What Price College Sports

Would you believe a human life in one case. The Oregonian reported in a lengthy Sunday story about the mistakes made in the search for James Kim. The direct supervisor of the search-and-rescue coordinator ignored a late-night call from her about the case because he was watching an Oregon State football game on television. She was overwhelmed by the demands of the search. She failed to call for help from the National Guard, which meant that heat-detecting helicopters stayed on the ground in the crucial two nights James Kim slept in the forest. I have always wonder why Americans are so fanatic about college football and basketball. After all, there are plenty of professional sports year round for people to watch (and to bet on). I always think that this is bad for the kids since we are sending them the wrong signal, as indicated by the increasing number of college athletes leaving school early, and the number of high schoolers skipping college altogether. But it looks like the cost is a lot higher in some cases.

Red VS Blue

Senator Tim Johnson remains in the hospital in critical condition. When he felt ill and was sent to the hospital yesterday, in-coming Senate majority leader Harry Reid went to the hospital to visit him twice. I wonder if Senator Reid would have done the same thing if his party's majority is more than 1 vote or the ill senator is a Republican. If Senator Johnson is unable to serve, then his replacement will be appointed by a Republician governor and will server until the next general election.

The 103 Million Dollar Man

It cost the Boston Red Sox 103 million dollar to sign Daisuke Matsuzaka for 6 years.
I wonder if he will turn out to be a stud or a dud. There have been both for players coming from Japan. The Yankee's Hideki Matsui is definitely a stud, worthing every penny of his contract. But another Hideki (Irabu formerly of the Yankees) and another Matsui (Kaz formerly of the Mets) both did not live up to expectation. I wonder why the Red Sox decided to make a 103 million dollar gamble. After all, there are other quality pitcher available. The Yankees singed Andy Pettitte for less, and Barry Zito is still available and probably can be had for less.

Big Brother

It turns out that the FBI has found a way to remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. They don't need to get a hold of the phones. They simply download software to the phones remotely. And it works even when the phone is powered off. I wonder what other ways are used by the government to watch us without us knowing about it. If the government knows how to do it, I wonder how long it will take for the bad guys to gain this knowledge. That is if they don't already have it already. Do you know who is listening in on you?

snooze

It turns out that even lung cancer isn't enough of a wake up call for some smoker with lung cancer and had surgery for it.

"Over 40 percent smoke at least at some point after surgery and about 37 percent are smoking regularly at one year. These are conservative estimates. We really think that over half the patients pick up a cigarette again after having their cancer surgery." said Dr. Mark Walker, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine.

I wonder if there is anything short of death that would make these smokers quit. This shows how addictive tobacco is. Most things this addictive and are also bad for us is now illegal. The latest of such substance is trans fat, which has been ban in New York City. I wonder if tobacco would be next. Probably not until the tobacco company can't make any more money out of it.

James Kim: 1971 - 2006

The search for James Kim ended tragically with the discovery of his body. The only silver lining is that his wife and two yound children survived and are in remarkablely good shape physically. I have read some very heated discussion on the net on whether he should have stayed with his family or not. With perfect hindsight, we can all say that had he stayed he would have survived like the rest of his family. But none of us were there so we don't know what it was like. After all, he didn't leave to find help until after they had been out there for over a week. I wonder what I would have done if I was him. Authorities have described his efforts as superhuman. I just hope that I would be able to keep my family alive the way he did if I was ever in a similar situation.

If you would like to make a donation to the Kim family or send something to them, please visit this page.