USC sports statistic

No, not how many championships they have won, but how much they pay for their championships.

How much the school values football is reflected in Carroll's $4.4 million compensation package, the richest of any private university employee in the United States, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Surprising statistic

...on American political opinions. I would have guessed Americans favor liberalism over conservatism.

White House advisers add that Obama will be pushed only so far to the left, and with good reason. Only 19 percent of Americans, after all, identify themselves as liberal, compared with 36 percent who say they are moderate and 41 percent who say they are conservative, according to the latest poll by Democracy Corps, a Democratic think tank.

Miss California Not PC

Wow, she got lambasted!

...asked about her views on same-sex marriage during the nationally televised Miss USA pageant. Although she said she believed people were entitled to do as they liked, she said marriage should only be recognized as an institution between a man and a woman.

Prejean lost the pageant (she was runner-up to Miss North Carolina, Kristen Dalton). But her statement quickly became fodder for the ongoing culture war over same-sex marriage. Gay-rights activists criticized her, while her backers said she was being unfairly attacked.

She gave the WRONG ANSWER! That is not acceptable, even though most people agree with it. One can say that in private, but not in public!

"You have to understand we never want to take away a girl's beliefs or her voice," Lewis said. "But when you wear the title that says 'I represent everyone,' you can't then polarize the people you represent."

Who are the "people she represents" anyway? Apparently only people who favor same-sex marriage, the only ones deserving an opinion. If she had answered that she favored same-sex marriage, apparently that would not have been polarizing, but would have been considered appropriate for the people she represents.

What a mess our society is in...

One of My Heroes

John Wooden is a great coach and a great man, and is never shy about sharing his honest opinion. Yet he has so much integrity and ability, that people do not mind his strong opinions.

WOODEN REMAINS full of life and surprises. He pulls a silver cross from his pocket, the metal rubbed worn, although the alpha and omega symbols remain visible.

"I don't know how many people know this, but I had this in my hand the whole time I was coaching," he says, putting his palm out to show how he wedged the cross between his index and middle fingers. "My minister gave me this when I went into the service in 1942 -- the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end."

Scary Stats

The numbers get even more mind-boggling...

Already, in the first six months of this fiscal year, the federal deficit is running at $956.8 billion, or nearly one seventh of gross domestic product — levels not seen since World War II, according to Wrightson ICAP, a research firm.

Debt held by the public is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to rise from 41 percent of gross domestic product in 2008 to 51 percent in 2009 and to a peak of around 54 percent in 2011 before declining again in the following years. For all of 2009, the administration probably needs to borrow about $2 trillion.

LA is BLUE

DODGER BLUE, that is. What a hot start for the heroes of Chavez Ravine!

The Dodgers have been in business since 1890, and they have never won their first 10 home games - until now.

Capitalizing on Crisis

is what the Obama Administration is about, according to the Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. I heard his quote on BBC Radio today:

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. You want to use it to get things done that you normally would not be able to do."

What that means for us is that the "Economic Stimulus" package is not particularly aimed at stimulating the economy, but is a cover for expanding government to include everything on the Democratic Party Wishlist.

The "Era of Big Government" never really went away. George Bush expanded government more like a liberal than a conservative, but his moves now look like baby steps in light of the staggering new expansion that is taking place.

Mentors Prompt Insight & Action

...through asking questions, not simply giving advice.

Last week I taught a Mentoring Seminar and had two senior mentors share with the class their secrets of mentoring. Both of them said much the same thing that Seth Godin shares in his blog:

You're nuts if you believe me

I'm the first person to admit that compared to you, I have no idea what I'm talking about. You're there, doing what you do, and doing it with skill.

Let me be really clear: My job is not to tell you what to do. I don't know what to do. You do.

Not just me, of course. Everybody with a blog or a book or an interest in your success. Don't do what they say. Listen to their questions instead.

My job is provoke you into asking hard questions. Ask those questions to your boss and your co-workers and yourself. It's easy to show that self-aware decisions and thoughtful strategies outperform blind stumbling.

I don't have a lot of patience for this list of seven rules or that manual of how it's supposed to be or the step-by-step road map you can purchase today only. I think you'll do a lot better if you get optimistic about the future and cynical about pat answers at the same time instead.

Fire the Know-It-Alls

They hinder the organization by undermining decisions. Follow Seth Godin's advice:

He's the first one to point out a minor technical glitch and the last guy to want to get on board with a new program. He hazes first-timers and avoids the people who are actually productive. Or he's the one who can take any metaphor and make it literal, instantly, poking holes in it as he goes.

And of course, he's the one everyone has to tiptoe around, because they know his technical status can sink their initiative.

I think you should fire this person immediately. Okay, maybe give him exactly one warning.

You'll find someone else who really knows this stuff. No doubt about it. And firing one intransigent bully is a lot less painful than shutting down an entire division next year because he paralyzed your decision-making.

Deep technical competency is overrated compared with the ability to make excellent decisions and to create a culture where forward motion is valued and personal initiative is rewarded.

Strangers in the City

In a finding that seems counter-intuitive, a recent urban study has found that people interact less when they live in more densely populated areas. Huh?

This may seem to go against common sense, yet most of us see it in action every day. There is very little interaction in a crowd. In fact, the very magnitude of human beings around us teaches us to keep to ourselves and not interact, for our own emotional protection as well as physical protection.

I love the buzz of the city, but I think that cities create impersonal environments, and all us city-dwellers have to work harder at finding community than do those who live in suburban settings.

The paper’s maintained hypothesis, that social interaction is stronger in denser areas, arose from the conjecture that high densities facilitate interaction by putting people in close proximity. The results, however, show the opposite effect, and a key question is why.

Looking for Yes

I love this observation by Seth Godin on the difference between looking for no and looking for yes.

It really seems like a spiritual question for me. At the core, isn't God's approach to life "Yes"?

Of course there are boundaries and consequences, but God is in the business of turning things around, redeeming the world, and making things possible! He is not the God of "All things are impossible."

In fact, the Bible even calls Jesus "God’s ultimate 'Yes'" in 2 Co 1:19. He was constantly in conflict with those whose basic approach to life was "No!"

So if you are a follower of Jesus, ask God to help you find the yes in your life and in your interactions with people. Let's look for yes instead of settling for no.

If you're out to provide a service, or organized to deliver a product, then look for a yes. At every interaction.

A Lot of Money

Can anybody get their brains around the kind of numbers in President Obama's budget?

an astonishing $1.75 trillion federal deficit that would be nearly four times the highest in history. [and about 12% of GDP, highest since 1945]

the plan would close the deficit to a a more reasonable — but still eye-popping — $533 billion after five years. That would still be higher than last year's record $455 billion deficit. [3/4 of the reduction will come from reduced spending in Afghanistan and Iraq]

And the national debt would more than double by the end of the upcoming decade, raising worries that so much federal borrowing could drive up interest rates and erode the value of the dollar.

Also, to narrow the budget gap, Obama relies on rosier predictions of economic growth — including a 3.2 percent boost in the economy next year — than most private sector economists foresee.

Large Swings in a Small Economy

Singapore's economy is subject to much more volatility than a big economy like the US, where 1% change is huge...

2007 +7.8%
2008 +1.1%
2009 -4.8% (projected)

official data showed the economy grew 1.1 per cent for the whole of last year, significantly lower than the 7.8 per cent recorded in 2007.

OCBC Bank, for one, now believes the Singapore economy will contract 4.8 per cent this year, instead of its previous prediction of a 2.8 per cent decline.

Which Diet to Choose?

The low-calorie one you can stick with...

Two decades after the debate began on which diet is best for weight loss, a conclusion is starting to come into focus. And the winner is . . . not low-carb, not low-fat, not high protein but . . . any diet.

That is, any diet that is low in calories and saturated fats and high in whole grains, fruits and vegetables -- and that an individual can stick with for a lifetime -- is a reasonable choice for people who need to lose weight. That's the conclusion of a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, representing the longest, largest and most rigorous test of several popular diet strategies.

In light of another highly regarded study published last year that reached a similar conclusion, medical experts are embracing the back-to-basics idea that the simple act of cutting calories is most important when it comes to losing weight. The conclusions could finally end the often-contentious debate over the comparative effectiveness of diets that are predominantly low in fat, high in protein, low in carbohydrates or marked by other specific configurations of nutrients.

"This study is saying it doesn't make any difference what diet you choose. Calories have always been the bottom line,"

Magic Water

This story sounds too good to be true. But I think we will see more and more of these kind of inventions displacing traditional chemicals and probably all kinds of products that we now manufacture. The age of molecular engineering is dawning...

It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's foot. Oh, and you can drink it.

Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. It has been approved by U.S. regulators. And it's starting to replace the toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job.

The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current. Researchers have dubbed it electrolyzed water -- hardly as catchy as Mr. Clean. But at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica, some hotel workers are calling it el liquido milagroso -- the miracle liquid.

That's as good a name as any for a substance that scientists say is powerful enough to kill anthrax spores without harming people or the environment.

Classic critique

Here is a hilarious article by the LA Times sarcastic sports columnist TJ Simers. Poking fun at himself through evaluating the Times' coverage of the Academy Awards show.

I don't get it. Why do writers always have to be so negative? Why are they so intent on just tearing things down?

Has Mary McNamara ever worn a top hat, sang and danced in front of millions? Who made her an expert on such things?

Here's Hugh giving it his all, while we have another Times columnist, Patrick Goldstein -- and catch the smirk on this guy's mug in the paper -- beginning his know-it-all column this way: "I guess reinventing the Oscars is harder than it looks."

What kind of cheap shot is that? Let's see him do better.

A slow-growth recession

This is the kind of statement that makes normal people scratch their heads and figure nobody can understand an economist:

In 2008, the economy grew 1.3 percent despite being in recession the full year, according to government data.

I have a degree in economics, and I don't understand what they mean. Didn't a recession used to be defined by contraction instead of expansion?

On the other hand, they expect things to get better pretty soon, which is a lot different than the previous doom and gloom scenarios I have read:

The central bank said it saw the economy recovering in 2010 better than previously expected, at growth between 2.5 percent and 3.3 percent, up from a 2.3-3.2 percent forecast in October.

Growth in 2011 would accelerate to between 3.8 percent and 5.0 percent, significantly higher than 2.8-3.6 percent increase seen in the last forecast.

What the world needs now...

Seth Godin says that people are looking for authenticity. He defines it as doing what you say you will do, not in terms of "being yourself."

I think of that as integrity. But I still think he is absolutely right.

In the end, what you act like is who you really are. All our actions add up to our identity.

You could spend your time wondering if what you say you are is really you. Or you could just act like that all the time. That's good enough, thanks. Save the angst for later.

How Do You Spell Bi-Partisanship?

Apparently, the Obama Administration has not found out yet. Up until now, their efforts seem targeted at getting Republicans to vote for Democratic plans.

Will that failure to woo Republicans to their side lead them to start compromising with the opposition, so that agendas are pushed that satisfy the interest of both parties? Or will they give up and say that they tried being bi-partisan, but the Republicans were not interested?

Not one Republican voted for Mr. Obama’s plan in the House and just three voted for it in the Senate as it headed to final passage on Friday night. The party-line schism, coupled with the withdrawal on Thursday of a Republican senator, Judd Gregg, as a nominee to Mr. Obama’s cabinet, made clear the futility so far of the president’s effort to move Washington toward post-partisanship.

Their unrequited overtures to Republicans over the past several weeks taught Mr. Obama and his aides some hard lessons.

Unfortunately, the reality is...

that as valuable as the symbolism of an economic stimulus package is, someday it will have to be paid for. And we might not actually get much for the money that is spent.

This from a couple of the world's leading economists:

Our own view is that the short-term stimulus from the legislation before Congress will be smaller per dollar spent than is expected by many others because the package tries to combine short-term stimulus with long-term benefits to the economy. Unfortunately, short-term and long-term gains are in considerable conflict with each other. Moreover, it is very hard to spend wisely large sums in short periods of time. Nor can one ever forget that spending is not free, and ultimately it has to be financed by higher taxes.