Utah ahead of BYU?

So the latest USA Today coaches poll places BYU at #24 and Utah at #18. This just goes to show you how pointless preseason polls are. Rather than argue why BYU should be higher (which I actually don't believe), I would like to argue that Utah is severely over ranked. Here are the rankings of the bottom ten including last year's schedule:

15. Georgia Tech ... 9-4 ... 559 ... 22

16. Boise State ... 12-1 ... 542 ... 13

17. TCU ... 11-2 ... 461 ... 7

18. Utah ... 13-0 ... 404 ... 4

19. Florida State ... 9-4 ... 371 ... 23

20. North Carolina ... 8-5 ... 293 ... nr

21. Iowa ... 9-4 ... 257 ... 20

22. Nebraska ... 9-4 ... 236 ... nr

23. Notre Dame ... 7-6 ... 194 ... nr

24. Brigham Young ... 10-3 ... 178 ... 21

25. Oregon State ... 9-4 ... 165 ... 19

So throw out last year's Utah team. These polls are about performance this year. Of course this is a coaches poll, so some of these guys may have very little to go off of except last year's schedule. The MWC coaches poll placed Utah in third overall in the conference behind BYU. So the coaches of our own conference who know Utah best don't even think Utah should be ranked so high. Why do I care? Am I just on some vitriolic rant out of blind hatred for the Utes? Partly, but these rankings do matter. Utah has a fairly soft schedule until late in the year. Oregon in week 3 could be a real challenge, but other than that they should win their first 9 games. But in college football, it's not just your performance week to week, but your overall position in the rankings. It is rare for teams to make giant leaps by winning a big game. It is also rare for a team to move down in the rankings for winning a game, even if their performance was unimpressive. By starting at #18 and winning game after game, the Utes could find themselves very highly ranked. This is especially true when on considers the hype and excitement surrounding the team following last year's Sugar bowl.

The whole preseason ranking idea is ridiculous. It is very similar to a race in which everyone has a different starting place. No one knows this better than BYU who benefited greatly from strong preseason hype, an overly high preseason ranking, and a soft beginning schedule. There is no way BYU should have climbed as high as #7 last year, and no way they should have ended the year anywhere in the top 25.

I propose that no rankings be released until week 4 at the very earliest. This will give everyone a chance to see what team's are made of before they can be biased by the rankings. Under the current system, wins and losses have a greater impact than they should. Better to look at a team's overall performance. This will be easier to do by waiting later in the season to release the official rankings. This is already the way the current BCS rankings are done. Several weeks into the season, the first rankings come out. But because the other polls are a factor in determining the BCS rankings, it is little help.

Finally, let me officially express my confidence that Utah is ranked far to highly, and their performance on the field will indicate that. There is no reason for a team missing as many crucial pieces as last year's team should be ranked so highly. Many of their strongest assets from last year are now missing. They don't even know who their quarterback is going to be! I imagine a team with a very good defense and little to no offense. Utah has had abysmal quarterback in the past (I know I used to be a fan), and it could happen again. Lucky for them, a few meaningless wins will go far considering their inflated #18 ranking.

Quote of the Day

The following quote from a NYTimes article is one more reason to move to Korea.

Na Deuk-won, who owns a school in Seoul that trains back-scrubbers and bathhouse masseuses, says enrollment has jumped 50 percent this year, to 180 students, because of a sudden influx of university graduates and laid-off office workers.

“Even in a recession, people need their back scrubbed,” Mr. Na said.

That's exactly right. Even in a recession, people need their back scrubbed.

Police Sketch

I've always wondered how accurate those police artist sketches are. The recent manhunt and eventual capture of a serial killer in South Carolina allowed me to do a nice before and after comparison of the sketch artist's rendition and the actual person. I'm glad they didn't have to rely on the sketch artist to catch this guy. I'm just glad they got him before we take our trip to Charleston next week.

A Tribute to Dikembe

I thought I would introduce some of you to Dikembe Mutombo, the oldest player in the NBA at the time of his retirement a few weeks ago. I will always remember his reaction after defeating the Seattle Supersonics in the opening round of the playoffs (the first time an eight seed had defeated a one seed). He fell backwards onto the court, gripped the ball tightly near his face, and screamed for joy. I was ten years old at the time, but I can still remember how passionate he was about that win. He has been well known for his humanitarian efforts in his native Africa. I found it interesting that the church is on board with one of his recent projects. He's been playing basketball as long as I've been watching it. It's sad to see one of the last players of my childhood gone for good.

More Protests

Some more Iranian election protests took place right in front of the Barlow center. Since I didn't have much to do, I followed them for a while and took pictures and video. I was headed to an art museum and I was pretty sure they were headed to the White House so my plan was to go to take the train to the museum, spend some time there, and then run over to the White House to see the end of the protest. Unfortunately I was a little late, and by the time I showed up the protest was over. Luckily, some news sources picked up what I missed.

Iranian Revolution

On Sunday I ended up in a peaceful protest of Iran's recent elections. I was on my way to church when I realized I forgot a few important things. I turned around to pick them up, and on my way back I ran head-on into the protest pictured below. When I picked up my stuff I of course had to walk back through the all the protesting Iranians. I ended up stuck in the middle since they were headed in the same direction as me. I thought about picking up a sign and chanting along, but my Farsi is a little rusty. So here is a picture of the DC version of the Iranian civil unrest.

Update

After loading my last post, I went to the bio of the artist who created those BofM computer graphics and it made me feel a little bad (though not enough to remove the post). Reading through the bio, I'm convinced that the man's motives are pure, but you've got to admit that Lehi looks a lot like a Gandalf the Grey conjuring some magical spell.

Very funny . . . errr . . . spiritual site

Not to make fun, but this site popped up in my gmail account as one of those customized ads they do. This is my kind of business. All you have to do is computer generate a few Book of Mormon prophets in action, transpose a pertinent scripture, and then wait for the orders to start pouring in. You don't even have to spend anything until you get an order, and then you just take it your thumb drive to the local OfficeMax and have them print your poster. Send it off to the happy customer and you're $10 richer minus your OfficeMax fee. After awhile you invest in a nice color printer and you're set. Why didn't I think of this. My favorite is Samual the Laminite. He looks like he's in the middle of a video game. Actually, maybe this started out as a video game and then the guy decided to scrap it and just sell pictures of the characters. I just know that now someone is going to buy me the set of twelve as a joke.

What I imagine is happening in this picture

"Hey students! It's me, Dean Magleby. I'm just walking up these spiral stairs that don't go to my office. In fact these stairs don't really go to anywhere. Most of the time they just lead to a sign that says 'Exhibition construction in progress. Do not enter.' Come to think of it, what am I even doing here? My office is on the 9th floor of a completely different building. I'm glad that you all fanned out nicely on the stairs. If I were hovering on some sort of magical platform to the side of the stairs, I could probably get all your faces in a picture. Just nobody move while I amaze you all with an impromptu lecture on Family, Health, and/or Social Science."

Hit by a car!

Now that I have your attention -- I'm fine. It happened on the way to work this morning. An old man was entering Washington Circle, which is a large and extremely busy roundabout, and he must have been paying more attention to the cars in the circle than the aspiring intern 2 feet in front of him. I sort of jumped in the air and didn't really fall or anything. I started to yell at him and then I saw it was an accident and I just kept walking. He looked pretty shocked and his wife was squawking (that was a hard word to spell) frantically out the window, asking if I was okay. I just waved and kept walking. The incident was at the entrance to the circle at the very top center of the picture below. It was my first run in with a car after even after a whole two years in crazy Sao Paulo. This one was totally his fault though. There's not much I could have done to avoid it. If I die like that it's just my time to go. Luckily there was a hospital which is visible in the lower left part of the picture.


Washington Circle, minutes from my house and seconds from a hospital!

Google Reader

For all of you who are constantly reading other people's blogs or constantly checking your favorite news site, you should consider consolidating your efforts with Google Reader. Using your Google account, you are able to follow blogs, news sites, and pretty much any other website that you use regularly. Google reader keeps you up to date by putting posts and news updates in chronological order all in one place. It gives you a brief summary of what the post or news update says which gives you a chance to quickly decide if it's something worth your time or not. I've enjoyed getting my updates quickly and in one place. I've been using it mostly for academic blogs and national news sources, but I think I'll start adding family members to the update list.

I need a diet

If this study is true, then I might be in trouble -- or gaining some much needed weight. I'm glad to know that "none of the phantom pregnancies resulted in actual birth." Also check out this.

Actually, I think I'm in the best shape of my life. Without Camille around I've filled my time by running. To prevent scurvy I've begun eating large quantities of fresh broccoli and tomatoes. I feel great. No phantom lumps developing just yet.

Myth Uncovered

I overheard someone talking on the phone with a friend, propagating this, one of the world's most malicious myths. This reminded me of my personal crusade against the falsehood. Together we'll kill it once and for all!

Another week in DC

I'm going to try to write at least once a week. I've been very busy between school and work (and playoff basketball), so I may not be writing more than that for at least the next month. On Friday we were finished with class pretty early in the day. We went to a place called Wise Miller's home of Wisey's Chicken Madness (a sandwich). It is apparently a big Georgetown hangout. The first time we went a few weeks ago, we went to the original Wise Miller's which is a real hole in the wall place. You can't even sit down. In fact, there are signs which explicitly state that you cannot eat inside the store. They want to get you in and then get you out the door. The first time I thought the sandwich was great. This weekend, we decided to try the more popularized version which is much newer and actually has seats. This one is sort of a health food place with salads's and smoothies. It wasn't nearly as good as the orginal.

Later that afternoon I went in search of used book stores. I hit the jackpot at the first one I tried. It's called Capital South Bookstore and it was great. It's an old house south of the Capitol building. Every nook and cranny is packed with books. The shelves are stacked three or four rows deep with books and some stacks are just free standing, all of which makes it very difficult to actually browse through the books. Everywhere throughout the store are little sarcastic notes, providing a commentary on everything in the bookstore. For example, one section is labelled "Politicians and their Political 'Science.'" An old water heater in the dimly lit basement sported the label "Totally Inoperable" as if the patrons care about using the water heater. The bathroom is the foreign language section. The owner of the bookstore reminds his customers to leave the door open after they use the bathroom so that others can get to the books. The best part is that the owner buys books as well as sells them. Not only are his books comparable to online bookstore prices, I can get most of my money back after I read the books. It's a pretty great place. I think I'll be going back soon.

The week before I tried "The Bone" at the recommendation of Aunt Celia. It was delicious as promised. I'll have to get a group of people and go back. On the wall they had a timer counting down the days, hours, minutes, and second to graduation. I was lucky enough to be there when the clock struck 22 hours. I was tempted to go back 22 hours later just to see if the clock would reset.

I spent my Memorial Day in Herndon, VA with my friend Micah. It was nice to stay in a real house and eat real food. My diet is designed completely around microwavable foods. Micah's brother-in-law served his mission in Italy, and one night while we were talking I watched him whip up an absolutely delicious chicken alfredo from scratch. I should have paid more attention to how he did it. It was a great weekend and I had a great time.

Mt Vernon

I know it's been a long time since my last post. Hopefully not everyone has given up on the blog. Friday I took a trip down to Mt. Vernon. It was great to see the home of George Washington, but not great to pay the $15 entrance fee. I've been so spoiled on all the free historic sites around the city, that it seemed a little overpriced. I enjoyed the home and the grounds, but I did not enjoy being herded around from one spot to the next as part of their tour. I much prefer being able to explore things on my own. I was able to do that when walking around the farm and grounds. It was one of those "must-do" experiences. I've put several pictures below from the trip.

In front of Mt. Vernon

Closer View and Friends

Plotting our next move and view of Potomac

George Washington's Tomb

Another view of the tomb. Should I really be smiling in this picture?

Dock on the Potomac, still at Mt. Vernon

Taking a break

Survive DC

Tonight I participated in an exciting race called Survive DC. I'm not sure who organized it but it was a brilliant idea. We all met at a place called Dupont Circle. I was in a group with David Trichler and his sister Michelle who was out here visiting. About 200-300 people (at least) gathered in this little circular park. There were a variety of costumes and crazy running outfits all meant to give some sort of strategic advantage. We were given a blue armband, and orange armband, and a map of the city marking 6 checkpoints. At the start we put on blue armbands. Others signed up to be "chasers" and they used the orange armband. Our goal was to make it to all 6 checkpoints without getting tagged by and orange banded chaser. At each checkpoint there was some sort of activity, some water, and a place to get your map stamped to prove you really made it to each checkpoint. If we were tagged by a chaser, we would have to give up our blue armband to them, and then put on our orange armband. We would become chasers and try to tag as many people as possible. We planned out our strategy very carefully at the beggining, deciding to go the least traveled routes. We were allowed to use the metro and our feet. No cars, buses, skateboards, bikes, etc. were allowed. At 8 pm sharp, the race began. It was awesome to see all of the people pour out of Dupont circle in every direction at the beginning.

Our first goal was the park in front of the White House. We proceeded very cautiously, but didn't see a chaser the whole time. When we made it to the White House, there were tons of people already there. We weren't very committed to finishing the whole race, so we decided to go on to the second point without getting a stamp (I would come to regret that decision). Our next stop was a park near the Capitol. We walked right up the center of the Mall, and didn't see a soul until we got close to the checkpoint. We ran into two people that were lost, and visibly frustrated. We tried to help them get their bearings and then they ran out ahead of us. This turned out to be lucky because a chaser took off after them. They distracted him while we hopped a fence and ran into a thicket. We scared all sorts of sleeping birds on our way through the bushes and trees. It was a perfect hiding spot. We waited there until the coast was clear, and then made a break for the checkpoint. I forgot to mention one more rule. Each of the checkpoints has a safe zone marked on the map. While there you are immune to any sort of chaser attack. We were able to get some water and relax. We decided that we probably were just going to go to the next point and stop. We told the people at the checkpoint that we weren't doing the stamp thing and just took off.

The journey to checkpoint three was a bit sketchy. It was obviously in the more dangerous section of town. David had lived near there when he first came to DC, so he tried to take a route through some of the safer roads. We got back into the safer areas as quickly as possible, and met little resistance on our way to checkpoint three. There we were met with root beer and warm plates of cookies. A girl in a very 50's and very matronly dress invited us to take a seat at a table with crayons and clean paper. She instructed us to draw what we'd like to be when we grow up. Since checkpoint four was so close, we decided that we had better at least try for it. At this point there were chasers everywhere. They actually had taken up the strategy of camping out right in front of the safe zone. We decided that we would just try to outrun them, so we walked up the street casually until they started to chase us, and then we took off full speed. We caught a light at a busy intersection just as it was changing, and left the chasers in the dust.

Checkpoint five was at Howard University. Up to this point, we had adopted a "blending in" strategy. We would just walk and not make eye contact until someone started to run after us, and then we would take off running. This allowed us to get better angles, and escape more easily. For this checkpoint, however, we were the only white kids in the whole neighborhood. Our blending in didn't work so well. As we approached the safe zone, we saw a few suspicious characters on the corner straight ahead. As we got closer, we saw it was a few chaser girls. We crossed the street casually, and timed it perfectly so that we hit the street as the crosswalk turned. We got a bit of a head start, and since there were two of them and three of us they got confused and didn't get any of us. This stop was a camp theme. We sang camp songs, ate some energy bar stuff, and took off. We found out that we were in 33rd place. We decided that there was no way we could give up.

By this time we were exhausted, but we had a nice peaceful walk to the fifth checkpoint. We were in a very nice, very quiet neighborhood, but we couldn't quite find our way through the winding roads. After a bit, we realized that we were a block over from where we thought we were. We had to cut back up a different road, and we ran smack into a bunch of chasers. We all ran in different directions, but we didn't really know where the safe zone was. David and Michelle got caught, and I ran up a driveway behind some bushes. I looked at the map and saw that the safe zone was only a block away. I walked back down towards where David was caught, and there were about 5 chasers. I casually walked by and they all just sort of stared at me. I was able to get to the corner before they realized who I was, and by then it was too late. I sprinted up the hill and made it to the safe zone. David and Michelle followed me, and even though they were technically chasers we walked towards the last checkpoint. When we were almost there they took a different road to get on the metro and go home. I wanted to see if I could finish the game. Being by myself it was pretty easy. I was in a more active part of town, so I just walked in groups of partying college students and tried to blend in. I walked right by several chasers this way. I waltzed in to the last checkpoint at about 11:32. I came in 12th place unofficially, since I had no stamps to prove that I had actually been to the checkpoints. If I had had the stamps to prove it, I would have got a medal. Apparently the top 15 got medals. I've made a Google Map of the course so you can see the whole journey. I'm absolutely loving it out here. It feels like the city is just one giant playground. There's so much to do and see. After my 11 mile journey, I've had enough for the day. I'm going to bed!

First Days at the Treasury

We got right down to business at the Treasury office. On the first day we were shown our desks and almost immediately put to work. Since then, more has kept coming. It's kept me completely busy. I am in a desk right next to my fellow BYU intern, so that has helped somewhat with the adjustment. It is very exciting to be at the Treasury with so much going on in the world right now. Much of my time is spent reading and learning about everything going on economically in the Western Hemisphere. Some of the things we are doing I haven't studied for a year or two so I've found myself fairly busy in the evenings trying to review and study up. It turns out to be only a 15 minute walk from the Barlow Center to the front door of the Treasury. At the end of the walk we go right past the White House. We have to push our way through all the elementary school kids taking big group pictures. Right now I'm just working hard. My summer vacation was short-lived. Whispers of swine flu are everywhere here, as is probably the case back home. I can't help but feel that there is a lot of misinformation and hysteria driving everyone's actions. Still, it is unsettling to be in such a large city (so close to New York) at the same time the World Health Organization calls a flu pandemic imminent. I guess only time will tell how serious this actually is.

First Sunday

Well, the jet lag finally caught up with me. I slept in until 12:15 PM this morning, when I was supposed to meet everyone at 12:00 PM sharp to go to church. Luckily I got a wake-up call. Two members of the ward came to show us how to get to church, so one left with the group while the other waited for me. The ward was awesome. It was so refreshing to be back out in the mission field. The first speaker got up to the pulpit and said the customary "Good afternoon" to start her talk. I was caught off guard when the entire congregation enthusiastically answered with a "Good afternoon!" of their own. Apparently the ward has been having some very good success with missionary work. It is an inner city ward, so it is a very good cross-section off the population of the city. There is a large population of Africans who have immigrated on account of political turmoil. Many speak French, and it seems that the ward tries to accommodate the French speakers as much as possible. I hear that in June they will switch things up by doing all the meetings in French and translating into English rather than vice-versa. The Bishop was anxious to get us all callings. I'm very excited to be a part of the ward.

After church I decided to take a trip straight to Arlington National Cemetery. The land that the cemetery is on is historically significant in its own right. It was formerly owned by Robert E. Lee, but was appropriated by the US government during the Civil War as a burial place for Union soldiers. I spent some time just walking through the different graves. I was sure to catch the changing of the guard (pictured below), which was an extremely elaborate ceremony. The changing of the guard takes place in front of the "Tomb of the Unknowns" (formerly known as the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier"). It is guarded 24 hrs a day, 365 days a week.

Tomorrow we have to start class and Tuesday my internship will begin. I'm going to have to put my explorations of the city on hold. I hear that the bar next door does 50 cent tacos on Monday nights. I think you all know where I'm eating dinner tomorrow. All of the married couples were invited over to the couple missionary's condo this evening to have dessert and watch "The Amazing Race." I'd never watched the show but I know all of my family are fanatical followers. It was pretty good. Apparently we're invited back for next week's episode so I may just become hooked myself. While eating dessert we played a game where we answered hard questions. My question was, "If you were about to crash in a plane, who would you want sitting next to you?" That was easy. With the sting of the Jazz loss still fresh on my mind, I quickly replied, "Phil Jackson." Phil Jackson is the coach of the LA Lakers and was formerly the coach of Chicago Bulls. It's sad to see the Jazz on the verge of coming up empty handed yet another season. I'm going to try and catch a baseball game sometime when I'm out here. Of course it won't be to watch the Nationals. I'll wait until some high profile team comes to town.

I took some time to tour around town today. I really enjoyed being by myself for awhile. I went to the Library of Congress first. It was an incredible place. I found out that to use the reading rooms I need a library card, but a worker said I can get one if I have a research project. I'll try and think of a good research project next week and get myself a card. This first picture is me in front of the Supreme Court. No one showed up for the protest I was organizing, but the weather was great so it turned out to be okay.

This is a Southern Magnolia tree. When I saw it, I was reminded of all the magnolia trees near Camille's home and I was sad for a little while.

This is the previously mentioned Library of Congress. The Library of Congress actually spans three buildings. This is the more popular one. I was able to go through Thomas Jefferson's personal library and tour a Mesoamerican exhibit.
I picked out a bench here on Capitol Hill and spent some time reading Kurt Vonnegut. After that I met up with my good pal David Trichler. We went to a giant fountain/pool and spent some time catching up. I walked around Chinatown for some time looking for a good noodle place, but I ended up eating Mexican instead. At least the street sign in front of the restaurant was in Chinese. I listened to ESPN's Pardon the Interruption podcast while I ate which was sort of cool since I was right across the street the home of the Washington Post. I'm pretty sure that's where the podcast is recorded. My Washington dream would be to meet the hosts Michael Wilbon or Tony Kornheiser while I'm out here.

Arrival in Washington

Well, my blog posts were short lived, but I've decided to try and revive the blog. I'm going to try and give at least weekly updates on my life here in DC so that family and friends will know what I'm up to. It's almost 1:30 AM here which means it's 11:30 back home. I haven't even begun to adjust to the new time zone so I'm not tired, but I'll try to keep this short.

On Tuesday I will start an internship with the Treasury Department. I will be working in the Western Hemisphere office under International Affairs. I'm really quite excited to begin. I decided to get to DC a few days early to get all settled in. Upon arriving at Ronald Reagan International Airport, I quickly met a few people who are interns from BYU. Many of us are staying at BYU's Barlow Center. It is a dormitory/church office right off Pennsylvania Ave about one or two miles northwest of the White House. We all rode the subway from the airport to a place about three or four blocks from the Barlow Center and we did the rest on foot. It is very exciting to be outside of Utah again.

It's been refreshing to see people of all walks of life intermingling throughout the city. I spent some of the evening unpacking, but since I packed so light this took much less time than I expected. Another BYU student and I rode the subway to Costco, and bought a little more than we could comfortably carry on our own. We had to take several breaks as we carried giant stacks of wholesale burritos, sodas, breads, etc. through the crowded streets. The looks on the faces of those we passed kept me entertained as I struggled to not drop what must have been at least a fifty-pound load.

The rest of the evening was spent getting to know the other interns staying here. We spent some time walking out on the street. After we decided we'd had enough we went back to watch basketball. I miss Camille, but I'm excited to explore the town and make plans for all the fun things we'll do together when she flys out. Since I finished all my errands so early, I don't have much to do tomorrow. I think I'll sleep in and then head to the National Art Gallery or Library of Congress. I'm going to look for a nice place to read. I'm working on "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut. I also started Cormac McCarthy's "Cities of the Plane" and "There Are No Children Here" by Alex Kotlowitz. I normally don't take on more than two books at once, but I have some extra time. So far the Vonnegut has been the most entertaining. I love his irreverant and satirical humor. I'll try and spice up this blog with some pictures from my travels around town tomorrow. I may spend some time with the other interns, but the thought of exploring some of the more out of the way sights is appealing. I think I'll do what I want to do--at least for tomorrow.

Capitalism and Freedom

One of my favorite books of all time is Capitalism and Freedom by the famous Milton Friedman. I think that Milton Friedman is familiar to most outside of economics. If not, I'll fill you in. Milton Friedman is widely considered one of the greatest economic minds of our century. He taught for many years at University of Chicago, and I think even today their economics program is closely associated with his dedication to free-markets.

Capitalism and Freedom is a small book consisting of several essays about different governmental and public policy issues. The essays can be read separately and out of order, or you can approach the book as one complete whole. I have seen essays from the book republished as individual works. The essays examine some of the problems and inefficiencies of private and public entities, and then propose market-based solutions. For example, Friedman advocates removing barriers to entry such as professional licenses. He argues that these licenses act only to give those in the field higher salaries to the detriment of the consumer. These professionals insist on laws requiring a license by telling lawmakers it would be dangerous to the consumer to allow untrained and inexperienced outsiders into their field. What these professionals really want to do is keep their services in high demand so the consumer is limited in their ability to shop around for a good price. Friedman claims that by eliminating these licenses, there will be differentiation in salaries that will allow the consumer to get what they pay for.

So what would happen if we completely dismantled the law license requirements? No more standardized law schools, no more state licensing requirements, and no more bar exam. Would this really be so bad? Attorneys will tell you that lives will be damaged as untrained charlatans with no legal credentials dupe unsuspecting clients into their office. This would probably be true at the very beginning. Eventually, word of mouth and trial and error would separate the good from the bad. The cream would rise to the top, and the fakers would be pushed out of the business. All of the sudden, people would judge attorneys by their merit not by their degree. Law schools would still exist because they would produce good lawyers, not because it is the only way to get a law license. Legal geniuses could skip that step and go right into practice. Isn't it somewhat patronizing that government assumes no one would be able to figure this out? Lawmakers, trying to protect the consumer, actually may do more harm than good. The best part of a merit-based system is that the consumer could pick the level of attorney that they need. For smaller needs you would have the option of hiring a less experienced and lower paid attorney.

There already is price differentiation among attorneys. Most of us would select an attorney based on merit as it is. The point is that attorney fees would fall on average because law licensed individuals would no longer have a stranglehold on the legal services market. The same logic would apply to plumbers, taxi drivers, real estate agents, and the medical field. Friedman specifically attacks medical licenses and the American Medical Association in his book. The point is that a free market system should allow for free exchange between individuals. Whenever two individuals would like to exchange in a voluntary transaction, government should not interfere (assuming both sides have good information). Most things that restrain free exchange end up being detrimental to society as a whole. Free markets go hand in hand with personal freedom and liberty. These thoughts came out of the current financial situation, but I'll have to take that up later.

New Blog

I've decided to take a shot at blogging. Those who know me know that I usually have something to say. What a better place to say it than a blog. My hope is that this will not dominate all of my time. Because of the limited number of Scott Jensen's in the world, I was able to get first dibs on the prime url "scott-jensen.blogspot.com" My plan is to get things out on this blog so you don't have to listen to it firsthand.

I've been reading the autobiography of Gandhi. I realized that everything I know about the man comes from the movie made years ago. Although my feeling is that the film is mostly true to life, no film and no book for that matter can tell the story of a man like Gandhi. It is nice to get Gandhi in Gandhi's own words. His dedication to self-restraint incredible. His philosophy seems to be, "If it's pleasurable, cut it out." I'm guessing I have read up until his mid 40's. Up to this point he has become committed to celibacy and eliminated all spices or strong flavored foods from his diet. I do not feel that these actions helped Gandhi in any way per se, but it seems clear that his self-control in these areas translated into self-control in other aspects of life.

There is some sort of power in restraining oneself, even when that restraint seems pointless. My concern would be when that self-restraint becomes dangerous. As Gandhi has recounted his refusal to take certain medicines or certain medical treatments, I have wondered how much I agree with his convictions. I especially questioned his judgment when he withheld potentially lifesaving treatments from his deathly ill son because they went against his dietary code. It seemed like those stories of Jehovah's Witnesses refusing blood transfusions for themselves or their children. Gandhi would argue that we are all going to die, and what a better way to die then by following one's beliefs. Further, Gandhi has continually been an example of the power that one can claim by taking the moral high ground. His insistence on following what he believes to be the will of God consistently allows him to petition for divine assistance.