Category: Uncategorized

Elon Musk’s Misguided Cuts to Civil Service

February 27, 2025

Many consider Elon a genius. Being the world’s richest implies intelligence, correct? Despite his business acumen and engineering brilliance, his DOGE outfit’s approach to firing government employees is senseless and inhumane. They wreak havoc; they do a great job if this is their purpose. The proposed cuts to civil service are a monument to stupidity and cruelty.

 
In 2024, civil service payroll reached $275 billion against a total expenditure of $6.75 trillion. Firing all civil servants would save 4% of the budget. A fifty percent reduction in staff would result in a two percent reduction in the budget and a total demoralization of the public service, leading to low productivity. Elon, that’s hardly any savings, and the destruction of civil service would accompany it!

The US civil service, comprising 3 million people, has remained stable over the past four decades, with 2.93 million employees in April 1984 and 2.99 million in March 2024. So, why do you think it’s bloated, considering the US population grew from 235 million in 1980 to 335 million in 2023? These figures suggest the US civil service is remarkably efficient, serving a 43 percent larger population with the same number of employees.

The big savings, if there are any, would reduce program and not staffing expenditures, which have increased from less than one trillion dollars in 1984 to 6.76 trillion dollars in 2024 (it is not a surprise that local and state government expenditures have also increased substantially from half a trillion dollars to over four trillion dollars, in the same period).

All you have done, Elon, is ask your green-eared young people to use keywords to identify people to be fired (such as words related to DEI; have you tried to define DEI?). Any manager worth his/her salt knows that this approach to reducing staff is destabilizing, creating uncertainty that leads to no work being done in the organization.

A more effective approach to reducing staff and streamlining the organization is to ask managers or department heads to identify a five percent or ten percent reduction in personnel. Management is aware of any excess. But you are not interested in approaching the cuts professionally but in making headline news!

You responded to criticisms by admitting you had made mistakes and would correct them. That’s a reckless approach to management, especially when dealing with real people.

We should evaluate programs like USAID and analyze their goals and implementation to cut staff and budgets more effectively. Elected officials develop programs in the public sector to address public needs. Before elected officials approve new programs, consultation, negotiation, and evaluating options with stakeholders are conducted. We should regularly evaluate programs to determine whether they met their objectives, were updated as needed, or should be ended. Elon, you have not done any of this!


Your actions to date, Elon, have included the demoralizing, indiscriminate, and cruel firing of federal public servants and the sending of inane and confusing emails to millions of them. Smarten up or get lost!

Exploring My Evolving Reading Preferences

February 19, 2025


Reading competes for my time with other activities, such as exercising at the gym, shoveling snow to clear the driveway, watching the Super Bowl and the four-nation hockey tournament, and keeping up with news, including Trump’s parade of executive orders announced daily. But I belong to a book club, and our get-togethers, served with a light lunch, are highly enjoyable.

The book club met to select readings for the coming year. We each recommend a book, host the group, and lead the discussion. To my surprise, many of the choices were nonfiction this year.

My selection was also nonfiction: Dr. Schwartz’s book, Grey Matter, a detailed neurosurgery biography. The book features case studies on prominent individuals, including Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy, both of whom had brain tumors or aneurysms. Dr. Schwartz explains the treatments administered to them. While reading the book, the medical terminology, descriptions of brain anatomy, and current brain cancer treatments overwhelmed me. Though fascinating and well-written, the book’s five-hundred-page subject matter tested my patience. It was also quite time-consuming, even for someone who reads quickly.

The previous month’s selection was a science fiction novel, The Martian, by Andy Weir. This novel tells the story of a team of astronauts on Mars. The author’s captivating tale, set in 2035, is rich in scientific detail, featuring meticulous observations of Mars’s climate and surface and the challenges of surviving there for a year and a half. The plot moves much faster than the one in Grey Matter, but again, I felt overwhelmed halfway through the book by the scientific details of how to live on Mars.

While I liked these books, I considered which of the recent books I read had a significant impact on me. One was Alice Munro and a collection of her short stories. I couldn’t put the book down; the prose flowed effortlessly, and I felt a strong connection to the characters as if I knew them. While bizarre, her storylines inexplicably moved me. Despite the criticism of Munro’s portrayal of female suffering and her relationship with her daughter, I saw my life and familiar settings reflected in her work.


I was also captivated by Red Notice, Bill Browder’s account of the Russian stock market’s rise, his triumphs, and his exile under Putin. Twists fill the narrative, highlighting the dangers of life in a corrupt society, where dissent can lead to prison or even murder for nonconformists. The book brought back memories of my early years living under the communist regime in Hungary. It also reminded me of my brother, a PhD candidate at Yale under Bill Browder’s late father, Felix Browder.

Unforgettable was reading Rohinton Mistry’s Fine Balance while flying to India in 2008. Was it ever a sad book? I kept reading it and thought it could not get any worse, but it did, and the ending was terrible. But its historical and cultural context made a deep impression on me. It described Indira Gandhi’s forced sterilization program. The storytelling was smooth, and I observed characters closely resembling those in the book when we landed.

Beyond books that had a memorable impact on me, I considered the genres I was interested in and recalled all the Westerns, thrillers, and travel books I have read.

I must have read most of Louise L’Amour’s works, which are those of a popular American author of Westerns. L’Amour is a smooth storyteller with fast-moving plots describing good and evil characters in which the good people always prevail. While his stories have some historical value, they are not comparable to the scientific details in The Martian, the medical information in Gray Matters, or the cultural/historical context of Fine Balance.

Like many people, I have a fondness for thrillers. However, I now reserve time to read this genre when flying, on vacation, or resting while sick in bed. In this category, I read many books by Agatha Christie, Nelson DeMille, Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, Robert Parker, and Tom Clancy. I particularly enjoyed Parker’s Spenser adventures.

Travel writing has also interested me. Kathy and I love traveling, and reading about the countries we have visited makes it all the more interesting. My favorite authors in this genre are Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson. They both have smooth writing styles, and Bryson is humorous. When I read their books, I am right in their location; their descriptions are very convincing. Theroux’s conversations with locals add an extra dimension, providing insight into what people in different countries think about global events. For example, his book Deep South evoked memories of my North Carolina stay, particularly his insightful portrayals of villages I knew.

Thinking about my favorite authors, books, and genres, I realized how cultural and historical influences had shaped my reading preferences. My early memories include my grandfather reading Jules Verne to my brother and me before sleep when we were under ten. My grandfather’s library included every book Jules Verne ever wrote. So, of course, we read many of Verne’s works. That was in Hungary in the 1950s. In addition to Verne, our staple for reading then was the German author Karl May’s books, including the Winnetou series, stories of the American West. And while learning English, I practiced by reading Somerset Maugham. I found his easy-flowing storytelling style and his use of simple English words easy to follow. Remember Ashenden or the British Agent?

These days, I seldom read Maugham, Clancy, or Westerns. Instead, my interests have evolved toward travel writers, biographies, and nonfiction. My reading list includes a book on cryptocurrency, Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk, and “Sapiens” by Yuval Harari.

Why The Martian Might Not Impress Everyone: A Reviewer’s Insight

February 12, 2025

The book enjoyed great popularity, and I may be in the minority when it comes to criticizing it. It was initially published as a series of blog posts, released one chapter at a time in 2011 before a publisher printed it as a book in 2014. It remained on the bestseller list for several weeks and has been translated into multiple languages. A 2015 film adaptation starring Matt Damon garnered significant success as well.

The author was a computer programmer interested in space travel before writing this book.

I reflected on my reaction to the book and concluded that while I enjoyed the plot, I found the detailed science somewhat tedious. Additionally, the stereotypical portrayal of NASA’s internal bureaucratic competition and the selection of a diverse Mars probe crew detracted from the narrative; for instance, having an Indian PhD as the chief scientist and a female team leader felt forced. The protagonist’s humor came across as artificial and more suited to a college setting, and the prose was somewhat clunky.

After landing the Ares probe on Mars in 2035, a sandstorm forced the team to leave quickly, leaving one team member behind, who they thought to be dead. However, he survives in the “hab,” the tent the team set up to stay for a week. The surviving astronaut, Mark Watney, uses his scientific ingenuity to make the “hab” a livable environment for a year and a half. The book details how Mark maintains the right balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide and grows potatoes to survive until he can travel to the site of the next probe to land on Mars.

Science fiction is not my favorite genre; I prefer more realistic books grounded on Earth. As a result, I found Mark Watney’s first-person, in-depth descriptions of the science he applied to survive to be tedious and overwhelming toward the end.

While the descriptions of life on Mars from the relatable Mark and his light-hearted humor were enjoyable, they lessened the impact of the hardships he experienced for me. For instance, I did not truly feel how cold and uninhabitable Mars is. And Mark seems quite comfortable reading books at night and sleeping in his cot. I did not think he genuinely starved or ever felt cold. Notably, he also never got sick, perhaps because there are no bacteria on Mars. In other words, if there was any personal pain, physical or psychological, Mark’s narrative did not convey it effectively.

Mark faced multiple life-threatening situations but relied on his scientific knowledge to survive. He once risked burning down the tent by setting a fire inside to produce water. Despite these risks, he always succeeded in surviving. Because of this, halfway through the book, I felt that the author diminished the sense of danger that an average person on Earth would likely face in similar circumstances.

Mark is not introspective but a positive individual who focuses on problem-solving. He never expresses self-doubt, which is disappointing, as it could have added a more human dimension to his experiences of perseverance and loneliness. Perhaps astronauts are chosen for their adaptability, reminiscent of the character MacGyver from the popular TV show in 1985.

Later in the book, we encounter the NASA team overseeing the Mars probe. Their conversations seem mundane, often revolving around budget concerns and disagreements about technology on how to rescue Mark. The portrayal of bureaucratic processes feels clichéd, and the dialogues with Mark feel forced: interacting with someone millions of miles away in an informal manner feels artificial.

I appreciated the book’s compelling plot and the buildup of events toward the end. I found myself reading quickly, primarily through the scientific details. The author conducted meticulous research on the scientific aspects, which I understood for the most part. However, I don’t think all the scientific explanations are necessary unless you’re deeply interested in science. If you’re an engineer or a scientist, this book is definitely for you. However, if you want to understand why we go to Mars or whether human settlements are possible there, you won’t find those answers in this book.

My Rant Today

January 30, 2025

I’m feeling rather irritated right now. The US administration’s illegal actions are shocking. How can they do all of this? They are firing civil servants protected by legislation and freezing programs Congress approved and funded. Surprisingly, I have seen little outrage or opposition in the news yet.

Why does this matter to me? I live in Canada and am not a U.S. citizen, but I have friends and family there and visit them often. The new president’s recent actions require observation; only time will tell if their impact exceeds mere headlines. The administration might revoke some orders. However, given the recent announcements, it is not unrealistic to expect border restrictions or even the requirement for visas to enter the U.S. from Canada. That would be pretty inconvenient.

Two items about the recent batch of activities surprise me. Disgust me is the right expression, and one is bullying. The handling of the Colombian affair is a prime example. When Colombia refused to allow US military planes to land, the US administration announced tariffs on the country, knowing it could devastate its economy. That was, instead of trying to resolve the conflict gentlemanly and diplomatically. The complaint from the President of Colombia was understandable. The US response wasn’t a measured reply but a brutal attack.

The other item is the incredible ignorance shown by the administration. The case in point is the President’s request to Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians. It has been policy by both countries not to allow Palestinians to settle in their countries; Jordan already has millions of them, and Egypt fears terrorists. Furthermore, both countries advocate for a Palestinian state, but what becomes of this goal if Palestinians vacate Gaza? As well, the Palestinian people do not want to leave their land. This is common knowledge. So, why would this administration flog an idea that has no currency?

Political events do not form my discussions with friends and family in Canada and the US. I know such subjects lead to significant disagreements, especially those concerning President Trump. He is a convicted felon and a liar whose only interests are to amass power and money. Think of his cryptocurrency coins, selling running shoes, etc.

He talks a good game, but I do not see how his policies benefit his supporters, except business people expecting a tax cut. And that baffles me. Did he con his supporters, close to half of all Americans? An example is the State of Louisiana, which receives over fifty percent of its budget funded by federal sources. The temporary shutdown of all federal programs announced Tuesday would have devastated the heavily Republican state of Louisiana, which relies on federal funding for over half its budget (fortunately, the order was rescinded today).

Trump’s campaign involved outlining his policies, and he’s currently implementing them. Did people vote for him but not believe him? In my experience, the American people are not stupid. I studied and worked there. Recent events, however, have negatively affected my viewpoint on the American people. Republican legislators are eyeing social programs for cuts to free up money for tax breaks for the rich, actions that would have disastrous impacts on the many people who voted for him.

Exploring Delhi: A Day in India’s Bustling Capital

January 19, 2025


We flew to Delhi, where we spent one day—quite an introduction to India! Our hotel was outside of Delhi’s center, accessible by subway. Shyaam, our guide, led us on a subway journey to Old Delhi’s historical sites and bustling market. We followed Shyaam through the crowded streets. The heat made me wipe the sweat from my face. It felt as if we walked a long way, only to discover that the distance covered was only a few blocks.

Rubbernecking to see the small stores and fighting the jostle of people was tiresome. After a while, we were ready for a snack and looked longingly at the street vendors with their steaming foods. Shyaam cautioned us about buying from a street vendor and suggested that we wait for the next round of freshly cooked food to be ready to eat rather than take the already prepared food in bowls on a counter along the street full of flies munching on the food. So we waited ten minutes for the next round of cooking. It was worth the wait—it was delicious; I think we had chunks of lamb with spices I was unfamiliar with.


The atmosphere in that part of town differed from what I have ever experienced. Besides the teeming crowds, with the temperature hovering in the upper thirties Celsius, the smell of spices permeating the air was powerful. In this district, spice store after spice store with hundreds of spices competed for attention with fancy exhibit boxes containing almost every spice imaginable: mustard seeds, coriander, garam masala, and others. A dispute unexpectedly flared up outside a spice stand between a customer and the store owner. Almost immediately, a large crowd gathered, and yelling started. We were made acutely aware of our vulnerability and the potential for sudden violence by the crowd’s sudden outburst and rapid gathering. I told Kathy we should just move on and leave the crowded sidewalk before violence broke out.

Among the sites Shyaam took us was the Jama Masjid, the oldest mosque in India. A wall surrounded the entire mosque complex, with a football-field-sized plaza in front of the mosque, large enough to hold 25,000 people. At the entrance gate, they directed us to take off our shoes and leave them on the steps leading up to the mosque, next to hundreds of others’ shoes on the steps. I was wearing my good walking shoes and was nervous about leaving them on the steps, but we had no choice; I thought of someone just coming out of the mosque and taking my shoes by accident.

Jama Masjid

But taking off our shoes was only part of what they required. They also gave us a gown to wear over our street clothes. Inside the complex, children played and ran around in the plaza, and adults walked around in gowns. The courtyard seemed like a vast, paved urban park without trees and greenery. Aside from the gowns, it could have been anywhere.

The Jama Masjid is like other mosques we have seen; it is a large space with the women’s quarter separated upstairs. The mosque was completed in the sixteenth century in the old city. The huge mosque in Casablanca, the Hassan II, is like this one, except it has no walls around the large plaza outside and was built recently (finished in 1993). I did not get the religious vibes here that I felt visiting the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, perhaps because I am a Catholic and not a Muslim. We left the mosque, and I found my shoes, which I had left outside.


Following our visit to Jama Masjid, Shyaam guided us to Sheeshganj Gurudwara, one of Delhi’s nine historic Sikh temples (the name means “gateway to the guru” in Punjabi). Unlike the mosque, worshippers, women, and men gathered together on the floor in the principal room. As part of the temple’s mission, a women’s auxiliary made naan bread in a small side room to feed people experiencing poverty. They were working quietly, without speaking, a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle outside. They invited Kathy to sit on the floor and join them in making naan. She did it for a while to learn how to make naan, which was more challenging than it looked.


Leaving the Gurudwara, we took Delhi’s spotless subway to Connaught Place, the center of New Delhi. Shyaam escorted us onto the subway train, gave us directions on how to return to our hotel using the subway, and left us to explore. Connaught Place differed from Old Delhi. It was a large circular park with benches on a grassy field. Seven major roads radiated from the perimeter into the urban fabric of New Delhi. Its street-level stores and mid-rise office buildings around the circle reminded me of North American cities. Unlike in Old Delhi, the streets were uncrowded, and the stores were spacious.


Feeling confident in our navigational abilities, we took the subway back to our hotel. I found the subway extremely clean, although crowded. Upon entering a station, all passengers underwent a security check similar to those in airports: a metal detector check and a baggage check. They allowed no food or drink. This rule and its enforcement ensured cleanliness. It was impressive. We got off at the right subway stop; however, with no idea of the geography and, I guess, not having paid enough attention to our surroundings when Shyaam had accompanied us downtown, we had no idea whether to go left or right when we got off and stood there like the lost tourists we were. Luckily, many Delhi residents speak English, and a very kind man helped us find our hotel. This gentleman’s helpfulness, in retrospect, did not surprise us, as we have found in our travels that Indians are friendly people.