Nobelprize and Swedish golf clubs

It’ a bit of a mix this one. Today is the ceremony for the Nobel prizes in Sweden. All of them in Stockholm, apart from the Peace prize which is handed out in Oslo. I find the prizes in physics, medicine and chemistry the most interesting.... actually before the literature one the last couple of years. I guess it might be because I find the literature ones harder to relate to these last 20 years since I have read a lot of the “old” ones from the 40ies and 50ies.

Anyway, I digress. The interesting thing about today is one article that the prize winner in 2000, Dr Arvid Carlsson, writes in one of the Swedish papers “I wouldn’t have gotten the Nobel prize (if I was a young Swedish scientist) today”arguing about funding and the conditions of young scientists today. He talks about the Swedish situation, although I would think it is slightly similar in some other countries considering the situation in the US and the UK. It’s interesting since it proves, yet again, that the scientists and the politicians/Funding masters do not have the same concept of reality or how to reach greatness.

One of the main arguments from Dr Carlsson is that he would have never gotten the Novelprize today, since back in the day he was given funding that was sufficient for two technicians, a few PhD students and another person helping out when he was a young scientist changing (!) fields. And this group was the founding core of the research he later got acknowledged for in 2000. And as he says, “a young scientist today might get money for a research technician but that is not enough”....

Let’s hope that the research climate of funding could be discussed (again) soon since, at least in my very humble opinion, the present system isn’t really working. If nothing else, I can tell by looking at the three biggest funding agencies in Sweden and look at who (and which groups) they have decided to fund. Let’s just go with that it is not as easy as it once was.

The other thing on my mind has been the latest week of jokes sent to me, via email and other people. “I hope you don’t have a golf club in the house...” (to which I responded, “as far as I know it shoudln’t be a problem unless someone is cheating?”) I’m not really into the whole “the world needs to know and we all need the update of what goes on in that house” if it wasn’t for a few things. First of all, when you get involved in selling things based on your character (your morale and your life values) then you need to realize that this might follow you if/when you make a mistake. Maybe it would’ve been better to be viewed as a “slightly good person but no one is perfect”. Even then, it might be a hard sell to be exposed as someone with 5+ excess people in your marriage (that the other person might not even know about on top of it), even without the concept of having one extra wife for more than half of your marriage.

It’s all good though, and I wouldn’t have given it a care in the world if the wife was in on it. Some people argue that “she would know about it and then it is ok”. Sure, if she knew she might have thought this and that - but as far as I remember since this whole thing started with a strange car crash in the middle of the night and those elusive golf clubs.... I guess she wasn’t in on it? That said, I don’t find the jokes fun (I’ve been told that I don’t have any sense of humour before) partly because I don’t like physical violence between spouses fun. I also understand that there might be a bit over reaction to think like that.

Anyway, what I was thinking about when I started writing this post was more along the line of “the higher you get on the ladder, the mightier the fall”. And I really hope that this situation does not escalate into something where people do things that are irreversible. I get that feeling when the vultures are circling and other stars have been circled before ending with loosing more than their hair.

One interesting thing though, the only woman so far, involved in all-the-high-stakes-men-having-affairs-being-exposed-in-the-press-the-last-couple-of-years, NOT to “stand by her man” was also the richest one.... Mark Sanford's wife, who isn’t only an heiress but mother of their four sons. (She moved out of their house and took the children with her after lots of things were revealed.) All the others have stood there and said “I support him” or something to that effect. Never mind what I think I would do (I’m not an heiress but then again, I haven’t married into money either), I find it intriguing that the money/marriages these families/men have are so much about money and pre-nups that people do not talk more about business arrangements rather than love. I might be the greatest cynic, but it sure looks to me like “if we marry and you give me children and the illusion of a happy marriage, I’ll give you a lot of money when we divorce later on after I have spread my seed a bit more - after all, that should make both of us happy in the long run, right?”

What my grandmother told me ages ago still holds true I guess; “Be careful not to mistake money for love, and be sure not to give it all up* for a man who can leave you bitter and poor. Have some insurance, like your own money or career and then hopefully your relationship will be one between partners where both of you want the other one to be happy.”

And I get reminded that I didn't see that show "The Good Wife" that is all about this.... maybe it is on hulu for me to recap?

*no, she wasn't talking about sex, she was referring to the over all picture - with morale, status, self worth.... that kind of "all"...