I love these guys! You should see their deposit from home app: simply photo check and it’s deposited.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7

I believe that man will not merely endure, he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. William Faulkner 1949 Noble Prize Banquet speech.

4th Annual Gathering of science blogger and science journalists from around the world. Total attendance of about 260 including keynote address by Michael Spector of the New Yorker. Hosted by Sigma Xi and the RTP.

Additional info: http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki

Those closed eyes! Thanks to Ernie Hood for filming the interview.

Our team at IBM helps to sponsor the annual Tech at Tuck series with its early winter annual roundtable. The theme this year is mobility. Blue Pane Studio, an IBM business partner (my wife is the Art Director), offered to develop this simple app for Tuck. As I’ve learned from the sidelines, and probably won’t surprise you, is that Apple is easy to work with and provides a wealth of support and tools for designing web apps. The approval process is quick and easy.

Search RTP or Blue Pane Studio at the App Store if you are one of the iPhone 13 million and interested in RTP, NC activities.

Greetings friends and welcome to the new year
Begone 2009, 2010 I say you’re welcome here
Remember the panic of Y2K wondering if computers would no longer work
Welcome to Y2K+10, for employment & housing what yet may lurk?!
We greeted our new president, retirement plans gone bust
what to do about our homes and cars, but health care reform is must
Roy Williams and his Tar Heels soothed some of Carolina’s sadness
with his second victory in the much revered annual March madness
Tiger has long showed the marvel of his focus to achieve
now we’re again wondering who were supposed to believe
On Sevier Street in Durham, we’re up to the same tricks
both working from home with cocktails at 6
Alex in year 2 at UC Boulder while serving the Navy
Owen near 6 feet in grade 8 seems only to say ‘pass the gravy’
Tessa’s studio blossomed avoiding the misery of the subprime dark
designing for All About Beer and the Research Triangle Park
Trips to New York including the chance to see Roger, Venus & Serena
favorite moments are the NOLA memories with David and the dinners of Christina
Certainly the news from friends is not always bright
illness, divorce and sudden passing darkened too many a night
As the last hours of this first decade depart in bright lights all donned
let’s celebrate the occasion with some of the friends of whom I am fond
Lts. Chris and Noah at Duke NROTC perform their duty
Anna and Suzanne match this braun with brains & beauty
Jim and Heidi of new MBA and new PhD fame
are about to explore the lifestyle of the Cupertino Apple game
Before joining Granite, Phill coached Duke into the lax final 4
then sent to Japan to show the country boss the exit door
In touch with the Billings 4 and Hoffmann 5 on their Michigan turfs
while wondering if I’ll get to San Diego to see if Steve Gilmore truly surfs
In late October Jack joined the population as a healthy boy
Brian & Jen, Nigel & Patrick look to January for their bundles of joy
Sabine, Anton, Bora and Delene
boosted scienceinthetriangle onto the blogging scene
Ben, Bill and Seth applied their skills with barely a moan
producing workshops, WordPress and even apps for the iPhone
Tennis with Kris, Wendy & Tom always a great feeling
dining out with Artem & Troppe, our upstairs toilet leaked thru the living room ceiling
Long time shipmates Schreiber, Whit, Petersen and David Mclellan
Gary retiring to Florida for his slice of Smarter Planet heaven
Tweeting aunts Neddie, Linda, Sandra, Brenda of Mt. Airty hometown
Incredibly cousin Chase met Hermione in their first year at Brown
Sayonara, Adios, Bon Chance I’ll do better in twenty ten
whatever the awaiting adventure let’s remain each other’s friend

Raining again in Durham. After the drought of 07, I steel myself not to complain as the waters fall. And we’re 3x the usual for this time of year. My form of lemonade for this circumstance would be snow, which is a stretch for Central Carolina in late Fall. Healthcare and the associated reform movement perplex me. Participated recently in a well-managed discussions within this topic. Duke’s Fuqua School hosted a day-long series of panel discussions on how we, the nation and its array of providers, payers and patients, might find a way to get most of the healthcare that we pay for. By now, it is common knowledge that the USA pays the most per capita without being close to the top in quality of care received. Tangentially, we’re applying the same thinking to the war in Afghanistan, i.e. we must do the right thing even if it is neither affordable nor is victory, however measured, likely with this continued investment of resources. “Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian Knot of it he will unloose, Familiar as his garter” (Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 1 Scene 1. 45–47)

Back to Fuqua. The participating senior members of the government, the sincere consultants, the MDs turned economists and the very bright business school students (Fuqua competes with Wharton for the top spot in HMS (Health Management Systems- the program once known as Masters of Hospital Administration)- were thwarted by the complexity and interconnection of the elements of our problem. If we solve one part, we penalize an important constituency; if we resolve that part, we anger this other important constituency. The hovering bomb, of course, is the unfunded liability, now estimated to be $59 trillion dollars, for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid obligations. Occurred to me that the sole and probable solution, unless we want to continuously spend 20%+ of the GDP on healthcare, is to prepare for the collapse of the system. Some hope remains if the likes of this MBAs attack the root causes of this mess. With enough time and authority, they will make an important difference. If they venture into healthcare front as a second option to employment on Wall Street, then it’s welcome to HCA – HealthCareAfghanistan.

By the way, some argue that the Push-Up is the best indicator of physical fitness.

Remarks by Secretary Eric K. Shinseki
War Memorial Dedication at Duke University
Durham, NC
October 23, 2009
 
Good morning, everyone. It’s wonderful to be back on this beautiful campus, where I spent two memorable years of study and reflection. I’m honored to be here today to help re-dedicate the memorial honoring Duke Graduates who fell in service to our country.

After studying engineering at West Point, and serving two combat tours in Vietnam, I arrived in Durham in 1974, thinking I had cleared some of life’s most challenging hurdles. Then I encountered the English Department. Wow! I think I spent every waking moment for two years reading books and articles most undergrad English majors had perused as sophomores. But, what I learned at Duke has served me well for over 30 years now, and the memories of my time here are fond and deep.

Duke has had many distinguished alumni, but the names on this memorial personify duty, honor, courage, and service to something larger than self. This memorial is a testament to the belief that free people can bend history in the direction of their best hopes, and that history will not forget their service or their sacrifice.

Edmund Burke wrote that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” All whose names appear here exemplify the hope contained in Burke’s admonition. They did not stand idle; they acted. They understood their duty and fulfilled it. They carried with them the love of family and country, which they swore to safeguard by their service. Many of the fallen undertook their military education and training through the ROTC program here at Duke. Others joined the military after college, as a way to give back to their country. No matter their source of commission, when tyrannies threatened, each answered the call with the prophet Isaiah’s resolve: “Here am I, [Lord], send me.”

From a distance, these engraved names all look alike. Yet, every son or daughter, mom or dad, brother or sister, who visits, will always see their one name first.    Each name is a profound statement of love, patriotism, and loyalty. The families and friends, gathered here today, have given someone precious and irreplaceable in their lives—and we are here to honor and thank them.

When I served as Army Chief of Staff, I called as many families as I could of soldiers who died on operations during my tenure. These were calls to try to express the inexpressible; to assuage the unbearable; and to say “thank you” when no measure of gratitude could ever fill the void left by the death of a child given in service to the Nation. They were phone calls no parent wants to take and I, as Chief of Staff, wished never to make.
At a time of a parent’s deepest grief, when my call was an intrusion into their private anguish, mothers and fathers shared their hearts with me, helped me through my own sorrow, and made me even prouder of their children. Ultimately, it was I who was consoled during those calls.

Very often, it is the fallen themselves who provide us with the inspiration we need to meet another day. Lieutenant Harold Arthur Kepnes graduated from Duke in 1934, and later earned his medical degree from Tufts University. A member of the U.S. Naval Reserve, he was killed in action in Guadalcanal in 1943. Before he died, he consoled his wife in a letter to her:

“If the Lord above deems it my fortune to be spared and sent back to my loved ones, then I shall be ever thankful, but if on the other hand I shall be one of the victims of this hideous curse of humanity, then I am willing to go in my single attempt to wipe out this enemy, for I would not be happy being under the yoke of oppression of rulers as these for my life is my love of freedom and supreme happiness as I would only have if I were surrounded by the ones I love and whom I would feel could be free to talk, to act, to live in a free country.”

Lieutenant Kepnes has been memorialized here at Duke on these plaques since they were first dedicated. Today, another group of patriots will join him. We salute them and their devotion to our country. Our gratitude is deep and profound.

It has been said that “poor is the Nation that has no heroes, but beggared is the Nation that has and forgets them.” Those we honor today answered their call to duty, and in doing so, they honored us. It is, now, our duty to honor them and the legacy they left for us. They should not be strangers to young Americans, especially those studying here at Duke.

May Duke University find ways to make this memorial central and important to future generations of students and faculty, who will be privileged to study and work here, as they did. May the university remind all that our freedom was purchased by stalwarts like these, who gave their tomorrows for our todays.
As we honor these courageous and distinguished alumni, our thoughts and prayers are also with those who serve today. Let us give thanks to all who wear the uniforms of our Nation, who carry our ideals high, and who keep our country the land of the free and the home of the brave.

May God bless them and their families. 

Thank you.

Wall Street Journal 2 November 2009
U.S. Turns Screws on Bailed-Out GMAC

Ally is the new name of the former GMAC. This photo is an ad from this week’s Economist.

Breaking Supply Chain News: Bob Moffat, Head of Supply Chain and Rising Star, Arrested for Insider Trading. Photo is ad in recent Economist.