Another Attempt at Atlas as a Movie?

Several days ago Daily Variety reported that Lionsgate had picked up the worldwide distribution rights for a movie version of Ayn Rand's massive novel "Atlas Shrugged". As my About Me page indicates, Rand's novels (AS plus The Fountainhead) are my all-time favorites, alongside JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. With great movies recently made for the latter, I can only hope that a good movie for Atlas will be produced as well. Many have attempted the project over the years (the novel was first published in 1957), but it has always died off pretty early in the process. It is difficult to come up with a good script for a 1,000+ page philosophical novel, one that is true to the author's message and the basic plot, while updating it (perhaps) for a contemporary audience and technology scene. (A movie version of The Fountainhead was made in 1949, with Rand herself as the screenplay author. It starred Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, and Raymond Massey. Although it is generally not regarded as a particularly good film, I liked it.)

This most recent Atlas movie news quickly spread around this week: the hollywood news world, the blogosphere, and the Internet in general. This was in part because of two major celeb names attached to the announcement. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are apparently fans of Rand's novels. Pitt has expressed an interest in playing the lead role (Howard Roark) in a movie of The Fountainhead. But now they seem to be interested in possibly getting the leads in Atlas Shrugged, playing John Galt and Dagny Taggart. I can think of far worse to play those roles, and they would certainly draw a lot of attention to the film.

Besides the Daily Variety article, see also Robert Bidinotto's blog entry on this which provides several other good links to articles from the past week on this story (though really a Google News search will bring up dozens!). Particularly fun reading is power-blogger and Rand-fan VodkaPundit's wishlist for an Atlas movie cast. Trying to cast Rand's novels has long been a fun pastime for Rand fans... and I like many of his picks. The comments at his blog on this are interesting too.

Long Lost Samuel Beckett Play Discovered

The Onion reports that a long-lost Samuel Beckett play has been discovered, see the article Scholars Discover 23 Blank Pages That May As Well Be Lost Samuel Beckett Play.

This item is hilarious, and I especially like this: "In addition, an 81-page document, also blank, was found, which, for all intents and purposes, could be an earlier draft of the work."

Other current Onion items that I especially liked include:

• Calculus Problem Hits too Close to Home
• Weekender cover - the Bill Nye "The Science Guy" cover story is OK, but I really laughed at the one-liner at the bottom of the cover about "Constant Rage"

Happy Birthday to Shakespeare

Thanks to Chris Grieb for noting that today is the day that tradition claims as William Shakespeare's birthday (exact date is not known, but it is guessed to be 4/23 based on his baptism having been 4/26 and the customs of the day).

I'm using this opportunity to list a few of my favorite Shakespearean insults... his writing and wit will always amaze. He often used insults that sounds a bit dated, but aren't that uncommon, like rascal, rogue, crafty devil, fishmonger, dull fool, jackaknape, and so on. But these I find particularly good:

• hourly promise-breaker
• notable coward
• infinite and endless liar (see also: measureless liar)
• counterfeit module
• unbaked and doughy youth
• fat and greasy citizen
• you of basest function (see also: basest thing)
• confirmer of false reckonings
• nature's sale work
• carcass fit for hounds
• mere anatomy
• that-way-accomplished courtier
• depender on a thing that leans
• wretch whose natural gifts were poor
• breeder of sinners
• slovenly unhandsome corpse

Ouch! And those are just from the first two pages of the interesting book "Shakespeare's Insults: Educating Your Wit". I'll post more favorites later...

All-Time Mets Book Chapter Posted

Today I posted my draft chapter on the New York Mets.

For the book introduction and one other team chapter posted so far (Pirates), see the book project index page.

On Immigration

Most articles, editorials, and letters to the editor that you read on the immigration issue in the USA, whether arguing on any side of the issue, focus on specific aspects of the pending legislations in the Congress. Rarely do you find a principled, philosophical essay on the subject. I have found one that I think is superb, written by Harry Binswanger, titled Open Immigration, that captures almost perfectly my philosophical views on immigration. It is particularly long, and it is a very easy read. His opening paragraph summarizes his (and my own) views on immigration:

This is a defense of phasing-in open immigration into the United States. Entry into the U.S. should ultimately be free for any foreigner, with the exception of criminals, would-be terrorists, and those carrying infectious diseases. (And note: I am defending freedom of entry and residency, not the automatic granting of U.S. citizenship).

In the rest of his essay, Binswanger states his principled views on immigration, and gives the background philosophical premises that support them. What he doesn't do is provide explicit statements on current proposed legislation, or even his views on any specific proposals that might come up in the current debate on immigration in the US. In fact, you won't even find much use of hot-button terms used in the debate, like "guestworker", "amnesty", "fences", "minute-men", and so on.

However, I can't put a price on the value that an essay like this provides. It gives a clarity of thought to the issues, from which you can then formulate well-reasoned views on specific legislation or specific proposals. Some positions are pretty clearly implied by his essay, but specific implementation details are left open for debate and finalization. This includes what to do about recent illegal aliens regarding their residence and work in this country going forward and a potential path to citizenship. This also includes what to do about border security in regards to immigration, and to choose one concrete issue, whether or not to build a fence between US and Mexico, and if we do, where, what kind of fence, and so on. Rather than give direct answers to these questions, this essay provides a principled view of immigration to serve as a base for determining views on concrete suggestions.

Greenpeace Founder Favors Nuclear Energy

In recent years I have read many things written by Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace. While still defending a cleaner environment, he is quite critical of many contemporary environmentalists and the current "movement" as a whole. Thanks goes to my friend Stu for pointing out his latest, an opinion piece in the Washington Post titled Going Nuclear. Read both pages of this article... I think you'll be impressed. He makes a very good case for why the US should have more Nuclear plants.

Included are brief responses to the major criticisms of increasing electricity production from Nuclear plants. For example, in response to the charge that Nuclear plants are not safe, Moore writes:

Although Three Mile Island was a success story, the accident at Chernobyl, 20 years ago this month, was not. But Chernobyl was an accident waiting to happen. This early model of Soviet reactor had no containment vessel, was an inherently bad design and its operators literally blew it up. The multi-agency U.N. Chernobyl Forum reported last year that 56 deaths could be directly attributed to the accident, most of those from radiation or burns suffered while fighting the fire. Tragic as those deaths were, they pale in comparison to the more than 5,000 coal-mining deaths that occur worldwide every year. No one has died of a radiation-related accident in the history of the U.S. civilian nuclear reactor program.

And in response to the "most serious" issue raised against Nuclear power, that Nuclear fuel can be diverted to make nuclear weapons, Moore writes:

...just because nuclear technology can be put to evil purposes is not an argument to ban its use. Over the past 20 years, one of the simplest tools -- the machete -- has been used to kill more than a million people in Africa, far more than were killed in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings combined. What are car bombs made of? Diesel oil, fertilizer and cars. If we banned everything that can be used to kill people, we would never have harnessed fire.

His responses on each point are all good ones. A good read, and further proof that "environmentalism" is far from a monolithic movement.

Taxing Numbers

Chris Edwards of Cato had an interesting brief piece on 4/17 titled The Simple (Tax) Life. There was talk last year, pushed by the Bush administration, of significant tax reform. It doesn't look like it will happen now, but it really is needed. Check out these numbers:

• The number of pages of federal tax rules and regulations increased from 40,500 in 1995 to 66,498 in 2006
• The number of pages in the IRS guide for Form 1040 increased from 84 in 1995 to 142 in 2005
• The number of different IRS tax forms increased from 475 in 2000 to 582 in 2006
• The cost of compliance for federal taxpayers - filling out tax returns and related chores - increased from $112 billion in 1995 to $265 billion in 2005
• H&R Block's revenues from tax preparation soared from $740 million in 1996 to $2.2 billion in 2005
• The complex alternative minimum tax hits 4 million taxpayers today, but will hit 30 million by 2010 if not repealed.
• The number of special tax breaks for education increased from 7 in 1995 to 16 today. The number of breaks for the energy industry jumped from 11 to 26 during the same period.

Edwards then notes that four costs imposed on society from tax complexity itself (read his article for an explanation of each):

1. It creates a large and growing "tax industry" that draws some of the nation's brightest minds into unproductive activities such as designing corporate tax shelters.
2. It impedes efficient decision making.
3. It promotes an invasion of privacy by the government.
4. It exacerbates noncompliance with the law.

He then concludes that:

The good news is that reducing tax avoidance, simplifying the tax code, and boosting economic growth go hand in hand. For example, the current tax code has different rules for different types of businesses and investments. Tax lobbyists are expert at combining these disparate rules in unexpected ways to avoid taxes. Such tax rule arbitrage would be ended under a Steve Forbes-style flat tax, which would treat all businesses in the same neutral manner. Also, the low rate under the flat tax would discourage loophole lobbying. The result would be that resources flowed to their highest-value uses, not politically favored ones, thus boosting U.S. productivity and output.

Dropout rates... not so high?

Alan Reynolds (Cato) has an interesting brief piece Dropout Nation? where he notes some contrasting numbers between surveys on high school drop-out rates (both general, and comparing whites and minority groups). He argues that the recent Time magazine cover story on this subject is flawed.

Aside from the specifics of this situation, which is an empirical matter, I was glad to see him raise the increasingly important issue of grant and other funding for crises, and the role that the media plays in this. He ends with this nice zinger:

The only thing more tiresome than enduring the boredom of a monopolistic public high school is to grow up and be faced with the American media's naive and fumbling efforts to dream up an endless series of imaginary crises.

Maybe someday I'll start a list of "crises" that are exaggerated or fabricated by the media, with an emphasis on ones that lend themselves to channeling or increasing government spending to fix them. Would be an interesting project I think...

College Baseball Hall of Fame

I found out yesterday that there will soon be a College Baseball Hall of Fame. You can read about it at the website of the College Baseball Foundation. It will be located in Lubbock, Texas. I have several thoughts on this, so I thought I'd share:

1. In one sense, I'm surprised there isn't already such a hall of fame for College Baseball in the US. But seemingly there isn't: see this list of halls of fame from Wikipedia. Ones I certainly wasn't aware of include the halls for Gospel Music, international swimming, distance running, mountain biking, Canadian medicine, robots, and three -- yes three -- for professional wrestling. Given how popular it is in the US, I'm a bit surprised that College Basketball is not listed... unless I missed it. Is there a Hall of Fame for the NCAA Basketball? Or is its coverage in the general Basketball Hall of Fame the reason there isn't a separate one?

2. Then again, college baseball just isn't very popular in the US. It has a following to be sure, but it is very small compared to other college sports. And there is good reason for this. For some sports, the college level is arguably the highest level of achievement in that sport (in the US), because there isn't much of a professional league or whatnot. Then for men's Basketball and Football, the NBA and NFL rely on the college athletes as the training ground for their new players. Almost all players who are in the professional drafts come from the college teams (a bit less so lately for the NBA, given the rise of European basketball).

But baseball has a well-developed and longstanding minor-league system. Most players who are rookies on the major league teams come from the minor league teams. Yes, a few come straight from college, and more go from college to some level of the minors and then eventually the majors. But many others go from High School straight to the minors, bypassing college. This has to be the number one reason that American baseball fans largely don't follow the college game.

3. Given this, I think that CBF Chairman/CEO John Askins is overstating things a bit when he says:

"Just like Canton and Cooperstown, sports fans around the nation will begin to turn their attention to Lubbock every summer... This first-ever class of inductees will give our event a unique place in the history of sports. The national television exposure on the Fox networks will also showcase to the nation just how vibrant and growing an area the South Plains really is."

We'll see. That might be a bit optimistic. After the first year, and maybe one or two more, I predict most Americans, including most baseball fans, won't pay much attention.

4. The CBF link above also includes this paragraph:

The list of legendary former players include Dave Magadan of Alabama, Bob Horner of Arizona State, Mickey Sullivan of Baylor, Jackie Jensen of California, Tim Wallach of Cal State Fullerton, Derek Tatsuno of Hawai’i, Pete Incaviglia and Robin Ventura of Oklahoma State, Billy Swift of Maine, Neal Heaton of Miami, Barry Larkin of Michigan, Paul Molitor and Dave Winfield of Minnesota, Will Clark of Mississippi State, B. J. Surhoff of North Carolina, Steve Arlin of Ohio State, Brooks Kieschnick and Keith Moreland of Texas, Fred Lynn of USC, John Olerud of Washington State and Joe Carter and Phil Stephenson of Wichita State.

Of course I realize the context for this is their performance in College Baseball. Still, I have trouble seeing the word "legendary" applied to some of these players. Many of these guys were great players in the pros, a few are even enshrined at Cooperstown already. But then there are the other "legends" here like Magadan, Sullivan, Heaton, Arlin, Kieschnick, and Stephenson. I know, the context. I just never thought I'd see the word "legendary" applied to Neal Heaton. (Part of me is glad to see Pete Incaviglia's name in print again... though I don't know why exactly.)

The list of pre-1947 candidates, on the other hand, does include at least one true "legend" of our American culture: Lou Gehrig. Christy Mathewson was one of the top 10 pro pitchers of all-time, so he too is a "legend" of sorts. And at least Frankie Frisch (another Cooperstown HOFer) had a nickname named after his college, "The Fordham Flash."

5. I won't give you my votes for who should go in during this first year, mostly because I don't know enough about their college years -- and I assume that should be the main factor on who is most deserving of the honor. I'll be interested to see who gets in... for this first year at least.

Scary Entitlement Numbers

The Feburary 20 issue of Business Week has an editorial titled "Recognizing the Entitlement Peril" which reports some startling numbers. Anyone who pays the least attention to the news in the US knows by now that Social Security is in trouble and will be insolvent within a generation. What is less well known, because less often reported, is the financial crisis facing Medicare. Here is the most striking quote from this editorial:

Indeed, if we do nothing, the big three programs [SS, Medicare, Medicaid] are forecast to eat up nearly 20% of America's gross domestic product by 2040, roughly the share consumed by all federal spending today. In other words, without entitlement reform or huge tax increases, we would basically just be able to fund the big three after shutting down the rest of Washington (including the Pentagon).

Putting it that way makes the situation pretty clear.

It so happens that back in November I clipped a similar item from Business Week, and put it in my "For when I start a blog" folder. This one was "Spending is Out of Control" from the November 14 issue, and was written by none other than David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the U.S. ("the nation's top auditor and chief accountability officer"). Here is the most striking aspect of his article:

Less well known, the federal government's long-term liabilities and net commitments, such as those relating to Social Security and Medicare, have risen from just over $20 trillion in fiscal 2000 to more than $43 trillion in fiscal 2004, in large part because of the passage of the Medicare prescription drug bill in December, 2003. This translates into a burden of more than $150,000 per American and $350,000 per full-time worker, up from $72,000 and $165,000 in 2000, respectively. Those amounts are growing fast because of continuing deficits, our aging society's longer lifespans, slower workforce growth, and compounding interest costs.

Yikes. We each "owe" $350,000. He goes on to say:

That's why it's time to get serious about our nation's fiscal future. The federal government should provide more clarity about where we are and where we are headed from a fiscal perspective. It also should reimpose meaningful budget controls on both the tax and spending sides of the ledger and begin a long-overdue review of all major federal spending programs, tax policies, and operating practices. Believe it or not, much of the government is on autopilot and based on economic, security, workforce, and other conditions that existed in the 1950s and 1960s. It is time to rationalize and modernize the mission, programs, policies, and operations of the federal government to reflect the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

I agree with most of that. The issue of tax cuts and their effect on government revenues is debateable: by reducing certain taxes, you improve the economy, which generates more value and wealth, which is then a broader base that is taxed... so that is a matter of economic curves and maximization points. But certainly we should review all government spending, esp. if "much fo the government is on autopilot and based on... conditions that existed in the 1950s and 1960s."

Sadly, even doing as Walker advises will only improve the situation somewhat. Improving government effeciency and modernizing how it works for the 21st century is no doubt a good idea, a good first step. But more important would be to ask -- and properly answer -- basic philosophical questions about what the proper functions of government are, that is, ask what its proper scope should be instead of always arguing about its "size" in terms of dollars spent or people employed.

Letters to WSJ Regarding Hashemi at Yale

As further followup to my several earlier posts about Mr. Hashemi attending Yale, and in particular John Fund's continuing columns on this issue for the WSJ, here are links to some letters to the WSJ that are interesting. First two from 4/4 that are in support of Yale, and then three from 4/11 that are, like Fund, critical of Yale. (Thanks to Chris Grieb for providing me these links.)

List of Global Warming Doubts

Without here getting into a debate on the subject, I thought I'd link to an interesting blog item from an editor at Scientific American, George Musser. He has gathered together a categorized list of doubts about the dominant view on climate change, global warming. A thorough list, and an interesting read.

Medical Math

Here is an interesting short item from Arnold King (Cato) that appeared in the WSJ on April 7: Bill of Health. The topic is the recent health care mandates in Massachusetts, and how the economic math just doesn't make any sense. The increased taxes this will cause seem to be significant.

Necktie will go bye-bye?

I have long argued that the necktie in men's fashion should be retired. I have stressed this since I was teenager in the 1980s. Since then it has become a bit of a joke amongst family and friends.

Two of my favorite shows back then were MacGyver and Star Trek: Next Generation. The latter, set several centuries from now, had radically different men's fashions than we do today. Neat, efficient, tight, usually two-color jumpsuits. Made sense to me, but I also recognized that they were military uniforms, not everyday casual wear. The more realistic men's fashion attitude that I really took to was that of MacGyver. He didn't like dressing up. If memory serves, he almost never wore a necktie. He always looked good, mind you, but he would usually opt for a turtleneck, or a henley-collar shirt (see current picture at Wikipedia entry, where he has a blue henley collar shirt with leather jacket), or perhaps a regular collared shirt sans necktie -- even at functions where all the other men were in suits and ties, or even tuxes.

This kind of fashion individualism made sense to me, and still does -- it wasn't tatoos, nose-rings (or an earring on a guy), punk hair, or weirdo clothes. You still look good, are semi-formal (in that you aren't wearing a t-shirt and jeans or shorts), and are being respectful of the event or context. But you aren't dressed like everyone else (looking like penguins), you are undoubtedly more comfortable than they are, and you are dressed more efficiently -- especially with regard to the lack of the necktie, which is decoration and just gets in the way.

If you had told me a few weeks ago when I started this blog that I'd be blogging about men's fashion, I would have laughed. Indeed, my view of neckties and/or my affinity for henley-collar shirts is the only topic I could have imagined I could blog about in the fashion arena. I really don't pay attention to fashion, men's or women's.

So why today? Because I read an column this morning in my local paper that is in-line with my views. Mark Hare's Probably for the better, fashion has gone casual is a nice read, and even goes this far:

Within a decade, though, I think it's possible that the necktie may be an extinct fashion dinosaur.

And he even ends with a reference to Star Trek:

But I am not sorry to see clothing choices widen. When Star Trek first came on TV, I didn't think society would ever move from business suits to the shimmering form-hugging dress wear of science fiction. Now, I think we'll reach that point a lot sooner than we'll engage the Klingons in deep space.

I won't go so far to give the necktie only 10 more years, but I do think it will eventually die out as a fashion. Think about how men used to dress, back in Thomas Jefferson's day and earlier... with the wigs, the puffy shirts, the stockings, and a gazillion other unnecessary things. To me, the necktie is the one glaring holdover from those days. And so it will eventually go as well. I don't think standard collars will die off, though I do think that henley-collar, no-collar dress shirts, turtlenecks, etc., will become more common once the tie is largely gone (because you need the collar to hide the necktie around the neck, so without the necktie, you just have one less reason to buy a shirt with a standard collar).

Flying Spaghetti Monster Gospel Released

I was only recently introduced to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a parody religion created by one Bobby Henderson to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. The idea has gotten quite a following it seems: see the FSM homepage and also this informative wikipedia entry about it (there are many interesting items in the See Also list at the wiki page).

The news lately is the publication of The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It is already quite popular, yesterday it ranked 43rd in book salse at Amazon!

The Daily Improvisation

Thanks to Diana Hsieh's blog for introducing me to Eric Barnhill's innovative blog, The Daily Improvisation. Here classical pianist Eric Barnhill provides a new improvised piece of music every few days. You can download each song in MP3 format. I've now done so and listened to all of them; although he just started this blog earlier this year, he has already posted 27 pieces. He is very talented... it is hard to believe these are all improvisations!

Sex Change to Avoid Saudi Oppression

This is not a headline from The Onion. This was reported by Reuters via Yahoo! News: "Fed up of being women, five Saudis change sex"

This story certainly speaks volumes. Things are so bad for women in Saudi Arabia that some are fed up and have sex changes. Wow.

Another followup on Fund on Yale

John Fund of the Wall Street Journal continues his writing on the case of "Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, the 27-year-old Taliban ambassador-at-large turned Yale student". I first blogged about this here, and then updated here.

The latest items from Mr. Fund are worth reading as well. See his 3/27 article and then his 3/30 article and then today's 4/3 article.

Castro and Students: Nearly a laugh but really a cry

See this AP report by Anita Snow in the Washington Post. The article focuses mostly on the increasing US travel and trade restrictions with Cuba, a common thing to write about. But what spurred this particular article was an educational trip that some American University students took to Cuba recently.

What made me literally laugh out loud was the following:
"The students said they were at times puzzled by the contradictions between Cuban government rhetoric about the benefits of a socialist society and Cubans' lack of material wealth. 'I've travelled a lot and for me it has been very frustrating,' said 21-year old Jessica Skinner of Grand Junction, Colo. 'I came here being very anti-embargo and now that I'm here, I'm confused.'"

Confused indeed. The reporter then said "Such exposure to the complex Cuban reality is increasingly rare." Yes, that's it... the Cuban reality is "complex". Never mind that this communist country has a single ruling dictator for the past 47 years. Never mind that Forbes has estimated he has a personal net worth of around $550 million (Castro has contested that and threatened to sue the magazine for defamation). Never mind that people are desperate to leave the island nation, and are willing to risk their lives on rickety boats to get to Florida and freedom. Cuba is a "complex reality".

Another laughable quote from this article: "Castro and other Cuban officials have criticized the travel crackdown, saying the Bush administration is violating the constitutional rights of American citizens." Admittedly, whether this is true or not is open to debate. But what is funny here is Castro's appeal to the American constitution. Wow.

So this latest Nearly a laugh but really a cry award goes jointly to the Castro regime in Cuba, these students who are "confused", and their educators who have "confused" them by not teaching the truth about socialism and communism with all of the invidual rights violations that occur in countries that implement such systems.

Abortion, round 47

Or is that round 347? The battles over abortion in the US keep going and going. Frankly, of all the hot-button topics, domestic or international, that appear in the news and that I might blog about, abortion is one I am not likely to blog about very often.

However, I found this article in the Baltimore Sun quite interesting.

Recent legislation in South Dakota would ban abortions in all cases except where the life of the woman was in danger... meaning they would even be banned in the cases of rape or incest. The purpose of this law is much wider than just South Dakota, as it has been explicitly stated to be a challenge against Roe v. Wade at the federal level. That is the real purpose behind it.

But the news here is that a female nurse, and the first female president of the Ogalala Sioux Tribe, is planning to open a Planned-Parenthood style abortion clinic on Indian reservation land. Since Indian reservations are considered sovereign nations in legal terms (it is complicated, but for the most part they are), this is an interesting development. How many states have Indian reservations? If Roe v. Wade were struck down, and legal control over abortion reverted back to the States, then how many would make it illegal (perhaps not in as extreme a way as S.D. is trying to do), only to find legel abortions still taking place within the bounds of their state on the Indian lands? Very interesting hypothetical situation.

Baseball Book Project Started Up Again

I am currently writing a book on baseball. This project started in late 2000, but I haven't done much work on it in the past few years. It focuses on the recurring question of determining the All-Time team rosters for each major-league franchise. This is a fun question, one that fans have argued over for decades. My book will have 26 chapters (one for each of the long-standing franchises), plus an introduction, and perhaps a few wrap-up chapters or appendices. For the purposes of this book, a "franchise" includes the history of a team across moves from city to city (e.g., the Dodgers includes both the LA and Brooklyn teams).

For each team analysis, I will begin by presenting my own choices for each position: a starter and a backup, with 6 outfielders, 10 pitchers (mixed starters and relievers), a team captain, a starting batting order, and so on. For each player, brief highlights will be given, to indicate the essentials of my reasoning for choosing him over the other viable candidates (who are also briefly described). This should amount to the most detailed consideration of this topic thus far in print.

However, I will be going beyond my own choices by comparing them with the choices of other authors and surveys. Some of these will be recent while some will be older fan surveys and other sources. I have done a lot of research to find as many alternate All-Time Team selections as I can, so that I can compare them with my own selections.

I currently have about half the chapters drafted, though each needs to be updated. And preliminary research has been conducted for most of the rest. I plan to eventually self-publish it as a traditional print book, likely through a print-on-demand company. For now I will be posting draft chapters on my personal website as I update them. The introductory chapter has also been posted.

Some Rich Chinese

According to Feb. 6 Businessweek, there are now 300,000 millionaires in China. I assumed there were more now than in the past, and they do have a huge population, but 300,000 already? Nice to see. And especially since, until recently, successful entrepreneurs in China were "running scared", targeted for very high taxes, or even jailed (apparently because they did the "wrong" of becoming wealthy -- other than by being a high-ranking government official -- in a still quasi-communist state). This article is short, so it unfortunately doesn't ask important questions, such as how many of these entrepreneurs became wealthy through capitalist actions only, or through political pull, or both... or asking how the non-urban Chinese are doing these days. Nonetheless, I was surprised and pleased to see that large figure of Chinese millionaires.