Star Wars Question

Here's what we know:
(1) In episode 1, Anikan Skywalker is claimed by his mother to not have a father, and he might be the 'one' chosen to restore balance to the force by destroying the Sith.
(2) In episode 3, Anikan falls to the dark side and thus is unlikely to be the chosen one.
(3) In episode 4, a new hope is identified -- Anikan's son Luke.
(4) In episode 6, Luke turns Anikan back to the good side, and Anikan/Vader kills the Emperor.

So, who is the chosen one? The obvious answer is Luke -- he 'won' and Vader and the Emperor both died. But, it turns out that Anikan is the chosen one who killed the last Sith and Luke is merely the catalyst who help fulfill the prophesy. Why do I care about this?

Book Review: Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters by Miller and Kanazawa

I thought this was a very interesting book, but it is clearly somewhat controversial and unpopular. The authors basically attempt to demonstrate how many aspects of human nature (i.e., human behavior) can traced back to evolutionary selection. They take a few very simple ideas (e.g. humans want to pass on their genes as much as possible) and apply those ideas to try and answer questions about human nature (e.g., why are most violent criminals men). I found some of their explanations likely, some plausible, and some unlikely, and I also believe most people will find at least a few explanations to be unlikely and borderline offensive. So, if you like interesting books and don't mind reading a few claims that you will disagree with, you will probably enjoy this book. If you do not like reading stuff you disagree with, avoid this book. Grade: B.

Book Review: Googled by Ken Auletta

The subtitle for this book is, "The End of the World as We Know It", which is very appropriate since the focus of this book is on how much the world has changed as a result of Google. The first 200+ pages of the book review the history of Google from Mr. Brin and Mr. Page at Stanford to 2009. This history is interesting, well written, and well researched, but I thought a few useful details were left out. Specifically the very brief description of PageRank (paraphrase: a page's importance is determined by the number of links to the page) did not really do justice to the complexity of the algorithm. The last 100+ pages (which should have been reduced to less than 50 pages) is on the relationship between new media (with Google being the main representative of the new media and the internet) and old media (newspapers, TV, movies, magazines, etc.). This section is basically a lengthy description of how Google and the internet is a threat to old media, but the author avoided predicting the future or proposing solutions. Before closing, here's a short summary of the old media situation from my perspective:
(1) TV - should continue to attract a large audience, but time-shifting (DVR) use will increase significantly--also, internet delivery will increase significantly, but they will include ads for monetization.
(2) Movies - should mostly maintain popularity unless the exponential price increases continue.
(3) Newpapers - RIP -- they'll move to the internet and put up pay walls for local coverage -- no one will pay for national/world coverage, which will only be supported by ads.
(4) Magazines -- small to significant decline in the total number of print magazines with many moving to the internet, but this will happen very slowly since we like glossy paper and an alternative does not exist.

Overall, I recommend the book even if it drags a little at times. Grade: B