Separated at Birth? - Glenn Campbell and J.K. Simmons

This blog entry (Less Than Successful, 12/28) claims I look just like actor J.K. Simmons (Juno, The Lady Killers). This has never occurred to me before, but now I see a resemblance. You decide.

Life of Brian: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"

Here are the lyrics and the mp3 file from the closing number from Monty Python's Life of Brian: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." It's a catchy little tune suitable for any crucifixion.

Wall Street Journal: What It Cost to Fly Your Baggage

I may have played a role in this article in the Wall Street Journal.

What It Costs An Airline to Fly Your Luggage (11/25/08)

A researcher for The Middle Seat contacted me about my article on baggage handling published on my Kilroy Cafe blog (Zen and the Art of Baggage Handling). He was going to interview me for a WSJ blog but never did. Nonetheless, I think some of my info got into the article.

One interesting factoid:

One rough formula sometimes used in the airline business to approximate fuel costs is that it requires 3% to 5% of the weight of an object in fuel to fly it one hour. That means at current fuel prices, it would cost about $1 to $2 to fly a 40-pound bag on an average three-hour trip.

That may lead to an estimate of how much fuel my own airline uses to fly me across the country (maybe $10-20 per trip).

L.A. Times: A Home for the Homeless

It's a nice humanitarian idea, but it won't work in the real world.

Upgrading from a cardboard box for the homeless (L.A. Times, 12/10)

MY COMMENTS: Here's the essential problem: If you give the homeless a comfortable place to stay, they are going to stay there... and stay and stay. If you give someone a tent to live in, you are implicitly giving him permission to set that tent up somewhere, probably on land owned by someone else. That someone is going to protest and squelch the program.

It is a little like feeding the pigeons in a city park. If you do, then more pigeons will come, and eventually whoever controls the park is going to have to put a stop to it.

Essentially, there is no institutional solution to homelessness. By definition, it exists at the limits of tolerance. If someone is sleeping under a bridge, it may be illegal, but the authorities probably won't intervene. If 100 people are sleeping under a bridge, then authorities have to intervene.

Like with many well meaning acts of charity, if you give people tents, you could be upsetting the local ecology -- the equilibrium that has already been worked out. That's the potential risk with any technological solutions to social problems. -- GC

Washington Post: Ponzi - Name Stands Alone

One Name Stands Alone in The Grand Scheme of It All (Washington Post, 12/20)

Sorry, Mr. Madoff. Despite your prodigious alleged accomplishments -- $50 billion of investors' money, vaporized! -- you're no Charles Ponzi.

The feds, in their complaint, allege that you, Bernard L. Madoff, admitted to colleagues that you've "been conducting a Ponzi-scheme" through your investment advice business. Some Wall Street experts, struggling to convey the scope, say it's perhaps "the biggest Ponzi scheme in history."

Wow! And there have been so many.

But for all your Palm Beach Country Club connections and your sterling Wall Street résumé, you're still just walking in the shadow of the great Charles Ponzi.

Reuters: Most People Will Torture If Told To

Shocking study finds most will torture if ordered (Reuters, 12/19)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some things never change. Scientists said on Friday they had replicated an experiment in which people obediently delivered painful shocks to others if encouraged to do so by authority figures.

Seventy percent of volunteers continued to administer electrical shocks -- or at least they believed they were doing so -- even after an actor claimed they were painful, Jerry Burger of Santa Clara University in California found.

More than 5000 Friends Now Allowed on Facebook

This tech article suggests that none of us will be hitting our Facebook friend limit anytime soon.

Facebook To Lift 5,000 Friends Limit

However, another article suggests that there is a limit to how many new friends you can add in a day: perhaps 20-30. This restriction is apparently enforced to prevent Spam and to keep Facebook a social site rather than a commercial one. (Imagine if Facebook starting being used for porn distribution. The number of "friends" per account would skyrocket.)