Study Suggests MRIs Can Predict Math Tutoring Outcomes

MRI Scanner
(photo: Penn State University)

A recent study conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine claims that "the size and circuitry of certain parts of childrens' brains are excellent predictors of how well they'll respond to intensive math tutoring," as reported in today's siliconvalley.com.

Brain scan images, according to lead researcher Vinod Menon, would predict how much a child would learn. The team used fMRI scans which, according to the siliconvalley.com story, measures the changes in oxygenated blood from one part of the brain to another.

If one takes this logic to its conclusion, the notion of having mandatory fMRI scans for young students is hardly out of the question. Why should we waste valuable educational resources on those children who just don't have it, biologically speaking? This bleak thought, which reduces willpower and determination to inconsequential factors, could only be given room in a data-driven nightmare. And that's where we are right now.

Former US Treasury Policy Director Tapped to Head Corporate Affairs at Morgan Stanley

Michele Davis
(photo: Brunswick Group)

Michele Davis is not a household name, unless your household includes the Davis'. She is, however, well known to the insider world of DC and Wall Street. Ms. Davis made her name during the 2008 financial disaster, when she worked for US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Davis, according to a Morgan Stanley memo cited in a zerohedge.com post, noted she had been "'a public relations official and policy director who helped shape the Treasury Department's strategy'" during Wall Street's brush with doom.

Most revealing about the state of our country's affairs was Morgan Stanley's assertion that Ms. Davis worked "'at the nexus of political and financial media throughout her career.'" (The statement was apparently lifted word-for-word from her thumbnail biography with the Brunswick Group, a multinational communications firm.) Ah, yes, that rather blunt assertion describes the concentration of clout and influence that characterize life in today's United States. The "nexus" just doesn't bother to tap household names for its needs. Power is better leveraged in the shadows, as closely held as the details of a private equity firm's earnings.

No Magic Solution To The Disappearing Gas Station

Abandoned gas station outside Syracuse, NY
(Photo: syracuse.com)

When my wife and I drive through New Jersey, where we live, we note that gas stations are vanishing. Some of them are boarded up. Some have empty signage and dead pumps. Some appear as if they should be open, but are not. Some empty lots show evidence of Remediation Past, like a Dickens version of an environmental ghost.

Few in the media bother to report this phenomenon. However, today's Washington Post included an article on disappearing gas stations in the District's inner suburbs, such as Bethesda. The story explores some reasons why filling stations are a diminished breed. Interestingly, real estate values (sky-high in Montgomery County, Maryland, where Bethesda is located) and outrageous property taxes have contributed to the gas stations' demise.

In some cases, gas stations sell their land to banks. It's hard to imagine any part of the country, especially prosperous areas such as Montgomery County, need more bank storefronts. On the other hand, many people need more money to purchase gasoline. Maybe gas stations should add a retail bank to their operations, a sort of one-stop shopping for the necessities.

Navy Officer Who Provided US Flag for Iconic Iwo Jima Photo -- RIP

Photo: Joe Rosenthal/Associated Press

US Navy officer Alan Wood was serving on one of the ships in the American armada that accompanied the Marines to Iwo Jima during World War II. During the battle, he was asked to provide a large US flag for the photo op that remains, for Americans, among the Pacific War's enduring iconic images.

The original flag used on Mt. Suribachi was rumored to have been given to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. He was observing the battle and allegedly wanted a memento of the hill's capture. According to Wood's obit in the Los Angeles Times, "a tired Marine" approached Wood and asked for a bigger flag. He provided it, and subsequently became a footnote to history.

As with many war veterans when asked about their moment of "glory," Wood rarely discussed the episode. He did, however, speak to the public quite often. His career included time as a public information officer at Southern California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

US Military Grooming Cyberwarriors

With hacking from alleged foreign, sovereign actors on the rise, the American military has quietly begun grooming a new generation of officers whose expertise is cyberwarfare. According to an Associated Press story in today's siliconvalley.com, the US Naval Academy is offering a major in cyber security. About three percent of Annapolis' Class of 2016 registered for the initiative. The Air Force has offered a degree program in computer science-cyberwarfare for nearly a decade. The Army has also gotten into the act.

Of course, practical training in cyber conflict comes with some unique challenges. As an Air Force officer noted, "You just can't go out there and start hacking. That's against the law."

Wikileaks Wins Court Case Over Payments

Remember Wikileaks? Supposedly, the information it spilled into the the planet's online data feeds would ruin The New World Order, or at least life as we knew it. Of course, nothing of the sort happened, although TNWO did relentlessly and ruthlessly pursue the Wikileakers.

Recently, Wikileaks won a small legal victory. According to the BBC, an Icelandic court ruled in Wikileaks' favor in a lawsuit involving withheld payments from a local partner of MasterCard. Similar action is anticipated in other countries, notably Denmark.

Anti-Censorship Attorney Edward de Grazia -- RIP

Edward de Grazia
(photo: The New York Times)

Attorney Edward de Grazia, whose trailblazing legal initiatives expanded free speech in the United States, died recently at age 86. The New York Times' obit offers a succinct overview of the barrister's active, profoundly influential career.

He successfully represented Grove Press in its 1964 landmark censorship case involving Henry Miller's novel Tropic of Cancer. De Grazia was also the attorney who led the fight against the U.S. Postal Service's attempt to prohibit dissemination of William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch. He also won a court case that permitted public showings of the movie I Am Curious (Yellow).

It's easy to look back at these cases and imagine there was something quaint in the legal issues and moral fervor they generated. However, at the time, de Grazia's work was absolutely essential to establishing free speech in literature and motion pictures. This was serious business, with high stakes for open, creative minds. Had de Grazia lost these key cases, the cause of artistic and literary freedom would have been stunted. The consequence of de Grazia's extraordinary legal work can be found today in libraries, bookstores, museums, movie theaters, the stage, the ballet, television, radio, music, and the Internet. The politically conservative forces opposed to de Grazia's legal positions survived and have even prospered. So has the nation, which religious and political ideologues falsely asserted was simply dissipating in a morass of what they considered "pornographic works," such as those of Henry Miller and James Joyce.

De Grazia's passing is a reminder that the struggle to maintain free speech continues. It's the present generation -- people such as you and I -- that must carry the torch that Edward de Grazia so proudly and decisively held high for all Americans.

NFL Draft -- Five Players to Watch

The opening round of the 2013 NFL Draft is Thursday, April 25th. Pro football's version of "dollar sign on the muscle" has its share of story lines and baloney. I'll just focus on five players who will provide impact for the team that drafts them.

• Arthur Brown and Kevin Minter -- Two linebackers who fit defensively oriented teams quite well. I think the Ravens are a likely candidate to draft one of these two players.
• Tyler Eifert -- The Notre Dame tight end can flat out play. The Jets could surprise here and select him. The team desperately needs a tight end in the wake of Dustin Keller's flight to Miami.
• Barrett Jones -- The Alabama center lost in the shadows of Fluker and Warmack. Jones will make sense for a zone blocking team in need of a smart, seasoned player. He reminds me of Jeff Saturday.
• Marcus Lattimore -- If healthy, the South Carolina running back is the steal of the draft. He was the best player of his graduating class peers I saw, until he shattered his knee. Well coached by Steve Spurrier. He'll run inside, he can catch, he can block. My guess is a shrewd team, such as Pittsburgh, will take a chance on him. Lattimore seems like Coach Mike Tomlin's kind of player. Steelers need a running back, especially one that can block. There's an outside chance th 49ers would take Lattimore. His style echoes Frank Gore's quite closely.

Arizona Considers Gold and Silver as Legal Tender

Image: usmint.gov

According to a story posted in the financial blog zerohedge.com, Arizona legislators recently passed a motion that would permit gold and silver coins to be used as legal tender in the Grand Canyon State. If that law becomes officially on the books, then Arizona will return to its Wild West days, in which a dusty cowboy could purchase "whusky" with coin made from precious metals. I wonder if a gold-bearing, God-fearing Arizonan would accept paper money as change when they buy something with their gold or silver currency? Maybe they just don't believe the "In God We Trust" on the Washington-backed dollars.

California Mulls Driverless Cars

Google's driverless car
(photo: Edmunds Inside Line)

In December, 2011, I blogged about Google's submitting a patent request for a driverless car. The Mountain Valley company has moved forward with this intriguing project. Siliconvalley.com recently reported that California's Department of Motor Vehicles held a "workshop" to gather comment from those interested on the topic. Some of the "interested" included Detroit automakers, Google, and citizens who don't have a financial stake in the driverless car concept.

Insurance issues remain quite a sticky wicket for the car without driver. Some other concerns arise, such as how these vehicles would respond in challenging weather conditions. Notably, one senior citizen who attended the event thought the driverless car was a wonderful idea. He cited seniors' diminished eyesight and slower reflexes as two reasons in favor of the car.

This leads me to wonder whether driver's licenses would include a separate class for "driverless." Would those over a certain age be restricted to operating only driverless vehicles? What about drivers under 18 years of age? They're among the highest insurance risk categories? Would they also be limited to operating a driverless car?

Silicon Valley Muscling Proposed Internet Privacy Legislation

One of Silicon Valley's dicier dichotomies is to trumpet the value of open access to information, while relentlessly guarding their own corporate info from the public. The third rail for this contradiction is data mining. A current proposal in the California State Assembly calls for Internet firms to reveal to the state's consumers how their personal information is being used. This bill gets to the heart of data mining's profound invasion of individual privacy for unshared commercial gain.

Unsurprisingly, some of the Valley's heavy hitters, through the vehicle of a lobbying organization, is fighting the legislation tooth and nail. According to a story in siliconvalley.com, the tech industry is muscling the State Assembly to have consideration on the bill delayed, forgotten, killed.

The legislation that has aroused the ire of Santa Clara County's tech giants (and, yes, Microsoft) is AB1291.

What If China Has a "Lehman Brothers" Crisis?

Image: wikipedia.com

For some time, the People's Republic of China has been Uncle Sam's foremost creditor. This precarious relationship has its foundation in the notion that both countries have reasonably reliable sovereign debt. Few worry that Beijing or Washington will simply walk out on their government bonds. However, we've learned the hard way that misuse of other fiscal tools can destabilize an entire nation's economy and, for that matter, its society. The United States got a close look at this scenario during the financial calamity called for convenience the "Lehman Brothers bankruptcy".

A situation with similar disastrous overtones may be taking place in China now. A senior auditor in The Middle Kingdom recently claimed that local government (i.e., provincial and municipal) debt is nearing the point of no return, in its literal and figurative senses. According to a story in today's Financial Times, Zhang Ke, vice-chairman of China's accounting association, said the debt "'is already out of control. A crisis is possible. But since the debt is long-term, the timing of its explosion is uncertain."

A PRC financial calamity would be felt globally. Beijing might be compelled to cash its US Treasury holdings, potentially diluting their value and raising Washington's borrowing costs. China would purchase fewer imported goods, thus slowing down an already sluggish world economy. (That's especially bad news for Euroland.) Its population may become restive, a situation that is far and away the Chinese leadership's worst nightmare. For better or worse, the world, including the USA, is tethered to events in the country Napoleon called the "sleeping giant". The titan's financial collapse would be felt by all. That's why we should care about Mr. Zhang's warning.

Teachers Pack Guns In An Ozark School

Image and related story: salon.com

In what was certainly an unsettling story to read the day after the Boston Marathon bombing, The New York Times reported on the efforts of one Missouri school to permit teachers to carry firearms inside its school building.

The town, located in the Ozarks, is certainly familiar and comfortable with citizens carrying guns. There's plenty of hunting and belief in weapons possession to go around. While some local parents praised the decision to permit armed instructors, others were uncomfortable with the "press release" style in which the school's announcement was made to the public.

It's curious to me why a roomful of children would feel safer knowing their teacher was carrying a loaded gun. I suppose it adds a bit of drama to a student's taking high stakes, life-changing examinations, mixing with one's age peers, and managing whatever passes for home life. Those areas strike me as where money and understanding should go, not to arming elementary school teachers to create a bogus sense of security.

Sophie -- RIP

Some decades ago, I lived more or less in exile for about six months. It was a difficult time. I confided only with one person: Sophie. She was a remarkably patient listener, who had enough worldly wisdom and insight to help me understand and regain my wherewithal. I've always been grateful for what she did and how she did it.

Sophie could prepare and properly cook Eastern European food. I loved her handmade pierogis, especially the mushroom and sauerkraut variety. I never tired of eating them, or the other Eastern European dishes she prepared, because the cooking was without artifice and the results were invariably tasty.

Sophie passed away last week, three years short of one hundred. She lived a full life, with plenty of challenges, happiness, and heartbreak. We should all be so lucky. Thank you, Sophie; may you rest in peace.

Billionaire Scores $12M Award in Counterfeit Wine Case

William Koch
(photo: forbes.com)

The Koch brothers, those wild and crazy guys who brought you the Romney-Ryan Show, have a sibling who dabbles in exclusive wine. The bro -- William Koch -- recently took a fellow zillionaire to court over wine his fellow one percenter sold to him. Koch sued, claiming the defendant knowingly sold him the wrong stuff. According to a story in today's New York Daily News, the jury bought Koch's side of the story and awarded him $12 million in punitive damages, along with the original $380,000 sale price for the 24 bottles of counterfeit red.

Koch celebrated his legal victory at a French restaurant in New York with three bottles of legit, very expensive vintage wine.

Vinyl Recordings Sales Show Best Results Since 1997

A vinyl recording included
in Life Magazine, circa mid-1960s

We have a lot of vinyl recordings. They're original issue from a time when 33s were the best sound game in town. Vinyl fell out of favor with the advent of cassettes, CDs, MP3s, and streaming. Only nostalgia buffs, audio fanatics, and quite a number of working musicians preferred vinyl's analog to data-driven digital sound.

In recent years, vinyl has made a small, but significant comeback. A story in today's Washington Post noted that vinyl music sales reached their highest level since 1997. Intriguingly, one reason for the uptick in popularity is the tangible nature of vinyl. You can hold it, feel it, hear it. Vinyl has a reality that digital just can't match. And that's a very interesting notion in a time when triumphalist technology is accepted as the greatest possible good.

Jean-Paul Belmondo at 80

Jean-Paul Belmondo
(photo: bloomberg.com)

The French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday at a Paris restaurant. In his heydey, Belmondo was the French New Wave made flesh, famously starring in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless. He also worked with the great director Jean-Pierre Melville in three films and with Alain Resnais in the underestimated Stavisky. Belmondo faded from the movies, successfully switched to the stage, and kept a relatively low professional profile after suffering a stroke in 2001.

At his best, Belmondo embodied his roles, giving them youthful vigor and Gallic soul. He often performed as his own stunt man, an almost unthinkable concept among today's highly-insured stars. He also was not a very exportable star, in the sense that nearly all of his films were French productions. Belmondo's cup of coffee in Hollywood was a brief one, and he wisely returned to France.

To mark Belmondo's 80th birthday, take time to watch his signature roles in Godard's Pierrot Le Fou or Melville's Le Doulos. Unfortunately, the Criterion version of both films are out of print.

Abandoned Mustangs Find Home in South Dakota Equine Sanctuary

Dayton Hyde
(photo: Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary)

A headline in today's Chicago Tribune noted the good works of two South Dakotans with hearts for homeless horses. They operate the 11,000-acre Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, where they adopt and care for wild, unwanted mustangs. The sanctuary's guiding spirits, Dayton Hyde and Susan Watt, manage these horse herds. Their story is a reminder that there is a beauty and dignity in ranching, and that a visceral, direct connection to the animal world and nature in general is often something to be greatly desired.

IRS Considers Taxing Perks At Iconic Silicon Valley Firms

Photo: applieddatalabs.com

The Mercury News reported today that the Internal Revenue Service is rumored to be considering a tax on free meals employees offered at major Silicon Valley firms. The story offers a revealing glimpse into the sense of entitlement employees at firms such as Google and Facebook embrace.

One former Google employee was quoted as maintaining the free food was not "compensation," but "a phenomenal convenience..." Apparently, that line of reasoning was sufficient to dodge the taxman. Meanwhile, the Mercury News article cited a story from the late, lamented Gourmet magazine raving about the Google dining room's sensational cuisine, including "'porcini-encrusted grass-fed beef.'" That's not exactly "convenience" food. Some of the Valley's employees and chefs claimed the high-quality dining was essential to a firm's culture, growth prospects, and hiring attractiveness.

The meals were for everyday employees, and not restricted to executive dining rooms. Somehow, the brains that turn out the secret sauce known as "proprietary algorithms" could not possibly function effectively without tax-free meals. The tech firms and their satellite dependencies would have one believe that instituting a government levy on corporate cafeterias would somehow diminish the appeal of working in the global epicenter of technological innovation. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

I admit I typically don't pay tax for my work lunches. Then again, I usually bring my own lunch from home. I manage.

The New Museum's "NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star" Exhibit

Long before 1993, a Yale-trained lighting designer told me her theory about how the arts world chooses its dates for retrospective exhibits and shows. "It's the 20-year rule," she hypothesized. Over adult beverages, we couldn't come to agreement on why the public found this time frame fascinating. Our acquaintance faded over time; for the record, we last spoke to one another well over two decades ago.

A detail of work by Pepon Osorio at NYC 1993
(photo: The New York Times)

I recalled the designer's observation as I read an Associated Press story about the NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star exhibit currently at New York's New Museum. The show uses the device of Manhattan's remaining, working pay phones to relay oral history about Gotham circa 1993. That sly spirit might be the exhibit's best point. Meanwhile, the exhibit organizers are keenly conscious of NYC 1993's publicity value, as its "guest speakers" on the pay phones' recorded comments include TV chef Mario Batali, actor Chaz Palmenteri, and former porn star Robin Byrd. Sorry, none of the late Leona Helmsley's "little people" need apply.

The AP article asserts 1993 was a "pivotal year in the city's art, culture and politics." The story does not support this statement with episodes that would have demonstrated a "before" and "after" effect. I'm hard pressed to think of any event in New York City that had such impact as the AP story glibly accepts.

Well, on second thought, the AP piece does mention then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani's allegedly "get tough" strategy on crime. That policy essentially hassled minorities, drove the homeless either underground or out of the city, increased tolerance for barely-legal police surveillance, and set the stage for the Disneyfication of Times Square. Twenty years later, New York has become much more of a city segregated and stratified by class rather than race. This phenomenon was recorded without irony in the popular Sex and the City series. Even as unlikely a source as Mario Batali notes in his New Museum exhibit comments that it's just about impossible for a restaurant to open in 2013 New York without enormous financial backing. Other businesses face similar, daunting obstacles to operating in the city that never sleeps.

The New Museum show does offer the benefit of driving thought about just what exactly changed in New York City in the past generation. Clearly, the World Trade Center disaster remains seared on the city's consciousness. Like the drug addicts that Giuliani supposedly drove from the streets, Gotham is now more dangerously dependent than it was twenty years ago on riches flowing into Wall Street. The Bernie Madoff scandal showed how deeply the financial corruption degraded a once-proud city's elite. There are two new baseball stadiums with seating far fewer can afford, a new pro basketball playpen in Brooklyn to house a Russian oligarch's new toy, and a revamped tennis stadium essentially maintained for an annual, highly commercialized celebration of aspirational desires and class values. At least the Staten Island Ferry is free. Its view of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty remains one of the world's best deals and a reminder of what might still be possible -- if we could only believe in it.

The Eyebrow Trade

Eyebrows
(image: vivaadonis.com)

Like most men, I don't pay much attention to eyebrows. I take a Popeye the Sailor approach to them: "I am what I am." My wife occasionally persuades me to trim them, and my hair stylist gives my brows a clip. However, I don't agonize over thick vs. thin.

Apparently, according to an article in today's Financial Times, women do fret over the proper eyebrow. The principal issue seems to be whether a thin or thick brow fits the zeitgeist. The anxiety has turned into a very profitable business for the beauty trade's eyebrow experts. Ironically, in an age of discoverable data, these select few browmeisters are typically found via word of mouth. Lucky offered a somewhat dated article on the topic that named names who work the brow biz in high-wealth American cities. However, for all intents and purposes, eyebrow envy appears to be one of the beauty world's more obscure districts, in which brow bars form its soul.

My interest in eyebrows does not require digesting overheated articles and rehashed press releases. Some entertainment remains free: the observation of the human face is among them. The evaluation of thick or thin might even make badly directed, poorly written TV bearable to watch, although there's more than enough tawdry programming to furrow anyone's brow.

Frommer Buys His "Name" Back From Google

Arthur Frommer and his daughter Pauline
(photo: Miami Herald)

Arthur Frommer, whose books, articles, and TV shows provided useful travel information for a couple of generations, recently purchased the rights to his brand from Google. The Associated Press' version of this transaction, picked up by siliconvalley.com, provides the nuts and bolts of the public side of this story. Why the search engine behemoth wanted to part ways with the Frommer "name" is not really clear. The deal's sketchy public details hint that Google retained access rights to some content. Notably, nothing in any story I read discussed data traffic, which is Google's lifeblood. (Ironically, an April 9th story in arstechnica.com spelled out Google's ruthless data mining of Frommer's social media communities to increase the contact universe for "Do No Evil's" Zagat Travel product.)

The story is something of a cautionary tale for the self-made, their brand management, and their acquisition anxiety. Over the decades, Frommer created an enterprise based on earned trust, knowledge of local conditions, and an understanding of middle-brow traveler needs. He actually cared about the average person, he respected their money, and he spoke to them rather than at them. It was something of a surprise when Frommer sold his "brand" some years ago. The publisher Wiley purchased the brand, then sold it to Google. The general sense was that Frommer provided "content" for Google. I have always supposed Google had a much bigger picture in mind, including linking Frommer's content to aggregated hotel and air listings in which Google would be either the middleman or the primary transaction agent. For a data-driven firm such as Google, such an arrangement would be a gold mine.

It's possible Frommer was upset that Google basically treated his hard-earned brand with indifference. In these days when "monetization" is touted as the best possible reason to create an enterprise, Frommer's tale is a reminder that there are other motivations besides profit to operate a business. Pride has a place, especially for independents such as Arthur Frommer. Sometimes, it's more important than the money.

Disney Shutters "Star Wars" Video Game Franchise

George Lucas
(photo: Wikipedia)

Five months ago, Disney made Star Wars owner George Lucas an offer only a lunatic would have refused. Mouse Ears waved over $4 billion in cash and stock to Lucas in exchange for ownership rights to Lucasfilm, Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light and Magic, and Lucas' video game enterprise. Lucas, who has a well-deserved rep as a shrewd, ruthless businessman, signed the agreement.

The sharpies in Burbank appear to have been outsmarted by the sly fox from Marin County. According to a report in today's siliconvalley.com, Disney announced in a statement that the firm was closing the doors on the Star Wars video game franchise. The statement was initially released to the Game Informer blog. There was no mention in it of Darth Vader's impact or of a break in the Force.

Report: California Women Still Reeling From Great Recession

Sheryl Sandberg

With all the fuss about Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg's optimistic new book cherishing women's "empowerment," a report by the California Women's Project shines a different light on gender and economics. The study, as noted in an Oakland Tribune story picked up by siliconvalley.com, notes how women in the Golden State have not shared in the so-called recovery from the Great Recession.

Here's one sobering thought: "the median annual earnings among women in California declined from $32,973 in 2006 to $30,938 in 2011."

Meanwhile, Ms. Sandberg's base compensation at Facebook was $300,000 plus $30 million (more or less) in Facebook stock. She also owns stock options and restricted stock units that may be worth well in excess of $1 billion.