King George hired Hessian soldiers to fight the "rebellion" of the colonists. They were resented more than British soldiers, who also were considered "foreign" troops by the colonists.
Napoleon III wanted to install his own king in Mexico, but many Mexicans had different ideas. Napoleon III sent an army that hadn't been defeated in 50 years. It was routed by a much smaller Mexican army on May 5, 1862 (Cinco de Mayo). The Mexican Army was not exactly an insurgency in the hit and run fashion we normally think of, but it was fighting a foreign enemy. There is more to this story; see "Cinco History".
The German Army overran France in World War II and ran into another "insurgency". It may have killed many members of the French Resistance, but they were always replaced by others. See "Occupation Déja Vu". See also some of the articles in the side bar of "Occupation Déja Vu".
The Russian Army has its Chechnya; the Chinese have Tibet and Xinjiang. Only the Chinese may succeed in that they have the resources for the "Powell Doctrine" (overwhelming force). And like the U.S. against the Indians, a population ready to move in and displace the prior inhabitants.
The United States is just not ready to fight insurgencies, no matter how hard the members of the armed forces try militarily. They don't speak the local language, they don't understand the local customs, the local national government is corrupt and inept, the American people are unwilling to pay the taxes to provide ALL the tools needed, and no matter how little the purported enemies of the U.S. are supported locally, the people like the foreigners even less. And I wonder if we will ever learn.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
The End of Ignorance
I've long thought that all of us, myself included, don't learn all that we could as well as we could. Today I did have the importance of one learning tool reinforced - serendipity!
I was wandering around the web and decided to visit The Huffington Post, and I stumbled on a sidebar item, "Math is not hard: A Simple Method…" whose full title is "Math Is Not Hard: A Simple Method That is Changing The World", by Julia Moulden.
It is about John Mighton, a man who had his own struggles with learning. Mighton was a playwright who supplemented his income as a tutor. That led to his deciding to be a mathematician. But his struggles with the subject almost made him give up. Remembering some of his tutoring experiences, he broke things down into small increments and went on to get a Ph.D.
He started a not-for-profit organization to promote a different way of teaching math - http://jumpmath.org.
He has written two books whose title alone should lead us to rethink teaching and our own learning - "The End of Ignorance" and "The Myth of Ability".
If you read Julia Moulden's article, be sure to follow as many links as you can, including the one to Thomas Friedman's article, "The New Untouchables", New York Times, 2009-10-21. I was going to write a blog about Friedman's article but as usual didn't find a round tuit. Ah, that's the secret of learning, finding round tuits:)
I was wandering around the web and decided to visit The Huffington Post, and I stumbled on a sidebar item, "Math is not hard: A Simple Method…" whose full title is "Math Is Not Hard: A Simple Method That is Changing The World", by Julia Moulden.
It is about John Mighton, a man who had his own struggles with learning. Mighton was a playwright who supplemented his income as a tutor. That led to his deciding to be a mathematician. But his struggles with the subject almost made him give up. Remembering some of his tutoring experiences, he broke things down into small increments and went on to get a Ph.D.
He started a not-for-profit organization to promote a different way of teaching math - http://jumpmath.org.
He has written two books whose title alone should lead us to rethink teaching and our own learning - "The End of Ignorance" and "The Myth of Ability".
If you read Julia Moulden's article, be sure to follow as many links as you can, including the one to Thomas Friedman's article, "The New Untouchables", New York Times, 2009-10-21. I was going to write a blog about Friedman's article but as usual didn't find a round tuit. Ah, that's the secret of learning, finding round tuits:)
Math Is Not Hard: A Simple Method That Is Changing The World
The following is my comment to Julia Moulden's column of the same title. The above picture was added by the Huffington Post when I checked that I wanted my comment posted on my blog.
I've long thought that most of us can learn more than we do. Years ago I heard a radio interview where the speaker had a boy tell him, "I'm dumb" and the man replied, "Who told you that." Most of us have had people tell us that they were never any good in math, foreign languages, music, or whatever. The true answer is that they didn't have enough interest to invest some time in the subject.
I have proven it with my own increased singing ability. I once was told that I was hopeless. After years of my taking voice lessons, that same person is delighted with my ability. No, nobody is going to pay me to sing, but I have been asked back to sing solos.
I wrote about some of this experience in "Men Can Sing", http://www.cpinternet.com/~mdmagree/men_can_sing_2005-02-03.html
If you are interested in a subject, start somewhere. Read about it, get lessons on it, just do something. And be willing to change and correct yourself.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Family ghosts and computer ghosts
A second cousin once removed recently emailed me about information about her great aunt. "Second cousin once removed" means one of her parents shares a set of great-grandparents with me.
The computer ghosts is that I have a lot of information about our shared ancestry but it is not readily available.
First, I interviewed her great aunt some years ago and have the interview on cassette tape. Problem is, I don't know where that tape is and if I still have extra copies.
Second, I have lots of information in computer files, but mostly in outdated media, like 3.5 inch diskettes.
Third, that information was created by a program I wrote and sold, but all that is on an outdated software system. For those with long memories, it was called Family Events.
Fourth, I still have a computer with that software system on it, but the computer is buried in a closet and needs lots of room to set up. And of course it needs time to set it up.
Fifth, is the information still on that old computer? I remember starting to erase all my data so that the computer could be recycled.
Almost every family has "ghosts", insubstantial personalities that we know very little about. But all the data that one descendant might have collected also becomes ghosts because it is not disseminated to other family members and replicated. This has happened with data on paper and data on computers.
The computer ghosts is that I have a lot of information about our shared ancestry but it is not readily available.
First, I interviewed her great aunt some years ago and have the interview on cassette tape. Problem is, I don't know where that tape is and if I still have extra copies.
Second, I have lots of information in computer files, but mostly in outdated media, like 3.5 inch diskettes.
Third, that information was created by a program I wrote and sold, but all that is on an outdated software system. For those with long memories, it was called Family Events.
Fourth, I still have a computer with that software system on it, but the computer is buried in a closet and needs lots of room to set up. And of course it needs time to set it up.
Fifth, is the information still on that old computer? I remember starting to erase all my data so that the computer could be recycled.
Almost every family has "ghosts", insubstantial personalities that we know very little about. But all the data that one descendant might have collected also becomes ghosts because it is not disseminated to other family members and replicated. This has happened with data on paper and data on computers.
Friday, October 23, 2009
What the pyramids are really made of
Throw away your pictures of slaves pulling giant blocks of stones on rollers. The pyramids are not built of natural stone but poured stone. The Egyptian engineers knew how to make super-concrete. It was much easier to raise barrels of liquid concrete and cast the stones in place.
For more details, see "Super Concrete in the U.S. Military, Iran … and the Pyramids?", David Hambling, Wired, 2009-10-22.
For more details, see "Super Concrete in the U.S. Military, Iran … and the Pyramids?", David Hambling, Wired, 2009-10-22.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Misuse of statistics?
Stephen J. Schroeder-Davis wrote a generally good article about "gifted students" being "left behind", "Federal rules leave gifted kids behind", but I have a few bones to pick.
He wrote:
"There are no provisions in NCLB to support gifted students, and these student receive less than 3 cents of every $100 in federal education dollars."
First, are federal dollars the only available money for education? I hope not.
Second, does every student need the same amount of resources to get a good education? For example, advanced students can often be given an assignment and go off by themselves to do it. I would hope that teachers would still be available to answer questions. On the other hand, "average" students would need more attention and help. "Slow" students might need one-on-one assistance.
Third, he assumes that all students should make the same amount of progress throughout their education. He cites a study that low achieving students "were progressing in reading at five times the rate of high-achieving students". Is progress in reading unlimited? If the low-achieving students move from 100 words per minute to 500 wpm, does it follow that the high-achieving students should move from 800 wpm to more than 4000 wpm? Few schools have ever been equipped to teach the techniques to read at that rate.
Fourth, we overuse the word "gifted". Advanced students may have very supportive parents who encourage them to learn. OK, good parents are a "gift". These advanced students may have worked harder earlier and have a good base to learn at faster rates later. Sort of the more you learn, the easier it is to learn more.
I do agree with the author that advanced students could be given many more opportunities to learn as much as they can. It is no fun to sit in a high-school class with people who stumble over book reports. We have cut off many classes that not only would give advanced students more opportunities for learning, but that would give many other students opportunities to expand their interests and abilities. In the interest of low taxes we have considered libraries, foreign languages, music, arts, and other creative subjects as frills. These have been touted by many as keeping young minds more active and receptive to other learning experiences.
Oh, well! I guess we get what we pay for.
He wrote:
"There are no provisions in NCLB to support gifted students, and these student receive less than 3 cents of every $100 in federal education dollars."
First, are federal dollars the only available money for education? I hope not.
Second, does every student need the same amount of resources to get a good education? For example, advanced students can often be given an assignment and go off by themselves to do it. I would hope that teachers would still be available to answer questions. On the other hand, "average" students would need more attention and help. "Slow" students might need one-on-one assistance.
Third, he assumes that all students should make the same amount of progress throughout their education. He cites a study that low achieving students "were progressing in reading at five times the rate of high-achieving students". Is progress in reading unlimited? If the low-achieving students move from 100 words per minute to 500 wpm, does it follow that the high-achieving students should move from 800 wpm to more than 4000 wpm? Few schools have ever been equipped to teach the techniques to read at that rate.
Fourth, we overuse the word "gifted". Advanced students may have very supportive parents who encourage them to learn. OK, good parents are a "gift". These advanced students may have worked harder earlier and have a good base to learn at faster rates later. Sort of the more you learn, the easier it is to learn more.
I do agree with the author that advanced students could be given many more opportunities to learn as much as they can. It is no fun to sit in a high-school class with people who stumble over book reports. We have cut off many classes that not only would give advanced students more opportunities for learning, but that would give many other students opportunities to expand their interests and abilities. In the interest of low taxes we have considered libraries, foreign languages, music, arts, and other creative subjects as frills. These have been touted by many as keeping young minds more active and receptive to other learning experiences.
Oh, well! I guess we get what we pay for.
A bit of gallows humor
As King Louis XVI stepped up to the guillotine, he said, "Je suis le roi, Louis Seize!" The executioner looked at him and said, "Says who?"
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Serendipity and Politics
Bob Goldish recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Reader Weekly praising a column by Ed Raymond.
I want to tell Bob that he can find Ed Raymond's email address and columns at the High Plains Reader. I went to the High Plains Reader's website to check that Raymond's email address was indeed there.
While I was scanning the list of opinion columns I saw "Don't Cry for me, Richie Daley" by Charlie Barber. Barber proposed that Obama's trip to the Olympic Committee was paying a political debt to Chicago politicians for their support, something I had suspected.
Maybe the loss of the games is a loss for those who would make lots of money building new things, but it is a big gain for the average Chicagoan and for Obama. The average Chicagoan already has plenty of sports venues and other entertainments. He or she doesn't need the aggravation and inflation that Olympic crowds would bring. Obama now has paid his debt to Chicago politicians and owes them nothing.
I want to tell Bob that he can find Ed Raymond's email address and columns at the High Plains Reader. I went to the High Plains Reader's website to check that Raymond's email address was indeed there.
While I was scanning the list of opinion columns I saw "Don't Cry for me, Richie Daley" by Charlie Barber. Barber proposed that Obama's trip to the Olympic Committee was paying a political debt to Chicago politicians for their support, something I had suspected.
Maybe the loss of the games is a loss for those who would make lots of money building new things, but it is a big gain for the average Chicagoan and for Obama. The average Chicagoan already has plenty of sports venues and other entertainments. He or she doesn't need the aggravation and inflation that Olympic crowds would bring. Obama now has paid his debt to Chicago politicians and owes them nothing.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
A "Conservative" compromises
You think that is an oxymoron; conservatives don't compromise because they are too busy sticking to principles. Maybe you are sticking to close to your principles of political definition.
I started thinking about this when reading Ross Douthat's column "A compromise that's centered on catastrophe". It was originally published as "The Catastrophic Option" in the New York Times, 2009-10-19. It is about shifting the health care debate to something that might actually work.
Ross Douthat supposedly is the resident "conservative" columnist for the New York Times. One of those attempts to show that a newspaper doesn't have a "liberal" bias. I've found some of his columns to be "liberal" in the sense that he approaches issues in a thoughtful, adaptive manner rather than a reactive manner.
In an email to a local columnist who generally writes reasoned columns, I wrote, "If you don’t change your paradigms, you won’t have a pair of dimes for change." I didn't mean to apply this to him, but to people who expect things not to change.
I think one of the paradigms we have to change is the "conservative/liberal" divide, especially when those to whom these labels apply don't really act that way. Rather, they are locked into positions that are neither conservative nor liberal.
Maybe we can move away from this locked horn position by looking at some of our definitions again. For starters, I offer these. A conservative is one who says, "Not so fast" with regard to change. A moderate is one who says, "Here are our choices and the probable consequences."
There are many other ways at looking at political viewpoints, but I think these two would be a good starting point on how we define our political parties and how we choose those who would govern us.
I started thinking about this when reading Ross Douthat's column "A compromise that's centered on catastrophe". It was originally published as "The Catastrophic Option" in the New York Times, 2009-10-19. It is about shifting the health care debate to something that might actually work.
Ross Douthat supposedly is the resident "conservative" columnist for the New York Times. One of those attempts to show that a newspaper doesn't have a "liberal" bias. I've found some of his columns to be "liberal" in the sense that he approaches issues in a thoughtful, adaptive manner rather than a reactive manner.
In an email to a local columnist who generally writes reasoned columns, I wrote, "If you don’t change your paradigms, you won’t have a pair of dimes for change." I didn't mean to apply this to him, but to people who expect things not to change.
I think one of the paradigms we have to change is the "conservative/liberal" divide, especially when those to whom these labels apply don't really act that way. Rather, they are locked into positions that are neither conservative nor liberal.
Maybe we can move away from this locked horn position by looking at some of our definitions again. For starters, I offer these. A conservative is one who says, "Not so fast" with regard to change. A moderate is one who says, "Here are our choices and the probable consequences."
There are many other ways at looking at political viewpoints, but I think these two would be a good starting point on how we define our political parties and how we choose those who would govern us.
Want Windows 7? Buy a Mac!
That's the advice that Forbes gives in "Want To Run Windows 7? Buy a Mac", Brian Caulfield, 2009-10-20
Apparently, the new Macs have many of the features that make Windows 7 shine that many other PCs don't, for example, fast graphic processors.
If you do buy a Mac to run Windows 7, you'll have to buy a separate copy of Windows 7 and install it yourself. Apple's Boot Camp, available on all late model Macs, makes the process easy. See "Built for Compatibility". The available interoperability and connectivity from Macs to Windows is mind-boggling. I don't think I have any recently created file that I can't email to or put on a CD or DVD for a PC user.
Let's see, is it the FTC or the FCC that's worried about bloggers shilling for products. If so, here is my disclaimer. As far as I know I stand to gain nothing from Apple for writing this blog. I have used Macintosh computers since September 1984 and really don't want any others. OK, iPods and iPhones. What I might gain is more Mac users, fewer complaints about the difficulties of using PCs, and fewer people recoiling in fear at the mere mention of Macintosh.
Apparently, the new Macs have many of the features that make Windows 7 shine that many other PCs don't, for example, fast graphic processors.
If you do buy a Mac to run Windows 7, you'll have to buy a separate copy of Windows 7 and install it yourself. Apple's Boot Camp, available on all late model Macs, makes the process easy. See "Built for Compatibility". The available interoperability and connectivity from Macs to Windows is mind-boggling. I don't think I have any recently created file that I can't email to or put on a CD or DVD for a PC user.
Let's see, is it the FTC or the FCC that's worried about bloggers shilling for products. If so, here is my disclaimer. As far as I know I stand to gain nothing from Apple for writing this blog. I have used Macintosh computers since September 1984 and really don't want any others. OK, iPods and iPhones. What I might gain is more Mac users, fewer complaints about the difficulties of using PCs, and fewer people recoiling in fear at the mere mention of Macintosh.
Monday, October 19, 2009
A couple notes on green jobs
Many pooh-pooh the idea of green jobs. However, in 2008, there were more jobs in wind power than there were in coal mining. - "Wind Jobs Outstrip Coal Mining", Fortune, 2009-01-23.
And as a follow-on to my blog "Nuclear weapons and climate change - is there a connection?"
see "Texas site to harness ocean for power, water" about using wave/tidal pumps a company will start bottling water from sea water. When they scale the project up, they plan to provide millions a gallons of fresh water for a city.
And as a follow-on to my blog "Nuclear weapons and climate change - is there a connection?"
see "Texas site to harness ocean for power, water" about using wave/tidal pumps a company will start bottling water from sea water. When they scale the project up, they plan to provide millions a gallons of fresh water for a city.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Abraham Lincoln was a liberal!!
Take out a five-dollar bill. Fold it in half. Which side is Abraham Lincoln's picture on?
Our greatest Republican president was left of center!!!
Can you imagine any recent Republican president spending so much tax money to invest on railroads (Lincoln), parks (Theodore Roosevelt), or highways (Dwight Eisenhower)?
Our greatest Republican president was left of center!!!
Can you imagine any recent Republican president spending so much tax money to invest on railroads (Lincoln), parks (Theodore Roosevelt), or highways (Dwight Eisenhower)?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Trespassing mystery explained
We had invited another couple to spend the afternoon with us at our cabin in Brimson. We took an easy walk around one loop, ate a late lunch, and instead of doing any chores, took a walk around a loop that we haven't cleared in years.
When we got back there was a strange truck in our drive, right next to our SUV. We also heard shots now and then. We immediately assumed it was a brazen hunter who didn't respect no-trespassing signs.
The truck was unlocked and we blew its horn repeatedly. We shouted as loud as we could. The only thing we heard were some infrequent shots. We took its license plate number and called 911.
We wanted to return to Duluth. We couldn't call for a tow truck; how would the owner leave? We couldn't lock the chain; how would the owner leave? Almost anything we could do might get a spiteful reaction.
Well, it ended "happily", sort of, after 45 minutes of fretting over what to do. Here is the thank you message I sent to the sheriff's office:
When we got back there was a strange truck in our drive, right next to our SUV. We also heard shots now and then. We immediately assumed it was a brazen hunter who didn't respect no-trespassing signs.
The truck was unlocked and we blew its horn repeatedly. We shouted as loud as we could. The only thing we heard were some infrequent shots. We took its license plate number and called 911.
We wanted to return to Duluth. We couldn't call for a tow truck; how would the owner leave? We couldn't lock the chain; how would the owner leave? Almost anything we could do might get a spiteful reaction.
Well, it ended "happily", sort of, after 45 minutes of fretting over what to do. Here is the thank you message I sent to the sheriff's office:
Please thank the deputy who responded to the trespassing call from 1354 Little Creek Rd. (Twp. 6225) in Brimson.
Fortunately, we did not follow her advice and did not call a towing company, and we decided not to lock the cable across the drive. Even more fortunately the group with the strange truck appeared just before we were ready to leave. They were friends who had interpreted too liberally an old offer to walk on our property.
They had arrived after we started a long walk to the East and they went West. It would have been nice if they had put a note on our cabin door or on our vehicle.
Thank you for all you do with limited resources.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Now I understand media "bias"
Assume that politician Smith does 5 good things and 2 dumb things and that politician Jones does 2 good things and 5 dumb things. According to some letter writers, the "media" is "biased" because it commented unfavorably on the 5 dumb things that politician Jones did. It is irrelevant to these letter writers that it also commented unfavorably on the 2 dumb things that politician Smith did.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Nuclear weapons and climate change - is there a connection?
Of course, any nuclear weapon going off is going to generate a lot of heat that will have some effect on global warming. I wonder if anybody has calculated that effect.
However, there is a more roundabout connection between nuclear weapons and global warming.
First, what is the effect of nuclear power on global warming? Nuclear reactors give off lots of heat. Why else do they have those humongous cooling towers? They are often if not always located by a body of water, either a river or an ocean. They need that water for cooling. What is the effect downstream of the warmer water? An ocean location is less of a problem because the heat is diffused more quickly; given the size of the oceans this may be insignificant in comparison to other factors warming the oceans.
Second, some nations are justifying their processing of nuclear material as for peaceful purposes - medicine and power. Are thousands of nuclear fuel centrifuges needed for medical purposes? If the nuclear material is to be used for power, are the plants located near water? If so, what change in temperature will there be in that water and how will it affect surrounding areas?
Third, what is the opportunity cost of nuclear weapons? Where could the money needed to create, maintain, protect, and deliver nuclear weapons be used more constructively? For example, how many desalinization plants could be built from the cost of a single nuclear weapon? How many miles of irrigation pipes could be constructed to bring that water inland? How many thousands of bushels of crops could be raised if that water were available? How much would the water evaporated from those crops help reduce global warming? How many people are even thinking seriously about such possibilities?
See also
New spear proliferation
Does "green energy" use too much water?
The nuclear option
Mission Impossible: Global warming debunking debunking
And for many, many more opinions on climate change, visit http://www.blogactionday.org.
However, there is a more roundabout connection between nuclear weapons and global warming.
First, what is the effect of nuclear power on global warming? Nuclear reactors give off lots of heat. Why else do they have those humongous cooling towers? They are often if not always located by a body of water, either a river or an ocean. They need that water for cooling. What is the effect downstream of the warmer water? An ocean location is less of a problem because the heat is diffused more quickly; given the size of the oceans this may be insignificant in comparison to other factors warming the oceans.
Second, some nations are justifying their processing of nuclear material as for peaceful purposes - medicine and power. Are thousands of nuclear fuel centrifuges needed for medical purposes? If the nuclear material is to be used for power, are the plants located near water? If so, what change in temperature will there be in that water and how will it affect surrounding areas?
Third, what is the opportunity cost of nuclear weapons? Where could the money needed to create, maintain, protect, and deliver nuclear weapons be used more constructively? For example, how many desalinization plants could be built from the cost of a single nuclear weapon? How many miles of irrigation pipes could be constructed to bring that water inland? How many thousands of bushels of crops could be raised if that water were available? How much would the water evaporated from those crops help reduce global warming? How many people are even thinking seriously about such possibilities?
See also
New spear proliferation
Does "green energy" use too much water?
The nuclear option
Mission Impossible: Global warming debunking debunking
And for many, many more opinions on climate change, visit http://www.blogactionday.org.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
No simple answers in war and peace
For a good overview of the complexities of the Afghan war, read "Stanley McChrystal's Long War", by Dexter Filkins, New York Times, 2009-10-14. It is intended for the New York Times Magazine, 2009-10-18.
Many Afghans would like to live in peace, but a corrupt government and a deadly insurgent force aren't helping them do so. Can a foreign force help them, or does it make matters worse?
Many Afghans would like to live in peace, but a corrupt government and a deadly insurgent force aren't helping them do so. Can a foreign force help them, or does it make matters worse?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Multicultural cooking
When I wrote about our attending a Dewali festival Saturday, I didn't write that it was also a potluck.
We don't have any Indian cookbooks, but we do have a Sri Lankan cookbook. We bought it at the Sri Lankan Curry House in Uptown of Minneapolis well over fifteen years ago. I have a few interesting stories about this restaurant, but suffice it to say that we bought it on one of our infrequent visits. In fact, the author, Heather Jansz Balasuriya, signed our copy of "Fire & Spice: The Cuisine of Sri Lanka", "You gotta come back more than once a year. Best Wishes enjoy". How's that for a multicultural name?
Migosh! I just looked up Balasuriya on Google. Amazon has one new copy of her book at $155, a collectible version at $175, and 13 used copies from $30 to $155! We never thought our $19.95 list copy would be so valuable!
And the web serendipity goes on. Heather Jansz no longer works in a restaurant, but she does catering. You can find more about her services at
http://www.heatherjansz.com
Back to the Dewali potluck. It was to be vegetarian and we leafed through "Fire & Spice" looking for suitable recipes. We found two we liked: one for a tomato-raisin chutney and one for an eggplant pizza. We thought the chutney would be more appropriate for the potluck; we would have to make two or three pizzas to make an appropriate contribution to the potluck. We thought we would do the pizza for ourselves another night.
Following the chutney recipe, we had about three cups of chutney. When the potluck was over, one needed a piece of naan to scrape up what was left. Unfortunately, the naan was long gone. (Naan is a popular flat bread.)
Tonight, we tackled the eggplant pizza project. It called for six chilies, my wife said three was enough. We doled out the tasks. One of mine was to fry the chilies.
Since the recipe said to fry and crush them, I chopped off the stems and put them in a bit of peanut oil. That didn't seem to work very well. I then thought I should have taken out the seeds first and then fried them like bacon strips. Oh, well! I did chop them as finely as I could. When I looked at the pile of chili bits, I thought that one chili would be enough for my half of the pizza. (My wife has to be careful of her innards after surgery.)
On top of a store-bought "thin" crust we piled on pasta sauce, eggplant slices, chopped onions and garlic, a bit of curry powder, lots of shredded mozzarella, and one bit of chili. It really looked pretty.
We let it bake and it took longer than the 12-15 minutes recommended in the recipe. We probably should have turned it because the back side was darker than the front side. But it looked good!
And it tasted good! But it was filling! Of course, for my part, the two glasses of beer during preparation didn't help. My wife didn't quite finish her quarter serving and I made it through only two-thirds of my quarter. But the heat was just right for my tamed taste buds. Thanks, Jan, for your restraint at the grocery store.
Gosh, that's quite a comedown from when I would order the moderate dishes at the Sri Lanka Curry House in Minneapolis fifteen to thirty years ago.
But, I look forward to leftovers for dinner tomorrow night!
For a bit more on Heather Jansz, see also Jeremy Igger's column "Heather Jansz: Still Spicy After All These Years".
We don't have any Indian cookbooks, but we do have a Sri Lankan cookbook. We bought it at the Sri Lankan Curry House in Uptown of Minneapolis well over fifteen years ago. I have a few interesting stories about this restaurant, but suffice it to say that we bought it on one of our infrequent visits. In fact, the author, Heather Jansz Balasuriya, signed our copy of "Fire & Spice: The Cuisine of Sri Lanka", "You gotta come back more than once a year. Best Wishes enjoy". How's that for a multicultural name?
Migosh! I just looked up Balasuriya on Google. Amazon has one new copy of her book at $155, a collectible version at $175, and 13 used copies from $30 to $155! We never thought our $19.95 list copy would be so valuable!
And the web serendipity goes on. Heather Jansz no longer works in a restaurant, but she does catering. You can find more about her services at
http://www.heatherjansz.com
Back to the Dewali potluck. It was to be vegetarian and we leafed through "Fire & Spice" looking for suitable recipes. We found two we liked: one for a tomato-raisin chutney and one for an eggplant pizza. We thought the chutney would be more appropriate for the potluck; we would have to make two or three pizzas to make an appropriate contribution to the potluck. We thought we would do the pizza for ourselves another night.
Following the chutney recipe, we had about three cups of chutney. When the potluck was over, one needed a piece of naan to scrape up what was left. Unfortunately, the naan was long gone. (Naan is a popular flat bread.)
Tonight, we tackled the eggplant pizza project. It called for six chilies, my wife said three was enough. We doled out the tasks. One of mine was to fry the chilies.
Since the recipe said to fry and crush them, I chopped off the stems and put them in a bit of peanut oil. That didn't seem to work very well. I then thought I should have taken out the seeds first and then fried them like bacon strips. Oh, well! I did chop them as finely as I could. When I looked at the pile of chili bits, I thought that one chili would be enough for my half of the pizza. (My wife has to be careful of her innards after surgery.)
On top of a store-bought "thin" crust we piled on pasta sauce, eggplant slices, chopped onions and garlic, a bit of curry powder, lots of shredded mozzarella, and one bit of chili. It really looked pretty.
We let it bake and it took longer than the 12-15 minutes recommended in the recipe. We probably should have turned it because the back side was darker than the front side. But it looked good!
And it tasted good! But it was filling! Of course, for my part, the two glasses of beer during preparation didn't help. My wife didn't quite finish her quarter serving and I made it through only two-thirds of my quarter. But the heat was just right for my tamed taste buds. Thanks, Jan, for your restraint at the grocery store.
Gosh, that's quite a comedown from when I would order the moderate dishes at the Sri Lanka Curry House in Minneapolis fifteen to thirty years ago.
But, I look forward to leftovers for dinner tomorrow night!
For a bit more on Heather Jansz, see also Jeremy Igger's column "Heather Jansz: Still Spicy After All These Years".
Monday, October 12, 2009
American fashion pops up in strange places
Have you noticed the caps on members of Iran's Islamic Republican Guard Corps (IRGC)? They look very much like American baseball caps – a round cap on the crown of the head with a curved bill in front.
Today I saw a picture of Pakistani police commandos after a terrorist attack – round caps on the crown of the head with curved bills in front.
I may be wrong, but I think at least one of the London subway terrorists was caught on a surveillance camera wearing a baseball cap.
Or should I call them seed caps, since so many seed companies gave them to farmers.
Whatever! Imitation is considered the sincerest form of flattery. I just wish some of the more important and effective means of American governance would be imitated.
Today I saw a picture of Pakistani police commandos after a terrorist attack – round caps on the crown of the head with curved bills in front.
I may be wrong, but I think at least one of the London subway terrorists was caught on a surveillance camera wearing a baseball cap.
Or should I call them seed caps, since so many seed companies gave them to farmers.
Whatever! Imitation is considered the sincerest form of flattery. I just wish some of the more important and effective means of American governance would be imitated.
There are Republicans and there are Republicans
Many Republicans are complaining about President Obama getting the Nobel Prize for Peace, some saying that he should decline it.
At least two Republicans are showing some class, congratulating Obama - Sen. John McCain and Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
At least two Republicans are showing some class, congratulating Obama - Sen. John McCain and Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Surprising connections in the adoption of customs
We attended a Dewali festival tonight, the Hindu Festival of Lights, which marks the end of the monsoon season.
Most of the women wore saris and some of the men wore traditional slender-legged trousers and long jackets. But some men showed up in jeans and T-shirts.
This made me think of Iran where women are required to wear a head scarf and a manteau, the dark knee-length coat. BTW, manteau is French for coat. But underneath their manteau many young women wear jeans and athletic shoes.
And around the world you find many men wearing blue jeans, including Iran and the Arabic countries. Ironically, blue jeans were first manufactured by a Jewish merchant in California - Levi Strauss!
Most of the women wore saris and some of the men wore traditional slender-legged trousers and long jackets. But some men showed up in jeans and T-shirts.
This made me think of Iran where women are required to wear a head scarf and a manteau, the dark knee-length coat. BTW, manteau is French for coat. But underneath their manteau many young women wear jeans and athletic shoes.
And around the world you find many men wearing blue jeans, including Iran and the Arabic countries. Ironically, blue jeans were first manufactured by a Jewish merchant in California - Levi Strauss!
Friday, October 09, 2009
Lessons from Colonial Quakers
From the founding of Pennsylvania until the mid-18th century, the colonial government was under the control of the Quakers. With increased immigration of other groups, especially Germans and Irish, the Quakers became less representative of the populace and found it hard to govern for at least two reasons.
The Quakers of the time held strongly to their beliefs no matter what the pressure. One was they refused to take an oath; another was their pacifism.
English law required that court officials and witnesses take an oath. Since the Quakers wouldn't take an oath they couldn't serve as judges and other officials. Since they wouldn't take an oath, they felt they couldn't administer an oath. The courts nearly ground to a halt.
As the population increased, the western movement put more and more pressure on the Indians. The invasion of Europeans was resisted violently be the Indians. Of course, the Europeans didn't think they were invaders but civilizers. Since the Quakers were pacifists, they didn't provide any military protection of the settlers. In fact, they thought gifts to the Indians would keep the peace.
Fewer and fewer Quakers ran for public office. In fact, some even withdrew from office rather than act against their beliefs.
For more about the Colonial Quakers, see "The Americans: The Colonial Experience", by Daniel Boorstin.
Doesn't this sound familiar in today's events? We have a party that would rather see the government fail than go against their own beliefs. We have people who don't like foreign troops in their countries and react violently. We have people who think if we only provide gifts to others things will get better (military aid to corrupt governments or concessions to people who are fighting those they consider invaders).
We will be in deep, deep trouble if we are governed either by those who look for ideological purity or by those who think we should act nice to violent people.
The Quakers of the time held strongly to their beliefs no matter what the pressure. One was they refused to take an oath; another was their pacifism.
English law required that court officials and witnesses take an oath. Since the Quakers wouldn't take an oath they couldn't serve as judges and other officials. Since they wouldn't take an oath, they felt they couldn't administer an oath. The courts nearly ground to a halt.
As the population increased, the western movement put more and more pressure on the Indians. The invasion of Europeans was resisted violently be the Indians. Of course, the Europeans didn't think they were invaders but civilizers. Since the Quakers were pacifists, they didn't provide any military protection of the settlers. In fact, they thought gifts to the Indians would keep the peace.
Fewer and fewer Quakers ran for public office. In fact, some even withdrew from office rather than act against their beliefs.
For more about the Colonial Quakers, see "The Americans: The Colonial Experience", by Daniel Boorstin.
Doesn't this sound familiar in today's events? We have a party that would rather see the government fail than go against their own beliefs. We have people who don't like foreign troops in their countries and react violently. We have people who think if we only provide gifts to others things will get better (military aid to corrupt governments or concessions to people who are fighting those they consider invaders).
We will be in deep, deep trouble if we are governed either by those who look for ideological purity or by those who think we should act nice to violent people.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
A terrible mismatch of foods
I've long wondered why hot dog buns are longer than the hot dogs available. Tonight I was again puzzled by this mismatch.
We had hot dogs from Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth with buns also bought there. I think all the varieties of hot dogs, chicken, tofu, real, are about the same size. They sell only one kind of hot dog bun from the Positively 3rd Street Bakery, less than a mile away. The buns are at least one-and-a-half inches longer than the hot dogs!
You would think the grocery that has a good relationship with its primary bakery could work out a better match.
Of course, other grocers don't match their buns to their hot dogs either; it's just that we bought the food for this meal at Whole Foods Co-op.
Speaking of mismatched foods, what about the "foot-long" hot dogs sold at the State Fair? These supposedly super long hot dogs are no longer than the maximum spread between the tips of my thumb and little finger — nine inches. Do you think the vendors would accept payment of 75 cents on the dollar?
We had hot dogs from Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth with buns also bought there. I think all the varieties of hot dogs, chicken, tofu, real, are about the same size. They sell only one kind of hot dog bun from the Positively 3rd Street Bakery, less than a mile away. The buns are at least one-and-a-half inches longer than the hot dogs!
You would think the grocery that has a good relationship with its primary bakery could work out a better match.
Of course, other grocers don't match their buns to their hot dogs either; it's just that we bought the food for this meal at Whole Foods Co-op.
Speaking of mismatched foods, what about the "foot-long" hot dogs sold at the State Fair? These supposedly super long hot dogs are no longer than the maximum spread between the tips of my thumb and little finger — nine inches. Do you think the vendors would accept payment of 75 cents on the dollar?
What I'm not reading about
I often base a blog entry on articles I've read in newspapers, in print or online. Last month with a flood of news that I didn't care to read about in depth, if at all, I made a short list of what I wasn't reading about. The next paragraph is my note on what I'm not reading about.
Michael Jackson, Michelle Obama, fashions of whoever, Jaycee, Edward Kennedy, letters knowing that we're headed for socialism, letters telling us how bad war is, almost anything predictable by the headline, the sexual affairs of the high and the mighty.
This weekend there was a flurry of news that I haven't been reading: the Vikings-Packers game, the Twins, the stadiums in the Twin Cities, and some guy named Letterman. Is he a sports figure who couldn't cut his ties to his high school or college sports team?
Michael Jackson, Michelle Obama, fashions of whoever, Jaycee, Edward Kennedy, letters knowing that we're headed for socialism, letters telling us how bad war is, almost anything predictable by the headline, the sexual affairs of the high and the mighty.
This weekend there was a flurry of news that I haven't been reading: the Vikings-Packers game, the Twins, the stadiums in the Twin Cities, and some guy named Letterman. Is he a sports figure who couldn't cut his ties to his high school or college sports team?
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Missing info for "Paul's Song"
We get so tied up in the systems we use, we assume everyone has all the same tools. I didn't think that some people have computers that don't come equipped with QuickTime Player and wouldn't be able to hear my rendition of "Paul's Song".
You can download a free copy of QuickTime for the PC at
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
You can download a free copy of QuickTime for the PC at
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
Hospitals are not healthy places
In addition to the old bromide that people die in hospitals and to the fact that one can pick up an infection easily, there are a few other unhealthy aspects of hospitals. Many don't support the healthy life style I mentioned in yesterday's post.
My wife is in a hospital now after surgery. She found the food not to our idea of healthy - the bouillon was too salty, the juice too sweet with added white grape juice, and the gelatin tasted of non-food chemicals.
Roommates can cause stress. They often have the TV sound too loud or their guests talk too loudly. Of course, listening to the complaints of an uncooperative patient can be a big distraction.
My wife's current roommate is generally quiet but she wanted to watch the Vikings-Packers game. My wife has as much interest in professional sports as I have in ironing clothes, as well as in professional sports. I made sure I was back at home during the game with the TV off. My wife heard it even from other rooms, but she was still so fatigued from her surgery that she slept through most of it. Neither of us knew the score until this morning.
Another unhealthy aspect of hospitals is the number of overweight staff, not a good example. Besides the amount of carbonated beverages they drink, some have too many treats around. On one stay, we saw a whole box of donuts. And the cafeterias are often only a step above fast food restaurants.
My wife is in a hospital now after surgery. She found the food not to our idea of healthy - the bouillon was too salty, the juice too sweet with added white grape juice, and the gelatin tasted of non-food chemicals.
Roommates can cause stress. They often have the TV sound too loud or their guests talk too loudly. Of course, listening to the complaints of an uncooperative patient can be a big distraction.
My wife's current roommate is generally quiet but she wanted to watch the Vikings-Packers game. My wife has as much interest in professional sports as I have in ironing clothes, as well as in professional sports. I made sure I was back at home during the game with the TV off. My wife heard it even from other rooms, but she was still so fatigued from her surgery that she slept through most of it. Neither of us knew the score until this morning.
Another unhealthy aspect of hospitals is the number of overweight staff, not a good example. Besides the amount of carbonated beverages they drink, some have too many treats around. On one stay, we saw a whole box of donuts. And the cafeterias are often only a step above fast food restaurants.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Right living needs no health care, right?
This whole health care debate seems to come down to doing anything is an intrusion of big government versus doing something before everybody goes broke on health care and dies.
Proponents of the second cite the 40-some million without health insurance and act as if each and every one of the 40-some million is facing a dire health crisis and will die without federal government intervention. Never mind that some of 40-some million think they are healthy enough or are rich enough that they don't want to pay for health insurance.
Some proponents are pushing the argument that federal health insurance is not needed if only people would be responsible and lead healthy lives. This argument is so simplistic that it borders on the irresponsible.
Granted, there are far too many people that make irresponsible choices from smoking to eating far too many junk foods. However, many people also draw a short straw on health through situations beyond their control.
Let's start with the personal. My wife and I try to eat sensibly, exercise frequently, and get regular dental and medical checkups. Ah, dental checkups! Guess what we both have in our mouths. Amalgam!
A mix of mercury and silver. Mercury is a poisonous metal. But amalgam was the filling of choice by dentists for decades. Even those of us who brushed our teeth regularly before the widespread use of fluoridated water still got cavities.
How much of that mercury from our teeth is leaching out into our bodies and causing who knows what problems? Maybe none, maybe lots! We don't really know what the personal result will be.
My wife has had cancer twice. This particular cancer has no known cause from personal life choices. My wife suspects that it was caused by chemicals in the environment - air borne chemicals, chemicals leaching from packaging, or contaminants in tap water. We don't know and we have little control over what large corporations or even local companies spew into the air and water or use in their processes. Many people can tolerate these contaminants; others have severe health consequences long after the exposure to these contaminants.
I have a heart murmur. For the most part this is inconsequential. I can do many physical activities without problem.
This is a good point to make an aside on our dependence on fallible human beings for our health care. One year a doctor is concerned about my heart murmur; the next he says I have the heart of an athlete. I think it might have been related to my use of stairs or elevator to reach his office. I now make sure I take the elevator for doctor visits.
I have had the heart murmur for over thirty years. Four times I have had symptoms that indicate I have serious problems. Once a doctor gave me an ultrasound check; once a doctor insisted on sending me to the emergency room; once we called for an ambulance; and once my wife drove me to the emergency room. In none of these was there any indication of damage to my heart. In retrospect, I think they were the result of overexertion that seemed OK at the time, probably resulting in sore chest muscles and hypoglycemia with nausea and sweating. In the last three cases, the costs would have made a serious dent in our savings and even future earnings.
Maybe I could have avoided these problems if I had traded in my parents. After all, they were the ones who gave me the genes that caused the heart murmur.
Fortunately, we've had employer-provided health insurance or Medicare with supplemental that paid for all these incidents with no or little out-of-pocket expenses.
Unfortunately, not everybody has generous employers or can afford more than basic Medicare in retirement.
But I too am relying on anecdotal evidence for my case. Are some really tragic cases as reported in some newspapers the norm? Or are they the exception? Whichever the case, we really need to be careful in collecting data to bolster our position. Unfortunately, emotion is used more than reason, no matter the position.
Proponents of the second cite the 40-some million without health insurance and act as if each and every one of the 40-some million is facing a dire health crisis and will die without federal government intervention. Never mind that some of 40-some million think they are healthy enough or are rich enough that they don't want to pay for health insurance.
Some proponents are pushing the argument that federal health insurance is not needed if only people would be responsible and lead healthy lives. This argument is so simplistic that it borders on the irresponsible.
Granted, there are far too many people that make irresponsible choices from smoking to eating far too many junk foods. However, many people also draw a short straw on health through situations beyond their control.
Let's start with the personal. My wife and I try to eat sensibly, exercise frequently, and get regular dental and medical checkups. Ah, dental checkups! Guess what we both have in our mouths. Amalgam!
A mix of mercury and silver. Mercury is a poisonous metal. But amalgam was the filling of choice by dentists for decades. Even those of us who brushed our teeth regularly before the widespread use of fluoridated water still got cavities.
How much of that mercury from our teeth is leaching out into our bodies and causing who knows what problems? Maybe none, maybe lots! We don't really know what the personal result will be.
My wife has had cancer twice. This particular cancer has no known cause from personal life choices. My wife suspects that it was caused by chemicals in the environment - air borne chemicals, chemicals leaching from packaging, or contaminants in tap water. We don't know and we have little control over what large corporations or even local companies spew into the air and water or use in their processes. Many people can tolerate these contaminants; others have severe health consequences long after the exposure to these contaminants.
I have a heart murmur. For the most part this is inconsequential. I can do many physical activities without problem.
This is a good point to make an aside on our dependence on fallible human beings for our health care. One year a doctor is concerned about my heart murmur; the next he says I have the heart of an athlete. I think it might have been related to my use of stairs or elevator to reach his office. I now make sure I take the elevator for doctor visits.
I have had the heart murmur for over thirty years. Four times I have had symptoms that indicate I have serious problems. Once a doctor gave me an ultrasound check; once a doctor insisted on sending me to the emergency room; once we called for an ambulance; and once my wife drove me to the emergency room. In none of these was there any indication of damage to my heart. In retrospect, I think they were the result of overexertion that seemed OK at the time, probably resulting in sore chest muscles and hypoglycemia with nausea and sweating. In the last three cases, the costs would have made a serious dent in our savings and even future earnings.
Maybe I could have avoided these problems if I had traded in my parents. After all, they were the ones who gave me the genes that caused the heart murmur.
Fortunately, we've had employer-provided health insurance or Medicare with supplemental that paid for all these incidents with no or little out-of-pocket expenses.
Unfortunately, not everybody has generous employers or can afford more than basic Medicare in retirement.
But I too am relying on anecdotal evidence for my case. Are some really tragic cases as reported in some newspapers the norm? Or are they the exception? Whichever the case, we really need to be careful in collecting data to bolster our position. Unfortunately, emotion is used more than reason, no matter the position.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Paul's song
Our friend Paul is at Mayo undergoing some patience-trying therapy. A relative and a couple of friends wrote additional lyrics to "Frère Jacques". I finally made a half-way decent recording of it. If you're not a musical perfectionist, click here. I also posted it on his site on Caring Bridge.
If you have difficulty listening to "Paul's Song", you can download a free copy of QuickTime for the PC at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
If you have difficulty listening to "Paul's Song", you can download a free copy of QuickTime for the PC at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
Saturday, October 03, 2009
How about a good news story about energy?
I've often wondered why more effort hasn't been made to bring low-tech or at least low-cost tech to many parts of the world where resources are scarce. They cannot afford and really don't need mammoth electric networks. Commercial power sources meant for off-grid generation are often way beyond the means of people in poor countries.
Well, one boy did something about it in his small, rural village. Because his parents couldn't afford the $80/year for school, he had to drop out. He still wanted to learn and visited a nearby library where he found a book on generating energy for wind. With scrounged parts he built a windmill that would power a light in his bedroom so he could read after sundown. Then he built two more that provide electric light and much more for all in the village.
I first read about William Kamkwamba in Wired, "Teen's DIY Energy Hacking Gives African Village New Hope", Kim Zetter, 2009-10-02. "Hacking" in this context is not malicious tampering but making do with limited resources.
Kamkwamba now has his own web site, http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/. I hope he encourages many more like himself.
Well, one boy did something about it in his small, rural village. Because his parents couldn't afford the $80/year for school, he had to drop out. He still wanted to learn and visited a nearby library where he found a book on generating energy for wind. With scrounged parts he built a windmill that would power a light in his bedroom so he could read after sundown. Then he built two more that provide electric light and much more for all in the village.
I first read about William Kamkwamba in Wired, "Teen's DIY Energy Hacking Gives African Village New Hope", Kim Zetter, 2009-10-02. "Hacking" in this context is not malicious tampering but making do with limited resources.
Kamkwamba now has his own web site, http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/. I hope he encourages many more like himself.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Piano, piano, pieno!
This is the title of a book I saw a few weeks ago in the Duluth Public Library. At first I thought it was a typo and the book was about music. Then I realized what it really meant. Slow, slow, full! It was a book about the slow food movement. Eat slowly, enjoy what you eat, and be truly satisfied.
Today has been a mix of troppo di fare and basta cosí. Too much to do and it suffices so.
We set out for our cabin in our newly purchased used SUV. As soon as we backed out of the garage I noticed two warning lights on. Panic! These lights weren't on when we brought the vehicle home from the dealer. Somebody else was coming down the alley and so we went to the side street and pulled over.
My wife figured out that one light meant the rear door was open. I got out and closed it properly. The light went off but the other was still on. I figured out that it meant we had low tire pressure. Since we were going to stop to fill the tank, I'd check then.
When I pulled up to the air pump I noticed that the left front tire was really down. When I put the tire gauge to it, nothing registered. I filled it up to the appropriate pressure and checked the warning light. It was still on. I checked the other three tires and a couple needed a couple of pounds. I filled them but the warning light was still on!
I drove over to the gas pump and filled the tank. When I pulled away, the low tire warning light was off but now we had two warning lights that the stability gizmos were not working. Oh great! Do we have to call the dealer already? Oh, but we had gone over a muddy road construction area. Probably the vehicle didn't like the difference in traction among the wheels.
We drove up to our next stop, a lawn and garden store. I wanted to check on the price of a chipper that a friend had bought and was very satisfied with. I found that it was a quarter of the price I had expected and how long it would take to ship. I wasn't ready to buy it today, but I was also curious about a weed whip on wheels.
Surprise! They had three in stock and on sale. Well, how can any guy resist another guy toy? I whipped out my credit card and said I'll take it, plus a chain saw wheel for woody stuff.
We had just enough room in the SUV for it to fit in. Off we went to our cabin. Surprise again! All the warning lights were off!
But, I forgot the USB/FM transmitter for my iPod. We would have to settle for Minnesota Public Radio.
The next little problem was getting the cruise control to work properly. By the third stop sign I had it working the way I wanted. Surprise again! Despite what the manual implies, I can come to a complete stop and have it resume back to the previous speed.
The only blip for the rest of the trip was a straight-line speeder who passed us and then went ten miles per hour slower than I wanted through the curves by Pequaywan Inn.
We unloaded our vehicle just before lunch and wondered how the weather was going to be. There were only about five jobs I wanted to do outside. Do I play with my new toy or take on some other task?
After lunch it was iffy. There would be a misty rain, no rain, a fine-drop rain, and then… I opted for using the new weed whip that would work on wet grass. I won't bore you with the details of the joy and frustration of using it. Suffice to say, I got a lot of high grass and other growth cut over quite a bigger area than I expected.
Two sessions with the weed whip got me to the cocktail hour. I had a bottle of beer and then went for a walk. Oh, no! More work! Tomorrow I'll have to use the chain saw to clear trees that fell across the path. But it was still a delight, seeing our spruce that were growing taller, the large number of birch and red maple that were coming along, and just being out in the fresh, rain-washed air.
Back in the cabin for another beer before dinner. My wife prepared a dinner of barbecued pork, garlic potatoes, fresh beets, and home-made bread. And of course we had to drink some wine with it. And some more wine. It is amazing how easy it is to drink one half-glass after another. I was feeling very much piano, piano, and non pieno. There was still a little dessert my wife had bought at the coffee shop to go with our home-brewed coffee.
My gosh! Where did I get the energy to write all this? Maybe it was Wagner's gift to his wife Cosima on public radio, the Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vänska.
I do know I don't have much energy to practice my own singing and despite going slow, I won't have the patience for a slow internet connection. If this is posted on Friday night, I'll consider it a major achievement.
Basta cosí!
Today has been a mix of troppo di fare and basta cosí. Too much to do and it suffices so.
We set out for our cabin in our newly purchased used SUV. As soon as we backed out of the garage I noticed two warning lights on. Panic! These lights weren't on when we brought the vehicle home from the dealer. Somebody else was coming down the alley and so we went to the side street and pulled over.
My wife figured out that one light meant the rear door was open. I got out and closed it properly. The light went off but the other was still on. I figured out that it meant we had low tire pressure. Since we were going to stop to fill the tank, I'd check then.
When I pulled up to the air pump I noticed that the left front tire was really down. When I put the tire gauge to it, nothing registered. I filled it up to the appropriate pressure and checked the warning light. It was still on. I checked the other three tires and a couple needed a couple of pounds. I filled them but the warning light was still on!
I drove over to the gas pump and filled the tank. When I pulled away, the low tire warning light was off but now we had two warning lights that the stability gizmos were not working. Oh great! Do we have to call the dealer already? Oh, but we had gone over a muddy road construction area. Probably the vehicle didn't like the difference in traction among the wheels.
We drove up to our next stop, a lawn and garden store. I wanted to check on the price of a chipper that a friend had bought and was very satisfied with. I found that it was a quarter of the price I had expected and how long it would take to ship. I wasn't ready to buy it today, but I was also curious about a weed whip on wheels.
Surprise! They had three in stock and on sale. Well, how can any guy resist another guy toy? I whipped out my credit card and said I'll take it, plus a chain saw wheel for woody stuff.
We had just enough room in the SUV for it to fit in. Off we went to our cabin. Surprise again! All the warning lights were off!
But, I forgot the USB/FM transmitter for my iPod. We would have to settle for Minnesota Public Radio.
The next little problem was getting the cruise control to work properly. By the third stop sign I had it working the way I wanted. Surprise again! Despite what the manual implies, I can come to a complete stop and have it resume back to the previous speed.
The only blip for the rest of the trip was a straight-line speeder who passed us and then went ten miles per hour slower than I wanted through the curves by Pequaywan Inn.
We unloaded our vehicle just before lunch and wondered how the weather was going to be. There were only about five jobs I wanted to do outside. Do I play with my new toy or take on some other task?
After lunch it was iffy. There would be a misty rain, no rain, a fine-drop rain, and then… I opted for using the new weed whip that would work on wet grass. I won't bore you with the details of the joy and frustration of using it. Suffice to say, I got a lot of high grass and other growth cut over quite a bigger area than I expected.
Two sessions with the weed whip got me to the cocktail hour. I had a bottle of beer and then went for a walk. Oh, no! More work! Tomorrow I'll have to use the chain saw to clear trees that fell across the path. But it was still a delight, seeing our spruce that were growing taller, the large number of birch and red maple that were coming along, and just being out in the fresh, rain-washed air.
Back in the cabin for another beer before dinner. My wife prepared a dinner of barbecued pork, garlic potatoes, fresh beets, and home-made bread. And of course we had to drink some wine with it. And some more wine. It is amazing how easy it is to drink one half-glass after another. I was feeling very much piano, piano, and non pieno. There was still a little dessert my wife had bought at the coffee shop to go with our home-brewed coffee.
My gosh! Where did I get the energy to write all this? Maybe it was Wagner's gift to his wife Cosima on public radio, the Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vänska.
I do know I don't have much energy to practice my own singing and despite going slow, I won't have the patience for a slow internet connection. If this is posted on Friday night, I'll consider it a major achievement.
Basta cosí!
Thursday, October 01, 2009
U.S. wins even as it "loses"
The New York Times has an ironic picture of Chinese youth marching in a Beijing parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. See "China's Next Stage: Spreading the Wealth".
Are they wearing traditional Chinese festive dress? No. Are they wearing unisex Mao jackets and caps? No. They are wearing unisex jeans and T-shirts. The T-shirts say in big letters/symbols, "I (heart) China".
The U.S. may be losing the economic "war" but it certainly is winning the cultural "war" as American popular culture reaches into more and more places in the world.
Are they wearing traditional Chinese festive dress? No. Are they wearing unisex Mao jackets and caps? No. They are wearing unisex jeans and T-shirts. The T-shirts say in big letters/symbols, "I (heart) China".
The U.S. may be losing the economic "war" but it certainly is winning the cultural "war" as American popular culture reaches into more and more places in the world.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
There is hate and there is hate
Thomas Friedman wrote a good column on the dangerous level of divisiveness in this country - "Where Did 'We' Go?", New York Times, 2009-09-29.
He compares the situation in Israel before Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 with the situation in the United States now. He thinks the vitriol in much of the anti-Obama rhetoric is going to lead somebody to take extreme action.
He also thinks that the level of criticism leveled at all presidents since 1992 has made it difficult for them to govern. He postulates that George H. W. Bush was the last "legitimate" president.
I was going to add a comment about the need for a viable third party when there were 42 comments, but I had to be elsewhere. When I got back there were 201 comments and a note that "Comments are no longer being accepted." Now, nearly 8:30 in the evening, there are 393 comments!
I did read or skim the 201 comments. They ran from the very thoughtful to the very shallow and divisive. The worst were those that divided left and right with one being good and the other being bad, depending on the persuasion of the writer. I had less sympathy for many on the right because they didn't consider the degree of difference in criticism of presidents. There is a big difference between satirizing a president and creating lies about a president. There is a big difference between calling a president an idiot (aren't they all in one way or another?) and saying that president was not born where he was.
Interestingly, the critics on the right say that the "liberal media" don't criticize the president. Let's see, Steve Sack of the Star Tribune and Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury have drawn cartoons criticizing Obama.
He compares the situation in Israel before Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 with the situation in the United States now. He thinks the vitriol in much of the anti-Obama rhetoric is going to lead somebody to take extreme action.
He also thinks that the level of criticism leveled at all presidents since 1992 has made it difficult for them to govern. He postulates that George H. W. Bush was the last "legitimate" president.
I was going to add a comment about the need for a viable third party when there were 42 comments, but I had to be elsewhere. When I got back there were 201 comments and a note that "Comments are no longer being accepted." Now, nearly 8:30 in the evening, there are 393 comments!
I did read or skim the 201 comments. They ran from the very thoughtful to the very shallow and divisive. The worst were those that divided left and right with one being good and the other being bad, depending on the persuasion of the writer. I had less sympathy for many on the right because they didn't consider the degree of difference in criticism of presidents. There is a big difference between satirizing a president and creating lies about a president. There is a big difference between calling a president an idiot (aren't they all in one way or another?) and saying that president was not born where he was.
Interestingly, the critics on the right say that the "liberal media" don't criticize the president. Let's see, Steve Sack of the Star Tribune and Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury have drawn cartoons criticizing Obama.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The problem with "financial products"
Back in the mid 1960s, a member of our church invited us to breakfast with one of his business associates. His sole purpose was to sell us a "financial product" that they were selling. Just the name "product" raised red flags for me. A product is something you can touch.
Maybe the term "financial product" was created to give substance to services or financial documents that could be bought and sold.
Now it appears my caution of over forty years ago has shown itself to be extremely prudent. "Financial products" became more and more complicated, cut apart, resold in other arrangements, becoming more and more removed from the reality of the agreements that created them in the first place.
Bob's Bank knew Harry Homeowner and could vouch for him. Bob knew better than to lend money to Dan Deadbeat. However, Fred Fast didn't care about Dan's credit because he could sell the loan to Super Bank who would sell it to Mega Bank who would sell it to … None of these knew anything about Dan Deadbeat or that he had already missed four payments. They only had the word of the person or institution further down the sales chain.
And like the tulip bulbs with grossly inflated prices finally had no buyers, these "financial products" with grossly minimized risk suddenly had no buyers. Those who had sold their tulip bulbs and bought no more probably had their proceeds in golden guilders. I wonder where those who sold their "financial products" and bought no more have their proceeds.
I was going to write that at least one could touch the tulip bulbs, but I wouldn't be surprised that the only thing bought and sold was promise of delivery of certain kinds of tulip bulbs.
So, if someone offers to sell you a "financial product", thank them for the breakfast and go your own way.
Maybe the term "financial product" was created to give substance to services or financial documents that could be bought and sold.
Now it appears my caution of over forty years ago has shown itself to be extremely prudent. "Financial products" became more and more complicated, cut apart, resold in other arrangements, becoming more and more removed from the reality of the agreements that created them in the first place.
Bob's Bank knew Harry Homeowner and could vouch for him. Bob knew better than to lend money to Dan Deadbeat. However, Fred Fast didn't care about Dan's credit because he could sell the loan to Super Bank who would sell it to Mega Bank who would sell it to … None of these knew anything about Dan Deadbeat or that he had already missed four payments. They only had the word of the person or institution further down the sales chain.
And like the tulip bulbs with grossly inflated prices finally had no buyers, these "financial products" with grossly minimized risk suddenly had no buyers. Those who had sold their tulip bulbs and bought no more probably had their proceeds in golden guilders. I wonder where those who sold their "financial products" and bought no more have their proceeds.
I was going to write that at least one could touch the tulip bulbs, but I wouldn't be surprised that the only thing bought and sold was promise of delivery of certain kinds of tulip bulbs.
So, if someone offers to sell you a "financial product", thank them for the breakfast and go your own way.
Monday, September 28, 2009
There are sales people and there are sales people
I'm getting too stiff to crawl around in the back of a pickup with a topper and some of our yard equipment doesn't quite fit. So, I've been lusting after a cargo van to replace our truck.
A cargo van has a lower floor and thus a relative higher ceiling, plus a side access door. Problem is that new ones cost in the high 20s and used ones are as scarce as Stanley Steamers. Apparently many owners run them until they're useless.
Almost all of them come with a V-8, larger than we need, and only front-wheel drive. Both Chevrolet and Ford made smaller cargo vans but have discontinued them.
I talked to one sales representative and all he wanted to do was have me sign on the dotted line to commit to buy a cargo van that he didn't have in stock. Hey, I'd like to drive one first. Also he didn't seem to be interested in discussing any alternatives such as a minivan or an SUV, new or used. He seemed to be high-pressuring me as if his job depended on that particular sale.
So, I got on the good old Internet and found my own alternatives. I did find that the above dealer didn't have many alternatives. I found another dealer who had a couple of Chevrolet HHRs, so-called crossovers, with less than 38,000 miles for less than 14,000 dollars. I also found that the HHRs were rated about average by J.D. Powers. However, they seemed to have sufficient cargo space for us.
Unfortunately, they only had front-wheel drive and no trailer hitches. We would want a trailer to haul yard equipment from our house or cabin to the service shop.
The best news is that the sales person that sold us our truck thirteen years ago was now at that dealer. He had given us a better trade-in than any other dealer had offered. Plus he let us try a couple of vehicles. It was one of the most pleasant auto sales experiences we had had.
Today I called him and told him that we remembered him from thirteen years ago. Of course, he didn't remember us after how many other hundreds of customers. However, he was pleased and grateful that we had remembered him.
I told him what we were interested in and our range of choices. We set up a visit with him this afternoon.
We sat and chatted for a lot. We told stories, he told stories. We raised questions and observations about various cars; he responded with answers and his own observations. It was if we had all the time in the world.
He had the keys to a few cars on his desk. He brought an 2008 HHR with less than 38,000 miles on it around to the front and gave us the keys to it. The HHR is an "ugly" thing like the Chrysler PT Cruiser; in fact, both were designed by the same man.
The best thing about it was that the back seats folded down to provide a uniformly flat, impermeable surface. Just the thing for placing almost anything on, no matter how dirty or greasy. We drove it a couple of miles and were quite comfortable with it. However, it didn't have four-wheel or all-wheel drive and no trailer hitch.
We looked at a 2008 Saturn Vue. It had mileage in the high twenties, price in the high teens, and all-wheel drive. When we folded down the seats we found the surface was all cloth. What a mess we'll make of that. We didn't even drive it.
We next looked at a 2008 Chevy Trailblazer. It had mileage in the high thirties, price in the mid-teens, four-wheel drive, and a trailer hitch. It also had a cloth cargo surface. However, the cargo surface was larger than the other two. We took it out for a spin. It was responsive and comfortable. Although it had an on-the-floor automatic shift lever, the indicator was on the instrument panel. The HHR had it on the floor, a bit of a distraction.
We decided that the Trailblazer would suit our needs best and said we would take it.
The next step was evaluating our truck. The trade-in offer was $2500, better than what I had seen after filling out an online form.
We asked some more questions, told some more stories, and filled out some preliminary papers. As we are changing our insurance company tomorrow, we didn't want to close until tomorrow afternoon. The sales person said he was busy with some other things and asked if we could wait until Wednesday. We agreed.
Although the afternoon was a pleasant experience, I came home exhausted and wanted only to sit in front of the fireplace. It was as if a great weight of expectations and conflicting concerns had been lifted off my shoulders.
I do have to conclude with a small plug. If you have a conflicting automotive wish list and are uncertain about your choices, be sure to see Dean Melbostad at Luther Family Chevrolet in Duluth (actually Hermantown). No pressure, lots of answers.
A cargo van has a lower floor and thus a relative higher ceiling, plus a side access door. Problem is that new ones cost in the high 20s and used ones are as scarce as Stanley Steamers. Apparently many owners run them until they're useless.
Almost all of them come with a V-8, larger than we need, and only front-wheel drive. Both Chevrolet and Ford made smaller cargo vans but have discontinued them.
I talked to one sales representative and all he wanted to do was have me sign on the dotted line to commit to buy a cargo van that he didn't have in stock. Hey, I'd like to drive one first. Also he didn't seem to be interested in discussing any alternatives such as a minivan or an SUV, new or used. He seemed to be high-pressuring me as if his job depended on that particular sale.
So, I got on the good old Internet and found my own alternatives. I did find that the above dealer didn't have many alternatives. I found another dealer who had a couple of Chevrolet HHRs, so-called crossovers, with less than 38,000 miles for less than 14,000 dollars. I also found that the HHRs were rated about average by J.D. Powers. However, they seemed to have sufficient cargo space for us.
Unfortunately, they only had front-wheel drive and no trailer hitches. We would want a trailer to haul yard equipment from our house or cabin to the service shop.
The best news is that the sales person that sold us our truck thirteen years ago was now at that dealer. He had given us a better trade-in than any other dealer had offered. Plus he let us try a couple of vehicles. It was one of the most pleasant auto sales experiences we had had.
Today I called him and told him that we remembered him from thirteen years ago. Of course, he didn't remember us after how many other hundreds of customers. However, he was pleased and grateful that we had remembered him.
I told him what we were interested in and our range of choices. We set up a visit with him this afternoon.
We sat and chatted for a lot. We told stories, he told stories. We raised questions and observations about various cars; he responded with answers and his own observations. It was if we had all the time in the world.
He had the keys to a few cars on his desk. He brought an 2008 HHR with less than 38,000 miles on it around to the front and gave us the keys to it. The HHR is an "ugly" thing like the Chrysler PT Cruiser; in fact, both were designed by the same man.
The best thing about it was that the back seats folded down to provide a uniformly flat, impermeable surface. Just the thing for placing almost anything on, no matter how dirty or greasy. We drove it a couple of miles and were quite comfortable with it. However, it didn't have four-wheel or all-wheel drive and no trailer hitch.
We looked at a 2008 Saturn Vue. It had mileage in the high twenties, price in the high teens, and all-wheel drive. When we folded down the seats we found the surface was all cloth. What a mess we'll make of that. We didn't even drive it.
We next looked at a 2008 Chevy Trailblazer. It had mileage in the high thirties, price in the mid-teens, four-wheel drive, and a trailer hitch. It also had a cloth cargo surface. However, the cargo surface was larger than the other two. We took it out for a spin. It was responsive and comfortable. Although it had an on-the-floor automatic shift lever, the indicator was on the instrument panel. The HHR had it on the floor, a bit of a distraction.
We decided that the Trailblazer would suit our needs best and said we would take it.
The next step was evaluating our truck. The trade-in offer was $2500, better than what I had seen after filling out an online form.
We asked some more questions, told some more stories, and filled out some preliminary papers. As we are changing our insurance company tomorrow, we didn't want to close until tomorrow afternoon. The sales person said he was busy with some other things and asked if we could wait until Wednesday. We agreed.
Although the afternoon was a pleasant experience, I came home exhausted and wanted only to sit in front of the fireplace. It was as if a great weight of expectations and conflicting concerns had been lifted off my shoulders.
I do have to conclude with a small plug. If you have a conflicting automotive wish list and are uncertain about your choices, be sure to see Dean Melbostad at Luther Family Chevrolet in Duluth (actually Hermantown). No pressure, lots of answers.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
What does the acronym IKEA mean?
Jim Heffernan wrote a blog entry about problems assembling a table he bought at IKEA in the Twin Cities and plans to take it back.
He then wrote another entry on what the acronym IKEA means: I Kan't Envision Assembly!
This hit my curiosity nerve I went to the Swedish version of ikea.com but found nothing. I typed "Vad betyder IKEA" into Google ("What does IKEA mean") and got several hits. The most promising one was "IKEA specialarbete", apparently an unattributed school paper done in 1995.
IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. Ingvar Kamprad was the founder; he was born on the farm Elmtaryd in the village of Agunnaryd in Småland.
As a teenager he started out buying matchboxes for 1.5 öre and selling them for 5 öre, an öre being the smallest Swedish coin. He wanted to be as rich as Ivar Krueger, the match king. He moved up through various small items including seed packets, pens, and clocks. He was doing so well selling pens that ke decided he had better be incorporated and registered IKEA. His father had to sign for the incorporation because Ingvar was only 17!! This was in 1943.
In 1953 he bought a carpentry shop and converted it to a furniture store and by 1958 he had a warehouse.
The writer calls this a Swedish version of "The American Dream". In 1995 IKEA was worth four to five times the value of the Wallenberg fortune, the Wallenbergs being considered one of the richest families in Sweden. The IKEA fortune was created in only a generation.
IKEA franchises now span the globe; see http://www.ikea.com/ for a list of locations.
What's this about socialist Sweden?
BTW we and our adult children still have furniture that we bought in Sweden in the early 1970s.
He then wrote another entry on what the acronym IKEA means: I Kan't Envision Assembly!
This hit my curiosity nerve I went to the Swedish version of ikea.com but found nothing. I typed "Vad betyder IKEA" into Google ("What does IKEA mean") and got several hits. The most promising one was "IKEA specialarbete", apparently an unattributed school paper done in 1995.
IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. Ingvar Kamprad was the founder; he was born on the farm Elmtaryd in the village of Agunnaryd in Småland.
As a teenager he started out buying matchboxes for 1.5 öre and selling them for 5 öre, an öre being the smallest Swedish coin. He wanted to be as rich as Ivar Krueger, the match king. He moved up through various small items including seed packets, pens, and clocks. He was doing so well selling pens that ke decided he had better be incorporated and registered IKEA. His father had to sign for the incorporation because Ingvar was only 17!! This was in 1943.
In 1953 he bought a carpentry shop and converted it to a furniture store and by 1958 he had a warehouse.
The writer calls this a Swedish version of "The American Dream". In 1995 IKEA was worth four to five times the value of the Wallenberg fortune, the Wallenbergs being considered one of the richest families in Sweden. The IKEA fortune was created in only a generation.
IKEA franchises now span the globe; see http://www.ikea.com/ for a list of locations.
What's this about socialist Sweden?
BTW we and our adult children still have furniture that we bought in Sweden in the early 1970s.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
People come and go, the woods endures, Chapter 3
Somewhere we have a summary of the titles issued for our property since the first homestead, and so I can't give a complete history in that respect.
I do remember that the Kero family bought the property sometime in the 1920s or 1930s. Kero is a shorter version of the original Finnish name. They tried their hand at fox farming. We don't know if they succeeded, but we still haven't succeeded in pulling up all of the tangle of grass, chicken wire, and wood frames.
Eventually they moved to Michigan, presumably to work in the auto industry. Their daughter Nora Holm inherited the property and later sold it to us.
Once there was a co-operative grocery in the big clearing on the north side of Little Creek Road. Supposedly people would walk to it on the path that runs to the SSE from our cabin. We don't know if that was before or after the Keros occupancy. Now that clearing is the Rack Shack, a small cabin and garage owned by a group of hunters. They are a friendly bunch, but neither of us takes the time to walk across the road and visit.
After the Keros moved the property was rented several times. I met one woman who said her first child was born in the house on the property in the same year I was born. A couple who we later met rented it in the seventies. Somebody else rented it after them. At the time our friends rented it, there was no well and they had to haul water in. I would guess that they got their water from the Rack Shack well; it is excellent water.
The satellite picture was taken in the morning; the shadows are the west of many objects. So, some details get lost, like exactly where is our drive to the road. One feature that does show is the path to west of the northernmost large field. Along much of that segment, Ernie Nelmark planted red pines decades ago. Ernie lived in a cabin to the west of where the Rack Shack is. Those red pines are now dozens of feet tall and a foot or more in diameter.
Kevin Hellman used that same path as a logging road twenty or so years ago. He widened and leveled it for his equipment and continued it into the Forest Service land. To level the road, Kevin dug "borrow holes" on each side. Most of these still remain; many covered by overgrowth. Kevin cut mostly aspen both on Nora Holm's property and Forest Service land. When we bought the property, the regenerated aspen was only 10-12 feet tall and less than an inch in diameter.
See http://magree.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-come-and-go-woods-endures.html and http://magree.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-come-and-go-woods-endures_23.html for the previous chapters.
I do remember that the Kero family bought the property sometime in the 1920s or 1930s. Kero is a shorter version of the original Finnish name. They tried their hand at fox farming. We don't know if they succeeded, but we still haven't succeeded in pulling up all of the tangle of grass, chicken wire, and wood frames.
Eventually they moved to Michigan, presumably to work in the auto industry. Their daughter Nora Holm inherited the property and later sold it to us.
Once there was a co-operative grocery in the big clearing on the north side of Little Creek Road. Supposedly people would walk to it on the path that runs to the SSE from our cabin. We don't know if that was before or after the Keros occupancy. Now that clearing is the Rack Shack, a small cabin and garage owned by a group of hunters. They are a friendly bunch, but neither of us takes the time to walk across the road and visit.
After the Keros moved the property was rented several times. I met one woman who said her first child was born in the house on the property in the same year I was born. A couple who we later met rented it in the seventies. Somebody else rented it after them. At the time our friends rented it, there was no well and they had to haul water in. I would guess that they got their water from the Rack Shack well; it is excellent water.
The satellite picture was taken in the morning; the shadows are the west of many objects. So, some details get lost, like exactly where is our drive to the road. One feature that does show is the path to west of the northernmost large field. Along much of that segment, Ernie Nelmark planted red pines decades ago. Ernie lived in a cabin to the west of where the Rack Shack is. Those red pines are now dozens of feet tall and a foot or more in diameter.
Kevin Hellman used that same path as a logging road twenty or so years ago. He widened and leveled it for his equipment and continued it into the Forest Service land. To level the road, Kevin dug "borrow holes" on each side. Most of these still remain; many covered by overgrowth. Kevin cut mostly aspen both on Nora Holm's property and Forest Service land. When we bought the property, the regenerated aspen was only 10-12 feet tall and less than an inch in diameter.
See http://magree.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-come-and-go-woods-endures.html and http://magree.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-come-and-go-woods-endures_23.html for the previous chapters.
Political parties and never-never land
In the United States we have a party that promises a future that will never be and a party that promises a past that never was.
How can we expect so-called bipartisanship of such polar unreasonableness?
How can we expect so-called bipartisanship of such polar unreasonableness?
People come and go correction
I had assumed that people would see a satellite view of Brimson in my previous post. I should have included the following:
Before you go any further, make sure you have a satellite view by clicking on the button in the upper right hand corner of the map.
I have corrected that post and will delete this post after a few days.
Before you go any further, make sure you have a satellite view by clicking on the button in the upper right hand corner of the map.
I have corrected that post and will delete this post after a few days.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
People come and go, the woods endures, Chapter 2
For this chapter, you might want to see a satellite view of our Brimson property. Go to Google Maps and enter
Little Creek Rd, Brimson, MN
You'll see a little red balloon and a big white balloon for Giving Ground Farm, a herbal products company run by a friend of ours.
Before you go any further, make sure you have a satellite view by clicking on the button in the upper right hand corner of the map.
Zoom in towards the red balloon until you can see the roads. Giving Ground Farm's balloon is just east of a bend in the road. If you move west to where the road heads directly west again, that is just past the east boundary of our property. The middle of the road is our northern boundary; the next intersection is our northwest corner. The clearcut to the South is Forest Service land and is our approximate southern boundary.
In the upper middle there are three clearings. The northernmost is where we built our cabin; the easternmost is where the old house and well were, and the westernmost is what we call "Jan's field".
The little line going southwest is what we call our Park Path; the line going SSE we call our Raspberry Path; and the line wiggling between them just north of the clear cut is our Path of Least Resistance. The first two existed before we bought the place and I'll write about them another day.
To the east is a very dark area; this is a stand of black spruce which is only partly on our property. I don't know much about the dark line running through it other than it once was wide enough to drive through, but that would have been decades ago.
The darker area to the west of the cabin are mostly balsam fir; the less dark areas to the south are mostly aspen with some birch, willow, and way too much alder. The lighter area to the east of the cabin once had lots of aspen but they were blown down in the mid 90s.
I had cut loops to the east and the west of the main loop, but I haven't kept them open for three years or more.
For some ground views of our place in the woods, see my Brimson pictures on Flickr.
Next time I'll get back to the history of our place.
For Chapter 1, see
http://magree.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-come-and-go-woods-endures.html
Little Creek Rd, Brimson, MN
You'll see a little red balloon and a big white balloon for Giving Ground Farm, a herbal products company run by a friend of ours.
Before you go any further, make sure you have a satellite view by clicking on the button in the upper right hand corner of the map.
Zoom in towards the red balloon until you can see the roads. Giving Ground Farm's balloon is just east of a bend in the road. If you move west to where the road heads directly west again, that is just past the east boundary of our property. The middle of the road is our northern boundary; the next intersection is our northwest corner. The clearcut to the South is Forest Service land and is our approximate southern boundary.
In the upper middle there are three clearings. The northernmost is where we built our cabin; the easternmost is where the old house and well were, and the westernmost is what we call "Jan's field".
The little line going southwest is what we call our Park Path; the line going SSE we call our Raspberry Path; and the line wiggling between them just north of the clear cut is our Path of Least Resistance. The first two existed before we bought the place and I'll write about them another day.
To the east is a very dark area; this is a stand of black spruce which is only partly on our property. I don't know much about the dark line running through it other than it once was wide enough to drive through, but that would have been decades ago.
The darker area to the west of the cabin are mostly balsam fir; the less dark areas to the south are mostly aspen with some birch, willow, and way too much alder. The lighter area to the east of the cabin once had lots of aspen but they were blown down in the mid 90s.
I had cut loops to the east and the west of the main loop, but I haven't kept them open for three years or more.
For some ground views of our place in the woods, see my Brimson pictures on Flickr.
Next time I'll get back to the history of our place.
For Chapter 1, see
http://magree.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-come-and-go-woods-endures.html
The importance of creativity in education
When I started working for Univac in the 1960s, I met a few musicians who had become computer programmers. I think I thought of it as the ability to manipulate symbols.
Decades later, I codified it as mathematics is the science of relationships and music is the art of relationships.
I was delighted to read the following in Ed Raymond's column in the Reader Weekly last week:
"Some day we will even find out why musicians make the best mathematicians."
He was decrying how arts and music have been cut from too many schools because of budget cuts. If you missed his column in the Reader Weekly, you can find it online in the High Plains Reader, "Cherry Wood and the Golden Gopher Jockstrap".
Decades later, I codified it as mathematics is the science of relationships and music is the art of relationships.
I was delighted to read the following in Ed Raymond's column in the Reader Weekly last week:
"Some day we will even find out why musicians make the best mathematicians."
He was decrying how arts and music have been cut from too many schools because of budget cuts. If you missed his column in the Reader Weekly, you can find it online in the High Plains Reader, "Cherry Wood and the Golden Gopher Jockstrap".
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
People come and go, the woods endures
Sunday as I hauled brush from where I had cut it at the side of a trail to where I would chip it, I reflected on how transitory my work was. I would take two cartloads and then rest by reading a book. Two more cartloads, rest with a book.
About five years ago it wasn't this way. Sure, I'd work about an hour then read an hour, but that was to enjoy our cabin and its surroundings rather than work, work, work.
Once my skin allergy got worse, I went to our cabin less and less and of course did less and less. All the trails that I had kept open or cut grew over. My little loading dock that I used as a work bench fell apart. I haven't changed the oil on the chipper for two years or more; it is black, black, black. It was a big deal to cut the grass and clear some fallen trees this year on our main loop.
My allergy is not so bad, maybe it was a high dose of zinc tablets, but I'm starting to catch up a bit. But, oh there is still so much to do. And soon it will be wood cutting season and I haven't even split all of the wood I cut last year.
In this context, I thought of all the people who came before me who changed the woods and then the woods hid much of their work.
Sometime in the 19th century I'm sure that loggers came through and cut the great white pines. The only untouched stand I know of is "The Pinery" somewhere off Lake County 2, probably a half hour east and north of us. It has a few trees that were growing in George Washington's time.
We are now left with mostly balsam and aspen, lots of alder, some birch and red maple, a very few sugar maples, and a large variety of other shrubs and small trees.
In the first decade of the twentieth century a man named Bond homesteaded what is now our 80 acres. He probably cleared some portion of the land for farming. Maybe he built the rock wall that is now covered with brush and left some of the fence wire that we constantly pull up. Probably he dug the well that has now collapsed and has a large balsam growing at the side of hole. I don't know if he or somebody later built the house that we found in decrepit condition.
To be continued.
About five years ago it wasn't this way. Sure, I'd work about an hour then read an hour, but that was to enjoy our cabin and its surroundings rather than work, work, work.
Once my skin allergy got worse, I went to our cabin less and less and of course did less and less. All the trails that I had kept open or cut grew over. My little loading dock that I used as a work bench fell apart. I haven't changed the oil on the chipper for two years or more; it is black, black, black. It was a big deal to cut the grass and clear some fallen trees this year on our main loop.
My allergy is not so bad, maybe it was a high dose of zinc tablets, but I'm starting to catch up a bit. But, oh there is still so much to do. And soon it will be wood cutting season and I haven't even split all of the wood I cut last year.
In this context, I thought of all the people who came before me who changed the woods and then the woods hid much of their work.
Sometime in the 19th century I'm sure that loggers came through and cut the great white pines. The only untouched stand I know of is "The Pinery" somewhere off Lake County 2, probably a half hour east and north of us. It has a few trees that were growing in George Washington's time.
We are now left with mostly balsam and aspen, lots of alder, some birch and red maple, a very few sugar maples, and a large variety of other shrubs and small trees.
In the first decade of the twentieth century a man named Bond homesteaded what is now our 80 acres. He probably cleared some portion of the land for farming. Maybe he built the rock wall that is now covered with brush and left some of the fence wire that we constantly pull up. Probably he dug the well that has now collapsed and has a large balsam growing at the side of hole. I don't know if he or somebody later built the house that we found in decrepit condition.
To be continued.
Some people get hyperbolic about hyperbolic humor
My wife was on the phone with our daughter and mentioned her wisdom teeth surgery tomorrow. I blurted out, "She's going to lose what little brains she has."
My wife laughed and repeated it. She knew I didn't mean it because she knows I know it's not true. In fact, in some ways she's "smarter" than I am, and in other ways I'm "smarter" than she is. Vive la difference!
Unfortunately, there are people who take way too much way too seriously. I remember in graduate school when three of us who worked in the computer lab were discussing something or other with the assistant director about access to each other's desk. I remarked that one fellow kept his desk locked. I blurted out as a joke, "I don't know why he locks his desk, none of his programs work."
Later on, he berated me about insulting him in front of our boss. He just couldn't see that it was hyperbole about his locking his desk. It took me decades later to realize that I should have asked him, "You mean your programs really don't work?"
My wife laughed and repeated it. She knew I didn't mean it because she knows I know it's not true. In fact, in some ways she's "smarter" than I am, and in other ways I'm "smarter" than she is. Vive la difference!
Unfortunately, there are people who take way too much way too seriously. I remember in graduate school when three of us who worked in the computer lab were discussing something or other with the assistant director about access to each other's desk. I remarked that one fellow kept his desk locked. I blurted out as a joke, "I don't know why he locks his desk, none of his programs work."
Later on, he berated me about insulting him in front of our boss. He just couldn't see that it was hyperbole about his locking his desk. It took me decades later to realize that I should have asked him, "You mean your programs really don't work?"
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Plural humor
I've long mused that the only languages that I know that add an 's' to indicate a plural noun are English, French, and Spanish. Other languages that I've encountered use other final sounds or inflection. Inflection is the changing of a vowel sound, like one alumnus or many alumni.
English however uses inflection also. Is this a holdover from its Germanic origin?
For example, we have goose and geese, mouse and mice. Does this last mean that the plural of spouse is spice? When I mentioned this to my wife, I added I really think the plural of spouse is trouble.
English however uses inflection also. Is this a holdover from its Germanic origin?
For example, we have goose and geese, mouse and mice. Does this last mean that the plural of spouse is spice? When I mentioned this to my wife, I added I really think the plural of spouse is trouble.
Shouting past each other
Last Friday I read a post on Huffington Post titled:
"Tea Party" Leader Melts Down On CNN: Obama Is An "Indonesian Muslim Turned Welfare Thug".
I also watched the accompanying video snippet.
The text implies that "Tea Party" leader Mark Williams misrepresented himself by denouncing those who carry "blatantly racist signs" on one hand and by calling Obama "an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug…" on the other Williams justified his name calling with "He's certainly acting like it. Until he embraces the whole country what else can I conclude."
As distasteful and off-the-wall as Williams remarks are, I don't think he had a melt down or misrepresented himself.
About the only sensible statement was by panel member David Gergen, advisor to Reagan, Ford, and George H.W. Bush. Something like people are just shouting past one another.
"Tea Party" Leader Melts Down On CNN: Obama Is An "Indonesian Muslim Turned Welfare Thug".
I also watched the accompanying video snippet.
The text implies that "Tea Party" leader Mark Williams misrepresented himself by denouncing those who carry "blatantly racist signs" on one hand and by calling Obama "an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug…" on the other Williams justified his name calling with "He's certainly acting like it. Until he embraces the whole country what else can I conclude."
As distasteful and off-the-wall as Williams remarks are, I don't think he had a melt down or misrepresented himself.
About the only sensible statement was by panel member David Gergen, advisor to Reagan, Ford, and George H.W. Bush. Something like people are just shouting past one another.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
A reasonable conservative speaks out
Today's Star Tribune had an op-ed piece titled "My fellow conservatives: Can we think?" written by Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News. It was originally published 2009-09-11 as "Zombie conservatives at the schoolhouse door". If you read the original, be sure to read some of the thoughtful comments that follow.
Dreher is really not happy about the words and actions of many who claim to be conservatives. He laments that thoughtful conservatives have no place to go. I suggest that people who think as he does should start shopping the various moderate parties. As one said who was in on the ground floor of a new party said, "As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew."
Dreher is really not happy about the words and actions of many who claim to be conservatives. He laments that thoughtful conservatives have no place to go. I suggest that people who think as he does should start shopping the various moderate parties. As one said who was in on the ground floor of a new party said, "As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew."
True patriots celebrate today more than any other day
Did you know today is Constitution Day? On this day 222 years ago, 12 state delegations approved the Constitution of the United States.
Unfortunately more people give respect to the flag than the Constitution. Presidents of both parties have given speeches justifying their usurpation of power against a backdrop of flags.
For one site respecting the Constitution, see http://www.constitutionday.cc/.
See also http://www.constitutionfacts.com/content/funZone/files/Recent_Visitors.pdf for a list of countries from which people have visited this site.
Unfortunately more people give respect to the flag than the Constitution. Presidents of both parties have given speeches justifying their usurpation of power against a backdrop of flags.
For one site respecting the Constitution, see http://www.constitutionday.cc/.
See also http://www.constitutionfacts.com/content/funZone/files/Recent_Visitors.pdf for a list of countries from which people have visited this site.
Seeking healthcare around the world
Abigail Zuger, M.D., wrote an interesting review of "The Healing of America" by T. R. Reid. He had a chronic shoulder problem for which he sought medical advice around the world. The advice ranged from thousands of dollars for shoulder replacement in the U.S., outright refusal in Britain because it was not serious enough, and relief in India for $42.85 out of pocket per night.
The book is on order at the Duluth Public Library and already has four reserves.
The book is on order at the Duluth Public Library and already has four reserves.
ACORN and other nuts
In the age of attack politics, if you want some balance you have to look deeper into many allegations. Two actors have posted on YouTube videos purportedly showing how corrupt ACORN employees are. They have succeeded in getting otherwise thoughtful people to jump on a bandwagon cutting all government ties to ACORN.
What is not highlighted or even mentioned in many news stories is that the pair had to spend months visiting ACORN offices in several cities before they found people who behaved as they wanted them to behave.
"In a statement over the weekend, Bertha Lewis, the chief organizer for Acorn, said the bogus prostitute and pimp had spent months visiting numerous Acorn offices, including those in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia, before getting the responses they were looking for." - "Conservatives Draw Blood From Acorn", Scott Shane, New York Times, 2009-09-15
What I would like to know is why Republican politicians aren't cutting their ties to the Republican Party because some Republican politicians had extramarital affairs. What I would like to know is why politicians who are Catholic aren't cutting their ties to the Catholic Church because some Catholic priests are pedophiles.
Actually I know why. There are two reasons. First, these two organizations are favored organizations; in general, they can do no wrong in the eyes of their members. Second, most people recognize that the actions of a few don't reflect on the many in the organization or even the organization itself.
However, in the age of attack politics, a disfavored organization must be doing something wrong, no matter how much good it may be doing. In the age of attack politics, when something wrong is found, no matter how few are doing wrong, then the whole organization is "proven" to be corrupt.
What is not highlighted or even mentioned in many news stories is that the pair had to spend months visiting ACORN offices in several cities before they found people who behaved as they wanted them to behave.
"In a statement over the weekend, Bertha Lewis, the chief organizer for Acorn, said the bogus prostitute and pimp had spent months visiting numerous Acorn offices, including those in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia, before getting the responses they were looking for." - "Conservatives Draw Blood From Acorn", Scott Shane, New York Times, 2009-09-15
What I would like to know is why Republican politicians aren't cutting their ties to the Republican Party because some Republican politicians had extramarital affairs. What I would like to know is why politicians who are Catholic aren't cutting their ties to the Catholic Church because some Catholic priests are pedophiles.
Actually I know why. There are two reasons. First, these two organizations are favored organizations; in general, they can do no wrong in the eyes of their members. Second, most people recognize that the actions of a few don't reflect on the many in the organization or even the organization itself.
However, in the age of attack politics, a disfavored organization must be doing something wrong, no matter how much good it may be doing. In the age of attack politics, when something wrong is found, no matter how few are doing wrong, then the whole organization is "proven" to be corrupt.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
More corporate inefficiencies
Yesterday's blog on bureaucracy, "Government has no corner on bureaucracy", was getting rather long, and so I stopped before I thought of too many more. Here are three of those.
Very early on, before downsizing became a big buzzword, I counted 21 levels of management above me - supervisor, x manager, manager of a, y group manager, group manager of b, z director, director of c, and so on. If every manager had five people reporting to him, then they could organize the whole world and beyond.
At one location it was a standing joke that if you wanted to mail something outside the building you should take it to the public mail box outside. It would get there at least a day faster than if it went through the company mail room.
Years later in another location an accountant wondered why so many companies leasing equipment weren't making payments. He discovered that our company wasn't sending out invoices.
Very early on, before downsizing became a big buzzword, I counted 21 levels of management above me - supervisor, x manager, manager of a, y group manager, group manager of b, z director, director of c, and so on. If every manager had five people reporting to him, then they could organize the whole world and beyond.
At one location it was a standing joke that if you wanted to mail something outside the building you should take it to the public mail box outside. It would get there at least a day faster than if it went through the company mail room.
Years later in another location an accountant wondered why so many companies leasing equipment weren't making payments. He discovered that our company wasn't sending out invoices.
No spam!!
Yesterday I had not a single piece of spam to my main mail account. Unbelievable! Maybe word got out that I report bank spoofs to the banks and to the FTC. Maybe my name has been taken off the spammers' lists.
But like one cold day doesn't disprove global warming, one spam-free day doesn't prove spam has disappeared. As of this posting I had received one spam today.
But like one cold day doesn't disprove global warming, one spam-free day doesn't prove spam has disappeared. As of this posting I had received one spam today.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Government has no corner on bureaucracy
I ordered some ink cartridges from Hewlett-Packard and selected 5-7 business days for shipping. Here is the FedEx tracking log for the package.
Since this is ground delivery, for Sep 8 to Sep 11 the periods at each stop and the time between stops are to be expected. The package waits for the next truck to go from one distribution center to another and it takes time to drive from one center to the next.
The mystery is why the package took three and a half days to go the 150 miles between Brooklyn Park and Duluth. Part is that the package was put in a truck Brooklyn Park on Friday night. Did the truck stay in Brooklyn Park until Monday? Did the truck arrive in Duluth late Friday and then was parked without unloading? Where was it parked? At a FedEx or a USPS facility? In either case, why is the next login for the package at 4:11 Tuesday morning? Is that when it arrived at the Post Office, or when somebody in the Post Office got around to logging it into FedEx's system?
Whatever the case, the last stage, from the Post Office to our door was done as fast as possible. It was left at our door around 9:00 this morning, the time we usually get our mail.
Now some will jump on the Friday-Tuesday delay as an example of government inefficiency. Others will say the Tuesday morning arrival and delivery shows how efficient the government can be. We just don't know the full situation. What we can say is that the whole chain is an example of public-private co-operation.
It's a toss-up on who is more efficient on interstate and intercity delivery – the Post Office or the package companies. However, the Post Office is more efficient with its house by house delivery over the package companies block by block delivery.
We have also had a recent situation that would have the believers that government is inefficient feeling vindicated. We had some mandatory sewer work done that cost us more than we would have liked to have spent. After we had paid our bill to the contractor, a grant was made to the city to reimburse home-owners for a part of the cost.
We made a beeline to the Public Works department and left all the papers we thought would be relevant. Nothing happened. We called the Public Works and were told it would checked on. Somebody came to our house to get signatures on some papers we thought we had filed and about some other possible loose ends. No check. My wife called again and was told it should have been mailed. No check. I called today and was told that it was found in the office and we should have it within a week.
Given that there are several steps that are required to process payment in any large organization, it easy to see how something can get stacked up on somebody's desk and even put in a wrong pile. See "One of the many hidden costs of health care" http://magree.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-of-many-hidden-costs-of-healthcare.html on how long it takes to bill me for a non-covered expense.
However, unnecessary steps or misdirected activities are not a monopoly of government organizations. I've seen many in large corporations. I was working in a regional headquarters for Univac in Rome, when a call came on behalf of the president of the company that somebody should go to Switzerland to see the executives of a customer; there apparently was some serious problem that needed immediate attention.
When the high-level manager arrived at the customer site, he was asked why he was there. He replied that the president of our company had said there was a problem. They pondered a bit and said that they had mentioned the problem to the president at a conference some months ago. The problem had long since been resolved!!
Another high-level manager loved to tell about the executive request he received while visiting a customer in South Africa; "While you're in the neighborhood, would you go to Australia?"
Since this is ground delivery, for Sep 8 to Sep 11 the periods at each stop and the time between stops are to be expected. The package waits for the next truck to go from one distribution center to another and it takes time to drive from one center to the next.
The mystery is why the package took three and a half days to go the 150 miles between Brooklyn Park and Duluth. Part is that the package was put in a truck Brooklyn Park on Friday night. Did the truck stay in Brooklyn Park until Monday? Did the truck arrive in Duluth late Friday and then was parked without unloading? Where was it parked? At a FedEx or a USPS facility? In either case, why is the next login for the package at 4:11 Tuesday morning? Is that when it arrived at the Post Office, or when somebody in the Post Office got around to logging it into FedEx's system?
Whatever the case, the last stage, from the Post Office to our door was done as fast as possible. It was left at our door around 9:00 this morning, the time we usually get our mail.
Now some will jump on the Friday-Tuesday delay as an example of government inefficiency. Others will say the Tuesday morning arrival and delivery shows how efficient the government can be. We just don't know the full situation. What we can say is that the whole chain is an example of public-private co-operation.
It's a toss-up on who is more efficient on interstate and intercity delivery – the Post Office or the package companies. However, the Post Office is more efficient with its house by house delivery over the package companies block by block delivery.
We have also had a recent situation that would have the believers that government is inefficient feeling vindicated. We had some mandatory sewer work done that cost us more than we would have liked to have spent. After we had paid our bill to the contractor, a grant was made to the city to reimburse home-owners for a part of the cost.
We made a beeline to the Public Works department and left all the papers we thought would be relevant. Nothing happened. We called the Public Works and were told it would checked on. Somebody came to our house to get signatures on some papers we thought we had filed and about some other possible loose ends. No check. My wife called again and was told it should have been mailed. No check. I called today and was told that it was found in the office and we should have it within a week.
Given that there are several steps that are required to process payment in any large organization, it easy to see how something can get stacked up on somebody's desk and even put in a wrong pile. See "One of the many hidden costs of health care" http://magree.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-of-many-hidden-costs-of-healthcare.html on how long it takes to bill me for a non-covered expense.
However, unnecessary steps or misdirected activities are not a monopoly of government organizations. I've seen many in large corporations. I was working in a regional headquarters for Univac in Rome, when a call came on behalf of the president of the company that somebody should go to Switzerland to see the executives of a customer; there apparently was some serious problem that needed immediate attention.
When the high-level manager arrived at the customer site, he was asked why he was there. He replied that the president of our company had said there was a problem. They pondered a bit and said that they had mentioned the problem to the president at a conference some months ago. The problem had long since been resolved!!
Another high-level manager loved to tell about the executive request he received while visiting a customer in South Africa; "While you're in the neighborhood, would you go to Australia?"
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Where did that anti-virus ad come from?
Yesterday I was reading the New York Times online and went to a commentary entitled "Democracy 2.0" but instead got a window that said I had a virus on my computer and should get a certain anti-virus software. I couldn't cancel the window; I couldn't get any other window, and I couldn't quit my browser. So, I just rebooted.
When I tried "Democracy 2.0" again everything worked fine.
I didn't think I had a virus and sent feedback to the New York Times.
Today, cnet.news had an article, "Rogue ad hits New York Times site". It described everything I encountered yesterday.
When I tried "Democracy 2.0" again everything worked fine.
I didn't think I had a virus and sent feedback to the New York Times.
Today, cnet.news had an article, "Rogue ad hits New York Times site". It described everything I encountered yesterday.
Some tortoises have been left out
This weekend I got an inkling how bad things have gotten on the Internet for those out of reach of broadband. See "The tortoise and the hare of the Internet".
One of our Brimson circle of friends has been hospitalized for chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. His wife has set up a Caring Bridge site to keep family and friends up-to-date on his progress.
Although I was able to access their site twice from our cabin, others in the area were not so lucky. One had a time-out before the pages opened up, and another gave up before the pages completed.
Brimson is not exactly an economic powerhouse, but it is easy to understand why many across the nation are calling for rural broadband. Many of these people are working from their homes and doing more than logging or raising cabbages. They may be telecommuters or they may be running their own businesses. I assume they can become quite concerned about getting a report done or keeping their customers' orders.
Better rural service has already been provided in other countries, often with the help of U.S. corporations. A farming community in northern Iceland has, of April 2009, access to 4 mbps always-on wireless Internet access for about $70/month. The community consists of about 200 farms in an area about 25 miles across. See "Wireless Mesh Delivers Ultra-Fast Broadband to Underserved Areas in Iceland".
One of our Brimson circle of friends has been hospitalized for chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. His wife has set up a Caring Bridge site to keep family and friends up-to-date on his progress.
Although I was able to access their site twice from our cabin, others in the area were not so lucky. One had a time-out before the pages opened up, and another gave up before the pages completed.
Brimson is not exactly an economic powerhouse, but it is easy to understand why many across the nation are calling for rural broadband. Many of these people are working from their homes and doing more than logging or raising cabbages. They may be telecommuters or they may be running their own businesses. I assume they can become quite concerned about getting a report done or keeping their customers' orders.
Better rural service has already been provided in other countries, often with the help of U.S. corporations. A farming community in northern Iceland has, of April 2009, access to 4 mbps always-on wireless Internet access for about $70/month. The community consists of about 200 farms in an area about 25 miles across. See "Wireless Mesh Delivers Ultra-Fast Broadband to Underserved Areas in Iceland".
A loose nut looking for loose nuts
I spent part of Friday and Saturday cutting brush and piling it by our chipper-shredder, a venerable 5-hp machine about 20 years old.
Yesterday I started chipping the brush and almost immediately had a jam. Take off chute, pull and pull on jammed piece, it just won't budge. I went to get another tool and tripped over the box holding the nuts and washers. The nuts and washers disappeared into a thick layer of chips, grass, and twigs.
OK, pull out my magnetic wand that I use to take off and put on a washer-lock washer-nut group that is rather difficult to reach next to a hot engine. I wave it around and nothing comes up.
I have another magnet on the stick about the size of a hockey puck. I wave it around and click - a washer. I continue and click, click, and click. Hey, I have two thirds of what I need. Then nothing more comes up.
I look in the tool shed for some of these nuts and washers. Nada! I guess they are all in Duluth.
I go back to the chipper-shredder and start pulling up twigs. After about four handfuls I see the last nut and washer! Right where I had been squatting before.
I work out the jammed twigs with the pliers I had gotten up for, put the chute back on, and crank the chipper-shredder up. I'll save you the agony of reading how many pulls starting took, but off it went.
I stuffed and stuffed small branches into the maw. Poof, the chips came shooting out the chute. The pile gets smaller and smaller; my back gets stiffer and stiffer. I tell myself to continue until the chipper-shredder runs out of gas. I chip all the green stuff and begin on that left over from winter. Stiffer and stiffer, when will this thing stop?
Then I throw in a piece that I know will stop the machine, hoping it wouldn't stop the machine. Or maybe hoping it would stop the machine. It stopped the machine. Hooray! Straighten my back with much creaking and groaning. Leave the jam to another weekend. I'm going to sit under a tree with a book.
Yesterday I started chipping the brush and almost immediately had a jam. Take off chute, pull and pull on jammed piece, it just won't budge. I went to get another tool and tripped over the box holding the nuts and washers. The nuts and washers disappeared into a thick layer of chips, grass, and twigs.
OK, pull out my magnetic wand that I use to take off and put on a washer-lock washer-nut group that is rather difficult to reach next to a hot engine. I wave it around and nothing comes up.
I have another magnet on the stick about the size of a hockey puck. I wave it around and click - a washer. I continue and click, click, and click. Hey, I have two thirds of what I need. Then nothing more comes up.
I look in the tool shed for some of these nuts and washers. Nada! I guess they are all in Duluth.
I go back to the chipper-shredder and start pulling up twigs. After about four handfuls I see the last nut and washer! Right where I had been squatting before.
I work out the jammed twigs with the pliers I had gotten up for, put the chute back on, and crank the chipper-shredder up. I'll save you the agony of reading how many pulls starting took, but off it went.
I stuffed and stuffed small branches into the maw. Poof, the chips came shooting out the chute. The pile gets smaller and smaller; my back gets stiffer and stiffer. I tell myself to continue until the chipper-shredder runs out of gas. I chip all the green stuff and begin on that left over from winter. Stiffer and stiffer, when will this thing stop?
Then I throw in a piece that I know will stop the machine, hoping it wouldn't stop the machine. Or maybe hoping it would stop the machine. It stopped the machine. Hooray! Straighten my back with much creaking and groaning. Leave the jam to another weekend. I'm going to sit under a tree with a book.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Which weather report to believe
As we were considering going to our cabin this weekend, I noted the conflicting weather reports. I look at three different sources: Accu-weather through a widget on my computer, Yahoo! on my iPod, and Fox News in the Duluth News Tribune.
Early in the week, one had sunny weather every day through Sunday, and another had rain every day through Sunday. The high temperatures were in the mid 70s for one and the high 60s for the other. Later in the week one had rain on Friday, the day we were leaving and sunny on Saturday, the day we were returning; the other had the weather reversed. They still had the same variance in temperature.
We drove to Brimson on Friday assuming we would have some nice weather and some not so nice weather. We had great weather both days. We had a bit of fog this morning, haze in the trees, and partly cloudy or cloudy both days. Partly cloudy was often very much that; lots of sun.
Now these are vaunted free-enterprise companies giving contradictory reports, not the "government weatherman" who people often blame for incorrect reports. One brief comment on an MPR weather report gave me an understanding for the confusion.
The report mentioned that a system was moving across the state at some given slow speed. From what little I know about weather, I assume that whatever the speed, it will not be steady. So, different forecasters will make different assumptions about when a system will arrive over an area. And of course, many systems are not large enough to cover an entire area. Not quite the comic book rain following in half-drops on the fence, but one can often see a storm one way and blue sky the other. See "It all depends on your point of view".
Early in the week, one had sunny weather every day through Sunday, and another had rain every day through Sunday. The high temperatures were in the mid 70s for one and the high 60s for the other. Later in the week one had rain on Friday, the day we were leaving and sunny on Saturday, the day we were returning; the other had the weather reversed. They still had the same variance in temperature.
We drove to Brimson on Friday assuming we would have some nice weather and some not so nice weather. We had great weather both days. We had a bit of fog this morning, haze in the trees, and partly cloudy or cloudy both days. Partly cloudy was often very much that; lots of sun.
Now these are vaunted free-enterprise companies giving contradictory reports, not the "government weatherman" who people often blame for incorrect reports. One brief comment on an MPR weather report gave me an understanding for the confusion.
The report mentioned that a system was moving across the state at some given slow speed. From what little I know about weather, I assume that whatever the speed, it will not be steady. So, different forecasters will make different assumptions about when a system will arrive over an area. And of course, many systems are not large enough to cover an entire area. Not quite the comic book rain following in half-drops on the fence, but one can often see a storm one way and blue sky the other. See "It all depends on your point of view".
Friday, September 11, 2009
The center must defend against the politics of attack, attack, attack
After World War I and the Russian Revolution as shrill voices for one ideology or another were raised, William Butler Yeats wrote:
Things fall apart: the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Tom Ehrich quoted this in a column published in today's Star Tribune, a column on the bloviation of attack commentators. He explains bloviation as pompous and boastful oration. For example, Edward Everett's two-hour oration at Gettysburg, compared with Abraham Lincoln's two-minute speech.
Tom Ehrich is an Episcopal priest who writes for Religion News Service. You'll have to get the Sept. 11 Star Tribune to read his column. The Strib doesn't put columns online and the RNS charges for most of its articles.
Attack politics doesn't want compromise, only destruction of the "enemy". If a resolution of a problem benefits citizens will work to the opposition's favor, then no way will the attack politicians favor it. This is not governance, but rebellion and sedition. No wonder attack politicians want their supporters to carry guns to town hall meetings.
Things fall apart: the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Tom Ehrich quoted this in a column published in today's Star Tribune, a column on the bloviation of attack commentators. He explains bloviation as pompous and boastful oration. For example, Edward Everett's two-hour oration at Gettysburg, compared with Abraham Lincoln's two-minute speech.
Tom Ehrich is an Episcopal priest who writes for Religion News Service. You'll have to get the Sept. 11 Star Tribune to read his column. The Strib doesn't put columns online and the RNS charges for most of its articles.
Attack politics doesn't want compromise, only destruction of the "enemy". If a resolution of a problem benefits citizens will work to the opposition's favor, then no way will the attack politicians favor it. This is not governance, but rebellion and sedition. No wonder attack politicians want their supporters to carry guns to town hall meetings.
The tortoise and the hare of the Internet
As I sat by our campfire thinking about going in to get on the Internet, I contemplated the pokey speed I was going to have. Here at our cabin it is 24,000 kbps with rural dial-up. In Duluth we have 1.5 mbps DSL. That's 62.5 times as fast as in the woods.
BTW, not all our friends here have to put up with that. They live within two or three miles of the substation and can get DSL. I don't know what the rated speed is, but I would assume at least 256 kbps, more than 10 times what we get eight or so miles from the substation.
What boggles my mind is that Twin Cities businesses can get 100 mbps with Comcast cable. That is about 66 times as fast as we get in Duluth and over 4,000 times as fast as we get in the woods!
According to Magree's first law of computing, as these faster speeds become more widely available, web page designers will design for those speeds and faster. Access to many sites will become even more slow in Duluth, and it will become hopeless to do much more than email from the cabin.
BTW, it took over nine minutes to get to the page to post this entry!
BTW, not all our friends here have to put up with that. They live within two or three miles of the substation and can get DSL. I don't know what the rated speed is, but I would assume at least 256 kbps, more than 10 times what we get eight or so miles from the substation.
What boggles my mind is that Twin Cities businesses can get 100 mbps with Comcast cable. That is about 66 times as fast as we get in Duluth and over 4,000 times as fast as we get in the woods!
According to Magree's first law of computing, as these faster speeds become more widely available, web page designers will design for those speeds and faster. Access to many sites will become even more slow in Duluth, and it will become hopeless to do much more than email from the cabin.
BTW, it took over nine minutes to get to the page to post this entry!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Republican Party is a sinking ship...
weighted down by a rigid, contradictory ideology. It is against abortion because it kills babies, but has no compunction about killing babies in foreign countries in the name of "defense". It wants limited government but supports a strong defense; a "defense" run by the largest government bureaucracy of all. It wants low taxes but fails to see the cost of the "defense" it demands. It wants a free market but fails to recognize that a free market needs more than a few large, bureaucratic corporations. It wants to clamp down on illegal immigration but fails to recognize that this country was founded on an unstoppable wave of "illegal" immigrants who overwhelmed the earlier inhabitants. It wants "bipartisanship" but fails to recognize how much its base so readily believes a few extremely partisan commentators. And if that is not enough lead ballast, it opposes the President even when he espouses ideas first espoused by Republicans!
The sinking of the Republican Party is not a good thing because it is leading to a one-party democracy as described by Thomas Friedman in "Our One-Party Democracy", New York Times, 2009-09-09. There is some old saw about there being no political parties in the U.S. – the Democratic half is based on the large number of factions within the Democratic party making it hard for Democrats to govern. This is Friedman's contention; the factions in the Democratic party are making it difficult to pass legislation that will allow the U.S. to compete against the likes of China. China's one-party autocracy is taking steps to be a leader in many 21st Century industries.
It is time for pragmatists in either party to form a new party based on the idea of governance as put forth by the Founders. It is time for a new party that will take bold initiatives like the early Republican Party's extensive support of the transcontinental railroad. It is time for a new party that doesn't judge taxes as being too low or too high, but asks if they are appropriate for the needs of today. It is time for a new party that doesn't judge the size of government as too little or too big, but asks if governing is being done at the appropriate level for the tasks at hand.
I hope that the handful of "liberal" Republicans and the many "conservative" and "moderate" Democrats will seriously consider another meeting like was held in Ripon, Wisconsin in the mid-nineteenth century. "As our case is new, so must we think anew."
The sinking of the Republican Party is not a good thing because it is leading to a one-party democracy as described by Thomas Friedman in "Our One-Party Democracy", New York Times, 2009-09-09. There is some old saw about there being no political parties in the U.S. – the Democratic half is based on the large number of factions within the Democratic party making it hard for Democrats to govern. This is Friedman's contention; the factions in the Democratic party are making it difficult to pass legislation that will allow the U.S. to compete against the likes of China. China's one-party autocracy is taking steps to be a leader in many 21st Century industries.
It is time for pragmatists in either party to form a new party based on the idea of governance as put forth by the Founders. It is time for a new party that will take bold initiatives like the early Republican Party's extensive support of the transcontinental railroad. It is time for a new party that doesn't judge taxes as being too low or too high, but asks if they are appropriate for the needs of today. It is time for a new party that doesn't judge the size of government as too little or too big, but asks if governing is being done at the appropriate level for the tasks at hand.
I hope that the handful of "liberal" Republicans and the many "conservative" and "moderate" Democrats will seriously consider another meeting like was held in Ripon, Wisconsin in the mid-nineteenth century. "As our case is new, so must we think anew."
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
One man's positive take on public health care
Richard Allen Smith, an Afghan war vet, gives his thanks for the "evil, godless socialist health care" that he has received since he was three years old. Among other things he was treated by Canadian doctors in Afghanistan and was given medication that was deemed unsafe for Americans.
For his full story, see "My Life with Public Health Care".
For his full story, see "My Life with Public Health Care".
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Cash for clunkers clinked
We would like to trade our 1997 F-150 pickup for a newer cargo van. The truck is getting older and so are we. Our getting older makes it more of a strain to climb into the back of the truck to put things way up front or to pull them back out.
So, should we have taken advantage of the "Cash for Clunkers" program? The trade-in value of the truck is $1900+, depending on whether it is considered good condition or very good condition. "Cash" for it would be between that and $4000.
But, we want to trade it for a cargo van; I don't think they meet the mileage requirement. Yep, they don't. I just checked Edmunds "Cash for Clunkers" calculator.
We were also reluctant to buy a new vehicle then because we don't want to take out a loan to do it. We wanted to save up and pay cash, even if it meant selling some mutual fund shares.
We may have saved also by waiting. Some have recommended waiting to buy until October when dealer inventories will have built up and they may bargain more. Also, the "Cash for Clunkers" may have increased the value of our truck. I have no idea how many F-150s were destroyed for the Clunker program, but I imagine that enough were to raise the value of mine. Not a lot, but, hey, an extra hundred or two dollars can pay for some nice option on a new vehicle.
So, should we have taken advantage of the "Cash for Clunkers" program? The trade-in value of the truck is $1900+, depending on whether it is considered good condition or very good condition. "Cash" for it would be between that and $4000.
But, we want to trade it for a cargo van; I don't think they meet the mileage requirement. Yep, they don't. I just checked Edmunds "Cash for Clunkers" calculator.
We were also reluctant to buy a new vehicle then because we don't want to take out a loan to do it. We wanted to save up and pay cash, even if it meant selling some mutual fund shares.
We may have saved also by waiting. Some have recommended waiting to buy until October when dealer inventories will have built up and they may bargain more. Also, the "Cash for Clunkers" may have increased the value of our truck. I have no idea how many F-150s were destroyed for the Clunker program, but I imagine that enough were to raise the value of mine. Not a lot, but, hey, an extra hundred or two dollars can pay for some nice option on a new vehicle.
Monday, September 07, 2009
I'm back!
I hope some of my 10-12 subscribers missed my almost daily posts.
Once upon a time, internet access was "fast" at 9600 bps, then 24,000, then 56,000. Then DSL and cable came along, 256,000 was fast, but now that is slow. Even 1.5 mbps is becoming slow. Sometimes we twiddle our thumbs waiting for a page to load even at these speeds.
Now imagine having to rely on dial-up instead of DSL. Worse, half-speed dial-up rather then 56 kbps. That is our situation at our cabin. The best we can do is 24 kbps, often less. Trying to read the New York Times is hopeless; it can take five to ten minutes to download the first page.
To add insult to injury, my provider who allows unlimited DSL access allows me only 10 hours dial-up access per month.
Given this, I'm reluctant to do much online except check email. Even that is a long process with ten or more spams a day.
Of course, there is all the grass to cut, the walks to take, the chair to sit in outside with a book, the fire pit to attend to, and, and, and... So not only did I not practice singing as much as I should, but I was reluctant to wait for Blogger to download to post any new entries.
So I apologize to my faithful subscribers. I hope I can return to posting about some amusing thing I did or posting some insight from what I've read.
Oh yes, a big thank you to those who encourage me to keep writing.
Once upon a time, internet access was "fast" at 9600 bps, then 24,000, then 56,000. Then DSL and cable came along, 256,000 was fast, but now that is slow. Even 1.5 mbps is becoming slow. Sometimes we twiddle our thumbs waiting for a page to load even at these speeds.
Now imagine having to rely on dial-up instead of DSL. Worse, half-speed dial-up rather then 56 kbps. That is our situation at our cabin. The best we can do is 24 kbps, often less. Trying to read the New York Times is hopeless; it can take five to ten minutes to download the first page.
To add insult to injury, my provider who allows unlimited DSL access allows me only 10 hours dial-up access per month.
Given this, I'm reluctant to do much online except check email. Even that is a long process with ten or more spams a day.
Of course, there is all the grass to cut, the walks to take, the chair to sit in outside with a book, the fire pit to attend to, and, and, and... So not only did I not practice singing as much as I should, but I was reluctant to wait for Blogger to download to post any new entries.
So I apologize to my faithful subscribers. I hope I can return to posting about some amusing thing I did or posting some insight from what I've read.
Oh yes, a big thank you to those who encourage me to keep writing.
Where are my glasses?
We've all heard about the grandpa or grandma who wondered where their glasses were and finally realized their glasses were on their head. Been there, done that, too many times with reading glasses and sunglasses.
This weekend, this situation took a new twist. I have a pair of wraparound sunglasses that have rubber bow covers. One of the covers is loose and has come off many times, and I've been able to find it rather quickly.
On Saturday the cover came off and I couldn't find it. I retraced my steps since I knew it was on. This was a difficult search because it could have dropped anywhere on dozens of feet of grassy paths around our cabin. I searched and searched to no avail.
Just before supper I went to the sauna to take a makeshift shower. As I took my T-shirt off, I felt a twig on my shoulder. The twig was the bow cover!
On Sunday the cover came off again and I couldn't find it. I retraced my steps again and again to no avail. At supper my wife gestured and looked at me like I had a big bug on my head. She finally managed to say that the bow cover was perched on my ear!
My head had been sweaty enough so that the cover stuck to my ear as I pulled off the sunglasses.
I hope I've learned my lesson for a few days. Until I glue the cover on, I check that it is still on the bow when I take the sunglasses off. We shall see, we shall see.
This weekend, this situation took a new twist. I have a pair of wraparound sunglasses that have rubber bow covers. One of the covers is loose and has come off many times, and I've been able to find it rather quickly.
On Saturday the cover came off and I couldn't find it. I retraced my steps since I knew it was on. This was a difficult search because it could have dropped anywhere on dozens of feet of grassy paths around our cabin. I searched and searched to no avail.
Just before supper I went to the sauna to take a makeshift shower. As I took my T-shirt off, I felt a twig on my shoulder. The twig was the bow cover!
On Sunday the cover came off again and I couldn't find it. I retraced my steps again and again to no avail. At supper my wife gestured and looked at me like I had a big bug on my head. She finally managed to say that the bow cover was perched on my ear!
My head had been sweaty enough so that the cover stuck to my ear as I pulled off the sunglasses.
I hope I've learned my lesson for a few days. Until I glue the cover on, I check that it is still on the bow when I take the sunglasses off. We shall see, we shall see.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Our Supreme Leader Ayatollah Dick Cheney has spoken
Dick Cheney is once again blasting the Obama administration for investigating torture practices; Cheney vehemently maintains that torturing prisoners has protected the nation. See
"Dick Cheney's Version".
Why are these people prisoners? Because they are terrorists? Who says they are terrorists? Dick Cheney.
This sounds spookily like Iran. Why are people in prison? Because they are acting as foreign agents? Who says they are foreign agents? The government of iran.
Even though the trials in Iran are show trials, at least the prisoners are getting a trial. In the land of freedom and justice we haven't even had show trials for the people the government calls terrorists. Why not? It will jeopardize national security? Who says so? Dick Cheney.
At least it's not yet a crime in the U.S. to question the wisdom of our self-appointed Supreme Leader.
"Dick Cheney's Version".
Why are these people prisoners? Because they are terrorists? Who says they are terrorists? Dick Cheney.
This sounds spookily like Iran. Why are people in prison? Because they are acting as foreign agents? Who says they are foreign agents? The government of iran.
Even though the trials in Iran are show trials, at least the prisoners are getting a trial. In the land of freedom and justice we haven't even had show trials for the people the government calls terrorists. Why not? It will jeopardize national security? Who says so? Dick Cheney.
At least it's not yet a crime in the U.S. to question the wisdom of our self-appointed Supreme Leader.
The new buzzword: "efficiency"
Today's Star Tribune had yet another op-ed piece calling for government efficiency. See "MnDOT must work smarter for savings". This time it was for MnDOT to be more efficient in keeping our roads in good shape. Oh, yes, it was by a member of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.
Whenever, I see calls for efficiencies in government, I read calls for doing more with less money.
If people want efficiency in transportation, they should be calling for more public transit and more trains. After all, it is more efficient to have one driver transporting 30 to 50 people than 30 drivers transporting 30 people and to have one engineer transporting 100 to 400 people between cities than 100 drivers transporting 100 people.
What these modes don't provide is convenience, which is one measure of effectiveness. Since we choose convenience as an important part of our transportation infra-structure, we should be willing to consider all the costs of such convenience.
One of the costs is that the convenience entices more and more people to drive, so much so, that more collective travel withers. As more and more people drive, we need more lanes and roads. "Build it and they will come." As we need more lanes and roads, we need more money. As we need more money, we need more taxes. Oops! No new taxes. If no new taxes, shall we have no new lanes and no new roads?
Whenever, I see calls for efficiencies in government, I read calls for doing more with less money.
If people want efficiency in transportation, they should be calling for more public transit and more trains. After all, it is more efficient to have one driver transporting 30 to 50 people than 30 drivers transporting 30 people and to have one engineer transporting 100 to 400 people between cities than 100 drivers transporting 100 people.
What these modes don't provide is convenience, which is one measure of effectiveness. Since we choose convenience as an important part of our transportation infra-structure, we should be willing to consider all the costs of such convenience.
One of the costs is that the convenience entices more and more people to drive, so much so, that more collective travel withers. As more and more people drive, we need more lanes and roads. "Build it and they will come." As we need more lanes and roads, we need more money. As we need more money, we need more taxes. Oops! No new taxes. If no new taxes, shall we have no new lanes and no new roads?
Assumptions and presumptions about President Obama's speech to schoolchildren
I coulda tole ya so! If Obama plans to give a major speech, there will be thousands who "know" that he is going to promote some "evil ideology" in it. Now "everybody knows" he is going to promote "socialism" to "vulnerable" school children.
Never mind that he plans to encourage students in their education. Given the above, we certainly need many more educated citizens.
However, no matter how innocuous or how important a Presidential speech is, is it fair to presume that large numbers of schools are going to change their schedules, turn on their radios and TVs in every classroom at the same time and listen to a speech by the President of the United States.
Wouldn't it be far better to desseminate it on YouTube? If word gets out among kids that it is a great speech, it will be viral. There will probably be far more kids watching it with undivided attention than were told by their teachers to listen.
Never mind that he plans to encourage students in their education. Given the above, we certainly need many more educated citizens.
However, no matter how innocuous or how important a Presidential speech is, is it fair to presume that large numbers of schools are going to change their schedules, turn on their radios and TVs in every classroom at the same time and listen to a speech by the President of the United States.
Wouldn't it be far better to desseminate it on YouTube? If word gets out among kids that it is a great speech, it will be viral. There will probably be far more kids watching it with undivided attention than were told by their teachers to listen.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Stop creating jobs and start creating Jobs!
Politicians measure their success by their claims of creating jobs. But is that how we should measure our success as a society, how many people have a 9-5 job with benefits?
If so, maybe we should ban push-button elevators and bring back elevators run by a full-time operators. The push-button elevator destroyed lots of jobs. If we measure success by jobs, maybe we should ban direct dialing. Direct dialing greatly reduced the need for live operators to place long-distance calls. If we measure success by jobs, maybe we should legislate how long buildings may be used. The demolition of old buildings and the construction of new buildings will create jobs.
The real question is what are the true costs of creating jobs. Are we creating a better, safer, healthier environment or are we merely doing the same old, same old over and over again? And as we do so, are we training people to keep looking for the same old, same old jobs rather than looking for new opportunities.
Instead shouldn't we be looking to create more Steve Jobs, entrepreneurs with ideas for change? Not every innovator is going to become a billionaire or even a millionaire, but a society which promotes innovation by individuals will be "wealthier" than one that just seeks to create jobs.
I think there is at least one major impediment to creating entrepreneurs and others who will create a society with beneficial change.
The desire for benefits keeps many people from starting something by themselves. Health insurance is one of the top reasons people prefer a regular job to going out on their own. If someone has a great idea, he or she may not mind a low cash flow for awhile, but many do not want to spend a day without health insurance. Note in the articles about people who do start businesses how many of them have a spouse with a full-time job, with benefits.
See also "If you really want to create jobs…" and "Where have all the jobs gone?"
If so, maybe we should ban push-button elevators and bring back elevators run by a full-time operators. The push-button elevator destroyed lots of jobs. If we measure success by jobs, maybe we should ban direct dialing. Direct dialing greatly reduced the need for live operators to place long-distance calls. If we measure success by jobs, maybe we should legislate how long buildings may be used. The demolition of old buildings and the construction of new buildings will create jobs.
The real question is what are the true costs of creating jobs. Are we creating a better, safer, healthier environment or are we merely doing the same old, same old over and over again? And as we do so, are we training people to keep looking for the same old, same old jobs rather than looking for new opportunities.
Instead shouldn't we be looking to create more Steve Jobs, entrepreneurs with ideas for change? Not every innovator is going to become a billionaire or even a millionaire, but a society which promotes innovation by individuals will be "wealthier" than one that just seeks to create jobs.
I think there is at least one major impediment to creating entrepreneurs and others who will create a society with beneficial change.
The desire for benefits keeps many people from starting something by themselves. Health insurance is one of the top reasons people prefer a regular job to going out on their own. If someone has a great idea, he or she may not mind a low cash flow for awhile, but many do not want to spend a day without health insurance. Note in the articles about people who do start businesses how many of them have a spouse with a full-time job, with benefits.
See also "If you really want to create jobs…" and "Where have all the jobs gone?"
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
I forgot that I remembered not to forget
Today when I went to our cabin, I placed my wallet and Duluth keys on the counter by the door. I did this because they often chafe my thighs as I work around the area.
On my way back to Duluth this afternoon, I checked my pocket about 10 minutes away. There were no keys in my pocket! Oh, great! I could use my wife's keys but it could be inconvenient.
I pulled into a dirt road/drive and double checked. No keys in any pocket. I watched for oncoming traffic and backed out. As I started up I looked in my rear view mirror and there was a car right behind me. So much for looking carefully. But it could have been worse than the other driver's inconvenience.
I arrived back at our cabin and decided to back in rather than back out. I was only going to the gate and would walk back to the cabin. Backing in is a little dicey because we have a short culvert over the drive. I could back into the ditch very easily. I made it and reached for the keys to turn off the engine.
Those are my keys!
Besides nearly getting rear-ended for this "undersight" and possibly getting stuck in the ditch, I arrived at my bank eight minutes after the drive up closed. I wanted to get quarters for tomorrow's newspapers. Guess I'll have to use a fist full of dimes and nickels.
Is this another of those senior, what's the word?
On my way back to Duluth this afternoon, I checked my pocket about 10 minutes away. There were no keys in my pocket! Oh, great! I could use my wife's keys but it could be inconvenient.
I pulled into a dirt road/drive and double checked. No keys in any pocket. I watched for oncoming traffic and backed out. As I started up I looked in my rear view mirror and there was a car right behind me. So much for looking carefully. But it could have been worse than the other driver's inconvenience.
I arrived back at our cabin and decided to back in rather than back out. I was only going to the gate and would walk back to the cabin. Backing in is a little dicey because we have a short culvert over the drive. I could back into the ditch very easily. I made it and reached for the keys to turn off the engine.
Those are my keys!
Besides nearly getting rear-ended for this "undersight" and possibly getting stuck in the ditch, I arrived at my bank eight minutes after the drive up closed. I wanted to get quarters for tomorrow's newspapers. Guess I'll have to use a fist full of dimes and nickels.
Is this another of those senior, what's the word?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)