yes, Huburt popped the question:


(@ the Grove)

We were hiding behind a cart when we took this picture (and most of the other ones).  I simultaneously experienced being a paparazzi and a wedding photographer.  I'd seriously hate both jobs.

But this night was Huburt's night.  Congratulations.

World Cup TV Schedule (listings)

Taken from http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/01/espn-inc-2010-fifa-world-cup-schedule/:

Even if you don't have cable, you can still watch the games @ espn360.com.  I'll also highlight the matches worth seeing (from a perspective of Korean American).  Red is must see, orange is should see, yellow is may be see.

2010 FIFA World Cup Groupings (Team Rankings – December 2009)

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
1  South Africa (85)	1  Argentina (8)	1  England (9)	1  Germany (6)
2  Mexico  (17)	2  Nigeria (22)	2  USA (14)	2  Australia (21)
3  Uruguay (20)	3  Korea Republic (52)	3  Algeria (26)	3  Serbia (19)
4  France (7)	4  Greece (13)	4  Slovenia (31)	4  Ghana (34)
Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
1  Netherlands (3)	1  Italy (4)	1  Brazil (2)	1  Spain (1)
2  Denmark (28)	2  Paraguay (29)	2  Korea DPR (86)	2  Switzerland (18)
3  Japan (43)	3  New Zealand (82)	3  Cote d’Ivoire (16)	3  Honduras (37)
4  Cameroon (11)	4  Slovakia (33)	4  Portugal (5)	4  Chile (15)

2010 WORLD CUP TV SCHEDULE – ESPN, ESPN2, ABC AND ESPN360.COM

u All times EASTERN u Schedule is subject to change

u All matches in high definition u ABC Sports broadcasts in italics

Date	Time (ET)	Network	Match	Group	Site	Match #
Fri 6/11	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	South Africa vs. Mexico	A	Johannesburg	1
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Uruguay vs. France	A	Cape Town	2
Sat 6/12	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Korea Republic vs. Greece	B	Port Elizabeth	3
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Argentina vs. Nigeria	B	Johannesburg	4
	2 p.m.	ABC	England vs. USA	C	Rustenburg	5
Sun 6/13	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Algeria vs. Slovenia	C	Polokwane	6
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Serbia vs. Ghana	D	Pretoria	7
	2 p.m.	ABC	Germany vs. Australia	D	Durban	8
Mon 6/14	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Netherlands vs. Denmark	E	Johannesburg	9
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Japan vs. Cameroon	E	Bloemfontein	10
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Italy vs. Paraguay	F	Cape Town	11
Tue 6/15	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	New Zealand vs. Slovakia	F	Rustenburg	12
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Ivory Coast vs. Portugal	G	Port Elizabeth	13
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Brazil vs. Korea DPR	G	Johannesburg	14
Wed 6/16	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Honduras vs. Chile	H	Nelspruit	15
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Spain vs. Switzerland	H	Durban	16
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	South Africa vs. Uruguay	A	Pretoria	17
Thu 6/17	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Argentina vs. Korea Rep.	B	Johannesburg	18
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Greece vs. Nigeria	B	Bloemfontein	19
	2 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	France vs. Mexico	A	Polokwane	20
Fri 6/18	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Germany vs. Serbia	D	Port Elizabeth	21
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Slovenia vs. USA	C	Johannesburg	22
	2 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	England vs. Algeria	C	Cape Town	23
Sat 6/19	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Netherlands vs. Japan	E	Durban	24
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Ghana vs. Australia	D	Rustenburg	25
	2 p.m.	ABC	Cameroon vs. Denmark	E	Pretoria	26
Sun 6/20	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Slovakia vs. Paraguay	F	Bloemfontein	27
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Italy vs. New Zealand	F	Nelspruit	28
	2 p.m.	ABC	Brazil vs. Ivory Coast	G	Johannesburg	29
Mon 6/21	7 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Portugal vs. Korea DPR	G	Cape Town	30
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Chile vs. Switzerland	H	Port Elizabeth	31
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Spain vs. Honduras	H	Johannesburg	32
Tue 6/22	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Mexico vs. Uruguay	A	Rustenburg	33
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	France vs. South Africa	A	Bloemfontein	34
	2 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	Nigeria vs. Korea Republic	B	Durban	35
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Greece vs. Argentina	B	Polokwane	36
Wed 6/23	9:30 a.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	Slovenia vs. England	C	Port Elizabeth	37
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	USA vs. Algeria	C	Pretoria	38
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Ghana vs. Germany	D	Johannesburg	39
	2 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	Australia vs. Serbia	D	Nelspruit	40
Thu 6/24	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Slovakia vs. Italy	E	Johannesburg	41
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	Paraguay vs. New Zealand	E	Polokwane	42
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Denmark vs. Japan	F	Rustenburg	43
	2 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	Cameroon vs. Netherlands	F	Cape Town	44
Fri 6/25	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Portugal vs. Brazil	G	Durban	45
	9:30 a.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	Ivory Coast vs. Korea DPR	G	Nelspruit	46
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Chile vs. Spain	H	Pretoria	47
	2 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN360.com	Switzerland vs. Honduras	H	Bloemfontein	48

2^nd Stage – Round of 16

Date	Time (ET)	Network	Matchup		Site	Match #
Sat 6/26	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	1st A vs. 2nd B		Port Elizabeth	49
	2 p.m.	ABC	1st C vs. 2nd D		Rustenburg	50
Sun 6/27	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	1st D vs. 2nd C		Bloemfontein	51
	2 p.m.	ABC	1st B vs. 2nd A		Johannesburg	52
Mon 6/28	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	1st E vs. 2nd F		Durban	53
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	1st G vs. 2nd H		Johannesburg	54
Tue 6/29	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	1st F vs. 2nd E		Pretoria	55
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	1st H vs. 2nd G		Cape Town	56

2^nd Stage -- Quarterfinals

Date	Time (ET)	Network	Matchup		Site	Match #
Fri 7/2	9:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Winners 53 vs. 54	A	Port Elizabeth	57
	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Winners 49 vs. 50	B	Johannesburg	58
Sat 7/3	9:30 a.m.	ABC	Winners 52 vs. 51	C	Cape Town	59
	2 p.m.	ABC	Winners 55 vs. 56	D	Johannesburg	60

2^nd Stage -- Semifinals

Date	Time (ET)	Network	Matchup		Site	Match #
Tue 7/6	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Winners A vs. C		Cape Town	61
Wed 7/7	2 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN360.com	Winners B vs. D		Durban	62

Third Place Match

Sat 7/10

2 p.m.

ABC

Losers – 61 vs. 62

Port Elizabeth

63

2010 FIFA World Cup Title Match

Sun 7/11

1:30 p.m.

ABC

Winners – 61 vs. 62

Johannesburg

64

*All times are Eastern

World Cup with Fred: Heroes – Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi, also known as the “Messiah,” has won nearly every competition and individual awards possible at the age of 22. The only tournament he has yet to win happens to be the most prestigious – FIFA World Cup.

The young Argentine showed tremendous talent as a kid, quickly becoming a local celebrity playing for Newell’s Old Boys.





(Lionel Messi, 5 years old)



Messi’s only weakness was his diminutive stature, for he was only 4 feet 7 at 11 years of age. Curious about his height, the directors at Newell’s Old Boys contacted an endocrinologist to conduct a physical, and Messi’s growth hormone deficiency was revealed. Neither Messi’s destitute family nor the club could afford the cost of biosynthetic hormone treatment, costing about 1,000 to 1,500 dollars a month. The doctor advised Messi to fold his dreams as a footballer.

As bleak situation exacerbated, Messi caught a miraculous break. FC Barcelona, one of the largest football teams in Spain, wanted to see Messi in person. Carlos Rexach, sporting director at Barcelona, recollects his first encounter with Messi:


“I turned up to watch and after only three minutes… I could see that he was a small but spectacular player. I said to myself, “we’re having him.”


But the club closely scrutinized Messi for a while, conducting various psychological and physical tests. Barcelona’s doctors concluded that Messi may even grow to be 170cms tall (5 feet 6) with proper treatment – short, but tall enough to play professional football.

Meanwhile, Messi’s father Jorge, growing discontent, delivered an ultimatum to the club at a bar. If the club did not sign his son immediately, he demanded, they would take the next plane to Argentina. Rexach, taking Jorge's demands seriously, unfolded a paper napkin on the table and quickly drafted a contract, agreeing to sponsor Messi's and pay for his medical bills. The most important contract in Barcelona’s hundred year history was soon inked on a piece of napkin.





It did not take long for Messi to shine. In 2004/2005 season, he became youngest player ever to score a goal for Barcelona at the age of 17. In 2005, he led Argentina to victory in U-20 World Cup (under 20) while winning the MVP.

By 2007, many critics were already hailing the 20 year old as the best player in the world but he finished second behind Kaka in FIFA World Player of the year, and finished third in Ballon d’Or, the two most prestigious awards in football.

But in 2008~2009 season, Messi led Barcelona to victory in every single competition (first time in history of football), Argentina to gold medal in Olympics, and swept all major individual awards possible. This season, he tied Barcelona club record with most goals in a season, with 34 goals in 35 league matches and 47 goals overall. He virtually scored a goal every game.

What sets Messi apart from his counterparts is his dribbling. Messi’s dribble is terse, succinct, and to the point. He wastes no time being flashy, as he runs with the ball seemingly attached, magnetically, to his feet. Messi may not be the fastest player in the world, but his soft touches allow him to be the most agile. Simply put, he is poetry in motion.







Fans for ages have been consumed by the Pele vs. Maradona debate, the two greatest legends of the game. Here’s what Maradona had to say:

“The Maradona Pele polemic will end,”

-Diego Maradona, on consequences of Messi winning the 2010 World Cup










Only time can tell whether Messi will become the greatest in history or not. But no one will argue that the once impoverished Argentine boy, in defeating hormone deficiency and converting physical limitations into advantage, continues to inspire so many.



...


...


My name is Lionel Messi, this is my story
When I was eleven, I had a growth hormone problem
But being smaller I was more agile
And I learnt to play with the ball on the ground
Because that’s where it felt more comfortable
Now I realize, sometimes bad things can turn out good

Impossible is nothing.

World Cup with Fred: Introduction

World Cup, with estimated 750 million viewers, dwarfs Super bowl audience by tune of 645 million and is easily the largest sporting event – perhaps the largest celebration – on Earth. To put things into perspective, 750 million people roughly represents a ninth of the world population. Even World Cup drawings, a simple ceremony where teams are placed in a group, nearly tripled Super Bowl audience with 300 million viewers.



As an avid soccer fan, I was always regretful of American ignorance towards World Cup and soccer. I cannot change people’s opinion, nor do I wish to impose my beliefs onto others. I do believe, however, that more people will appreciate the sport if they knew more about it – the heroes, the legends, the styles, the rivalry, and so much more.

For this reason, I will write posts to inform those willing to give the sport a chance. My aim is to help people enjoy the game just a little bit more. Who knows, a serendipitous discovery might await you.

…

Before I move on, some people may wonder why such accolade is given to grown men and women chasing after a ball, and belittle sports as a pointless activity. I disagree. Competitive sport is a tribute to human anatomy, pushing human beings to its limits. We all have bodies, don’t we? Let’s face it, we are not brains in a vat, and our bodies are important to us. Athletes are at the pinnacle of physical performance and proper respect should be given.

Sport is drama. It portrays competitive human struggle more than any other event with exception of war. But unlike war, sport is not as brutal and it may be used as symbol of peace – there lies its greatness.

Out of many notable competitions and championships around the world, only a few can call itself a true global phenomenon. More countries are registered under FIFA, the organization administering World Cup, than United Nations. Perhaps only Olympics can challenge World Cup in terms of prestige, popularity, and scale of global competition.

But unlike Olympics, where hundreds of medals and winners are announced, World Cup has but one winner, a champion, who will live as immortal legend in annals of history.

Come June 11, 2010 – A hero will rise; a hero will fall. Let the beautiful game begin.

I shiver at the thought of 2^316

I'm currently reading more of Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), and I am incredibly annoyed.

Secretly, I always wanted to be an author.  I didn't want to be any author - I wanted to write clever, witty, fast-paced novels considered to be "easy-reading" yet intellectually stimulating. 

But this guy, Jonathan Safran Foer, is pretty much everything I imagined to be, but just 10 times better.  I'm afraid that someday, people will ask me, "your writing seems to be influenced by Foer, are you familiar with his work?" and I will have to say yes, unless I stop reading this book right now (although I already read his other stuff). 

How sad.  My secret dream life, which consisted of being a novelist and a part-time photographer, crumbled before me.  Even if I write what I wanted to write, I'll just be known as "that wanna be Foer kinda guy." 

While I'm dreaming, I would like to have multiple houses so I can travel the world on rent income and search for inspiring stories to write and take pictures of. 

World I hate thee.  But you are beautiful

haha, I love Wilde:

"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction."

"An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all."


_______________________________________________________________________________________

I haven't posted pictures in a while

Greatest video about education

Sir Ken Robinson - "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"

I know this is a "lecture," but watch it folks.  His humor will keep you awake, yet he has extremely important things to say.



If you liked the first video, you might want to see more:

Near Mid Year, New Years Resolution Check Up

Oh gosh, this is going to be an EPIC FAIL.  I don't even need to write an entry about it.

☑  1.  Walk three miles right after I wake up.  Sort of fail, but I do walk three miles a day, so I'll cut myself some slack.
☐  2.  Wake up at 5.  Nope.
☑  3.  Plan my day as I walk, jot it down on a planner, and utilize it everyday.  I'm gonna cut myself some slack again.  I don't walk during mornings, but I do jot down my plans in a planner. 
☐ 4.  Limit internet usage to hour a day, unless there's something super important.  (watching 1박2일 or snsd does not count as super important).  Sunday is a cheat day.  Fail. 
☑  5.  Read a book a week, like I used to.  Not quite a book a week but close, so I'll cut corners one more time.
☐  6.  Exercise one more time before going to sleep.  Nope.
☐  7.  Study a language, hour a day.  Yo no hablo castellano.
☐  8.  One fast food a month, and get down to 145 pounds, which is my medically recommended ideal body weight.  Damn it.
☐  9.  Don't be a jackass.  Be more caring/attentive and make people around you feel more special.  Ultimate fail.
☑ 10.  Print this out and post it on my wall.  Done.  I should read it everyday as well.

If I wanted to be strict about it, I guess I've pretty much failed every single one except for number 10.  I need to step up and be a man.

Alright, I'm gonna work on #8 first - one fast food a month.  Let's post my skinny pictures again and get motivated.







My ultimate "get motivated" picture. 

Yet another praise about PEN

Most of you guys probably know that I'm obsessed with Olympus PEN.  Also, most of you guys probably have seen this commercial already, but just in case you haven't, it's one of my all time favorite commercials ever.



And the best part is, you can download the song for free (legally!) here.

Pesticides in kids linked to ADHD

Here is the article.

This is a prelude to a what will probably be a very long article about food.


...

oh and a list of fruits and vegetables you should only buy organic:


1). Celery
2). Peaches
3). Strawberries
4). Apples
5). Blueberries
6). Nectarines
7). Bell Peppers
8). Spinach
9). Kale
10). Cherries
11). Potatoes
12). Imported grapes

When I feel the pressure of my soul about to ooze out of my body, I know I'm listening to great music.

Twilight

Twilight - I never read it.  I had no intention of reading it until it was mentioned in Stephen and Lillian's blogs (and I agree with Stephen with everything except for iPad, which I will write about later). 

But because of the attention, I want to see for myself how bad the book actually is.  Before picking it up from a library, however, I peeked at some reviews on Amazon, and found an immensely amusing review.  I will share the highlights with you guys.  This is good.


By Rachel, from N. Carolina, in a review entitled "Are you guys serious?

I don't get it. I just don't get it. I thought young adult fiction had hit its low point with Eragon, but apparently I was wrong. Bella Swan (literally, "beautiful swan," which should be a red flag to any discerning reader) moves to the rainy town of Forks, and the whining begins on page 1.

...Bella Sue is promptly adored by everyone in the school, except the mysterious Cullens, who spend their time brooding, being pretty, smoldering, being perfect, and sparkling. No, seriously. NO, SERIOUSLY. Bella meets Edward, the Culleniest of the Cullens, (meaning he is more perfect and emo than the rest of them,) they fall in love within thirty pages, (much of this time is spent in Bella's head going back and forth between "Does he like me?" "Does he hate me?" "Do I like him?" "Why does he hate me?" and on and on and on AND ON. That is, when she's not being a horrible snobby twit to the boys at school who show affection in genuinely sweet ways, i.e., not breaking into her house and watching her while she sleeps. While she sleeps. Not knowing that he's there. IN HER HOUSE.) The plot shows up somewhere in the last fifty pages, which involves an EVIIIIIILL vampire named James who wants to eat Bella. James is the only character I like.

Bella's (supposedly) the clever, beautiful heroine, Edward's the dark, brooding bad boy, James is... uh, the guy that wants to eat Bella. Meyer clearly wants Bella to be a strong female character, but the horrible sad truth is that she's pathetic. Bella follows Edward's every word religiously, never sticks up for herself, has no spine to speak of, plays Suzie Housewife to her father, and has no existence outside of her "romance" with Edward. On that note, let it be said that Nathaniel Hawthorne got more romance into a few lines about a rosebush than Meyer managed to cram into 400 pages. Edward and Bella's relationship consists almost entirely of staring at each other dewey-eyed and arguing about who's prettier (NO I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP.)

You know what? This could have been a great book if Meyer had focussed more on the relationship between the leads, (and treated it for what it is: unhealthy, creepy, pathetic, borderline psychopathic,) and less on how perfect Edward is (interesting note: the word "perfect" or related terms like "flawless" are used to describe Edward more than a hundred times. That's just bad writing, guys.) What burns me up most about this book is that Edward and Bella are obviously meant to portray the perfect couple. Yeah, I really want my hypothetical daughter to walk out on her family for a guy she barely knows, invite said guy to sleep in her bed, have absolutely no life outside of said guy, and turn into a sniveling wreck when this guy looks at her the wrong way. And I also really want my hypothetical son to break into his girlfriend's house and watch her sleep (SERIOUSLY, GUYS?) , abandon whatever life he has so he can stalk this girl, and be so possessive of her that he throws a fit whenever she so much as looks at someone other than him. And people think these two are good role models? WHAT. JUST WHAT.

This book really wouldn't bother me if it were being taken for what it is: a silly, sappy, shallow, juvenile, wish-fulfilling rag. The fact is, everyone is going on about how its literary merit rivals the frakking "Scarlet Letter" and how Bella Swan is the new Elizabeth Bennet (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?). "Twilight" should be rotting on some publisher's desk in a pile of rejection letters; not being lauded as the greatest novel since "Pride and Prejudice." I weep for literature. 

...

my goodness that was funny.  Thanks Rachel for the awesome review.  I'll probably enjoy the review more than the book.

oh and I might add, I weep for music as well.

interesting headlines

"sex toys during stone age."  No I did not read the article, but it sure does sound painful, and stupid, and gross.

what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye


- Antoine de Saint-Exupery, from The Little Prince

Trust me, this is interesting, and very important, even though it involves math

Alright, so the question was, if you fold 0.1mm newspaper 50 times, how high would it be? (Well obviously, you can't fold a newspaper 50 times, but let's just say that you can).

So what are your guesses?  about 2 inches?  about a yard?  a meter?  may be even up to the roof?

Actually, it would reach the moon and some more.  Even if you said to the moon, you're grossly underestimating.  It's probably closer to the sun

If you don't fold the newspaper at all, it's:  1 x 0.1mm = .1mm
Fold once: 2 x .1mm = .2mm
Fold twice: 4 x .1mm = .4mm
Fold three times: 8 x .1mm = .8mm

right?  even if you failed high school algebra, this should be obvious.

Does anyone see a pattern? 

Fold zero times: (2^0) or 1 x .1mm
Fold once:         (2^1) or 2 x .1mm
Fold twice:        (2^2) or 4 x .1mm
Fold 3x:            (2^3) or 8 x .1mm

So on, until you fold it 50 times, which would be 2^50.  Now, take out your calculators and tell me what 2^50 is (drum rolls please)


2^50 is whopping 1,125,899,906,842,624

I don't even know what that's called.  Let's count together:

1,125,899,906,842,624
                            thousands
                      millions
               billions
        trillions
quadrillion

So 2^50 would be 1.125 quadrillion.  To finish off our calculation, let's multiply 1.125 quadrillion x 0.1mm

1.125 quadrillion x 0.1mm = 112.5 trillion mm

112.5 trillion mm x (1km/1,000,000 mm) = 112.5 million kilometers. 


The distance from earth to the moon?  approximately 384,403 kilometers, which is far, far, far less than our stack of newspaper, which is 112 million km.

The distance from earth to the sun is about 149 million kilometers, which is somewhat closer to our 112 million figure.

Now, do you understand how we humans grossly underestimate exponential functions?  Let me give you another example:

The legends has it that a king wanted to award the mathematician who invented chess.  He went up to the king and said, "my wishes are modest - first day, I want a single grain on the first square of the board, second day, two grains for the next square, and third day, four grains; double the grain everyday until the last, or the 64th square..." 

The king thought to himself, 'what a foolish man,' but you tell me, was he foolish?

Let's just see how much grain he would receive on the very last day alone, which should be easy to calculate:  it's 2^63, which is ....

9,223,372,036,854,775,808 grains, or 9.2 quintillion grains.  Let's say that a grain of wheat weighs 1 milligram, then

9,223,372,036,854,775,808grains x (1 mg/1grain) x (1kg/1,000,000mg) x (1 metric ton / 1,000kg) = 9.223 billion metric tons of wheat

The world produced 607 million metric tons of wheat in 2007.  It turns out, the mathematician was not so modest.

__________________________________________________________________________________

So when things double, it will grow quickly, quickly... The numbers will be out of control sooner than you can imagine.  Why is this important?  It's SUPER IMPORTANT for many reasons... but I'll explain more later.

People vastly underestimate exponential function.  Let me show you:

If you were to fold a newspaper 50 times, how high would it be?  Let's just say the newspaper is 0.1mm thick.

James asked for words of encouragement for people taking midterms and finals.  It took me about 10 minutes to come up with a simple idea and a picture to go along with it.  I wasn't happy with what I wrote - I'm virtually never happy with what I write or photograph - but I realized that the words were for me, not for others.  So may be I should post it here as well, so I'll remember.

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We live our fleeting days, caroming off from work to class to home - armed cap-a-pie with our polemic and single mindedness - garrulously complaining and whining

Invest in understanding. And watch in awe, as your new perspective transforms puddle of dirty leaves into autumn foliage

p.s. For those of you taking midterms and finals, good luck. It’s a blessing in disguise.

lottery tirade

I think it's called a hope program in Georgia.  The idea is, students who receive over a B average are eligible for a college scholarship.  So far so good right?  Let's study the program a bit more in depth.

The scholarship is pretty much funded by lottery.  A lion's share of students receiving scholarships are white, and majority of people buying lottery are either blacks or Latinos.  These ethnic minorities, who tend to be, statistically speaking, poor, were paying tuition fees for white kids, most of whom were able to afford college education.

People don't buy lottery because they're stupid.  Well, some people are stupid, but most buy the lottery because they're either desperate or addicted.  Lottery system is effectively a voluntary tax on the poor, and criticism should rightly be placed on cash strapped state governments looking for extra income.  Lottery used to be spent solely for education to rationalize its motive and help people sleep at night, but it is increasingly being spent on whatever funds necessary, like in the state of Missouri.  The program is bound to corrupt.

The quickest and the most effective way to increase income on a lottery is to lower the probability and increase the jackpot.  All you need to do is to add one more ball (like they did in power ball, which is sinister and ingenious at the same time), and the the odds of winning will increase astronomically, from one in 16 million to roughly about one in 75 million.  This is the power of exponential function (also known as compounding interest).  I'll write more about this later.

The most vulnerable in our society often do not have the ability to protect themselves.  It is our moral duty to stop exploiting them.

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Does this mean I'm against college education?  hardly.  If we used our resources wisely, we wouldn't need voluntary poor tax to fund our education.

empty

The objective of a business is to make profit.  That is the nature of capitalism; the invisible hand, not the government, shall regulate the market. 

For most cases, the idea works beautifully.  Manufacturers will provide goods and services that suit our needs in hopes of generating a profit. 

But for obvious reasons, we refrain from allowing invisible hand control every aspect of our lives.  Imagine a society where police refuses to rescue a rape victim because she cannot pay for their services.  How about a society where fire fighters will only extinguish 50% of your house because you can only pay for half of their services? 

There is little debate surrounding utility of these services, since the single most important function of the government is to provide security. 

The real debate, like every other issue, exists in the gray area - in industries that “sort of” deal with our safety and necessities, such as airplane and automotive safety, health insurance, and utilities (gas, electricity and water).  What happens when there is a conflict of interest between – say between their profit vs. your safety?  What will they choose?

(Most college students will often answer this question by saying, “of course businesses will choose profit over our well-being.”  But can you name any evidence?  Folks, you shouldn’t claim anything without evidence unless you’re stating an opinion.  I really hope my readers can at least name 3 instances besides Erin Brockovich and recent Toyota scandal.)



1. DC-10. 

DC-10, a plane manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, had a small problem of… the cargo door ripping out during middle of flight due to a faulty lock.  Even after a near crash that resulted in an emergency landing, McDonnell Douglas ignored NTSB warnings and allowed the plane to operate with minimal corrective measures, one of which included adding a caution label on the door in English (as if every cargo door operator in the world knows how to speak English).  About 2 years later, a DC-10 plane, operated by Turkish airlines, crashed shortly after take off in a forest near Paris, killing everyone on board.  An investigation later revealed that McDonnell Douglas had known about the problem since its manufacturing stages – the company that designed the door had sent them a memo, warning them of fatal design flaws and urged McDonnell Douglas not to use the door.  After multiple lawsuits, McDonnell Douglas followed NTSB’s advice and permanently fixed the cargo door.

McDonnell Douglas was bought out by Boeing in 1997.


2.  GM vs. Ralph Nader

When Henry Ford Jr. came up with the idea of “safety” package, where consumers could choose to buy cars with seatbelts and other various safety measures, GM threatened a price war against Ford if they didn’t get rid of the safety package, which would eventually drive up the cost of building a car.  Ford yielded to the threat and removed the safety features.

Years later, a young lawyer out of Harvard, named Ralph Nader, began his investigation of automotive industry and lack of safety measures.  As he successfully began to sway American voters, automotive safety became a national issue and GM tried to discredit the young lobbyist’s image by hiring a prostitute to seduce him.  They failed.  The congress eventually passed waves of automobile safety laws lobbied by Ralph Nader, including mandatory buckling of seatbelts. 

GM recently filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and had to use American tax payer’s money to avoid complete wiped out.


3.  Ford Pinto: “a barbeque that seats four”

Ford executives knew that their newest car, Pinto, had a good chance of spontaneously catching on fire when rear-ended by another car.  The cost of projected law suits, including death and burn injuries, came out to be less than the cost of fixing the car.  The executive’s memo was later leaked and revealed to the American public.  The company’s image has been tarnished ever since.


Shall I name more?  What about profit vs. necessities, such as electricity and water? 

4.  Enron: the smartest guys in the room

Remember the rolling blackouts in California?  Have you ever wondered why we haven’t had any since?  The rolling blackouts were actually an artificial shortage caused by a company named Enron.  They made astronomical profits through “vaticinating” electric shortages.

Enron was later involved with one of the most scandalous corporate fraud ever, as 60 billion dollars of their stocks were wiped out.  Chairman Kenneth Lay escaped indictment by dying.  CEO Jeffery Skilling was not as fortunate(?); he is currently serving time, and his entire personal assets were wiped out.  What’s even scarier is, Kenneth Lay was almost named as secretary of energy by none other than President George Bush.


5.  PG&E, Erinbrockovich, and hexo… something chromium.

Everyone is familiar with this I believe.


6.  Health insurances & HMO: the human murder organization

Don’t even get me started here.  This is a whole separate entry.


Of course, I’m not trying to argue that all companies always choose profit over our safety, but it seems clear, from time to time, that businesses from all types of industries will in fact choose profit over our safety or well-being. 

Most companies, such as Apple or Really Useful Group (the company that brought to you musical “cats” and “phantom of the opera”), may face ethical considerations, but they are not ridden with serious safety or “near-absolute necessity” issues noted above.  But there is one more major industry (there are more but this one’s major) yet mentioned.  This industry deals with both “near-absolute necessities” and our safety.

The answer?  Meat industry.

What’s in our meat?  Who prepares our meat, and how are they treated?  What kind of breeds of chickens are we eating, and how are they raised and cared for?  What kind of political games go on behind the closed doors?