First Blog

Tennis in 2017.  I am well into a study of tennis professionals, looking over their careers.  Here are some preliminary conclusions.  They may apply to your very own world – particularly if you vie for a top spot at whatever you do.  Looking at top-100 ranked pros over the last twenty years, we note there are only four hovering at the top.  They are Andy Murray (now #1), Novac Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal.  Also we include Stan Warinka, currently ranked #3. Here are a couple of observations about the top players.  All entered the top 100 in the lower half.  (Many were ranked below number 100 for a year or so after turning pro.)  These four have been at the top for years now. All rankings are based strictly on tournament performance and how they performed.  Sports writers notwithstanding, did not play a role. After a season or two with low rankings they emerged to the very top echelon right away.  They stayed there year-after-year. For example, from 2005 to pre

Blender politics.  We are in an era of extremes in views, in actions, and in opinions.  Appointees seem far more political than ever before. They are not shy about expression of beliefs.  But all seem more subject to the turbulence created by variations in power.  The result is what I call “blender politics” wherein personalities are chewed up by events beyond their direct control or by minor mistakes.  Michael Flynn was the first, though he participated in his own chopping.   Thrown under the bus was an affectation used for many Obama appointees.   We await post-Obama bus crushees; perhaps Susan Rice may be the first, maybe even for the blender treatment.   For Trump, it seems all are sitting in their own personal blender awaiting the switch to be turned on. Time will tell.   

April 1, 2017.  Modern tennis.  I’ve been watching professional tennis for decades.  Oh, the days of Rosewall, Laver, Ashe and others.  Those were the days! One thing I always noted was that pro tennis players were the models of decorum.  Until, that is, the time of Jimmy Conners, a rather emotional player, and John McEnroe, a player given to temper.  They were the exceptions at the very top. On the whole, emotional reservation of players was the rule.  But lately, we see younger players expressing extreme emotions on the court.  Case in point: Federer (age 35, and old with established talent) vs Grygio (age 21, and young with great talent) at the Miami Open, 2017.   Loud swearing is common.   Breaking tennis rackets is everyday.   It is something like the frustrated player, bothered by poor playing or bad luck, can deflect the blame onto his racket by smashing it.   I think we see this in our younger generation, using violence to express frustration if their situation is not as d

In these days of unrest, we see the rise of anarchist or anarchist activities encouraging widespread, activist, and even violent protest.   Anarchy is easy.    Just maintain your hate level, do some plotting, create some trouble, regroup and plot for the next time.   Be that as it may, history has shown us that anarchy is a risky behavior, mostly destructive, and seldom with desired outcomes.     So, in a graphic way, we offer a few tips... Never throw shit into the fan… For the pleasure of seeing it fly. With the expectation of where it will land. With the hope of controlling the spray. Thinking you will not be touched. Expecting adjulation for a job well done. To identify new recruits. Demanding someone else clean up the mess. 

Did you know?  Researchers at the University of Michigan* have discovered a new way of hacking, one that you may have never even widely guessed – and how it was done.  What’s that?  Using acoustics, they discovered the tiny device, called a MEMS accelerometer and other motion detectors, can be fooled by sound waves.  These are found in all smartphones, all smart watches, and other technologies.  For example; this little device is used in step counters found everywhere, including the Fitbit.   These apps measure when you take a step by the device response to a physical step. You take a step, and this causes a force felt by the accelerometer, and this is translated into a step. Generally, the new technique is achieved by “acoustic interference.  So, using sound, you can take thousands of (measured) steps without moving a muscle.  Moreover, you can disable and control devices using sound.  Stupid, you say, if not just plain cheating.  However, sound can affect this same device used i

You get involved with events – external to your life.  At first you express an interest and then pretend interest. Then it becomes an interest; then it becomes your interest; then it becomes your passion, and finally it becomes your reality.  Yet, when the cause is gone, there remains little of your own.  You strive to sustain your new reality, forgetting who you were.   You have controllers,  often calling to keep you involved, a psychological affirmation. You are asked to contribute, a material affirmation.  You are asked to participate, a physical affirmation.   Your life has been co-opted and then compounded by the interests of others.  Whether religion or politics, my friend, you are part of a cult. ---------------------------------- Sometimes the breakthrough comes just when the back is ready to break. 

Letters from the future.   Many of us wonder what can be achieved with big data, which combines multiple data bases and machine learning.  This is the second of a series of letters maybe not sent yet but soon will flood the world.  We are suggesting what can be done right now, like today.   This particular letter is sent to Democratic voters; a similar letter targeting Republican voters is just as easy.  The footnotes are for you, the reader, not the letter recipient. NOTE.  Many databases need to be resourced for this letter.  This is what big data does, and it does it today . Dear Mr Enyone, We understand you are very busy, and this is the reason you were unable to vote in the previous election (1), even though you are so registered.  It has come to our attention that you are earning about $45,000/year (2), and you must be concerned about the decline of the dollar and availability of universal health care (3). You also grew up in Detroit where most residents vote soli

Winning.  Have you ever wondered about just how many games must your team win to know, guaranteed, it has won a certain number of consecutive games?  This is, not likely to have won a certain number of consecutive games.  But actual consecutive wins .  Thinking a bit combinatorially we can determine this with a simple formula.  Notation: n = number of games in a season r = number of consecutive wins desired Let n/r = m R k .  That is m is the integer divisor of n by r , which is 0, 1, 2,…, and k is the remainder, 0 ,1,…,  r -1.  For example 53/5 = 10 R 3, or 21/6 = 3 R 3. Then we have the minimum number of games that must be won to guarantee r consecutive wins W sometime during a season is given by W = m ( r -1) + k + 1 In the table below, we give some examples for various sports.Of course, when r  = 2, that value is the next highest number greater than half the number of games when n  is even.   Number of games played Run of consecutive w

Nowadays we see near riots in the streets, remarkably well-organized riots, spun off as spontaneous tornados or chaos.   One problem with creating the tornado is the thought that once set its outcome cannot be controlled.  Chaos is no mother's child.  The News.   Nowadays we see news celebrities that run their shows to celebrate their greatness, their self-confessed bullseye opinions, and their news omnipotence.  There is little traditional reporting.  We see an odd combination of opinion supported by news interpretations, interpolations, or selected truths contorted to support personal views.  But more, there is now a news royalty.  These are commentators that use their show to celebrate themselves.  Specifically, we have Bill O’Reilly (FOX) and Chris Matthews (MSNBC). Both regard their opinions as supreme and true.  Matthews seeks affirmation from his guests. O’Reilly corrects views    alternative  from his.   Both frequently interrupt guests far more intelligent than themse

Corruption.  Everything is measured these days.  It has been said if it cannot be measured, it doesn’t exist. So, even corruption has been measured.  While there is no real method to measure actual corruption, it is measured indirectly by perceptions of residents.  So, we go transparent, that is to the transparency website to examine corruption*.   A total of 176 countries were evaluated.  The lower ranked countries have the lowest scores (based on a 0-100 score). They are by plagued by untrustworthy and badly functioning public institutions like the police and judiciary.  This includes bribery and extortion. Higher-ranked countries tend to have more freedom of the press, public access to information about public expenditure, higher standards of integrity for officials, and generally independent judicial systems.   Below, we show the bottom or most corrupt countries (Table 1) followed by the top or least corrupt countries (Table 2). Table 1. Most corrupt countries C

Worldwide, since 2010, we've seen an increase of Radical Islamic terrorist attacks, including the number of attacks, deaths, and injuries.   In the table below we look at the top 20 countries or the 44 countries experiences such attacks.  (All info is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamist_terrorist_attacks.) What is done here is merely some sorting and ranking.  As you can see, Iraq is atop all scales.  The other top countries are well known.  However, exceptions at the high end are France, China, and the USA. Indeed, the USA ranks very high world-side in all categories: count (9th), deaths (14th), and injuries (11th).  In light that six of the top nine countries are well established in terrorism against their own populations, this is remarkable.  It is no wonder that many in the USA are rather cautious or concerned about future terrorists events. The number of attacks has grown over the recent years, with attacks prior to 2009 relatively small. Including

How big is the national debt?  You know; it’s about USD 20 trillion.  And how big is that?  We could stack dollars upon one another to reach the moon and back – in fact, three round trips!!  Yeah! So what?   More tellingly, with the $20T bucks you could buy every single stock included in the S&P 500 - meaning you can own outright every company so listed.  For example, you would completely own the top fourteen, Apple Inc, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Exxon Mobil, Johnson & Johnson, Amazon.com, Berkshire Hathaway, General Electric, JPMorgan Chase, Facebook, Wells Fargo, AT&T, Nestlé, and hundreds more.   It is estimated that over all of human history 5,820,203,717 ounces of gold have been mined.  At the current price of about $1200/oz, this values today at $6,984,244,460,400, or about 1/3 of the total US debt.  Or you can win the (average) Powerball Jackpot about 322,000 times. That average is just over $62,000,000.  Or you could give every US citizen $57,000 c