Friday, December 28, 2007
D'you know, like, reality, Juno?
If the movie showed a pregnant woman drinking or smoking, there would be an outcry about a poor role model. But now it's again hip to be birthin' babies (see e.g., "Knocked Up", or better yet, don't). Oh, why bother with responsibility? After all, it's just a movie.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Bhutto murdered, hope dimmed
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Pump and Dump
Now, the administration is denying clear signs that this economy is on life support. Only the fiscal stimulus of budget deficits and the monetary stimulus of cheap money staves off recession or worse. The cumulative federal budget deficit is enormous and projected to continue growing by hundreds of billions for many years. The dollar has lost nearly half its value, which is one more reason why oil is $90/bbl and gas is $3/gal. The trade deficit sets new records every month. The administration proposes applying a band-aid to the sub prime mortgage crisis, which is only a symptom of hemorrhaging debt. Just as with the 'surge' in Iraq, the administration is desperately pumping money into the economy, hoping to dump the mess into the lap of the next president.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Monkey no see, monkey no do
Maybe not all the tapes were erased. Cheney, and especially Bush, have shown a disturbing callousness toward human misery, an inability to empathize, bordering on sadism. Both men defend systematic torture in their disastrously misguided war on terror. They are indifferent to the horrors their war has visited upon Iraqis. Bush's twisted nature might have preceded 9/11. As governor, Bush is said to have joked while a woman who had pleaded for clemency was put to death. As a student, he is reported to have laughed off torturing pledges to a club at Yale. I suggest that a copy of the CIA torture tape be sought in his personal video collection.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
No Vet Debt
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Kindle Swindle?
CEO Bezos acknowledged that Amazon is substantially subsidizing the cost of books. Amazon pays the publisher around $18 per book but Amazon charges Kindle owners $10 per book. For the consumer, the differential between the cost of an actual printed book and the subsidized price can quickly recoup the $400 cost of the device. But how long will Amazon continue to subsidize nearly $10 per book? It seems inevitable that the book price will rise to at least break-even, about double the current price. Unless Amazon is committed to maintaining a $10 price, they should admit that it is an introductory price and give some idea of the final cost.
One of the great pleasures of reading is sharing a book you've enjoyed. Can one share an ebook with the Kindle? I don't think so. The books are “protected” by "digital rights management”, which blocks sharing. Maybe Amazon could incorporate a "regifting" function.
The Kindle is no swindle. Nor is it a compelling alternative to print or other devices for reading ebooks.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Blunt In$trument
China's currency has been dramatically undervalued for many years. But their currency is pegged to the dollar, so reducing the value of the dollar will not immediately change the economics of the China trade. And nobody thought the dollar was particularly overvalued to the Euro or other currencies.
The fall of the dollar helps exporters like Boeing but it is a direct tax – yes, a TAX – on all American consumers. This administration opposes taxes, publicly. Call it "collateral damage". Moreover, these tax proceeds go to domestic producers, not toward our huge budget deficit, further devaluing the currency. Simultaneously, it puts American assets on sale while cheating American creditors and raising prices on all foreign goods, like oil. The first consequence is probably the sole support for the sagging stock market, staggering under the doubt of unknown debt valuations. The second consequence will be more slowly reflected in deflated prices for American debt. Who wants American debt if we will repay them with devalued dollars?
Welcome to another long-term, deeply debilitating consequence of the miserably failed Bush presidency.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Graveyard Quiet
Since the US invasion, about 100,000 Iraqis have been killed, hundreds of thousands have emigrated from Iraq, and millions have been forced to relocate within Iraq. Even the most committed killers cannot squeeze blood from a scorched earth.
The surge itself was supposed to encourage movement toward a political solution. There has been zero progress on this front but, as we saw with the WMDs, the Administration believes in being flexible with rationales and goals. Now, an improvement in a symptom of ethnic strife is being cheered as progress. While nobody can dismiss the importance of fewer people being killed, this improvement will most likely prove as transient as the others claimed by the Administration. They count on us to refocus on their next new delusion.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Deal: my scarf over your head and yours around my neck
Mine's metaphorical: we protect the Saudi royalty while they threaten to strangle us or drag us down. It's a deal with a devil of our own creation.
Granted, any joke you've got to explain is not very good.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Connecting the dots
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
iFawn
Honestly, the PEBL is smaller and feels better in the hand and the Palm has a better camera and is fully programable. But it's the connections between all the functions that makes the iPhone the clear winner. After owning it for 3 weeks, I still occasionally say “ah!” in genuine pleasant surprise. Here are a few examples:
* The phone book has full contact information, including notes for info that doesn't fit into a standard category, and you can even easily link a Google map.
* Someone calls and you want to add the number to a contact, or make a new contact? That's one-button easy instead of trying to remember the manual.
* Someone calls while you are talking to someone else and you want to connect the calls? That's one-button easy.
* Connected to Bluetooth headset but want to disconnect and use the phone handset? That's one-button easy.
* Traveling? ATT Edge is not as bad as some say so you don't need to find an open wifi for email or web access. Find your hotel on the web and you can click to call the telephone number or click on the address to link to Google maps. Too cool.
* Listening to music when a call arrives? The click on the headphone button and the music quiets and you answer the phone.
* Best of all: the caller ID text is big enough for a 50 year old to see without glasses!
Sure, my old phone could do some of these things but I could never remember how to do any of them. Many additional applications were written for the iPhone but the latest software bug fix/upgrade killed them, generating much negative press. Now Apple plans to support development of non-Apple applications, so "All is well...and all will be well...in the garden".
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Living in the Greenhouse
We will have to think of direct ways to slow and reverse global warming itself. For example, we could compensate for the warming of greenhouse gasses by reflecting more sunlight from earth into space or by shading parts of the planet from space. Such ideas will have to be tested on a huge scale to see an effect.
Every technology is eventually used in war, if not actually invented as a weapon. Weather manipulation could be used as a weapon to cause draught or floods, for example. That will get the attention of the Pentagon. It's unlikely the military meteorologists will be better than the civilian ones – correct about half the time.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Bubba Sputnik
To cold-war Americans, Sputnik meant that the commies suddenly held the “high ground” from which to observe and launch attacks. Before, few people had cared much about a space program. Suddenly, politics ensured that Americans responded with a militarized and nationalistic program to beat the Russians, fueling an explosive growth in the Military-Industrial complex.
Befitting a nationalistic and militarized effort, we Americans gave ours bold names like 'Vanguard', 'Atlas', and, curiously, Greek gods (Atlas, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Saturn). The commercial ventures backed by public resources chose high tech names 'Telstar' (distant star), though a more appropriate named would be 'proxistar' (close star). Unmanned missions escaped the pattern to give names 'Pioneer' and 'Voyager' to brilliantly successful programs. The Russians continued with human-scale names: 'Soyuz' (union), 'Salyut' (salute), 'Mir' (moon)...
Imagine how names like 'little buddy' or 'bubba' or 'partner' might have changed our feeling toward the space race.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
The B Team
There is a saying in human resources: A types hire A types, B types hire C types. So maybe that should be third-rate.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Give that man (another) medal!
Can Gen Petraeus find room for the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Maybe there is no ribbon for this medal. Maybe there is just the warm glow of fellowship with other Bush lapdogs.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Osama's Dyed (his beard)
Bush called the message "a reminder about the dangerous world in which we live". In fact, it's a reminder of his abject failure to bring bin Laden to justice.
Bush also "found it interesting that on the tape Iraq was mentioned, which is a reminder that Iraq is a part of this war against extremists. ... If al-Qaeda bothers to mention Iraq, it is because they want to achieve their objectives in Iraq, which is to drive us out and to develop a safe haven." Thus, by Bush's own measure, al-Qaeda had nothing to do with Iraq before the US attacked and in invaded in 2002.
It's a toss-up who is more dangerous and delusional – Bush or bin Laden.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
War Corps
Only one comment in the program addressed alternatives, for example aid delivered by civilians such as the Peace Corps. Peaceful alternatives were dismissed by the claim that these places needed "security" first. In fact, one would have to conclude from the show's examples that any place hoping for aid needed “insecurity” first. The best advice to a poor region would be to foster an anti-western, preferably islamic, insurgency. That would be the most certain way to attract America's attention and help.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Wall Street Rag
Saturday, July 28, 2007
The Pull of Horses
Remember the Main!... criminal
Friday, July 06, 2007
Render Scooter Extraordinary
This White House Gang is enamored of "enhanced interrogation" (torture) as a means of encouraging disclosure and discovering the truth. They initiated a policy of "extraordinary rendition", where prisoners are shuttled to friendly regimes with unfriendly thugs on their payroll. It's a sad and bizarre twist that Homeland Defense could be procurers for sadists. But Cheney fervently defends the value of these "methods" in obtaining the truth.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Flip flop flip
Then their relationship soured, not surprising given their job pressures and the geographic challenge. And mutual accusations of dalliances with fascists or neoimperialists can be so hurtful if taken personally.
Now they seem to have rekindled the spark. We know that the dauphin W (the infant) can be temperamental, perhaps even fickle. At least we can be reasonably confident that with adult supervision of his dad and chaperon, King George the 41st, W's penchant for looking deep into Putin's eyes and soul won't get out of hand. Not that there would be anything wrong with consenting adults baring their... souls. They can play together fishing and speedboating around, then the former head of the KGB can return to his fiefdom secure in the knowledge that the world's only remaining superpower really is run by a fool. Maybe he can save the trip and just pull petals off a flower, pondering whether W loves me, he loves me not...
Thursday, June 28, 2007
War, attended by Ignorance and Lies.
- Hiram W. Johnson
The heavens are changing. Pluto recently lost its standing among the planets. The pronunciation of Uranus was changed to reduce the giggle factor (no, children! Accent the first syllable, schwa 'a'!). Maybe it's time to modernize the personifications accompanying Mars.
Mars, named for the Roman god of war because of it's reddish tint, has moons that were discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall. He named them Phobos (panic/fear) and Deimos (terror/dread) after characters in Greek mythology who accompanied their father, the god of war, into battle. There's been practically no reaction to Bush's 'hot air' about sending a man to Mars (in defiance of Newton's laws of motion). Well, I say we send him there in spirit. Let's rename the moons Bush (Ignorance) and Cheney (Lies).
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Legislate in haste and forget-about-it.
Fitful attention is all this administration can muster. Invade Iraq? Brilliant! Let's do it! Prescription drug program? Brilliant! Let's do it! Go to Mars? Bring peace to the middle east? Reform immigration? It's like a mediocre student who wants to be valedictorian but doesn't do their homework and regularly rushes to complete term assignment in the last days of the semester. The most likely to succeed, not!
Inadequate preparation, abbreviated debate, and legislation quickly passed through a compliant Congress, this is what happened with Iraq and prescription drugs. Both are now seen as expensive mistakes. Immigration reform seems to be headed toward the same fate. As with prescription drugs, we hear that the politics are complicated and that building a majority requires quick, quiet deals. More likely, a good deal requires consistency, compromise, and caution.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Indy Grand Prix
Grand Prix, or Formula 1 (F1), racing may be the sole annual event with venues in Monte Carlo, Monaco and Indianapolis, Indiana. The contrast between the glamor of international set that constitutes F1 and the “simple life” of the American mid-west is certainly dramatic but not troubling or sad as it is some F1 venues, such as Brazil, where much of the local community is desperately poor. "Rednecks" and red Ferraris mix pretty well.
This year, the buzz was all about Lewis Hamilton, a 22 year old rookie from England who is leading the driver's championship after 7 races. No rookie has ever come close to starting so strongly. His story would strain credulity if it came from Hollywood. His parent split when he was young but his father remained close. He noticed his son's extraordinary hand-eye coordination and worked as many as 3 jobs concurrently to afford race training and equipment. This product of the true working-class is now on top of the world's most exclusive, expensive, and glamorous sport, earning a salary in the millions. At the risk of going over-the-top, add this to his story: his brother, who suffers cerebral palsy, attends most of his races. This is a screenplay for a heart-warming movie that practically writes itself.
At Indy, Lewis Hamilton earned the pole position and then, on a blazingly hot day, after nearly 2 hours of precise driving mere seconds ahead of his teammate and current world champion, he won the US Grand Prix. Congratulations! And best of luck in the next 10 races of the F1 season.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sad Score
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Accept victory... now get to work!
This has never been more true than today, with Bush acknowledging global warming and proposing to curb greenhouse gases and the SecDef admitting that poverty and hopelessness can breed extremism and bolster terrorists.
Now it's time to start the work that has been delayed or reversed for 7 years. The Democrats and true conservative Republicans should stop arguing, accept that they won, write laws that incorporate and apply these concessions, and send them to Bush for signature...
"The problems of victory are more agreeable than the problems of defeat, but they are no less difficult." - Winston Churchill
Tyrannosaurus Bush
One characteristic of Bush administration officials has been their reluctance to leave office. Rumsfeld had to be pushed, hard. Wolfowitz finally left only after months of fighting and pleading. Gonzales will have to be dragged out of the Department of “Justice”. The Worst may be still to come.
Remember how Bush gained office – losing the popular vote but stealing the electoral college by stopping the recount in Florida. James Baker was thawed (partially), reanimated, and won his sole diplomatic victory – not over a foreign power but over the archenemy Democrats. They told the Supreme Scalia to stay the recount then convinced a bare Court majority to stop it. This gang has no compunction about bending the laws and discarding convention to consolidate their hold on power.
They now confront a clear Constitutional barrier – no third term – and popular disgust (“negatives” triple their “positives”). They could nuance the first by flipping the top 2 spots but then the negatives grow worse. A gap of 20% is just too much; it was tough enough overcoming the popular vote in 2000 and gaining a few crucial percentages in Ohio in 2004.
So here's the scenario: uncover a massive terrorist plot and declare marshal law. They've been rehearsing the script with trumped up charges against Walter Mitty terrorists in Florida, New Jersey, and New York. These groups did not have any bombs or even small arms. Think what would happened if Homeland Security zealots “found” a dirty bomb in Chicago or LA? The “protect us from evil” people would bleat for a strong shepherd, no questions asked. Enter Bush, tyrant and savior. Cheney will declare marshal law, then backdate an order signed by Bush. Or not bother.
Let's make sure these dinosaurs go extinct on schedule.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Richardson 2008: Pitcher Perfect
You have to be impressed by his experience not only as a governor and an international diplomat, but also as Secretary of Energy, which is the crux of our national security and our economic future.
Perhaps his most telling comment was that he had to quit his baseball career because he ruined his arm pitching “too many curve balls”. That's a perfect preparation for politics! He even convinced me that he was a Boston Red Sox fan who would love to play for the NY Yankees. That's good preparation for bringing together “blue” and “red” Americans, and maybe the rest of the world.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Indy 500
This race track is huge. At 2.5 miles around, it is about 15 times longer and wider than the biggest football stadium. You can only see about a third of the track at any one time and the cars cover this third in less than 15 seconds, which boggles the mind when you see it (the arrow in the picture points to a race car in corner 4). The amazing noise as the cars pass by communicates the enormous physical forces at work. (I recommend earplugs.) And the people – fellow spectators and workers – were great. I don't know if I could tolerate the crowd of 400,000 people that attend the race on the Memorial Day weekend, but maybe so, maybe so.
TV is just fine for the great traditions of the race. My favorites are Jim Neighbors singing“Back Home Again, in Indiana” before the start and, at the end, the winning driver being offered a bottle of milk to drink. None of that silly spraying around and wasting great Champaign.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Next time, let's hire a gardener...
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Tenet's untenable case
Incredibly, after helping lead the country to a foolish and immoral war, this guy can still spout off about “honor” and how “intelligence” was his job, so the interviewer should just accept his assertions. Did Tenet watch Jack Nicholson's misguided Colonel in “A Few Good Men” a few times too many?
In case you forgot, Tenet sat right behind Colin Powell, the other big disappointment of this fiasco, when he presented to the UN the trumped-up argument for war against Hussein. Tenet still defends a National Intelligence Estimate that was over hyped. Someday, he will probably come to his senses and admit culpability. I hope so, for the sake of his own conscience. It will be too late, just like it was too late when the former Secretary of State Robert McNamara admitted his guilt for Vietnam. Or Tenet might simply go on believing he was right, like Kissinger, proudly and profitably and pitifully ignorant to the end of his days.
See also “Tortured Logic” for a rebuttal of the "reason" for using torture to extract information.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Suburban Sprawl, Global Warming, and Childhood Obesity
The extra lawn in these developments is often just enough to justify the purchase of a small tractor lawnmower, contributing more greenhouse gases. City properties are usually small enough that even a manual push mower could do the job and the exercise could save a trip to the gym. Parents may think their kids will play more on more land but that does not seem to correlate.
Being isolated in individual cul-de-sacs, kids must be driven to events at school, for sports, for other classes and even for playdates, adding tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Simultaneously, the kids are not getting that extra exercise that comes from biking or walking or skipping to the school, the practice field, or their neighbor's house. Their movements must be planned and choreographed to accommodate the parental shuttle service.
Sprawling to evade taxes? Dream on. Sprawl just transfers taxes from property taxes, which pay for schools, aforementioned sidewalks, and other social benefits, to gasoline tax. Just an extra 10 miles each way, each day, for 200 working days per year adds up to 4,000 miles per year. At an optimistic 20 mpg, that's 200 gallons and $600. Sure, only part of that is actual federal tax, but does that distinction really make you feel better?
If every family could walk or bike for just 2 trips per week instead of using the car, the US would be independent of foreign energy, thousands of tons of greenhouse gases would be saved, we would be a little healthier, we would know our neighbors and environment a little better, and we could each be about a pound lighter each year. It would be especially nice if many people did this because we would see our neighbors, and not just their cars, more often. But don't wait for everyone to do it... you can do this on your own!
See also “My Car, My Carapace” for an older, related rant.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Blacksburg, briefly Baghdad
Is this also a "teachable moment"? We've grown accustomed to hearing about scores of Iraqis killed in the violence triggered by our immoral, illegal, and incompetent invasion. During the occupation, the Iraqis have suffered greater losses than Blacksburg evey day. Imagine twice as many people killed, women and children and men, most of whom just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This comparison should serve not to minimize the loss at VT but rather to dramatize the mess we've made in Iraq.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Obediant Pirate
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Eating is an extension of politics by other means.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Too many micromanagers
Friday, March 09, 2007
I pledge not to watch
Thursday, March 08, 2007
History repeats itself, muttering.
- Watergate had Deep Throat. All we get is deep vein thrombosis.
- They got “we have a cancer on the presidency”. We get “there’s a clot in the Vice President’s leg”.
- They had plumbers to stop leaks. We get a leaky "Scooter".
- They got “All the President’s Men”. We get Humpty-W-Dumpty for another 2 years.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Robbing Peter and Cheating Paul
What about the plight of the members of the US armed services, whom Bush promised 7 years ago that "help is on the way"? I suggest they sail that hospital ship up the Potomac and dock it in the Tidal Basin, across the mall from the White House, to care for the wounded warriors who need help now more than ever.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Iran Improv
Monday, February 19, 2007
Twin Towers' Twins
Saturday, February 17, 2007
“Come, take them”
Two and a half millennia later, the East and West are still struggling. Now, though the odds are reversed, when Islamic extremists demand we give up our freedoms the Bush administration says “Here, have them”.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
"Just following orders", NOT!
U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada refused to go to Iraq because he believes the war is illegal. His court martial was recently declared a mistrial. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that this administration and it's thuggish Department of Justice will reverse 6 years of persistent, pervasive abuse of prosecutorial discretion that has produced, thankfully, very few guilty verdicts. If only the CIA agents now under indictment in Italy and Germany for their roles in the illegal "extraordinary renditions" (torture) had been willing to accept personal responsibility. If enough soldiers and officials have the courage to refuse inhuman, immoral, or illegal orders, the war will stop.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Obama, '08, Oh yeah!
Most politicians are either rhetorically inspiring or rationally convincing. Obama manages to be both, appealing to the emotions and the mind. Perhaps this is due, in part, to the fact that he so clearly embodies his core message of unity, being black and white. Enough pop psychology! This is a clearly healthy and self aware unity.
If you want to learn more about his ideas and thinking, listen to his weekly podcast, a brief monologue on a single issue of national importance (direct from the Senate site or on Apple iTunes). Though I disagreed with his vote against confirming Roberts, I had to concede that he made good points in support of his decision. He has a very good grasp of politics and even seems to have a mature perspective on his charisma. Though only a junior Senator, his opinion is clearly respected by his colleagues and even by the Administration.
We need another Lincoln. His announcement comes on a day when the dictator of Russia, Putin, could rationally charge that the US was reigniting the nuclear arms race. Electing Obama President could be the first step on a long journey of healing the divisions – domestic and international - that have been exploited and made worse by the current administration.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Percy Julian, Chemist and Pioneer
The highs and lows are dramatic and extreme: a childhood revelry in nature ended with him encountering the victim of a lynching. He was denied a high school education because he is an African American but his teacher parents kept him learning. With a 10th grade education, he enrolled as a subfreshman at DePauw and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and top of his class. Then his grandmother showed him her scars from slavery. He went to Vienna to pursue his doctorate; both his science and social life flowered. Upon his return to America, racism was exploited by colleagues and competitors who wanted to hurt him.
In addition to a few merely important molecules, this man synthesized progesterone and cortisone. PROGESTERONE and CORTISONE, two of the most important drugs in the 20th century! These syntheses are landmarks in organic chemistry and pharmacology. Progesterone is key to birth control pills and cortisone is a very important anti-inflammatory. Why is Percy Julian's name not well known? Thank you, Nova and PBS, for this wonderful show about an impressive human being.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Bears + Colts = Super Bowl XLI
Colts are looking good in the first drive of the second half. Let's hope the second half is as good as the first. About half the commercials are worth watching - the job search company is best so far. Time to enjoy!
Saturday, February 03, 2007
You say “potatoe”
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Why not?
Reagan succeeded Carter in a landslide. The old actor Reagan could not distinguish script from history – he believed, because he had seen a film, that he helped liberate Nazi death camps – but his directors could. They kept Reagan from doing anything profoundly stupid. Sure, they made bad movies, err, moves, such as Granada, Lebanon, and Iran Contra, but they were small budget, indie junk that his hard-core fans loved anyway. They had some lucky timing with big box office hits like the Berlin Wall but just as importantly, no mega-flops.
Bush is the apotheosis of Reaganism. Bush is the cheerleader who wants to be the Gipper, the hero, the decider. In this fantasy, Bush is a self-made man. The actual plot line is more prosaic: prodigal son follows dad into the family business. But he does more than just talk tough, buy weapons, and saber rattle: he starts a war, dons a flight suit, and declares he is bringing freedom to the oppressed of the world. Rewrite! Make that “oppressed-with-proven-oil-reserves of the world”. His agents know the domestic market perfectly. Sadly, they have a weak grasp on reality and, except for one plucky British distributor, have failed in the overseas market. They mired us in a long and draining war because they thought it was a really neat idea. A "high concept" idea can have perfect pitch over brunch then bomb like an improvised explosive device in the marketplace. You can put lipstick on a pig like “no child left behind” but no amount of makeup will make up for the hole in families and communities caused by the Iraq debacle.
Could we do worse? I doubt it. But I thought the same about Reagan.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Seeing Eye to Eye
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Game Theory
"The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton” (attributed to the Duke of Wellington)How do the games we Americans play influence us? The most popular game in the world is “football”, which Americans call soccer. One of the most popular games in America is “football”, a different game in which the foot rarely touches the ball. Let's compare these games.
- Attention: Soccer has very few interruptions. Football is mostly interruptions. There are only about 5 seconds of activity in every 30 seconds of game time. There are also as many as 12 time-outs per game. A 90 minute soccer game takes about 2 hours. A 60 minute football game takes about 3 hours. Football cheerleaders may help regain flagging attention. The other great American pastime, baseball, is even worse in this respect. A baseball game is an eternity of near-perfect inactivity, interrupted with brief spasms of action by only a few of the players.
- Identity: You can see the faces and bodies of the soccer players. Football players are helmeted and padded to such an extent that they can only be identified by their numbers.
- Initiative: Soccer is free flowing, so individual improvisation and spontaneous cooperation are essential. In contrast, football is highly scripted. The responsibility for a football “play” is distributed among coordinators, coaches, and players.
- Winning: Soccer is low scoring. There is no way to score more than 1 point at a time and even a single score can be crucial. There is no way to score only 1 point in football. Football scores are more than 10 times higher than soccer scores. Most important, soccer accepts a tie score while football goes to great lengths to avoid ties.
Monday, January 15, 2007
King Conscience
The parallels with Iraq are striking.
The Iraqis, like King said of the Vietnamese, “must see Americans as strange liberators". We helped liberate the Vietnamese from Japanese imperialism only to allow the return of French colonialism. Similarly, we liberated the Iraq from decades of tyranny under Saddam Hussein only to allow it to descend into violence that eclipses even Saddam's reign.
The people of the Middle East today, just as King said of the Vietnamese then, “may have justifiable reason to be suspicious of the good faith of the United States”. Our overweening obsession with oil is self evident and morally blinding.
The Bush administration would substitute “anti-terrorism” for civil rights, yielding “peace and anti-terrorism don't mix”. King said those who offer such false choices “do not know the world in which they live”. Bush's blundering misadventures has cost America much of the admiration and trust of the rest of the world. This has made the world a more dangerous place for all free thinking people.
Rename the Baghdad “Green Zone” a big “hamlet” and this quote is accurate today in Iraq:
“Now there is little left to build on -- save bitterness. Soon the only solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases and in the concrete of the concentration camps we call fortified hamlets.”You can imagine a Sunni or Shiite leader echoing the sentiment of a Vietnamese Buddhist leader, quoted by King:
"Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism."King's invocation of scripture concluded like current opinions of Bush's desperate 'plan' to increase troops in Iraq:
“Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: 'Too late.'"In this speech, King explicitly accepted his role as a preacher. He delivered his message with the force of convictions that he lived. Please follow the link above to his brilliant, moving, and still relevant speech. I like this photograph because he seems to be looking at us. Let's learn the lesson our King taught us: listen to your conscience.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
iNewton
Full disclosure: I own a little – too little – Apple stock. I also own a little – enough – Motorola stock. I've always admired Moto's advanced technology and, lately, its style. Unfortunately, its phones have often been marred by mediocre software. Also, all cell phones have been crippled by the telephone service providers because the carriers want to sell their own services. Apple, in contrast, had the clout to get Cingular/ATT to actually add support for functions. Oddly, the iPhone has been criticized (already) for not allowing even more, "third party" applications. This criticism is silly because the iPhone comes with standard applications that are years ahead of the competition and because nobody adds applications to their iPod or current cell phone, anyway.
I was hoping for an ultraportable tablet computer from Apple. I figured, who needs another phone? Well, the new iPhone is essentially an updated Newton (lower figure), a small tablet/personal data assistant (PDA) that was way ahead of it time when Apple produced it over a decade years ago. The Newton didn't have cell phone, wireless internet, or bluetooth (short range) connections. There's a very good reason why these were missing on the Newton: they either rare (cell phones) or non-existent at the time. I had one and despite its limitations, the Newton was still a very useful device. Now the iPhone is the Newton, perfected. iWant.