Three Sigma Systems

Short Takes

• That Uneasy Feeling
  July 14, 2010 | 6:13 pm

  Recently, my son, a young journalist, wrote an interesting story for the Santa Cruz Sentinel: “Despite significant health challenges, 15-year-old Santa Cruzan Tess Dunn finds herself rocking out ...”

  The Online Etymology Dictionary explains the origins of the concept of “disease” a follows:

  disease

  early 14c., “discomfort,” from O.Fr. desaise, from des- “without, away” (see dis-) + aise “ease” (see ease). Sense of “sickness, illness” first recorded late 14c.; the word still sometimes was used in its lit. sense early 17c. Related: Diseased.

  Early 14c., “discomfort,” from O.Fr. desaise, from des- “without, away” (see dis-) + aise “ease” (see ease). Sense of “sickness, illness” first recorded late 14c.; the word still sometimes was used in its lit. sense early 17c. Related: Diseased.

  To be sure, many of our DIS-EASES have physical etiologies, longevity being one of the more common causes of our DIS-EASE in our modern era. But I cannot help but wonder how many of my DIS-EASES only occurred when some doctor or advertising company or friend, took it upon themselves to inform me of some disease that, up until that point, had casued me no DIS-EASE.
  So which is it? Is our DIS-EASE “out there” or “in here”?
  Maybe we can learn something from Tess Dunn who seems to have found an answer to her DIS-EASE that works for her.
  • Share/Save
• Paul Krugman is Lost in the Funhouse
  June 25, 2010 | 5:00 pm

  In his NYT column today, “The Renminbi Runaround“, economist Krugman complains that the Chinese are playing unfair currency games.

  “China’s exchange-rate policy is neither complicated nor unprecedented, except for its sheer scale. It’s a classic example of a government keeping the foreign-currency value of its money artificially low by selling its own currency and buying foreign currency.”

  I like Krugman as much as I can like anyone who subscribes to the nonsense called economic theory. But the fact is that Paul is lost the funhouse. China has learned from us that the way to win the game is to manipulate the vig. In a reality that places profit as the highest calling, why waste energy creating something of value when you can churn money and con the other guy into making you rich? A sense of fair markets has nothing to do with making a profit. Just ask any whiz kid working on Wall Street.

  • Share/Save
• A Killing Spree: Avenging 911
  June 24, 2010 | 6:16 pm

  We have been doing quite a bit of killing lately. So who must we kill to avenge 911 and make the world safe?

  • The suicidal jihadis on the jets that flew into the Twin Towers? (Already dead)
  • Bin Laden and his enraged fanatical followers who planned the attack?
  • The Taliban Islamic fundamentalists who allowed Bin Laden to set up camp in Afghanistan?
  • The true fundamentalist believers in Islam who fueled the ideas that Jihadis hold sacred?
  • The billions of believers in Islam who believe the Jihadis are justified in their actions?
  • Fundamentalist believers of any religion who seek revenge against non-believers?
  • All humans who act out their rage for wrongs they believe have been committed against them?
  • Any humans who might act out their rage for wrongs they believe have been committed against them?
  • Any humans who stand in the way of what we regard as our interests even when our interests are antithetical to their interests?
  • Every human who is not us?
  • Every human who is not you?
  • Every human who is not me?

  Follow the logic and the winner is the last man standing.

  • Share/Save
• McChrystal vs. Obama: It’s Just Personal!
  June 23, 2010 | 3:28 pm

  June 23, 2010 NYT – There has been vigorous debate within the administration about how to proceed in Afghanistan, but General McChrystal and his aides did not overtly criticize administration policy.Rather, the differences were personal, and publicly aired.

  Huh!?

  Some pundits are spinning the story by arguing that MacChrystal’s public display of discrespect for our Presidency and the senior officers of the administration is less egregious than an actual policy difference! It seems to me that if you want to debeate a policy, there are ways to do that, but if you show disrespect for those you disagree with, it’s game over.

  MacChrystal’s disrespect for the U. S. Commander in Chief speaks volumes. His school-bully “warrior” arrogance strongly suggests that he also is disrespectful of his adversaries on the battlefield. This error of judgement is universally regarded as a cardinal sin in the art of war.

  • Share/Save
• Archive for Short Takes »