Oxford University Dictionary Goes Digital: Not to Worry

The Oxford University Press (OUP) has announced that complete dictionary sets have become so obsolete they may stop publishing them.

The Press accumulated roughly $734 million in sales of 30,000 boxed sets (pictured above) at about $1,000 each over 21 years.

In contrast, the Press' new online digital dictionary has two million subscribers already paying $295 per year creating new revenue of $600 million in the last year alone.

In other words, the OUP is solvent at least for now. And for what it's worth, unlike this blogger, I didn't get any consideration at all for writing this piece - and haven't for any other. If I ever do, I'll acknowledge it.

From the Emmy Award Show:

Here's a clip that made me smile. Well worth watching, this video from the Emmy Award Show last night gets better after the start with terrific singing, dancing and acting.

Drive, Work, Learn, Shop, Eat in Princeton, New Jersey

There has been a problem in the town of Princeton for many years about the issue of tax payments to the town. The university used to pay little in taxes, but now Princeton pays more than other ivy league universities, such as Harvard and Yale, which paid $4 and $7 respectively to Princeton's $10 in millions of dollars.

Despite this unusual generosity, townspeople are resentful of the apparent wealth of the university. They relentlessly push Princeton University at every available opportunity to pay more taxes, most famously, for public education.

Palmer Square, Princeton, New Jersey

Would the town have the same desirability without the university? Does it really fancy it is "Greenwich or Beverly Hills with a University"? I would say Princeton isn't the same. While the town has fine real estate, its healthy international reputation is the beneficiary of the prestige of Princeton University.

Nassau Street, Princeton, New Jersey

Around the world, everyone has heard of  Princeton, because of Princeton University, but like Stanford University, the town itself is somewhat more of a mystery. Do people really live there? At Stanford University, professors live near the university and spill over into the City of Palo Alto and other suburbs of San Francisco. At Princeton, professors live in the surrounding town of the same name and the area, roughly halfway between New York and Philadelphia. Harvard doesn't have a town in the Boston area of Massachusetts named after it, and professors tend to live in towns around the university.

 

Nassau Street, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

Many professors in general like to have a reliably and conveniently short commute and that is why the real estate around colleges and universities tend to be relatively stable, and affluent around the Ivy League Universities. I have no doubt that Princeton will continue to be one of the most winning places to live in America. 

Princeton is an idyllic place to live, with a very desirable climate and surrounded with beautiful real estate, large estates and substantial country houses built of stone and many  new areas in surrounding townships. Princeton is also the headquarters of hedge funds, pharmaceutical and technology companies. For entertainment, the McCarter Theater, music at Richardson Auditorium and the attractions of nearby Symphonies beckon, as do the close proximity of the Jersey shore, the Poconos, movie theaters, trains to airports and cities. 

McCarter Theater, University Ave at College Rd, Princeton, New Jersey

In addition, Princeton has an established philanthropic base with countless  social events to benefit the homeless,  medical services, and homeless pets. It also has the greatest concentration of private schools in America and is  the location of the home of the Governor of New Jersey as he commutes to the nearby state Capitol building in Trenton. But townies in Princeton shouldn't forget the University makes the town thrive and attracts tourists from all over the world, not the real estate. It might, however, be the real estate that makes tourists want to stay, become residents and pay taxes.

Studies Indicate Body Mass Index of 23 is Optimal

We've all heard that excess weight shortens human lifespan. Medical researchers have now announced statistical evidence that Body Mass Index or BMI numbers of 23 and 24 are optimal for good health. Among the 900,000 men and women in a study, mortality was lowest in that narrow range, according to an interesting  press release from the British Medical Research Council.

Here is a BMI table of heights and weights:

In the study, moderately obese individuals (BMI 30-35) had lifespans reduced by 3 years. Worse, severely obese  individuals (BMI 40-50) had lifespans reduced by 10 years, similar to the effect of lifelong smoking. There was also a higher death rate among those who had a BMI well below 23-24, where more information would be helpful.

Obesity is a serious public health problem with increasingly global consequences. Do you know what your BMI is today?

T. Colin Campbell

The China Study by Colin Campbell draws very interesting conclusions as far as the virtues of recommending a plant-based diet for optimum nutritional and health benefits are concerned. Thousands of studies indicate it's the best way to head off heart disease and strokes, all kinds of cancers and autoimmune diseases.

In my early twenties, I worked in the office of venerable former Head of the British Medical Research Council in Oxford, Sir Richard Doll, when he was Warden of Green College, now Green Templeton College, Oxford. He now has a building named after him, and I also met Sir Richard Peto mentioned in this release many times. In fact, I may have met Colin Campbell, too, which is why I trust this work. Incidentally, another very nice nutritionist, Barbara Rolls, who eventually created the Volumetrics Diet was an acquaintance at Green College, too.

Google's Eric Schmidt Sounds Off

Sometimes Google's CEO Eric Schmidt seems to be getting ahead of himself. Don't get me wrong; since he's an alumnus of Princeton University, he must be a good person.

Eric Schmidt, CEO Google, Inc.

But on television he claimed that Google Inc wants to organize and own all knowledge and put it online. This to me, ranks with the outlandishness of President Bush calling other countries "evil empires." I agree there are evil people, but people are in the end just people, not machines, at least not yet.

Now, he says, supposedly seriously, according to a recent interview at the Wall Street Journal, that if people in the future have a problem with their online identities, then poof! They can just change their names. No problem.

"The Wall Street Journal's Holman Jenkins writes in his interview with Eric Schmidt that the CEO "predicts, apparently seriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites."

"I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time," Schmidt said."

Huffington Post
 

This simply sounds preposterous, doesn't it? The idea that everyone, or anyone, really, should change given names to wipe clean any signs of previous online mistakes obviously has enormous legal and social consequences. Does he envision people identified by numbers (such as cell numbers) rather than names?

I don't know anything about his home life, but hasn't he ever thought of naming a child for life or about the value of intellectual and family genealogies? How will society work if people are forced to just change their names to erase online shame? Sure it's a new idea, but  it's not necessarily a good one. Please weigh in and leave a comment.

Remembering Mathematicians: Let's Talk about Mathematical Pedigrees

Now that teachers and parents are gearing up for the new school year, let's think about mathematics for a little while. Mathematicians have very desirable jobs according to a recent survey. One topic that might interest all students is the idea that mathematicians learn from other mathematicians before them. In addition, some mathematicians have fascinating academic lineages now search-able online.

The academic pedigree of mathematicians is a fascinating topic aided by computers and funded by the American Mathematical Society (AMS), one of the most prestigious of mathematical societies and associations, along with the Mathematical Association of America and many others.

It's fascinating to be able to go back, now very far back in time, and check the academic pedigrees of mathematicians. I would encourage all my readers to check out the Mathematics Genealogy Project.

By searching for a mathematician, and then clicking on the advisor links, it's possible to travel back many centuries in time and see how mathematicians are connected.

Let's start at home, with one Paul Seymour. Dear reader, I married him. On the home page, search Paul Seymour, and his advisor at Balliol College, at the University of Oxford was Aubrey Ingleton. Click on Ingleton, and on Ingleton's site, click on advisor links to descend directly back to famous mathematicians such as G.H. Hardy, and before him, Sir Arthur Cayley, who was descended from Sir Isaac Newton and then his line continues back to the great Galileo. Paul Seymour's lucky students at Princeton should know they were taught by  someone who learned from Galileo!

This was interesting news to us. The AMS has been busy…Guess I should thank them at this point. As with family pedigrees with which we are more familiar, mathematical pedigrees, if true (a very large if), should be taken with large flakes of salt (and not create social impediments) with value as interesting mathematical folklore not business advantage.

Actually, maybe math teachers might want to research this site and point it out to students whose interest might be captured and motivated by this cool research tool. The world needs more mathematicians, whoever taught them and whatever establishment they attended.

Incidentally, the AMS has just announced the establishment of digital archives in mathematical research journals, over 34,000 articles.

A few hundreds or thousands of mathematicians will attend the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Hyderabad, India, August 19-27, 2010. The Congress meets only once every four years and is a forum for announcements of major recent mathematical breakthroughs. Invitations to attend are highly sought after and prestigious, and major mathematical awards are usually given at the Congress. We're thinking of them. Click here to search a database of mathematicians who have given talks at ICMs since 1897. 

Finally, can't resist saying I am currently noticing math blogs buzzing about a paper currently being reworked about P and NP. The blogs by Lipton, Gowers and Aaronson are strictly for insiders, but interesting to read for recent results and collaborative professional effort.

Knowledge can change perceptions, which in turn can change reality-Linda Greenhouse

Have you ever wished to be invisible? Scientists have discovered a way to step closer to the ideal "cloak of invisibility" with Harry Potter-esque possibilities. The science is being developed, but it would appear rays of light are deflected away from a very tightly knit fabric of gold-etched silk. It could have many exciting medical applications, and many, many other uses, and kids would love it.

This Is Sure to Make America Sound Attractive

America plans to make skilled foreigners pay to close America's door to unskilled foreigners.

The increase [in visas for skilled foreigners'] fees is what pays for the bill's $600 million in spending on increased border personnel, unmanned aerial drones, and other initiatives to help stop illegal immigration to the U.S. WSJ

Unfortunately, America hasn't updated inefficiencies at "Homeland Insecurity" and discourages smart, legal immigration as much as possible.  Worse, this new measure intuitively violates international law as a form of "indirect protectionism." How smart is that? Full article in the Wall Street Journal.

The Superior Diet: Varied and Lean to Protect Your Health

An article in today's Wall Street Journal, Not So Young at Heart? by Ron Winslow has important news on the topic of heart disease. New research from a 20-year study involving 3,258 people, 18-30 years of age, found that the cumulative effect of even modestly abnormal cholesterol heightens your risk of developing telltale signs of heart disease by age 45. LDL levels should be below 70, whereas current national guidelines consider LDL below 100 optimal.

bn.com

As my recently recommended book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by C.B. Esselstyn M.D. tells, national cholesterol levels are far too high at  200 and should be below 150. Rip Esselstyn, C.B. Esselstyn's son, has a book, Engine 2 Diet, with lots of tasty recipes and exercises to help reduce your cholesterol and LDL.

The China Study by T. Colin Campbell  tells the same news with a convincing case for a varied diet of plant-based fruits, vegetables and whole grains. This recent research taken from long studies of the Chinese population reinforces the need for more strictness in the American diet, as far as cutting back on oils, is concerned, along with the need for a vegan diet,  one without dairy, eggs and meats, fish, white flour foods. This is a diet that can be extremely challenging to follow if one eats out a lot or with others not on the diet, but the rewards make it well worth following: to have more energy, a settled digestive system, and it could push cancer away and save your heart. Diet does all this! 

bn.com

Warning: These books are extremely persuasive.

In stock at Whole Foods Grocery stores and bookstores.