A Big Day for Women in Math and Science

On this day, in 1942, movie star Hedy Lamarr patented spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, a technology that is the basis for modern WiFi and Bluetooth.

Today, exactly 72 years later, Iranian-born Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman in history to win the Fields Medal - mathematics equivalent to the Nobel Prize. 

So, it only takes a half century or so, but women are eventually getting recognition for achievements in math and science without being talented enough to co-star with of the likes of Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner and Judy Garland. Or, perhaps, Stanford's Mirzakhani simply hasn't yet taken the time to show that side of her talents.

The Mad Math of American Foreign Policy - or, Why "They" Hate Us

The advertisement said, "Save $2,000 on Mediterranean Cruises." Given my savings goal for the year was $10,000, I bought five.

Tom Peters writes
"Haven't gotten anything but grief - vitriol overseas as an American of late. In the past, overseas, I've observed dismay at the resident of 1600 PA Ave. But this time it's inclusive — we are all getting grief."

American has been infected by a virus of mad calculation, a virus that seems to transcend the Bush's administration's transient hold on the White House. It's a madness that goes some distance towards explaining why "they" hate us.

On 9-11, terrorists killed more than 3,000 Americans. By contrast, more than 65,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed as a consequence of our military intervention. The vast majority of the terrorists came from Saudi Arabia, none from Iraq. The invasion of Iraq was not an act of revenge or retaliation. We invaded Iraq because we couldn't let 9-11 happen again. The invasion of Iraq was an act of prevention. (Itself a non sequitur I haven't the inclination to delve into right now.)

So here we have the math madness that has come to define American foreign policy. We will kill 20 foreign civilians in order to prevent the killing of one American. (65,000 Iraqi civilians / 3,000 American civilians) We will kill 60,000 foreigners to save the lives of 3,000 Americans. Or, by extension, we will kill 600,000 foreigners to save the lives of 30,000 Americans, or kill 60,000,000 to save the lives of 300,000 or - and this is the kicker - 6,000,000,000 (6 billion!) foreigners in order to save the lives of all 300,000,000 (300 million) Americans. Using the logic of post 9-11 foreign policy, American policy makers are basically saying that to make lives of us 300 million Americans more secure, they are willing to kill everyone else on the planet. I doubt that Randy Newman could have ever guessed that any administration would take his satire so seriously.

This is madness. Sadly, George is not the only one infected with this disease. Can we truly wonder why the world's estimation of our country has plunged so precipitously? Is it any wonder, Tom, that we are all getting grief?