Interesting Statistics

• Today's 1,125 billionaires hold more wealth than the wealth of half the world's adult population.
• The wealthiest 7 people on earth control more wealth than the combined GDP of the 41 poorest nations.

Are we okay with this? Are the strict capitalist ready to argue that the rich people worked 3,000,000 times harder than the poor? Source: The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision.

Two Book Reviews

I read two books recently that are considered important classics in American Literature.

(1) All the Pretty Horses by Comack McCarthy -- My friend Dave recommended that I read a book by McCarthy because he is such an important figure in current literature. I told him that I strongly prefer books with happy endings, and he suggested "All the Pretty Horses". Dave may not realize this, but when the hero has to leave the love of his life and settle for a life of riding the deserts of the southwestern US --- THAT IS NOT A HAPPY ENDING!!! However, the book is one of the best I've ever read, which is especially remarkable when you consider that I hate books with unhappy endings and lots of horses. Very, very well written -- grade: A- (N.B., this is the first part of a trilogy that I plan to finish some day -- if the hero ends up with the girl, I'll give this book an A, and if he stops riding horses, I'll give it an A+).

(2) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck -- this is a very short, character driven book. If you like books with interesting and unique individuals, and not much of a plot or suspense, this is the book for you. Grade: B-

My screen door saga....

I would like to thank Tiffany and Chris G. for their excellent customer service in helping me with my screen door issues. Chris G., in particular, should be referred to as "The Employee of the Month".

The Growing Cable Problem

There is a growing problem with cable television and the FCC needs to step in soon. Let me explain. First, all cable companies with wires (Comcast, Time Warner, etc.) and those without wires (DirectTV, etc.) have a finite amount of bandwidth. They cannot transmit 10,000 HD channels even if they wanted to. Therefore, they have to make choices, and that is where the problem starts. There are certain channels they must carry like ESPN and ABC, which happen to be owned by the same company. Now, when they are negotiating a price for ESPN and ABC with their parent company, the parent company says we will charge you $X for ESPN and $Y for ABC and we will throw in ESPN 2-10 and ABC 2-7 for FREE! The cable company probably doesn't want those 15 channels for free because they contain mostly crappy, unpopular content, but they do not have a choice since they must have ESPN and ABC. Now, why would the parent company throw in 15 channels for free --- especially when the content they carry is not completely free. Because, they know that Comcast et al can only carry so many channels, and by filling up their bandwidth with ESPN 2-10 they can indirectly force Comcast to drop potential upstart competitors to ESPN. The ABC/ESPN parent company is using their powerful channels to block possible competitors and gain a near monoply.

Solution: The FCC needs to step in an require: (1) ala cart channel availability to consumers, and, more importantly, (2) big content providers (i.e., ESPN) cannot bundle channels when negotiating with the cable companies --- they must negotiate a single price for ESPN, a different price for ESPN2, another for ESPN3, etc.

Review: The Soloist by Steve Lopez

I just finished this book on an airplane.  I was in a hurry to finish it because the movie is already out.  I really enjoyed the bood and felt like I learned a lot.  It explores the incredibly difficult question of how much freedom/control should be given to someone that is mentally ill.  Should the mentally ill individual be forced into treatment?  The current law is basically someone cannot be forced into treatment unless they are a danger to themselves or others.  Obviously, the definition of "danger" is highly subjective.  Overall, the book explores the issue without providing an answer.  The book does, however, provide hope, and that makes it a wonderful book to read.

TED

One of my favorite discoveries recently is www.ted.com.  This sight posts videos of short talks and performances by the top scientists and artists in the world.  I especially loved the talks by Bonnie Bassler, Pattie Maes, Dan Arlie, Sean Gourley, Peter Donnelly, and Nate Silver.

My Job

Many people ask me "How is your job going?" or "Do you like your job?" ever since I moved from Arizona State to Montana State.  I don't know the answer to these question so I usually just mumble something like "good".  The short answer to the question is I absolutely love my job, but it often keeps me awake at night, and I don't think this is a contradiction.  The job is very complex and diverse since it is a combination of teaching, research, meetings, community service, councilor, and cheerleader.  I absolutely love lecturing and teaching.  I love it when a student working in my lab solves a problem.  I work with a wonderful group of colleagues and I have the best department head in the world so the meetings part of my job is enjoyable.  The hard parts are getting proposals rejected and seeing students fail even though they are trying hard.  Those are the parts that keep me awake at night.  On balance, I have the best job in the world and I hope I can do it forever.  I also hope I can sleep tonight since I should be getting a proposal review back soon.