First Blog

We talk about diversity in STEM education when what we want are the best people possible to pursue STEM.  In fact, diversity enhancement for specialized tasks can never work. Money notwithstanding, It is not possible to stimulate excellence to those uninclined to be inclined toward an unpreferred/undesired/uninteresting pathway. Pouring on the cash simply fails. In STEM especially, we need, desperately need, excellence. Politically correct STEM is without merit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Much of the country lives in some kind of panic mode, and if they have nothing going on they panic about that. The latest entry to the NY stock exchange is Luckin Coffee, a Chinese firm    Golly gee, Luckin is but a single letter from a horrific nickname. An interesting fact about traffic jams worldwide... If you've experienced one in Country A, it is much the same in Country B

As you may know, one of the “Haystack” series of Claude Monet sold this week at Sotheby's for $110 million. This is the highest price to date for a Monet. Cool price, huh?  I decided to estimate the total value of Monet’s corpus of work.  Here's how. First, there are about 2500 paintings and drawings out there. (Greater numbers are estimated and some are certainly lost.) The cheapest one I could find was sold recently for $10,000.  I used two mathematical models for the total cost, one an exponential model, and the other a power model. Anyway, for these models, I estimate the total value of Monet’s work to be between $530 and $540 million.  Both models exhibit a very high drop off rate in pricing.  For example, the fourth most expensive Monet is estimated to cost about $25 million, with the estimated average cost of the four to be about $45 million.  This has much to do with the model, but probably as much due to the available clientele with such deep pockets. If

In negotiations, your opponents would rather have you for lunch than invite you.  ------------------ Tariffs are like bad sex. You do get screwed. You just don’t like it.  ------------------ Important it is to reflect on every day.   Look for progress, love, and happiness. These give lasting pleasure. All the rest come in second.

Politics imitates Hollywood.  First, we had the Mueller investigation.  (You know about whether the President colluded with the Russians.) Now we have the sequel .  (You know about Congressional Democrats investigating the same thing again.)  But, at the same time, we have the prequel . (You know about how the Russia collusion thing originated.)  Box-office battle now engaged.   May the force be with you. 😊 ----------------------- When I was young, folks on the far left were usually well read, articulate, and interesting.   Only a few actually believed what they said, but they carried themselves well and made good arguments.   Nowadays, they are free to act and sound as dumb as the rednecks of old. I guess that’s progress. ----------------------- The luxury of the future will be privacy.

On tariffs.   Commentators recite over and over again how the imposed tariffs are paid by the people, the taxpayer, the consumer.   True, perhaps.   But without the tariffs and with the current horrific trade arrangements between China and the USA, how many US jobs are lost, how many US industries move off-shore, how much is the imbalance of payments increased, and how much less competitive is our economy?   Something must be done to stop the usurious Chinese business practices. Too many critics imply we should negotiate “smarter.” Then tariffs won’t be needed. This is the buzz from people who really don’t know what to do.  Beware of the professors and pundits.   At most, they have negotiated the price of a used car for their kids. The Chinese cheat, and love it.   In fact, the English word “inscrutable” is a word almost exclusively used to describe the Chinese.   This word is cloaked with cloth made from threads of misdirection, misconception, and misrepresentation.   In sho

One thing you don’t know is which of your memories will be your favorites twenty years from now.   They may not be your triumphs, awards, or a special love.   In fact, those favorites can be the most unlikely yet cherished events. They may be with someone you knew, perhaps recalling a deep breath on a fresh spring morning or that moment when you finally figured something out. Smiles and memories from the distant past are the best but unpredictable.

China cheats.   This is a fundamental fact all have learned.  In the trade talks they are loath to give up all their forms of cheating, from assuming foreign corporate ownership, to hacking for information and innovation, to lying about economic data, to usurious borrowing to corrupt countries.  China not only cheats, but they love to cheat and need to cheat.   They cheat even when they don’t have to. For their leaders, cheating is akin to an addiction. It’s virtually genetic. I believe the power brokers in China, especially Xi Jinping, will be unable to agree to any deal that stops cheating altogether. One approach the US trade negotiations could do is make an agreement with that allows them some cheating, but subtly controls it efficacy.   This is an update to my previous blog at https://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2019/01/pig-latin-and-chinese-checkers.html

Can you forgive?  It's not easy, you might agree.  If you wish to read a good article on forgiveness, please see   https://theunboundedspirit.com/forgive/ This article emphasizes that forgiveness requires strength, love, wisdom, and an open heart. My response.  While forgiveness requires energy as the article posits, failure to forgive implies maintaining a "resident" animus. This requires even more energy. It requires an action in life, an interrupt in daily living, and a vigil against intersection.  It requires the maintenance of a catalog of transgressions.  It loads the mind and soul with unneeded baggage. To be unforgiving and hateful both are a burden. I have found that of the binary possibilities, "forgive and forget,"  to  forget  is the easier.  Not up to the activity of forgiving, it relaxes energy requirements on the system and calms the mind. In a way, it resets a relation with only a small "black flag" attached. I use it a lot

The most distressing things about the Boeing 737 Max jet problems are that they occur "on the cheap."  First Boeing rushes the FAA certification through, possibly with FAA  collusion.   Then, their navigation software wasn't tested well. It was even changed, but pilots were not in the information loop.   Third, Boeing has claimed flight simulators tests were neither needed nor required, even though the instrumentation configuration is closer to the 787 than the older model 737.   Finally, the company makes safety features optional. For an aircraft with a sticker price of $120+ million per each, and for the fact that more safety is better, this is almost the most striking. The amazing backdrop is that Boeing has traditionally been a near 100% reliable manufacturer of aircraft. Safe, efficient, and durable. All four points to serious personal problems, at the highest levels.  --------------------- Today, the amount of health information is doubling every seven m

The Midas Touch.   Some leaders in business have the Midas touch because they carefully research the idea and decide the propitious time to act.    Probably, Warren Buffet fits this description.   Other leaders believe that what they touch should succeed simply because they have touched it.   I would put Tesla CEO Elon Musk in the second category. Transference of ability .   This phenomena posits that an expert in one area believes their expertise   transfers to another area (of their choice).   For example, the sports star turns to sports administrator,   the millionaire businessman who turns to politics, or the academic who turns to anything else. But in their minds, they are still the star.   If they fail, it is the fault of others. If they succeed, they prove themselves right.   Of course they all write books on how good they are at their new venture.

I am wet; I am dry. I am clear; I am high. I come with a stem But I cause mayhem. Touch me to your lips But don’t forget the tips. What am I? Answer. Martini

On Marijuana. In Colorado, you can get a rocky mountain high. Sales for pot just hit a new high. Pot dealers give lessons on pot usage at their in-store “high” schools. The demand for legalized pot is at a record high. “High-er” education is now available in legalized-pot states. After a pot high trip, some come down-town. Is Colorado still the high-est state? Nowadays, the pot calls the kettle irrelevant. It is rumored soon drivers can will be able to shift to a new gear called high-drive. Did you hear about the kid who got high by weeding the backyard?  Some pot users want killing weed classified as a felony? AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) has created her very own class identity, the Inspired Idiots .   They’re noisy, but insensitive to facts, ready to believe the impossible, and enthusiastic contributors. Did you know snarkiness has its own signature?   After a while the apparent cleverness and contempt   of the satire becomes predictable and no long