Perception...Very Interesting

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning. A man with a violin plays six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people passed through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule. 4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.   6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. 10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly. 45 minutes: The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin valued at $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the price of seats averaged $100. This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made... what else are we missing? (This story is true, and verified at snopes)

1000 words.

A Parable

I recently asked my friends' little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?" 

She replied, "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people." Her parents beamed. 

"Wow....what a worthy goal." I told her, "But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?" 

I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

You can keep the swine flu.

So, This doesn't really have to do with Politics, but more with World News. Regarding the swine Flu: As of today, right now, this very second, the Swine Flu has been the cause of only one confirmed death in Texas, One! The following table is from the CDC website (source)

I took a screenshot because I am talking about right now, the 119th day of 2009.  Ok, so this flu has been attributed to one death. Now let's focus on the regular Influenza virus.  According to the CDC, the Influenza virus is the cause of about 36000 deaths a year. (source) Again with the screenshot, click to enlarge:

So, that's about 98 people per day that die of regular influenza.  So lets crunch the numbers.

Let's assume that there are about 304,000,000 people in the United States, (google: US Population). Lets use the numbers from the Regular Flu.  5% of the US gets flu (low number).  5% of the population is 15,200,000.  Divide the number of deaths by the number of infections and you get 0.2% (36000 deaths / 15200000 cases) of the people who get Influenza die.  Swine flu is higher, at just over 1% (1 death / 91 cases).  So, the odds that you'll die from the swine flu are 5 times greater, it's still only about 1% chance of dying.  

Now for a little perspective: The SARS outbreak of 2003 had 8096 recorded cases with 774 deaths... the odds of dying with SARS back in the day was an amazing 9.6% (source).

My take on this  If you get the flu (swine or regular) go see a doctor and get some chicken soup because you'll be sick for a few days.  It's not as bad as SARS was yet.

(for you punks that say "what about 20% of the us" here are those numbers.  20% of 304 M = 60.8M people.  Divide out the deaths and you get 0.05% [36000 / 60.2M], so the percentage is less, but the difference between 0.2% and 0.05% is nominal, let the flame war ensue!)

Budget Pennies

Need we say more?

A thought on Reagan and the United States

I was sitting here trying to get my GPS to start working on my blackberry and ran across an article online about how any why the Global Positioning System is a federally funded program but is still free and accessible to everyone in the United States.

Turns out when I was very young, A Russian strike force shot down a US commercial jetliner, killing everyone on board.  This happened in the middle of the very tense Cold War.  The GPS network was up at the time, albiet young, and had the aircraft been fitted with a GPS receiver, they wouldn't have strayed into a Soviet forbidden fly zone.  Spurred by this, America could have launched a massive strike against the Soviets and started WWIII, but the UN mitigated discussions.  Russia apologized for the horrible loss of life, but defended their actions, claiming that they just followed protocol.  Reagan apparently accepted the apology and then issued an Executive Order allowing all citizens of the United States access to the GPS system free of charge.  America is still the only nation in the world that has a position network of it's kind.  No other nation can compete.

This reminded me of another one of Reagan's shining moments, though he had so many of the.  On April 14, 1986, the United States launched a series of Strike Attacks against terrorist training facilities, headquarters and military assets located in Lybia.  In an address to the American People the day of the attacks, Reagan explained what had happened and why.  In closing he said:

"We Americans are slow to anger. We always seek peaceful avenues before resorting to the use of force -- and we did. We tried quiet diplomacy, public condemnation, economic sanctions, and demonstrations of military force. None succeeded. Despite our repeated warnings, Qadhafi continued his reckless policy of intimidation, his relentless pursuit of terror. He counted on America to be passive. He counted wrong. I warned that there should be no place on Earth where terrorists can rest and train and practice their deadly skills. I meant it. I said that we would act with others, if possible, and alone if necessary to ensure that terrorists have no sanctuary anywhere. Tonight, we have." (the full text of the speech can be found here)

I only wish we had a president who was not afraid to get his hands dirty to fight the good fight.  I am not a warmonger, but I do believe that there really is "a time for war and a time for peace."  I miss Ronald Reagan, and I hope everyone has a chance to learn about who he was and why he was so loved by the Americans.  Our nation was never as unified as it was under Reagan's tenure. So, here's hoping that one day in the future, we will have someone in charge of this country who listens to the people, who does what's right and not necessarily what's popular.  May the president of the United States uphold this nation's moral and ethical way of life and not run rampant with his own agenda in total disregard for the safety and security of this wonderful nation. God Bless America!

Denny's...

Denny's is now offering a new breakfast "slam" in special honor of the California octuplet's mother.

You get 8 eggs, no sausage and the person next to you gets the bill.

[more information after the jump]