And days go by

A long post, comprised of short takes on a hodgepodge of topics, composed over the last week. Yes, a post with some sustained discussion is in the works.

1. Good news

My best friend – essentially a brother – has returned safely from Iraq after serving 12 consecutive months. He was stationed at Baghdad Airport most of his time there. His wonderful fiancée, Runs with Carrots, passed on the news to me Monday (they give you next to no specifics on troop movements). Dan isn’t your typical soldier, holding a B.A. in art and having an offer to publish his work before he left for the service. Although I haven’t heard from him yet, I’m sure he’s in good hands now that he’s home.

Welcome back, brother.

2. The Hearth and the Salamander

I refer here to Part I of Ray Bradbury’s classic novella Fahrenheit 451. I do not remember enjoying Bradbury’s style this much, but he makes my list of Master American Prose Stylists.

More on Bradbury’s style and subject matter later, after I finish the book.

3. College education irrelevant?

This article, which comes from the Los Angeles Times, contains the most amazing quote on education I’ve heard in a year:

The advantages of a college degree “are being erased,” said Marcus Courtenay, president of a branch of the Communications Workers of America that represents technology employees in the Seattle area. “The same thing that happened to non-college-educated employees during the last recession is now happening to college-educated employees.”

Well, that’s wonderful PR for university business and technology departments across the country, as well as for all those cheerleaders who want American education to focus more stringently on science and technology. It looks like Humanities majors are not the only ones facing an uphill battle to make their degree “relevant” anymore. Outsourcing and task automation are essentially eating jobs from the bottom up (manufacturing, administrative, processing) and from the top of the middle down (programmers, accountants, etc.).

Although this article is targeted at the technology and financial services industries, this should set off alarms for us younger American workers. We face a whole career of this type of uncertainty, caused by corporate gluttony and economic Darwinism, at the expense of our professional livelihoods. Do not doubt this type of mentality will spread into other sectors. It has already crept into journalism, as I noted several weeks ago in an e-mail (prior to this blog’s existence) to my many friends (and wife) working in journalism. Paxton Media Group bought the family-owned Durham Herald-Sun and then proceeded to gut the staff.

Even as a free-market economist, who understands the rationale of how businesses work, I have to ask: Progress, perhaps, but at what cost and for who?

4. Sharpen the blades…

Bernard Ebbers, former CEO of WorldCom, was found guilty in court Tuesday on all nine counts of $11 billion fraud and conspiracy, which led to WorldCom’s collapse. He claimed ignorance to the whole debacle in earlier testimony. Ken Lay, former Enron CEO, appeared on 60 Minutes Sunday essentially claiming the same thing in a bumbling interview notable for his unbelievably shifty eyes. I wouldn’t trust the troll as far as I could throw him.

In light of number three, CEOs shouldn’t think for one minute any jury in this nation will absolve them of their ultimate responsibility. In fact, most Americans agree with Ebbers’ sentence. I do not believe in class warfare, but I do believe in personal responsibility and accountability.

Now, where did we leave those guillotines after we finished with the politicians…?

5. Kasparov bows out

The iconic Garry Kasparov, undisputed No. 1 ranked chess player in the world for the past 21 years, retired as a professional to pursue interests in politics. For 30 years, Kasparov did to opponents in chess what a team of Michael Jordans (in his early 90's form) would have done to the local YMCA 12-and-under basketball all-stars. Many opponents never made it past move 20 with him; some didn't last 10. No credible commentator disputes his reputation as the greatest and perhaps most creative chess player in history. Many will remember his superhuman efforts in beating several IBM supercomputers, as well as his loss (by half a point) to the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1998. I think I remember reading somewhere that Deep Blue, in determining the best response to an opponent's move, could calculate millions of scenarios in roughly a second. Kasparov eventually lost the world championship to Vladimir Kramnik several years ago, but remained No. 1 in world rankings and still has the highest ELO (a chess player's quantitative ranking) in history. The news of his retirement is disappointing. A world class champion all the way around.

6. Memphis blues

I'm glad I’m not that kid for Memphis who had to make two of three free-throws in front of a home crowd with 0.00 seconds remaining to upset No. 6 Louisville for the C-USA championship and to secure a bid for my team in the NCAA Tournament. He missed two of three, and Memphis did not make the big dance. Madness. March Madness.

7. Where there’s a Will, there’s a logical argumentLast week, Smitty posted on a Myrtle Beach Sun News editorial on Sen. Lindsey Graham’s criticism of the GOP’s mishandling of the political moment to fix Social Security. I agree; the editorial is worth reading.Sunday, George Will wrote a column on the same topic. I would also recommend it. Here’s Will on Raising Social Security limit.

8. Education colleges failing test

Does this study, Educating School Leaders, actually surprise anyone?

The accompanying news story summarizes the report’s author, Arthur Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University, by saying “Most graduate education programs that train school administrators are deeply flawed, suffering from irrelevant curriculum, low standards, weak faculty and little clinical instruction.”

Only a college of education would take four years to come to this conclusion. Someone should make them read Fahrenheit 451.9. Clifford the Big Red… Pothead?It occurred to me Saturday morning at 6:45, while I was cooking Abigail breakfast, that the theme song for PBS’s Clifford the Big Red Dog could be the melody to an old Sublime song -- minus the references to controlled substances, of course.10. Job post of the week…

From a job ad for news editor at the Virgin Island Daily News, winner of a Pulitzer and about half a dozen more prestigious journalism awards:

The beaches, the islands and the weather here are beautiful, but if you’re looking for a job in a laid-back, low-key Jimmy Buffett fantasy, this is not for you.

Apply here.