Corporate Executives are much like cats. They take up a disproportionate amount of resources and are only seen occasionally. As such, I have come up with lolxeks (pronounced "LOL-ZEKS")
Friday, May 23, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Friday, July 27, 2007
Posts from the Edge
I am from a small town in Central Illinois. It is a town of about 11,000 people. We have about 3 churches for every resident, we have 2 Christian Bookstores and one used book store. The closest thing to a new bookstore is the WalMart on the edge of town which has single-handedly destroyed the downtown area. And while you are likely to see a sign for which girls softball team has won the latest state high school series, or you will be able to read all about Lincoln and his work as a circuit lawyer who stopped often in our town, you will have a damn hard time finding out that we are the hometown of a NOBEL LAUREATE.
I'm here visiting for the week visiting the parents and getting things done for them. I have no other real connection other than that with my hometown anymore. So I meander around the town trying to re-connect to the town. But it is a sad state of things to know I grew up in this town, spent the first 15 years of my life here and I never knew we were the home of Ed Purcell who won the Physics Nobel in 1952. He was a pioneer in nuclear magnetic resonance and radar at MIT. But I didn't know that until I was living in Boston reading a history of radar. I find out my dad knew Purcell's family.
You can come to this charming farm town and learn all about Lincoln and his "writ of quietus" he requested for the noisy pigs that lived under the courthouse while he was a lawyer. But you would think having a Nobel Laureate son was some sort of dirty secret.
The Fabled Writ of Quietus apparently also applied to talking about my hometown's addition to the world of science. Funny, sad, and it makes me wonder about America's priorities in relation to science.
I'm here visiting for the week visiting the parents and getting things done for them. I have no other real connection other than that with my hometown anymore. So I meander around the town trying to re-connect to the town. But it is a sad state of things to know I grew up in this town, spent the first 15 years of my life here and I never knew we were the home of Ed Purcell who won the Physics Nobel in 1952. He was a pioneer in nuclear magnetic resonance and radar at MIT. But I didn't know that until I was living in Boston reading a history of radar. I find out my dad knew Purcell's family.
You can come to this charming farm town and learn all about Lincoln and his "writ of quietus" he requested for the noisy pigs that lived under the courthouse while he was a lawyer. But you would think having a Nobel Laureate son was some sort of dirty secret.
The Fabled Writ of Quietus apparently also applied to talking about my hometown's addition to the world of science. Funny, sad, and it makes me wonder about America's priorities in relation to science.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Conference Presentation Schema
I just returned from a scientific conference. It was one for the chemists in the company I work for but I noted it was similar to other conferences I’ve been to. I’ve been fascinated over the years as I sit through more presentations. I’ve began to notice, as we all do, that presentations given at conferences appear to break down into certain categories. I suspect similar categorizations are available somewhere else on the internet already. But that won’t stop me from posting my own
Classification Scheme for Science Conference Presentations
Classification Scheme for Science Conference Presentations
Slogsentation: A presentation delivered relatively slowly, without any discernible inflection, near monotone, few breaks, very little in the way of organization, and almost always delivered just at the edge of the microphone’s ability to pick up the sound
Umsentation: A presentation with a density of “um” of >5 ums/20 actual words
Hypersentation: A presentation delivered at maximum speed. Accompanied by 1millisecond/slide
Hyposentation: A promise of actual information which immediately goes very deep into the topic without providing anything like background. Thereby rendering it to be of interest to only 3 people on the entire planet, only one of which is in the room at the time, that being the presenter.
Neutron Presentation: Maximum words on a slide coupled with Hypersentation
Recursive Presentation: Three slides forward, one slide back. Repeat.
Acrosentation: A presentation dominated by acronyms which are never spelled out.
Masturbsentation: Given near the end of the conference showing pictures of a small clique having fun or being “silly” earlier at the conference as if everyone knows the people in the pictures and that these are really fun and wacky people. This is the way to recognize the “really important and interesting people”, as opposed to the people you hung out with.
Bait & Switch: Title indicates technological information will be presented but this is dispensed with in about 2 slides followed by 40+ slides of marketing analysis.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
KRYPTONITE!
In the exciting world of NEW MINERALS we see a news report of the discovery of KRYPTONITE!
BBC News reports the discovery of a new mineral, now named Jadarite, which bears the formula for kryptonite as revealed in Superman Returns, the movie.
A white silicate mineral whose chemical composition includes boron, lithium and sodium was found in a mine in Serbia near a town called Jadar. It doesn't contain any of the element krypton (surprise, surprise) so the mineralogical community doesn't feel "good" about naming it kryptonite, despite the fact that its formula is like that seen in the movie Superman Returns on a box of kryptonite.
This, of course, from the same group of people who feel mineral names like Jimthompsonite, dickite, cummingtonite (the latter being the most dirty mineral name in the whole field) are A-OK!
But perhaps the best part of the whole BBC article is this comment on the newly discovered Jadarite:
The real mineral is white and harmless, says Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum.
Whew! While I would dearly love to have a sample of this in my collection I was initially afraid that my yellow-sun induced superpowers would make me succeptible to harm from Jadarite!
And if I can make one request to the committee responsible for axing "kryptonite" as a valid mineral name for this material, it would be:
Why not call it cryptokryptonite?
I think everyone would be happy then.
BBC News reports the discovery of a new mineral, now named Jadarite, which bears the formula for kryptonite as revealed in Superman Returns, the movie.
A white silicate mineral whose chemical composition includes boron, lithium and sodium was found in a mine in Serbia near a town called Jadar. It doesn't contain any of the element krypton (surprise, surprise) so the mineralogical community doesn't feel "good" about naming it kryptonite, despite the fact that its formula is like that seen in the movie Superman Returns on a box of kryptonite.
This, of course, from the same group of people who feel mineral names like Jimthompsonite, dickite, cummingtonite (the latter being the most dirty mineral name in the whole field) are A-OK!
But perhaps the best part of the whole BBC article is this comment on the newly discovered Jadarite:
The real mineral is white and harmless, says Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum.
Whew! While I would dearly love to have a sample of this in my collection I was initially afraid that my yellow-sun induced superpowers would make me succeptible to harm from Jadarite!
And if I can make one request to the committee responsible for axing "kryptonite" as a valid mineral name for this material, it would be:
Why not call it cryptokryptonite?
I think everyone would be happy then.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Politically Acceptable
Recently Mercury News published an editorial excoriating Senator Sheila Kuehl for diverting attention away from more "politically acceptable" healthcare plans.
Yeah, Senator Kuehl! Why are you wasting California’s time proposing something that would be truly universal, when good “politically acceptable” legislation like “mandatory insurance-based plans” or “market-based plans” are still available?
Sure California currently has 19% uninsured versus the U.S. average of 16% uninsured (1), but why should that be of interest to anyone? The insurance companies have a vital role to play in any of these “politically reasonable” plans. Of course the minor, teeny tiny problem with plans like Scwarzenneger’s is that it requires the federal government to kick in some money, and that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon (2).
Senator Kuehl, when you divert precious resources from the real debate you only hurt people. Like the 2,500 Californians who currently die each year due to lack of healthcare coverage (3). If there was a way to help just a small percentage of those people by a convoluted, unenforceable mandatory insurance plan versus helping all of them by a universal plan, I can’t think of a more noble goal! Rational market friendly plans like Bush’s may actually cover up to 7% of the estimated 45 million uninsured in the U.S.! Isn’t that good enough?
And besides, market-based plans and private insurance plans are simply more “American”! What could be more fiscally conservative and “politically reasonable” than paying nearly twice as much for healthcare than the Swiss but having a healthcare system which ranks overall #37 among OECD countries in terms of overall quality and access? Personally I will always buy a GM car versus a Toyota since I know that when I buy a GM I can pay $1500 extra to cover health care coverage as opposed to just $400 extra for a Toyota. Americans always pay a premium for “value” (4)
Oh sure there are critics out there who will say “Why don’t we enact single-payer universal healthcare and then let everyone in the state take $1 out of every $3 and set fire to it and it works out the same?” (6) They are too busy tokin’ it up in the ivory towers to know what us REAL Americans like. Us real Americans are the most well-informed technically savvy shoppers the world has ever seen (despite that fact that according to a 2005 Harris poll 25% believe in homeopathic medicine, and 27% of us believe in witches), maybe that’s why for our annual outlay of over $4000/person we live, on average, 5% shorter than those suckers in Japan who only pay $1800/person per year. A lot of us are probably born under an “unhealthy star sign” and we don’t get to the local witch in time to get a cure.
Besides, what’s wrong with keeping the insurance companies in the loop? Really? Sure in 2005 the top 10 CEO’s of health care companies raked in a paultry $141 million dollars, and the top paid executive in this lot was Wm. McGuire of United Health Group with a small compensation package of more than $37 million (7). I wonder if he worries about his healthcare deductible? I mean there is no way that money would be available unless the companies were helping the general public really really well! But then they should be making lots of money…in 2006 the cost of healthcare coverage in the U.S. vastly outpaced average income and increased about twice the rate of inflation (8)! That’s just good bizness.
And talk about good bizness! Good business means managing your risk. Insurance companies are experts at that. As more people are forced to individual insurance plans some will get to face the inevitable denial for such egregious life-style choices as “being a fireman” or “working as a police officer” (9). But these folks had to know that before they decided to do something as irresponsible as that. Oh wait…no they didn’t. They were systematically denied full and easy access to that information! Oh well. Live ‘n learn! At least under the Schwazenegger plan the insurance companies will be in charge of establishing costs for healthcare.
Now we all know that currently there’s a mandatory automobile insurance system here in California and look how well that works to cover everyone? Sure about 25% of Californians don’t currently bother to carry said “mandated” insurance, but then they never get in auto accidents either. I’m sure the same will happen when healthcare insurance is mandated too!
So Bravo to the San Jose Mercury News for standing up to Senator Kuehl’s tactics of attempting to divert attention away from the real topic: politically feasible semi-universal coverage that helps maintain gross inefficiencies and out of control overhead costs!
Yeah, Senator Kuehl! Why are you wasting California’s time proposing something that would be truly universal, when good “politically acceptable” legislation like “mandatory insurance-based plans” or “market-based plans” are still available?
Sure California currently has 19% uninsured versus the U.S. average of 16% uninsured (1), but why should that be of interest to anyone? The insurance companies have a vital role to play in any of these “politically reasonable” plans. Of course the minor, teeny tiny problem with plans like Scwarzenneger’s is that it requires the federal government to kick in some money, and that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon (2).
Senator Kuehl, when you divert precious resources from the real debate you only hurt people. Like the 2,500 Californians who currently die each year due to lack of healthcare coverage (3). If there was a way to help just a small percentage of those people by a convoluted, unenforceable mandatory insurance plan versus helping all of them by a universal plan, I can’t think of a more noble goal! Rational market friendly plans like Bush’s may actually cover up to 7% of the estimated 45 million uninsured in the U.S.! Isn’t that good enough?
And besides, market-based plans and private insurance plans are simply more “American”! What could be more fiscally conservative and “politically reasonable” than paying nearly twice as much for healthcare than the Swiss but having a healthcare system which ranks overall #37 among OECD countries in terms of overall quality and access? Personally I will always buy a GM car versus a Toyota since I know that when I buy a GM I can pay $1500 extra to cover health care coverage as opposed to just $400 extra for a Toyota. Americans always pay a premium for “value” (4)
Oh sure there are critics out there who will say “Why don’t we enact single-payer universal healthcare and then let everyone in the state take $1 out of every $3 and set fire to it and it works out the same?” (6) They are too busy tokin’ it up in the ivory towers to know what us REAL Americans like. Us real Americans are the most well-informed technically savvy shoppers the world has ever seen (despite that fact that according to a 2005 Harris poll 25% believe in homeopathic medicine, and 27% of us believe in witches), maybe that’s why for our annual outlay of over $4000/person we live, on average, 5% shorter than those suckers in Japan who only pay $1800/person per year. A lot of us are probably born under an “unhealthy star sign” and we don’t get to the local witch in time to get a cure.
Besides, what’s wrong with keeping the insurance companies in the loop? Really? Sure in 2005 the top 10 CEO’s of health care companies raked in a paultry $141 million dollars, and the top paid executive in this lot was Wm. McGuire of United Health Group with a small compensation package of more than $37 million (7). I wonder if he worries about his healthcare deductible? I mean there is no way that money would be available unless the companies were helping the general public really really well! But then they should be making lots of money…in 2006 the cost of healthcare coverage in the U.S. vastly outpaced average income and increased about twice the rate of inflation (8)! That’s just good bizness.
And talk about good bizness! Good business means managing your risk. Insurance companies are experts at that. As more people are forced to individual insurance plans some will get to face the inevitable denial for such egregious life-style choices as “being a fireman” or “working as a police officer” (9). But these folks had to know that before they decided to do something as irresponsible as that. Oh wait…no they didn’t. They were systematically denied full and easy access to that information! Oh well. Live ‘n learn! At least under the Schwazenegger plan the insurance companies will be in charge of establishing costs for healthcare.
Now we all know that currently there’s a mandatory automobile insurance system here in California and look how well that works to cover everyone? Sure about 25% of Californians don’t currently bother to carry said “mandated” insurance, but then they never get in auto accidents either. I’m sure the same will happen when healthcare insurance is mandated too!
So Bravo to the San Jose Mercury News for standing up to Senator Kuehl’s tactics of attempting to divert attention away from the real topic: politically feasible semi-universal coverage that helps maintain gross inefficiencies and out of control overhead costs!
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