This won't do any good.

DENVER) - Gov. Bill Owens today issued the following statement on the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to not impose the death penalty on convicted killer Robert Harlan:

"Today's decision is demeaning to people of faith and prevents justice from being served. The death penalty in a heinous crime has been overturned by a highly subjective ruling that truly splits hairs. Even the justices who voted to overturn the penalty agreed that moral values and religious beliefs are important and can be part of the debate among jurors.

"For example, a juror could recite biblical passages from memory. But because of a subjective interpretation that reading the same passage is somehow prejudicial, a convicted killer has avoided the appropriate sentence. I'm disappointed to see that the Court would supersede the will of the jury and the people of Colorado regarding the death penalty on such a technicality."

Wonder where this is going next.

DENVER -- The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday threw out the death penalty in a rape-and-murder case because jurors had studied Bible verses such as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" during deliberations.

On a 3-2 vote, justices ordered Robert Harlan to serve life in prison without parole for kidnapping 25-year-old cocktail waitress Rhonda Maloney in 1994 and raping her at gunpoint for two hours.

Sunset on the Amazon
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Trophy for Participation?

I read an article the other day about the modern day practice of giving children certificates and trophies for signing up and participating in various sports. Evidently someone decided that it is not fair to recognize achievement in things like baseball and soccer since some of the kids were on teams which did not win. The solution is to just give everyone a prize for showing up. In some sports, this is supported by simply not keeping score. In academics, the system has evolved to the point where teachers don't "keep score" during class and students are promoted to the point where they are called to the stage during graduation to pick up certificates which essentially state they lived long enough to go somewhere beside school in the morning.
My feeling on this is pretty much old school but I can see some form of general encouragement for very young children.....say those too young to really be able to perform in any recognizable fashion. There are 3 and 4 year old children on soccer teams and they are really just out there and not really playing the game. At a certain age, say when they start school in the first grade, they need to begin to understand that there are degrees of aptitude and ability and that this is going to be recognized and rewarded as they go through life. The problem is these realities must be supported by the parents and as in so many areas of modern society this is the weak link. Once their little darlings begin to succeed and fail at various activities too many parents seem to think the result is all about them. That is the genesis of the out- of- control parents at Little League games or junior hockey matches. These same or another set of like-minded parents will object or even sue if their kids are not promoted academically. If the parents are too detached to become involved, liberal social pressure is exerted to avoid distinctions which would recognize genuine achievement and insist on passing students who can't read.
So, my conclusion after reading all this concern about trophies is that it is a symptom of a much larger problem and it is the latter which needs addressing more than who gets which trophy at the end of baseball season.

MyFi

One of my best purchases lately is an XM satellite MyFi which allows me to have satellite radio almost anywhere and the music I like anytime. It is a hand-held iPod sized receiver which I can use to listen to up to 5 hours of music I have previously recorded or I can attach a small antenna and listen to satellite radio live if I am outside. There is a small stand it attaches to which can be hooked up to speakers for continuous use in my office. It even allows me to plug in the symbols of up to 20 stocks and then gives me an update on prices continuously via a scroll at the bottom of the screen. I already have XM in both cars, so this about completes my access to music and news on demand.

Golf on the Monterey Peninsula

Green fees are going up at America's most famous public course. According to the Monterey County Herald, a round of golf will cost $425 at Pebble Beach. That computes to $23.61 per hole.

Flu Vaccine Redux

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that all the uproar about how Bush single-handedly caused all the senior citizens to face immediate death from a bout of influenza has not exactly worked out that way. When the contamination of the vaccine plant in England reduced our supply of flu vaccine last Fall we had a gigantic uproar and seniors were waiting all night in lines to get the shots. People who had not gotten a shot for years suddenly had to have one because there was a shortage.

Well, the flu season is now about over and the verdict is in. We have flu vaccine left over and it will become useless since it can't be stored to use next season. That, by the way, is the reason drug companies don't go into the flu vaccine business. They can't set the price because of government interference and it is impossible to estimate how much vaccine will be needed in a given year. Therefore, the company is guaranteed to either make too much or not enough vaccine each year and they lose either way.

Experiment Design

I guess my laboratory career left me interested in the process of designing experiments to answer a question of interest. An article in the Wall Street Journal today suggested and discussed an interesting one. A European consortium is building a very large passenger plane called the A380 which can be configured to carry 853 passengers. It would take 1 hour to get all these people on board, seated and buckled in. In case of an emergency, it will be required that the Airbus builders demonstrate that all of these passengers can be evacuated through blankets and baggage scattered about the cabin as it would be following an accident. In addition, only 1/2 of the 16 exits would be available....in the dark. Because the plane has a second story, some of the passengers will be required to find their way to the exit and jump into space, land on a steep inflated slide and avoid pilling in a heap at the bottom of the slide. As for additional requirements, 40% of the test passengers must be female, 35% must be over 50 years of age, and 15% must be both female and over 50. Some of the females will be given dolls to cradle in their arms and take with them through the evacuation. In order for the airplane to be certified for commercial use, the evacuation must be completed in 90 seconds.

I see this as a situation where the demonstration could easily be gamed by selecting certain individuals who will not freeze at the top of the 2nd story slide, will maintain poise and calm at the exits rather than pushing others aside. In a previous experiment with another plane everyone performed well under ordinary conditions. The results were quite different when the participants were offered added financial awards depending on the speed at which they exited. It got kinda rough at the exit doors according to the reports. In some previous tests of other planes, the passengers are given helmets and have their ankles taped to prevent injuries. This could be because one 60 year old lady caught her foot in the slide, flipped and went down the slide head first. When she hit the pile of people at the bottom of the slide she broke her neck and has been paralyzed ever since.

I am sure the engineers will eventually be able to get the plane certified to operate in every country which requires such tests, but I am also sure if you are in a plane crash the evacuation will in no way resemble any of the tests and you should not get on the plane if being able to get out in 90 seconds is important to you.

I want the franchise for this in the U.S.

The following was an article published on the BBC web site:

A chewing gum which the makers say can help enhance the size, shape and tone of the breasts has proved to be a big hit in Japan.

B2Up says its Bust-Up gum, when chewed three or four times a day, can also help improve circulation, reduce stress and fight ageing.

The gum works by slowly releasing compounds contained in an extract from a plant called Pueraria mirifica.

In theory, this helps to keep the muscle tissue in good order.

Pueraria mirifica, also known as Kwao Krua, is a species found in Thailand and Burma.

It has long been used by indigenous hill tribe people as a traditional medicine.

The plant's underground tubers contain a number of chemicals called phytoestrogens - natural compounds which mimic the effects of the female sex hormone oestrogen.

These include miroestrol and deoxymiroestrol, which are believed to exert a particularly strong effect, as they are very close in chemical structure to oestradiol, the main human oestrogen.

B2Up says that it is the effect of these two chemicals, coupled with a third phytooestrogen isoflavone, which makes its gum so effective.

It cites tests carried out by Thailand's Chulalongkorn University which found Pueraria mirifica therapy was able to enhance breast size by 80%.

Further tests carried out in England found that the plant had a beneficial effect on the skin, and hair, as well as the breasts.

The company also markets different Pueraria products, including pills, and tea.

The gum, which comes in rose flavour, has proved so popular that there are plans to start selling it in convenience stores.

Scepticism

Claire Williamson, of the British Nutrition Foundation, said research had suggested phytoestrogens may be beneficial in post-menopausal women in terms of reducing menopausal symptoms, and may also have beneficial effects on risk factors for heart disease and osteoporosis.

A role in breast cancer has also been suggested.

But she said research had suggested that isoflavone supplements are not as effective in managing menopausal symptoms as isoflavone rich foods such as soya.

Furthermore, consumption of isoflavones may need to be life-long in order to have beneficial effects on postmenopausal symptoms.

"So there is clear evidence of the potential health benefits of consuming isoflavone-rich foods such as soya, however consumption in the form of a gum has not been extensively studied and such products may be simply another food gimmick."

Education In the U.S.

It is hard to exaggerate the problems in the U.S. which can be directly attributed to the decline in our public school system. Over the past half-century, the number of pupils in U.S. schools grew by about 50% while the number of teachers nearly tripled. Spending per pupil also tripled. If the teaching corps had simply kept pace with enrollment, school budgets grew as they did, and nothing else changed, the average teacher would earn nearly $100,000 plus generous benefits and a completely different caliber of student would be attracted to teaching. Class sizes would be some larger--about the size as when I was in school. There would be fewer specialists and supervisors. So, we have basically invested in more rather than better teachers. We now draw people from the lower ranks of our lesser universities. Thus, it is no surprise that we have shortages in key subjects such as science and math. It is hard to keep fully staffed when some of the locales aren't too enticing and in the sciences or math well qualified individuals can earn big bucks elsewhere.
The push for increased numbers of teachers comes from several sources. The public was sold on the concept of small class sizes when there is scant evidence that this is overridingly important. The unions, of course, want large numbers of dues paying members to represent. Departments of Education want large numbers of students to train.
So, we wind up paying lots of money for schooling, most for teachers salaries, that depends on the knowledge, skills and commitment of teachers who don't earn very much and can't see that they ever will. On top of that we restrict entry to persons "certified" by state bureaucrats after passing through mostly monopolistic training programs that add little value. What could be more insane than erecting daunting barriers of entry to an ill-paid vocation? How about making the pay mediocre for poor, good, and super teachers? We pay no more to those who take on tough assignments in tough schools than we do those in up-scale neighborhoods. In fact, the pay is usually less.
I'll add more to this sorry saga in coming days.

Report from Iraq

March 17, 2005: Iraqi popular opinion has turned against terrorism in a big way. Apparently the key event was the revelation that Osama bin Laden had appointed Abu Musab al Zarqawi as "Emir" (leader) of al Qaeda efforts in Iraq and commanded him to go forth and kill big-time. But as suicide bombing attacks increasingly failed to reach American targets, and killed Iraqis instead, it appeared that a Saudi (bin Laden) was telling a Jordanian (Zarqawi) to kill Iraqis. This attitude never made headlines, but it slowly spread among Sunni Arab Iraqis over the last year. Sunni Arab areas where were most of the violence was, particularly after Shia Arab demagogue Moqtada Sadr stopped instigating violence (because he found that he had much less popular support than he believed). Once the Sunni Arabs turned against terrorism, the terrorists found themselves operating in an increasingly hostile environment.

A big story that the media missed was that American troops operating outside the fortified camps (like the Green Zone) were a lot closer to what was going on than your average reporter (who doesn't get out much because of the danger). The combat troops, and many of the non-combat troops, deal with the danger, and Iraqis, on a daily basis. The troops saw the change in attitude among Iraqis. They also saw, in neighborhood after neighborhood, the sharp decline in attacks on coalition and Iraqi forces. They knew the reason for this was the ongoing reconstruction work (mainly supervised by coalition troops) and terror attacks that killed mostly Iraqis. The foreign media appeared to be describing a place that sort of looked like Iraq, but wasn't. Because of the growing availability of email in Iraq, for Iraqis and foreign troops, more people around the world are able to get unfiltered (by journalists) reports from inside Iraq. This has left recipients of these emails wondering what's going on with the reporters. It's simple; fiction always outsells non-fiction.

Back to the Blog

Vacation is over and we survived the Amazon Jungles and all the travel-related obstacles. As I look around at what I missed over the last couple of weeks, I see very little of major import. Michael Jackson is on trial and Peterson is going to the big house to await years of appeals of his death sentence. They are still trying to kill the Schiavo lady in Florida and will evidently succeed. The dems in the Senate are still claiming they will block Bush's judicial nominations and the repubs are still threatening to pass a rule preventing the use of the filibuster against judge's confirmation. Bush still won't take any action to prevent our country from being invaded through our southwestern borders. The feminists are going crazy once again, evidently. The poor President of Harvard is under attack because he threw out the idea that maybe women were not as adept as men in the sciences. That is not even a suitable matter for debate at Harvard. The brilliant police department in Fulton County, Georgia decided to send a 5 foot tall grandmother into court to accompany an unshackled criminal who was twice her size and now we are just astonished that he was able to take her gun from her and kill 3 people at least. Don't try to tell anyone that there are some jobs women simply shouldn't have. I have to go look for something more positive than all this.

Back to the Blog

Vacation is over and we survived the Amazon Jungles and all the travel-related obstacles. As I look around at what I missed over the last couple of weeks, I see very little of major import. Michael Jackson is on trial and Peterson is going to the big house to await years of appeals of his death sentence. They are still trying to kill the Schiavo lady in Florida and will evidently succeed. The dems in the Senate are still claiming they will block Bush's judicial nominations and the repubs are still threatening to pass a rule preventing the use of the filibuster against judge's confirmation. Bush still won't take any action to prevent our country from being invaded through our southwestern borders. The feminists are going crazy once again, evidently. The poor President of Harvard is under attack because he threw out the idea that maybe women were not as adept as men in the sciences. That is not even a suitable matter for debate at Harvard. The brilliant police department in Fulton County, Georgia decided to send a 5 foot tall grandmother into court to accompany an unshackled criminal who was twice her size and now we are just astonished that he was able to take her gun from her and kill 3 people at least. Don't try to tell anyone that there are some jobs women simply shouldn't have. I have to go look for something more positive than all this.