I took this from the beach in front of the base hospital this afternoon.
09 January 2006
08 January 2006
Annapolis
I understand it's a lovely city. I have nothing against the place. I don't even have anything against the institution.
But this movie, Annapolis? All right, I didn't go to the Air Force Academy. Or to West Point. And I routinely make fun of my colleagues who did. But this ridiculous advertising campaign, calling Annapolis the hardest military academy in the country? Are you F'ing kidding me? Who the hell made that determination? Hollywood? Bite my shiny metal ass, that's what I'd say about that. If I was a robot.
Yeah. Not gonna see that movie.
But this movie, Annapolis? All right, I didn't go to the Air Force Academy. Or to West Point. And I routinely make fun of my colleagues who did. But this ridiculous advertising campaign, calling Annapolis the hardest military academy in the country? Are you F'ing kidding me? Who the hell made that determination? Hollywood? Bite my shiny metal ass, that's what I'd say about that. If I was a robot.
Yeah. Not gonna see that movie.
06 January 2006
Guess the City
For some of you, it will be obvious. For others, you can follow this link. But keep it under your hat.
Last thoughts on Judge Alito
With the confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito just around the corner, I thought I’d make a very brief statement about what to expect.
1. It will be ruthless and ugly. Nobody, not Democrats and not Republicans, and not Alito, is going to come out of this thing smelling like roses. Ultimately I expect this process to make everybody look like shit and to piss off and alienate most voters.
2. Expect people on both sides to scream bloody murder about how absolutely atrocious the other side’s behavior has been. Ignore all of this from both sides and you’ll be a happier, better person.
3. Alito is said to be a quiet, pleasant, and generally deferential individual, as one would expect from a nerd (which the judge most certainly is; this is not a bad thing. I and many of my friends are nerds, and we’re very nice people). How this will hold up under what will certainly be a very ugly attempt at character assassination—-to include the calling of character witnesses by the Democrats who will attempt to question the judge’s credibility—-remains to be seen. If he can maintain his demeanor he will probably be confirmed. If he fails to do so he will not be.
If I was a Senator, and I’m not and I think we can all thank our lucky stars for that, I would vote against confirming Judge Alito. Whether I would have done so at his initial hearings years ago for the post he now holds—-and whether any other sitting Senator did so—-is entirely irrelevant. This will not stop the pro-Alito machine from whining about why people changed their minds. People change their minds all the time, in government as much as in life. I didn’t used to like peanut butter, but now I do; that's not a character flaw. And in the 80s when Alito was initially confirmed, his paper trail was shorter and concern about his willingness to expand executive power was nonexistent. Things and people change and so the mere fact that you supported somebody two decades ago has no relevance to how you feel about that person now.
I would vote against Alito because I am concerned that he is too willing to expand executive authority. I have a deep and abiding distrust of any form of executive political power and this president has shown continued attempts to expand that power under the guise of fighting the war on terror. We can debate this topic all you want, but I am far more of a libertarian than a law-and-order guy and for one am unwilling to see continued expansion of presidential powers that erode basic civil liberties—even in wartime. The prez may say he’s simply using his commander-in-chief powers, but please bear in mind that the “War on Terror” is an open-ended war. There is no reason why, once accepted by the courts, any present expansion of presidential authority under the CINC clause need ever be revoked. What we’re seeing here is an attempt by Bush to permanently expand the authority of the executive, thereby permanently degrading civil liberties and preventing us from regaining them. This is how freedom is lost, gradually and almost imperceptibly to the notion of security, and I could not vote to approve a judge who I suspect would be complicit in that expansion. This is, frankly, the only issue that matters in this debate.
1. It will be ruthless and ugly. Nobody, not Democrats and not Republicans, and not Alito, is going to come out of this thing smelling like roses. Ultimately I expect this process to make everybody look like shit and to piss off and alienate most voters.
2. Expect people on both sides to scream bloody murder about how absolutely atrocious the other side’s behavior has been. Ignore all of this from both sides and you’ll be a happier, better person.
3. Alito is said to be a quiet, pleasant, and generally deferential individual, as one would expect from a nerd (which the judge most certainly is; this is not a bad thing. I and many of my friends are nerds, and we’re very nice people). How this will hold up under what will certainly be a very ugly attempt at character assassination—-to include the calling of character witnesses by the Democrats who will attempt to question the judge’s credibility—-remains to be seen. If he can maintain his demeanor he will probably be confirmed. If he fails to do so he will not be.
If I was a Senator, and I’m not and I think we can all thank our lucky stars for that, I would vote against confirming Judge Alito. Whether I would have done so at his initial hearings years ago for the post he now holds—-and whether any other sitting Senator did so—-is entirely irrelevant. This will not stop the pro-Alito machine from whining about why people changed their minds. People change their minds all the time, in government as much as in life. I didn’t used to like peanut butter, but now I do; that's not a character flaw. And in the 80s when Alito was initially confirmed, his paper trail was shorter and concern about his willingness to expand executive power was nonexistent. Things and people change and so the mere fact that you supported somebody two decades ago has no relevance to how you feel about that person now.
I would vote against Alito because I am concerned that he is too willing to expand executive authority. I have a deep and abiding distrust of any form of executive political power and this president has shown continued attempts to expand that power under the guise of fighting the war on terror. We can debate this topic all you want, but I am far more of a libertarian than a law-and-order guy and for one am unwilling to see continued expansion of presidential powers that erode basic civil liberties—even in wartime. The prez may say he’s simply using his commander-in-chief powers, but please bear in mind that the “War on Terror” is an open-ended war. There is no reason why, once accepted by the courts, any present expansion of presidential authority under the CINC clause need ever be revoked. What we’re seeing here is an attempt by Bush to permanently expand the authority of the executive, thereby permanently degrading civil liberties and preventing us from regaining them. This is how freedom is lost, gradually and almost imperceptibly to the notion of security, and I could not vote to approve a judge who I suspect would be complicit in that expansion. This is, frankly, the only issue that matters in this debate.
05 January 2006
Hooray for the IRS
I just wanted to say how very thrilled I was to receive my 2005 federal income tax forms in the mail today. The rest of the government may not be able to work efficiently, but it's good to know that the agency charged with hoovering money out of your wallet is spot on time.
I noticed on the form that my local IRS Service Center, in Atlanta, is also the local service center for Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Rhode Island.
Rhode Island.
There's another center in Andover, Mass. I checked my mapping software. No part of Rhode Island is more than 100 miles from Andover (except Block Island). All the other New England states use the Andover center. Why does Rhode Island use the Atlanta center? Does this bother Rhode Islanders? Do they get their refunds later?
I noticed on the form that my local IRS Service Center, in Atlanta, is also the local service center for Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Rhode Island.
Rhode Island.
There's another center in Andover, Mass. I checked my mapping software. No part of Rhode Island is more than 100 miles from Andover (except Block Island). All the other New England states use the Andover center. Why does Rhode Island use the Atlanta center? Does this bother Rhode Islanders? Do they get their refunds later?
Three Pieces
A few months ago I vowed that I would not buy any more CDs until the music industry gave up its policies of threatening and demeaning its customers and overcharging for its products. This has, shockingly, not yet come to pass, so officially I'm still not buying CDs (except for independently made ones, of course).But one day I was listening to the local NPR affiliate, which mostly plays weepy classical music that I hate listening to during the day or, God forbid, when I'm driving and need to stay awake; normally during the non-NPR hours of programming I listen to CDs. But one day I was in the car and I had been listening to Morning Edition, and when I got in the car it was classical music. And it was the most incredible thing I'd ever heard. I listen through to the end of the piece because I knew that one way or the other I had to own this music.
It turns out I had been listening to Henryk Gorecki's Three Pieces in Olden Style. I needed this music. This was simply too wonderful for me to not own it. I checked out the Apple iPod site, but, perhaps not surprisingly, there was a dearth of 20th Century Polish Classical music there.
Not to be dissuaded I went to my favorite place for the buying of stuff, Barnes and Noble. I was happy to find the Three Pieces there, on a CD with the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. For such a dreary sounding piece of music, this is actually quite delightful, but still pales in comparison to the heavy strings of the Three Pieces. I bought the CD; it's a Naxos CD, which is a company that prints only classical music CDs and which, while probably still associated with the RIAA, at least seems unlikely to engage in lawsuits against innocent people.
I enjoy classical music a great deal (especially baroque music and Russian romantic and modern music) but am dreadful at describing it in an appropriately pretentious manner. The Three Pieces in Olden Style are three pieces for string orchestra, all fairly short (three to four minutes). The first is slow and lilting and builds gradually, as if it is the beginning of an epic journey. The second is a bit quicker, consisting of short bowed notes where the bass instruments play along in a little march while the higher strings carry a melody. It's quite different from the other two pieces and a nice counterpoint. The final piece is mostly long chord progressions; being a fan of minimalism, I love chord progressions. This one is notable for ending with a minor chord that just tears your heart out. I love it.
Most evenings I listen to the Three Pieces four or five times before I go to bed. I am, in fact, listening to them right now. I share this with you because, though the RIAA is in fact run by demons expelled from Hell, music still has immense power to bring joy into our lives. We must not lose sight of that fact. Though if you ask I will certainly play you my copy of the Three Pieces, I recognize that you may not love them as much as I do. No matter. Another piece of music will do the same for you. We must not let the industry that packages and sells that music destroy what music is and means.
04 January 2006
Poor Charlotte Simmons
Yes, poor indeed. I Am Charlotte Simmons has been relegated off my "Currently Reading" list but not put on the "Recent Reads" list, because I haven't finished it. In fact, I haven't read one page of the book since my vacation in October.
This is deeply disappointing, as it was an excellent book so far, one of those books that's almost a little too good, so it's sort of scary? There are a few problems--I mean, Wolfe seems to say that the only thing going on in college is sex, period. I was in college and that was not the only thing going on there. Yes, there are parts of the college society where, to quote Mr. Wolfe, "rutrutrutrutrutrut" is the only thing going through anyone's mind, but that is hardly universal and surely a girl like Charlotte would have had an easier time finding her way than Mr. Wolfe gives her. Rutrutrutrutrutrut might be part of college, but it's hardly the only part. I mean, what about throwing month-old bran muffins and two-liters of water off the top of the football stadium into the parking lot? What about burning architecture projects in the woods? What about getting drunk on cheap beer and kicking cans around the basement of your dormitory just to make a racket? Those are all fun parts of college, too.
Still, Tom Wolfe is my favorite working novelist. I was enjoying the book before, and I want the chance to enjoy it fully, so, as I did with Cryptonomicon earlier, I'm putting it back in the pile of things to read at a later date.
I still plan to finish Collapse soon, but in the next few days you should see the reading list expand a great deal with some rather weightier books, all of which I'm hoping to read by the end of the month. Wish me luck.
This is deeply disappointing, as it was an excellent book so far, one of those books that's almost a little too good, so it's sort of scary? There are a few problems--I mean, Wolfe seems to say that the only thing going on in college is sex, period. I was in college and that was not the only thing going on there. Yes, there are parts of the college society where, to quote Mr. Wolfe, "rutrutrutrutrutrut" is the only thing going through anyone's mind, but that is hardly universal and surely a girl like Charlotte would have had an easier time finding her way than Mr. Wolfe gives her. Rutrutrutrutrutrut might be part of college, but it's hardly the only part. I mean, what about throwing month-old bran muffins and two-liters of water off the top of the football stadium into the parking lot? What about burning architecture projects in the woods? What about getting drunk on cheap beer and kicking cans around the basement of your dormitory just to make a racket? Those are all fun parts of college, too.
Still, Tom Wolfe is my favorite working novelist. I was enjoying the book before, and I want the chance to enjoy it fully, so, as I did with Cryptonomicon earlier, I'm putting it back in the pile of things to read at a later date.
I still plan to finish Collapse soon, but in the next few days you should see the reading list expand a great deal with some rather weightier books, all of which I'm hoping to read by the end of the month. Wish me luck.
Decisions
I've had to make a couple of really significantly large decisions about life in the last couple of weeks, and a few more are on their way. The difficulty of one of those decisions seems to have been underestimated by some folks. I'm not criticizing anyone here, lest any of my readers think I'm throwing darts.
It's just given me cause to note how difficult empathy is. The decision I've made is one that I'd warrant a lot of my friends and family might think I made fairly easily. It wasn't. But a couple times recently I found someone who didn't seem to get that. And I thought, why should they?
We have at best a vague idea of how other people think, and even at that we are frequently wrong. You think you know somebody, but the truth is you only know what's going on outside, and it's easy to look at that and make assumptions. It's also easy to do the exact opposite and assume other people understand what you're going through even when you don't bother to explain matters to them. So, I'm going to try to be more understanding, and to help folks do a better job of understanding me. Well, some folks. Only a few. Not you, certainly, dear reader, much as I do adore you. For you, I shall continue to be as blank a slate as possible.
It's just given me cause to note how difficult empathy is. The decision I've made is one that I'd warrant a lot of my friends and family might think I made fairly easily. It wasn't. But a couple times recently I found someone who didn't seem to get that. And I thought, why should they?
We have at best a vague idea of how other people think, and even at that we are frequently wrong. You think you know somebody, but the truth is you only know what's going on outside, and it's easy to look at that and make assumptions. It's also easy to do the exact opposite and assume other people understand what you're going through even when you don't bother to explain matters to them. So, I'm going to try to be more understanding, and to help folks do a better job of understanding me. Well, some folks. Only a few. Not you, certainly, dear reader, much as I do adore you. For you, I shall continue to be as blank a slate as possible.
A Few Notes
There's been a lot of news lately. I'm busy, so I haven't been thinking much about it, but I wanted to post a couple unrelated notes.
1. Wow. Did the news ever get it wrong today. I was shocked by the sheer number of newspapers that led with color-photo-above-the-fold stories about the 12 miners being found alive. This is such a colossal "oops" I don't even have words for it. What a dreadful start to 2006.
2. Evidently, the President is above the law. I'm just gonna go ahead and link to Charging RINO (a RINO is a Republican in Name Only, just like I used to be). When El Arbusto signed the Defense Authorization Act with its anti-torture amendment and crowed about what a great thing it was, he wasn't being even remotely serious. Evidently, as Charging RINO will tell you, he released a statement when he signed the bill that indicates he feels he can ignore it any time he wants. Did you wonder about how he changed his mind so fast, one week saying the ban would hinder the war on terror and the next saying how great it was? Well, now we know; that's how long it took his lawyers to figure out how to get around the provision. As Charging RINO notes, the biggest concern we should all have about Judge Alito on the Supreme Court is not abortion or anything like that, but Alito's tendency to support broad expansions of executive power. The executive power is the most easily abused, the hardest to reduce once expanded, and should be the least trusted. Bush wants more of it. And, evidently, he wants to be above the law, too.
3. What a man is Jack Abramoff. For six or seven years he wrote down and kept copies of everything he did as a lobbyist, every dime he spent, every person he spent it on, and everything he asked in return. As Ron Gunzberger of Politics1 points out, probably the only reason he'd do such a thing is that "he was always concerned that someday he'd get caught and would need leverage to cut a good deal." This is going to be a fascinating season.
1. Wow. Did the news ever get it wrong today. I was shocked by the sheer number of newspapers that led with color-photo-above-the-fold stories about the 12 miners being found alive. This is such a colossal "oops" I don't even have words for it. What a dreadful start to 2006.
2. Evidently, the President is above the law. I'm just gonna go ahead and link to Charging RINO (a RINO is a Republican in Name Only, just like I used to be). When El Arbusto signed the Defense Authorization Act with its anti-torture amendment and crowed about what a great thing it was, he wasn't being even remotely serious. Evidently, as Charging RINO will tell you, he released a statement when he signed the bill that indicates he feels he can ignore it any time he wants. Did you wonder about how he changed his mind so fast, one week saying the ban would hinder the war on terror and the next saying how great it was? Well, now we know; that's how long it took his lawyers to figure out how to get around the provision. As Charging RINO notes, the biggest concern we should all have about Judge Alito on the Supreme Court is not abortion or anything like that, but Alito's tendency to support broad expansions of executive power. The executive power is the most easily abused, the hardest to reduce once expanded, and should be the least trusted. Bush wants more of it. And, evidently, he wants to be above the law, too.
3. What a man is Jack Abramoff. For six or seven years he wrote down and kept copies of everything he did as a lobbyist, every dime he spent, every person he spent it on, and everything he asked in return. As Ron Gunzberger of Politics1 points out, probably the only reason he'd do such a thing is that "he was always concerned that someday he'd get caught and would need leverage to cut a good deal." This is going to be a fascinating season.
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