China in the Olympics

The upcoming Olympic games hosted by China will give the rest of the world perhaps its first "in-depth" look into life there. It'll be interesting to see whether the unseemlier parts of China will get brought to the fore in the international media, like the smog (check out the pics here and here).

Yes, it would look really bad if athletes wear masks to compete outside, and some teams have apparently contemplated doing so over the objections from Chinese officials... but at some point a person's health takes priority over losing face, right? Maybe not in a nation that doesn't put a high value on individual human rights.

Apparently China also hasn't done well at following through on its promises that won them the Games in the first place - rather than cleaning things up from the root level, they've instead spent money on gorgeous new sporting facilities and giving behavior booklets to the locals.

I'm wondering whether China will attempt to censor any type of unflattering news that gets broadcast out of the country, and whether the worldwide media will comply. Should be a fascinating month.

On compassion and jusice

Thought-provoking quote on the difference between compassion and justice from David Crowder's interview with Christianity Today:

Do you worry that popular culture sometimes presents a social cause as a popular trend to ride?

Crowder: That's another difficult thing about this move for social change with so many people's involvement—immediately I get cynical. Down the road, when you see all the marketing dollars spent in the (RED) campaign and other programs, callousness starts to build up. When American Idol goes to Africa to raise awareness, it raises red flags for some of us, [though good is still accomplished].

It's important to remember that there is a big difference between compassion and justice. Compassion would be like seeing someone drowning in a river and automatically you grab that person and save him. But as you stand there, you see more and more people coming down the river drowning and you just keep pulling them out. Justice is when a person goes up the river to find the source of problem, to find out why these people are in the river in the first place. They take what they see in front of them—people drowning in the river—and their feet start moving. They acquire knowledge in process, and move from compassion to justice. We still need people downstream pulling people out, but we also need someone to get to the source of things too.

More interesting links

The 16 Greatest Moments in Web History and The 13 Most Embarrassing Moments in Web History
Things I learned from these articles include:
- The "Yahoo" name is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle".
- The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer that went for $14.83. Broken.
- Oddpost was the webmail company that springboarded people's use of AJAX and Ruby on Rails to give an application-like feel in a browser.
- Amazon's first headquarters was a garage in Washington with 3 SPARC workstations and a bell that would ring with every sale.
- CNN has pre-prepared obituaries of many public figures ready to go for its website - in 2001 it was discovered that these were publicly accessible.
- A Florida cop blew off his own toe at a gun safety demonstration at an elementary school in 2004, after saying "I'm the only one in the room that I know of that's professional enough to carry a Glock .40."

Children detach from the natural world as they explore the virtual one
Outdoor activity for children is decreasing greatly. Some theories and possible explanations for this include:
- video games, television, internet, cell phones (6.5 hrs/day on electronic media for kids 8-18)
- more pressure on kids in this day and age academically - "5 times as much" homework as there was 30 years ago
- wilderness not taught in school (kids think of it as "a big open space with nothing to do")

The story reminds me of the many Calvin and Hobbes comics about playing outside and how that seemed to strike a chord with a lot of people from my generation. I'm also reminded of my coworker who told me that his parents allowed him and his siblings 1 hr of TV/video game time per day when he was growing up.

I'd want my kids to get out of the house and play... sports, exploring, parks, etc. It seems that with the growing tech-savviness of the current generations, that may get progressively harder and harder as youth communities become more and more found online.

Weekly links

VH1's Greatest Songs of the 1990s

I began listening to popular music in junior high and high school, although it was restricted to what was on the radio at the time - I didn't start taking my music listening more seriously until late college (after having gone through a "Christian music only! Secular music is of no value!" phase). So seeing this link brings back memories and melodies of the music (both good and bad) on the airwaves a while ago - stuff like:

- "Tennessee" from Arrested Development
- "Unbelievable" from EMF
- "My Lovin'" from En Vogue
- "Time of Your Life" from Green Day (which I actually played and sang at a company party two years ago when we got acquired)
- "MMMBop" from Hanson
- "Mama Said Knock You Out" from LL Cool J
- "Jump" from Kris Kross
- "U Can't Touch This" from MC Hammer
- "Good Vibrations" from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch (how weird is it that he's now getting Oscar nominations? And that he tried to rap?)
- "Wonderwall" from Oasis
- "Losing My Religion" from REM
- "Under the Bridge" from Red Hot Chili Peppers
- "Killing Me Softly" from the Fugees
- "Buddy Holly" from Weezer
- and many more

Check out the link for more stuff from memory lane.

Is Dirk a Leader?

One of the more interesting subplots of the NBA playoffs this past season was the stunning upset of the Dallas Mavericks by YOUR Golden State Warriors! As the reigning MVP, Dirk Nowitzki completely disappeared in the series and watched his team go down in flames. The linked article implies that this year, a focus will placed on developing Dirk as a leader.

My question - some leadership skills can be learned, but some seem innate to a person. If Dirk is in fact simply a really talented basketball player but not a leader, is it supremely important for him to become one? Does the best player on a team need to be a leader? Does the best engineer in a group need to be the leader?

I find it interesting because when Coach Avery Johnson was on the 1999 championship Spurs team, he was the unquestioned leader of the group, whereas the best players were Duncan, Robinson, and Elliott. So maybe there is something to be said for putting people into positions to succeed rather than shoehorning them into perceived positions of what they should be. On the other hand, it's often good to shore up weaknesses.

How does a Chinese sports apparel factory run?

A while ago there was a great civil rights hubbub about "sweatshops" in China producing athletic gear that was marked up several hundred percent from what the production cost. This is a great insider's look at how the factories work, among other things:

- Workers make $110 US/month for 6 day, 60 hrs/week
- Workers like factory conditions b/c of A/C and the relatively high salary of $110/month
- The products are held to a very high standard of quality and timeliness, which is why bathroom breaks are regulated

Great read.

An interview with ESPN TrueHoop's creator

As blogging becomes viable business models for information on the web, there are more and more "success" stories of people using Web 2.0 technology to do what they love to do - like write about the NBA. Some quotes from Henry Abbott:

A blog is like a book, or a college course. It's a big, ongoing endeavor. You mean you're going to drone on and on at me about something - and you're not going to be passionate about it? No, thanks. There must be some kind if higher holy calling (to borrow a phrase from Steven Rubel of Micropersuasion, one of the people I learned a lot about blogging from).

I find myself saying "TrueHoop is all about ..." and then finishing that sentence several different ways. But it's something along these lines: using the freedom afforded me by this awesome medium to make public the truthiest truth I can about the NBA. Not the bits that sell magazines. Not the bits that fit the AP style. Not the power rankings and the armchair quarterbacking. But the part where this is a bunch of humans at work, who are both way more flawed than you'd realize from watching highlights, and way more likable than you'd realize watching police reports. It's about humans.

Think you've got what it takes to be a fighter pilot?

See how long you can last. Fighter pilots are expected to last up to 2 minutes. After some tries, I got over 18 seconds.

The future of photography and social networking?

This video is a demo of one of the cooler technologies I've seen all year. I know George, Alex, and all the other photographers ought to be all over this:

Think you're smart?

Growing up in the Silicon Valley, there are a lot of smart people. High school was full of overachievers. Cal was crammed with brilliance. I had a friend in my fellowship at Cal that double-majored in physics and chemical engineering, and is now going for a PhD... that's pretty darn smart.

But all of that's really nothing compared to this guy. For those of you not inclined to read the article, here's the summary:

Dude graduated from the University of Virginia.

With a double major in math and physics.

In one year.

He took 23 units his first semester, 37 his second, and then summer school to fill out the rest of the degree. Now he's in grad school at age 18.

Have you ever wondered how you would raise your kid if it seemed he/she had a genius-level intellect? Apparently this kids' parents wanted him to do more "kid stuff" growing up, but he was too motivated and ended up reading/doing homework during dinner and such.

Thing is, he might not even truly be a genius. Check out the Howstuffworks article to see the difference between being really really smart, and being a genius - basically, a genius needs to be able to be creative and innovative, as well as being really knowledgable in their field. It's also interesting to read about the theories of different types of intelligence:

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences
* Linguistic
* Logical-mathematic
* Musical
* Bodily-kinesthetic
* Spatial
* Interpersonal
* Intrapersonal

Sternbert's triarchic theory of human intelligence
* Creative intelligence, or the ability to generate new, interesting ideas
* Analytical intelligence, or the ability to examine facts and draw conclusions
* Practical intelligence, or the ability to fit into one's environment

Based on these definitions, you can kind of see what category some famous peoples' genius intelligence would be in - for example, Federer in Bodily-kinesthetic, Gaudi in Spatial, Mozart in Musical, Einstein in Logical-mathematic, etc. Can you see your relative strengths in these defined areas of intelligence?

Professionalism, character, and dignity

This past Friday, a few of the NBA stars from my basketball fandom infancy were inducted into the Hall of Fame: Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, and Joe Dumars.

While Barkley and Wilkins put up the big stats and filled up the highlight reels, I was always drawn to Dumars, who was the one "good guy" on the "Bad Boys" Pistons teams. As the defensive stopper and the offensive glue, he was able to play a pivotal role in the team's two championships bridging the Lakers-Celtics era and the Bulls dynasty. More than his play though, I always admired his other qualities - how he willingly stayed out of the limelight, did the dirty work, and stepped up (in often spectacular fashion) when his team needed him. Plus, he rarely complained to refs and never whined about shots, minutes, or his teammates. For his character, the annual Sportsmanship trophy awarded by the NBA was named after him.

In this series of interviews with him, he described what he'd like his legacy to be, and says a few things about giving everything and being remembered for professionalism, character, and dignity that I aspire to:

I was never one consumed with being a professional athlete. I knew I was deeper. I had more depth to me than just, I can run and jump and shoot. I never viewed myself in that context, as that's who I am and that's what I am.

As I got closer to retirement, my mind-set was ready. By the time I played my last game, there were no tears, there were no long, sad good-byes. You know, basically to Grant Hill and Lindsey Hunter and those guys, I said, "You guys have it now. It's all in your lap now."

I've never looked back. I can honestly tell you, I've never missed it. I don't miss playing. I never did when I retired, even the next year. I enjoyed the fact that I'd done it, and I'm done with it.

I've never played basketball again. I never intend to. I'll rebound for Jordan, my son. And I'll shoot a little.

But some guys play, play three-on-three. Oh, no. I'm done.

I don't have anything left in me. I don't have any desire to go out on the basketball court and play.

I gave everything. I don't have anything else to give. I completely exhausted myself with it.

And I don't have anything left to do. There's nothing I didn't get to accomplish that I wanted to. I don't have any regrets about my career, like I wish I could have done this or I wish I could have done that. I was fortunate. It all happened. I'm not going back trying to relive anything. There's nothing to relive.

How do I want to be remembered?

Well, I'm not dead.

But a few words: professionalism, character, dignity and winner, because I've been fortunate enough to win a lot in this league, to win everything you can possibly win.

All those things would be how I view what I've been able to accomplish.

But start with character and dignity because that's who I've been, and that's who I'll continue to be.

How Star Wars should have ended
In an effort to extract more money from fans, Lucasfilm just re-released the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD with the original theatrical version (along with the "special" edition). Seeing as how I never got around to buying the various DVD sets that have been released, I might just go and pick it up. But in tribute to the release date, someone created this amusing animated alternate ending to the first movie:

When's the best time to buy stuff?

Most people I know love bargains. Thus, the following article on "The Best Time to Buy Everything" might be of use. Some highlights:

Airplane Tickets
When to buy: On a Wednesday, 21 days (or a couple of days earlier) before your flight.
Why: Airlines make major pricing changes (and run fare sales) every week, typically on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings. About 21 days out from your flight, you'll see plenty of deals out there as airlines scramble to fill seats. Don't wait much longer, she cautions; prices jump significantly from 14 to seven days ahead of departure.

Cars
When to buy: Weekday mornings in September.
Why: By September, all the next year's models have arrived at the lot, and dealers are desperate to get rid of the current year's leftovers, says Phil Reed, consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com. It's the prime time of year for incentives and sales, not to mention bargaining. "Any car that's been on the lot for a long time loses its value in the eyes of the car salesman," he says.

Heading to the dealership on a weekday morning also helps because there's low foot traffic, meaning you'll have ample time to negotiate and fewer people trying to buy the same car. The more demand, the less willing a salesman is to go down on price, says Reed. (For more, see our column Summer Car Savings.)

Clothing
When to buy: Thursday evenings, six to eight weeks after an item arrives in stores.
Why: After an item lingers in stores a month or more, retailers start dropping its price to get it out the door, says Kathryn Finney, author of "How to Be a Budget Fashionista." These season-end clearances tend to be the same month that designers host fashion weeks (February and September) to preview the next fall or spring collections. So smart buyers can check the catwalk to see if any of this season's trends — say, leggings or military-style jackets — will still be hot next year, and then scoop them up on clearance.

Hitting the mall on a weekday ensures you'll get a good selection. "On the weekend, you'll only get picked-over stuff because the stores don't have time to restock," she says. By Thursday, most of the weekend sales have begun, but everything available is on the floor.

Computers and electronics
When to buy: Just after a new model is launched.
Why: When the latest and greatest of a product is released, you'll often see prices drop on what had previously been the best thing out there, says Tom Merritt, executive editor for CNET, an electronics review web site. Case in point: When Apple released the Nano last September, prices for the now-discontinued Mini dropped 12%, from $199 for a 4GB to about $175. So keep your eyes open for announcements from major manufacturers. Want a little less work? Time your purchases for after big annual technology show like MacWorld (next held Jan. 8-12, 2007) and the International Consumer Electronics Show (next held Jan. 8-11, 2007).

Gas
When to buy: Early morning or late evening on a weekday.
Why: Time your trip based on whether prices are rising or falling, advises Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks, a consumer guide. Gas stations tend to change their prices between 10 a.m. and noon, so hit the pump in the early morning if gas prices are on the rise. Go later in the day if prices are falling. Tipsters on GasPriceWatch.com reported that on Sept. 3, a WaWa gas station in Lanoka Harbor, N.J., was offering regular gas for $2.85 a gallon. One day later the station's price had dropped to $2.65. In that case, going early would have cost you 20 cents more per gallon.

Try not to buy gas on the weekends, Brain says. Gas prices are often slightly elevated, as stations try to profit from leisure travelers. (For more ways to save, see our column Save on Gas.)

Groceries
When to buy: Sunday evenings.
Why: Store sales tend to run Wednesday through Tuesday, says Teri Gault, founder of The Grocery Game, a consumer savings program. On Sunday, you'll also have the latest round of manufacturer's coupons from your morning paper. "You can maximize your coupons available for that shopping week," she says. Heading to the store close to closing time means you'll have access to sales on fresh items that must be sold by the end of the day, such as meats and baked goods.

Of course, you'll also benefit from in-season items that can be frozen for use later in the year, says Gault. That means turkeys at Thanksgiving and hams at Christmas and Easter. During the spring and summer, buy fresh produce. Peaches bought at $1 per pound now can be kept frozen for smoothies and pies throughout the winter, she says.

What's popular in consumer tech?
In the market for a digital camera or new cell phone? Might be interesting and/or informative to see what the most popular are:

Cell Phones
Digital Cameras - looks like everyone and their mother owns a Canon

He tipped how much?
Fans of "Friends" may remember the episode where Pete Becker (played by Jon Favreau of "Swingers" fame) gives Monica, who's working at a diner, a huge check for a $20,000 tip that turns out to be real. Well, it happened in real life (except with just $10k instead of $20k - what a cheapskate). I know I've raised the question about the custom of tipping in the past... if you're interested in the generally accepted customs, check out HowStuffWorks' explanation. Did you know that tip amounts can increase 3-5 percentage points if the server does things like touch the guest on the shoulder, leave candy with the bill, or squat next to the table when taking an order?

Little things

For most of the last year and a half that I've been in my current office building, we've had the same receptionist at the front desk every morning. She knew who got in early in the morning, who came in late in the mid-morning, and who took extra-long lunches... and made sure to do no more than flash a smile and a knowing glance in our direction as we made our way up the stairs to our cubes. Last week, she found a new job. When I came into the office this morning, the new person behind the counter called out in a rather obligatory "Good morning. How are you?" fashion, while keeping her eyes glued to her monitor. Something seemed like it was missing.

Sometimes, it's the little things, like eye contact and a smile, that can make a surprising difference in someone's day.

Time-wasters
I think I'm a naturally curious kind of guy, and the internet provides a wealth of information to dabble in. Be forewarned, however - the following news/info links can be strangely addictive, so consider reading them on your breaks only!

Both Digg.com and the New York Times Most Emailed Articles make use of a pretty recent phenomenon on the internet, that of utilizing the common user to essentially vote for and distinguish the more interesting news from the more mundane.

HowStuffWorks.com is a personal favorite.

Finally, Slashdot is an old standby for all the geeks out there.

Anyone have any other favorite resources for interesting stuff on the web?

Getting back in the saddle

I think the last month or so has been one of my least productive posting months of my blogging career. Despite having no shortage of ideas (I have an entire file of interesting articles, quotes, and topics that I want to comment on in one fashion or another), I've just had some massive writer's block lately. So, I'm going to take some of this guy's advice on defeating it by being a little bit less ambitious about my posts. Not everything has to be a few thousand-word long essay or commentary, or extraordinarily thoughtful either. So, I'm going to try and start with shorter posts on a more frequent basis, and see if that gets me going again.

Survival skills
Are you a city boy or a wise woodsman? Take this quiz on cold weather survival. Me? I'm a city boy... or I apparently don't have much knowledge about the human body neither.

World Basketball Championship
So the US ends up with another bronze medal. After having watched just about every televised game, a few comments:
- Argentina/Greece/Spain all play a very aesthetically pleasing brand of offensive basketball, with a lot of ball movement. The US is pretty much just isolating Carmelo, Lebron, or DWade.
- Help defense by the US is sorely lacking. The only competent help defender on the entire team was Battier. If you watched people play off the ball, he was the only US player that was aware of both his man and the ballhandler and positioned himself correctly to close out on either. So in crunch time, who's in the game? Carmelo/Wade/Lebron can dunk from the free throw line, but they can't stop a pick and roll.
- Cut: Antawn, Miller. There's any number of guys that can be added who would be more effective.

How "specialized" is your knowledge?
Can you:
Name 2 of the 7 dwarves? Name 2 of the Supreme Court justices?
Name the hero of JK Rowling's books? Name the prime minister of Great Britain?
Name Homer Simpson's son? Name one of the works of the Greek poet Homer?
Name the planet Superman comes from? Name the planet closest to the Sun?
Name the 3 Stooges? Name the 3 branches of the US government?

See how you did compared to other Americans in this article.

Blogger improvements

Check out today's news on how Blogger Beta will improve your blogging experience. For example:

- dynamic pages - instead of having the rotating "publishing" icon, the new content will be saved to the database, and anyone coming to view the page will get it rendered on the spot. So, much faster publishing
- access control - private, protected, and public posts (a la Xanga)
- labels - categorize your posts (a la Wordpress)
- comment feeds

And a few other things.

It doesn't look like I'm eligible for beta, but if anyone is, try it out and let us know how it is.

Recent news items

Batman... Begins Again?

The new Joker for the sequel to last year's well-made "Batman Begins" movie has been cast:

Heath Ledger.

Did you do a double-take? I know I did. I haven't really watched much of anything with him in it, but the fan reaction appears to be either really excited or really scared. Well, Christian Bale worked out better than expected, and the guy did just star in one of the most critically-well-received movies of last year, so maybe there's some hope. I'm also hoping that the supporting cast - Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, et al make their way back too.

Full-body DDR

Some folks at National Taiwan University have come up with a next-generation Dance Dance Revolution, simply titled Dance Dance Dance (DDD), where instead of tapping on panels in rhythm to the music, you actually have to mimic the body positions that flash across the screen in rhythm. Check out this video - would you play this?



Email is like so yesterday, man
Back when I was in high school, email was still a novelty item. Started off doing everything from the command line, and then pine became a godsend. IRC became popular, and my first use of the WWW (NCSA Mosaic!) was to log on to some NBA sites and Star Wars sites. My HS was the first one to offer an Internet class, which gained enough notoriety that VP Al Gore (the father of the internets!) came to visit us - we were trapped inside our rooms while snipers patrolled the roof, as he sat and talked with students about email before the television cameras.

I bring this up because according to MSNBC, email is now pretty much obsolete in the minds of today's youth (no wonder it's so hard getting the HS kids to respond to email!), having been overtaken by less formal, shorter forms of communication such as IM and text messaging. Well, they'll have to learn proper email formatting, punctuation, etc. before long since the academic and business worlds probably won't be changing any time soon...

Ode to the F-14 Tomcat
Finally, I read a few news items saying that the venerable Grumman F-14 Tomcat, perhaps best known as Maverick's plane in the 1986 movie "Top Gun", is being retired this year after over 30 years of Navy service. It's being replaced by an advanced version of the F-18, the Super Hornet. In its day, the advanced targeting radar and fire-and-forget Phoenix missiles made the F-14 the superior naval interceptor in the world, but age and cost combined to mothball it.

I've been a fan of fighter planes for many years, particularly the F-teen series that has served America well for an abnormally long time - most of them were designed in the 60s/70s and are still in use (F-14, -15, -16, -18). The F-14 was probably my favorite though, with the variable swing wings that could sweep backwards for high speed or forwards for greater maneuverability. It was the inspiration for the G.I. Joe figher plane, as well as the Robotech Veritech. From a purely aesthetic point of view, the plane looked more like a bird of prey than a simple missile.


You will be missed.

Incidentally, if you're a fighter buff... the Air Force is slowly introducing an expensive, but superior new fighter with stealth technology and advanced missiles - read up on the F-22 here. In a few mock battles, the Raptor achieved a 10-to-1 kill ratio. Pretty impressive.

The Top U.S. High Schools

Newsweek recently released their rankings for The Top 1000 U.S. High Schools.

In What Makes a High School Great?, they list the following criteria by which they made this year's rankings:
Create good citizens
Celebrate liberal arts
Prepare for work
Help boys and girls succeed - separately
Emphasize Science and Technology
Reach out to everyone

Some notable local schools in the top 500:
26. Lowell (San Francisco)
78. Gunn (Palo Alto) - ranked #53 in 2003
142. Mission San Jose (Fremont)
147. Monta Vista (Cupertino) - ranked #88 in 2003
210. Saratoga (Saratoga)
238. Menlo-Atherton (Atherton)
261. Leland (San Jose)
285. Los Altos (Los Altos)
302. George Washington (San Francisco)
344. Aragon (San Mateo)
357. Berkeley (Berkeley)
473. Lynbrook (San Jose) - ranked #91 in 2003

For the SoCal readers:
181. Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills)
183. San Marino (San Marino)

Honestly, Lynbrook was ranked way lower than I expected it to be.

Consumerism

What is claimed to be the world's most expensive sandwich goes on display at Selfridges Department Store in London, Monday April 10, 2006. Named the McDonald Sandwich, after it's creator, chef Scott McDonald, the ingredients are Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, and English plum tomatoes, all packed into 24-hour fermented sour dough bread - and it sells for 85 pounds (US$ 148.33: euro 122.53) each.(AP Photo/Tom Hevezi) Click here for more pictures of the sandwich, and here if you're curious what "Wagyu beef" is (it's basically Kobe beef).

I'm a pretty lazy consumer - I'm one of those people who don't do a very good job of supporting the economy! Just in the past year or so, I've considered buying (which means for me, reading reviews, checking prices, looking for discounts, etc.) both an iPod and a Taylor 414, but after a few months of not pulling the trigger, my desire simply waned and I never ended up shelling out the dough. I'm like an advertiser's nightmare.


However, with the NBA playoffs coming up (woot!) and the lure of "40 games in 40 nights" on TNT, I'm thinking that an investment in a DVR would be money well spent. Anyone have recommendations for a good one?

On an unrelated note, we may finally be up for some good weather!

Study in contrasts

The church in America, and particularly the preachers, have gotten something of a black eye in the last twenty years or so with scandals of different varieties. In particular, there's rarely much good coverage in mainstream media of an institution seen by so many as elitist and "non-tolerant." Certainly, not much is said about the effective preaching of the Gospel and the positive, life-changing impact it can have in people's lives.

With this in mind, I read two articles in the New York Times over the past few months with quite a bit of interest. First of all, check out this article about the booming "gigachurch" of Joel Osteen (don't feel like doing the free registration? Check out BugMeNot). While I haven't done much independent research on his church and ministry, it is certainly not portrayed in the most positive light here, with the emphasis on material prosperity and the lack of emphasis on the Gospel as a life- and soul-changing message that may not change your monetary status.

Contrast with this article about Tim Keller and Redeemer Church in Manhattan (PDF file). Also in the New York Times, there seems to be less of a cynical tone to the article, acknowledging the church's charity work and the impact that Keller's preaching is having on the city, particularly right after 9/11. Perhaps most impressive of all, it focuses on the mission statement to enter the culture, challenge it, and show the relevance of Jesus in every aspect: "You need to enter into a person's worldview, challenge it, and retell the story based on the Gospel. The problem is, evangelicals have always started with challenging the worldview. We don't have any credibility."

The difference between the two is startling, and I think it provides food for thought on how Christians can best "shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life" (Phil 3:15-16).

The longest commute

(Thanks to George for the link)

Today, one of my coworkers (not in my immediate group) was awarded the prize for The Nation's Longest Commute. Every day, he drives from his ranch in Mariposa to the Cisco campus - basically, from Yosemite to Milpitas and back - 7 hrs total.

I had two reactions upon reading the article:
1) Why not work from home more often? This is Cisco, for crying out loud! I live 12 minutes away and I work from home every so often!
2) What would my job have to be to inspire me to make a 7-hr commute on a daily basis?

I couldn't come up with any good answers for the second question. On top of the actual working day, he's basically at home only 8 hours - I wonder how many of those he sleeps.

What job would you have to have to brave that kind of commute?

Brain Teaser

Thanks to Andrew W for the link.

Here's a "gotcha!" scenario to test the minds of the scientists and engineers out there. I'll put the solution in invisible text following the question:

"On a day with absolutely calm wind, a plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyor). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyor moves in the opposite direction. The conveyor has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyor to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the airplane ever take off?"

Answer:
The plane can take off.

The problem is that many people are thinking of the moving conveyor like we would a treadmill - when we run on it, we are exerting forward momentum/force by acting on the treadmill, using friction to push ourselves along the ground. Thus, to an impartial observer on stable ground, a runner on a treadmill would be going nowhere, simply running in place. If a plane was actually just rolling in place and not actually moving to the point that air flowed over the wings in order to generate lift, it would not be able to take off.

However, a plane is not acting on the ground - it is acting on the air. The propeller or jet engine exerts a force upon the air that the plane is in. The wheels are free-spinning and do nothing except hold the plane off the ground. Because the wheels only offer a minimum of resistance, the conveyor belt will not impede the forward motion of the plane because the plane is not relying on a driving force from the wheels to move.

So in this scenario, to an impartial observer not on the conveyor belt, the plane will move down the "runway" exactly the same as on a stable runway, except that the wheels are spinning twice as fast (due to plane's forward momentum and backward speed of conveyor belt). Once the plane achieves lift velocity, it will take off.

Kinda neat exercise. I'll admit that I didn't get it the first time I thought about it.

For more details, see this article.