Rasul Shafikov

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A very good initiative: The Cost of Knowledge. Academics protest against Elsevier's business practices. If you agree, you can declare that openly, by filling in the form on that page.

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The Moscow version of what happened in Davis, CA. Happened practically at the same time.

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The police pepper sprays a seemingly peaceful student demonstration on campus... The police force was ordered by the university chancellor, Linda P.B. Katehi (UC, Davis).

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An adequate representation of the Russian tandem:

Source: The Look for Russian Democracy

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It seems that V. Putin finally realized Gorbachov's dream: somehow liberalize the economy so that the country can survive, but keep all the power in the hands of a few party leaders... And here's a visual proof of the perfect rotation between the "hairy" and "bold" national leaders in Russia:

Source: Denis Lopatin on Echo Mosvky

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In an average Canadian prison, as a customer (and you don't have to be a regular one!) you get free internet including wi-fi, access to libraries, regular exercising, immediate access to health care, and even a hot lunch. On the other hand, Canadian schools have to cut library expenses (almost to zero these days), convert gyms into study rooms, no special health care arrangements, and most schools won't provide hot lunch at all (and if they do - it's never free). And with the new Conservative initiative, you can stay in prison even longer... Does this say something about the priorities in the society?

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Back to my office after a nine month trip. Found a pile of CAUT Bulletin (Canadian Association of University Teachers). Nothing but depressing articles:

"University of Toronto Campus Groups starts Alternative Governance Structure" (for lack of confidence in current governance of the university"

"Questions over Concordia President's Exit" (the guy resigned with $700,000 severance package)

"Committee of Inquiry to Investigate Allegations at Alberta Med School"

"Controversy Mars USask Law Dean Hire"

Etc. ...

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David Cameron: "State multiculturalism has failed..."

Yes, so it is the time to go back to exclusively oat porridge, fish & chips, and black pudding...

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From Mrs. Clinton's speech at Newseum in Washington, D.C. January, 2010:

We are also supporting the development of new tools that enable citizens to exercise their right of free expression by circumventing politically motivated censorship. We are working globally to make sure that those tools get to the people who need them, in local languages, and with the training they need to access the internet safely. The United States has been assisting in these efforts for some time. Both the American people and nations that censor the internet should understand that our government is proud to help promote internet freedom.

I wonder what Julian Assange thought about it...

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An article by G.G. Lorentz (1910 - 2006) called "Mathematics and Politics in the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953". Among other things, the paper gives some details about the trial of my scientific grand-grand-grand-parent N.N. Luzin. Also, a relatively unknown fact:

In 1946 the [Russian] Academy had to elect a new group of members, this time with preference to the applied sciences. This allowed Lusin to vote against the topologist Alexandrov. To everybody's consternation, as a reaction, Kolmogorov slapped Luzin's face on the floor of the Academy. The president of the Academy, S.I. Vavilov, was at a loss of what to do. Finally, the incident was reported to the Kremlin. It was said that Stalin was not astonished. "This happens even among us", was his reply...

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I could do this in Lille today:

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Curious statistics about income equality by country (using the Gini coefficient):

1. Denmark = 24.7
2. Japan = 24.9
3. Sweden = 25
...
24. Canada = 32.6
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26. France = 32.7
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67. Russia = 39.9
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72. Turkmenistan = 40.8
73. USA = 40.8
74. Senegal = 41.3
....

Source: Wiki

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The new movie "Wall street: Money Never Sleeps" explains really well the reasons of the Great Recession of 2008 - 2???. And it's not through the plot of the story, no. It becomes obvious that if you produce such lousy products, whether that's a manufacturing product, a financial package, or, as in this case, a motion picture, and you do that year after year, the recession is simply inevitable...

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It's amusing to see how different are the recipes that the leading economists suggest to revive the US economy. This concerns almost every aspect of it: stimulus or no stimulus, more taxes or less, reduce deficit/ don't worry about it... One may wonder how much science there really is in Economics.

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November 9, 2010

I recently discovered a remarkable science fiction story by a distinguished theoretical physicist Leó Szilárd called The Mark Gable Foundation. It was written in 1948 (published in 1961). A scientist who woke up in the 21st century after 90 years of cold-sleep is asked by a billionaire how to slow down scientific progress. The answer given by the scientist is this:

I think that shouldn't be very difficult... You could set up a foundation with the annual endowment of thirty million dollars. Research workers in need of funds could apply for grants, if they could make out a convincing case. Have ten committees, each composed of twelve scientists, appointed to pass on these applications. Take the most active scientists out of the laboratory and make them members of these committees. And the very best men in the field should be appointed as chairmen at salaries of fifty thousand dollars each. Also have about twenty prizes of one hundred thousand dollars each for the best scientific papers of the year...

How would that retard the progress of science?

it should be obvious... First of all the best scientists would be removed from their laboratories and kept busy on committees passing on applications for funds. Secondly, the scientific workers in need of funds would concentrate on problems which were considered promising and were pretty certain to lead to publishable results. For a few years there might be a great increase in scientific output; but by going after the obvious, pretty soon science would dry out. Science would become something like a parlor game. Some things would be considered interesting, others not. There would be fashions. Those who followed the fashion would get grants. Those who wouldn't would not, and pretty soon they would learn to follow the fashion too...

The National Science Foundation of USA was created in 1950, although National Institutes of Health and U.S. Atomic Energy Commission existed before. Today the NSF is the only U.S. federal agency with a mandate to support all the non-medical fields of research...

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Perhaps one of the most recognizable labels of modern times is Nike's swoosh (yes even in France). Curiously enough it cost the company only about $35 for the whole project. For comparison here's the new symbol of Ontario:

which is a redesign of the old one:

The upgrade took place in 2006 and cost the tax payers $219,000. This monumental graphics project was carried out by Bensimon Byrne, which proudly calls itself "the most efficient agency in Canada".

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I am determined to find the best French wine under 5€. Here's the first strong contender:

A wonderful red wine. Right now it needs 1/2 hour decanting before consumption. The price = 2.48€, but it will rival any $20 wine at LCBO!

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After visiting Louvre again couldn't help making the following observation: admission to Louvre is 9.50€, or roughly $13 (CAD). In comparison, Art Gallery of Ontario's admission fee is $19.50. There are over 380,000 objects of art in Louvre (35,000 on display) vs 79,000 in AGO, so it's 3.5 cents per 1,000 objects in Louvre vs 24.7 cents in AGO. This explains the $945,498 salary of Mr. Teitelbaum, the CEO of AGE.

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A portrait of a flamingo in the African lion safari.

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Forget about the Gulf oil spill. The real looming environmental disaster is the Asian Carp in the Great Lakes.

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Great invention of Air France: silver coloured plastic cutlery. Looks like real stuff from a distance.

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Soldiers fighting at war: heroes or "necessary-evil-doers"?...

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Canadians' views on crime are hardening according to Angus Reid public opinion survey. Yes, Canada can do much better in terms of the number of prisoners per capita. Currently, we are on the deplorable 73th place in the world, behind absolute leaders such as the US and Russia (but ahead of Australia, Germany or France). Wouldn't it be nice to catch up with the US and jail over 200,000 Canadians? We may have to redirect funding from schools for that, but that's OK, California has done it in the past.

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Canadian media seemed to be predetermined to spread the message about the benefits of H1N1 vaccine, to convince general public to get vaccinated. It was meant to be a perfect positive message in the time of pandemic. It's funny that it has exactly the opposite effect because the vaccine is not yet publicly available.

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According to the UN report, 92% of the world production of opium comes from Afghanistan, and it's a $65bn/year business. On the other hand, the total US cost of war in Afghanistan is about $230bn (since 2001). That's a pretty expensive cover-up operation. Sloppy business practice?

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Another United Way fund raising campaign is on its way. A very North American kind of a cultural event. Sounds like a lot of fun. Or rather a lot of funds...

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Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009... I suppose for not being able to convince his parliament to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan. So now Mr. Obama shares the honour with the other two heroic figures from the Democratic party, Carter and Gore. Awarding the Peace Prize to the president of a country that is at war with two other countries, they might as well call it the Orwell Peace Prize.