Friday, September 05, 2008

Soccer Starts the Healing Process

This article describes a good start to healing old wounds. There is no love lost between Armenia and Turkey, but historically they were close and shared much common culture. While certainly, there was incomprehensible destruction of the Armenian people and culture between the tail end of the Ottoman Empire and the start of the modern Turkey, healing and progress cannot be made until contemporaries come together, establish ties and work together. There is much history and culture that binds Turks and Armenians, as much as they do not want to admit it. Since no one is going to come out and say "we were wrong, you are right" (except for Hrant Dink who was assassinated for saying that) - by skipping that step, and moving on to reconciliation and establishing ties, eventually, it will open peoples eyes and minds and allow them to subsequently re-visit that often desired first step.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Drink and the Devil Be Done for the Rest

15 men.... well, anyway, everyone seems to be in on the act these days, even college presidents:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/08/18/college.drinking.age.ap/index.html

It is perhaps trite to say the argument is academic. Since when you take away the rights of a minority, especially one that does not vote regularly or en masse, in the interest of security, who will take the risk of restoring the rights? What political gain could possibly be had? So all the logical arguments in the world won't change the views of the law makers.

Now I don't believe drinking alcohol is a right, per se, but it is a freedom. In truth, if you don't break any laws, what does the government care what you drink? And if you drink and commit a serious, or minor, crime, what is the real problem - the crime or the fact that you were drinking?

College is college. It may not be Animal House, but there are certainly episodes of college that resemble the hi-jinks of Delta Tau Chi. In other words, to be shocked that there is underage drinking going on in college is frankly idiotic. While the university, doesn't condone it, they only half-heartedly seek to prevent it or enforce the drinking laws with any rigor. While the university does have some responsibility to enforce the law, they understand the futility of it, as well as the potential negative implications of alienating the student body (and limiting future fund raising), but there is also something also subversive, in that most universites' elite think they know better. They may actually know better, but when it comes to laws, that is not supposed to be the point.

The age of 21 seems quite arbitrary especially in view of the fact that you can join the military, fight in wars, kill people and even, yes, vote when you are 18, yet drink? forget about it. Somehow you are not mature enough or resonsible enough to drink a glass or wine, but you can drive a car, operate heavy machinery and wield fire arms. There is also no magic switch that gets turned on when you hit 21. If you are unresponsible at 20, you most likely will still be unresponsible at 21.

Given proper education and shown proper social settings, students can learn to drink responsibly at 18. However, there also have to be suitable alternative outlets for activities and socializing. Too often, simply from boredom, people binge drink - whether stuck in the frozen tundra in Finland or on the gothic quad of Duke.

MADD, in their rapid, rapid action response:
In fact, MADD CEO Chuck Hurley said, nearly all peer-reviewed studies looking at the change showed raising the drinking age reduced drunk-driving deaths. A survey of research from the U.S. and other countries by the Centers for Disease Control and others reached the same conclusion.

What peer-reviewed studies are they talking about? If it is so incontrovertible, then why doesn't every country raise the drinking age? Wouldn't Canada be losing people left and right? and if 21 works so well, why stop there? Wouldn't 25 be even better?

While CNN in their typical breathless, thoughtless prose, don't actually report much, other media outlet articles talk about different studies:
Drinking ages around the world vary, but in many European countries, it is 18. And the group behind the push notes on its Web site that the U.K., Germany, Australia, The Netherlands and Canada all had bigger declines in alcohol-related traffic fatalities than the U.S. during a 10-year period from 1982 to 1992 -- the time when the U.S. made 21 the national standard.
The colleges make a libertarian arugment that since students are drinking anyway, and resorting to breaking the law, we are creating or at least fostering a culture of law breakers -- thus leagalize it and regulate it (or educate about it). In some ways, it is curious that the university frequently makes libertarian arguments, since often they are too eager for regulation and laws when they fit their enlightened view. This goes back to the arrogance of the university, which believes it knows better, than society at large...but will do anything to not seem elite to the so called down-trodden. Roast an entire lacrosse team anyone? Destroy a coach's career? Speaking of that, CNN likes to get in a cheap shot:
Duke faced accusations of ignoring the heavy drinking that formed the backdrop of 2006 rape allegations against three lacrosse players. The rape allegations proved to be a hoax, but the alcohol-fueled party was never disputed.
So in other words, no crime was commited, it was all made up, nothing happened, but the alchohol-fueled party, now that was, ah, well, so what? nothing happened. It doesn't matter whether they were drinking or playing chess. CNN, in its vapid cheap shot, doesn't mention the accusor's drug indused, alchohol laden, pschosis fueled behavior, but likes to point to the heavy drinking as being the root of the non-existant problem.

Now bad stuff does happen at college, and there probably is far too much drinking. All the more reason to deal with it head on, sensibly, rather than knee-jerk or dogmatically.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Good Security is Hard

Good security is hard is a common mantra, especially from Bruce Schneier, and he has a very good article in the current Crypto-Gram as well as published in Wired entitled Memo to the Next President. I especially liked his 3rd point:

Three, broadly invest in research. Basic research is risky; it doesn't
always pay off. That's why companies have stopped funding it. Bell Labs
is gone because nobody could afford it after the AT&T breakup, but the
root cause was a desire for higher efficiency and short-term
profitability -- not unreasonable in an unregulated business. Government
research can be used to balance that by funding long-term research.

Spread those research dollars wide. Lately, most research money has been
redirected through DARPA to near-term military-related projects; that's
not good. Keep the earmark-happy Congress from dictating how the money
is spent. Let the NSF, NIH and other funding agencies decide how to
spend the money and don't try to micromanage. Give the national
laboratories lots of freedom, too. Yes, some research will sound silly
to a layman. But you can't predict what will be useful for what, and if
funding is really peer-reviewed, the average results will be much
better. Compared to corporate tax breaks and other subsidies, this is
chump change.
It makes so much sense, but seems so anathema to the political process. In the next President, will we perhaps see a change in policy, a change for the true appreciation of science? Will the next President (and Congress) be strong enough and intelligent enough to realize that security by consensus is mediocre security? That for truly good security (and this does not mean anything resembling a police state), you will undoubtedly upset some special interest or group.

Will the next President be business as usual or will we see something different?


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Should I Stay or Should I Go?


I read an interesting article about Queen Rania's efforts to use the new media to dispel and address head on the misconceptions of Arabs and Muslims. Using YouTube, she sets the stage for the democratization of an emotional debate. However, what I found truly interesting, was the argument of the academics regarding whether the interconnectedness of people in the virtual world of the internet broadens attitudes or instead leads to self-selected, insular communities. It is obvious, to me at least, that both views hold true. It all depends on what you are looking for. Just like in a small town, you can keep your contact to the known and comfortable, and never be challenged or like some, get on a train and see what's over the horizon. Some people will naturally seek the broad perspective and draw energy from the different and exotic. Others cannot tolerate change and want to reinforce their own belief system. That isn't quite fair, since even those seeking new, challenging experiences are in esssence reinforcing their own belief system.

Will the world get closer together? or will we have a Clash of Civilizations (which incidently is not so much about the clash but rather how to avoid it).




Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Parallel Thinking

Shouldn't it be possible, to spawn off a separate and deep thought process while you are engaged in everyday life? This would be similar to a very effective subconscious mind acting at the bequest of the conscious. When I was younger, it seemed like I could do this quite naturally and effortlessly. Now, despite my efforts, I cannot carry on a parallel thought process beyond an instant. Why? Perhaps, I have too many distractions now, too many pressing concerns. Perhaps I am just too tired, my brain too crippled. Maybe I am overwhelmed by the modern ADD.

I feel like if I could just get a lot of rest and get my mind at ease, I could re-engage my parallel thought processes. My cousin complained about my nonlinear thinking while I was on vacation recently. For him, a General Counsel, a corporate lawyer, this was derogatory. Too me, it was a sigh of relief. It re-awakened my desire for parallel thinking, for nonlinear thinking. When you can effectively engage in this type of thinking, you experience a new kind of creativity and awareness of relationships.

So off to bed!



Sunday, June 22, 2008

A Late Night Thought(s)

Slanted, pink sunlight illuminates all,
Long ago, the light faded and the waves are just sounds,
Late night TV looks for meaning, ensconced in a PBS fundraiser.
I see people looking for meaning in motion, constant entertainment or new experiences,
others looking for meaning in philosophy or religion or gargantuan rocks strewn by the sea.
But is the pursuit of meaning short sighted?
Not seeing the whole puzzle.
Is meaning just a convenient summarization of something much larger?
Like capturing the air with a bag and thinking you've got it all, the scents, the sounds, the sky.
So what is beyond meaning, beyond the pursuit of explanations?
Is it still satisfying? Is it still marketable?
What if meaning is just a photo, at 10x magnification, that misses the scene and losses the context?
So where do we go from here?

Thursday, June 19, 2008


I have been remiss in writing this blog entry for some time. Hopefully, I will still have some pertinent or at least accurate thoughts on the subject. Over the last several months, we've watched a couple of movies about Bob Dylan:

Bob Dylan is fascinating in many respects, because of his mystique and his insightful and poetic songwriting. While perhaps some poetic elites may have denigrated his poetry in the past, his lyrics are now studied at many universities, in multiple contexts. His friendship with Alan Ginsberg and Ginsberg respect for Dylan's writing offer credence to this statement, though Ginsberg did feel Dylan betrayed or abandoned his ideal of the politically and socially conscious poet.

Bob Dylan did consciously start out to become successful and to make himself into his image of a songwriter like the previous generation (like Woody Guthrie ). His music mastery and gift are sometimes overlooked, but apparently he could listen to a song once and commit it to memory. People looked for deep meaning and obscure messages in many of his songs, yet he was unaware of the depth attributed to them. I think he was like a prism of society and culture that brilliantly reflected the yearnings, grievances, failings and desires of Western civilization at that time (and subsequent generations). He was able to eloquently focus the cross-currents and turmoil of group thought in a laser like precision that built upon the successful methods of folk song writers of past.

Most of all, Bob Dylan was much like a medium of old, a channeler of art, music and poetry. From his innate gifts and his pursuit of a solid base from which to project, he was able to channel this powerful spirit and crystal clear images through his songs.




Thursday, May 22, 2008

Circle and Look

A new life enters the world. Another life exits. A wave builds, a wave crashes. Life goes on, the ocean flows. Does the wave that crashes on the shore have any affect? Does the butterfly that flaps its wing expect any results beyond its flight? As our lives age and eventually wane, we look to the new ones, the young lives for which anything is possible. When my grandfather was young, most people traveled by horse and wagon. There was no penicillin, no areal anesthesia, no space travel, no computers and no bikinis. What will things be like in 50 yrs? in 20 yrs? Will we be the dinosaurs, the quaint black and white movies, the scratchy vinyl records? Hopefully, we won't be the clunky 8-track tapes.

Pull back from 20 yrs, to 50 yrs, to 100 yrs, to 500 yrs, to 1000 yrs, to 10,000 years. Will any of this matter - will we matter? Will anything that we do have any affect? Or does everything we do have an affect, like the butterfly that flaps its wings? Perhaps, the door we open for another, the kiss we give to a new born, ripples across eternity.

The new born is carried out of the hospital. A 2004 Honda Accord stops in front. A mother helps her 9 year old daughter out of the car, gingerly minding her arm that she prays is OK. The young girl, holding her arm, looks at the new baby and wonders...




Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Sonnet 0.2

OK, I've been lax and a slacker. Let me add some more to this...

The love that I had, the love that I lost,
The love that is customary, the love that is right.
Love is constant, so the Bard said, yet is it irreplaceable?
Without true love, do we die? Or is love far greater, than person, place or thing?
What if love is vast and dynamic, sometimes fleeting, sometimes long and comfortable,
Simple as vivid green in the brilliant sun, curious as Riemann zeta,
Poignant and soothing as a morning dove, foreboding as a supernova.

Pedaling faster, heart a-pounding, forest carving sweat,
A moment of tranquility, my eyes locked with a deer's, time stopped.
Transcendental instant, forward motion, but no movement,
Soundless, thoughtless, drifting through the forest, I still stared,
Total peace and a glimpse of communion,
Before the sound returns,
And the mud flies.







Friday, April 18, 2008

Sonnet 0.1

For some crazy reason, really because of a very together, uber-living friend, I am trying my hand at writing a sonnet. I am going to begin rather unstructured and stream of conscious and hopefully over time start to hone and polish it.

The topic is love, that so many sonnets before have sung about, so without further adieu:

The love that I had, the love that I lost,
The love that is customary, the love that is right.
Love is constant, so the Bard said, yet is it irreplaceable?
Without true love, do we die? Or is love far greater, than person, place or thing?
What if love is vast and dynamic, sometimes fleeting, sometimes long and comfortable,
Simple as vivid green in the brilliant sun, curious as Riemann zeta,
Poignant and soothing as a morning dove, foreboding as a supernova.

OK, that's half or rather half a start!






Friday, March 14, 2008

Crazy Times

One of the craziest things about trying to keep up with my blog is resolving the tension between when I have my thoughts or inspirations and when I am able to publish them. My life is such that if I do not publish near to the time when I think of something, the chances that I publish decrease exponentially. Two inventions that I have thought of, that I have no idea if there is prior art, and have been thinking would be a godsend to my blogging art, are:
  • Sports hardened, WIFI capable blogging station for exercise equipment and bicycles. A blogging station for exercise equipment would be easier to tackle. The WIFI or wired connection would be easy to satisfy. There are already decent (or mostly decent) computer add-ons for protection against sweat, moisture, liquid, etc.... A mobile blogging station would be more difficult, especially for a mountain bike, but would be way cool...think about the great thoughts when you are in the middle of nowhere, having hammered across some killer trails...a great epiphany?
  • Night time, low light bed side blogging device. It would be cool, to wake up in the middle of the night, when I have many thoughts, that at least seem valuable at the time, to reach over to the bed side table, pull over the blogging station arm, with the the gentle back light and capture a few of the twilight synaptic firings.

It is hard to schedule thinking, but that is precisely what is recommended by many experts. I don't know if you can necessarily schedule thinking, but you certainly must schedule the lack of something to enable thinking. Too often, we are over scheduled or at least over busy, such that we cannot effectively think. However, the next question is whether it is better to be productively busy, rather than simply thinking which may be reduced to dreaming. Dreaming is important, but taking the next step is just as important or rather more important. From the dream, we must take the next step to determine what to do with the dream in order to bridge to the gap into reality. Even if that fruition is Degas painting or an heretical Schrödinger equation, we must make our imprint or our dreams become simply the wasted energy of our well endowed cerebrum.


Monday, February 25, 2008

Fits and Starts

I feel like my old snow blower that we resurrected when I was a young teen. My father bought this thing probably in the late 60s,early 70s and it was probably 10 yrs old then. But it was a tank (and a half). You know, my parents divorced when I was young, so once I got old enough, I got the snow blower back from our good friends who were "keeping it" for us. It would always take a while to get the thing going, you'd have to spray starter fluid in it and the whole process was in fits and starts. It would sometimes take probably close to an hour to get the thing cooperative, but once it was going, not even several feet of New England snow would stop the thing.

So the point is, my process now is very much in fits and starts mode. Hopefully, I will get cranking soon!




Try...

I don't know much about Barbara Crafton but thought this was a nice quote by her:
"If we must die, let us die trying, until it makes no sense to try any more. Let us not go knowing we didn't do everything we could. If we fail, let us fail at something and not at nothing. To fail at exactly nothing: that would be the cruelest fate of all."

Friday, February 15, 2008

A Distant Mirror

How long could you look at this view?

Atop the world, the extreme peace, must be intoxicating. .would you just look, and then just say, ok, let's turn around? Would the thoughts of calamity dance through your head as you ponder serenity? or perhaps now that you've seen it all, you can rush back to catch your favorite show, or get in a quick work out at the club....but for once, claiming that you are truly king of the mountain, what would you proclaim?







Thursday, February 14, 2008

Six Words


Not Quite What I was Planning is really quite thought provoking and elegant in its simplicity and power. There is an interesting literary heritage to expressing oneself in the tersest terms from Haiku to Hemingway's Six word Story:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

So consider, what would be yours? At four something this morning, I thought:
Dreamed of stars, stayed in Carolina.



Friday, February 08, 2008

In stasis?

Wow, this reminds me of a Star Trek episode where some aliens' life forces was preserved in some technology and they were just waiting for some bodies to come along to live again. I'll have to try to find the actual Star Trek reference. In this culture of instant gratification and the pursuit and attaining of goals, it is hard to fathom hanging out for not quite eternity to live again. It will be a long sleep. I guess it is a good thing, because I need one.




Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Seems like you can't win...

First I read this article and one would think "Yeah, it's bad, but the problem is mostly limited to Chinese Pharma" but then I read this which shows how truly shocking the state of the pharma industry is. This is like a modern day Upton Sinclair Jungle (read it here). Not that this is an argument for or against, but given the current push toward Universal Health Care, or some semblance of it, I wonder what will happen if prices and thus costs are ever pressed downwards? In the pursuit of cost savings will production be pushed more and more overseas and into factories with qality (sic) processes? The point is not one on Universal Health Care, per se, but that one must consider the system, in toto. Fundamentally, costs at all levels would need to be controlled. but I haven't heard anyone discuss that or how we would maintain or improve quality, while still improving access and costs.