Caution: Frog Crossing Ahead

by Madeleine Kando

During my latest visit to the Netherlands, as I was driving on a small but busy road to one of the many beaches, I saw an attention-grabbing sign warning drivers of frogs crossing the road. ‘They must have forgotten to post the ant crossing sign’, I said to my Dutch co-passenger, convinced that the sign was meant as a joke. But he explained to me that this was toad breeding season. I knew he was right because two weeks later, the sign was gone. This led me to wonder why we don’t do a better job protecting our local wildlife back in the US. I know, Americans are used to 'road kill'. This is a BIG country with a lot of space, a lot of roads and a lot more wildlife than in Holland. But wouldn’t that be all the more reason to design, implement and maintain our road infrastructure in a more intelligent way? Read more...

Are Mean Reviewers More Competent?

By Tom Kando

 Here is the research question: Is there a relationship between competence and meanness?  Now you are supposed to laugh. This is called humor, although I have seen a lot more nonsensical sociological projects!

Most of us in the academic world are familiar with the peer review process. We submit a manuscript for a paper or a book for publication, or for conference presentation. It is reviewed and either rejected, or accepted, or accepted provisionally. In any of these three scenarios, the author usually receives feedback from the referees.  During the late1990s, I peddled a manuscript for a new textbook in Social Psychology (a re-write of my Social Interaction, which was first published in 1977, St. Louis: Times-Mosby). The various publishers obtained a total of 17 reviews over three rounds of reviews. Incidentally, I did finally get a contract and a modest advance payment, from Holt-Rinehart.

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Paris, Mon Amour

by Madeleine Kando

Paris has been waiting for me all these years, keeping herself beautiful till my return. Even on this grey and rainy day the freshly applied gold leaf on the monuments and palaces shines brightly. I take a taxi to my hotel on the Rive Gauche. Fountains zoom by, spouting water from elaborately carved fishlike creatures or from jugs held by half-naked maidens. We pass the Jardin des Tuileries, the royal gardens near the Louvre, where in past centuries the gentlemen took their ladies to meet each other and gossip. This royal garden with perfectly manicured trees and bushes became a public park after the French Revolution. Read more...

PROGNOSTICATIONS ABOUT THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

By Tom Kando

We know that (1) Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to vote for Obama, whereas whites are not, (2) women are more likely to vote for Obama whereas men are not, (3) young people are more likely to vote for Obama whereas old people are not and (4) low-income people are more likely to vote for Obama whereas upper-income people are not.

How would the election turn out if the different ethnic, gender, age and economic groups  voted the way we are told that they are likely to vote?   Here are some calculations I did to answer this question. My numbers are very rough, and some may be  off, but the differences are all true.

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SWIMMING THE DEMOCRATIC WAY

By Madeleine Kando

I come to Holland regularly because my very very old mother lives here. I usually spend the first few days after my arrival in a je-tlagged semi-fog as I try to adjust to the minuscule size of practically everything around me. The car rental has a car ready for me which is the size of a large bumper car. I ask the attendant to help me shove my suitcase in the back and to instruct me on how to use the endless buttons on the dashboard. European cars may be small but they sure make up for it in complexity. The numerous scuff marks on the garage wall tell me that I am not the only one that has difficulty squeezing my bumper car through the narrow exit ramp onto the even tinier main road. I have to get used to the speed at which people drive their vehicles over here. The smallest hesitation elicits angry honking. Don't they know I just stepped off an airplane? That I come from a place where things aren't shrunk to Alice in Wonderland proportions? Read more...

Anders Breivik: A Monster Venerated as Hero

by Madeleine Kando

Anders Breivik, the Norwegian extremist who is currently on trial for the murder of more than seventy-seven people, most of them young men and women has been in the forefront of the news of late. In this video, taken during the initial court proceedings, you can see him perform the far-right salute as soon as his handcuffs are removed. This is followed by an endless procession of polite handshaking with court personnel. If one didn't know that this man is a mass-murderer, one would think that he is some kind of venerated celebrity.

In another clip we see Breivik become teary-eyed as he is shown the anti-Islamic video he aired on You Tube prior to the killings. A 20 minute convoluted rant against the Norwegian government and its policy of 'Multiculturalism'. A mix of critique against Cultural Marxism and admiration for historical figures such as Richard the Lion Heart and Charles Martel. Breivik's list of heroes also includes 'Vlad Tepes' or 'Vlad the Impaler', the real Count Dracula of Transylvania. Read more...

The Insanity of the Military-Industrial Complex

By TOM KANDO

I am a numbers freak. Numbers are meaningful to me. The difference between a million and a billion is meaningful to me. But to many people, it’s a meaningless abstraction. That’s why when people read the information which I am about to present, they shrug with indifference. That’s why America is going broke, while no one pays attention.

Take the F-35 fighter jet. This is the new Joint Strike Fighter which is supposed to replace today’s aging fighter fleet. An article by W.J. Hennigan in the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee (April 19) tells us about the new plane’s cost and its many problems:
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Are Republicans the Vanguard and Democrats the Rearguard?

By Tom Kando

New York Times columnist David Brooks recently published an article titled “Rift Opens Between Two Economies and Two Political Parties,” (Sacramento Bee, April 11).

Some of his points are exciting: In recent years, the US economy has become vastly more productive. These efficiency gains are boosting our exports. “Two years ago, President Obama promised to double exports over the next five years...and the US might actually meet that target.” Our exports are surging in areas like smart machines, robots, shale oil and gas, and the rest of the world’s growing middle class is importing more and more American pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, planes and entertainment - all US fortes. Read more...

Columbia and the Many Little Dwarfs

by Madeleine Kando

Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived a beautiful and wise princess. People called her ‘Columbia the beautiful’. She adopted many little dwarfs whom she loved very much. Most of these little dwarfs liked Columbia too, because they knew that she would take care of them. Being dwarfs and all, they couldn’t very well fend for themselves in the big bad world out there.

They played together nicely but dwarfs aren’t perfect, and as you might guess there was an occasional protest when it was time to do chores, eat breakfast or go to bed. They didn’t like to be individually mandated (to be told what to do). Then Columbia’s mother had to come over. The dwarfs had nicknamed her Mother Supreme and it was she who had to settle the disputes in the family. She was fair and Impartial and things usually worked out well. Read more...

The Hunger Games

By Tom Kando

My wife and I went to see The Hunger Games. The movie is both gripping and disappointing.

First, what is this new blockbuster about? Well, it describes the dystopia which our society has become in the not-too-distant future. North America now consists of a dozen districts and a Capitol. The inequities and the contrast between the opulent plutocracy at the center and the decrepit, squalid and starving outlying districts are stark. In its Roman-like games-and-circuses policy aimed at anesthetizing the masses (think Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, here), the government randomly selects each year two young representatives from each district to participate in The Hunger Games.
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