Jindal is Way Too Smart to be McCain's V.P., Hopefully

I have heard the rumor that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal may be a front runner for a Vice Presidential run playing second fiddle to John McCain. This worries me because one of the knocks against Jindal is that he does not stay in a position long enough to complete his mission. While it is pretty much his political opponents grasping at straws to try to make something negative stick, there is enough truth to it to make people a bit skittish in the voting booth. I am a big fan of Governor Jindal, read my blog in which I compared him to my political hero - Reagan. I hope he is smart enough and mature enough to not get stuck playing second fiddle to McCain.

How many 20th and 21st century vice presidents have gone on to be president? Let's think about that question. Teddy Roosevelt became the first president of the 20th century because William McKinley was shot and killed. I love Teddy Roosevelt but, Roosevelt was bumped to V.P. by Republicans that were trying to bury his career because T.R. was seen as a loose cannon. I could make a comparison between Jindal and T.R. in terms of being young and really intelligent, but let's face it Jindal and T.R. are more different than the same and Jindal is certainly no loose cannon. Plus you might notice that T.R. did not move from V.P. to president via an election. You really do not want to become president because someone died. Vice President Calvin Coolidge replaced Warren G. Harding in 1923. Harding died of a heart attack before the end of his term. Some historians believe that the heart attack had been brought about because of the Tea Pot Dome scandal. I do not think Jindal wants to be remembered as the a 21st century Calvin Coolidge and note once again Coolidge became president not by way of election but because Harding died. Harry Truman became President upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt and was saddle with World War II and the decision to drop the Atomic Bomb. Not a good situation. Richard Nixon didn't have to take office because of a death but, does Jindal really want to be considered the Nixon of our times? President Ford took office when Nixon resigned. And finally George Bush, the elder, won an election after he served as Ronald Reagan's Vice President. Bush is really the only V.P. that became President in modern times that is not in a totally unenviable position. I think Bush, the elder, was successful in his bid for the presidency because Ronald Reagan was such an icon. You never hear someone say that they are a "Bush Republican" like older Democrats will call themselves an "F.D.R. Democrat" or like I and many others will refer to themselves as "Reagan Republicans." I like Bush the elder a whole lot but, I think Jindal has a better place if he waits, rolls up his sleeves and gets to work in Louisiana. He will inspire the whole country by showing us what he can do as a chief executive saddled with a clearly difficult task - changing Louisiana for the better.

Being Vice President is really cool and it is a great honor, but you have to pick your places. Jindal is nothing like McCain in terms of political philosophy. I am going to vote for McCain when he gets the GOP nomination. However, it is not a forgone conclusion that McCain or any Republican can win this time around. Obama seems to be getting the biggest play. Of course, the nature of predicting politics is much akin to trying to pin down a whisp of smoke in a wrestling contest. One thing is for certain, if Louisiana's Governor Bobby Jindal jumps ship and runs for Vice President, that likely will be his last hurray on the election merry-go-round. While it is cool to be Vice President, it is not an upwardly mobile position and it seems like a really boring, do nothing sort of position. At least, that is what a lot of us plebs think. I have confidence Jindal will show us that he is smart enough to respectfully decline the position of Vice President and will be brave enough to tackle the monumental problems that Louisiana is facing. At his age he can and should wait for the next opportunity. If he does a good job in Louisiana, the opportunity will be greater down the road.

Diagram Award for Oddest Book Titles

The Bookseller magazine has announced the shortlist for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year:

• I Was Tortured By the Pygmy Love Queen
• How to Write a How to Write Book
• Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues
• Cheese Problems Solved
• If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs
• People who Mattered in Southend and Beyond: From King Canute to Dr Feelgood

I don't have any more idea than you do about what is in these books. This is an odd assortment. I don't remember which book I voted for but, if you click the link following this article, I think they will still let you vote. Last I looked the "Closure in Your Relationship" book was in the lead followed closely by the "Pygmy Love Queen" book. I probably voted for the "Pygmy Love Queen" book but I really can't remember.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/53656-oddest-book-titles-prize-shortlist-announced.html

Updated April 3, 2008:

The winner was announced today. The oddest book title this year is: If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs. Congratulations! The article linked below is interesting and discusses other year's winners.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080328/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_book_odd

Louisiana's Retro Governor is the Next Ronald Reagan

Here are some newsworthy odd facts:

• The youngest governor in the U.S. is the Governor of Louisiana.
• The first U.S. governor of Indian descent (India the Country not Native American) is the current Governor of Louisiana.
• Louisiana's governor has adopted the first name "Bobby" from Bobby Brady of the "Brady Bunch."

The best candidate for President of the United States is not in the race. He is the Governor of Louisiana.

During Bobby Jindal's first run for governor he came to Shreveport for a politcal rally and I got to sit down and eat lunch with him. It was purely an accident. My mother, father, older brother, and I were looking for a table where we could all sit together and there was an empty table in what we thought was the back corner. After a short while, I noticed that for some reason someone had left a podium in the back of the room. Then Jindal and a local official, a friend of mine, entered the room and made a beeline to our table. I thought "what an honor, I am going to be introduced to the guest of honor!" My family and I stood up and shook hands with my friend and then were introduced to Mr. Jindal. We then sat down and so did my friend and Mr. Jindal. It was at that point that I realized that our table had been unoccupied because it was supposed to have been reserved for Mr. Jindal. I am active in North Louisiana politics and because of this fact, I do not think that my mother realized that our sitting with Jindal for lunch was not a planned thing. I think in her mind, I had "arrived" politically. You know, I don't think I have ever discussed the truth of that situation with my mom, but that chance lunch with the now Governor of Louisiana reinforced what I had read and have come to believe about Bobby Jindal.

It is well documented that Governor Jindal is probably the brightest rising star on the U.S. political scene today. Jindal is the youngest U.S. Governor . He is the only governor in the history of our nation of Indian descent. (Both of his parents immigrated from India before Bobby's birth and I believe still live in Baton Rouge, La.) Jindal truly ranks in the upper percentile of the population as one of the most intelligent, well educated people in the world. Jindal graduated from Baton Rouge High School (a Magnet school) at age 16, graduated from Brown University with honors in Biology and Public Policy at the age of 20, and then obtained a masters as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University at around age 23. His successful rise continued beyond the classroom. After a couple of years in the corporate world, Jindal was appointed to be the head of Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals at age 25, was appointed President of the University of Louisiana System at age 28, appointed U.S. Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of Health and Human Services at age 30, was elected to the U.S. Congress at age 33 and is currently is the Governor of Louisiana at only 36 years of age. How many people born in the 1970s (June 10, 1971) have that kind of resume already? Oh yeah, as if he has not been busy enough, he is also married and he and his wife have three children.

So what, in my opinion, drives Jindal? Jindal comes from a professional family and embraces those values but, there is a whole lot more to consider in answering this question. One unique and, I think, important factor in Jindal's blazing success is that his parents are retro immigrants. By "Retro Immigrants" I mean that they represent immigrants that embrace a pro-American philosophy. A philosophical perspective that was much more prevailent in the 1950s and before, than it is today. In the 1950s and before, immigrants were proud to become Americans. They embraced the culture and were often more patriotic than their U.S. born counterparts. A big component of that culture was that America was seen as a melting pot, I think we sometimes referred to it as the "Great Gumbo" in Louisiana, in which we took just a bit of the immigrant's past and folded that into what we defined as "American Values." Unfortunately, since that time we have learned that some of our core American values - like the then misnomered "protestant work ethic" are niether uniquely protestant, nor uniquely American and we just stopped teaching these clearly inaccurate ideas. President Reagan grew up before we "set the record straight" and for a brief time in history, he made us once again proud to be Americans. Fortunately, Governor Jindal was 9 years old when Reagan hit the national political scene so he was able to experience Reagan's vision of "America." Also, Jindal has clearly embraced the "protestant work ethic" even though he is a converted Catholic. Governor Jindal is a proud to be an American.

During Jindal's first gubernatorial campaign, an older Republican from Northeast Louisiana approached me and told me "You know 'Bobby' isn't his 'real' name. His real name is much harder to pronounce. And he is not an American Indian. His parents are from India. He is just trying to blend in." I was stunned that this kind of obvious bigotry still exists in this day and age even in Louisiana. Having been alerted to this bad attitude, I wrote and widely distributed an email that essentially called anyone voting against Jindal based on his parents national origin a racist and backwoods hick, but Jindal lost that election. He lost in Northeast Louisiana. By the way he won in Northwest Louisiana and won overwhelmingly in my home county/parish of Bossier. As I have mentioned, Governor Jindal adopted the name "Bobby" because of his admiration of the character Bobby Brady from the Brady Bunch television show. That fits really well with the idea that Jindal has embrace what makes us the same - being Americans. During gubernatorial debates there were attempts to goad Jindal into pandering to minorities based on his unique position as the only minority in the race. When these attempts were made Jindal showed that he is both a gentleman and an adept politician by side steping these attempts and reinforcing the concept that all of Louisiana's citizens can succeed only by working together. I bet that message plays even better on the national stage when Jindal inevitably runs for President. It reminds me of what drew so many to the Republican party when Reagan was king.

The other thing that is so appealing about Jindal as a leader is that he is not afraid of a challenge. (During the Reagan Era, we used to commonly think of "taking on any and all challenges" as part of our American culture.) Jindal is unafraid of a challenge and there are plenty of things that point to that: first, he could have been a medical doctor but chose to be a public servant; he could have had a long and successful career as a U.S. Congressman; he chose to be a politician in Louisiana (if you don't get that one, email me), and finally, Jindal's first initiative as Louisiana's governor is ethics reform. If that is not enough to convince you that Jindal is unafraid of a challenge, then I don't know what to tell you.

I am not sure whether Obama or McCain will be the next U.S. president and frankly, I do not hold out much hope that either of these very capable men will be able to right the track for our country. I am excited about the prospect of a President Jindal! His values are Retro, he reminds us of the pride that many of us felt in the Reagan years, and he definitely has what it will take (brains, courage, and experience) to lead the United States into a brighter future that we all long for.

By the way, you can check the public records, I have never contributed a penny to any of Bobby Jindal's campaigns. Part of that is because I am really cheap (a.k.a. fiscally conservative) and part of that is because I believe that when people are invited to shoudler the burdens of government by way of appointment, it shouldn't be a matter of buying your position. I may never be asked to help the Jindal administration achieve his goals, but I will help him anyway and if I do play an official role I and everyone else will know that it has nothing to do with my bank account.

Stanford University Education For Free

You read it right Stanford University, the Stanford University, "home of the Cardinal," the Harvard of the West, is giving students a free ride for a four college degree. Students need not pay tuition and many of these students need not pay for most of their room and board costs either. The catch is that for free tuition the student's family needs to make less than $100,000 and to get tuition, room and board free the student's family needs to make less than $60,000. I have several thoughts here and I am bound to offend some of you, so please accept my apology in advance. I am really just thinking. What is the goal of this policy? Is this social engineering? Trying to create an academic meritocracy? Are they trying to diversify the Stanford student population because people in many places in America outside of California do not earn $100,000. A number of Southern Students could get a totally free ride at Stanford. (Not to mention students from Central and South America and for that matter many countries in the world) What is the message being sent to students whose parents make more than $100,000? "We are not as interested in your kind around here" or "it is your civic duty to pay for those who are middle classed and poorer." Maybe the message to those students from more fortunate families is: "Your family's hard work and diligence in earning an income is it's own reward so; we are going to make you share, if you want to get a degree from Stanford." Oh, did I mention that tuition at Stanford is being increased at the same time this handout program is being implemented. It is. By the way, if this program remains in place for several more years, my children may end up going to Stanford, possibly tuition free. Wonder how Stanford counts your family income if a student declares/establishes their independence from their parents.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/21/stanford.tuition.ap/index.html

Bank Error: You Get $5 Million

"Bank Error: You Get $5 million," It sounds like a Chance card from the game Monopoly , but it's not. It is what happened to 48-year-old salesman Ben Lovell. Mr. Lovell was assured by the Commerce bank that the money was his despite Mr. Lovell's attempt to inform the bank that he did not have near that much money. It turned out that Benjamin Lovell did have $5 million in the bank, just not Benjamin Lovell the salesman. Benjamin Lovell the real estate mogul happened to also have an account in the same bank. This is very similar to an episode of Family Guy in which Peter mistakenly gets a really large check from the social security department. Interesting enough, Peter's dog,Brian, in the cartoon episode told Peter that he needed to return the money because it did not belong to him. Had Benjamin Lovell, the salseman, paid attention to that episode of Family Guy, he may have avoided the ugly legal mess that has ensued. My younger brother, Chris Wynn, had a problem a little bit like Ben Lovell. Chris was in a car accident when he was younger and there were two other guys in the car. One of the other guys was also named Chris Wynn and the other guy had the exact same birthday as my brother. You might imagine that after the police played a question and answer game somewhat like the old Abbott and Costello routine "Who's On First," that everyone in the car was given a sobriety test. I don't think either my brother or the other Chris Wynn have $5million in the bank, so both are probably safe from repeating the Lovell mistake. It turns out that Ben Lovell, the salesman ended up giving away or sinking most of the money into bad investments. These sort of bank errors do not seem to be as lucrative in real life as the are in board games like Monopoly. Hopefully Ben Lovell, the salesman, is on a role and will manage to find a "get out of jail free" card next. In the Family Guy episode, Peter ends up in jail. This story is certainly odd enough for an Odd News Award and best of luck to both Ben Lovells.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080220/ap_on_fe_st/odd_bank_error_arrest;_ylt=Agt1SaAlKeNS9A8WPXYYyfYDW7oF

Brain-Reading Headset

Gamers take note of this one! Emotiv Systems Inc. is about to release a headset that can detect conscious thoughts and expressions as well as "non-conscious emotions" by reading electrical signals around the brain. I will be paying attention to see if this product lives up to its billing. If it does, watch for this headset to be quickly adapted for military uses. Can you imagine how far reaching the impact of this product will be once it is totally perfected? I mean, sure remote military devices will take on a whole new dimension, but how will this impact other things like how we communicate over the web? Will this eventually become the main way we interact with all software? Could it mean the begining of the end for the mouse and keyboard? How will this change training and brain development? A product like this, at the very least, begins to boggle the mind. Today's Odd News Award winner.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080220/ap_on_hi_te/techbit_games_brain_waves;_ylt=AnbSPO74gZEzky_jrEScMR4jtBAF

Cancer Can Now Be Detected From Exhaled Molecules!

Here is the mother of all breathalyzers! A laser has been created that can detect and analyze the substance of every molecule that you exhale. Cancers can be discovered earlier. Asthma, kidney disease, diabetes can all be detected with this new medical device. I am always amazed by progress that is being made by the medical research community. I can't wait until you researchers realize that surgery is barbaric and figure out more ways to work inside our bodies without making a single cut. I am banking that those folks studying nanotechnology will conquer this one. Still, this laser detector is quite a breakthrough. Just a short while ago , who would have thought that this kind of medical device was even possible? Today's Odd News Award Winner!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23239066/wid/11915773?GT1=10914

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1927095320080219

Mysterious New Creatures Discovered!

This is not the Odd News Award Winner of the day but, it is confirmation that we have not come close to documenting all living creatures on this planet. Take heart, bigfoot enthusiast! This ought to give those of you extraterrestial (alien) enthusiasts hope also. Scientists have discovered some really odd creatures in the deep waters around Antarctica. Many of these creatures are brand new in terms of humans being aware of their existence. These creatures are also bigger than one might expect: "huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates." If these critters can thrive in this icy hostile environment, odds are better than average that life can exist in hostile environments on other planets. And doesn't this make you wonder what other kinds of strange creatures we have yet to discover living with us on this planet.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080219/ap_on_sc/australia_undersea_creatures;_ylt=AhzuOXdwXr_OO4MBWfq6Hius0NUE

Odd Gizmos and Gadgets Found at Seihen-World.com

At the end of this post I am putting three links for you to take a look at these odd things. The three "odd things" are: Mood Flowers, a Shower Light Heat Sensor, and a Nose Ring Powered Light. Of these three products only one is too odd to be marketable and only one has any practical use whatsoever. The nose ring powered light is too strange to go very far beyond a real small niche market. This item is a light with a wire and a tiny fan. The light is affixed through a pierced nostril and the fan that is attached by a wire hangs just outside your nostril so that when you breath the fan spins and the light is powered and glows. What do I know, this may be the next big thing. The mood flowers are these flower shaped lights on the end of stiffened wires. I think they light up when you hold them and may change colors depending upon your mood. Mood rings are making a comeback, this product is similar but kind of cooler. I am going to buy the Shower Light Heat Sensor when it is mass marketed. This sensor attaches to your showerhead. When water runs accross the sensor the water stream is lighted and changes from blue to red as your water gets hotter. It will be odd showering in red water the first few times but it will sure beat stepping into a cold shower or just as bad, not realizing when you are about to run out of hot water. These are three cool items that you ought to take a look at if, for no other reason, for the novelty (oddity).

http://www.seihin-world.com/s/2006/03/08_2311.php - mood flowers

http://www.seihin-world.com/s/2006/02/16_2148.php - Shower Light Heat Sensor

http://www.seihin-world.com/s/2006/08/28_0152.php - Nose Ring Powered Light

Oddness in Future Cars

In the last few days, I have been thinking about the future of cars. Two items have popped up lately that have prompted my pondering: the submarine car and a toy radio controlled car that can climb walls. If you have not seen the video of the submarine car, you should ( http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&tab=m1228&vid=ab6f15bb-80c7-48b0-a82c-5a917cf3f296&from=06/64 ) and then click the back button and read what I have to say or don't watch it and read on. The cool thing about the sub-car is not just the fact that you can drive it under water but also, the reality that on the touch of a button it can drive without further human input to your location avoiding obstacles (like people crossing the road), and pick you up, like batman's car. While it is cool that the car can be driven along the floor of your local pond, I find it really odd that the car designers chose to make the car a convertible. One problem with making this car a convertible is that you are going to get soaking wet and really dirty in most places and even if it is waterproof, your car is going to be filthy too. I bet that might limit the number attractive dates that would want to ride in your car. Another obvious problem with making this car a convertible is that in many underwater environments there are small critters, like leeches, medium to large critters, like snakes, and larger critters, like alligators, that may now consider you an easier target. My advice, make the next submarine car fully enclosed and we will talk prices. A more useful car development is a vaccum system that has been added to some radio controlled toy cars. This system senses when it is needed and only turns on at those times. This car ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Airhogs-Zero-Gravity-Real-Climber/dp/B0007WWYRI ) is designed to climb walls, which might be cool to add to a full sized real cars but, that is not what I was thinking when I read about the toy. I was thinking about the number of people that have died or been seriously injured in SUV rollover accidents. Someone should figure out how to add this toy car feature to SUVs and program it to activate when the SUV starts to tip.

Engineers List 14 Areas to Improve the Future

There is nothing odd about the 14 Areas that The National Academy of Engineering has listed as the "Grand Challenges" to improve our future. In fact, this list provides us with a wealth of things to ponder. Still, don't you know that as we start down the path of solving these challenges some odd things are going to occur. I wonder which challenge will provide the best future odd news? Here is the seemingly harmless list that we can keep an eye on ( the list is NOT in any rank order) :

1. Advance health informatics
2. Engineer better medicines
3. Make solar energy economical
4. Provide access to clean water
5. Reverse-engineer the brain
6. Advance personalized learning
7. Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
8. Manage the nitrogen cycle
9. Provide energy from fusion
10. Secure cyberspace
11. Develop carbon sequestration methods
12. Enhance virtual reality
13. Prevent nuclear terror
14. Restore and improve urban infrastructure
    http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/challenges.aspx