Der Dschungel

2009-04-30T06:42:00.002-04:00

I haven't posted since last November, I see, but now I have something in my craw. There has been a lot of public discussion recently about torture, the use of torture, what constitutes torture, and whether torture is justified if it yields life-preserving information. Regarding the last question, as to whether torture is OK if it works, I have a counter-question or two: Is blackmail OK if it works? Is piracy OK if it works? Is armed robbery OK if it works? Because, at least in the short term, all of these things work. If they didn't work, they wouldn't continue to happen. But none of these things has a place, a sanctioned/condoned place, in civil society. And to my mind, civil society is what we are fighting for. How ironic that we would so readily sacrifice our most cherished ideals! If we have to sink to the level of our enemy to prevail in this conflict, then we have already lost.

Cause for Optimism

2008-11-13T20:24:00.002-05:00

I had a few hopeful thoughts cross my mind while walking the dog and chatting this evening with daughter AHB. First, my flashlight. It is a 2nd generation Black & Decker snakelight, which hangs nicely around one's neck, leaving both hands free for leash-holding and poop-scooping functionality. This flashlight's predecessor served nobly for years (in fact still works) but it had an incandescent bulb which consumed a fair amount of juice. Using NiMH rechargeables, I would get maybe a week or two between recharges with daily use. The newer flashlight has LED bulbs, which consume next to zero electricity. I have not changed or recharged the batteries in months. I don't even remember whether the batteries are alkaline or NiMH.
So, I don't know, that just makes me feel hopeful. I feel that we face a lot of challenges, but we also potentially have a lot more effective ways of meeting them. LED vs. incandescent is not huge in itself, but I think it is emblematic of the transformational nature of technological changes which can empower all of us.
The other hopeful thought I would like to share is a strange one: Harriet Myers. Just as LED vs. incandescent is emblematic of transformational technological change, I am hopeful that in coming days the best and brightest minds will be elevated into decision-making positions to make meaningful changes in public policy, and we won't be straight-jacketed by the dogmatic, ideological and reactionary dimbulbs of recent years. Just think, the man who proposed Harriet Myers as a supreme court justice has actually been president of our country for almost eight years.
I can't help but think that things are going to get better.

Good gracious, I hope I'm not a Republican

2008-10-28T18:41:00.002-04:00

I am pretty sure I am not a socialist. In my conception of things, the whole "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" idea calls for a degree of altruism that just doesn't exist out there. If you tell me that I have a choice of working either 4, 6 or 8 hours a day, whichever I think I'm able to do, and you tell me that I then have a choice of getting paid either $100, $200 or $300 a day, whichever I think I need, well, then, hmm... Let me think about that for a minute. A very altruistic person would be more likely to work to work longer hours for less pay, if it was for the good of society at large. Someone less concerned about the welfare of others might choose shorter hours and longer pay. And I think that creates a big problem, namely that virtue gets punished and selfishness gets rewarded.
At the other extreme (in my conception of things) is laissez-faire capitalism. In this system (at least conceptually) my rewards are commensurate with my efforts. If I work harder, if I take the risks, if I have sharper ideas and take the necessary steps to see them through, well, then, the sky is the limit. Of course, there are big problems with this, too. Maybe the biggest problem is the tendency for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer, which naturally occurs as those in positions of power and influence weild their power and influence to maintain their positions.
Anyway, if I were forced to choose between unfettered capitalism on the one hand, and unfettered socialism (which may be an oxymoron) on the other hand, I would have to go with capitalism. If for no other reason, I think that capitalism is more in synch with people's natural tendency to act in their own self-interest. But I also believe in enlightened self-interest, and deferred gratification, and Adam Smith's "invisible hand". And I think we are ready for some new "-isms", like radical centrism or communitarianism. Unfortunately, in today's sound-bite dumbspeak political discourse, "radical centrism and communitarianism" are likely to be conflated into "radical communism". So, I wonder sometimes if Bill Maher is right about us being too dumb to be governed. I look forward to the campaign season being over a week from today.

Basestroker

2008-10-23T06:11:00.002-04:00

Just coined a new word, basestroker (vulgarity intended) to refer to a political figure who writes not to persuade or elucidate, but just to give strokes to his/her supporters. As an example, I recently wrote this letter to the Richmond Times-Dispatch about their retired but still active editor (but am not holding my breath awaiting its publication):
"I was not surprised to see Ross Mackenzie's piece in support of Governor Palin. It is interesting that, contrary to opinion polls following the debate, Mackenzie picked Palin as a clear winner. Interesting, but not surprising. Palin and Mackenzie are similar in style and content: prejudicial, one-sided and abrasive. Ross Mackenzie's "preaching to the choir" brand of editorial opinion does not convince, it repels. It is written not to persuade persons of different opinion to change their minds, but only to solidify his standing with his conservative base. Because my opinions are so far at variance with his, I read what he writes only with effort and a certain amount of repugnance. But please don't stop printing his pieces. His obnoxious style cannot bring in new recruits, it can only alienate those with more centrist leanings."
Stroke that!
On other fronts, I found this item to be both encouraging and disturbing. Encouraging, because apparently no last-minute Swift-Boat style attacks are on the way, but disturbing to think that this is how our political system operates.

What, me blog?

2008-10-22T18:08:00.002-04:00

I think it is time for me to dust off the old blog and get back with it. I know in my heart of hearts that I fundamentally suck at blogging, and yet with my family so widely spread across the landscape, and with plane fares being what they are, it makes eminent sense to scatter these electrons hither and yon, rather than shag my arse around the countryside. So, I'm back.

Un-

2007-09-28T21:12:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this is a meditation about reversibility. You know, there are some things that one does that can also be un-done. Of course, nothing is ever totally reversible, because the time spent doing it the first time is irretrievably and forever lost (sigh). But anyway there are many times that it is nice to be able to retrace one's steps. For instance, there are many knots one can tie with rope (I memorized about 2 dozen of them during my second childhood as a scout leader), but the really good ones are those that can readily be un-tied, like the bowline, or the slippery square knot that most of us use to tie our shoes. Back in the glory days of wind-driven vessels the sailors would carry a marlinespike to facilitate the untangling of a jammed knot. Damned handy implement, that. How about a marlinespike for the tangled strands of one's life?

Another very handy undoing type of tool is an end-cutting plier: This little guy is unparalleled for removing nails, especially finishing nails that don't have much of a head on them. If there is as much as an eighth inch sticking up you can grip the end and work the nail out incrementally, getting a fresh grip repeatedly so you don't bend the nail or damage your work. It actually worries me that this tool is called an end-cutting plier, rather than a nail-removing plier. I worry about weird stuff.

Another cool reversibility tool is double-sided carpet tape. It is really great for temporarily attaching things when woodworking. For example, if one wanted to bandsaw a bunch of identical shapes one could stack up the pieces of wood, taping them together to prevent slipping, and cut them all at once. It also really helps to prevent pieces from sliding around when you're trying to clamp them them together in just the right position. I could go on. Honestly, the more I use this stuff, the more uses I find. I get excited about weird stuff.

Baching It (pronounced B******t)

2007-09-12T18:30:00.000-04:00

OK, so this is my week of going it alone, my better half having gone south, quite literally, to look after our recuperating daughter in MS. And I'm here to tell you that it kind of sucks. But not totally.
To clarify: It sucks in that some of the household duties are less in volume when it's only one person, but most stay about the same. For instance, the dog and cat continue to poop at pretty much the same level, so walking the pooch and performing litter Zen do not decrease. Actually, I almost never clean the litter box under ordinary circumstances. Maybe that's why I like the cat so much.
As for cooking, it is every bit as much work to prepare food for one person as it is to prepare for two, and it is infinitely more boring. My lovely spouse and I had a discussion, just prior to her departure for Points South, about how divorced men seem to die off quicker, and I am convinced that the whole cooking issue is a big piece of that. I think of myself as being a pretty fair cook, actually, but it's hard to get very excited about whipping up a sumptuous feast that is for me alone to consume.
As for the not-sucking part: Well, I did go out to the movies on Monday night, which I would be pretty unlikely to do under ordinary circumstances, and I saw Pirates 3, which L has displayed no interest whatsoever in viewing. So, that was cool. It was also a pleasant warm evening to cruise home from Carytown with the top down. Also cool.
And the dog and I have possibly grown a bit closer during L's absence. Possibly. Anyhow I miss m'Lady, and I'm taping the Daily Show in her absence, and now my dilemma is whether to watch it now, or to wait 'til she comes home so we can guffaw together?

2007-09-06T21:40:00.000-04:00

OK, so now that I've got all that astro-meta-physical stuff out of my system for the time being, I would like to talk about something else that I have no control over, and that is gas prices. I propose a graduated tax on gasoline, that would start at a nickel a gallon, and would increase by a nickel a month over the next two years. The revenue thus generated would be used to promote domestic companies that are developing energy-saving technologies. If the tax were introduced incrementally it would not shock the economy, but people would know it was coming and alter their energy consumption plans accordingly. And because the money would support domestic energy innovations, that would also ameliorate the economic effects. Good idea, huh?

Cut to the chase

2007-08-30T17:33:00.000-04:00

OK, so here is my question: why do we automatically assume that the red shift is due to distant stars receding from us? Maybe light just naturally gets redder as it gets older. After all, we're talking about thousands of light years, here. And the light from distant stars has to pass through a lot of gravitational fields to get here. Wouldn't that sap away some of the energy? It wouldn't slow the light down (I don't think that ever happens), but maybe it would cause a little wave lengthening, a little red shift, shall we say?
Now, why should anybody care about whether the universe is expanding or not, as if it would actually affect us during our lifetimes, or even affect our species during our tenure on this plane of existence? That, my friends, is another rant entirely...

More about our universe

2007-08-30T06:28:00.000-04:00

OK, so here's the thing about our universe: the further away an object is, the redder the tint. This has been attributed to the Doppler effect. Everyone is probably familiar with this effect, because that's what causes the siren to drop in pitch as the police car goes by. In the case of the siren, the sound drops in pitch because the waves are arriving at your ears less frequently. In the case of stars, the wavelength of the light gets longer because the waves are hitting you eyeballs less frequently.
So, now that we're clear on that, aren't these hyper links cool?

The name of my blog

2007-08-29T18:54:00.000-04:00

OK, so Der Dschungel is German for The Jungle. I think it's a neat word, because that the way the German language deals with that hard "J" sound. If jungle were a German word, it would be pronounced "yoongle".

The shocking truth about our universe

2007-08-29T17:22:00.000-04:00

OK, so I'm just going to jump in with both feet, here. The shocking truth is this: I don't believe in the expanding universe. Shocking, but there it is. Not that I'm an astrophysicist or anything, but what I've heard about the subject just doesn't convince me. As I understand it, there is a phenomenon called "red shift", and it works like this: Stars emit light energy. That light energy has a certain frequency, based on what kind of star it is. Stars that burn hotter emit a bluer light, and cooler starts have more of a reddish hue. Well, it turns out, as this fellow named Hubble happened to notice, that the farther away a star is, the more reddish the hue is.
Well, I guess that's enough about that for now. Anyway, how do you like my Toad's Place picture?

Look, Ma, I'm Blogging!

2007-08-29T07:17:00.001-04:00

OK, so this is not a commitment to regular posts of any kind, but since everyone else in my family is doing it, I feel like a total lurker by reading their posts and not having my own space. so here it is.