Morals

Another extremely fascinating article. I am going to buy and read Haidt's book. It has a lot of positive reviews on Amazon. If the book is nearly any as good as the article was then I know I'll definitely enjoy it. I think I should have studied psychology in college...

Racism and Life Expectancy

An extremely fascinating article on racism and life expectancy. I would have never thought the two were correlated but after having read the article and thought about my own experiences I can definitely see how there is one. I don't think anyone who has not been discriminated against can accurately make an assessment. These are the same people who say that using race is a "copout" or people are just playing the "race card". Well these are the same people who have never themselves been a victim of racial discrimination and are in no position to make such a comment. Just look at the recent news. Some examples include the Jena 6 incident and Donovan McNabb. Race is still very much an issue in today's society. Although there might be less overt big incidents there are certainly smaller more subtle and even unconscious forms of racism that occur everyday everywhere. This latter form of racism may even be more detrimental to society because it does not make people take action. It is like the global warming issue. Things happen gradually but no matter how much attention is shined on the matter people will just not take action until a big event happens. Unfortunately, I feel like racism will always be a part of society. I recently finished reading the autobiography of Malcolm X. Although I do not agree with everything in the book I would very highly recommend it to anyone who has not read it. It definitely helped bring a new perspective on racial issues to me and I really felt like I learned a lot and made me grow as a person. It also made me think and reflect on my own experiences past and present.

Mike Tyson, Ticket Prices

Wow the infamous ear bite happened 10 years ago? Seemed like it was just yesterday. Mike Tyson is facing jail time again. Man talk about falling from the stars. Another victim of too much fame and too much money too fast. This guy is in so much debt I don't know what he is going to do. Might as well stay in jail.

On another note here is a list of recent ticket prices to sports games as of late. Somebody actually paid close to $2,000 to see the Cowboys-Bears game on Monday night? Wow. The most I've ever paid for a sports ticket was $400 to see a hockey game during the Stanley Cup Finals in Canada. The seats were in the last row too.

'Till Death Do Us Part...Or A Divorce

I feel like there should be a coin flip after the "I do's". An interesting article in the NY Times:

More than half the Americans who might have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversaries since 2000 were either divorced, separated or widowed...

What I found a little interesting were the last two paragraphs:

Among men over 15, the proportion who have never been married was 28 percent for whites, 45 percent for blacks, 39 for Hispanic people and 33 percent for Asians.

Among women over 15, it was 22 percent for whites, 44 percent for blacks, 30 percent for Hispanic people and 23 percent for Asians.

I guess that is the equivalent of saying the percent of people that never marry in their lifetime. I tend to agree with that seven-year itch theory and I've heard as well that if people make it past their 10 year anniversary then there is a good chance that they will stay together beyond that. I would say that probably for the majority of people there is that "honeymoon" period were everything is fine and dandy followed by few rocky years by which at around year 7/8 is where the decision is made. It was brought up in a conversation I had with some friends that because people know that divorce is an option, people are more likely to marry knowing full well that it is not necessarily until "death do us part". I wonder of the percent of marriages that do stay intact, how many actually only stay together because filing for a divorce would incur substantial financial costs and emotional impact on the family whereby the decision to stay together unhappily outweighs those costs of actually getting a divorce. I also wonder if there is a correlation between the length of a marriage and the average age of the two people involved. For example, are younger couples more likely to divorce after the same years being married as an older one?

Ah, Rivalries

This kid found out the hard way. I can't say I have much sympathy for him though.

Best Places to Start a Career

Businessweek released its list of the best places to start a career. All I have to say is read the last two words in my blog title: be wary. I don't really like these type of lists. It really is a person-by-person basis as to whether someone likes one company over the other to launch a career. What they should really be doing is not focusing on the new hires but talking to workers who are further along their careers and who may have started at one of the "top companies to start a career". I can bet a good number of these people are not at the same company. It would be worth asking them how they thought the company they started with benefited them at their current spot in their career if at all.

I Smell A Rat

Well I actually didn't get close enough to smell it, and it hadn't been there long enough to start decaying, but there were plenty of flies trying to eat it. That was what welcomed me when I came home from work today in my front yard.

On another note if you're thinking about quitting your job you may want to read this. It seems like a lot of work though, eh?

Big Brother

Not exactly an unbiased piece, but she makes some good points. I'm not sure that I'd support the Real ID initiative. Having all that information in one place is a tad risky for my liking especially if the necessary and proper security has not been implemented. Even after that no security measure is 100% impenetrable.

Improving Wikipedia

Quite an interesting idea. I like it. Although like the article states this is not a complete solution it is definitely a step in the right direction. I'm happy to say that my Wikipedia contributions have remained largely unchanged!

New School Year, New Menu

Interesting:

In a study last year, the Center for Science in the Public Interest graded the state nutrition programs. The highest grade, an A minus, was awarded to Kentucky. Twelve states were awarded B’s (New Jersey got a B, Connecticut a B minus), six states and the District of Columbia received C’s, eight states were awarded D’s (New York earned a D plus) and 23 states were graded F.

I hope that the proposed changes help make a difference in getting school-aged children to start eating healthier. I'm not sure however that schools should do a complete 180 on the health food though. I think that the menu changes should be gradually changed so that it won't be so much of a shock to the students. Healthy eating is only one part of the solution with the other being sufficient physical activity. As I've said before health education is also crucial.

Another One Joins the 54%

This time its Shaq. I think Shaq is getting mentally prepared for this upcoming season to reunite with former "protege/apprentice" Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and didn't have enough brainpower to go around to juggle that, a wife, 6 kids, D-Wade, Pat Riley, and overweight kids on a TV show. By the way, do you remember Penny Hardaway back in his heyday? The guy was pretty good. Had all those TV commercials with Lil' Penny. Its a shame what injuries did to him. It kind of reminds me of Ken Griffey Jr. Those Ken Griffey Jr. baseball games for SNES and N64 were awesome. The Atlanta Braves was the team to be. I remember being able to outsmart the computer in the N64 game to be able to trade for all-star players. Basically all you had to do was come up with a trade package that would send 2-3 average players to the other team for one star. Keep doing this until you had 2-3 stars. Then repeat the process to trade for an all-star. My team was unbeatable. I think I scored 60-something runs in a game one time.

Video Game Simulation

Is this really a good idea? I'd be interested in seeing what the actual "game" looks like.

How Much is 0.9% ?

Apparently significant enough to warrant a story about it pertaining to DNA. I wish that article was a little more detailed.

How much would you pay for a high quality hamburger? An excellent article. Just don't read it if you're hungry.

School uniform debate. Back to school time so I guess that article is appropriate. I don't necessarily see why uniforms are a bad idea in schools. If you think about it uniforms are worn in pretty much every other line of work.

Traffic

Traffic was beautiful this morning. Absolutely a piece of art. I think I saw every traffic law imaginable being broken. Back to work and school time. Thought this was interesting:

What America's Top 15 Jobs Pay
Today's Best Entry-Level Salaries

Listing...

Just listing some interesting articles here:

• Proposal to privatize health IT advisory body spurs debate
• Lawmakers pursue more money to guard intellectual property
• Technology could bridge safety gap

• The Color of Health Care: Diagnosing Bias in Doctors

• EPA will ask BP to offset pollution
• The Threat of Climate Change

Pay Someone Else To Save The Environment

Interesting concept, but I don't think that its a good solution. It really does take the effort of every single person to help preserve the environment. As the article said the reduction is simply an estimate of the cost. There's no way that people should think that paying money instead of taking action will make the same difference.

Anyone Out There a Statistician?

I believe it, but I need someone who's better at statistics than I am to point out the flaws in the study. Please advise.

Do You Take A Lunch Break?

Probably true:

A study by chicken fast food chain KFC Corp., found that 60 percent of workers in Corporate America actually considered the lunch hour “the biggest myth of office life.”

I'd agree with the article that in some instances it is self-imposed. I certainly feel like I get more done during the day taking a working lunch. Then again it might be the nature of the business that I'm in. Who knows.

Attention Notre Dame Fans

There's something about you that makes me dislike you. Don't worry though, you're not as bad a Red Sox fans, although you're slightly worse than Redskins fans. Here you go:

1. Simply being Catholic is not a reason that allows you to root for Notre Dame in college football.

That's only a small part of the article. Well said Clay, well said.

How Much Was Your Raise This Year?

Was it better than 0.7%? Gotta love the NY Times:

Unfortunately, these policies are unlikely to come from the current White House. This administration prefers tax cuts for the lucky ones in the top five percent.

“You just cannot be a meat-eating environmentalist”

EVER since “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore has been the darling of environmentalists, but that movie hardly endeared him to the animal rights folks. According to them, the most inconvenient truth of all is that raising animals for meat contributes more to global warming than all the sport utility vehicles combined.

Wow. Maybe vegans aren't that crazy after all. I consider myself a bit of an environmentalist but I'm not sure I could give up eating animal protein. Mmm....Brazilian barbeque...

Breaking News: Most Flights Are Late

Why is this even a story? Do you ever wonder about those people who rush to get onto the plane and have seats in the front? Or how about when the plane lands and the people in the back stand up immediately looking to be the first ones out?

Dinner...with Frank Caliendo?

There's a good chance that I had dinner with some friends yesterday and one of the people in attendance was Frank Caliendo. He didn't do the John Madden impression though.

On another note I just started another blog with a college friend. Its just about sports. Check it out, bookmark it, read it:

http://lastsecondshot.blogspot.com/

Homeownership

Owning a home is nice, but maintenance is tough. I think I need to make more money so I can afford a maid. Sheesh.

Seattle

Took another trip to Seattle to visit another friend from college. Seattle is a cool city with seafood, Starbucks, and hippies. Pike Place Market is awesome...flying fish and other fresh food. I went there on a Monday morning and the place was still packed. I can't imagine what its like on the weekend.

Kansas City

Took a trip to Kansas City to visit a friend from college. Not really a whole going on in that city...except for BBQ. Good stuff. I don't think there are many vegans in KC.

Early Morning Run...With A Wrench?

So this morning I went on my morning run like I usually do. This time around along the way I spot what appears to be a homeless man helping an old woman change a flat tire on the side of the road. Like the upstanding citizen that I am I go over and try to help the cause. No luck. The bolts on the wheel are on way too tight and even I (with my superhuman strength) could not remove them. I tried.