What value news analysis?

As much as news organizations are fighting with the issue of revenue, along with plenty of others trying to figure out how to make money in our modern web age, I think it fascinating to ponder how news makes sense.

For instance, in our modern world, news travels fast.

And as a baseline I'm going to use the 2012 election year in the United States to make some points. For instance, how long did it take for results to travel? And did we have to have news agencies do it?

Reality is that when it comes to important news which matters to a lot of people they will spread it fast, and while I'm sure lots of people got their results about elections outcomes directly from some news organizations, others may have heard it, like, even shouted at them excitedly by someone else avidly watching.

Doesn't take much to say, this person or that person won or lost, right?

So why should we pay for it?

But what about the 'why' of the news?

Trying to explain the why of events, unlike reporting itself, is a thing called news analysis!

Twitter lets you embed tweets which is something I've found could be useful, and it has relevance here as I have an opinion, which I voiced on election night. Here it is:

Looks like this election is about 'demographics rule' and the steep decline of the overwhelming dominance of Big Money in American politics.
— James Harris (@jstevh) November 7, 2012

So there is this record of my opinion, with a date and timestamp, where looking at it now (and how else would I have remembered as I didn't care a lot at the time), which shows I put that tweet out November 6, 2012, at 5:44 PM PST. And I just favorited it. I favorite my own tweets to keep up with, yup, my favorites, like this one.

That is not news--it is news analysis. And it's JUST an opinion, which happens to be mine.

Is it true? I don't know.

However, unlike the news itself which travels rapidly, news analysis has a value which does not evaporate over time!

Isn't that weird? If I'm correct, then it still matters today, maybe even more than it did back then, as there are more elections coming up!

But who knows?

Time will tell.

When I look over the world of media outlets I am impressed not so much with breaking news--even though it still has a LOT of value but that value fades quickly as the news progresses--but with analysis, which is the key differentiator in my opinion.

And news analysis-- unlike breaking news--gains value over time if correct!

That's where the money is, in my opinion.


James Harris

Why not problem solve health insurance?

Growing up I was fascinated by the fictional character Spock on Star Trek. His obsession with logic fascinated me, and lead me to the library where I was disappointed by the reality of how logic is taught. Nonetheless I have remained interested in the subject and with problem solving as well, so I find it weird when I come across relatively simple analysis in big areas, where logic dictates.

Like health insurance is a major issue and in the US it has been problematic to properly provide it for our citizenry for quite some time. So I sat down some years back and analyzed the problem space and came to some simple conclusions.

And I concluded that if you boil down all the debate in the US around health insurance it is just about who pays.

The way insurance is supposed to work is you insure against risk by pooling funds in advance of it.

If a person is sick then they have already incurred risk.

It's like, if you already wrecked your car then you can't exactly insure it, correct?

But what if a wealthy uncle pays for your car to be fixed anyway? Well that's not insurance, it's charity.

So it's impossible from the business side to "insure" people when you are actually giving them charity if they are already sick. But from society's perspective it's important to give them that benefit, and insurance companies are the best at delivering payment on claims as it's their business.

But they don't have to be the ones actually paying.

For instance a wealthy person can hire an insurance company to administer claims made against him, even though he is actually paying out, because he lacks the experience to process the claim.

For instance, his chauffeur might run his vehicle into the back end of someone's car. Should he hire lawyers himself and fight the case in court?

What if instead his insurance company handles it, and determines that the accident was engineered because they've seen such things many times before? And they also determine that the supposedly injured party is in the database as someone who has been in many such accidents and is merely a con artist?

How would the wealthy person know on his own without the insurance company's help? He might get lucky and figure it out. And hire attorneys who could figure it out, and properly fight the case or he could end up taken as he does not have that kind of information and why would he? For instance, he couldn't have a database of insurance claims to search on to find the name of the person who had engineered such accidents in the past!

How does all of the above relate to health insurance?

Well, what if? What if the US Government or some other government entity paid for people who aren't really insurable, but the health insurance companies administer? Just like with the wealthy person example above you get the benefits of their expertise but someone else actually pays.

Years ago I put it all together in a tweet of exactly 140 characters:

My healthcare plan: Preventive Care--everybody, Core Care--insurables, Expected Care--not easily insured, Elder Care--quality of life at end
— James Harris (@jstevh) July 27, 2009

Part of the way I use Twitter is to store ideas. And now it's easy to put them back up later by embedding the tweets, which I think is an efficient way to propagate the information.

If that tweet doesn't make sense you can read it all explained on one of my blogs:

lostincomment.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-healthcare-plan.html

I've explained in various ways since then, but I like showing how long I've had this approach out there.

I feel confident that eventually something like it will be the way health insurance will work in the US, but getting there will take some time.

Why? Because unlike the fictional Spock, who loved logic, politicians tend to love other things. As things play out in the US along a predictable path, it will take some time before people get frustrated enough with how things are done to do them better.


James Harris

My concept of the Infi

A few years ago I started mumbling to myself about the Infi--the INFormation warrIor.

Totally a knock-off from the Jedi from George Lucas, of course. And such a fun idea.

Mostly I've tweeted about it, but thought, why not put something on one of my blogs too?

The idea is that today you have these people who operate in cyberspace as individuals who can really shift things, so it's like real-life Jedi but their powers are not about the physical so much as about wielding information through the modern web. So I call them Infi.

Like Julian Assange would definitely qualify I'd think as an Infi with this concept. And so would PFC Manning, and Eric Snowden.

So are they good or dark adepts?

No point in asking the current Executive Branch of the US Government which may wish to think one thing, but unfortunately there are times it can seem to be like the evil Empire of Star Wars, remarkably enough. Change from such behavior would be a good thing.

Actually it's very weird how much our modern world can be paralleled with the vision of George Lucas, where you may note there were senators and dark political intrigues.

The Jedi moved through this world as remarkable individuals able to change things on a galactic scale.

Today there are individuals who can stand against entire nations, thanks to the power of the web, who live a life that is so far definitely rivaling fiction and even inspiring it.

Possibly we are moving into a different world, with the rise of the Infi.

Here's a tweet I made a couple of years ago:

the age of the infi is only just starting to emerge.
— James Harris (@jstevh) March 12, 2011

If so, I suspect it will make the imaginations of even the greats like George Lucas seem not quite up the task of a world where speed, information, and change can happen in battles in cyberspace that can engulf a world, where many people are barely even aware of them.

But their lives are changed regardless.

Here is one of my favorite tweets from me playing around with the idea. I don't take it too seriously. But at one time I thought I would be a science fiction writer but now mostly just muse about things on my blogs.

Still that urge to be dramatic is still there:

Code of the infi. We are the code. Our power is mind. Our way is the Order.
— James Harris (@jstevh) May 29, 2012

To a better world.

And, again, I'm not taking it all too seriously. I'm just a guy who loves to play with ideas. And my concept of the Infi is just one of the fun ones.


James Harris

Should Marvel go "Rogue"?

Having been a big comic book fan in the past I feel gratified by a lot of movie-making which has finally done the job needed for handling a fantasy reality where superpowers rule.

With that said it occurred to me that I have not seen a movie with the lead from one particular superhero who could, I think, handle the massive weight of a major motion picture all on her super-powered shoulders and that is Rogue.

Movies with female leads have been showing their box office clout, while Wolverine has shown that there is still room for other often singleton superheroes along with the perennial favorite Spiderman.

As a female lead superhero few are in the range of Rogue.

So should Marvel--or someone who has the insight and power--go a movie about Rogue?

(Assumed they have the rights to do so, and finally stumbled across indications they do not. Shows what I know about licensing issues around these characters which is admittedly not much! Will leave the post up though as, why not?)

I think they should.

Rogue can hang with the best of them at her maximum, while she has the vulnerability in character and in her story that can make her appealing to a wide audience. She can not only fly, punch, and hurl cars with the best of them, but she also has to deal with her root ability to steal superpower or memories or life energy.

Of course modern movies are massive investments, but hey, it's the web so I can express my opinion. And maybe some people with clout have already realized the above and there is something in the works.

If so, great thanking you unknown people who help bring the Marvel Universe to life on the big screen!!!

You continue to impress me.

If not?

Go Rogue.

And give us more. And it better be great. Her character deserves nothing less.

I am a HUGE fan of the Rogue character. I am certain there is a lot of strength and power there which is the raw material needed. Getting it right is the job of others.

There are few if any minor heroes in the Marvel Universe.

There may be too many writers and directors not up to the challenge.

Get the best, and make them deliver.

Thank you for your time and attention. And, um, that's it.


James Harris

Back to software development

Back in 2002 I voluntarily left a position as a software developer at a major corporation. At the time it seemed like a great idea. Now over a decade later, I'm not so sure.

But back then I was serenely confident in myself and very naive about important things in the real world.

So I thought I had a duty to concentrate on what I knew then (and know now) was a major mathematical find. And that find is what mathematicians call a prime counting function, but which I've now found may be more commonly called a prime counter.

As my backup I also had an idea for a little app which was a tool for Java developers to check out basic class information. It was evolving from some test programs I'd written to help me study for the Java certification exam.

Besides, I felt confident that if necessary I could easily step back into the computer field considering how well I had been doing. I had been a lead developer. I had lots of experience with plenty of people recognizing my abilities.

So yeah, I was supremely confident and soon in for a shock.

Despite my ability to prove without a doubt the importance of my mathematical find, I got nowhere with mathematicians. And learned that they don't particularly feel motivated necessarily to help out someone like me. I'm not a mathematician. I'm just some guy who found this thing. Academics are not like what I thought.

But I'd been through adversity, I thought. I grew up as a black kid in the American South. While I think I got a lot of support from my rural South Georgia community, across races, I have to admit standing out as someone who went on to college on a full tuition scholarship and got my degree in physics in four years.

I'm used to finding my way.

But now I'm willing to admit--more than 10 years since my find--that academics have me stumped. I've since made more mathematical discoveries and come to the conclusion that I'm finally facing the greatest challenge of my life in getting any of it academically accepted.

Eventually after that pivotal decision of leaving my comfortable software developer position I found myself in San Francisco, and pondered trying to get back into the field then. That was in 2005 when I moved to California, and ended up, instead, working as a data entry person at a large insurance company.

But it paid the bills, gave me time to enjoy myself in the city, and left me time to focus on my continuing struggles with mathematical recognition, and with my various blogs or other online efforts.

I kept thinking: soon, soon, something will work.

And my open source project which I'd belatedly put on SourceForge in 2004, was still out there as a puzzle, and also as my continuing link to the development world. But I struggled with what to do with it, and wondered if it was even worth the effort.

Today I've given up on courting mathematicians for formal recognition and gone more to the long-term, which is just put the information out there and win in the court of better ideas. Meanwhile I've begun to accept that it's probably a good idea to focus a bit more on a job that actually pays well, as nothing else has come close to how well I was paid, now seemingly long ago, working as that software developer at that major corporation.

Now my open source project Class Viewer is critical in that effort, so I'm looking at it more critically.

Oh yeah, actually got laid off from that data entry job in San Francisco, which was a major blow to my ego. The nerve of those people!!! And then focused more on web efforts, pushing math ideas, and other ideas until I exhausted my naivete and delusions about how the real world works.

Ideas do not necessarily move the world.

Products DO, and groups of people DO.

Individuals with ideas who push them often get called nasty names, and make no money.

That making no money gives you a fascinating thing called--perspective.

It also gives you lots of unpaid bills. My apologies to creditors! I still plan on paying you all back.

My problem is that I don't like to lose. Dogged determination can carry you far in life, or leave you high and dry against a problem you can't seem to solve.

The idealist in me though believes that my actual failure was believing in some people who did not live up to great expectations, but the realist in me realizes that can be just a fact of life.

Great expectations may make a great novel title, but are not necessarily the most pragmatic views.


James Harris