Ethics?

When I played sports in my youth, I was extremely competitive. Winning was always the foremost goal. However, the first thing I learned as a child who liked to compete was you never cheat.
No matter how you justify it, if you cheat, the only person you are harming is you.
When you are alone, you know you cheated, thus you know you didn't deserve to win, thus your win wasn't earned, and you will know always you weren't deserving.

So it amazes me today when I see world class athletes who cheat. Where is the ethic? Where is the pride?

As I tell my children, you can win by cheating, but you will never feel the satisfaction of winning as a cheater. You will know you cheated.

The big lesson of life, is we have to live with our actions.

Food for Planes.

Sometimes you read headlines which just make you shake your head.
Ethiopia orders 12 A350 aircraft from Airbus.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ethiopia-orders-12-A350-apf-343918526.html?x=0

Now is this the country with food shortages? Is this the country having civil wars?
However their national airlines needs new planes worth 3 billion dollars. Because the tourism is booming? Or is it because the natives are wanting to travel the world, due to a large liquid cash flow?

As mad as I get reading this, because they are choosing planes over food, at Ethiopia its not half as mad as I am at Europe.

I expect this from African countries and leaders, but for Europe to sell them these planes is a criminal act. Why aren't we bringing these Europeans to the war crimes court?
England will reap benefits for Rolls Royce, Airbus will reap benefits for the rest of Europe, and so they can be hypocrites. They will talk about saving the starving, and helping the world while they milk the dictators of billions at the expense of the poor.
How about Europe offers to help them better farm and give them food for the 3 billion they are spending? Why aren't they being told NO planes until you feed your people. No planes until you stop killing your citizens. No planes until you have a legitimate government. JUST SAY NO!

What type of wine do you have with that?

Maybe I am being influenced by my friend, but here is another interesting fact turned into fable.

Lets start with this statement: I am not a big supporter of religion per se. I think people can and should have faith and religion, but I myself have too many issues with what religion causes. Wars, and history of abuse are all tied to religion.

Having said that this is shot at those who say we should look to science to change our world and fix our problems. How many times have we heard about if we see what works in nature or science and apply it to our lives we would be able to solve our problems?

So to the story.
Red Lionfish are pretty but greedy. These fish when introduce to their non native environment like a coral reef can reduce the number of smaller fish by 80% in weeks. They are at the top of chain. No predators because of their spines. Now the lionfish in western Pacific Ocean is contained because the ecosystem is native and understands how to deal with this. However in the Caribbean they are going wild and unchecked.
People tried to introduce a bounty for the fish, but there are too many and local governments couldn't afford to pay it. So they came up with a scientific marketable solution. They sent lionfish to posh restaurants in NY and Chicago to see if the top chefs could introduce these fish to the diet. The fish were a hit. The market this could create will help cull the population. The most important selling point for the fish was the diners liked the idea of consuming something which would help the environment at the same time. Wow a food green conscience people could get behind. Traditional methods of fishing don't work, but diving in the Caribbean to get these fish will be very attractive to workers.

You are thinking whats the lesson today? Think! Save the environment while you eat.
Species causing undo damage to the world, with no known predator. C'mon. Population of this specie is running wild. How to make culling the population acceptable to the masses. A marketing issue, solved, cull and save the planet. So using the lionfish example we can recreate the solution.
Who wants to send some humans to the chefs in NY and Chicago and see what they can come up with and maybe they can create a new market and a new environmental entry into the diet?
ps. Charles Heston made a movie about it a long time ago......

For my Friend Jude

So last week on NPR radio I hear a really cool science story. It was about the leaves falling in fall. Now in my life I hear a lot of cool stuff, the problem is I never know what the information is good for. I have ideas all the time, but it takes someone else to put them into effect or to find value in them. Now to be fair, I am aware of this and thus share my thoughts with the right people. Like my friend Jude, who listens to me ramble and then goes and turns the idea into economic success.

So the story on the leaves was in fall the leaves "fall off". However scientifically they don't fall off, instead they are pushed off. Right where the tree meets the leaf there is a connection and if you look at it now you will see it being worn down. The tree will sever this link and the wind or any other movement will knock the leaf off. The leaves provide food for the tree. So why would the tree push them off? Because as the weather changes the leaves are providing less food. The tree realizes if I keep these leaves here during winter, they may provide some food when the weather is warm, but they will die and then I will have dead workers. If I lose them now I will be lean thru the winter, will have to do with less food, but when the weather turns to spring I will have the capacity for new leaves and new providers for food. Thus I can only thrive in the spring if I dump them now.

The Jude factor:
So when times are tough, it may be better to lose the producing workers who are still producing but at a lower rate, in order to survive long enough for the spring when you are able to get new workers producing more in a better climate. You cannot carry leaves thru the winter because they will die and take up space away from new leaves for the spring.

It took me a few days, but I finally knew these facts were somehow relevant to business. We are in the fall and to get to spring we need to help our leaves fall.