USA movie-goers saw a lot of archived video clips in the months leading up to the November election. Lots of documentaries. Mostly these clips were drawn from domestic media. A little Al Jazeera came through in Control Room.
What we haven't seen a lot of is Iraqi television under the Bremer and Allawi administrations. I'm told many average Iraqis are fed up with the propaganda they've been seeing. That spikes my curiosity. So where are my DVDs of recent Iraqi TV programming, with English subtitles, rentable through Netflix? We in the USA would like to see what's been going out over the air waves, especially during this time of coalition control over the media.
For example, have Iraqis seen any of the vast anti-war demonstrations on their TVs? Do they even know what Manhatten looked like on the eve of the GOP convention? Have there been any human interest stories about the history of Islam within the United States? Sufism has quite a following. Many African Americans discovered Islam a couple generations ago, through such leaders as Malcolm X. Such stories might be of interest to viewers in Baghdad.
How often does Iraqi television show images of mosques inside the UK or USA?
How the upcoming elections are treated will be of special interest. Do anti-occupation candidates or parties ever get air time? Are political ads allowed, even if they don't originate in the Allawi camp? If not, how democratic is that?
I bet the CIA has a lot of raw footage, recorded off embassy equipment -- all we need is some slick editing (not censorship -- we just need to get the highlights, representative samples) and a distributor like Miramax.
I encourage my fellow bloggers to spread the word that there's likely a niche market for this stuff. We want to see what the Iraqis have been seeing on their TV sets (including commercials). This isn't a FOIA thing -- the material in question has already been publicly broadcast. Maybe an enterprising Iraqi business could lend a hand.
Related post:
Show us the candidates (Sept 23 2004)
Monday, November 29, 2004
Kinsey (movie review)
Well acted, charming, and for the most part tasteful, although some scenes are about as appetizing as that guy in Super Size Me tossing his burger (another science project that made it to the big screen).
I'd never tuned in the Kinsey story nor read his books (we had plenty of psychology books on our shelves, but mostly of 1960s vintage, plus I'd look up sex words in the Britannica). I'm left wondering at the seeming mismatch between his desire to relieve human suffering, and the approach. Like, the guy is in serious boddhisatva mode. However, I personally don't think randomly sampling people's sex communications is going to unravel the mysteries any more successfully than eavesdropping on their random telephone conversations. The cross-section is too arbitrary, even if the common denominators (bed, nudity -- telephone?) appear strong.
That being said, he clearly did relieve a lot of suffering. Even today, when the clock is ticking counter-clockwise, and people fear the ghost of Joe McCarthy under every bed, youth culture stands to gain a healthy dose of antibodies from viewing this movie (I saw lots of teenagers in our audience at Fox Tower -- they seemed quietly respectful, if a tad shocked).
Anyway, I think he worked too hard. That funding fizzled on what would have been even harder work on ahead appeared merciful in retrospect. I hope I don't get that obsessed. Remind me to stop and smell the sequoias.
Great to see Tim Curry again. Those few who are unfamiliar with his performance in Rocky Horror will miss that he's here playing the perfect foil to himself -- a brilliant casting decision.
I'd never tuned in the Kinsey story nor read his books (we had plenty of psychology books on our shelves, but mostly of 1960s vintage, plus I'd look up sex words in the Britannica). I'm left wondering at the seeming mismatch between his desire to relieve human suffering, and the approach. Like, the guy is in serious boddhisatva mode. However, I personally don't think randomly sampling people's sex communications is going to unravel the mysteries any more successfully than eavesdropping on their random telephone conversations. The cross-section is too arbitrary, even if the common denominators (bed, nudity -- telephone?) appear strong.
That being said, he clearly did relieve a lot of suffering. Even today, when the clock is ticking counter-clockwise, and people fear the ghost of Joe McCarthy under every bed, youth culture stands to gain a healthy dose of antibodies from viewing this movie (I saw lots of teenagers in our audience at Fox Tower -- they seemed quietly respectful, if a tad shocked).
Anyway, I think he worked too hard. That funding fizzled on what would have been even harder work on ahead appeared merciful in retrospect. I hope I don't get that obsessed. Remind me to stop and smell the sequoias.
Great to see Tim Curry again. Those few who are unfamiliar with his performance in Rocky Horror will miss that he's here playing the perfect foil to himself -- a brilliant casting decision.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Quaker Politics
One story Quaker parents love to tell their kids is about this time when some native Americans (so-called Indians) barged into a Quaker meeting, tomahawks drawn, looks to kill. The navams were there to rumble, to get rough with the pale faced occupiers who were turning their lives inside out. Well, the story goes, the Quakers just sat there in silent worship, per standard practice, radiating a sense of peace and spiritual depth (OK, some were scared witless, let's be honest). The Injuns "got it" immediately; yeah, Spirit, cool. They sat down amidst the Quakers and together they had a gathered meeting. One imagines a potluck ensued, but the story basically fades out at this point.Now, the point of this story is not that Quakers were skillfull at converting heathen to Christianity. On the contrary, the point is that Quakers are very clear that humans have this power to attend to the Spirit -- this is part of the generic design. This power is strongly expressed in many traditions, and certainly in pre-colonial North America. What happened, when anglos and natives worshipped together, was mutual recognition of that Inner Light within each individual. Buddhism calls it the Dharma, or Teaching. Personified, one might name it the Christ, or Inner Teacher (cite St. Augustine). In any case, all theology aside, the point of this story is my brand of Quaker considers the Spirit to be essentially innocent of religion and denomination, and all the attending claptrap. Humans (sometimes very gifted) invent these various brands, as much in the religious sphere as in the commercial (and yes, Quaker Oats was our idea: Floyd Schmoe's grandmother gets the credit -- see Lives That Speak, ISBN 2-888305-32-0, pg. 116).
Consequent to all of the above, I'm starting a denomination of Quaker that abandons "membership" as a category and recognizes only the various species of attender, as in "attending to Spirit." The word "Friend" in "Religious Society of Friends" (the more formal name for the Quakers), traces to a Biblical passage (John 15:15) wherein Jesus says he wants friends, not servants, i.e. peers, colleagues, people willing to do hard work without always begging him to boss them around (he's busy enough as it is). But friendship doesn't commensurate with the clubby aesthetics of a membership organization. One may fall out of friendship, stop attending to Spirit.
Yet some Quakers think they're Friends for life, just by virtue of membership in some Society. I say not. Jesus was friendly with all sorts of characters, outside his immediate circle of disciples (they gave him flak for it -- tax collectors? Roman soldiers?). Whether you're a friend of Jesus or not is really up to him, not some clearness committee or business meeting minute. Having served on Oversight for like seven years or something, I'm confidant in saying that Friends spend entirely too much time worrying about membership (who is, who isn't, who might become one, who should no longer be one). It's obsessive-compulsive at this point in history. I'd rather not bother. Attenders only, end of story. And I recognize that my brand of Quaker is taking the minority view here -- a fact which bothers me not one whit.
A side-benefit of tossing out membership is I'm free to export Quaker technology to others without suggesting that I'm seeking their membership in my religion. For example, the Quaker Meeting for Worship for Business is a good invention, has helped many a Quaker company steer its way safely forward through high risk conditions. It's a cybernetic system with Spirit in the loop. Go ahead and study our ways, use the technology, and don't worry that in doing so you'll be trading away Islam for Christianity (for instance). That's not the point. The point is to keep Spirit in the loop, or Allah, or Great Spirit -- use your favorite terminology, and see where it takes you.
Regarding Native Americans, I've suggested we go back to joint venturing, like in the old days. One vehicle I've proposed we evolve together is my Global Data Corporation. I've run this by the US Congress a few times over the years, lobbying for a special loophole that would allow tribal nations to serve in and manage corporate structures not strictly grounded in anglo jurisprudence. Like, we're imitating some of the branding techniques (logo, letterhead, commercials), but we're not an Inc. or LLC in the traditional whiteman sense. Making money for stakeholders is not our primary responsibility (long term sustainability is a goal). Also, we don't buy the doctrine of corporate personhood, a programming error (bug) which lacks realism, seems rooted in superstition.
I don't think my loophole is unreasonable: not everyone should have to master whiteman law before being allowed to do business in this world. Other traditions have their own sense of self-governance, fairness. Furthermore the whiteman model of corporate governance is manifestly broken in so many ways, is so deficient in the role model department.
Bottom line: whiteman legalese is already obsolete in large degree, although the anglos are slow to admit it. The Global Data Corporation is more into using engineering-savvy general systems theory instead. Economists, MBAs, corporate lawyers, may not have the necessary training and background to access our top management positions. That's why we'll need to start a lot of new schools. I'll post more about that some other day (plus there's already a lot on file).
Related reading:
My letter to Friends re becoming an attender (July 24, 2000)
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Thanksgiving (continued)
The story of how America's anglo colonists were assisted by Native Americans (the Wampanoag to be more precise) through their first winter is standard fare in grade school. These colonists came to America with the aim of establishing what in their minds was a purer form of Christianity. Their landmark, and now hallmark, is Plymouth Rock (Cape Cod area in New England).
Around Thanksgiving 2004, the Anglos (UK) and the Americans (USA) launched Operation Plymouth Rock inside of Iraq, an undertaking so named in recognition of the timing. After the fighting, mass quantities of turkey were consumed. Some of the soldiers wore cowboy hats while they ate, which is appropriate, because the United States military developed much of its esprit de corps during the Indian Wars, a time when immigration pressures were pushing Europeans all the way to the Pacific Ocean in search of a brighter future.
That same religious fervor and sense of destiny which helped fuel the Indian Wars is evident in Iraq today. Iraqis are often regarded as heathens, a term referring to those who have not yet converted to Christianity (of course, many Iraqis do practice Christianity -- not a big topic on USA TV, too confusing). Many Christians look at the Middle East as a backdrop for momentous, even apocalyptic events, as they read their Book of Revelation and try to see which of its many cryptic prophecies might be coming true. There's always the hope that Jesus himself will reincarnate (that is, if he hasn't already, like in Korea or some place). This fascination with the Middle East dates back to the crusades and before.
Religious fervor has always been a potent recruiting tool for the various armies. Jews and Muslims use it too. The US military is theoretically neutral in the religious wars and open to members of any faith or practice. However, there's a huge temptation to fall back on religious themes when the killing of one's fellow human is the order of the day. Patriotism minus a strongly gung-ho, flag-waving deity just doesn't galvanize to the same extent.
Although the history of Anglo-Indian relations still resonantes in 2004, adult consciousness does little to perpetuate these memories. Thanksgiving has become a time for parades, usually with civilian and commercial themes, such as characters from children's television: Spongebob Squarepants for example. And of course it's a time for creatively stuffing oneself (see below) and watching football (more like rugby than soccer).
Native Americans currently have no real presence in TV land, except in old Hollywood movies about cowboys and their brave, romantic ways (a genre that doesn't attract large audiences any more; many of these films were grayscale instead of RGB).
The Friday following Thanksgiving still resonates with a sense of "the harvest" and the wealth of the land. USAers go shopping en masse on that day. Merchants count on mob psychology to more than make up for the lower prices; a buying spree mentality moves a lot of merchandize off the shelves that'd otherwise just sit there through the holidays. Some call this Black Friday, because it puts corporations "in the black." Corporations like black. Red, on the other hand, means you're losing money, which is like bleeding to death (not good).
Around Thanksgiving 2004, the Anglos (UK) and the Americans (USA) launched Operation Plymouth Rock inside of Iraq, an undertaking so named in recognition of the timing. After the fighting, mass quantities of turkey were consumed. Some of the soldiers wore cowboy hats while they ate, which is appropriate, because the United States military developed much of its esprit de corps during the Indian Wars, a time when immigration pressures were pushing Europeans all the way to the Pacific Ocean in search of a brighter future.
That same religious fervor and sense of destiny which helped fuel the Indian Wars is evident in Iraq today. Iraqis are often regarded as heathens, a term referring to those who have not yet converted to Christianity (of course, many Iraqis do practice Christianity -- not a big topic on USA TV, too confusing). Many Christians look at the Middle East as a backdrop for momentous, even apocalyptic events, as they read their Book of Revelation and try to see which of its many cryptic prophecies might be coming true. There's always the hope that Jesus himself will reincarnate (that is, if he hasn't already, like in Korea or some place). This fascination with the Middle East dates back to the crusades and before.
Religious fervor has always been a potent recruiting tool for the various armies. Jews and Muslims use it too. The US military is theoretically neutral in the religious wars and open to members of any faith or practice. However, there's a huge temptation to fall back on religious themes when the killing of one's fellow human is the order of the day. Patriotism minus a strongly gung-ho, flag-waving deity just doesn't galvanize to the same extent.
Although the history of Anglo-Indian relations still resonantes in 2004, adult consciousness does little to perpetuate these memories. Thanksgiving has become a time for parades, usually with civilian and commercial themes, such as characters from children's television: Spongebob Squarepants for example. And of course it's a time for creatively stuffing oneself (see below) and watching football (more like rugby than soccer).
Native Americans currently have no real presence in TV land, except in old Hollywood movies about cowboys and their brave, romantic ways (a genre that doesn't attract large audiences any more; many of these films were grayscale instead of RGB).
The Friday following Thanksgiving still resonates with a sense of "the harvest" and the wealth of the land. USAers go shopping en masse on that day. Merchants count on mob psychology to more than make up for the lower prices; a buying spree mentality moves a lot of merchandize off the shelves that'd otherwise just sit there through the holidays. Some call this Black Friday, because it puts corporations "in the black." Corporations like black. Red, on the other hand, means you're losing money, which is like bleeding to death (not good).
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Thanksgiving for Dummies
Many of my readers are outside the USA, even outside North America, and don't have all the insights I do, into the customs, rituals, practices, norms, predelictions, of the local folk. Not that the USA is defined by any one culture. It's a synergetic stew.
Apropos of today, Thanksgiving, do a google search on turducken (or follow my link), to get some appreciation for the science and topology of "stuffing." In this example, we stuff a bird inside a bird inside a bird, plus some put a ham at the core.
Another aspect of Thanksgiving, or Turkey Day as some call it (Ben Franklin speculated this could become the national bird -- and he was right on many levels), is traveling long distances. For example, I've put over 300 miles on my Subaru since yesterday, and have a lot more to go.
Thanksgiving is a lot about Anglo-Americans feeling grateful for the hospitality they received from the Native Americans, before the immigration pressures became enormous and tribal lands were extensively re-zoned at gun point.
Native Americans had many strong, proud, and already well-established cultures in this age, shortly after the so-called New World became popularly known to landlubbers. The Europeans romanticized them, even learned from them; at first, basic survival skills, and later some ideas about self-government. By the time we get to Mark Twain's unflattering portrayal, some centuries later, the stereotype is scarcely recognizable.
Today, many in North America are discovering more about their heritage, are learning that native cultures have twisted many strands into our rope. The health of the tribes, though improving thanks to casinos, is still in a precarious state and continues to suffer from neglect.
Yes, Anglo-Americans have been slow on the uptake (among the last to "get it" about living ecologically for example), which is why Thanksgiving continues to be one of our most important national holidays. We're reminded of who we really are, and might therefore become, as Americans: proud and strong, more like our ancestors.
Apropos of today, Thanksgiving, do a google search on turducken (or follow my link), to get some appreciation for the science and topology of "stuffing." In this example, we stuff a bird inside a bird inside a bird, plus some put a ham at the core.
Another aspect of Thanksgiving, or Turkey Day as some call it (Ben Franklin speculated this could become the national bird -- and he was right on many levels), is traveling long distances. For example, I've put over 300 miles on my Subaru since yesterday, and have a lot more to go.
Thanksgiving is a lot about Anglo-Americans feeling grateful for the hospitality they received from the Native Americans, before the immigration pressures became enormous and tribal lands were extensively re-zoned at gun point.
Native Americans had many strong, proud, and already well-established cultures in this age, shortly after the so-called New World became popularly known to landlubbers. The Europeans romanticized them, even learned from them; at first, basic survival skills, and later some ideas about self-government. By the time we get to Mark Twain's unflattering portrayal, some centuries later, the stereotype is scarcely recognizable.
Today, many in North America are discovering more about their heritage, are learning that native cultures have twisted many strands into our rope. The health of the tribes, though improving thanks to casinos, is still in a precarious state and continues to suffer from neglect.
Yes, Anglo-Americans have been slow on the uptake (among the last to "get it" about living ecologically for example), which is why Thanksgiving continues to be one of our most important national holidays. We're reminded of who we really are, and might therefore become, as Americans: proud and strong, more like our ancestors.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Dan Rather
I think CBS should offer to buy him a well-appointed BizMo, like Charles Kuralt had, but higher tech (decades have passed, after all). That wouldn't preclude doing non-BizMo work of course.
I bet small town America would be thrilled to have an exAnchor of Dan's reputation show up, dish antenna ready to uplink whatever's of interest. He might make it to our Project Earthala someday -- a high tech community in the hinterlands (provided our site is road-accessible -- if not, there's the helicopter or small jet option).
Anyway, I think Dan should have a lot to look forward to, even though he's had one of the most interesting jobs in the world (he's right about that -- right about a lot of stuff).
Related post:
King Lear (mentions BizMo)
I bet small town America would be thrilled to have an exAnchor of Dan's reputation show up, dish antenna ready to uplink whatever's of interest. He might make it to our Project Earthala someday -- a high tech community in the hinterlands (provided our site is road-accessible -- if not, there's the helicopter or small jet option).
Anyway, I think Dan should have a lot to look forward to, even though he's had one of the most interesting jobs in the world (he's right about that -- right about a lot of stuff).
Related post:
King Lear (mentions BizMo)
Canadian Tech: SpringDance
Waterman Polyhedron in SpringDance
(click for larger view)
(click for larger view)
SpringDance by Alan Ferguson is a Delphi-based implementation of Gerald de Jong's Struck concept. Above is a Waterman Polyhedron (#2002), defined by all vertices in an isotropic vector matrix out to some maximum radius, and including those of lesser radius which preserve convexity. Their volumes are always whole numbers, vis-a-vis the standard of unit volume: an IVM tetrahedron.
Relevant Links:
Archived copy of Karl Erickson's SpringSpace
Record of Alan's AWStruck -- an educational ActiveWorld
Background re Elastic Interval Geometry (EIG) on a Squeak list
Blast from the Past (re more Fuller School graduates)
Gerald de Jong re his Fluidiom engine
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
DoD Claims Victory in Fallujah
Yeah, I caught that segment on CBS, 22 Nov 2004 too. The carnage of Fallujah is actually this giant torture chamber wherein American hostages were held, now exposed. A hollow find, given said hostages were already dead. News flash: police find empty torture rooms, destroy city in process, kill untold numbers of anonymous bystanders.
Of course the point of such video is to boil the blood and remind viewers why Fallujah deserved to die. The neighbors just didn't know this was going on, heard unexplained screams, "but now it all makes sense, and yes, of course you needed to destroy our city," say our ever-patient Iraqi friends. "I mean, yeah, torture chambers, can't allow 'em" (blood spattered refrigerator, corpses everywhere). "Now we hope those insurgents don't come back -- but they probably will, damn them."
Some viewers eat it up, nod to the music, raise their glass to a job well done. Others drop their forks (clatter), and stare, shaking their heads: since when was CBS just a DoD spin toy? Well, for quite awhile now, if you really want to know.
One way the civilians are fighting back is to say: gee, wouldn't it be nice if they'd reform the goddamn intelligence system as promised so we didn't have to air this kind of stuff at gun point? But, we learn, Rumsfeld is worried about being "handcuffed" (wasn't that the word?). It's a chain of command issue (this was the top story on CBS, same date).
Kinda funny that it's a chain of command issue, given that GWB is lobbying for the new intelligence system (Cheney too), and he's theoretically at the top of this very same chain (commander in chief, right?). Yet members of congress in his own party are blocking the reform, because the DoD (supposedly under the president) says its chain is unhappy with the new prospectus. Curious ("fascinating captain" -- Spock with raised eyebrow).
The problem with torture chambers is all you need is four walls, and lots of cities have those. Michael Kinsley is like flipping out in the LA Times. Like, this is fucking crazy, and yet even John Kerry wasn't promising he'd end it any time soon, reflecting the conflicted state of the voters -- like surely we still have some reason for getting our kids killed over there, beyond capturing Saddam and verifying compliance (couldn't trust Blix with that job, right?).
Invade to liberate, then start razing entire cities, because control must be complete. Resistence is futile. We are borg. You will have elections in January. You will be assimilated.
It's entirely understandable why so many Americans are on their knees right now, praying for intelligence reform.
Related posts:
Pentagon: Public or Private?
Memo to Pundits
Of course the point of such video is to boil the blood and remind viewers why Fallujah deserved to die. The neighbors just didn't know this was going on, heard unexplained screams, "but now it all makes sense, and yes, of course you needed to destroy our city," say our ever-patient Iraqi friends. "I mean, yeah, torture chambers, can't allow 'em" (blood spattered refrigerator, corpses everywhere). "Now we hope those insurgents don't come back -- but they probably will, damn them."
Some viewers eat it up, nod to the music, raise their glass to a job well done. Others drop their forks (clatter), and stare, shaking their heads: since when was CBS just a DoD spin toy? Well, for quite awhile now, if you really want to know.
One way the civilians are fighting back is to say: gee, wouldn't it be nice if they'd reform the goddamn intelligence system as promised so we didn't have to air this kind of stuff at gun point? But, we learn, Rumsfeld is worried about being "handcuffed" (wasn't that the word?). It's a chain of command issue (this was the top story on CBS, same date).
Kinda funny that it's a chain of command issue, given that GWB is lobbying for the new intelligence system (Cheney too), and he's theoretically at the top of this very same chain (commander in chief, right?). Yet members of congress in his own party are blocking the reform, because the DoD (supposedly under the president) says its chain is unhappy with the new prospectus. Curious ("fascinating captain" -- Spock with raised eyebrow).
The problem with torture chambers is all you need is four walls, and lots of cities have those. Michael Kinsley is like flipping out in the LA Times. Like, this is fucking crazy, and yet even John Kerry wasn't promising he'd end it any time soon, reflecting the conflicted state of the voters -- like surely we still have some reason for getting our kids killed over there, beyond capturing Saddam and verifying compliance (couldn't trust Blix with that job, right?).
Invade to liberate, then start razing entire cities, because control must be complete. Resistence is futile. We are borg. You will have elections in January. You will be assimilated.
It's entirely understandable why so many Americans are on their knees right now, praying for intelligence reform.
Related posts:
Pentagon: Public or Private?
Memo to Pundits
Sunday, November 21, 2004
The Geek Channel
This could be big. Here's a short description from edu-sig, a Python elist:
Ala the Sesame Street model, I envision a growing data base of video shorts recycling thematic content, punctuated with longer episodes, ongoing serials, perhaps with their own niche-market sponsors.
A DVD aftermarket might develop based on student demand (e.g. one DVD distills segments on TCP/IP, subnets, routing, DNS, wifi, ethernet...). Good example of a video short: Warriors of the Net (many would be shorter). I've shared it with 10-to-18 year-olds, and received lots of positive feedback.
Some segments and shows would help geeks learn Python, Perl, PHP, and so on. Tutorials with high production values. Lots of animated exploding diagrams of gizmo internals (not just PCs), lots of retro stuff, museum technologies (Enigma, ENIAC, John Logie Baird).
The content may be, should be, over your head half the time, and yet entertaining nonetheless. How little I know! How big my world! These experiences aren't turn-offs -- the kind of viewer we want to attract will keep coming back for more.
We must not let this become another home shopping channel. Advertisers (IBM?) should often showcase technologies that are too expensive for individuals at home i.e. lots of B2B messages, piggy-backing on the content, earning good will for sponsors.
Parents won't feel like their kids are being brainwashed to always want the latest gizmo. We won't indulge so much in fetishizing expensive "sharper image" accoutrements, ala Wired. For example, we'll often screen role models using free software on recycled computers. The emphasis is on what works, not on glitz for the sake of glitz. We're bridging the digital divide by spreading knowledge and literacy. Skills and a willingness to always learn more, not loads of cash, is what gains you access to this vibrant community of innovators and developers.
As Arthur Siegel put it on edu-sig, citing Bucky Fuller, this is all about doing more with less (ephemeralization).
Follow up threads:
math-teach in December 2004
classes list @ Free Geek in December 2004
Imagine a new Geek Channel on cable or via satellite, where kids can tune in to see vid clips of their heroes in the open source community, talking kernel design, futurism, hardware. Slashdot for television. OSCON 24/7 (repetitive, like Sesame Street -- segments for different ages, different shows). Twist in elements from scifi. Get some authors on, like Vonnegut. Radical OK. Clowning around OK. Both Python *and* Monty Python. Plenty to bliss out on, and for both boyz & girlz. Synchronized websites. Blogs.I know c|net did TV for awhile (do they still?), but there was little attempt to communicate much computer science. Marketing trends and gizmo lust shouldn't be the focus. This isn't InfoWorld and button-down IT culture. We'd rather watch Donald Knuth (or a puppet double) share about MMIX than hear Steve Ballmer trash some technology he doesn't like.
Damian's lecture on thermodynamics, the game of life, and programming using a Klingon version of perl -- there's an audience for this kind of thing.
Ala the Sesame Street model, I envision a growing data base of video shorts recycling thematic content, punctuated with longer episodes, ongoing serials, perhaps with their own niche-market sponsors.
A DVD aftermarket might develop based on student demand (e.g. one DVD distills segments on TCP/IP, subnets, routing, DNS, wifi, ethernet...). Good example of a video short: Warriors of the Net (many would be shorter). I've shared it with 10-to-18 year-olds, and received lots of positive feedback.
Some segments and shows would help geeks learn Python, Perl, PHP, and so on. Tutorials with high production values. Lots of animated exploding diagrams of gizmo internals (not just PCs), lots of retro stuff, museum technologies (Enigma, ENIAC, John Logie Baird).
The content may be, should be, over your head half the time, and yet entertaining nonetheless. How little I know! How big my world! These experiences aren't turn-offs -- the kind of viewer we want to attract will keep coming back for more.
We must not let this become another home shopping channel. Advertisers (IBM?) should often showcase technologies that are too expensive for individuals at home i.e. lots of B2B messages, piggy-backing on the content, earning good will for sponsors.
Parents won't feel like their kids are being brainwashed to always want the latest gizmo. We won't indulge so much in fetishizing expensive "sharper image" accoutrements, ala Wired. For example, we'll often screen role models using free software on recycled computers. The emphasis is on what works, not on glitz for the sake of glitz. We're bridging the digital divide by spreading knowledge and literacy. Skills and a willingness to always learn more, not loads of cash, is what gains you access to this vibrant community of innovators and developers.
As Arthur Siegel put it on edu-sig, citing Bucky Fuller, this is all about doing more with less (ephemeralization).
Follow up threads:
math-teach in December 2004
classes list @ Free Geek in December 2004
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Protestant Fundamentalism
If PBS Frontline ever does a documentary on the televangelists and their flocks (700 Club and like that), I hope they'll use Karen Armstrong as a talking head. Her Battle for God makes some interesting points, plus I've heard her live, and she's a good speaker. On the other hand, maybe Frontline has already done this story, and I missed it.
What interests me especially is the Darwinism angle. Superficially, it looks like they're against Darwinism, and some of the faith academy videos I've seen do a lot to link Darwinism to Marxism -- two corrupting influences we must avoid at all costs. But I wonder if they've succeeded, really.
Social Darwinism, which translates to an industrial age ethic (usually laced with racism, a holdover from slavery days), still informs a goodly portion of middle management in the USA (so-called "main street"). I seriously wonder whether the Christian Right has broken free of Darwinism in this form, even as it rushes, on paper at least, to embrace Intelligent Design (the latest and most sophisticated challenge to secular materialism).
Were Fundamentalists truly free of Darwinian influence, I'd think they'd be very receptive to Fritjof Capra, for example, who talks about the web of life, but with a strong emphasis on cooperation and networking, versus combat operations. The "every man for himself" ethic of the dog-eat-dog crowd is effectively countered in his rap. It's brains over brawn from here on, and the brainy thing to do is build networks (e.g. his new civil society, using ecodesign principles to supplant a moribund form of capitalism).
You'd think anyone trully serious about brainstorming faith-based initiatives would be paying close attention to such talk, as the denominations which most concertedly organize (especially on chaordic principles, ala Visa/Mastercard) are going to reap their reward in heaven, while those continuing to plant seeds in flood plains won't necessarily get bailed out (last I checked, God wasn't selling insurance).
In sum, if Social Darwinism is your game, and you're mired in dog-eat-dog, you might wake up one morning to discover that your televangelist leaders are losing the ratings war big time. That translates into fewer donations and mass defections, as the flock suffers a brain drain (what every church fears: no new recruits of any real caliber).
The moral of this story is replete with irony: the churches most into countering Darwinism may be the ones most likely to be done in by it, simply because they're not taking their own alternatives (e.g. Intelligent Design) as seriously as they could be. In allowing Social Darwinism to linger between the lines (with all the racism this entails), they're cutting themselves off from future funding and followers.
What interests me especially is the Darwinism angle. Superficially, it looks like they're against Darwinism, and some of the faith academy videos I've seen do a lot to link Darwinism to Marxism -- two corrupting influences we must avoid at all costs. But I wonder if they've succeeded, really.
Social Darwinism, which translates to an industrial age ethic (usually laced with racism, a holdover from slavery days), still informs a goodly portion of middle management in the USA (so-called "main street"). I seriously wonder whether the Christian Right has broken free of Darwinism in this form, even as it rushes, on paper at least, to embrace Intelligent Design (the latest and most sophisticated challenge to secular materialism).
Were Fundamentalists truly free of Darwinian influence, I'd think they'd be very receptive to Fritjof Capra, for example, who talks about the web of life, but with a strong emphasis on cooperation and networking, versus combat operations. The "every man for himself" ethic of the dog-eat-dog crowd is effectively countered in his rap. It's brains over brawn from here on, and the brainy thing to do is build networks (e.g. his new civil society, using ecodesign principles to supplant a moribund form of capitalism).
You'd think anyone trully serious about brainstorming faith-based initiatives would be paying close attention to such talk, as the denominations which most concertedly organize (especially on chaordic principles, ala Visa/Mastercard) are going to reap their reward in heaven, while those continuing to plant seeds in flood plains won't necessarily get bailed out (last I checked, God wasn't selling insurance).
In sum, if Social Darwinism is your game, and you're mired in dog-eat-dog, you might wake up one morning to discover that your televangelist leaders are losing the ratings war big time. That translates into fewer donations and mass defections, as the flock suffers a brain drain (what every church fears: no new recruits of any real caliber).
The moral of this story is replete with irony: the churches most into countering Darwinism may be the ones most likely to be done in by it, simply because they're not taking their own alternatives (e.g. Intelligent Design) as seriously as they could be. In allowing Social Darwinism to linger between the lines (with all the racism this entails), they're cutting themselves off from future funding and followers.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Open Source Voting
Of course an open source solution is what makes the most sense. As I posted to a Quaker list recently:
Quakers wouldn't be a good denomination to test the prototypes because we don't use secret ballot accounting. Everyone with a strong leading makes bold testimony, so it's no secret what the process was, by the time a new minute is recorded. And yes, when the spirit moves, positions change, sometimes drastically. That's what makes a Quaker Meeting for Business so exciting (sometimes -- dull as dishwater other days).
The senate and the house were designed to work more on a Quaker model. This "voice vote" thing is somewhat nefarious, in that it allows senate or house members to "pass by hubbub" -- a kind of mob psychology thing, where you don't get held accountable the next morning. Why should we let a low ranking rabble (i.e. mere voice voters) increase their own borrowing authority is beyond me.
As for this most recent election, it's bound to be studied for years to come. The universities have the means to burn DVDs with raw data. We do have source code for many of the proprietary models (some of which contains back doors or easily subverted controls -- especially if you designed these controls yourself). Computer science teachers are already rubbing their hands with glee, given all these real world examples of how not to code. So many object lessons. The police have a parallel curriculum.
Future generations will be amazed at the primitive, low quality, shoddy and downright ugly infrastructure we tried to run our vast democracy with in 2004. The beginning of this millenium was indeed a dark time in USA history. Only a few leaders stand out, for having worked hard to address the situation (thank you Bev Harris).
Related blog posts:
USA Veeps Debate
USA OS
As a data base programmer for many years (tip of hat to colleagues I've seen posting), the open source focus overlaps with the voting infrastructure focus. It's a no-brainer that vote counting and tabulating should be done using open source software and designs IF it's to be computerized at all.Small NGOs with open source savvy should start prototyping, with R&D infusions from wannabee commercial vendors of tomorrow's voting technologies. On a small town scale, we could start using the stuff. And in the schools, we need more practice with voting and counting votes, so that when kids grow up to be precinct captains, or whatever we call them, they don't get panicky and run the same cards twice, or whatever some did in Ohio (yes, mistakes happen too, over and above whatever organized crime is up to).
Contrary to uninformed opinion, making the designs open does *not* make them easier to hack. On the contrary, transparency and transparency alone is what protects us from fraud. Too little attention is given to the fact that some of Diebold's top employees came to their jobs with a resume of coding back doors for embezzlement and other nefarious purposes.
Quakers wouldn't be a good denomination to test the prototypes because we don't use secret ballot accounting. Everyone with a strong leading makes bold testimony, so it's no secret what the process was, by the time a new minute is recorded. And yes, when the spirit moves, positions change, sometimes drastically. That's what makes a Quaker Meeting for Business so exciting (sometimes -- dull as dishwater other days).
The senate and the house were designed to work more on a Quaker model. This "voice vote" thing is somewhat nefarious, in that it allows senate or house members to "pass by hubbub" -- a kind of mob psychology thing, where you don't get held accountable the next morning. Why should we let a low ranking rabble (i.e. mere voice voters) increase their own borrowing authority is beyond me.
As for this most recent election, it's bound to be studied for years to come. The universities have the means to burn DVDs with raw data. We do have source code for many of the proprietary models (some of which contains back doors or easily subverted controls -- especially if you designed these controls yourself). Computer science teachers are already rubbing their hands with glee, given all these real world examples of how not to code. So many object lessons. The police have a parallel curriculum.
Future generations will be amazed at the primitive, low quality, shoddy and downright ugly infrastructure we tried to run our vast democracy with in 2004. The beginning of this millenium was indeed a dark time in USA history. Only a few leaders stand out, for having worked hard to address the situation (thank you Bev Harris).
Related blog posts:
USA Veeps Debate
USA OS
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Office Party
We celebrated my boss's 30 years of service today. That's a long time. Lots of reminiscing. I joined this crew in the late 1980s, but in a different division, and across the street. Lots of different pizzas -- the good stuff, gourmet -- and salad, cookies, diet pop.
I didn't bring back the giant cancer basket because I was on the train today and didn't want to look like Little Red Riding Hood -- or the wolf who ate her.
On the floor: a box full of dolls (no barbies). A staff member had started a collection, having learned through her church that Marines were running out of toys for girls -- still plenty of soccer balls for boys apparently (girls can't play soccer?). Had we known, my daughter would have certainly donated some Beanie Babies, of which she has quite the collection.
Not everyone there knew me by sight, maybe just from paperwork, so I got introduced by my boss a few times as 4D Solutions, which was fun.
I forgot my digital camera, but others had them. Lots of pictures were taken. I hope to get copies.
I saw stuff about pCraft and MIRV on the whiteboard in the conference room, now being used for the pizza buffet. I'd intended to get some work done out there today, but that just wasn't practical, given we'd become such party animals.
No problem. Besides, I had a major shipment to take care of before 4:30 PM.
Fortunately for me, the trains were running on time.
I didn't bring back the giant cancer basket because I was on the train today and didn't want to look like Little Red Riding Hood -- or the wolf who ate her.
On the floor: a box full of dolls (no barbies). A staff member had started a collection, having learned through her church that Marines were running out of toys for girls -- still plenty of soccer balls for boys apparently (girls can't play soccer?). Had we known, my daughter would have certainly donated some Beanie Babies, of which she has quite the collection.
Not everyone there knew me by sight, maybe just from paperwork, so I got introduced by my boss a few times as 4D Solutions, which was fun.
I forgot my digital camera, but others had them. Lots of pictures were taken. I hope to get copies.
I saw stuff about pCraft and MIRV on the whiteboard in the conference room, now being used for the pizza buffet. I'd intended to get some work done out there today, but that just wasn't practical, given we'd become such party animals.
No problem. Besides, I had a major shipment to take care of before 4:30 PM.
Fortunately for me, the trains were running on time.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Weather Reports
A quiet purpose of weather reporting is to remind people what their country looks like, and to provide a sense of community. In this jet age, the concerns are likewise practical: a portion of those viewing will actually encounter weather on the opposite coast later that same day.
An interesting aspect of international travel are weather shows which encompass more of the globe. Sitting there in your waiting lounge, you see what's up in Dubai, Dhaka, Jakarta, as well as Paris, New York, Rio De Janeiro. CNN specializes in these kinds of weather reporting, and has a lot of market share in airports.
What's interesting about USA TV is how immersed one gets just in some meticulously devised parochial consensus reality. There's not much global data. USAers have to go to the movies (e.g. Bourne Supremacy) to see much in the way of major capitals. The isolationism and inward-focus of the USA psyche is extremely evident on the evening news. If you've just flown in from the UK, where the BBC is far more aggressively global in its coverage, the contrast is enlightening, and some would say frightening.
The promise of multi-channel cable and satellite was more exposure to the "big world out there." Ted Turner experimented with this, in the early days. But these experiments seem to have dried up of late, as more channels turn to home shopping, reruns of syndicated sitcoms or cop shows, and sports. And then, of course, there's the weather channel -- and the food channel.
Another venue through which USAers get some whiff of the outside world (beyond camera shots from embedded journalists, looking over the shoulders of US Marines), is so-called 'reality TV.' These are game shows, typically competitions, played out against the background of the world stage. The site scouts do a good job coming up with romantic or engaging backdrops.
A question I have is how long we'll be able to perpetuate the cognitive dissonance that comes from these two forms of 'reality programming': through the lens of the game player, and through the lens of the demolition engineer (aka soldier). The spectacle of USAers playing with fast cars, cavorting in luxurious resorts, doing "fun stuff," goofing off, "surviving" in a completely phony, made-for-TV set of circumstances, contrasts very sharply with the War on Terrorism programming (lots of swoopy graphics, battle maps, retired generals, sanitized death). These seem like two different planets: the inviting one we goof off in, and the one we demolish, because it scares us.
The rest of the world wonders: how do these USAers manage to play in the sun, cavort in phony realities, while at the same time they enjoy bloody rampages through Fallujah. Between these two extremes, they seem to consume very little programming about the rough politics and complex economics that might bring some realism to either genre. Are we looking at two sides of the same coin? Neither reality TV nor the War on Terrorism seem very grounded in rational thought. We see two basic currencies at work: longing for the good life, and fear.
I guess a question for TV executives right now is whether this kind of programming is going to have much of an aftermarket outside the USA. How tolerant of USA-style entertainment will the world be? Do they really care who "survives" in some romantic faux-Thailand, even as Fallujah burns? Perhaps executives in the UK might like to brainstorm a more grounded and intelligent hybrid that mixes heaven and hell using a different alchemy.
I propose more of a futuristic and hope-inspiring approach (I go with longing over fear, any day), wherein high tech industries show off their ability to enhance civilian life, including in difficult circumstances (shall we stage episode one in Southern Africa, near Cape Town perhaps?). This proposal might be something to meet about on my next trip to the UK.
If the USA is hell-bent on remaining parochial, and wants to push its schizoid mix of "fun in the sun" and "bloodbath in the sand," let it. I bet the UK television market could use this poor planning as an opportunity to signal its greater sense of realism -- an important signal to send, given the proximity of other European markets nowadays finding USA TV increasingly alien, bizarre, a horror show from another planet.
Followup:
Notable improvements in CBS News by mid-December, e.g. check Dec 14, 2004: note the more global perspective; the far healthier groove.
An interesting aspect of international travel are weather shows which encompass more of the globe. Sitting there in your waiting lounge, you see what's up in Dubai, Dhaka, Jakarta, as well as Paris, New York, Rio De Janeiro. CNN specializes in these kinds of weather reporting, and has a lot of market share in airports.
What's interesting about USA TV is how immersed one gets just in some meticulously devised parochial consensus reality. There's not much global data. USAers have to go to the movies (e.g. Bourne Supremacy) to see much in the way of major capitals. The isolationism and inward-focus of the USA psyche is extremely evident on the evening news. If you've just flown in from the UK, where the BBC is far more aggressively global in its coverage, the contrast is enlightening, and some would say frightening.
The promise of multi-channel cable and satellite was more exposure to the "big world out there." Ted Turner experimented with this, in the early days. But these experiments seem to have dried up of late, as more channels turn to home shopping, reruns of syndicated sitcoms or cop shows, and sports. And then, of course, there's the weather channel -- and the food channel.
Another venue through which USAers get some whiff of the outside world (beyond camera shots from embedded journalists, looking over the shoulders of US Marines), is so-called 'reality TV.' These are game shows, typically competitions, played out against the background of the world stage. The site scouts do a good job coming up with romantic or engaging backdrops.
A question I have is how long we'll be able to perpetuate the cognitive dissonance that comes from these two forms of 'reality programming': through the lens of the game player, and through the lens of the demolition engineer (aka soldier). The spectacle of USAers playing with fast cars, cavorting in luxurious resorts, doing "fun stuff," goofing off, "surviving" in a completely phony, made-for-TV set of circumstances, contrasts very sharply with the War on Terrorism programming (lots of swoopy graphics, battle maps, retired generals, sanitized death). These seem like two different planets: the inviting one we goof off in, and the one we demolish, because it scares us.
The rest of the world wonders: how do these USAers manage to play in the sun, cavort in phony realities, while at the same time they enjoy bloody rampages through Fallujah. Between these two extremes, they seem to consume very little programming about the rough politics and complex economics that might bring some realism to either genre. Are we looking at two sides of the same coin? Neither reality TV nor the War on Terrorism seem very grounded in rational thought. We see two basic currencies at work: longing for the good life, and fear.
I guess a question for TV executives right now is whether this kind of programming is going to have much of an aftermarket outside the USA. How tolerant of USA-style entertainment will the world be? Do they really care who "survives" in some romantic faux-Thailand, even as Fallujah burns? Perhaps executives in the UK might like to brainstorm a more grounded and intelligent hybrid that mixes heaven and hell using a different alchemy.
I propose more of a futuristic and hope-inspiring approach (I go with longing over fear, any day), wherein high tech industries show off their ability to enhance civilian life, including in difficult circumstances (shall we stage episode one in Southern Africa, near Cape Town perhaps?). This proposal might be something to meet about on my next trip to the UK.
If the USA is hell-bent on remaining parochial, and wants to push its schizoid mix of "fun in the sun" and "bloodbath in the sand," let it. I bet the UK television market could use this poor planning as an opportunity to signal its greater sense of realism -- an important signal to send, given the proximity of other European markets nowadays finding USA TV increasingly alien, bizarre, a horror show from another planet.
Followup:
Notable improvements in CBS News by mid-December, e.g. check Dec 14, 2004: note the more global perspective; the far healthier groove.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Some Political Swerves
There was a time when this school in Tehran had cloned much of my since-relocated teleport.com synergetics website for its engineering department. All traces of that seem to be gone by now, but 't'was fun while it lasted, and I thought a good sign. Thanks to the home-spun links, I learned that the Ayatollah Khomeini's tomb features an octet truss. I even traced some of the contractors (Iranians do geodesic domes too).
Fuller schoolers have already given us some blueprints for working on a joint jihad/crusade with Persia and environs, focusing on architectural synergies (mosques with geodesic domes for example).
For all his faults, I don't think Saddam Hussein's focus on building lots of palaces was necessarily one of them, ditto re King Idris of Libya (pre Qadafi). When you don't see a broad solution to the living standards plight, you concentrate on public works that stand out as a showcase of native talents. Sure, it looks avaricious. But it's also a way of leaving a positive legacy. Just leaving stockpiles of WMDs is nothing to boast about.
Sure, Saddam imported a lot of non-native furniture, art works and the like, but the basic architecture and construction were Iraqi and kept a lot of people employed, a lot of families fed. We've seen this pattern at work since the ancient Egyptians. One could argue that many of the USA's "defense industry" programs are no less wasteful (and no less a form of socialism, ala Newt Gingrich and company -- he talks about a "culture of ownership" but profitable shareholding in prime defense contracting depends heavily on tax subsidies, we shouldn't forget).
None of this is to mitigate Saddam's flaws as a dictator, but to the average Iraqi, those flaws are starting to look pretty OK in hindsight. Saddam never declared war on his own people to such an overt degree as Allawi has, to the point of leveling one of his own cities. Yes, there was awful retribution for the armed uprising in the south, and against the CIA-supported Kurds in the north (Kurds make up much of the fighting unit attacking Fallujah), but with nothing like this level of fire power, half-ton bombs and so on.
To have an occupying military use this level of technology against an indigenous para-military is really something new in Iraq, and it's quite apparent that the ranks of those overtly hostile to the corporate military have just multiplied, are on an exponential growth curve if present trends continue.
I call it the corporate military (with the corporate media transparently doing its PR) in concert with President Eisenhower, who clearly saw the possibility of a private sector takeover of the Pentagon ("military-industrial complex" was his coin -- the Vietnam War was the beginning of the wholesale privatization, which many WWII vintage career soldiers didn't like or trust). Fuller extrapolates through Critical Path (LAWCAP etc.), and we find contemporary write-ups of the phenomenon coming from the think tanks, even from within the beltway.
The community of top shareholders, newly advantaged by the GOP, and with tax and borrowing authority, has taken all branches of government and delegated foreign policy to a small, select few. Innocent Americans, completely out of the loop, are being set up to experience the consequences, given the scale of the blowback this foreign policy entails.
One may hope that profit-hungry CEOs will do the math, and realize there are wealth-producing alternative scenarios involving a more collaborative approach to world affairs, vs. these unilateral Fourth Reichian assertions of global dominance ala the New American Century. The so-called RINO's have made a deal with the devil, in signing away the soul of their party to the Apocalyptic Right.
A sign of sanity would be to talk openly and factually about the Israeli nuclear arsenal. Today's terrorists are terrified within reason too much of the time -- their worst fears keep being realized (why?), as the tanks keep rolling through their heartland. This "Axis of Evil" business is really childish cowboy stuff. Neither Iran nor Iraq needed to be transformed into mortal enemies (nor Syria). Moderates in the Islamic world are finding it ever harder to make their voices heard, as fanatics clash with fanatics preaching a gospel of violence and destruction.
There's still a chance of a new more stable equilibrium, but given how far this ship is listing, to the point of taking on water, it's a miracle that we're still afloat.
Fuller schoolers have already given us some blueprints for working on a joint jihad/crusade with Persia and environs, focusing on architectural synergies (mosques with geodesic domes for example).
For all his faults, I don't think Saddam Hussein's focus on building lots of palaces was necessarily one of them, ditto re King Idris of Libya (pre Qadafi). When you don't see a broad solution to the living standards plight, you concentrate on public works that stand out as a showcase of native talents. Sure, it looks avaricious. But it's also a way of leaving a positive legacy. Just leaving stockpiles of WMDs is nothing to boast about.
Sure, Saddam imported a lot of non-native furniture, art works and the like, but the basic architecture and construction were Iraqi and kept a lot of people employed, a lot of families fed. We've seen this pattern at work since the ancient Egyptians. One could argue that many of the USA's "defense industry" programs are no less wasteful (and no less a form of socialism, ala Newt Gingrich and company -- he talks about a "culture of ownership" but profitable shareholding in prime defense contracting depends heavily on tax subsidies, we shouldn't forget).
None of this is to mitigate Saddam's flaws as a dictator, but to the average Iraqi, those flaws are starting to look pretty OK in hindsight. Saddam never declared war on his own people to such an overt degree as Allawi has, to the point of leveling one of his own cities. Yes, there was awful retribution for the armed uprising in the south, and against the CIA-supported Kurds in the north (Kurds make up much of the fighting unit attacking Fallujah), but with nothing like this level of fire power, half-ton bombs and so on.
To have an occupying military use this level of technology against an indigenous para-military is really something new in Iraq, and it's quite apparent that the ranks of those overtly hostile to the corporate military have just multiplied, are on an exponential growth curve if present trends continue.
I call it the corporate military (with the corporate media transparently doing its PR) in concert with President Eisenhower, who clearly saw the possibility of a private sector takeover of the Pentagon ("military-industrial complex" was his coin -- the Vietnam War was the beginning of the wholesale privatization, which many WWII vintage career soldiers didn't like or trust). Fuller extrapolates through Critical Path (LAWCAP etc.), and we find contemporary write-ups of the phenomenon coming from the think tanks, even from within the beltway.
The community of top shareholders, newly advantaged by the GOP, and with tax and borrowing authority, has taken all branches of government and delegated foreign policy to a small, select few. Innocent Americans, completely out of the loop, are being set up to experience the consequences, given the scale of the blowback this foreign policy entails.
One may hope that profit-hungry CEOs will do the math, and realize there are wealth-producing alternative scenarios involving a more collaborative approach to world affairs, vs. these unilateral Fourth Reichian assertions of global dominance ala the New American Century. The so-called RINO's have made a deal with the devil, in signing away the soul of their party to the Apocalyptic Right.
A sign of sanity would be to talk openly and factually about the Israeli nuclear arsenal. Today's terrorists are terrified within reason too much of the time -- their worst fears keep being realized (why?), as the tanks keep rolling through their heartland. This "Axis of Evil" business is really childish cowboy stuff. Neither Iran nor Iraq needed to be transformed into mortal enemies (nor Syria). Moderates in the Islamic world are finding it ever harder to make their voices heard, as fanatics clash with fanatics preaching a gospel of violence and destruction.
There's still a chance of a new more stable equilibrium, but given how far this ship is listing, to the point of taking on water, it's a miracle that we're still afloat.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Hero (movie review)
Now this was an interesting film, beautifully choreographed in gorgeous settings. If a westerner made this film, she might be accused of over-simplifying in broad brush strokes. But the calligraphy is very Chinese, which speaks to the authenticity of the model.
As a user of the Fuller Projection, I'm of course plunged into the analogy 'Our Land' = 'Spaceship Earth.' We're faced with the same problem of too many warring states, each pushing an agenda, none feeling responsible for the whole. But of course I'm not interested in addressing this problem through the agencies of a warlord or tyrant, ala the King of Qin in the film.
For me, the answer lies in generalized principles, which key players in the movie access through calligraphy, to the point of bending natural law (or participating in its extension). The martial arts derive from these first principles.
A foe from Zhao, in a position to stop the king, comes to share this vision of 'Our Land' through his study of the living word. So ultimately, the creation of China (a concept) is owing to a shared vision, a communicated realization, not the private megalomania of one particular cult around some super-idol personality.
The final sacrifice in the film is by the king's co-equal (he too comes to comprehend the big picture) -- the network, in death as well as life, is peer-to-peer (democratic).
Fuller's vision of a bloodless transition to a more supranational psyche, wherein pre-existing nation-states become the provinces, is likewise democratic, a result of massively parallel networking, by humans and their machines combined.
There's no emperor per se (or posit God if you want a monotheistic model), only a shared science shining up through the calligraphy, informing the arts (including the martial ones).
Hero is also good at implying that the martial arts have a big pscyhological component (Fuller's "psychoguerilla warfare" -- cite Critical Path). One sees this in the black and white takes near the beginning: the battle rages, but the principals are really just standing still, with their eyes closed, meditating.
As a user of the Fuller Projection, I'm of course plunged into the analogy 'Our Land' = 'Spaceship Earth.' We're faced with the same problem of too many warring states, each pushing an agenda, none feeling responsible for the whole. But of course I'm not interested in addressing this problem through the agencies of a warlord or tyrant, ala the King of Qin in the film.
For me, the answer lies in generalized principles, which key players in the movie access through calligraphy, to the point of bending natural law (or participating in its extension). The martial arts derive from these first principles.
A foe from Zhao, in a position to stop the king, comes to share this vision of 'Our Land' through his study of the living word. So ultimately, the creation of China (a concept) is owing to a shared vision, a communicated realization, not the private megalomania of one particular cult around some super-idol personality.
The final sacrifice in the film is by the king's co-equal (he too comes to comprehend the big picture) -- the network, in death as well as life, is peer-to-peer (democratic).
Fuller's vision of a bloodless transition to a more supranational psyche, wherein pre-existing nation-states become the provinces, is likewise democratic, a result of massively parallel networking, by humans and their machines combined.
There's no emperor per se (or posit God if you want a monotheistic model), only a shared science shining up through the calligraphy, informing the arts (including the martial ones).
Hero is also good at implying that the martial arts have a big pscyhological component (Fuller's "psychoguerilla warfare" -- cite Critical Path). One sees this in the black and white takes near the beginning: the battle rages, but the principals are really just standing still, with their eyes closed, meditating.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
The Matrix
A B2B code we're using, signifying a shared philosophical commitment, involves recycling imagery derived from what Bucky called his 4D matrix, or IVM.
Clever rebranding aside, it's a well known framework in crystallography and architecture: just pack spheres together ala Kepler and you've got it (the CCP, the FCC) on your screen. The underlying computer graphics likely use the well-known 3D matrix libraries, which is not a problem. 3D embeds seamlessly in 4D.
Note that 4D as used above is what today's thinkers'd call a "meme" -- a take-off on "gene" but "of thought" instead of "of DNA" -- meaning it transmits much more quickly, and takes part in a more kinetic and mutable economy, that of language and culture.
In Bucky's youth, 4D had been recently coined and resonated with many thinkers, including Einstein of course, but also P.D. Ouspensky, a Russian, and many cutting edge artists (Linda Dalrymple Henderson has a good book on this). Bucky grabbed onto 4D (the meme) and combined it with architecture: newfangled and futuristic ideas about assembly line housing. Turns out Alexander Graham Bell was into using it as a space frame as well.
In hindsight, the once-volatile 4D meme appears to have settled into three stable compounds:
Signalling you're "4D" still connotes futuristic, high tech, long term, invested in over-the-horizon possibilities. Fuller's meme complex is especially easy to translate into attractive eye candy -- it's been good for that for years. So watch for it, and maybe you'll see what had previously been invisible to you, because you didn't know what to look for.
Clever rebranding aside, it's a well known framework in crystallography and architecture: just pack spheres together ala Kepler and you've got it (the CCP, the FCC) on your screen. The underlying computer graphics likely use the well-known 3D matrix libraries, which is not a problem. 3D embeds seamlessly in 4D.
Note that 4D as used above is what today's thinkers'd call a "meme" -- a take-off on "gene" but "of thought" instead of "of DNA" -- meaning it transmits much more quickly, and takes part in a more kinetic and mutable economy, that of language and culture.
In Bucky's youth, 4D had been recently coined and resonated with many thinkers, including Einstein of course, but also P.D. Ouspensky, a Russian, and many cutting edge artists (Linda Dalrymple Henderson has a good book on this). Bucky grabbed onto 4D (the meme) and combined it with architecture: newfangled and futuristic ideas about assembly line housing. Turns out Alexander Graham Bell was into using it as a space frame as well.
In hindsight, the once-volatile 4D meme appears to have settled into three stable compounds:
- In Einstein's domain, it meant 3D plus Time. "Time the fourth dimension" became the pop culture hallmark of relativity, both general and special, and from this meme complex we inherit the lingo of "three spatial dimensions" (before Einstein, you wouldn't need to say "spatial" because "temporal" hadn't been set off as a fourth dimension).
- In Euclid's domain the 3D coordinate system (also known as XYZ) has become extensible to n-dimensions (nD), e.g. you might have a 9D sphere with a center at (0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0), and a bunch of other spheres touching it, each with a 9-tuple address of its own. In this meme-pool, 4D does not connote Time. All the dimensions are "space-like" and get the same treatment. The great Canadian geometer H.S.M. Coxeter operated in this domain, the realm of nD Polytopes (e.g. the tesseract or hypercube).
- Fuller's 4D is neither Euclid's nor Einstein's. He went from hanging houses (houses and skyscrapers suspended from central utility masts) to geodesic domes by way of sphere packing investigations, similar to Kepler's in many ways (the rhombic dodecahedron is key). For Bucky, the tetrahedron, with its four faces, became tightly bonded with 4D. The tetrahedron is the simplest cage or container, made from the fewest bars (only six, compared to the cube's 12). Despite all this talk of ants crawling around spheres or donuts, with limited degrees of freedom, we're still thinking in volume. Flatland is unimaginable. Conceptuality is volumetric at its Kantian core. Rather than characterize space as "3D" based on "height, width and breadth," Fuller, ever the contrarian, labeled it "4D" -- because of the tetrahedron's having four corners and four faces. "Height, width and breadth" never really come apart as isolate or atomic, are more codependent than independent.
Signalling you're "4D" still connotes futuristic, high tech, long term, invested in over-the-horizon possibilities. Fuller's meme complex is especially easy to translate into attractive eye candy -- it's been good for that for years. So watch for it, and maybe you'll see what had previously been invisible to you, because you didn't know what to look for.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
A Catholic Economy
I've heard people complain that devouring the host upon transubstantiation is cannibalistic: "this is my body" and like that. But that's the point: it is (cite Love's Body, one of my favorites -- thank you NOB). And now more than ever.
When you fill'erup with gas, think of the innocents going to feed your exoskeleton, babies included, ground up and gone. This was my body. If you feel some guilt over that -- well, if the shoe fits, ya know.
It's trully a sinful world order, I think you'll agree. Doesn't need to be this way (our error is willful). The fate of your eternal soul hinges on what you plan/intend/will to do about that (yes, I'll sermonize -- we Quakers call it testimony and yes, we lay people have been authorized to stand and deliver, not just the clerics).
And I wouldn't pretend decrying abortion gets you off the hook, if I were you. Oil into Blood. That's not just a tiger in your tank. That's some fresh squeezed from Fallujah, some Body of Christ, at only $2.89 a gallon.
When you fill'erup with gas, think of the innocents going to feed your exoskeleton, babies included, ground up and gone. This was my body. If you feel some guilt over that -- well, if the shoe fits, ya know.
It's trully a sinful world order, I think you'll agree. Doesn't need to be this way (our error is willful). The fate of your eternal soul hinges on what you plan/intend/will to do about that (yes, I'll sermonize -- we Quakers call it testimony and yes, we lay people have been authorized to stand and deliver, not just the clerics).
And I wouldn't pretend decrying abortion gets you off the hook, if I were you. Oil into Blood. That's not just a tiger in your tank. That's some fresh squeezed from Fallujah, some Body of Christ, at only $2.89 a gallon.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
The Forgotten (movie review)
Not such a good flick. One of those in which the psychosis turns out to be the reality, but with too many loose ends. The cool thing about reality (and science exults in this) is that it cross-checks to a high degree. The Pythagorean theorem holds: know a few things about a triangle, figure out the rest. Detective work, police work, works. Fuller's omnitriangulation. But The Forgotten spares itself the hard work of omnitriangulating the alien reality revealed by the NSA. Let's itself off the hook, delivers cheap goods. That doesn't mean it's not entertaining. Just not 'great art'.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
The Pentagon: Public or Private?
To what extent is the Pentagon privately owned and operated? USA taxpayers don't manage to cover expenses (cite deficit). A lot of the management is outsourced.
This move to electronic voting without even the possibility of audits is further eroding the sense that the American people have any real say with regard to ongoing military adventures.
Big media will be tasked to glue these two together (a national will with a military force), but then, big media is likewise privately owned and operated -- with some of the same Pentagon players waving the flag on television. The War on Terror remains essential programming.
What's kept it together in the past was a set of principles. The claim that bombing Fullajah is part of a principled campaign to bring freedom and self-determination to the people in Iraq commits big media to some very thin ice. People increasingly call it "corporate media" with good reason. Our legal contrivance called "the corporation" has outstripped government institutions, in terms of global influence and command over assets. The private sector rules.
This move to electronic voting without even the possibility of audits is further eroding the sense that the American people have any real say with regard to ongoing military adventures.
Big media will be tasked to glue these two together (a national will with a military force), but then, big media is likewise privately owned and operated -- with some of the same Pentagon players waving the flag on television. The War on Terror remains essential programming.
What's kept it together in the past was a set of principles. The claim that bombing Fullajah is part of a principled campaign to bring freedom and self-determination to the people in Iraq commits big media to some very thin ice. People increasingly call it "corporate media" with good reason. Our legal contrivance called "the corporation" has outstripped government institutions, in terms of global influence and command over assets. The private sector rules.
"More than two centuries of law have been enacted to protect Americans against Big Government. These laws begin with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and include ethics and transparency laws, restrictions on the political conduct of officials, limits on official pay, and the uniform military code of justice. These laws apply to officials, not contractors, on the presumption that officials are in control. The rules do not apply—or protect the public—when, as is increasingly the case, contractors are doing the basic work of government, and government lacks the expertise and experience to control the contractor workforce." Commentary by Dan Guttman, The Shadow Pentagon: Private contractors play a huge role in basic government work—mostly out of public view.Of course, it all comes back to private individuals at the end of the day (no one here but us chickens). Fortunately, many of us, including those with businesses, and of various political and religious persuasions, still have faith in those same principles which guided the USA's original founders. We should not be expected to follow blindly, when other enterprises and schools of thought, including much bigger ones, decide on a course for disaster. Computations show some reason for hope, even yet.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Won't You Join Us?
I invite disaffected USA dems to join our global jihad/crusade against hunger and dire poverty. We're planning to use high tech, sophisticated media, new civilian prototypes, per the Project Renaissance and World Game models.
This is strong moral high ground and there's certainly plenty of limelight to go around. So don't despair. You too may choose to play a starring role in fulfilling this divine plan to render humanity a lasting success aboard Spaceship Earth. Audition today!
This is strong moral high ground and there's certainly plenty of limelight to go around. So don't despair. You too may choose to play a starring role in fulfilling this divine plan to render humanity a lasting success aboard Spaceship Earth. Audition today!
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Campaign Begins: Recruiting Talent Now
Excerpt from my post of today to math-teach:
What I think the world needs are more venues for people to audition. They go to temp agencies, do a typing and 10-key test, maybe a personality profile, then get sent to a cube to do some clerical stuff. The Hollywood and TV venues are cram packed with aspirants, many of them quite talented. Theater languishes (I just saw a guy play all parts in King Lear, and do it well, with only about six people in the audience)....
I'm hungry to employ all the natural talent I can get, and I really don't have time to provide a lot of compensatory training. The situation is too urgent, too ugly. The kind of fairness you're talking about is just unaffordable right now, in light of all those global university students who get no opportunity to audition whatsoever. Their situation takes priority.
The curriculum is broken (witness Sudan). Let's recruit the most creative, imaginative, and talented people we can to fix it (and just because you're already a college professor doesn't necessarily mean you have the most aptitude for this work (but you should have ample opportunities to audition, certainly)).
Here's a link to the complete text -- part of a couple much longer threads.
Theme song for this campaign: On The Turning Away, Pink Floyd
Relevant link: GST Global U
What I think the world needs are more venues for people to audition. They go to temp agencies, do a typing and 10-key test, maybe a personality profile, then get sent to a cube to do some clerical stuff. The Hollywood and TV venues are cram packed with aspirants, many of them quite talented. Theater languishes (I just saw a guy play all parts in King Lear, and do it well, with only about six people in the audience)....
I'm hungry to employ all the natural talent I can get, and I really don't have time to provide a lot of compensatory training. The situation is too urgent, too ugly. The kind of fairness you're talking about is just unaffordable right now, in light of all those global university students who get no opportunity to audition whatsoever. Their situation takes priority.
The curriculum is broken (witness Sudan). Let's recruit the most creative, imaginative, and talented people we can to fix it (and just because you're already a college professor doesn't necessarily mean you have the most aptitude for this work (but you should have ample opportunities to audition, certainly)).
Here's a link to the complete text -- part of a couple much longer threads.
Theme song for this campaign: On The Turning Away, Pink Floyd
Relevant link: GST Global U
Monday, November 01, 2004
Great Pirates
No word yet on if/when the radio interview re Great Pirates will become accessible. Not my decision. I suppose we could have mixed in some actual audio clips from Bucky (fair use), citing his Everything I Know as our source. Here's a link to some printed transcripts wherein Fuller mentions pirates (lots more in Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth). Perhaps it's not too late for this. James?
Einar's CD (Introducing the FANG) came in the mail. Cool! I'm always scanning such works for toy and puzzle possibilities, which at least in times gone by I'd raise with Stu Quimby of Design Science Toys. He has limited resources to commit of course, so most toy ideas end at the one-of-a-kind curiousity phase (he has a great collection).
Nowadays, with the big box stores taking over the toy market, there's precious little room for speciality items, esoterica of all kinds. Thanks to the web, however, there's still some possibility for parents to find these rare gifts for their kids. Yes, that's a commercial (or call it product placement, whatever).
So tomorrow is election day in the USA. I voted days ago, by mail, thanks to Oregon's enlightened way of doing things. Of course I'll be interested in the results, even though I don't consider contemporary USA presidents to be among the great pirates, usually.
Like, even Winston Churchill didn't feel he'd penetrated the inner sanctum. To quote Prouty:
Einar's CD (Introducing the FANG) came in the mail. Cool! I'm always scanning such works for toy and puzzle possibilities, which at least in times gone by I'd raise with Stu Quimby of Design Science Toys. He has limited resources to commit of course, so most toy ideas end at the one-of-a-kind curiousity phase (he has a great collection).
Nowadays, with the big box stores taking over the toy market, there's precious little room for speciality items, esoterica of all kinds. Thanks to the web, however, there's still some possibility for parents to find these rare gifts for their kids. Yes, that's a commercial (or call it product placement, whatever).
So tomorrow is election day in the USA. I voted days ago, by mail, thanks to Oregon's enlightened way of doing things. Of course I'll be interested in the results, even though I don't consider contemporary USA presidents to be among the great pirates, usually.
Like, even Winston Churchill didn't feel he'd penetrated the inner sanctum. To quote Prouty:
"There is, in Lord Denning's book, The Family Story, a most pertinent reference to the words of Winston Churchill during a heavy bomber attack on Rotterdam during World War II. Denning reports that Churchill, during a conversation among friends, made reference to a High Cabal that has made us what we are. In that sense, Churchill's High Cabal equates with Fuller's Invisible power structure... For a man in Churchill's position, and at the war-time peak of his public career, to make reference to a high, or higher, cabal defines the subject. We live under the influence of such a cabal today, whether we realize it or not."OK, so that sounds like a conspiracy theory. When the topic is great pirates, that's somewhat inevitable, no?
Sunday, October 31, 2004
More on Project Renaissance
We had a good thread on the Collab list the other day, wherein I explained my model the public/private cooperation might involve private firms sponsoring employes to work in NGOs, with an eye towards field testing equipment and building skills.
Project Renaissance attempts to recreate a synergy we find in defense contracting. Private enterprise invents new weapons, and gets politicians to start wars in order to test them under realistic conditions in theater (and to generate new orders). However, I'm thinking a civilian focus would be less misanthropic all around.
My own private consultancy, 4D Solutions, subsidizes my participation in Collaborative Technologies in this way as well -- it's mostly about skill building, including management skills. Thanks to my time with Free Geek, I'm much more attuned to the ways in which open source solutions might fit the bill in NGO world (and in GO world as well, for that matter).
I syndicate a lot of my bookmarks by the way.
Happy Halloween!
Project Renaissance attempts to recreate a synergy we find in defense contracting. Private enterprise invents new weapons, and gets politicians to start wars in order to test them under realistic conditions in theater (and to generate new orders). However, I'm thinking a civilian focus would be less misanthropic all around.
My own private consultancy, 4D Solutions, subsidizes my participation in Collaborative Technologies in this way as well -- it's mostly about skill building, including management skills. Thanks to my time with Free Geek, I'm much more attuned to the ways in which open source solutions might fit the bill in NGO world (and in GO world as well, for that matter).
I syndicate a lot of my bookmarks by the way.
Happy Halloween!
Friday, October 29, 2004
Busy Day
Caught Terry's (Fresh Air) interview with Josh Rushing, the CENTCOM guy from Control Room. Good Marine. I'd say he has already contributed to bridging the communication gap vis-a-vis Palestine. I thought so when I saw the movie, but his willingness this afternoon to venture into civilian radio space with his heart-felt concerns was indeed refreshing and took real courage.
Met with an HPD (Hillsboro police) officer and an Intel security guy around the issue of how to build a basketball court in cyberspace, by which I mean, a fun, engaging space where youth and police have a chance to work out together, building rapport rather than animosity.
That's a sort of Norman Rockwell picture I realize (a real experience for some youth), but converging it with computers and open source sort of ain't (is a bit more surreal I'd have to say -- not necessarily a bad thing).
Jerritt Collord and I co-taught Adventures in Open Source at this police facility this June. I think we developed useful content, but the outreach and presentation techniques need to be fine tuned. The police should get more credit for this good faith effort.
Other meetings today as well. Still didn't have time to courier the Needs Assessment to MMT but that's OK as wheels are turning. Did manage some domestic fun, such as preparing the pumpkin for carving and watching a Japanese cartoon on DVD. That was at the top of my list today. I'm not interested in being a workaholic if that means no family life. Of course many knowledge workers feel the same way (and troops, all sides).
Met with an HPD (Hillsboro police) officer and an Intel security guy around the issue of how to build a basketball court in cyberspace, by which I mean, a fun, engaging space where youth and police have a chance to work out together, building rapport rather than animosity.
That's a sort of Norman Rockwell picture I realize (a real experience for some youth), but converging it with computers and open source sort of ain't (is a bit more surreal I'd have to say -- not necessarily a bad thing).
Jerritt Collord and I co-taught Adventures in Open Source at this police facility this June. I think we developed useful content, but the outreach and presentation techniques need to be fine tuned. The police should get more credit for this good faith effort.
Other meetings today as well. Still didn't have time to courier the Needs Assessment to MMT but that's OK as wheels are turning. Did manage some domestic fun, such as preparing the pumpkin for carving and watching a Japanese cartoon on DVD. That was at the top of my list today. I'm not interested in being a workaholic if that means no family life. Of course many knowledge workers feel the same way (and troops, all sides).
Monday, October 25, 2004
Blast from the Past
I got an email from Einar Thorstein recently. Way back when Russ Chu, Bonnie Goldstein, and Hal Hildebrand were thinking of doing the BFI archive in Smalltalk (Bonnie's initiative, Russ's motherboard, Hal's smarts), back when Yasushi Kajikawa came to UCLA to talk about his geometric investigations (Jay Baldwin, Ed Applewhite were there, among others), a big thread was how to modularize 5-fold symmetric geometries.
Yasushi's system had just been published in the Japanese edition of Scientific American. David Koski was exploring phi-scalable T-modules and other tetrahedral derivatives of the golden cuboid (had some excellent assemblies of well-known polyhedra -- great puzzles I thought). And Einar Thorstein was a 3rd, more geographically remote pioneer of a 5-fold symmetric building block system that we were talking about.
Now Einar has some more to say on the subject, and offered to send me a CD. Looking forward to it. Good to see us getting together again, and this thread re-awakening.
Followup Nov 5, 2004:
Got Einar's CD about FANG from Berlin -- a set of PDFs with lots of pictures, high production values, lots of new shop talk and abbreviations. David Koski has a new blog. All good.
Yasushi's system had just been published in the Japanese edition of Scientific American. David Koski was exploring phi-scalable T-modules and other tetrahedral derivatives of the golden cuboid (had some excellent assemblies of well-known polyhedra -- great puzzles I thought). And Einar Thorstein was a 3rd, more geographically remote pioneer of a 5-fold symmetric building block system that we were talking about.
Now Einar has some more to say on the subject, and offered to send me a CD. Looking forward to it. Good to see us getting together again, and this thread re-awakening.
Followup Nov 5, 2004:
Got Einar's CD about FANG from Berlin -- a set of PDFs with lots of pictures, high production values, lots of new shop talk and abbreviations. David Koski has a new blog. All good.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Memo to Pundits
I think what a lot of you commentators are missing is that we now have proof that "shock and awe" was committed against an essentially defenseless country. No WMDs to protect the Iraqi homeland (something USAers reserve for themselves in more than ample abundance).
And there wasn't much bluffing: the Iraqis were somewhat in disarray, leading up to the attack, but essentially correct in their accounting to the United Nations.
Yet on USA TV there's precious little balance given to Iraqi casualties. You'd think the losing side would be less arrogant and chauvanistic, given where it's heading in the history books. Don't you at least want to say you're sorry? Apparently not. OK, then.
Followup, November 3, 2004:
The voiceless victims of Bush's misadventure
U.S. media ignores human toll of 'shock and awe'
Joe Conason
The New York Observer
11.03.04
While the nation's quality newspapers dutifully reported the Hopkins study, its release five days before the Presidential campaign may have robbed it of impact. Certainly there were no impassioned cable-television debates over what that troubling data means. Nobody seemed eager to ask whether 100,000 dead civilians might be too many -- particularly since we know there were no weapons of mass destruction threatening us, and no significant connection between the Al Qaeda terrorists and the Iraqi regime. Americans who consider the war an act of vengeance on behalf of those murdered on Sept. 11, 2001, ought to consider the proportion that these numbers suggest.
Full text
And there wasn't much bluffing: the Iraqis were somewhat in disarray, leading up to the attack, but essentially correct in their accounting to the United Nations.
Yet on USA TV there's precious little balance given to Iraqi casualties. You'd think the losing side would be less arrogant and chauvanistic, given where it's heading in the history books. Don't you at least want to say you're sorry? Apparently not. OK, then.
Followup, November 3, 2004:
The voiceless victims of Bush's misadventure
U.S. media ignores human toll of 'shock and awe'
Joe Conason
The New York Observer
11.03.04
While the nation's quality newspapers dutifully reported the Hopkins study, its release five days before the Presidential campaign may have robbed it of impact. Certainly there were no impassioned cable-television debates over what that troubling data means. Nobody seemed eager to ask whether 100,000 dead civilians might be too many -- particularly since we know there were no weapons of mass destruction threatening us, and no significant connection between the Al Qaeda terrorists and the Iraqi regime. Americans who consider the war an act of vengeance on behalf of those murdered on Sept. 11, 2001, ought to consider the proportion that these numbers suggest.
Full text
Saturday, October 23, 2004
King Lear (play review)
Talk about taking a play to heart!
Johnny Stallings enthralled us last night for a marathon performance of King Lear. He played all the parts -- a one man show. Sometimes one character might be prone or kneeling, another standing; he'd be back and forth without missing a beat, or a breath. Then, as earnest narrator, he'd break in and deftly bring us up to speed on background details, covert operations.
I'd never fully grasped the plot until Stallings laid it bare.
Plus he chatted amiably with the audience both before and after (after we'd snapped out of it and stopped sitting dumbstruck). There was no "off stage" in this scenario. His young assistant sold tickets at the door and ran the lights.
Brooklyn Bay, 1825 SE Franklin. Fridays and Saturdays through October.
I liked this space too, for its starkness and its industrial obscurity. Might be a good space to rent for a recruiting event some evening, complete with a 2K lumens projector (was eying them at Fry's on Friday) and a stellar audio system. I could roll up in my BizMo and give some mind-blowing overview.
Speaking of overview, another fun movie is Warriors of the Net, which I showed on my home network to my daughter and neighbor friend earlier last night. A simple cartoon about TCP/IP, but with pretty good production values.
Today, we went rollerskating. I'm terrible, but improved considerably in the 90 minutes I allotted myself.
Johnny Stallings enthralled us last night for a marathon performance of King Lear. He played all the parts -- a one man show. Sometimes one character might be prone or kneeling, another standing; he'd be back and forth without missing a beat, or a breath. Then, as earnest narrator, he'd break in and deftly bring us up to speed on background details, covert operations.
I'd never fully grasped the plot until Stallings laid it bare.
Plus he chatted amiably with the audience both before and after (after we'd snapped out of it and stopped sitting dumbstruck). There was no "off stage" in this scenario. His young assistant sold tickets at the door and ran the lights.
Brooklyn Bay, 1825 SE Franklin. Fridays and Saturdays through October.
I liked this space too, for its starkness and its industrial obscurity. Might be a good space to rent for a recruiting event some evening, complete with a 2K lumens projector (was eying them at Fry's on Friday) and a stellar audio system. I could roll up in my BizMo and give some mind-blowing overview.
Speaking of overview, another fun movie is Warriors of the Net, which I showed on my home network to my daughter and neighbor friend earlier last night. A simple cartoon about TCP/IP, but with pretty good production values.
Today, we went rollerskating. I'm terrible, but improved considerably in the 90 minutes I allotted myself.
FBI to Track Violations of Federal Funding Rules
From the current administration's White House web site:
Although you may invite participants to join in your organization's religious services or events, you should be careful to reassure them that they can receive government-funded help even if they do not participate in these activities, and their decision will have no bearing on the services they receive. In short, any participation by recipients of taxpayer-funded services in such religious activities must be completely voluntary. For example, a church that receives direct government aid to provide shelter to homeless individuals may not require those individuals to attend a Bible study or participate in a prayer preceding a meal as part of the government-funded services they provide. But they may invite those individuals to join them, so long as they make clear that their participation is optional. (Italics added).
I'm glad the FBI is starting to collect data around this issue. Reports of violations will be taken seriously by the executive branch, as this is the front line in the religions | state interface, which interface must not be allowed to degrade.
That the words "church" and "Bible" are used, and not "synagogue" and "Torah", or "sangha" and "Dharma" should not blind our executive branch enforcers to abuses outside the Christian sphere. No organized religion, Christianity included, is an official state religion in the United States, a fact outsiders sometimes find hard to fathom.
On this point of no official state religion, something to make very clear to Iraqis and Iranians (among others): if ever they're contacted by a member of a religious network and actively encouraged to confuse said network with USA OS (my name for the US operating system of government), they should contact the appropriate federal authorities with all relevant details (perhaps the Embassy in this case, given the FBI's purview is domestic).
The intent is for Homeland Security or any equivalent clearing house to make sure the information gets back to those best able to prosecute the case, should an investigation verify any religion's attempt at a covert and illegitimate power grab.
The USA is the puppet of no particular religion or theology, by design. The world still very much needs such entities. I would encourage the Iraqis and Iranians to respect our choice, even if theirs is to promote Islam as the official state religion.
Although you may invite participants to join in your organization's religious services or events, you should be careful to reassure them that they can receive government-funded help even if they do not participate in these activities, and their decision will have no bearing on the services they receive. In short, any participation by recipients of taxpayer-funded services in such religious activities must be completely voluntary. For example, a church that receives direct government aid to provide shelter to homeless individuals may not require those individuals to attend a Bible study or participate in a prayer preceding a meal as part of the government-funded services they provide. But they may invite those individuals to join them, so long as they make clear that their participation is optional. (Italics added).
I'm glad the FBI is starting to collect data around this issue. Reports of violations will be taken seriously by the executive branch, as this is the front line in the religions | state interface, which interface must not be allowed to degrade.
That the words "church" and "Bible" are used, and not "synagogue" and "Torah", or "sangha" and "Dharma" should not blind our executive branch enforcers to abuses outside the Christian sphere. No organized religion, Christianity included, is an official state religion in the United States, a fact outsiders sometimes find hard to fathom.
On this point of no official state religion, something to make very clear to Iraqis and Iranians (among others): if ever they're contacted by a member of a religious network and actively encouraged to confuse said network with USA OS (my name for the US operating system of government), they should contact the appropriate federal authorities with all relevant details (perhaps the Embassy in this case, given the FBI's purview is domestic).
The intent is for Homeland Security or any equivalent clearing house to make sure the information gets back to those best able to prosecute the case, should an investigation verify any religion's attempt at a covert and illegitimate power grab.
The USA is the puppet of no particular religion or theology, by design. The world still very much needs such entities. I would encourage the Iraqis and Iranians to respect our choice, even if theirs is to promote Islam as the official state religion.
Friday, October 22, 2004
Mark Satin at Powell's Books
I attended a presentation by Mark Satin at the local Powell's on Hawthorne last night. One of those C-SPAN type events: intimate book store setting, attentive and intelligent audience, super articulate speaker. His book is Radical Middle: The Politics we Need Now.
I haven't read the book yet (did buy it though), but just based on his rap, I see this as an ideal interface to a politics for my own school of thought.
Instead of coming off as apolitical, Mark comes off as intensely political, and radical, but not far left or far right -- reminds me more of Fuller in Grunch of Giants (like, how apolitical was that?).
He argues that all the mainstream camps are indulging in an artificially dumbed-down food fight that amuses, even enthralls, even while it panders to baser instincts. Is this Jon Stewart's problem with Crossfire too?
The cost is certainly enormous: we don't get any real work done. The whole system is stalled, while we pretend to be idiots.
I liked his invocations of Ben Franklin as a hero (one of mine as well). He does not apologize for moving to Canada during the Vietnam Era and running an underground railroad to help his peers escape an ideologically corrupt enterprise (retrospectively, their analysis stands up to scrutiny -- even secretaries of defense have said so).
However, looking ahead, he thinks a universal draft would be better -- one that puts non- or para-military options in the mainstream (no more esoteric CO program for a few Quakers -- turn that into a major program). So all serve (if young enough -- sex doesn't matter), but all have some choice over what one's service to one's country looks like, in practice. Of course, many will still choose the navy.
During the Q&A, I spoke up about how a universal draft might help with my reality TV projects. Capitalism uses product placement and slickly edited scenarios to broadcast new lifestyle options, many of which could be focused on these alternative service personnel and their new high tech gizmos ala the design science revolution and open source.
Maybe I'll finally get my bizmo (like an RV, but more compact and business oriented, wired), so I might get work done while recruiting for the home team (Satin makes good use of sports metaphors by the way).
Maybe at this level of commitment, we'd stop so one-sidedly focusing on the war toy generals -- those guys who come on TV and romanticize their missiles and jets (dot-mil soft porn), slobbering at the thought of seeing them in theater.
There's more worth longing for out of the USA than tired/expired neo-Roman imperialism (not Ben Franklin's trip either).
My thanks to Nick Consoletti, Ph.D. for finding out about this event (he asked a good question about Bohmian dialog) and to Michael Sunanda, also in my company for much of yesterday (see Adventures in Radioland).
I haven't read the book yet (did buy it though), but just based on his rap, I see this as an ideal interface to a politics for my own school of thought.
Instead of coming off as apolitical, Mark comes off as intensely political, and radical, but not far left or far right -- reminds me more of Fuller in Grunch of Giants (like, how apolitical was that?).
He argues that all the mainstream camps are indulging in an artificially dumbed-down food fight that amuses, even enthralls, even while it panders to baser instincts. Is this Jon Stewart's problem with Crossfire too?
The cost is certainly enormous: we don't get any real work done. The whole system is stalled, while we pretend to be idiots.
I liked his invocations of Ben Franklin as a hero (one of mine as well). He does not apologize for moving to Canada during the Vietnam Era and running an underground railroad to help his peers escape an ideologically corrupt enterprise (retrospectively, their analysis stands up to scrutiny -- even secretaries of defense have said so).
However, looking ahead, he thinks a universal draft would be better -- one that puts non- or para-military options in the mainstream (no more esoteric CO program for a few Quakers -- turn that into a major program). So all serve (if young enough -- sex doesn't matter), but all have some choice over what one's service to one's country looks like, in practice. Of course, many will still choose the navy.
During the Q&A, I spoke up about how a universal draft might help with my reality TV projects. Capitalism uses product placement and slickly edited scenarios to broadcast new lifestyle options, many of which could be focused on these alternative service personnel and their new high tech gizmos ala the design science revolution and open source.
Maybe I'll finally get my bizmo (like an RV, but more compact and business oriented, wired), so I might get work done while recruiting for the home team (Satin makes good use of sports metaphors by the way).
Maybe at this level of commitment, we'd stop so one-sidedly focusing on the war toy generals -- those guys who come on TV and romanticize their missiles and jets (dot-mil soft porn), slobbering at the thought of seeing them in theater.
There's more worth longing for out of the USA than tired/expired neo-Roman imperialism (not Ben Franklin's trip either).
My thanks to Nick Consoletti, Ph.D. for finding out about this event (he asked a good question about Bohmian dialog) and to Michael Sunanda, also in my company for much of yesterday (see Adventures in Radioland).
Thursday, October 21, 2004
John le Carré on Bush
"Probably no American president in history has been so universally hated abroad as Bush: for his bullying unilateralism, his dismissal of international treaties, his reckless indifference to the aspirations of other nations and cultures, his contempt for institutions of world government, and above all for misusing the cause of anti-terrorism in order to unleash an illegal war — and now anarchy — upon a country that like too many others around the world was suffering under a hideous dictatorship but had no hand in the events of 9/11, no weapons of mass destruction and no record of terrorism except as an ally of the United States in a dirty war against Iran."
So writes
So writes
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
We Are Borg
Had some fun today. I finally got to tour the PHS server farm and control center at the Tigard Business Center. Paid a visit to PHS666 (name changed to protect the innocent), a server I've long used, but never seen. Just some box in a rack, surrounded by any number of boxes just like it.
GE came up in our meeting a lot. An IT guy said any GE employee found in possession of posters or screen savers of the Borg Cube with a GE logo on it, was summarily terminated. No sense of humor if true, and confirmation that the image is accurate.
Followup:
The conference call with GE went well. Centricity sounds like it will meet our needs, at least in terms of hemodynamics being open to outside queries and all that. I'm glad we got to talk.
GE came up in our meeting a lot. An IT guy said any GE employee found in possession of posters or screen savers of the Borg Cube with a GE logo on it, was summarily terminated. No sense of humor if true, and confirmation that the image is accurate.
Followup:
The conference call with GE went well. Centricity sounds like it will meet our needs, at least in terms of hemodynamics being open to outside queries and all that. I'm glad we got to talk.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Memo to the Media
OK, I'm ready for the media to reveal to me who are the anti-occupation political candidates in
These candidates must exist, must have had a lot to say by now, if the process in
So, please lift the curtain. Let's not be covert. Show us the Iraqi debates. Show us now, not after November 2.
So my message to the media is this: show us that the Iraqi democratic process is genuine, or let's be clear that a foreign military, posing as the
I ask again: has the US military been replaced by a private mercenary force working hand in glove with hidden bosses to hoodwink the USA's citizens, to make them think one thing (that democracy is really a goal in Iraq), while meanwhile it secretly plans something else?
Does anyone still defend the
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Strange World (as always)
Chess champion Bobby Fischer, in a Japanese jail... it just boggles the mind sometimes.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
In Memoriam
Today is the 4th anniversary of the car accident, in which my dad was killed, and my mom was severely injured. Mom and I were thinking about that yesterday, during a dinner party with friends around the prospect of their going to Bhutan. We were there to share our experiences. This time in Bhutan was a high point in our lives, dad's especially.
Adventures in Radio Land
So I've been collaborating on radio programming of late.
One project was this sound collage piece, a voice track mixed with other tracks. Brian, an experimental composer, edited my rap into his sampler for KBOO, a local FM station. I was able to hear myself on the air about 36 hours after laying the voice track with my counterpart, M. Sunanda, avatar from 21st Century hippie-dom. Program: Night of the Living Tongue, October 7, 2004.
Another recording project, same counterpart, happened today: a much more intensive 1.5 hour interview with a webcasting station out of Chicago. I'll post a link once the show appears in the archives. Our topic: Great Pirates (a crowd pleaser sure, but also a legitimate topic of discussion, thanks to Dr. Fuller and his astute writings on the subject).
John Edwards is in town to watch and cheer for Captain Kerry on TV tonight. I'll be taping the show, as I've got a Python meeting. When the chief architect of PythonCard is willing to share code and wisdom, I don't just sit on my butt watching politicians duke it out.
One project was this sound collage piece, a voice track mixed with other tracks. Brian, an experimental composer, edited my rap into his sampler for KBOO, a local FM station. I was able to hear myself on the air about 36 hours after laying the voice track with my counterpart, M. Sunanda, avatar from 21st Century hippie-dom. Program: Night of the Living Tongue, October 7, 2004.
Another recording project, same counterpart, happened today: a much more intensive 1.5 hour interview with a webcasting station out of Chicago. I'll post a link once the show appears in the archives. Our topic: Great Pirates (a crowd pleaser sure, but also a legitimate topic of discussion, thanks to Dr. Fuller and his astute writings on the subject).
John Edwards is in town to watch and cheer for Captain Kerry on TV tonight. I'll be taping the show, as I've got a Python meeting. When the chief architect of PythonCard is willing to share code and wisdom, I don't just sit on my butt watching politicians duke it out.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Re Python, Publishing (and Terrorism)
Jim Leisy, who publishes John Zelle's Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science, invited me to come down to Willamette University last Friday to attend a presentation on Python as a first computer language for computer science (CS) majors, and for students fulfilling a programming requirement.
Jim and I were along the wall, and helped field questions. The main presentation was by a professor from a small college in Idaho, who had attended one of Zelle's workshops and is now quite satisfied that Python fits the bill, in terms of sparking student enthusiasm and retaining their interest.
Jim had free books for all those present -- a shrewd move, as if even just a couple of profs in that room decide to try it, he'll more than break even selling to their students. But of course it's shrewd only if Python really is well-suited for CS (it is), and if Zelle's book does a good job (it does).
As I wandered off toward lunch, I noticed headlines screaming about Iraqi terrorist literature targeting Salem schools. Wow! But I found myself not really believing it. It smelled like a scare tactic. Sure enough, I'm learning today from the blogosphere, that this was another scam.
Jim and I were along the wall, and helped field questions. The main presentation was by a professor from a small college in Idaho, who had attended one of Zelle's workshops and is now quite satisfied that Python fits the bill, in terms of sparking student enthusiasm and retaining their interest.
Jim had free books for all those present -- a shrewd move, as if even just a couple of profs in that room decide to try it, he'll more than break even selling to their students. But of course it's shrewd only if Python really is well-suited for CS (it is), and if Zelle's book does a good job (it does).
As I wandered off toward lunch, I noticed headlines screaming about Iraqi terrorist literature targeting Salem schools. Wow! But I found myself not really believing it. It smelled like a scare tactic. Sure enough, I'm learning today from the blogosphere, that this was another scam.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Election Day!
OK, it's the big historic first ever election in Afghanistan today. The USA president seized on that fact as an advertisement that his recipe for peace on earth is working. I'll be doing my best to find reports from some of the few journalist who actually have the courage to be there.
UN observers should also be there en masse, the USA State Department should have an official report, and television news coverage should be fairly detailed. This is a foretaste of what the coalition of the willing has planned for Iraq.
Regarding last night's town hall meeting, this was close to how I saw it too: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/101004Z.shtml -- but I wasn't quite so alarmed or disturbed as the author (William Rivers Pitt) because I don't see major decision making going through Bush's office most of the time (yes, depriving civilians of a clearly identifiable chief executive awkwardly distorts the office -- but then, the USA is but a mere shadow of itself these days, when moneymakers eclipse sensemakers. Not glory days, these).
Sounds like Afghan public is eager for free and fair elections. Women are getting into it. Lots of concern about illicit multiple voting ("vote early, vote often"). Not clear to me yet if the candidates' boycott is sour grapes, or well-based mistrust of the process. People in the USA have some experience with that one (re Florida in 2000, we know the mistrust was well-based).
Obviously Afghanistan would benefit from computerized rosters matched with personal ID, such that a voter's record gets checked off in the database. Staining a body part with ink is clearly an ad hoc measure, designed to make up for the absence of election-supporting infrastructure.
UN observers should also be there en masse, the USA State Department should have an official report, and television news coverage should be fairly detailed. This is a foretaste of what the coalition of the willing has planned for Iraq.
Regarding last night's town hall meeting, this was close to how I saw it too: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/101004Z.shtml -- but I wasn't quite so alarmed or disturbed as the author (William Rivers Pitt) because I don't see major decision making going through Bush's office most of the time (yes, depriving civilians of a clearly identifiable chief executive awkwardly distorts the office -- but then, the USA is but a mere shadow of itself these days, when moneymakers eclipse sensemakers. Not glory days, these).
- BBC Afghan vote boycott creates turmoil , journalists' logs
- Bloomberg Afghanistan election turnout called 'massive' by United Nations
- Aljazeera Afghan timeline
- Guardian Bush takes credit for Afghan election
Sounds like Afghan public is eager for free and fair elections. Women are getting into it. Lots of concern about illicit multiple voting ("vote early, vote often"). Not clear to me yet if the candidates' boycott is sour grapes, or well-based mistrust of the process. People in the USA have some experience with that one (re Florida in 2000, we know the mistrust was well-based).
Obviously Afghanistan would benefit from computerized rosters matched with personal ID, such that a voter's record gets checked off in the database. Staining a body part with ink is clearly an ad hoc measure, designed to make up for the absence of election-supporting infrastructure.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Project Renaissance
One aspect of Project Renaissance that wasn't clear to me earlier, is that the reality TV monitoring that goes on doesn't have to be live. Reality TV owes its success in part to slick editing.
Contrast this with the live NASA feeds showing people hunched over monitors at mission control. We're looking for story lines here, plots, character development -- we're not trying to play security guard (unless that's what we're getting paid to do).
The recording teams need to be more intimate and up close with their subjects -- or the subjects themselves may be the ones operating the recording equipment (more likely in high risk situations, where only the most highly trained, or most foolhardy, dare to tread).
Forward-thinking companies already have quite a bit of usable reality TV in the can, having taped their own product development experiments. The Rutan group, for example, with these two private commercial forays into outer space, has lots of recorded gold.
What other prototyping might be going on, around the props we'll need to stage a next step in our slow rise to competence?
Contrast this with the live NASA feeds showing people hunched over monitors at mission control. We're looking for story lines here, plots, character development -- we're not trying to play security guard (unless that's what we're getting paid to do).
The recording teams need to be more intimate and up close with their subjects -- or the subjects themselves may be the ones operating the recording equipment (more likely in high risk situations, where only the most highly trained, or most foolhardy, dare to tread).
Forward-thinking companies already have quite a bit of usable reality TV in the can, having taped their own product development experiments. The Rutan group, for example, with these two private commercial forays into outer space, has lots of recorded gold.
What other prototyping might be going on, around the props we'll need to stage a next step in our slow rise to competence?
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
USA Veeps' Debate
What I found especially notable regarding this debate of last night, was the Quaker Meeting the PBS exec managed to stage at the outset. Three or more minutes of silence, while the candidates wrote furiously, and then gave up. The audience sat hushed. Brilliant. Of course you had to be watching on C-SPAN to see any of this. I got it on tape.
As for the debate itself, now that it's over, I'm not sure whether Cheney is going to show his amazing leadership skills before or after some major USA city is lost to a thermonuclear device. I know that during such an event, he'd be safely under some mountain somewhere. But the day after, what is he telling us? That he would not have any qualms about taking out some other city in retaliation? Would it be on the basis of evidence as flimsey as in his brief for the war in Iraq? Would the nation he attacked be effectively defenseless against US fire power, as Iraq certainly was?
Edwards came off as more conservative. He kept wanting to turn the screws on Iran, but maybe that's because he's been reading the rumors that Chalabi was a double agent and set this administration up to do Iran's dirty work. That's certainly one of the conspiracy theories going around, and in the case of Chalabi, it's not all that unbelievable (although I more tend to think he really expected to have a big following among the Iraqi natives -- as an expat, he didn't realize he'd be so out of step). More believable to me was this other FBI story: that neo-cons are in bed with Sharon's Likud. Was that ever in doubt? They'll call you anti-semitic if you say it -- that's only a weak defense, as far as the FBI is concerned (the law is pretty clear, when it comes to the unauthorized sharing of highly classified materials with leaders of a foreign power -- especially when the planning involves taking the USA to war).
Back to Quakers: what cursory histories may miss, when thinking about early Quaker history, is that George Fox was beloved by the military. That also comes through in his friendship with William Penn, a military man. George wasn't a "peacenik" in the sense that he'd have any problem strolling around the Pentagon, hob-knobbing with the locals, regardless of rank. He was a peace-through-strength kinda guy, which type maybe they don't meet so often in the Pentagon, but I got the impression Col. L. Fletcher Prouty was like that (not that he was a Quaker mind you, but he could have been -- he was certainly good on making sure that nuclear war never happened).
Down to our day: Quakers remain attractive to military personnel. I do rotation with ex-Marines, ex-VietVets, all the time. Go to meetings with them, camp, whatever. Because now as before, the Quakers don't seem rabidly against people wearing swords. As George replied, when Penn asked him how long he could wear one, "as long as thou canst."
As for the debate itself, now that it's over, I'm not sure whether Cheney is going to show his amazing leadership skills before or after some major USA city is lost to a thermonuclear device. I know that during such an event, he'd be safely under some mountain somewhere. But the day after, what is he telling us? That he would not have any qualms about taking out some other city in retaliation? Would it be on the basis of evidence as flimsey as in his brief for the war in Iraq? Would the nation he attacked be effectively defenseless against US fire power, as Iraq certainly was?
Edwards came off as more conservative. He kept wanting to turn the screws on Iran, but maybe that's because he's been reading the rumors that Chalabi was a double agent and set this administration up to do Iran's dirty work. That's certainly one of the conspiracy theories going around, and in the case of Chalabi, it's not all that unbelievable (although I more tend to think he really expected to have a big following among the Iraqi natives -- as an expat, he didn't realize he'd be so out of step). More believable to me was this other FBI story: that neo-cons are in bed with Sharon's Likud. Was that ever in doubt? They'll call you anti-semitic if you say it -- that's only a weak defense, as far as the FBI is concerned (the law is pretty clear, when it comes to the unauthorized sharing of highly classified materials with leaders of a foreign power -- especially when the planning involves taking the USA to war).
Back to Quakers: what cursory histories may miss, when thinking about early Quaker history, is that George Fox was beloved by the military. That also comes through in his friendship with William Penn, a military man. George wasn't a "peacenik" in the sense that he'd have any problem strolling around the Pentagon, hob-knobbing with the locals, regardless of rank. He was a peace-through-strength kinda guy, which type maybe they don't meet so often in the Pentagon, but I got the impression Col. L. Fletcher Prouty was like that (not that he was a Quaker mind you, but he could have been -- he was certainly good on making sure that nuclear war never happened).
Down to our day: Quakers remain attractive to military personnel. I do rotation with ex-Marines, ex-VietVets, all the time. Go to meetings with them, camp, whatever. Because now as before, the Quakers don't seem rabidly against people wearing swords. As George replied, when Penn asked him how long he could wear one, "as long as thou canst."
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
More on Education Reform
So I wrote this partial draft of a numeracy course I'd like to see. The language is both familiar and alien, by design. This is how the future creeps up on us, sort of like in Stephen King novels: everything seems quite ordinary and everyday, but off by a tad, and that's unnerving -- the predominant realism adds to the thrill.
Somewhat reassuring to capitalists, I think, will be all the bank talk, all the focus on money. Presumably, if I'm willing to teach children about banking, then I must not be one of those Islamic sharia types (Islamic banks exist though -- isn't Grameen Bank considered Islamic?). I don't shy away from talking about ethics though. Kids need to be warned about scams. Mathematics helps us audit one another. We have the independent means to form judgments, based on figuring.
I'd like to see the final draft cover concepts of interest, mortgage, yield, dividend. These comprise a big slice of modern living.
Euler's pervasive number e comes out as a limit of (1 + 1/n) raised to the nth power, as n increases without limit -- a computation related to compound interest.
Thinking about banking reminds me tensegrity structures: interest is an exponential function, meaning we experience an exponentially strong incentive to bring the debt back to zero or go bankrupt.
Many times, humans have tried to arrange their financial affairs using these exponential anti-debt springs, only to find the stresses become overwhelming. Loans go bad. Banks fail. Sure, maybe it's best to keep rolling those loans over and over (refinancing, using the next credit card or bond issue to pay off the previous debt) but there's a limit to how long one might keep on down this road, if the debt level keeps increasing.
Anyway, banking is just one of the subjects we'll want to phase in. Everyday life is definitely a focus. So relax. Invest with us. Swiss memes in the neighborhood. UrnerBank of Bhutan.
A high tech future is also presumed. We want to prepare kids for object oriented programming, and it helps to start early. Working with older programmers still stuck in a procedural mindset, trying to help them to think OO, is often difficult. You can only do so much paradigm shifting in a life time. True in all fields.
Best we not saddle kids with too many out-worn assumptions, such that they'll expend a lot of capital unlearning half of what we teach them. That's too inefficient. USA OS is about providing relevant education -- just in time learning.
Somewhat reassuring to capitalists, I think, will be all the bank talk, all the focus on money. Presumably, if I'm willing to teach children about banking, then I must not be one of those Islamic sharia types (Islamic banks exist though -- isn't Grameen Bank considered Islamic?). I don't shy away from talking about ethics though. Kids need to be warned about scams. Mathematics helps us audit one another. We have the independent means to form judgments, based on figuring.
I'd like to see the final draft cover concepts of interest, mortgage, yield, dividend. These comprise a big slice of modern living.
Euler's pervasive number e comes out as a limit of (1 + 1/n) raised to the nth power, as n increases without limit -- a computation related to compound interest.
Thinking about banking reminds me tensegrity structures: interest is an exponential function, meaning we experience an exponentially strong incentive to bring the debt back to zero or go bankrupt.
Many times, humans have tried to arrange their financial affairs using these exponential anti-debt springs, only to find the stresses become overwhelming. Loans go bad. Banks fail. Sure, maybe it's best to keep rolling those loans over and over (refinancing, using the next credit card or bond issue to pay off the previous debt) but there's a limit to how long one might keep on down this road, if the debt level keeps increasing.
Anyway, banking is just one of the subjects we'll want to phase in. Everyday life is definitely a focus. So relax. Invest with us. Swiss memes in the neighborhood. UrnerBank of Bhutan.
A high tech future is also presumed. We want to prepare kids for object oriented programming, and it helps to start early. Working with older programmers still stuck in a procedural mindset, trying to help them to think OO, is often difficult. You can only do so much paradigm shifting in a life time. True in all fields.
Best we not saddle kids with too many out-worn assumptions, such that they'll expend a lot of capital unlearning half of what we teach them. That's too inefficient. USA OS is about providing relevant education -- just in time learning.
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Exit Strategy
The best way to get democracy and stability in Iraq would be to have anti-occupation campaigns win in Iraq, so that a representative government (representative of the majority of Iraqis), would be seen standing up to the Americans and asking them to leave. This would help show that democracy is actually effective, and isn't just some divide-and-conquer tool of a foreign ideology and imperial power.
Freedom and independence go together, in the American experience as well.
This outcome would actually be a win for the Americans, because most of them, especially the troops, want to leave. But they feel they can't, unless and until there's a stable government in place first.
Right now, what unifies Iraqis is a desire for freedom from occupation. This outcome would help cement that unity, perhaps averting the much feared civil war. The new government would have a measure of legitimacy, for having reversed an intensely unpopular state of affairs.
But isn't another goal to have Iraqis friendly to America? This too could be accomplished given the tremendous unpopularity of the current Bush administration's Iraq policy: some of the largest peaceful street demonstrations in history, and an historical record of strong denunciations from both liberals and conservatives (I'm distinguishing between conservative and neocon, which latter is actually a form of radicalism).
Americans and Iraqis would form a bond (I feel it even today), as both would be using democratic mechanisms to turn wildly unpopular policies around.
This only sketches the exit strategy in broad outline, and details do matter. However, it does suggest that a first and immediate step must be to include anti-occupation candidates and commercials in the Iraqi media, and to echo their message back to Americans, so that the beginnings of this new coalition might be established and nurtured.
I have written extensively about the need for a real democratic process in Iraq, meaning the need for anti-occupation points of view to get the full protection and support of those in a position to provide them.
I remain hopeful that the US military will see the wisdom in this exit strategy (General Wesley Clark, Ret. has sounded some positive notes lately, which could be indicative). It creates unity with the Iraqis, preserves democracy, provides a way home for the troops, which have already done any job they might reasonably be expected to do (Saddam captured, WMD-free status of Iraq verified).
The main long term cost is we'll need to flag any long term imperialist goals of the current occupation as anti-American. That's not a huge price to pay, as they most certainly are. It's a price we can well afford.
Freedom and independence go together, in the American experience as well.
This outcome would actually be a win for the Americans, because most of them, especially the troops, want to leave. But they feel they can't, unless and until there's a stable government in place first.
Right now, what unifies Iraqis is a desire for freedom from occupation. This outcome would help cement that unity, perhaps averting the much feared civil war. The new government would have a measure of legitimacy, for having reversed an intensely unpopular state of affairs.
But isn't another goal to have Iraqis friendly to America? This too could be accomplished given the tremendous unpopularity of the current Bush administration's Iraq policy: some of the largest peaceful street demonstrations in history, and an historical record of strong denunciations from both liberals and conservatives (I'm distinguishing between conservative and neocon, which latter is actually a form of radicalism).
Americans and Iraqis would form a bond (I feel it even today), as both would be using democratic mechanisms to turn wildly unpopular policies around.
This only sketches the exit strategy in broad outline, and details do matter. However, it does suggest that a first and immediate step must be to include anti-occupation candidates and commercials in the Iraqi media, and to echo their message back to Americans, so that the beginnings of this new coalition might be established and nurtured.
I have written extensively about the need for a real democratic process in Iraq, meaning the need for anti-occupation points of view to get the full protection and support of those in a position to provide them.
I remain hopeful that the US military will see the wisdom in this exit strategy (General Wesley Clark, Ret. has sounded some positive notes lately, which could be indicative). It creates unity with the Iraqis, preserves democracy, provides a way home for the troops, which have already done any job they might reasonably be expected to do (Saddam captured, WMD-free status of Iraq verified).
The main long term cost is we'll need to flag any long term imperialist goals of the current occupation as anti-American. That's not a huge price to pay, as they most certainly are. It's a price we can well afford.
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