What Caught My Eye Today - Canada, India, Ireland, Syria, Education, Potpourri

Canada - Canada is staking a claim to the North Pole. North Pole meets the Great White North. Sounds like the perfect match if you ask me. The nation has submitted a preliminary application to the United Nations to extend its nautical borders in a bid to control vast Arctic resources, including nearly one third of the world's untapped natural gas reserves and large deposits of oil. Then again, maybe the possibility of untold riches may have something to do with Canada's request. Canada's own surveys have shown that its continental shelf does not reach the North Pole, but government officials said new studies would be commissioned. Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that these new surveys (obviously using technologies not previously available) will render results much more to Canada's liking? And sure, there might be an abundance of natural resources in the Arctic, but you have to be able to get to them in order for them to have any value and that is no easy thing to do. Just ask Brazil how well it is doing with the oil bonanza recently discovered just of its shores.

India - India's Supreme Court has re-criminalized homosexuality overturning a 2009 ruling that had found the colonial-era anti-homosexuality law unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled that changing the law should be up to Parliament, not the courts. The law calls gay sex "against the order of nature" and punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Same-sex relationships are criminalized in 76 countries, almost all of which are in Africa and the Middle East. These guys really seem to struggle with sex.  I'm curious which "order of nature" this law is referring to? While it is true there is only one family in the animal kingdom where the man has the baby, try telling all those seahorses (and the other 300 species of fish in the Syngnathidae family) that nature got its signals crossed and that those males need to stop having babies right now.  Maybe instead of pondering what the "order of nature" means, India could spend some time and effort embracing slightly less ambiguous concepts, like "no means no." I'm sure all those victims of rape (both female and male) would certainly not object.

Ireland - Ireland has a modest proposal for addressing unemployment. The government is sending letters to unemployed citizens urging them to apply for jobs elsewhere in Europe. I, for one, appreciate this sort of out of the box thinking. Officials say all foreign job opportunities are voluntary and that no one will lose their benefits if they do not apply for an overseas job. Groups opposed to the initiative accuse the government of state-sponsored emigration.  A quarter of Irish people under 25 years of age are unemployed and emigration has reached record levels with 75,800 people aged 15-44 leaving Ireland in the last year. The opposition has it all wrong.  This isn't state-sponsored emigration. Far from it. This is about some really smart individuals looking out for themselves.  Think about it.  You are young and unemployed, so what's one way to pass all that time on your hands?  That's right, at the pub.  If I'm a working stiff, the last thing I want to see is some young punk drinking all my booze.  Can't find a job in this country, then get out and leave my whiskey alone. Now mind you, at some point, Ireland will find itself having to address a massive brain drain, but if the remaining citizenry has its booze, maybe it won't notice.

Speaking of job opportunities abroad...

Syria - The United States has agreed to take control of Syria's chemical weapons and destroy them on a specially adapted Navy ship in international waters. I can see the want ad now: "Make the World a Safer Place. No experience required. No family or friends considered a plus." The Syrian government agreed to give up its stockpile of chemical weapons to avoid Western intervention in September, after it was proved that sarin gas was used against civilians. Since no country will allow 500 tons of lethal chemicals to enter its borders, the weapons will have to be destroyed at sea in a dangerous and costly U.S. operation. Imagine that. No country wants to assume responsibility for processing 10,000 pounds of deadly gases. What a bunch of pansies. The weapons will also pose a risk while in transit as they could come under a security threat from any of the warring parties in the Syrian conflict. I've read a little bit about the process for treating these chemicals so that they can be properly disposed of. Basically, you neutralize the toxic material with other toxic material and what you have left is a much safer hazardous waste that can be disposed of. So to summarize, in order to make something toxic safer, you have to make it hazardous.  Kind of makes you chuckle don't it?

Education - Ivy League universities may have a case of grade inflation. First a meningitis outbreak at Princeton, now this? Dude, I am so happy I went to a state university. At a monthly faculty meeting at Harvard University, the school's dean of undergraduate education told professors that the grade most frequently awarded to students is an A. Oh...grade inflation. I get it now.  In 2002, Harvard capped the proportion of the graduating class with honors to 60% after a year in with 91% of students graduated with them. Yale University found that 62% of grades awarded to undergraduates from 2010 to 2012 were in the A- range. Isn't it possible that the students that matriculate in these fine institutions of higher learning are really that smart? And isn't it a bit cynical to suggest that students might have some expectation of high grades if mommy and daddy fund a professorship? Princeton University had instituted a policy of grade deflation to limit the awarding of high grades, but those tougher standards are currently under review. I'm sure the shrinking endowment that followed in the wake of that policy had nothing to do with Princeton's decision to revise its academic standards.  Here's a radical idea. Why not award grades based on academic achievement. If the curriculum and testing are fundamentally sound, then if 60%, 70% or the whole freakin' student body can achieve high marks then so be it.  Most experts would agree that this is statistically impossible, but why not let the student have a chance to prove them wrong?

Potpourri - Let's call this entry the "No kidding, really?" edition.

• Economic Growth - Over the past 64 years and 16 presidential terms, the U.S. economy has grown at an average rate of 4.35% when a Democrat was president versus just 2.54% when a Republican held office. Of course, these numbers don't really show the whole picture. If you start low enough, any improvement will seem large.
• Credit Worthiness - The Netherlands left an elite group of nations rated AAA by all three major rating agencies, leaving just 10 countries with the top credit rating: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland. Let's give a shout out to Australia, the only nation south of the equator (and south of the Tropic of Cancer for that matter) to make the cut.
• Nuclear Safeguards - From 1962 until 1977, the U.S. military intentionally set the launch codes at every nuclear missile silo in America to "00000000" so it could rapidly respond to any Soviet attack. It's amazing that the human race has managed to survive all these years in spite of itself.

Did You Know? #48

What do the following have in common: Sarcoline, Coquelicot, Smaragdine, Mikado, Glaucous, Wenge, Fulvous, Xanadu, Falu and Eburnean?

They are all colors: Sarcoline (flesh colored); Coquelicot (orange-tinted red); Smaragdine (emerald green); Mikado (bold yellow); Glaucous (blue-gray); Wenge (dark brown with copper undertones); Fulvous (brownish-yellow); Xanadu (gray-green); Falu (deep red); and Eburnean (ivory white).

What Caught My Eye Today - Bibles, Viruses, Immigration, Dating, Potpourri

Bibles - Costco Wholesale has been doing some serious repenting. While shopping in a store in Simi Valley, California a local pastor tweeted a photo of Bibles relegated to the store's fiction section. That did not sit well with members of his congregation. I've two questions already.  First, is a priest doing shopping at a Costco in the first place; and second, who follows their clergyman on Twitter? Once word of the misplaced gospels spread on social media and made its way onto local and national broadcasts, Costco released a statement blaming a distributor for mislabeling a "small percentage" of the Bibles in stock before they were shipped to the California. In the statement, Costco said it takes full responsibility for the incident and should have caught the mistake. Being the God fearing Christian that I am, I'm not going to argue whether or not the Bible is a work of fiction or not. However, it is worth noting that the four canonical gospels of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – were not only written many years after the events which they describe occurred, but these four gospels were picked out of several hundred gospels nearly 500 years later.

Viruses - Don't have enough things on your mind to keep you up at night?  How about these little gems? The Center for Disease Control says three nightmare super bugs have become so virulent that they pose an urgent risk to the health of Americans. The first is a deadly diarrhea-causing infection. That sounds bad. The second is a bloodstream infection that kills half the people it infects. Yeah, this one doesn't sound too pleasant, either. The third is a drug-resistant form of gonorrhea that has evolved to become resistant to the last drug available against it, raising the prospect of a sexually transmitted global epidemic. This "super gonorrhea" tests to spread through unprotected oral sex. Sort of takes some of the fun out of sex, don't you think? I wonder if Purell could sanitize more than just your hands; not that I'm suggesting you should sanitize anything else with it.

Immigration - The Young Conservatives of Texas canceled it annual "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" event at the University of Texas, Austin, after complaints from students and faculty. Go figure. The group said the game, in which students would chase down other students wearing "illegal immigrant" signs, was meant to spark a campus-wide discussion about the issue. And yet somehow, this group's completely innocent intentions were misconstrued by college students and faculty.  If you ask me this is more of an indictment on higher education.  How could any sensible, well-educated person possible view this event as any other than the public service announcement it was intended to be? 

Dating - There is a new "female-friendly" dating application. The program is like a Yelp for women who want to know as much about who they are going to a restaurant with as they do about the restaurant they are going to. It allows them to anonymously review men who are they Facebook friends and read similar reviews from women they don't know. Users can rate men in categories and add hashtags that are used to calculate a score and rate the men. Where to begin?  First off, this smacks of sexism to me.  Where is the "male-friendly" version of this application?  Second, in my day, the whole purpose of going on a date was to get to know someone.  Why bother going through the pointless exercise of actually connecting with someone, when you can find out everything you want to know about them on Facebook?  Which brings me to my next thought.  Is it just me or does the notion of ratings based on feedback from women who no longer have any desire to date a guy seem to be a questionable premise? I'm thinking there may be some negative bias in some of those reviews.  And finally, what would motivate a girl to friend a bunch of strangers who previously dated the dude she's interested in?  If you ask me, no good could possibly come from that.

Potpourri - Quite the hodge-podge of useless trivia this time around (as if any trivia is particular useful).

• Vocabulary - The Oxford University Press declared that "selfie," taking a self-portrait with a smartphone, was the new word of the year for 2013. More proof that the art of language is in serious decline.
• Lifestyle - 27% of Americans lived alone in 2012, compared to just 17% living in single-person households in 1970. Considering that technology is well on its way to making actual human contact obsolete, I'm surprised this number isn't higher.
• Olympic Medals - The value of raw materials in a gold medal to be awarded at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia is $650. The value of raw materials in a silver medal is $335 and $5 in a bronze medal. How depressing is it that recognition of a lifetime spent getting to the pinnacle of one's sport is worth less than a premium coffee drink at the local Starbucks?

Did You Know? #47

What are the odds of finding two identical snowflakes?

There is no fundamental law of the universe that says snowflakes cannot be identical, but since each flake is made of millions of randomly arrayed water molecules that aren't quite uniform, the odds of finding twin flasks are astronomically slim, about 1 in 10 to the 158th power. Snowflakes develop when water molecules freeze together, and not every water molecule is identical. The vast majority feature oxygen atoms with 8 neutrons while some contain 10 neutrons--the molecules have subtly different shapes, which leads to slightly different forms when they freeze.

In Memoriam: Tyler Voltmer

Fred's Note:  I don't usually get personal on this blog, but recent events dictate that an exception be made.  My brother, Tyler, passed away unexpectedly on November 15.  Words seem inadequate to describe the shock and sense of loss that my family has gone through these passed couple of weeks.  Nonetheless, life does go on.  So here is a brief tribute to my dear brother.

TYLER JAMES VOLTMER 

(March 10, 1968 - November 15, 2013)

From my earliest recollections, I idolized Tyler. He was the epitome of coolness; great at sports, smooth with the ladies; in short, he could do no wrong, at least not in my eyes. I went to great lengths to find flaws in Tyler – as any younger brother would – but was rarely successful. More often than not, we managed to find trouble together. There was a time when getting sent to your room was a punishment worse than death, but when we were forced to endure such trying times, we’d be in our respective rooms huddled in our closets tapping out secret codes on the wall that separated us, just to let the other know we were okay.

My hero worship of Tyler only grew in high school. He was a senior, and I was a lowly freshman. It was at Prospect High that I first met Terry, Tyler’s future wife. Of course, I had no idea at the time; all I knew was that there was a junior, a girl no less, who would actually talk to me. I have countless recollections of our time in high school, but one that particularly stands out as indicative of the unique character Tyler possessed. He decided to join the cross-country team. The fact that participating in after school sports guaranteed you an A in P.E. probably had nothing to do with his decision. As you all know, Tyler was quite observant and quick to pick up on how to do things. Well, it didn’t take long for him to figure out that the coach doesn’t supervise your entire training run. Armed with such knowledge, Tyler applied some out of the box thinking by detouring back to our house for a quick snack, perhaps a few minutes of television, then returning at the appropriate time to finish his run. His brilliant plan was foiled at some point, and Tyler was presented with an ultimatum by the coach—Win the next race or receive an F in P.E. So what does he do, but go out and win the race. I would later realize that this wasn’t an anomaly, but just who Tyler was.

All too soon, high school was over, and Tyler began the next phase of his life. At 19 years old, opportunity came knocking, in the form of a job with American Airlines working cargo at San Francisco. Tyler learned the ins and outs of the job working with our good friend Lee Goodspeed. A couple years, later American decided to open a hub in San Jose and Tyler transferred there, where he discovered the glamorous world of baggage service. Interesting, that after that experience, Tyler would only check his bags if there was no other choice; probably just a coincidence. Throughout this entire time, Tyler and Terry dated and their relationship grew. It was pretty obvious to everyone that these two were destined for each other. However, like any good romance, trouble was on the horizon.

For some inexplicable reason, the concept of having a hub in San Jose, never really took hold, and as a result, American decided to scale back operations. Knowing what they had in Tyler, American pulled out all the stops make sure they kept him in the fold, including offering Tyler a posting in Newark, New Jersey. I know there are many of you who don’t hail from the Bay Area, so I will let you in on a little secret. It is the dream of every young boy and girl to grow up and one day move to Newark, New Jersey. Tyler got to live that dream, almost.

Terry did not make the move to New Jersey with Tyler. Practical girl that she was, and still is, Terry made clear to Tyler in no uncertain terms, “if you want this girl, you need to put a ring on her finger and marry her.” It took a bit of time, not to mention a move to Texas, but that’s exactly what Tyler did. He married is remarkable wife, Terry.

Dallas or more specifically, DFW is the center of the American Airlines universe. I got to visit Tyler in action on more than a couple of occasions, and was awed by what I saw. I didn’t understand most of what was going on, but I knew Tyler had everything under control. Yet again, I was looking up to the coolest guy I ever knew and could not have been prouder.

I got the chance to meet some of Tyler’s work friends—Ziggy, Patty and Jessy, to name just a few. Others, I’ve learned about more recently, and one thing is clear beyond doubt, that Tyler was loved by so many of you. It shows true affection to cover up Tyler’s entire car in plastic wrap to celebrate his birthday.

Years passed, and the opportunity for Tyler and Terry to move closer to home presented itself in the form of a management position at LAX. Besides, Newark, New Jersey, there is no place a Bay Area native would rather be than L.A. Needless to say, we were thrilled that Tyler and Terry were closer to home, but the transition was not easy. Tyler was not capable of giving less than 100 percent to everything that he did. His new job was pretty stressful, but as he always did, Tyler rose to the occasion and gave it his all.

Most recently, Tyler was getting ready to start the next chapter of his life at US Airways in Orange County, but that chapter will remain unfinished.

Every relationship is unique and special in its own way. My relationship with my brother was no different. As we grew into adulthood, we didn’t speak every day or even every week, but when we did talk over the phone or saw each other at a family event, it was almost as if no time had passed at all, and we were back in our rooms tapping out codes in our closets letting the other know we were there for each other. While Tyler won’t physically be here, I know that he will be inside each and every one of us giving us strength, comfort and love as we muddle our way through this crazy world.