The Nature of Teams

Teams are highly overrated. Sports teams like football and basketball are fine. Let me define what a team is: A team is a group of people cooperating to accomplish a main goal or to create a product. Creating a product by one person is optimal if time is not a factor. Poets, song-writers, novelists and any other artist or craftsperson can spend as much time on a product as (s)he wants. Yes, there are pressures from the publicist or record company to get a song done within a dead line but it is not really the same thing. The artist still has complete control of the product. Teams creating a product have shared control of the product. If time is a factor in creating the product then you got to start using teams.

There are several issues with teams. One is communication of ideas. When a team is making a product, people in the team will want to share their ideas. Some ideas are better than others. Some ideas might be misinterpreted or are just unclear. Some people in the group may not have any suggestions. Either because they just don't have any, or they are scared their suggestions will be ridiculed, or maybe they just don't care. The more people in the team the more this phenomena increases. Because of possible communication breakdown, the more people in the team the longer it will take to get the goal accomplished. It's an inverse relation between member count and time taken to meet the goal. You have to get the right number of members for efficiency. That is a tricky calculation. My guesstimate is no more than ten people in a team. Not only do you want the right number of people in a team, but you want to take into account personality and/or egos. Members personalities might clash. For instance, you might have a dramatic person who overwhelms a sensitive or a solitary person. Also, the individual members might defend their ideas on the product too much and reject other ideas that are not his/her too quickly. Then you have too controlling members who want to do everything in the group and leave the other members hardly doing anything. Then you have the team leader. The team leader should be someone who treats members fairly and is able to get the team motivated to complete the product efficiently and timely.

A team functions best when every member of the team is treated fairly and cares about accomplishing the goal. Every member should have a say in how the goal is met. This is up to the team leader to make sure everyone has a chance to state their opinion. The individual ideas should not be ridiculed but the member should be able to defend or explain his idea or suggestion. Personal attacks should definitely not be allowed by the team leader. If every member feels that they are part of the solution or are valued then the group will function more cohesively and effectively. Every member has to be held responsible for their actions and inactions. If everyone is held accountable and allowed to express opinions especially one's viewed as unfavorable to the goal then group think should not
happen. It is up to the team leader to see this does not happen.

Illusions of The Mind

Believe it or not, square A is the same color as square B. I examined the illusion above myself. You can too. Just copy the illusion to your computer, open it in a graphical processing program (MS Paint will work) and put the eyedropper tool over both squares. They should show the same color. This is one of the most striking optical illusions I have seen.

Just recently I have read that a woman experienced the illusion of an alien presence after her brain was stimulated by neural surgeons for epilepsy. She thought there was an unknown person in the operating room with her standing behind her motionless. Researchers say this may help shed some light on certain mental effects such as paranoia.

Then there is the phantom limb syndrome. This is the illusion that a limb still exists after it has been amputated. In the PBS show Secrets of The Mind there was a man who lost his arm, but he felt his hand on that amputated arm still existed. The neurologist Ramachandran had the man grab the cup with his phantom hand. When the neurologist moved the cup away the man reacted in pain and told Ramachandran not to do it again.

In his book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, Oliver Sacks tells about a man who kept falling out of his hospital bed. Come to find out the man did not recognize one of his legs. The man thought the leg belonged to a stranger and would then roll it off his bed. Since the leg of course was his own leg and connected to his body the man too would roll out of bed. I had a similar experience with my arm when I woke up one morning. My left arm was numb because I slept on it. I touched it with my right hand and for a split second (probably because I was a little groggy still) thought my left arm was not my own. It startled me a little bit, then of course I realized that it was my own arm. I think that illusion happened because there was no feedback between my right hand and and my arm. My right hand felt the arm but since my brain could not feel the touch on the arm by my hand it did not make the connection that it was my arm--not somebody else's arm.

Ramachandran believes that and I quote "your own body is a phantom, one that your brain has temporarily constructed purely for convenience." He says there is two experiments that you can do that can prove that conjecture. One is where you can fool yourself into thinking that your nose is three feet long, and the other is an illusion where you think a rubber hand is actually your own real hand. I have not tried either of these experiments myself, but they sound really eerie especially the rubber hand experiment.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 5

• If you believe that people are born being a homosexual, then you can make the claim that people are born being a pedophile too. Both are sexual orientations. Since homosexuals cannot change then using the first belief neither can pedophiles change.
• There is nothing wrong with competition. When you compete against someone who is as good or better than you and you beat them that improves your ability. Paul McCartney competed against John Lennon in writing songs, and The Beatles as a whole competed against The Beach Boys when creating albums.
• I think that the U.S. should vote on the abortion issue. Great Britain had a vote on the issue and they seemed to be less divided about it.
• I think that the term "little people" for midgets is a little fuzzy. After all could not young children be called "little people?" I think a better term would be "little adults."
• You have the right to speak your opinion. I have the right not to listen to it, or to say it is b.s. politely if I think it is.
• Those (Hitler; Carl Marx) who employ the strategy of divide-and-conquer between two groups (Jews and the rest of German population; the rich and the poor) are the only ones who win. The groups being pitted against each other never gain anything. Only when the groups are united can the strategy fail.
• A person can never be too cautious around wild animals that can harm you. There is a reason why they are called "wild" and it is because they are unpredictable. They are completely ruled by instinct and you never know what can startle them.
• Overconfidence can lead to unnecessary accidents. You may think you are an excellent driver for example, but drivers around you may not be good drivers. Be alert, be aware of your surroundings, and think quick if something happens.
• The more an object can be sensed the more it is perceived to be real.
• The brain only has a certain amount energy to disperse to the various body parts we consciously control. If we are multitasking any tasks that does not get our attention gets less energy. For example, if you are walking and talking at the same time and you are focused on talking, you will start to slow your walking down.

Naming Planets

So, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) renamed the planet Xena to Eris. Eris is the Greek goddess of chaos and strife. Interesting and fitting name. Eris caused Pluto to be demoted to a dwarf (or should I say "little people") planet. What's with the IAU still using names out of Greek mythology anyway? Why can't they use modern names like say Andy (just joking). After all meteorologists use modern names when naming hurricanes. What the IAU could do is name planets after famous astronomers like Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei. Heck, even name planets after the people who discover them. Even astronomers have egos. You think if Donald Trump discovered a planet he would not name it after him or like too? You know the planet Donald or the planet Trump (that would more likely). If the IAU does not like my idea of naming planets after famous astronomers and wants to keep naming planets after religious figures how about naming planets after Christian saints like the Saint Dominic, The Patron Saint of Astronomers and Telescope Watchers for example.

al Qaeda Recruiting the Salafist Group

So, al Qaeda is recruiting the Salafist Group. For those who do not know, the Salafist Group is an Islamic extremist group that wants to create an Islamic state in Algeria. Algeria right now is secular. Now, al Qaeda wants the Salafist Group to not only help them attack France but the rest of Europe. I have two responses: 1) I did not know France is in Iraq. 2) How long will it take for France to surrender to Islamo-facists and become an Islamic state itself? Jacques Chirac surrendered to a bunch of protesting young adults. And the protesters rejected Chirac's compromise. The rest of the Europe better wake up too to the Islamic extremist threat. It is Nazism all over again.

The writer of the article misses the point when he says:

France did not back U.S. war on terror in Iraq or send troops, so, in theory, it should not be among the enemies of al Qaeda. However, they have other sins to pay for, according to al Qaeda, including two very serious sins: Sending troops to Lebanon as a part of the U.N. deployment and a ban of the traditional Muslim headscarf in secular state schools.

The writer's premise is wrong so his whole theory is incorrect. al Qaeda and groups like them don't like France not because of what it does or does not do but because France is not an Islamic state (that is the true sin to al Qaeda) and thus are infidels. Period. True, al Qaeda did not like France sending troops to Lebanon (although France reduced the number of troops sent) and al Qaeda really did not like France banning the traditional Muslim headscarf in schools, but I think Muslim extremists did not like France even before it took those two actions. al Qaeda and groups similar to them wants the world to follow Sharia law and only that law.

Anti-discrimination Laws

The anti-discrimination laws for employers are missing some physical and non-physical attributes. What about weight? Aren't overweight people discriminated against? Or maybe some people call that a handicap. I guess it depends on your own definition of what overweight is. But still... How about height and looks? Studies suggests that tall and good-looking people earn more money. Is not that height-ism and look-ism? What about politics? You cannot tell me that Republicans and Conservatives are not discriminated against in Hollywood. If they want a job they have to stay in the closet. Here is another case of discrimination that you may not have thought of: Intelligence discrimination. A man applied for a police officer position in Connecticut and was rejected because a police exam said he was too intelligent! The reason given by the police station was they thought that highly intelligent candidates would get bored and quit. Couldn't the police station put him in the Cold Cases Unit if they have one?

You might think by the above paragraph I am for anti-discrimination laws. I am not. Just like people have the right to assemble with whoever they want, employers should be able to hire or fire whoever they want without repercussion. The point of the first paragraph is that many people have various reasons for discriminating against someone else--they are probably too numerous to list. One of which is prejudice another maybe just a person reason. Basically, discrimination comes down to choice, like Dr. Walter E. Williams says. Free will, if you want. Some people like dogs over cats. Punishing someone for selecting or not selecting someone for a job is just as bad as punishing him or her for not driving a particular car. It does not make sense and it comes close to violating the persons or organizations civil rights. Everyone has prejudices. It's human nature. If you don't believe that what would you do if an alien space ship landed in your backyard? Would you A) Attack it, B) Run away scared, or C) Approach it with curiosity. All responses are not wrong, but A & B fits more with the instinctive response of animals. Fear of the unknown is a strong emotion.

Global Warming

It appears that global warming is not a myth. The current average temperature of the earth is 65.75 ^oF . Not too bad a temperature. I'll take it. Nice golf and walking weather. Of course, icebergs don't like that temperature. I could not really tell you what that means for the earth in the far future. F5 tornadoes? More destructive hurricanes? Who knows. Global warming forecasts are based on computer models using the factors like temperature and air pressure among others. Talking about factors I read on Fox News web site that scientists are having a hard time defining what a cloud is. Cloud modeling is very important to weather forecasting. They reflect heat from the sun back out into the atmosphere among other things. If you redefine clouds you basically have to change your weather models. Weather is extremely complex. In the beginning of the week my local meteorologist was saying the weekend skies were going to be clear and sunny. By Wednesday now he is saying it is going to rain this weekend. If a forecaster cannot predict weather a week ahead of time then how can they predict it in the far future? I am not going to be worried unless the temperature in let's say December is 80 ^oF for several years in a row or until my local meteorologist gets worried.

The controversy now is what is causing global warming. Is it mankind (and womankind) or is it something else? I don't know but I believe it could be caused by that hot big object in the sky called the sun. You turn that thing off global warming goes away. Then again people breathe out CO₂ and it is CO₂ that contributes to global warming. I calculated that a person exhales 141,912,000 cubic inches of CO₂ a year. Currently, there is 6.5 billion of people on the earth. The reader can do the math. I have a solution. Have everyone hold their breath for approximately 1.5 minutes every day. Also, everyone should take anti-gas tablets because flatulence contributes to global warming too. Also, people need to pollute more. Pollution evidently slows down global warming.

CO₂ build up and global warming is not all bad. CO₂ helps some trees during an ice storm. Global warming could be good for the wine companies in Britain and Germany. Also, global warming helps alpine tourism. Go figure.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 4

• Direct democracy is the principle that rules the brain. There is no central neuron that controls the other neurons.
• Optimists think realists are pessimistic. Pessimists think realists are optimistic. Realists just can't win.
• I think paintings should valued not only by esthetic value but also by talent. Anyone can put a cross in a glass of urine and call it art. But can anyone paint the Mona Lisa or any painting by Michaelangelo? I don't think so. It takes artistic talent to do real art.
• Owning private property is not only a God given right but a natural instinct for the human race. A primitive people called the Kalahari Bushmen owned private property.
• I think the National Endowment for the Arts should be abolished. Gov't bureaucrats should not be defining what is good or bad art.
• Once a business is defined as a monopoly by the gov't it is that forever. Trains are defined as a monopoly to this day.
• Liberalism is all about power. Who has it and how can we Liberals get more.
• If you don't vote in elections then your criticisms of gov't is less meaningful.
• Atheism is a religion. Not believing in anything is the same as believing in something.
• Machines should not be completely autonomous. That is people should be able to take control of machines if they need to.

The Fifth Anniversary of 9/11

Today being the fifth anniversary of 9/11 I would like to share some 9/11 web sites with the reader to remember all those who have died and survived the tragedy.

• Inside 9/11. This is National Geographic's TV broadcast on the 9/11 events. They have a time line of the events and an Flash interactive section.
• 911 Digital Archive. This web site has stories, video, and audio from people telling their impressions and experiences from 9/11. It even has a 9/11 FAQ. When I watched the Twin Towers attack on TV 5 years ago I thought it was so unreal. Very hard to process.
• United Heroes. This web site contains thank you letters to the brave heroes of Flight 93.
• The Flight That Fought Back. This reconstruction from the Discovery Channel has a time line and airline safety changes post 9/11. I watched this reconstruction of the events on TV and it was very moving. The United 93 movie that played on Thursday on the A&E channel was moving too.
• Inside the Twin Towers. This show has interviews with people who survived the Twin Towers attack. One guy saw the plane coming toward the tower he was in and ducked under his desk. Incredibly and happily he survived! Even he was surprised he lived. The web site has an interactive time line, Twin Towers facts and biographies of the people who escaped the attack.
• Attack on The Pentagon. This show has interviews with people who survived the Pentagon attack. One guy who worked in the Pentagon said his little boy was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. His son was on a field trip to Washington with the rest of his class.

Iran's President

It seems Iran's president wants secular professors out their universities. I wonder what the secular-progessives in the rest of the world think of that. But in a theocracy this is business-as-usual. The Soviet Union (yes, you can define Communism as a religion in a anthropological sense) of the past did this and China is doing this right now. Theocratic governments do not allow any other religion to function. Other religions have to function underground. It's interesting that Ahmadinejad does not want Christians or Jews out their universities--maybe their next or maybe their isn't any Christians or Jews their now. Who knows.

Then Iran's leader is a holocaust denier and wants Israel removed. And the press thinks what Mel Gibson said during a drunken tirade was bad! At least he does not want to destroy Israel. This is not much of a surprise. During World War II the Islamic extremists had sympathy with Nazis. They both had something in common: They both hated the Jewish people. This is why Islamofacist is synonymous with Nazism.

I read the interview between Mike Wallace and Ahmadinejad on 60 minutes. I have to say the interview was lame. Maybe it was because Mike Wallace was in Iran during the interview and was nervous about asking tough questions. Or maybe Mike Wallace was just intimidated by Iran's president. I don't know. It probably would have been better if the interview was done in a neutral or at least less hostile setting. I doubt Iran's president would have done it in a different setting. Asking him what he thinks of President Bush is a pretty stupid question. I don't care what he thinks of President Bush. Why not ask Iran's president what he thinks of people who are not Muslim? And asking him what he does for leisure is a pretty softball question. Again who cares other than maybe the citizens of Iran and people who like Ahmadinejad. I guess you have to have softball questions once in a while. One question that was not asked was: "Were you a member of the group that held the American embassy hostage in the 1970's?" I wonder what questions Bill O'Reilly would have asked Ahmadinejad.

Campaign Finance Reform

Here are my ideas on campaign finance reform:
1) Abolish the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Bill. This bill has some serious constitutional issues and just redistributes the campaign money around. It did not really get the money out of the campaigns.
2) Fine (say $10,000) any politician who deliberately lies about himself in a campaign advertisement. If he lies about an opponent, the opponent should be able to sue him. Viewers put up with campaign advertisements like they put with commercial advertisements. But if a politician deliberately misrepresents himself or his opponents that is really what gets people mad, because the voters are not getting helpful information they can use. Good thing there is web sites like Fact Check.org to help give voters information.
3) Have full disclosure on who is giving money to the politicians during their campaign. This will help determining where the politician stands on different issues.
4) Limit the amount of campaign contributions to $5. That way everyone has equal monetary influence with everyone else and also tell the voters how much support a politician has.

A Healthy Religion

Here is my ideas on what a healthy religion (HR) or church should be:
1) A HR does not con, threaten, bribe, coerce or make false promises to people to join the religion. It can persuade people to join though.
2) A HR does not tell its members they will go to heaven if they kill themselves and people around them.
3) A HR does not try to kill members who stray from the religion. It should try to understand why they strayed, pray for their well-being, and optionally persuade them to come back.
4) A HR should not tell the members and outsiders that God hates a certain group of people. He may disapprove peoples behaviors, but he does not hate the person. God is a god of love and peace.
5) A HR should not isolate a member from his/her family that is not part of the religion or from the rest of the world for that matter. A HR respects and cherishes family.
6) A HR should not encourage blind obedience to the leader of the religion. No leader is perfect, and no leader knows the mind of God completely. A church leader should be more of a coach, a guide, or a mentor than a dictator.
7) A HR religion should not punish members who questions the religion. A religion may not like questions about the religion, but it should try to help the individual answer the questions. A HR religion should be stable and cohesive enough to take questions and criticisms about it.

Survivorman

The talk on the news about Katrina's anniversary reminds of a TV program I saw on the Science Channel called "Survivorman: Surviving Urban Disasters" with Les Stroud. I really like this guy's problem solving and self-control. He really makes a lot of sense and you can learn from him too. If you never saw the show Survivorman he is in different natural settings. For example, one time he is in the Canadian Rockies surviving by himself, and another time he is in a Costa Rica jungle surviving. The show even had him on a inflatable life raft in the Caribbean Sea. Basically, he has to survive a whole week by himself in a natural setting. All he has is 50 pounds of camera equipment and other equipment he can choose to bring along. Of course, since this is a TV show the producers won't let him die and he can contact them, but the challenge is to survive by himself. He really epitomizes self-control and problem solving.

In the "Urban Disaster" episode he shows the viewers how to survive a flood in a house, car, and office building during a hurricane. In a house for instance, you can sterilize fish with lemon juice. He said it has to be lemon juice because of its high acid content (orange juice will not work) and lemon juice will only work on fish--not meat or chicken. Also, he showed how you can distill water that has been contaminated. In a car he said you put coins or something hard in a sock to break the window of a car to get out. Then you use one of the car's floor mats to drape over the window slot so you don't cut yourself when crawl through the window. Now, that is clever but easy to do. If you are in an office building and the electricity goes off you can role tissue paper up real thin and soak it in alcohol and make a torch out of it. Again, clever and not very hard to do. One other thing I learn is that three of anything is a distress call. What I mentioned is some of his advice. His general advice is not too panic and think what can you use to help yourself survive.

It really goes to show what self-control, knowledge and problem solving skills can do.

Education Reform

Here are my ideas on education reform:

1) Abolish the Dept. of Education. This department was created by Jimmy Carter to appease the Teachers Union. Control should go back to the states and local government.

2) School vouchers for schools and home schooling. Let lower income families have a choice to where to send their kids for school. After all Bill Clinton and Jessie Jackson sent their kids to private schools, why not everyone else? The Teachers Union will lobby against this saying it will hurt public schools. I say the issue is not about what schools will survive or not, the issue is about if kids are learning the necessary knowledge for life or not. That is what the focus should be on.

3) Eliminate the three month vacation. Summer Vacation and holidays can still be left intact. The three month vacation was started when America was in the agricultural age and farmers needed the kids to help them on the farm. Since most farmers use machinery now for most labor the three month vacation is not needed anymore. Also, other civilized nations don't have three month vacations. I know this idea sounds radical to students and teachers. But a business does not give all it's employees three months off. If it did it would not survive in the market place very long. Even a month off for all it's employees would hurt the business. Only Congress can get away with taking a month off. The country can do fine without them that long. Here is one other thing to consider: Eliminating the three month vacation adjusts students if and when they work in the private sector. They would be already accustomed to not having three months off. The Teachers Union would find a reason to lobby against this idea too.

4) I think sixth graders should be taught the basics of supply and demand. Nothing too complex just the basic principles. The US is a capitalistic economy. Students should understand what makes the country run. Just like students are taught about the Constitution they should be taught basics of capitalism. Of course, socialistic teachers are going to object to this idea. Actually, it would not even hurt if adults learned something about economics.