The Blame Game

I read an article in the Nov. 26 issue of The Economist, titled "A downgrade for Congress". 
It begins: "It was not a very ambitious target.  All that the congressional "supercommittee" was required to do was to figure out a list of measures that would reduce America's budget deficits by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years.  That sounds like a lot, until you realise it is only 0.6% of GDP, not even a quarter of the $5 trillion or so that is really needed to right the books in Washington, and less than 3% of the $44 trillion that the federal goverment is expected to spend over that period.  To reach a goal that a business cost-cutter would regard as desultory, the bipartisan committee of 12 senators and congressmen was accorded exceptional powers.  Its work was to be subject to a simple up-or-down vote, with no possibility of amendment; and the Senate would not be able to use its power to filibuster.  Yet on November 21st, after three months of deliberation, the team was forced to admit that it had failed."

And the Blame Game kicked into high gear, the Democrats blamed the Republicans, the Republicans blamed the Democrats and the public was left shaking our collective heads at the degree of dysfunction we witness daily amongst our elected officials and the partisanship which has been elevated to a new level.

The article concludes with one suggestion why the supercommittee might have failed to meet its goal = no real sense of urgency.  "America is not Italy: this week, its ten-year government bonds were trading at well below 2%, the lowest levels for over half a century ..."

Which brings me to the last point I wanted to make regarding the "Blame Game."
I was thoroughly disgusted with all the blame being heaped upon little ole Greece during the summer and early Autumn.  Yes, the Greek politicians had managed (mismanaged sounds better) to completely over-leverage their country and had dug a massive hole for themselves -- and the various bankers were all-too-happy to saddle them with bailouts, which, it should be pointed-out, are not "gifts", but rather additional loans with crushing terms.  Massive austerity measures were depressing everything and everybody in Greece and the rest of the world was using it as a scapegoat for the mess the Europeans were finding themselves in ... blame it all on the Greeks!

That's where the other shoe dropped.  Wait a minute ... perhaps Italy has an economic problem, oh and Spain too.  Italy isn't a small economy, like Greece, they are the #3 economy in the Euro zone.
Now all of a sudden the European economic powerhouses are calling an emergency meeting early next week to figure a way out of the looming economic meltdown ...

I wonder who will be blamed next.
More importantly, I hope the Blame Game stops and we start seeing the politicians and the bankers working cooperatively to bring the world economy back to health.

Food, Water, Energy and Population Growth

I had the opportunity to eat a Primanti"s sandwich last week, which got me thinking ... more on this in a moment.

For those of you who may have not heard of this before, Primanti Brothers is a chain of restaurants in Pittsburgh, who serve a rather unique sandwich that has attained iconic status in this city.
The history behind this sandwich is fun to read, though I have a hard envisioning somebody eating this sandwich with one hand, while driving a truck with the other ... it is simply (huge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primanti_Brothers).

We heard on the news a month ago, that Primanti's has been named one of the "manliest" sandwich restaurants in the nation - a rather dubious honor, but one which caused more than a few smiles. 
In case you want proof, here is a link to a picture of me eating my Primanti's sandwich - snapped by my sister (https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10150373631472512&set=at.66614997511.70714.820847511.820847511&type=1&theater).

Enough with the frivolity however.  What triggered this blog post was a story I heard over the weekend, that global population would reach an estimated 7 billion people on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011 and related news stories yesterday and this morning.
You may enjoy watching the video at the top of this story, which helps visualize the growth of the Earth's population over the last few thousand years (http://www.npr.org/2011/10/31/141816460/visualizing-how-a-population-grows-to-7-billion).

The question of how many more people can live on Earth, what some scientists call Earth's carrying capacity, is a very complex one, with many variables potentially coming into play (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrying_capacity). One way to simplify the equation, is to talk about food, water and energy.

The food part of the equation is how I started this blog post -- meat and animal-derived products require more land and resources than grain-based foods -- the thinking is that as more people around the world enter the middle class, they will want more meat and animal-derived products, which will strain global food production.  Improvements in agriculture may be able to offset this increased demand (to a point).

The water part of the equation is one which seems to be more dramatic in some parts of the world than in others.  It is fair to say however, that access to clean water for an increasing global population will be a huge problem to overcome in the years to come.  Water supply and purification mechanisms, as well as improvements in infrastructure to deliver the clean water to the population with minimal losses (and to remove the dirty water), will be definite areas of attention.

Then there is energy.  One news story mentioned that parts of the world which are more developed are currently enjoying "cheap energy" and that the developing world will also want access to the same amount of energy being consumed in the more developed countries. A finite oil and fossil fuel supply is only part of the problem here -- it is also worth considering the energy efficiency of whatever we use which consumes energy and also energy wasted due to carelessness.

One of the areas of my job I truly enjoy, is related to AEVs (Alternative Energy Vehicles) and all the lightweight and energy-efficient materials my company supplies which can decrease the weight of any vehicle while simultaneously increasing their energy-efficiency.  If you are interested in finding out more about this, feel free to check-out our Facebook page -- and if you like what you see, kindly click on the "Like" button too (https://www.facebook.com/BayerMaterialScienceAEV).  Thanks!

The 118

I was reminded today of a phrase I heard from Jeffrey Hayzlett (ex-CMO at Kodak).   
He was talking about "The Elevator Pitch" - 2.0 
He calls it "The 118" -- as in: "you have 118 seconds to get your point across". 

His position is that the average adult's attention span is 8 seconds -- that's all the time someone has to make an initial impact.  The other 110 seconds, what Jeffrey claims is the average time an elevator ride lasts in NYC, is how long you have to "sell" him/her. 

Phrased differently, if you are preparing a long-winded presentation, hoping to impress me, you are approaching this the wrong way.
Obviously, you will not be able to come up with the correct words and to structure your position/proposition in that short a time period without some serious preparation and practice. 
... so heads-up, make sure you practice!

I got a cold call today, from someone talking 100-miles-an-hour, hoping to impress me by throwing out names of well known, major companies, who he claimed were clients -- *yawn*!
After 30 seconds he had not even begun to get close to his point, after 120 seconds I still had not heard his value proposition ... so I cut him off. 
I explained he had failed to "hook" me, that I was not trying to be rude, however I was very busy and I just did not have the time to sit and listen to the stuff he was rattling off. 
It became apparent he was annoying me. 

My parting words were that he needed to practice his 118 and I gave Mr. Hayzlett and his book "The Mirror Test" a "plug". 
You are welcome Jeffrey.
Now I need to go practice my own 118 ... 
Summer vacation is over people, let's get with the program! 

The Brink

A divided government that seems stuck in perpetual gridlock, took the US economy to the brink of default, only to be saved by a last-minute agreement last week. 
Apparently this was not enough for Standard & Poors (S&P), the debt rating agency which was not capable of warning about impending problems with Lehman Brothers, or with the mortgage debt crisis a couple of years ago.  
S&P downgraded US debt from AAA to AA+ and the stock market which had been having one bad day after another for the past two weeks, had an absolutely horrendous day today.  Over the last couple of weeks, the stock market has declined by a figure that is closing-in on 20%. 

Meanwhile, the President has a mere 42% approval rating and Congress has a dismal 14% approval rating! 
The polls notwithstanding, it should be immediately obvious to even the most casual observer that the citizens of the US do not think any of the politicians are doing anywhere near an acceptable job.

I think it is clear we are not simply approaching the brink of disaster; we are teetering on the very edge.  The question before us now is: can any one of the political geniuses figure-out how to keep us from tumbling over that edge? 

Adventures in Space

I experienced a bittersweet moment today, as news arrived that the shuttle Atlantis did manage to lift off from Cape Canaveral for the last time a few hours ago, despite the inclement weather in Florida -- here in Pittsburgh as well, it is overcast and rainy.
I liked this coverage in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/atlantis-astronauts-ready-for-final-launch-as-nasa-keeps-watchful-eye-on-cloudy-weather/2011/07/08/gIQA8FcR3H_story.html?wpisrc=al_national).
I also recommend clicking on the second video link for a brief (less than 6 min) history of the Space Shuttle program from the 1st to this the 135th and final flight (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/remembering-the-shuttle-era/2011/07/01/AG35yStH_video.html).

I have previously blogged about the "Coolest Job Ever", so my personal angle/excitement about the subject should be obvious. 
The truth of the matter however, is that the International Space Station is now manned and operational and the only existing means of moving people to/from it are the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.  Unfortunately, the Soyuz spacecraft can carry far less in both personnel and payloads/cargo than the Space Shuttles.
Since it will be years before NASA's successor to the Space Shuttle will be operational, I believe the adventures in space (OK, near-Earth orbit if you want to be nit-picky) are just beginning. 

From an economic/financial standpoint meanwhile, there will be thousands, if not tens of thousands of people currently employed by NASA, who will be added to the ranks of those seeking employment during these tough economic times.  I would like to wish each of them a speedy resolution to their personal adventure as well.

Blurring the Line Between Games and Reality

Running errands this afternoon, I was driving and listening to the radio.
There was an extremely interesting discussion regarding how games affect us and about the future direction games may be headed in (http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/jul/01/future-gaming/). 

Why would this interest me so much you ask?
Because I really enjoy playing games! 
One of the lines uttered during the interview by the way, was that while people often play games to escape reality, more and more games are making connections to the real world (that is pretty profound).

One of the people interviewed was Jesse Schell, a professor at the CMU (Carnegie Mellon University - right here in Pittsburgh) Entertainment Technology Center and the CEO of Schell Games.  In Prof. Schell's vision of the (near?) future, he sees a time when sensors will become so ubiquitous, that all our actions every day will be recorded, tabulated and assessed.  Therefore our everyday actions in the real world, such as brushing our teeth, taking the bus instead of driving our cars, walking instead of driving, or watching certain commercials on TV, will all result in us getting awarded bonus points.  In other words our daily actions and habits will be turned into a "game" and the points we earn in the "game" will have real-world implications (such as coupons for things we buy, lower health insurance premiums, or tax credits for the examples listed above).

I know this is a foreboding look at the future and one which does not sound like much fun to some, however Prof. Schell's thesis completely blew my mind.  He stated that since all our actions will be recorded and will be available for our children and for future generations to inspect, if the "game" is designed correctly, it may be possible to modify our behaviors and inspire us to become better people than we might have otherwise turned out.

That puts a different spin on the game of Life ... or maybe it does not.

If you want to listen to Prof. Schell's talk entitled "When Games Invade Real Life", just click on the link (http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schell_when_games_invade_real_life.html)
** warning it lasts 28 minutes ** 

Independence

The long 4th of July weekend is upon us and thoughts naturally turn to the reason behind the holiday.
This holiday commemorates the United States' declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776, an act considered brazen by many at the time, given Britain's overwhelming military superiority.  It also brings to mind other similar acts.

The Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821 is celebrated on March 25.  This began only a few decades after the Americans and perhaps the planners of that war had been heartened and influenced to some extent by the success the Americans ultimately enjoyed in their bid for independence.  What I found interesting was the utilization of the media of the day to generate support for the Greeks among the European nations, a fact which ultimately helped lead to the intervention of Russia, France and the United Kingdom on the side of the Greeks against the Ottomans.

In the last few months we have witnessed what has been termed by some the Arab Spring with demonstrations and rebellions taking place in various Arab world nations.  What has been interesting has been the utilization of social media by the protesters, to coordinate their activities, generate global support for their causes and provide transparency into the responses employed by the various governments, even when news reporters have not been present.

Ultimately the lesson we can glean is that people don't like to be constrained and they will seek ways to become independent from whatever constrains them.  The tools they choose to use are what they have on hand and what they find to be most effective.
In today's world, social media are powerful indeed and they need to be employed by those seeking maximum effectiveness in their quest for independence from whatever is boxing them in.
I wish all my friends a happy Independence Day, however I also want to remind them to "think before you tweet".