusterf*ck.  3 billion years later (6 billion years from now), our star will turn into a red giant, expand and engulf the earth, and the earth will crash into it (added insult to injury).  That will spell the end of the earth as we know it.  Not all planets in the solar system will be pulverized by the sun.  As the sun collapses into a white dwarf, it will not muster enough gravitational force to keep the rest of the solar system planets orbiting around it. So all surviving planets will bid farewell and move on (adios amigos). 

And somewhere in the middle of this madness (250 million years from now), the continent of Africa will smash into Europe (the Mediterranean sea will be no more).  A little later, the Americas will join the party and connect with Africa (sayonara to the Atlantic ocean), and Australia will merge with Asia.

And there will be supermassive black holes roaming the universe and gobbling up whatever else sh*t that has been spared until then, but even these black holes will wither to nothingness as the force of the dark energy rips everything apart, including atoms.  Two supermassive black holes were recently discovered, one of which has 10 billion times the sun's mass and "its gravity can influence objects some 4,000 light-years away."

All of this begs the question, what is the purpose of all of these universe outcomes?  It seems as if the more we peer into the future, the more pointless everything becomes.  There will be so much death and destruction at ginormous magnitudes that it casts serious doubt upon the possibility of a higher power either designing this haphazard, spectacularly destructive and nonsensical process with gargantuan amounts of energy wasted to get the job done, or intervening to avoid its pitfalls.  Any of the episodes of the movie SAW has comparatively more humane ways to end life.  Of course, many will argue this is what armegeddon is about, and we will depart earth and the physical universe and park it somewhere safe.  But we can't avoid the pointlessness and randomness of this mass of clusterf*ck happening around us. 

Why do any of these phenomena have to occur at these cosmic scales?

And if it's really armegeddon, why does it have to happen in a myriad of ways, e.g. some life will disintegrate in supermassive black holes, some will crash into stars, some will lose their source of energy as all stars will burn away and use up their energy, and eventually, matter may not hold together (Big Rip)?  In the end, all living organisms are screwed with as many methods as in a book of Kama Sutra, except none are nearly as desirable.  Surely there can be more efficient ways to design armeggedon, no?

Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away - job 1:21

Bend over pedometer

As I bent over to pick up the billionth toy on the living room floor to place it in its rightful place, I wondered how many times I bend over on any given day, especially on the weekends to pick up trash or toys the kids leave around the house.  I thought of jogging pedometers, and how they count steps.  It sure would be nice if I could use a bend over pedometer to get a true count of the number of times I bend over for my kids.

Then it dawned on me, there can be other potential uses for a bend over pedometer, most notably in male prisons:

Here's what happiness is, why it's overrated and why it shouldn't be a life long goal

My observations below are a culmination of numerous books and articles I've read on happiness and the way our brain physically processes our life experiences, with citations included.  Very humbly put, all relevant information about happiness is summarized below, and there's really nothing more to it.  If you're looking for eternal bliss, read no further than what I've written here to put your life into perspective.  After reading this blog entry, at a minimum you will have a better understanding of your perception of happiness, what it is and isn't, and at best you may fine tune some of your behavior toward a different life objective.  50 years from now, there will be no new research that will add to the basic principles of well being, unless we have managed to manipulate the wiring of the brain to change this game of life that has persisted for thousands of years since our Cro-Magnon days.  There's a lot of fluffy information out there, and will continue to be published to serve someone's selfish reason to enhance credibility or generate grants or income.

Here's a basic fact of life that merits early mention:  Barring any significant mental complication, your brain is pre-programmed to be malcontent.  This is why given enough time, you will take for granted the good things in life.  If you've managed to appreciate a good marriage, a job or your good health, it's because you have been making an effort to think about them and reinforce that thinking in various ways.  Your tendency not to be content is ingrained in you to facilitate the struggle for different and hopefully better outcomes.  In a simple mathematical model of probabilities which much of life on earth has been subservient to, the individuals who were on the move to improve their position would strive and dominate the gene pool.  If you had ancestors who were supremely complacent, you wouldn't exist.  The very nature of reproduction involves struggle.  If you took constant pleasure in watching MTV's Jersey Shore on your couch, you would have minimal opportunities to generate enough interest in the opposite sex for a chance to reproduce.  Your interest in each successive episode of these degenerates would wane until you could no longer tolerate their idiotic antics, and you'd move onto something different, at least temporarily.  And the algorithm of life will constantly bet on your subsequent activity to further your survival and push you to reproduce.

You may be among the many who marvel at the thought of achieving celebrity status; money and fame.  Yet, judging by divorce rates and behavior of this bunch, they do not appear to have such an enormous happiness advantage.  Clearly, money doesn't bring happiness, although its deficiency contributes to misery.

The second important dynamic to take note of is the suboptimal way our brains are wired (Kluge), and how this creates uncertainties and inefficiencies in the game of life.  Evolution can produce spectacularly suboptimal designs because rather than scratching currently outdated systems and building new ones from the ground up every now and then, every system is an improvement over the previous inferior system.  This eventually results in a patchwork of some sorts.  Our brain is a byproduct of this system, and no less susceptible to its shortcomings.  We have at our disposal a processor that is flawed, and would do ourselves a service if we recognize its flaws and find ways to marginalize them.  How often to people get themselves into dead end relationships?  Your subconscious mind is a thing of beauty, but it's also the reason why you pick abusers if you've grown up in an abusive home - it's your comfort zone.  Identify your subconscious tendencies early to help avoid its pitfalls (therapy anyone?).

Our brains are wired a certain way to cope with external stimuli in our quest to survive and reproduce.  While reproduction is not the objective of every human, much of our behavior is innately and subconsciously tuned to socialization and reproduction, often without our knowledge.  If you're a male, your motivation to achieve financial success is largely to increase your chances of mating, whether you're on the market or not.  If you're a female, the endless hours you spend shopping for shoes, clothes and makeup are a byproduct of your innate desire to attract the highest quality mate.  That's why in every department store female items are in the forefront, whereas male clothing is relegated to second class citizen status in the back of the store or in a different geographical location altogether.

Here's what happiness is not:

It is not an endless stream of instant gratification; the kind that is experienced from the release of dopamine in the brain from activities such as eating Trader Joe's ice cream, and consuming illegal substances such as cocaine (hedonic well being).  Too often, people equate happiness with the frequency and duration of experiences involving instant gratification, e.g. consumption (buying a new car), or increasing income to consume.  This kind of happiness, while desirable for a short period, is fleeting.  It is also the focus of billions of dollars of product and service promotional activities.  How often do you see ads for reducing calories in your diet?  It's unfortunate that the deck is stacked against us, and that we are exposed and react to endless detrimental messages to our physical and mental well being.  Too much of instant gratification activities will leave you yearning for more, much like a heroin addict who chases that initial high incessantly.

Here's what the venerable Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt eloquently opined in an interview with Australian 60 Minutes:

“I think happiness is overrated, truthfully. I do,” says the Moneyball star, who has kids Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne with his partner Angelina Jolie. “I think sometimes you’re happy, sometimes you’re not. There’s too much pressure to be happy. I don’t know. I don’t really give a s–t. I know I will be at times and I know I won’t be at times. Satisfied, at peace, those would be more goals for myself.”

In one simple paragraph, Mr. Pitt has shifted the objective from happiness to satisfaction.  And satisfaction in life emanates from living it with a greater sense of purpose -  fostering relationships, working in a profession that is meaningful to you, helping others.  And here are a few things to avoid - yes, satisfaction is just as much about avoiding factors that reduce well being as pursuing the ones that promote it:

• Materialism:  The less you value material things, the better
• Trust:  The less you trust others, the unhappier you are
• Inequality:  Pay no attention to your neighbor's socio-economic status.  While it's true that the more equal societies are happier ones (e.g. All Scandinavian countries - read Thrive), if you live in an unequal society (U.S., England), you would fair better by consciously avoiding a comparison of yourself to others.  This is a cross cultural tendency, pointing to its innate characteristic.
• Expectations:  High expectations can and often do lead to disappointment.  Temper your expectations to match your abilities, even if it means missing the opportunity to becoming the next Steve Jobs.  For every Mr. Jobs, there are at least a million wannabes, but our culture has a way of perpetuating the lottery mentality.
• Complexity:  The more your life gets complicated, the more stressful it becomes.  Simplify your life as much as you can.  Avoid credit card debt and people with credit card debt.

Finally, if all else fails you can delude yourself into satisfaction.  Conjure up a world that is fine tuned to your desires and dive into it mentally.  The expression "as happy as a pig in shit" comes to mind.  Time for chocolate now....

Your unconscious sucks at math - why most people are bad at calculating risk

From David Brook's book, "The Social Animal":

Let's say you spent $1.10 on a pen and pad of paper. If you spent a dollar more for the pad than the pen, how  much did the pen cost?

Level 1 (the unconscious) wants to tell you that the pen cost 10 cents because in its dumb, blockheaded way, it wants to break the money into the $1 part and the 10-cent part, even though the real answer is that you spent 5 cents for the pen.

Because of this tendency, people are bad at calculating risks.  Level 1 develops an inordinate fear of rare but spectacular threats, but ignores threats that are around every day.  People fear planes, even though everybody knows car travel is more dangerous.  They fear chain saws, even though nearly ten times more people are injured each year on playground equipment.

Here's my review of the book:
Material lacks depth and fictional characters are insipid, October 28, 2011
Mr. Brooks covers lots of intriguing scientific facts and theories behind human behavior. The area that is emphasized the most is the importance of the subconscious mind, and how conscious thought is subservient to it. All of this material is presented through a couple of fictional characters and their story from birth through old age. For readers of non-fiction, this can be a bit of a put off. There is potential confusion surrounding the behavior and thoughts of the fictional characters and whether they have any factual basis or scientific merit. Mr. Brooks breaks away from the stories intermittently throughout the book to discuss the more serious topics, but intertwining fiction and non-fiction gives short shrift to both. While the material presented is pertinent and plentiful, the fictional account detracts and marginalizes the serious work here.

From the acknowledgements section, "This book is an attempt to... integrate science and psychology with sociology, politics, cultural commentary, and the literature of success."

A day after reading the book from cover to cover, I can recall considerably less factual material than fiction, but I'll never forget this: "Measured at its highest potential, the conscious mind still has a processing capacity 200,000 times weaker than the unconscious." Perhaps my unconscious mind feels differently about this book and I'm not aware of it...

Around Halloween 2011

Don't mess with Costco shopping carts!

From an AP article by Dara William titled "CORRALING CARTS; ANTI-THEFT DEVICE KEEPS SHOPPING BASKETS IN THEIR PLACE." - paraphrasing since the article is copyrighted:

According to the Supermarket Institute, a shopping cart is stolen every 90 seconds in the U.S.  In one year, 1.8 million were taken at a replacement cost of $175 million.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a sign on my Costco shopping cart with the warning message, "Attention Shoppers!  Our shopping carts will lock if taken beyond the parking lot perimeter."

I thought this was a bogus alert to scare shopping cart thieves.  So I decided to test this warning.  The video is below.  I took my wife to Costco to get a flu shot.  I visit Costco by myself almost always, so this was the perfect opportunity to test the alert system, especially given that my wife wasn't able to get the flu shot because it was a Sunday.  So her trip wasn't in vain.

Lo and behold, the front left wheel locked a little after I crossed the yellow line marking the end of the Costco parking lot.  If it weren't for a passer by car, I 'd have pushed the cart straight through the yellow line for a more dramatic display of the locked wheel.

Upon further examination of the locked wheel:

I noticed that wheel had a plastic cover unlike other wheels, suggesting there was some type of technology inside that wheel only.  Here's a description of anti-theft technology in shopping carts I found on Wikipedia:

"Electronic systems are sometimes used by retailers. Each shopping cart is fitted with an electronic locking wheel, or 'boot'. A transmitter with a thin wire is placed around the perimeter of the parking lot, and the boot locks when the cart leaves the designated area. Store personnel must then deactivate the lock with a hand-held remote to return the cart to stock. Often a line is painted in front of the broadcast range to warn customers that their cart will stop when rolled past the line. Unfortunately these systems are very expensive to install and although helpful are not foolproof. The wheels can be lifted over the electronic barrier and/or pushed hard enough that the locks break."

I got pied in the face....

For a Good Cause

We decided to have a "pie in the face" contest for our 2011 annual department meeting to raise money for the "Bread of Life" charity event.  The winning bidder would get to pie one of the four department leaders in the face.

Way before the "pie in the face" auction concluded, I'd heard through the grapevine there were powerful forces who had coalesced to pick me.  Two of my managers had organized a sizeable team of donors ("Pricing and Friends") through an underground operation the magnitude of a Jerry Lewis Telethon.  These "Friends" may have been Pricing friends, but they were no friends of mine.

I'd contemplated different excuses to skip getting a pie thrown in my face, but this was for an important charity event, so I decided to suck it up and accept my fate.

During the auction, I was sitting on the sidelines feeling dejected.  Then something extraordinary happened:  "Christina Welsh & Friends" joined forces with DA&R to outbid the seemingly invincible "Pricing & Friends" with deep pockets.  DA&R had bid $570.  "Christina & Friends" had a budget of $800.  So I figured I'm safe, and my spirits began to lift…until Margaret (my boss) joined "Pricing & Friends"!  I was now against Trump Enterprises, and my fate was summarily sealed.  I learned later, one of my managers had asked Margaret to join "Pricing & Friends" at the last second.  Lots of effort went into securing me the top spot.  I'm generally a very competitive person, but this ain't no "first place" to hang your hat on.  I was officially the BOSS Villain.

So they wrapped a couple of trash bags around my body with only my head sticking out.  Like smooth criminals, Brady and Galina did the honors, and just like that I felt like a celebrity.  Cameras were flashing with paparazzi everywhere.  I couldn't open my mouth to breathe, and had to keep my eyes shut.  After someone wiped my face, I opened my eyes and saw white everywhere.  I had to eat the excessive whipped cream and graham cracker crust blocking my mouth to find an opening to breathe.

Then it was Margaret's turn to get pied, and off I went to the restroom to wash off the remaining pieces of the pie.  An hour later, and my hair and face are beginning to smell like barf.  I'm heading to the gym now, and I'm not afraid to stink up the place… After all, it was for a good cause.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Why Do Some People Learn Faster?

Because they make it their business to care when they make a mistake, and are motivated enough to learn from it.  Now there's some scientific basis (biological proof) of how the mind works for fast and slow learners, and this article from Wired discusses it:

Why Do Some People Learn Faster?

Based on another scientific study of 5th graders, the ones who are praised for hard work outperformed the ones praised for being intelligent.

"After taking this difficult test, the two groups of students were then given the option of looking either at the exams of kids who did worse or those who did better. Students praised for their intelligence almost always chose to bolster their self-esteem by comparing themselves with students who had performed worse on the test. In contrast, kids praised for their hard work were more interested in the higher-scoring exams. They wanted to understand their mistakes, to learn from their errors, to figure out how to do better."

Romeo Santos Feat. Usher - Promise (Official)

Elin's second day in soccer class with nalle

Another Saturday morning with Elin's soccer class for kids 3-5 years old, and Elin wasn't too keen on attending. She grabbed a teddy bear (nalle in Swedish) and we were off to class.  Arrived a couple of minutes late so I dropped off Helena and Elin before I parked.  When I reached the soccer field with Johanna, there was Elin dribbling the ball with nalle in one arm.  Nobody laughed or said anything.  Thankfully, expectations for kids this age are incredibly low.

Top 10 Happiest and Most Hated Jobs

According to a General Social Survey by the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago published in the Christian Science Monitor on a September 2, 2011 posting titled "The 10 happiest jobs", the 10 happiest jobs are:

1.  Clergy
2.  Firefighters
3.  Physical Therapists
4.  Authors (yes, money is not everything)
5.  Special Education Teachers
6.  Teachers (but an average career lasts only 5 years for half)
7.  Artists
8.  Psychologists
9.  Financial Services Sales Agents
10. Operating Engineers

And the top 10 Worst according to Steve Denning of Forbes.com - these are jobs that are meaningless; employees "see little point in what they're doing." - they're mired in bureaucracy - from "Think Your Job Is Bad? Try One Of These!", 8-11-2011:


1. Director of Information Technology
2. Director of Sales and Marketing
3. Product Manager
4. Senior Web Developer
5. Technical Specialist
6. Electronics Technician
7. Law Clerk
8. Technical Support Analyst
9. CNC Machinist
10. Marketing Manager

Elin's first day in soccer class

First day of soccer class through the city of Irvine at Woodbury community park was rained out.

The following weekend (today) on Saturday the 17th at 11 a.m., Elin's class went off without a hitch.  The parents surrounded the kids, snapping pictures and videos at a furious pace like paparazzi, me included.

Halfway through practice, Elin told her mom in Swedish "the coach said they should all go pee".  While the coaches would give the kids water breaks from time to time, there was no mention of a pee break, so that was a false alarm.

Elin began drifting away 2/3rds of the class.  She appeared to lose interest, so I stepped in and accompanied her through the rest of the exercises.

The video below is of Johanna disrupting the class by collecting most of the cones used as markers for kids to maneuver around.  She appeared to be having more fun than many of the kids.  She even kicked a ball or two  quite adeptly.

Skimboarding at the Balboa Pier

I shot the skimboarding video below at the Balbao Pier yesterday.  The tide was high and there were powerful waves breaking near the sand.  City workers had moved sand from the back of the beach to the front to prevent the high tide from flooding the parking lot and beyond.  All of this created the perfect conditions for skimboarding, which is similar to surfing, except skimboarders run from the beach to the water and catch late breaking waves by the sand.  The skimboards are small replicas of surfboards without fins to allow gliding in shallow waters.

Does Ruby's have a monopoly over pier real estate?  I've never been on a pier in SoCal without a Ruby's at the end.

And here's a popular skimboarding video on YouTube:

Profoundly skewed fundamentals - A review of "Aftershock", by Robert Reich

The American history of capitalism, viewed through the benefits of economic change has been swinging like a pendulum over the past 100 years between concentration of wealth in the hands of few, and the sharing of prosperity among many. In 1929, the year that marked the beginning of the Great Depression, income inequality in America was at its worst. The current income inequality is similar to the years immediately preceding the great depression. A widely used measure of income distribution called the Gini Coefficient ranked the U.S. 93rd out of 134 countries in 2010 (the higher the rank, the greater the income inequality). Iran was ranked 90th, and Russia 82nd (source, CIA - 2010).

Wealth concentration rose from 1870 to 1929 (the year the Great Depression began), followed by a more broadly shared era of prosperity (1947 - 1975), and then the "Great Divergence" according to Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman, which is rapidly rising income inequality since the late 1970s.

Mr. Reich believes unless the tide of rising income inequality is turned, we are sure to experience anemic job growth, persistently high unemployment and low wages, which affect everyone including the wealthy. With a weak purchasing power, the middle class that fuels all economic recoveries will be in no shape to sustain a strong recovery of the Great Recession of 2008. Over time, there will be growing public discontent, and two groups will vie for political dominance: The demagogues and the reformers, and let's hope the latter group dominates the voice of reason.

While Mr. Reich's reliance on the pitfalls of income inequality seems plausible -the impacts of which are debatable among economists - one of his lofty remedies could use more forethought. Mr. Reich proposes hefty government subsidies ("wage supplements") for the poor and middle class to the tune of $633 billion annually, funded partly by a carbon tax that can generate roughly the equivalent. Mr. Reich goes on to tout the benefits of such high carbon taxes as an inducement to develop "cheaper and more efficient" sources of energy, but fails to name a substitute when carbon emission is significantly reduced as a result.

Much of Mr. Reich's arguments pertain to establishing the importance of the inequality factor, followed by a very condensed version of how to fix it. Even if Mr. Reich's uncompromising remedies were ignored - there are many ways to skin a cat - "Aftershock" goes a long way in bringing "income inequality" to the forefront of the debate of U.S. economic woes since 2008.

Aftershock

Why Russell Crowe is Wrong - My 1.3 year old robot monkey

My 1 year old, Johanna, has a lot to say and most of it only she can decipher.  She is now in a monkey phase, mindlessly imitating what others say.  So a couple of nights ago during dinner, her 3 year old sister uttered "Duudde", and that's all Johanna needed.  She was off and running, directionless, yelling "dude" rapid fire.

Russel Crowe thinks babies are born perfect.  Here's video proof Mr. Crowe is grossly misinformed:

The rich request to have their taxes raised!

Ask and you shall receive:

The French government is to impose an extra tax of 3% on annual income above 500,000 euros (£440,000; $721,000).

From an August 24, 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk article:

France introduces new tax on high incomes

....some of France's wealthiest people had called on the government to tackle its deficit by raising taxes on the rich.


Sixteen executives, including Europe's richest woman, the L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, had offered in an open letter to pay a "special contribution" in a spirit of "solidarity".

It was signed by some of France's most high-profile chief executives, including Christophe de Margerie of oil firm Total, Frederic Oudea of bank Societe Generale, and Air France's Jean-Cyril Spinetta. They said: "We, the presidents and leaders of industry, businessmen and women, bankers and wealthy citizens would like the richest people to have to pay a 'special contribution'."

They said they had benefited from the French system and that: "When the public finances deficit and the prospects of a worsening state debt threaten the future of France and Europe and when the government is asking everybody for solidarity, it seems necessary for us to contribute."

Review of "Confessions of a Public Speaker" - “No matter how much you hate or love this book, you’re unlikely to be a good public speaker”

Those are words from the author, verbatim (p. 140).  You can become a good public speaker if you practice, but don’t believe the marketing hype about this book.  Like most people, you are lazy and you will most likely not practice (also p. 140).  Curiously, Mr. Berkun waited until over 2/3^rds into the book to disclose this pertinent information, when it should have been stated on the front cover. 

You may increase your chances of overcoming your pathetic lazy propensity by watching the documentary “Comedian” to get an appreciation for what it takes to deliver a seamless comedy routine.

Now that it has been well established, quite convincingly so, that most readers interested in enhancing their public speaking skills will not become good public speakers, the question is, can any improvement, however marginal, be achieved from reading this book?  Well, the answer depends on how carefully you read the book, and which parts you choose to focus on.  Most of the book is entertaining.  So if nothing else, readers with at least a mild interest in public speaking should find it worthwhile reading.  Mr. Berkun’s candid writing style, e.g. disclosing his pay per speaking engagement, is refreshing.

I believe reading this book without practice will still increase your public speaking skills, provided the following sections are retained in memory and applied in your public speaking endeavors:

Can’t remember which page:  Take Improv classes.  Mr. Berkun claims taking these classes vastly improved his public speaking skills.

Page 128:  Do not bother becoming a teacher or lecturer.  Based on Mr. Berkun’s vast lecturing experience, in any learning environment “5% are asleep and 25% are thinking about sex.  Another 35% are day dreaming about something else entirely.  Of the remaining 40%, some will be in the wrong room and others will be distracted by text messages or emails.”   By the way, if you didn’t catch the fuzzy math (the percentages add up to 105%, which is an impossibility), it’s because you fall under one of the categories the author mentioned while reading this part of my review.  Feel free to post a comment about which you category you belong to.

Pages 60-61:  Four things to prepare well.  Read the list for yourself. The book may lose sales if I list them here.

Page 88:  “Speak louder, take stronger positions, and behave more aggressively than you would in an ordinary conversation…. They are the same rules that good stand-up comedians, professors, and talk-show hosts follow.”

Men are better negotiators than women, but kids put both to shame

In an August 4^th, 2011 Forbes magazine article, Susannah Breslin cited the reasons “why men are better negotiators than women” as:  They lie better, women feel guilty, and men intimidate.  Well, I would have to disagree with Ms. Breslin.  Kids are better negotiators than both, and here’s why:

Every Monday at work, I miraculously miss my family after the h*ll my two daughters put me through during the weekend.  It’s as if parents’ memories are fine tuned to forget all the god awful aspects of raising little kids.

This Monday was no different than any other with amnesia.  I got home from work to find my 3 year old hiding under the dining room table with her eyes shut.  In her mind if she couldn’t see me, I couldn’t see her either.  I spotted her right away and called her name.  Peculiarly, she stayed under the table longer than usual, and muttered something in Swedish to her mom that was incomprehensible to me.  It turned out she had peed.  Then she crawled out from under the table and as she was walking to the bathroom to finish the job, left giant pee footprints on the wood floor.  I spent the next 10 minutes cleaning her and the trail and puddle of pee she’d left behind.

Next, I heated up my food and sat down to eat to the loud complaints of my 1 year old in her IKEA high chair.  It wasn’t enough that she’d made a horrible mess of herself, the high chair and a 2 mile radius around her.  She had to belt out ghastly cries because she was tired.  My 3 year old who found all of this amusing decided to imitate her sister until I threatened her with a timeout, at which point she switched to lower decibel and slightly less horrifying sounds.

A little background on what happened next.  We’d been to Newport Coast the day before, checking out crabs and other sea creatures visible in low tide conditions.  My 3 year old cut her left elbow against the rocks and bled a few droplets, more than she had in a long time since her 6 stitches on her left index finger from another accident.

So we told her we needed to take this gigantic band aid off during the night to air out her cut.  The hideous imitation noises now blossomed into fully blown cries and screams refusing to take the band aid off.  So her mom promised her hot chocolate if she cooperated.  She went on with her loud complaints until we agreed to leave them on for one night.  We figured the band aid would come off on its own the following day in the pool.  Elin immediately asked for two nights to leave the band aid on.  Then she had the nerve to whine about the hot chocolate too.

So she negotiated to keep her band aid on for two nights when she wasn’t supposed to for any, and drink the hot chocolate promised to her for complying, which she hadn't.  Now that’s negotiation skills you can’t beat.

Alien invasion in Newport Coast - PPCs

This morning, with low tide in Newport Coast, we hit the beach with friends to discover creepy crawlies not visible or accessible most of the time.

As we were eating hot dogs on the beach, a gang of slow and low flying aliens popped up in the air northbound. I grabbed my wife's iPhone and took the film below.

It turned out this was a PPC group.  PPC stands for powered parachute - see picture below.  These are motorized parachutes with wheels.  In the U.S., the single seat PPCs require no license or flight instruction by the FAA to fly.  Airspeed is 25-35 mph (40-60 km/h), and altitude is anywhere from a few feet off the ground up to 18,000+ feet (5.5 km).  Typical flight altitude is between 500 and 1,500 feet (150 - 500 meters) and can last up to 3 hours.  A new single seat PPC is typically $10,000.

The video I shot appeared to be from a simpler version of PPCs with backpack sized motors with no wheels more like this one:

These aerial vehicles are loads of fun.  I remember one landed in the boxing ring many years ago during a match between Riddick Bowe and someone.  The flyer got tangled up mid fight and received a few blows from Bowe's manager.

Here's a better video than mine from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4papFKYztk

This is Baghdad - A review of "The Last Narco" by Malcolm Beith

"The Last Narco" is much more than the story of one of Mexico's most notorious and powerful cartel leaders, El Chapo. Mr. Beith covers the comprehensive history of Mexico's illegal drug industry, from its humble beginnings when Mexicans were nothing more than couriers, transporting Columbian cartels' cocaine through Mexico to the U.S. The successful Columbian government's efforts with substantial U.S. aid and intervention in the 1990s led to the marginalization of the powerful Columbian Cali and Medellin cartels, which as an unintended consequence led to the formation and empowerment of their Mexican counterparts. Then in 2006, the newly elected president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon declared war on the dealers or "Narcos", unleashing the military to reduce violent crime instigated by the world's most dangerous criminal elite. The multi-year narco war's atrocities has put Al Qaeda's abhorrent acts to shame. For years there have been daily tortures, beheadings and mutilated bodies turning up everywhere, with over 27,000 deaths between 2006 and 2010 mostly from inter-cartel fighting. There is a pervasive and persistent narco culture in Mexico that is seemingly impossible to shed, lining up the pockets of the drug cartels to the tune of up to $48 billion annually according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

"The Last Narco" demonstrates unequivocally the futile effort of the war on drugs, the endless resources consumed and lives lost. Neutralize one cartel and an ugly turf war ensues. The RAND Corporation estimates a $60 billion annual consumption of narcotics in the U.S.; $36 billion on cocaine, $11 billion on heroin, $10 billion on marijuana, $5.8 billion on methamphetamines, and $2.6 billion on the rest. Mexico's annual illicit drug export to the U.S. comprises up to $40 billion of our cocaine, heroin, marijuana and meth. America's insatiable appetite to consume ensures a steady stream of supply and the criminal infrastructure that accompanies it. As long as there is strong demand, this war will never be won.

Mr. Beith has risked life and limb to write an eye opening and comprehensive story of the rise and thrive of Mexican cartels that have been a part of the fabric of Mexican society for decades. This is excellent journalistic work that delves deep beneath the global headlines. My only critique of the book is the lack of chronological order of events that can create some confusion in piecing together a cogent historical account of the Mexican narcotics industry.

The 13 bullshit points on top of bullshit – Cowboys and Aliens (w/ major spoilers)

The following list was the result of a collaborative effort between Sean Petersen, Jack Kim and yours truly.  It contains major spoilers of the movie Cowboys and Aliens.  So if you plan on watching the movie and would like to keep the suspense, skip reading this list and revisit later.

There is a certain amount of BS that is expected and can be tolerated for movies in this genre.  This list comprises observations of BS above and beyond.

1. The entire objective of the movie, concucted by Olivia Wilde’s character was to blow up the alien ship so they wouldn’t get a chance to tell their colleagues about Earth.  Earth would be forgotten, and therefore, saved.  Really??  They weren’t in contact with anyone from their planet???
2. Why did Daniel Craig’s character put a blanket on Olivia Wilde’s nekked body following her resurrection?  He could've waited a few more seconds for a full frontal shot.
3. Why didn’t Olivia Wilde’s character resurrect following the suicide mission?
4. All the characters who made it back alive from the trance state in captivity turned altruistic.  This, if true, settles the debate between those who think there is a criminal gene, and those who do not.  Daniel Craig turned into an angel following his return as well.  This requires further explanation not provided during the movie.
5. When, if ever, would Daniel Craig’s weapon have run out of ammo?  He was shooting that thing endlessly.
6. What the heck was Daniel Craig thinking when he pulled out his 6 shooter after giving Olivia Wilde his weapon bracelette?  As if he didn’t know his weapon against the aliens was useless from numerous previous encounters?  And why didn’t he just reach down and pick up a replacement weapon from one of the dozens of dead alien bodies?
7. Why weren’t the alien guns have an authentication mechanism such as thumb print?
8. As common in most alien movies, the aliens’ phsycial characteristics resembled those of prehistoric monsters and they were barely able to put a coherent sound together.  Yet, they had vastly improved technologies.  This is counter evolutionary and MUST STOP.  These aliens also had temper issues, uncharacteristic of an advanced society.
9. Daniel Craig’s appendix wound was inflicted in such a way that survival would have been highly unlikely.  The heated metal rod inserted into his appendix looked to be at least 8 inches deep.  Yet, his wound was stitched up and he was ready to kick major alien ass in short order.
10. Human experiment lab was not exactly sterile.  There must have been cross contamination all over.
11. Space ship had very poor architecture.  Space was shared among the human lab experiment, gold extraction, and dead human storage.
12.  When Olivia kissed Daniel Craig, Craig’s mind went limp enough for the weapon to detach.  Why didn’t the same happen when Olivia whacked him in the head at the bar to stop him from killing people?  Why didn’t his weapon detach then?
13. How did Olivia Wilde pick up Apache language so quickly?  Can foreign language instructional programs be created with the same technology/efficacy?  Rosetta Stone, eat your heart out!

How life blows every now and then! Stomach cramps and motion sickness

According to askdarcy.com, the #1 reason why your life blows is because "you believe you have no control over your life."  For me, it's because I believe, and demonstrably so, that I have no control of my bowel movements (happens every now and then).

I had a dentist appointment this morning at 8:30 a.m. for a filling.  I'd blocked out 1 hour on my work calendar under the mistaken belief that this would be another routine rectifying of another god dang cavity.  Here's my dental rap sheet:

• Fillings in every tooth except my front top and bottom row and two top wisdom teeth.  I've had a couple of dentists salivating over the prospect of plucking them.... but pluck them!  No reason for having dental surgery over two harmless and useless teeth.
• Something like 3-4 crowns
• 1 crown is accompanied by a root canal
• Another crown has been faulty since installation less than a year ago.  I'm waiting for next year to open a health care flex account so I can use pre-tax money to pay for an exchange.

I suppose I should count my blessings as things could be worse.

So this morning's filling turned out to be one of life's moments that utterly blows and makes one think about a nap 6 feet under.  I had to keep my mouth wide open for 1.5 hours, all the while smelling or tasting all kinds of nasty shit.  Every now and then I had to reach into my mouth and remove a tooth fragment 'cause the dental assistant wasn't doing grade A work.  I was laying horizontal for most of this time with my head at the same level as my toes, nauseated.  This cavity was deeper than my dentist had thought.  As I was driving to work, I felt an urge to blog about this experience and other life's acutely undesirable moments.

For whatever reason, the most undesirable moments of my life are the ones I am either suffering from motion sickness, or sitting on the toilet defecating my brains out with massive stomach cramps.  And oddly, it never fails that I become sympathetic to the predicament of cancer patients during.  I was at the cash register of a Pavilions near my place when the female cashier asked me if I wanted to donate money for breast cancer research.  I told her no, but if she was collecting donations for testicular cancer research, I was game.

Can we look forward to a future of no cavities, no dental cleaning (these aren't horrible, but bad enough), and no brushing or flossing?  Sheah!  It's called "dentures" baby!  And at this rate of tooth decay, I can't wait for what's in store when I'm 80.  Is there anything graceful about aging?  If you'd like to read more about how fun it is to age, try "The thing about life is that one day you'll be dead", by David Shields.

My depressing blog entry is nothing compared to what this book dishes out.

South African Man Wakes Up in Morgue - You begin to ask yourself, how many other people have died like that in a morgue?”

From a Time article, "Dead Man Walking: South African Man Wakes Up in Morgue", July 26, 2011:

"Kupelo urged South Africans to not conclude on their own that a relative has passed."

Excerpts from the article:

The undead man was zipped up in a body bag and locked in a refrigerated compartment for one day before morgue staffers heard him shouting from his icy quarters. The staffers were terrified that the voice was a ghost and fled the building. “I couldn't believe it!" said Maqolo. "I was also scared.” After they returned and called the police, they entered the fridge to find the man, a grandfather, alive, though shivering and shaken.

“He screamed for help and made an almighty din in the morgue,” said Eastern Cape health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo.

The man was treated for hypothermia and dehydration at a nearby hospital, and doctors later deemed him stable. He is recovering at home from the bizarre and traumatic experience.

Toilet 2.0: Poop gasified into plasma using microwaves to generate electricity

"Gates Foundation:  We need to reinvent the toilet."

The toilet was invented in 1776, and while it has performed nothing short of a miracle in making people's lives healthier, it hasn't reached 2/3rd of the world.  The Gates Foundation is giving $41.5 million worth of grants to a few universities to develop toilets that cost pennies and recycle or render feces harmless.  Diarrheal diseases contribute to the deaths of 1.5 million children around the world, and poor sanitation is the chief cause.

Here are what the recipient of the grants plan to do with the donated funds.  Let's hope some of the individuals below will make good use of human waste ASAP.  The fate of millions depends on their work.

• Andrew Cotton, from Loughborough University in the UK, is making a toilet that will "recover water and salt from feces and urine."

• Georgios Stefanidis, from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, is working on a toilet that will generate electricity from waste, which will be "gasified into plasma" using microwaves. That gas can be used to generate electricity, according to the proposal.

• Yu-Ling Chen, from the University of Toronto, is trying to make a toilet that will "sanitize feces within 24 hours" so human waste doesn't transmit disease through a community. Chen plans to use a process of dehydration, filtration and smoldering to render the waste harmless.

• Michael Hoffmann, from the California Institute of Technology, plans to develop a solar-powered toilet. Solar cells generate enough power to process waste and turn it into fuel for electricity.

8% of people would play Russian Roulette, but only 1% would have their tongue removed! - What would you do for a million dollars?

Everybody has their price.

For a million dollars, a telephone survey by Entertainment Weekly revealed, almost 8% of respondents would loan their spouses to someone for sex.

In response to "What would you do for a million dollars?", a survey by misterpoll with 1,500 respondents showed the following disturbing results, among others not listed below:

5% would have a sex change

8% would play russian roulette

38% would euthanize their pets

8% would have a limb surgically removed

1% would have their tongue removed

11% would marry someone who weighs 700 lb.

52% would star in a porn movie

These are intriguing survey results, and beg the question, how many would do these things for free, especially starring in a porn movie and have a sex change?

And around 10% of people appear to be quite out there, willing to do such things as play Russian Roulette, have a limb surgically removed or marry someone who weights 700 lb.

38% would euthanize their pets?  Wow!  What does that say about how people feel about their pets?  I wonder what percentage would euthanize a family member for $1M!

Probably the most bizarre survey result was the 1% who would cut out their tongue.  Only 1%???  Is that the worst thing that can happen to someone among the things listed in the survey??

$300 jeans manufactured in the U.S. could sell for $40 if manufactured in China - Follow up to American innovation post

Here are some interesting stats from a July 7, 2011 WSJ article titled "How can jeans cost $300?" by Christina Binkley:

True Religion is one of the industry's giants, making 4 million units of clothing a year. He estimates that his $300 jeans could sell for $40 if he manufactured in China.

Still, Mr. Lubell has caved when it comes to jackets, the cutting and styling of which is more complex than pants. He makes them in Mexico, where costs are higher than in Asia, but less than in the U.S. The jackets retail for about $375. "If I made them here," he says, "they would be about $600."

True Religion's top-selling jeans, the Super T, cost about $50 to make and sell wholesale to retailers for $152 a pair. The average price in stores is $335. They feature white stitching on the back pocket and around the waistband.

The paradox of U.S. innovation - Most jobs are created abroad & majority of income is captured by a few in the U.S.

President Obama said the following during a televised address on June 22, 2011:  "We must unleash innovation that creates new jobs and industry, while living within our means."

President Obama also said the following during a June 28, 2011 speech in Bettendorf, Iowa, at an Alcoa aluminum rolling mill:

"And what you've learned is that if you want to beat the competition, then you've got to innovate."

The article stated "Obama stressed the importance of innovation in order to create new domestic manufacturing jobs."

Chrystia Freeland, the editor of the Thomson Reuters Digital has written an excellent article using scholarly research by other authors on who is benefitting from America's Innovation.  In every era, one can study a sector of the U.S. economy to understand the driving forces behind jobs and income.  In this era, it's the Apple iPod, and here's the summary of who has benefitted from this innovative product:

• In 2006, the iPod created 41,170 jobs worldwide, only 13,920 or 1/3rd of which were in the U.S.
• 6,101 U.S. Apple engineers and professionals or only 15% of the iPod work force worldwide earned 50% of total income of $1 billion generated by iPod in that year.

So in summary, America's innovation sends most jobs abroad and a majority of the beneficiaries of the income generated are a few in the U.S.

That's technology and globalization working in tandem for America.

Death – Taking the fun out of life for 600 million years

"A recent survey stated that the average person's greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. Somehow this ranked even higher than death which was third on the list. So, you're telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy?" – Jerry Seinfeld

All living things attempt to ensure immortality through reproduction, whether subconsiously or subconsiously as well as consciously.  Each individual, whether single or multi celled, is programmed to reproduce before dying off.  This system of longevity is archane, inefficient and responsible for selfish and barbaric behavior.

Let’s accept the primary objectives of all living things as survival first, and reproduction second.  Reproduction is solely the byproduct of cell decay and death.  In the absence of decay and death from old age, reproduction would be either on a much reduced scale meant as a backup plan in the case of unnatural or natural untimely damage or death – car accidents, murders, Tsunamis etc. – or non-existent.  Decay without death would require reproduction as existing individuals would not possess the vigor for continuing survival.  If you’re a 200 year old who has continued to decay since 21, which is the human physical peak, you won’t have much left in your social security fund past the age of 100.

The inefficiency of this system of survival and reproduction stems from the following:  Much of what is learned by individuals disappears upon death.  Imagine if from birth, offsprings of individuals were beneficiaries of their parents’ vast knowledge and skills acquired throughout a life time.

Moreover, special individuals who contribute mightily to advancement of our understanding of the universe and harnessing its forces to our benefit, e.g. Albert Einstein, are wasted away by decay and death.  Most highly gifted mathematicians contribute their brightest and most useful ideas in their youth.  So decay is partly responsible for wasting valuable human resources in making the world a better place to live, and death seals it.

Now then, death is a natural order of all things in the universe, whether living or not.  The universe itself is projected to be lifeless in a few billion years as all sources of its energy, stars, burn out.  To make matters worse, dark energy is tearing the universe apart, and if this pattern continues, all remaining matter will eventually fall apart as well.

So it may be futile to assume a system can be devised devoid of death, but one can come to fruition, and very plausibly so, whereby decay and death of the living can be postponed indefinitely.  Imagine a world where a young Einstein powers forth with his youthful vigor for thousands of years if not more.  An Einstein who transforms to Einstein squared by combining his mind with those of powerful computers; the merging of biology and machines.

In the near future, decay and death will be postponed indefinitely, man and machine will merge to form more powerful versions of humans, and eventually, we may all exist as just our minds on Verizon’s wireless network.  Our physical bodies are prone to decay and death from a plethora of natural and unnatural causes.  The sooner we can do away with them, the better off we are.  A more powerful mind can then exist in a wireless world with backups in case a computer virus infects the grid.  Badabing, we will then be in business and await the inevitable billions of years later with the destruction of our universe.  Perhaps we can achieve immortality by leaping to parallel universes should they exist, or somehow sneak into the next big bang and the birth of another universe.  And perhaps the assumption that all good things must come to an end is not necessarily so.