27 April 2008

I have stressed PFLs (Positive Feedback Loops) as not only a favorable, but more importanlty, a viable and a very real choice available to all. Unfortunately today, there is too much focus in feeding NFLs (Negative Feedback Loops), especially as America's 'dirty laundry' is being aired in the news today:

1) About 889 out of 1,586 EPA scientists surveyed in the summer of 2007 admitted they "experienced political interference in their work" (Judy Pasternak, "Political pressure reported at EPA: Survey of scientists says more than half experienced interference in last 5 years," Los Angeles Times & San Francisco Chronicle, 24 April 2008). Apparently, such allegations are not new:

"During much of the Bush administration, there have been reports of the White House watering down documents regarding climate change, industry language inserted into EPA power-plant regulations, and scientific advisory panels' conclusions about toxic chemicals going unheeded."

2) While the Canadian government is poised to declare bisphenol-a (B.P.A.) - a chemical widely used in plastics for baby bottles, beverage and food containers, and food can linings found to cause neural and bodily changes in animals - toxic, the US Department of Health and Human Services' National Toxicology Program is only calling for "further research on the chemical" (Ian Austen, "Canada Likely to Label Plastic Ingredient 'Toxic'," The New York Times, 16 April 2008).

3) Four executives at two US companies who imported toothpaste from China containing the poison diethylene glycol were criminally charged, according to the Los Angeles city attorney (Louise Story and Geraldine Fabrikant, "4 Executives Are Charged Over Tainted Toothpaste," The New York Times, 7 March 2008). Distributed to prisons, luxury hotels, hospitals, and discount stores, the poison was found in almost one million tubes of toothpaste in about 34 countries.

As if this all is not bad enough, it gets worse, and these are real killers:

1) The SEC and a Canadian regulator have accused drug maker Biovail and four executives of accounting fraud, including three accounting schemes from 2001 to 2003 to disguise the company's true financial condition (Ian Austen, "US and Canda Accuse Drug Maker of Fraud," The New York Times, 25 March 2008). The reason one executive at Biovail gave for the company's financial shortfall (about $15M to $20M) is akin to 'the dog ate my homework':

"...most of the earnings shortfall...was ultimately found to be caused by delayed, but accident-free, truck shipments to Chicago from a Biovail plant in Canada.

They missed the quarter simply because the trucks came too late."

Ahem, since when is tardiness an excuse for accounting fraud?

2) Through MRI tests, the FDA discovered that a critical blood thinner linked to nineteen deaths "contained a possibly counterfeit ingredient that mimicked the real drug" (Gardiner Harris and Walt Bogdanich, "Drug Tied to China Had Contaminant, FDA Says," The New York Times, 6 March 2008). According to reports, Baxter International purchased the "possibly counterfeit ingredient" from Scientific Protein and sold the finished product. Aside from death, other reported side effects from the product include difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating, rapidly falling blood pressure, and life-threatening shock.

After the time of Harris' and Bogdanich's report, more findings circulated, including contamination in eleven countries and 81 deaths in the US alone (Gardiner Harris, "US Identifies Tainted Heparin in 11 Countries," The New York Times, 22 April 2008).

How much longer must we wait and how many more fatalities must we report before this poison is removed from use?

3) Not to be outdone, Eli Lilly, Merck, and Schering-Plough, have pulled off real doozers:

a) Eli Lilly systematically hid the risks and side effects of its best-selling schizophrenia medicine, Zyprexa, causing may patients using the drug to develop diabetes (Alex Berenson, "In Trial, Alaska Says Lilly Concealed Risks of a Schizophrenia Drug," The New York Times, 6 March 2008). According to company memos and e-mails, Eli Lilly executives were concerned as ealy as 1999 that Zyprexa's sales would be negatively affected if doctors knew the drug caused diabetes. From a July 2001 memo from a company executive, it stated they were "betting the farm on Zyprexa".

b) As a result of its heinous deeds, Eli Lilly was sued by the state of Alaska for knowing about the adverse side-effects and playing them down for the past decade (Alex Berenson, "One Drug, Two Faces," The New York Times, 25 March 2008). From the trial, side-effects of the drug were disclosed: severe weight gain, diabetes, sharply higher cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blook, and heart disease.

c) A panel of four cardiologists announced that Merck's Vytorin and Schering- Plough's Zetia - both widely prescribed for lowering cholesterol - may not work and should only be used as a last resort (Alex Berenson, "Doubt Cast on 2 Drugs Used to Lower Cholesterol," The New York Times, 31 March 2008).

d) In Merck's Vytorin and Schering-Plough's Zetia trial, it was found that they, like Eli Lilly, deliberately delayed the release of trial results proving that the drugs do not work - almost two years after the trial was finished (Alex Berenson, "Accusations of Delays in Releasing Drug Results," The New York Times, 1 April 2008).

Fraud, crime, failure, and the NFLs.

There is a choice...

...either requires the same amount of energy...

...it is up to you...

Ultimately, it is all about the loops...

...sooner over later, it ends up becoming kharma...

27 April 2008

In a report by Dr. Majid Ezzati from Harvard University and Dr. Christopher Murray from the University of Washington, they found life expectancy to be inversely proportional to life-span - something they claim to be unheard of in an advanced nation where the healthiest and the least-healthy Americans continue to diverge (Kyung M. Song, "Life spans falling for least-healthy Americans, study by Harvard, UW finds," The Seattle Times, 22 April 2008).

While Dr. Ezzati and Dr. Murray hope their research will guide legislation to tackle health disparities, they also signaled the clarion call for better primary health care. Public-health expert at San Francisco State University James Wiley, concurs, stating that the "government also needs to ensure that all Americans have adequate health care" (ibid).

Richard Suzman, Director of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, MD, stresses the salience of the research, claiming it will soon be a classic with "a big impact" (Sabin Russell, "Rise in life expectancy not for all groups," San Francisco Chronicle, 22 April 2008).

Alameda County Health Officer Dr. Anthony Iton makes a critical point validating the research, stating that the study's link between geography and health outcome was duplicated in studies made in Alameda County. Moreover, he claims research of this magnitude is "building evidence linking social policy to measurable health outcomes, such as mortality rates."

Clearly on all levels, the outcry is loud for positive public-policy action.

Indeed, no one touts positive better than "Professor Happiness", Harvard social psychologist Daniel Gilbert (Claudia Dreifus, "The Smiling Professor," The New York Times, 22 April 2008). Currently, he directs a laboratory to study the nature of human happiness and attributes factors of resilience, adaptability, the ability to reframe events, and above all - human relationships - as instrumental towards experiencing happiness.

PFLs people, PFLs...the choice is yours.

27 April 2008

In his article on E. coli, Carl Zimmer explains how two genetically identical microbes actually express individual and differentiated behaviors and (re)actions to the same stimulus (Carl Zimmer, "Expressing Our Individuality, the Way E. Coli Do," The New York Times, 22 April 2008). In other words, despite being identical clones with the exact same DNA - carrying identical genomes - the E. coli ultimately end up to be different.

Zimmer goes on to report the cycle of negative feedback loops and positive feedback loops and the fact that it is a matter of chance as to which the E. coli choose. Most poignant of all, he points out:

"At the very least, E. coli's individuality should be a warning to those who would put human nature down to any sort of simple genetic determinism. Living things are more than just programs run by genetic software. Even in miniscule microbes, the same genes and the same genetic network can lead to different fates."

More than poignant, however, this is fundamental and critical to every individual's health lifestyle and choice. I dare say, the survival and life expectancy of each is pivotal to his conscious decision of which loop to choose.

The human body is more sophisticated than the E. coli microbe; we have no excuse to leave the decision up to chance. No excuse at all.

Take into light everything we know about the anatomy and physiology of the body thus far, especially with the help of specialized software, courtesy of David L. Bassett's 25-volume "Stereoscopic Atlas of Human Anatomy" (John Schwartz, "The Body in Depth," The New York Times, 22 April 2008). For everything he knew and included within his 25-volume 'tome', he proves to us how much we are learning and discovering each day and how much we have yet to uncover. As his daughter once recalled him saying to her:

"I know every muscle, I know every nerve and every vessel in the hand. But there's so much I will never know."

Towards our quest to uncover the unknown, Congress is leading the way in what is touted by Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine as "the first civil rights act of the 21st century" (Andrew Pollack, "Congress Near Deal on Genetic Test Bias Bill," The New York Times, 23 April 2008). What the Senator is referring to is GINA, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, that prohibits discrimination by employers and health insurers on the basis of genetic tests and by so doing, advances personalized genetic medicine for the prediction and prevention of disease.

Although there is still a long way to go on health legislation, GINA is a bold and positive step to propel a PFL.

The question will be if we have the perspicacity to keep the motion moving forward or to halt it altogether...

27 April 2008

I. There is a general sense of resignation and 'giving up' rather than perseverance to correct the situation/trail of mistakes (and corruption):

1) Marcus W. Brauchli, a former foreing correspondent with Dow Jones since 1984, is expected to resign as the top-ranking editor of The Wall Street Journal after less than a year on the job and despite the fact that he is "well liked and respected" by his colleagues (Richard Perez-Pena, "Wall St. Journal Editor Expected to Resign," The New York Times, 22 April 2008).

2) Despite more than six years trying to overhaul "an antiquated agency with a history of corruption, inefficiency and missing records, while coping with a building boom that stretched the department to the limits of its resources," Buildings Commissioner Patricia J. Lancaster resigned from her position (Charles V. Bagli, "New York Buildings Commissioner Resigns," The New York Times, 23 April 2008).

3) After surviving corruption scandals and a bribery conviction in the 1990s, Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, indicted on tax evasion charges, resigned along with his son, Lee Jae-yong (he was an executive at Samsung Electronics) (Choe Sang-hun, "Samsung Chairman Resigns," The New York Times, 23 April 2008).

II. Equally, there is a rise in the obliteration of quality. Case in point, e-books:

Apparently, self-professed "most published author in the history of the planet" Philip M. Parker, has compiled roughly 200K books through "computer algorithms that collect publicly available information on a subject - broad or obscure - and, aided by his 60 to 70 computers and six or seven programmers, he turns the results into books in a range of genres...of 150 pages and printed only when a customer buys one" through Amazon.com (Noam Cohen, "He Wrote 200,000 Books (But Computers Did Some of the Work)," The New York Times, 14 April 2008).

David Pascoe, an unfortunate purchaser of one of Parker's books on rosacea, complained that the book offered such generic information that if a person is "good at the Internet, this book is useless."

For Parker even to imagine himself an author would be the greatest fallacy and for him to entertain the notion that the computer can replace the author is nothing short of absurdity.

To Parker: thank you for the trash. Nice to know you developed an algorithm to degrade further the quality of American 'literature'.

Wait, it gets better.

III. As a 'snowball' to the sense of resignation and obliteration of quality, the world is facing a global food crisis akin to the one it faced at the end of WWII:

In a very poignant opening to his article on hunger riots in Haiti, Marc Lacey states:

"Hunger bashed in the front gate of Haiti's presidential palace. Hunger poured onto the streets, burning tires and taking on soldiers and the police. Hunger sent the country's prime minister packing" (Marc Lacey, "Across Globe, Empty Bellies Bring Rising Anger," The New York Times, 18 April 2008).

Since the end of 2006, global food prices have increased about 45% "turning Haitian staples like beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures."

According to the World Bank, food prices have risen by 83% in three years (David Stringer, "Global food crisis poses unpalatable options," The Seattle Times & The Associated Press, 23 April 2008).

To offset the crisis, Pakistan already has a system of ration cards for subsidized wheat in place. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the rising food costs "threaten to cancel strides made toward...cutting world poverty in half by 2015." Furthermore, because biofuel leads to the destruction of forests and takes up arable land for food crops, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the urgent re-examination of biofuel production.

IV. Add the above three to this latest finding:

That only WWII was costlier than the Iraq war, estimated by Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University public finance Professor Laura Bilmes to be $3 trillion (Zachary Coile, "Only World War II was costlier than Iraq war," San Francisco Chronicle, 18 March 2008).

In light of the global food crisis, it is very difficult to understand how Stiglitz could possibly and justifiably state of the Iraq war costs: "We are a rich country, and we can, in some sense, afford it. It's not going to bankrupt us."

Stunning indelicacy, to say the least.

So what do the above four issues have in common?

Loops.

It is all about the loops.

Negative Feedback Loops (NFLs), Positive Feedback Loops (PFLs), and the conscious decision of which to feed, flourish, or fumble.

It seems we are engaging in too many NFLs and not enough PFLs.

This is not news.

However, what is noteworthy is the toll and havoc our decision is reaking on our life, our future, and our basic survival.  It takes just as much energy to feed the negative as it does the positive, so when given which side to invest in, why not choose the latter?  Time and again, the world amazes, as we continue to partake in the negative, blindly asking for the one dish we have once been served...

...as if by blind herdism.

Of hyphenation, potentiality, and the present offerings of electronically mediated transcendence, there is just no excuse...

Of choices, how quickly we run to bankrupt ourselves!

27 April 2008

From an interview for Niewe Rotterdamsche Courant in 1921 (Berliner Tageblatt, 7 July 1921), Einstein said of his first impressions:

"...knowledge and justice are ranked above wealth and power by a large section of the human race. My experience teaches me that this idealistic outlook is particularly prevalent in America."

Surrounding the FCC and net-neutrality, America has proven Einsteen miserably wrong.

Here are some 'tidbits' on net-neutrality:

2) The FCC Chairman is Kevin Martin:
    a) all indications point to him being a Republican on this issue,
    b) he refuses to take any legislative measures to ensure net-neutrality is enforced by the telecom industry (John Dunbar, "FCC cheif says no need for new regulation of the Internet," The Associated Press, 22 April 2008),
    c) he has a different notion of what should/not be enforced, stating that the FCC's 2005 anti-discrimination 'Internet Policy Statement' does not "establish rules nor are they enforceable documents" - so it is rather confusing because at the same time he says the "commission has a responsibility to enforce the principles that it has already adopted" he does not believe the approved policies and document to be enforced is enforceable!

Here is another important fact: as a point of comparison, Japan offers "the fastest network speeds on the planet" to its citizens at an affordable price (roughly $28-35/month, yen-to-dollar).

Net-neutrality is a salient issue because rather than being a free forum for democratic exchange and dialogue, the net - the last bastion of free speech - is under political manipulation and control. It has been an increasingly heated issue since 2000. Recently, it has come under attack because of Comcast's decision to play 'Internet traffic cop' by its "throttling of file-sharing traffic on its cable-modem service" and because of this, the FCC held a public hearing on the issue in Cambridge, Massachusetts (The Associated Press, "NY Attorney General Subpoenas Comcast on Broadband," 26 February 2008).

Comcast's reasoning for its actions is that it is necessary to "keep other Internet traffic, like Web content, flowing smoothly" that translates to: 'because we are power-hording and will provide superior service only to those paying us premium prices to do so'.

And this is a sentiment vocalized by net-neutrality proponents, most notably, Justine Bateman:

"The idea of your site succeeding or failing based upon whether or not you paid the telecom companies enough to carry your material or allow quick access is appalling" (John Dunbar, "FCC cheif says no need for new regulation of the Internet," The Associated Press, 22 April 2008).

How about this:

Rather than police Internet traffic speeds, why not police cybercrime?

According to a report by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, US victims reported 2007 losses of $239M to online fraud with average losses at $2,530 (Doreen Carvajal, "High-Tech Crime Is an Online Bubble That Hasn't Burst," The New York Times, 7 April 2008). On top of this report, it seems the US judicial system is 'weak on cybercrime' as "judges remain reluctant to order much jail time for computer crime."

If you think cybercrime is dying down, think again.

According to Websense, a security vendor in San Diego that filters web sites for corporations, mass web attacks were reported in mid-March and in late-March/early-April, hackers "turned their attention to search engines" preying on web pages "that incorrectly use JavaScript...to infect thousands of sites" (Deborah Gage, "Hackers infiltrate Google searches," San Francisco Chronicle, 2 April 2008). What happens is when urls for web pages with incorrect JavaScripts show up on Google searches and are clicked on, the hackers redirect the user to a malicious program to steal information. Among the latest victims of this attack are Wal-Mart, Sears, Target, and Bloomingdales.

So again, I reiterate the question:

Why not turn attention and legislation to cybercrime rather than restrict and interfere with net-neutrality?

27 April 2008

I am a member of a minority. Although I am not a member of the oppressed African-American minority, I really wish I were. Seriously. Because if I were, I would have grounds to write on the Sean Bell acquittal. As it is, the only foundation I stand on is the common bond of humanity. As a fellow human being, I write against Justice Cooperman's decision, and call out the case for what it is:

This is a democratic civilization, is it not? The last time I checked, no one informed me we have become a police state...

Of truth and justice, these are very skewed ideals when left to men. In the hands of the corrupt, truth and justice are tools, manipulated for a purpose, for a cost-benefit, for a leveraged power, so in the end, they are but ersatz versions of their original intent, purpose, and value.

Facts people, facts.

Facts are what should be foremost to and provide the exclusive basis of the judicial system. I naively thought it was. I guess I am wrong, miserably wrong, as the Sean Bell case proves.

Here is my rough understanding of the facts:

I thought the purpose of opening fire - the only purpose - is to stop the suspected criminal from fleeing. If you are a good shot, you only need to fire once. Opening fire over fifty (50) times is intent to 'shoot to kill' - intent to murder - and I thought the police badge is a license to serve and to protect, not to murder the innocent.

Perhaps the only fact that matters in the case is Sean Bell was an African American.

Here are two equally important facts: the police officers were incompetent at their job and murdered and got away with murdering an innocent man - a fellow American - in cold blood.

To Justice Cooperman and the three officers, the one caveat I have is this:

Kharma man, kharma. I would really hate to stand in your shoes when that time comes...

How about this America:

Let us call a spade a spade and do away with the self-deception. You are anything but the Land of the Free. You are not nation of democracy. Your justice is certainly not blind. You are a sham and can take a lesson from Finland.

To Americans today:

What grounds do you stand on when you take pride in being an American?

Haven't African Americans been through enough? How much further must we beat them down? How far deep into the cesspool will we drown before we take steps to correct centuries of wrong?

America is so young, and yet it has committed and continues to commit its lion's share of atrocities, abuses, and crimes that far outweigh its years...

Perhaps a little stunned paralysis is necessary to force us to pause and reconsider, or is this just wishful thinking...

27 April 2008

Recently, I wrote about Boeing subcontracting Alcoa to forge titanium parts on the US Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jets and the sub-par job Alcoa did, using "shoddy manufacturing" techniques causing the jets to fly with a "manufacturing defect in crucial titanium supports" with the very likely outcome of causing "a catastrophic failure in flight" that "could result in the loss of the aircraft" (Dominic Gates, "Boeing sues Alcoa over parts for F-22 Raptor fighters," The Seattle Times, 11 April 2008). Apparently, Alcoa "failed to add a crucial extra 20 minutes in the furnace that was needed for proper forging."

The reason Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the US Air Force decided to use the defective F-22s is that to remove the defect would cause "substantial cost and disruption to aircraft-production operations," according to Boeing's filing.

Ahem, cost and disruption to operations?!?

To address the cost issue, it seems Boeing is really not hurting when it comes to turning a profit. In fact, the company reported an earnings of $1.2 billion, or 38% increase in profit over 2007 (The Associated Press, "Boeing Profit Jumps 38% as Orders Grow," 23 April 2008).

So then what is the real reason here? At the expense of our US Air Force's Airmen, Boeing just wants to maintain its stance on capitalist greed?

What about Boeing's future and it earnings potential?

Well, that too looks highly favorable with the Delta-Northwest impending merger because Boeing already has orders from Northwest for over fifty of its 787 Dreamliners and from Delta for roughly twenty of its 787s, 777s, and 747s, and about six of its 777-200LR ultra-long-range jets through the end of 2009 (Susanna Ray, "Airlines' merger may be good for Boeing, too," The Seattle Times, 16 April 2008).

Clearly, Boeing is not hurting, despite its mistakes and its defective products. Rather, it is profiting very well and looks to do so through 2009. Unfortunately, it will be to the sacrifice of not just the consumer, but the US Air Force, the nation...

Good going, Boeing. With vendors like you, we really don't need saboteurs.

Rather than news of Boeing's Profit Jumping 38%, it would be rewarding, albeit a fantasy, to read an article with the headline: "Boeing Reallocates Profits to Fix Defective Jets for the US Air Force and Meets Its Deadline" - now that would be noteworthy indeed!

20 April 2008

From an interview for Niewe Rotterdamsche Courant in 1921 (Berliner Tageblatt, 7 July 1921), Einstein wrote of America's industriousness, especially in matters of technology:

"What first strikes the visitor with amazement is the superiority of this country in matters of technology and organization. Objects of everyday use are more solid than in Europe, houses much more practically designed."

Crane disasters aside (see my 15 March 2008 entry, "Sense and Consequence Redux") and barely squeeking by at ranking fourth behind Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland according to The Global Information Technology Report (John Markoff, "Study Gives High Marks to US Internet," The New York Times, 9 April 2008), there are still some strides we can be proud of:

While we may fall miserably short of Einstein's first impressions of America in 1921, we can still take heart in the hope - still vibrant - of our creative potentiality and inherent drive to do some bit of good...

...despite the magnitude of backward steps and the cesspool so dangerously in our collective backyard...

...potentiality nonetheless.

20 April 2008

We have proven Nietzsche true on far too many counts. Obviously, we failed to heed his advice and warnings. Perhaps reworded and repackaged from Einstein, we will attempt to take agency and make an effective difference?

This may be a shot in the dark, but I will bet with the realists and suggest we not hold our collective breath on this one...

In a radio broadcast to accept his Lord and Taylor award on 4 May 1953, Einstein expressed the critical importance of nonconformism:

"To be sure, we are concerned here with nonconformism in a remote field of endeavor, and no Senatorial committee has as yet felt impelled to tackle the important task of combating, also in this field, the dangers which threaten the inner security of the uncritical or else intimidated citizen."

Indeed, this continues to be the problem with the individual who rather flocks to the safety of the herd rather than express the courage, tenacity, and strength to be critical and the daring to nonconformism...

In many areas, it is apparent that Nietzsche influenced Einstein:

On the subject of Good and Evil - Nietzsche's bailiwick - Einstein stated:

"To be sure, it is not the fruits of scientific research that elevate a man and enrich his nature, but the urge to understand, the intellectual work, creative or receptive" (Mein Weltbild, Amsterdam: Querido Verlag, 1934).

This is creative potentiality at the heart of hyphenation...

Just as Nietzsche, Einstein abhorred the herd mentality:

"The really valuable thing in...life seems to me...the creative, sentient individual...it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd...remains dull in thought and...feeling" (Living Philosophies, pp.3-7, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1931).

Similarly, on Society and Personality, he spoke out against a very Nietzschean evil - decadence:

"In my opinion, the present manifestations of decadence are explained by the fact that economic and technologic developments have highly intensified the struggle for existence, greatly to the detriment of the free development of the individual" (Mein Weltbild, Amsterdam: Querido Verlag, 1934).

And independence and creativity, were values he too extolled for the individual:

"Without creative personalities able to think and judge independntly, the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personlaity without the nourishing soil of the community. The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close social cohesion" (ibid).

With as stunning a mind as his, how could he have gotten it so wrong on his observations of America?

From an interview for Niewe Rotterdamsche Courant in 1921 (Berliner Tageblatt, 7 July 1921), Einstein said of his first impressions:

"...knowledge and justice are ranked above wealth and power by a large section of the human race. My experience teaches me that this idealistic outlook is particularly prevalent in America."

How far off the mark he was...good thing he stuck with his equation...

In the same interview, he added:

"The overestimation of money is still greater in this country than in Europe, but appears to me to be on the decrease. It is at last beginning to be realized that great wealth is not necessary for a happy and satisfactory life."

If only this were true in America, there would not be the 'cult of celebrity' and Hollywood would not be extolled to the level it is today...

Great minds past and present surround us. Their words of wisdom and warnings are plentiful. When will we ever take note and act upon them? Act for our future? Act for the collective good?

What a dream, what a far off dream...

...if only to remain in the creative potentiality of hyphenation and transcending virtuality...

Einstein, how profoundly we disappoint.