Funmurphys: the Blog

The New iMac And More

Apple has unveiled it's new iMac G5 design: Nothing but flat screen. OK, and an anodized aluminum stand, and I assume they throw in the keyboard and mouse. And its not all flat screen because there is an expanse of white for the logo and speakers. But you get the point. While I want one, they could make one set of changes in the hardware that would make more than my demographic (Apple fans) want one.

Apple is almost to what I call "Mom's computer:" a wall mounted computer with wireless input devices.

The nerve center of the modern household is the kitchen, and mom is the COO -- chief operating officer -- of the household. So what mom needs (yeah, just like a man to tell a woman what she needs) is a computer for her -- a computer that fits into the kitchen and takes over the roll of the exterior of the refridgerator and the calender. The family wants to be able to leave messages for each other. Now you put them on a sticky on the fridge, pin them to cork, or write them on a white board. Better would be to leave them on the computer, and you could even password protect private messages to individuals. To make it work, you need the computer somewhere in the middle of the beaten track, somewhere where everybody spends time - namely the kitchen. For a computer to be completely convienent to use, it must also be located convienently.

Wouldn't it be great to have different views of the calender so you could see it either by individual of by everything the family is signed up for? Why tack up photos on the fridge when you could just set the screen saver to provide a slideshow or tile the screen? Integrate recipes with shopping lists with a weekly or monthly menu? Keep track of to do lists, shopping lists, school projects, etc. Play your iTunes library during meals, or while working or relaxing in the kitchen.

I have a programmable thermostat that controls the temperature of the house based on time of day and day of week. Wouldn't it be nice to have the same thing for internet content - you could set your browser up to have the latest weather, traffic, news, and your calender for the day displayed when you have breakfast during the week.

The other reason I call it "mom's computer" is that in order to make it all work, mom has to have first dibs. Anyone can play games or do schoolwork or whatever, but when somebody else (especially mom) needs to use it, they can.

Veterans Speak Out

Dodd gave a heads up about C-Span showing John Kerry's testimony before a Senate committee in 1971 so I was able to watch it. I had a negative, visceral reaction to it. McQ had a much stronger, more personal reaction to Kerry's anti-soldier (yes, Kerry in opposing the Vietnam war did so in a manner that slimed and smeared every soldier who fought there) actions after he returned with his medals in hand:

Well I’m very angry as well, Becky.

I’m angry that a nation treated its soldiers the way it did 35 years ago. I’m angry that actions of John Kerry led to that dishonorable treatment. But more than that, I’m angry that now that we who were maligned and smeared by Kerry and the VVAW want to speak out about it, people like you want us to shut up.

Well we’re not going to shut up.

We kept quite about it for all those years and we’re damn tired of living with the lies Kerry and others told about us. We’ve as much right to speak as John Kerry. And we’ve got as much right to tell you and others he was full of crap as any other citizen of this country.

Its not just YOUR country. Its OUR country as well. And this is about how OUR country treated us because of the lies people like John Kerry and the VVAW spread.

When Kerry grows the balls to stand up and tell the Vietnam Vets that he was wrong, he lied and he portrayed them falsely and that he’s sorry for doing so, then perhaps, some real healing can begin.

Until then, I agree with John O’Neill ... he’s unfit for command.

Since I'm not a veteran, some will say I have no standing to comment on McQ's remarks. But as a citizen, I agee with him.

Sports

My son is becoming an oddity for his age - he participates in three sports (baseball, soccer, swimming). I know it sounds crazy, but at 10 the pressure is on to specialize. I harbor no illusions that he is or will be a great athlete, so I'm happy that he continues to want to do all three. My daughter only swims, not out of a desire for specialization, but a lack of interest in other sports. We have simple rules -- if you want to play, fine; if you don't want to play, fine; but if you do join a team, then you need to be a responsible team member.

I'm not sure he's going to continue with soccer -- he liked baseball so much this season, he wanted to play fall ball but we had already signed up for soccer. The first year he played on a team, it stank -- they didn't score a single goal all season. The second year, the team got better -- they scored goals (Kyle got four, but who's counting) and they actually won a couple of games. The third year, last year, his team, minus its best players, merged with another team, and managed perhaps a few goals towards the end of the season. He decided to stick it out, and this year the team, minus a couple of its best players, again merged. So far, they've managed one goal in three games that weren't even close. He had hurt his ankle in the first game, but gamely played on until he couldn't run on it anymore.

We had a 7:30 AM game this Saturday, and when I woke him up to play he immediately started complaining about his ankle and limping about. When I pointed out that he had previously told me his ankle was fine and that he hadn't limped all week, he told me it had hurt but he just didn't say anything. We had a discussion, and the result was I made him go to the game. I tried to emphasize that as part of a team he shouldn't back out at the last minute. While keeping my game face on, I did worry that I was doing the wrong thing.

They didn't win, but Kyle got to play center forward and was around the ball most of the time he was in the game. He didn't limp at all, and didn't run any slower than normal. After the game was over and we were walking to the car, he said his ankle bothered him now, but hadn't during the game. I told him that it was because he was too busy during the game to notice, and asked if he had fun playing. "Yes", he said, "I had fun and I'm glad I came." Amazing -- sometimes I do make the right decision.

A Twofer

Shelley at Burningbird has two stories of interest to me.

First up is her deliciously fun thoughts on some tags html should have:

The BUTTHOLE tag. This can be used when linking to a butthole. Then when the person’s page shows up in Google, a disclaimer can be attached to the results saying something like, “Someone somewhere thinks this person is a butthole. Proceed accordingly".

(Of course, we could also call this the WEBLOG tag – most of us are buttholes to someone at some time or another, or we’re not trying hard enough.)

The SICKOPERVERTPREVENTION tag. This can be used to surround content that contains words that will most likely end up in some sick Google search phrase–words like porn, whip, sex, balls, breasts, and sheep.

The DISCLAIMER tag. This can be used to surround libelous content. Then when you’re sued, you can point to the page and say, “See? I used the DISCLAIMER tag. This means I was only joshin’ when I published the content.”

The SUCKUP tag. This is my personal favorite. Use this when referencing a specific individual who you want to suck up to. It could be anyone, from a rock star to a weblogger who has more link juice then you (that is, if they still have link juice with the use of BLINK). We all know that some folks suck up to other folks, but there’s nothing in the writing to prove it. Now we can remove any doubt that sucking up is happening.

Best of all, when the individual searches in Google for people who are sucking up to them, they’ll get back your page. Think of the miscommunications this can prevent?

I think I'd call it the JOKE tag instead of DISCLAIMER since people try to wiggle off with "I was just trying to make a joke", but since she came up with it, she gets to name it. We need a separate SWIFT tag for when people are trying to emulate Johnathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, and a PARODY tag just to help out the clueless.

I have to get my car registered by the end of the month, so yesterday I had my car inspected, and this morning I had it emissions tested. Guess what - Shelley's doing the same thing right here in the great state of Missouri. I didn't actually have to get the emissions test - I just had to pay the 24 dollars to get the certificate because Missouri has this program where they send these specially marked vans to highway onramps and measure emissions as the cars go by. I wonder if they just give a pass to cars of recent vintage, but they do NOT just stick their noses out the window. Since I didn't send the money in in time to get the required form back in time to finish the registration this month, I just went by the static test facility (state run) first thing this morning (no line!) and they said I had already passed so if I would just hand over the money I could be on my way with form in hand. Now I just have to gather my paperwork (inspection form, emissions form, proof of insurance form, and paid personal property tax receipt) and I'm good to go. The best part is, now that we register biannually, the lines are half as long. It's the small things in life I look forward to.

Should I enclose this whole post in SUCKUP tags?

Eat More Berries

Add another color to the palate of what's good for you. Blue, as in blue berries, helps lower triglycerides and the bad cholesterol while increasing the good cholesterol. But only a few strains of blueberries have the right chemical -- pterostilbene (a name only a scientist could love). I wonder how blueberrys smothered in tomato paste tastes.

Knee Bones Connected To The Thigh Bone

Charles Austin -- who's sadly given up blogging again -- claimed that walking and running the same distance burned the same number of calories, running just did it faster. Well, both Charles and Bruce were wrong, because baby we were born to walk. Unlike other creatures, people burn far more calories running than walking. And running is especially hard on the knees and quads. I could have told you that, but the article does it so much more scientifically.

Top News Stories?

Is it just me, or does anybody really care about the Peterson or Kobe Bryant cases, outside immediate family that is? Cable News has been awash with the stories for months now, reporting every twist and turn, but who cares? I'm not interested in the least, and nobody I know is interested. Am I in a cacoon? Do I not get out enough? Have I not paid enought attention? Out of all the terrible murders out there, why is Laci Peterson's a matter of national interest? Is Kobe Bryant really that much a celebrity that his rape case merits leaving the sports page? I'm mystified how the MSM decides what warrants wall to wall coverage, and what merits a single mention.

Amazing Race 5 Halftime

I have to admit I was disappointed that the last leg was a non-elimination leg on Amazing Race. Here was a chance to eliminate the twins, Kami and Karli, whose collective IQ seems to be lower than their independent IQ. Whenever they seem to just charge off and do something stupid, luck rescues them, whether in the form of Chip taking them where they need to go in Egypt or a non-elimination leg.

Now that the truly obnoxious people are out except for Colin, he seems to be going out of his way to compensate. Maybe there was important footage left on the cutting room floor, but it sure looked like Colin tried to screw a poor taxi driver out of $50 - not a large sum to us, but I'm sure a large sum to a Tanzanian taxi driver. Getting into the taxi he agreed to a $100 fee, and happy to do so over the $150 demanded by the other drivers. Getting out of the taxi, he was inventing conditions like not driving on a spare and arriving in the same position he left. Not content with raving at the driver who went and got a police officer, he went ballistic at the police station and the police officers there. I think that without the camera's rolling, Colin might have suffered a different outcome. What kind of lunatic risks jail in Tanzania over $50 that isn't even his? What kind of women (that means you, Christie) puts up with someone as abusive as Colin? Colin and Christie just make me long for the days of Terry and Ian.

Last week I cheered when Mirna got the boot. It's too bad Charla was partnered with her and so lost as well. Mirna was weak, whiny, bossy, obnoxious, a drama queen, in short, a Flo clone. Charla was the exact opposite. What helped them the most was the combination of Charla's can-do spirit and their language ability. My cousin Linda should go on the show - I think there's still one language out there she doesn't know.

Two weeks ago I cheered when the brothers Marshall and Lance were eliminated, although Mirna and Colin came on strong in the obnoxious department after their departure. And it was too bad that they had to drop out due to one of them having a painful leg injury (OK, I couldn't keep track of which was which). This week would have made it three in a row of teams I dislike being eliminated.

At this point, I wouldn't mind a win by Brandon and Nicole, Chip and Kim, or Linda and Karen. Kami and Karli are too clueless and Colin is far too obnoxious -- including being a complete jerk towards Christie after his meltdown at the police station. Given their track record, I don't think Linda and Karen are going to pull out the victory, although if you get the right taxi driver in the final episode anything is possible. Chip has clearly emerged as the most likable of the contestants still in it, what with Bob and Joyce and Jim and Marsha gone. Kim is pretty quiet and seems content to let Chip do almost everything. Brandon and Nicole are too pretty, but otherwise pretty unexceptional.

Even on the fifth season, we're still all hooked on Amazing Race in the Murphy Family.

Too Cheap To Meter

Good news on the energy front. Australian researches say they've found a way to split water and thus provide hydrogen using titanium coated ceramics. It would require a shift over to a hydrogen based energy system, but say good bye to pollution, carbon dioxide, and oil embargoes. I hope it pans out, but as always with revolutionary breakthoughs, caution is advised.

Back to School

I'm back in school again, roughly 22 years after clutching my precious leather-bound diploma at Stanford University in June 1982. I have enrolled in a Master's program at the local university. With a full-time job, a full-time wife, and three little children I thought it would be best to take only one course at a time. So I'm on the five-year plan for a Master's Degree.

Some things have NOT changed about college since Kevin and Sean and I were on The Farm with John Elway. College students look and behave exactly the same. They still carry backpacks, ride bicycles (except Kevin), stand in line during registration, wear scruffy clothes, and sit in the sun while trying to do their homework. They still sit in lectures and take notes.

What HAS changed is the delivery of material, thanks to PowerPoint and the Internet. I remember sitting in the Physics Tank (Bloch Hall, demolished in 1997) taking notes, madly trying to keep up with the professor writing on the board, and hoping I had copied all the essential formulas before he went on to a new greenboard. I even had one of those nifty four-color pre-med pens! Now my instructor posts the lecture notes on the class web site the day before class, so we can print them out and make any additional notes in the margins while he lectures. This is a big improvement since I don't have to watch helplessly as my hasty handwriting gets more and more illegible trying to keep up. I know that I've gotten all the important material, that I have all the correct parameters to the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. The downside is that it puts us students into more of a passive mode during class, and it's all too easy to zone out especially if Graham has kept me up the night before.

I am taking Dynamic Meteorology, one of the core courses leading to a Master's Degree in Atmospheric Science. At the first class our professor showed us a spectacular animation of the earth's general circulation over several months. One could clearly see great gobs of moisture tearing off the North Pacific and slamming into the Alaskan panhandle and British Columbia. Yee-hah!

Maybe someday I'll post a little primer on global warming. ;-)

Promises, Promises

John Kerry is running an ad here in Missouri about how George Bush doesn’t care about healthcare but John does, and so much so he has a plan. The plan sounds wonderful of course – something for everybody, but it does have one big problem. The plan requires legislation to be passed for it to be implemented, and John Kerry is running for President, an office that can only veto legislation. I suppose it’s bad form to point out that Kerry has been a Senator for almost 20 years and so has had ample time to try to get this plan passed yet somehow has managed to propose nothing in his long yet unmentioned Senatorial career. I suppose it's too bad that big John has been so busy this year to show up for votes, let alone do all the hard work in actually crafting legislation, but once he's President apparently then he'll have time he needs to work on legislation.

Now John Kerry isn’t alone in this odd habit of politicians who run for executive offices; just about everybody who runs for President or Governor runs on a legislative agenda. Even the Libertarians do this, although they mainly talk about the laws they'll repeal, not pass. When candidate George Bush was running for President, he made tax cutting the main message of his campaign, and after his election he had to work with Congress to get tax cuts passed -- ones to be honest that were not exactly what he first proposed but what he was willing to accept.

Our lack of understanding is shown in other races, where for instance we vote for members of the House or any state office based on abortion when the only people who matter on that subject are US Supreme Court justices, and the President and Senate since they select and confirm Supreme Court justices. And that doesn't include all the platitudinous promises politicians dish out -- like how they'll lower crime without providing details (a colorful costume complete with cape usually springs to my mind) or they'll be good for families -- usually through shared values or somesuch, although they never explain if I'm supposed to adopt their values, or they'll adopt mine, or if it's even sanitary to be sharing values.

The problem isn't the politicians, it's the electorate that keeps voting for the politicians. We're the ones who lap up all these feel good but can't be implemented promises. The perversity of the electorate doesn't end there. The one thing all Americans can agree on is that our Congresspeople should work tirelessly for our interests while other peoples Congresspeople should work for the common good (which surprisingly enough is amazingly similar to our interests).

Cannae Again

Maybe I'm easily impressed, but I think the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth laid the best political trap for John Kerry I've ever seen. Hannibal would be proud.

Step one was to document and gather affidavits and write a book so that there was a wealth of credible material to draw from.

Step two was to put out an ad attacking Kerry's service. Believe them or not, Kerry and the media have reacted by being outraged that anybody would crap on a combat veteran like the SBVTs did. The fact that they were combat veterans every bit as much as Kerry was immaterial. "How dare you impugn him! He fought and bled for his country!" Let's face it, this is a strong defense.

Step three was to spring the trap. If you think the SBVTs were surprised by the reaction, you haven't been paying attention to their second ad where they recount how John Kerry crapped on every Vietnam combat veteran after Kerry returned from Vietnam. The art of political Aikido in action is beautiful to behold. All that anger for Kerry gets turned around and used against him. "How dare he impugn his band of brothers, men who fought and died for their country." The narrative becomes: if you thought you were mad at us when we said Kerry was a braggert, how should you feel when Kerry said all of us vets were rapists and murderers?

And what has to really hurt is that Kerry's attacks are all in the public record. Kerry is his own accuser; the credibility of the SBVTs doesn't matter on this attack. In a move of sheer brilliance, the SBVTs put on ex-POWs to testify to the emotional toll his accusations of atrocities took on them. What's Kerry going to do -- attack an ex-POW? McCain would lead the countercharge personally.

Kerry has only himself to blame for this. If he had run on his political record and his vision for the future, none of this would have come up, let alone matter. But by insisting that his actions 36 years ago mattered, that they were significant qualifications for office, he cannot insist that his actions 33 years ago don't matter and are significantly disqualifying for office. I mean if he isn't the same man he was 33 years ago, he sure isn't the man he was 36 years ago. What was he thinking? How could he have forgotten?

Man Of The Hour

One of the highlights of our Colorado vacation was getting to see my old buddy Carl Drews again. He and his wife Christine opened their house to us and, believe me, we took maximum advantage of it.

We met the vary first day of freshman orientation. Stanford picked up incoming freshman from San Francisco airport and took them to campus on school buses. Carl and I rode the same bus, and got to see a sports car veer off the road for reasons that we still don't know even today. We were dropped off at the same dorm (Toyon Hall). The friendship was sealed on the first day of classes and we were both in Physics 61 -- physics for those man enough to think they had the stuff to be physics majors (for the record, not only were the two women who started Physics 61 not man enough to be physics majors, but also Carl had to wimp out and become a EE).

Carl would conduct such classic exeriments as "Can Kevin Recognize Beth's Bicycle Chain Rattle From A Random Sample Of Those Who Park Under His Window?" and Carl was the control group for the experiment "Can Kevin Remember His High School Partial Differential Equations Better Than A College Student Can Learn Them?" But we went one experiment too far when trying to be roomates we switched Toyon and Roble on our draw cards and were forced to live separately for the rest of our collegiate careers. At least I was able to remain among the fair and noble towers of Toyon Hall while Carl had to survive the best he could among the squalor of Roble.

After graduation, Carl took off for the foothills of Boulder and I went to the beaches of LA. The inevitable occured - we drifted apart, lost contact, but due to the brilliance of fellow engineers who invented the internet, we regained contact. When Carl was looking for a way to publish the second issue of the Hervert Family Newsletter six years ago, I was able to help. Carl and his bride Christine have promised a new issue, and I'm looking forward to publishing it as well. I have been sworn to secrecy on the subject, but what I can say about it is "Prepare to be amazed!"

But that's all old news by way of an introduction. Carl has been a fellow internet content pioneer, and so I have invited him to join as a fellow blogger here on Funmurphys. We can only hope he takes me up on this offer so that once more Funmurphys will provide the finest content on the internet. So let's please extend a warm welcome to Carl!

Olympic Fouls

I've enjoyed watching the olympics, well a lot of it anyway. The actual competitions - love. The chit chat between, the droning on of "analysts" - hate. One of the interesting things have been the controversies. Nothing new there.

First up we have the controversies in swimming -- did Kosuke Kitajima use an illegal dolphin kick during his race as some American swimmers have claimed (although not the American in the water during the race, Brendan Hansen)? What I love is the way the media acts like this is some unknowable question. Guess what, not only is there underwater video of the event that clearly shows Kitajima did, the announcer at the time pointed it out. Kitajima's claim is that he swims the same way every time, he's never been DQ'ed for it, end of story. The problem with that is, during his next semi-final race NBC compared his turns and showed how he did a dolphin kick during his gold medal performance but didn't during the later race. So much for swim the way every time.

Then one of Kitijima's accusers, Brian Peirsol, was temporarily DQ'ed during his second gold medal performance for an illegal turn -- although the judge wasn't clear enough and his paperwork wasn't in order so he was unDQ'ed. I have to admit I'm not clear on the rules on the backstroke turn, as the little team my kids swim on has trouble with this every year - this year one our 16 year old swimmers was DQ for a turn that "he floated too long" on. Still, there was some question as to whether or not this was payback for Peirsol's complaints about the officials.

And now there's a kerfuffle over the men's all-around in gymnastics: The Koreans are saying their guy was cheated of 0.1 of a point do to a judge's error. Who knows, maybe he'll get a gold medal too.

In a final note, the shotput was kind of crazy too. There was a tie for longest, but because Adam Nelson had fouled on every throw but one, he got the silver medal. He wasn't too happy initially with the officials for calling a foul on the last throw, but he turned out to be a class act in the end, apologizing to the officials after seeing a replay, congratulating the winner Yuriy Bilonog, raving about the fans and facility, and taking the blame squarely on his shoulders during a post event interview despite the NBC interviewers apparent desire for Nelson to blame anything and everybody but himself.

Global Warming, Local Cooling

Apparently global warming is coming for Europe first; I know its sure left the American midwest the heck alone this year. We've set record low lows and record low highs right here in St. Louis this summer. And it's not just our imaginations about being a cool summer -- the leaves are turning red early. It's mid august and the dogwood in my front yard has already started to turn red. I ought to take a picture just so next time somebody tells me about global warming I can look at the picture and see for myself.

Militarizing a Civilian Asset

Carl Drews sent this in last week when Kevin was on vacation and I was holding down the fort here at Funmurphys. It's a thoughtful and well written piece.

The majestic Parthenon stands on the Acropolis above Athens, a continuing testament to the greatness of classical Greece. This temple to the goddess Athena was built in 447-432 BC by Pericles. It survived relatively intact until 1687. The profile we see today, with the south colonnade and its curious dip of broken columns, is the direct result of a war crime.

This particular war crime is known by the phrase "militarizing a civilian asset". Civilian assets are hospitals, churches, etc. that have no military purpose. They are militarized when they are converted to military use, or when fighters use them as a base of operations. The conversion is deemed a war crime because the formerly civilian structure is now subject to attack and possible destruction by the opposing forces.

In the 1687 the Turks and the Venetians were at war in Athens. The Parthenon had been converted to a mosque long before, and the Turks were now using it as an ammunition dump. Perhaps they figured that the Venetians would never bombard the Parthenon, or maybe they thought that the temple's stout marble walls would withstand an incoming shell. In either case, they were wrong.

On September 26, 1687 a Venetian shell scored a direct hit on the Parthenon. The powder magazine inside the building exploded, destroying in seconds what had stood for 2,119 years. The entire roof was blown off, the interior walls were smashed, and the side colonnades were shattered. The intricately carved statues of the frieze fell to the ground and lay there until Lord Elgin had them collected and transported to the British Museum in 1801.

The Turks had committed a war crime. They had militarized a civilian asset. The Venetians had taken the bait, shelled the greatest temple of antiquity, and tragically illustrated what happens when civilian assets are converted to military use.

I have been to the Acropolis in Athens twice, and have marveled at the still-enduring grace and beauty of the Parthenon. I grieved for its destruction, and I condemned both the Turks and the Venetians for fighting their war on sacred ground. The cause and result of their quarrel is now forgotten, but the destruction remains.

Today we see the militant supporters of renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf committing a similar war crime. They are using the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, and the nearby cemetery, as a base of military operations. In report after news report we read statements like this: "Insurgents fired mortars from the grounds of the mosque, hitting and heavily damaging a police station." (CNN.com) American Marines have found numerous caches of weapons in the cemetery. The al-Sadr militants are militarizing a civilian asset. In doing so, they are dangling the sacred Imam Ali mosque before an unknown fate, and playing a game of dice with its possible destruction. They are committing a war crime.

Muqtada al-Sadr claims that his forces are "protecting the holy sites", but this is complete bunk. One does not protect a building militarily by taking shelter inside it from hostile fire! If his forces really wanted to protect the shrine they would form a cordon around and some distance from the building, not hide inside it. The al-Sadr militants know perfectly well that American forces avoid their mosques; that's why they use mosques to hide their weapons and fighters. No, the Imam Ali shrine is protecting the insurgents, not the other way around.

It appears that the American forces in Najaf will exercise more restraint than the Venetians did centuries ago. Hopefully our Iraqi allies in the police force and Iraqi National Guard will do the same. We all know that the stakes are high, and we will all share the blame if the shrine is damaged. I don't want the Imam Ali shrine destroyed, for a host of historical, political, cultural, and sentimental reasons. Unfortunately, the al-Sadr insurgents will not listen to me when I tell them to "get the heck outta there!"

References are given below. The Geneva Convention doesn't say what you can do when fighters are blasting away at you from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Hmmm . . .

References:
http://www.globalissuesgroup.com/geneva/definitions2.html#placesofworship

Places of Worship
Acts of hostility towards places of worship in international conflicts are prohibited. Places of worship may not be used in support of the military effort, and they cannot be the objects of reprisals. (Protocol I, Art. 53)

These prohibitions also apply in non-international conflicts. (Protocol II, Art. 16)

If there is any doubt as to whether a place of worship is being used to help the military action, then it will be presumed not to be so used. (Protocol I, Art. 52, Sec. 3)

Protocol 1, Article 53 reads in its entirety as follows:
Protection of cultural objects and of places of worship

Without prejudice to the provisions of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, and of other relevant international instruments, it is prohibited: (a) to commit any acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples; (b) to use such objects in support of the military effort; (c) to make such objects the object of reprisals.

Wonderful Time Of Year

The Fruit of the Murphy Loins went back to school today, backpacks bulging to the brim with a long list of school supplies. Every year our district starts earlier and earlier, but doesn't get out any sooner in the spring. We had to warn the mom of a new middle schooler that if she went to the bus stop with her daughter as planned, a huge L would be permanently tattooed on her daughter's forehead.

The Other Fearless Leader starts back at her part-time temporary job on Monday. Normalcy has returned, which means I have to get up earlier so I can shower before my daughter and be ready to take her to the bus stop if the weather is inclimate. Ah, the simple joys of Fatherhood.

I keep repeating to myself, just because my kids are getting older doesn't mean I am.

Back In The Straddle Again

John Kerry has come out against bringing troops home after he came out for it. Why the straddle? President Bush has announced that we will reduce troop strength in Germany and South Korea in move that has long been anticipated. In his opinion, Bush is going to screw it up. If Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow was Clinton's campaign theme song, Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better is Kerry's. [Thanks be to Dodd for the links]

Here's what gets me -- Kerry is complaining about withdrawing troops from two countries that have, shall we say, issues with America and with American troops on their soil and are at peace. He's worried that it raises questions about our commitment. His plan for withdrawing troops from Iraq, where Iraqis are fighting and dying along side our soldiers, doesn't raise questions, it answers them about our commitment in the negative. He wants to keep troops in two countries where they aren't fighting, but remove them from a country where we are fighting our enemies, including al-Qaida. That's better how?

The case for removing them from Germany is a slam dunk. Germany is threatened only by its runaway welfare state. Of course, when I think back on the proud history of Americans fighting alongside Germans against tyranny, oops, we never have. We fought against German mercenaries in the revolutionary war, against the Kaiser in WWI, against Hitler in WWII, and they declined to fight with us in the Balkans, Kuwait, Iraq, or Afganistan. Oh, they've sent forces after the shooting has stopped -- a few thousand here and there. But then we'll still leave one of our new Brigades behind -- a couple thousand troops to fly the flag and reassure the Germans that if the French ever do attack, we'll at last fire shots in anger together.

We'll still keep troops in Korea, but reducing the number and moving them to positions where they don't get annihilated in the first North Korean artillery barrage seems like a good idea to me and increases our freedom of action while reducing tensions with the locals. And isn't part of Kerry's foriegn policy to get foriengers to like us again?

Last night I happened to catch Norm Coleman on the Daily Show. He pointed out that debate is good for democracy, but that by and large we don't have them anymore in this country - instead we have partisan bickering (my words, not his). When Jon asked him why, Norm said because of this and gestured to include the show. Jon made the joke "Comedy Central is responsible?", but Norm had made his point -- if politicians are reduced to brief soundbites on TV, all they can do is bicker.

And that's all that is going on here. We've gotten to the point that politicians will say anything to win, and then say and do whatever it takes to stay in power. This isn't the fault of the politicians, it's the fault of us, the American people, for putting up with this kind of politics. We have the ultimate power - to demand that politicians be responsive through the vote, to demand that the media be responsive through the viewership. We just need to use it.

Vacation Act 1, Scene 1

We stayed in Denver for 3 days on vacation. We did a lot of fun things there, but the very first thing we did was visit the Denver Botanic Garden. It is a lot more compact than the Missouri Botanical Garden, but still a joy to visit. I'm taking you on a visit through the magic of digital photography.

They had a wonderful Mediterranean garden with these cool pastel washed columns:

I know this is a cliched shot, but this cluster of viburnum berries was too pretty to pass up:

They had a high impact -- more in person than in photo -- red border inspired by Kew Gardens (I'm not sure what all the sculpture was inspired by):

Seemingly every body of water in Colorado had lilies, but at least these were in bloom:

They had an english cottage garden, and this was the yellow section:

These are not giant speakers, but a fountain that wasn't on. The view wasn't much better when it was on, but the sound sure was:

No display garden is complete without a Japanese garden, so here is the Denver version:

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

College Costs

Dave Nicklaus is a pretty sharp business columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He had a good column today about ever rising college tuition costs:

As in health care - another part of the economy where costs are out of control - third parties pay much of the cost of a university education. When the state government, the federal government or private philanthropists are paying much of the freight, the discipline that's inherent in most business-to-consumer transactions doesn't exist.

What's more, universities have a power that no ordinary merchant has: They get to look at your tax return. Don't think that scholarship, loan or work-study offer came out of pure altruism. Think of financial aid as a discount off list price, like the rebate on a new car. Thanks to the data you provide on your financial aid form, the university can practice almost perfect price discrimination, charging each consumer as much as his or her bank account will bear.

...

And, because universities have no profit motive, Vedder [Richard Vedder, professor of ecomomics at Ohio University and author of Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much] says, they are extremely inefficient. For every dollar that colleges spent on instruction in 1929, they spent 19 cents on administration. That rose to 33 cents by 1960 and 48 cents by the mid-1990s.

As for the faculty, Vedder makes a strong case that productivity has been declining while pay has risen steadily in the past 20 years.

The Great Unraveling

Jon Henke at QandO unravels Paul Krugman the pundit with the wisdom of Paul Krugman the economist. It's sad that a great economist has turned into a petty lying weasel.

Of course, blogs don't do any reporting, which is why you won't see this in the traditional news.

Westward Ho

We drove to Colorado in our new mini-van for vacation. Yes, the Murphy Family is nothing if not utterly conventional. We live in the burbs. We have two loin fruit. I volunteer with the scouts and my wife sings in the church choir. If I were to go crazy and kill people, all the neighbors would say "he was always such a quiet man."

If you know anything about the drive from St. Louis to Denver, you know that there is plenty of time to contemplate the wonders of life as the heartland flows by. I can't remember any of that, so I thought I'd jot down random musings, insights, and amusing anecdotes from our journey.

Missouri is nicknamed the "Show Me" state. Billboard companies have taken us at our word and by golly show us every couple of feet along I-70.

When we passed a VW bug with Alaska plates before we even reached Columbia, my wife immediately started collecting license plates. No alphabet game for us (we could safely ignore the Flying-J stores whose signs are chockablock with otherwise rare letters). We came across plates from 48 states and several Canadian provinces. We bagged Hawaii on the way home when he cut me off at a toll booth leaving the Kansas Turnpike. Oddly enough, we saw a bunch of New Hampshires, but no Vermonts. Perhaps they're afraid to show their faces in the Midwest after that Howard Dean kerfufle in Iowa. No Rhode Islands either, but no surprise there.

Rural areas are now served by a multitude of porn supercenters along our nations interstate system. Sometimes the names were evocative like "Passions", and sometimes the names were utilitarian like "XXX". Cows and sheep can rest easier.

Whoever mapped out the route I-70 takes through Kansas City should be shot. I've never exited a road to stay on it so many times in my life before.

Kansas isn't flat, just empty. The green rolling hills without a tree in sight have their own beauty. Traffic on the highway dropped off noticably west of Kansas City, and there were stretches in central Kansas where the only man made object in view was the highway, and the infrequent interchange was with a dirt road. In the Missouri countryside, it seems somebody's house is always in view -- you can tell how long they've lived there by how many rusted out wrecks they have out back.

Wilson billed itself as the Czech capital of Kansas. I don't know if the people in Prague, the Czech captial of the Czech republic know this, but I'm not sure why we need a Czech capital for Kansas.

They are proud of their astronauts on the plains, as something like six towns along the way had signs letting travelers know that their favored sons were astronauts. I guess somepeople will do anything, no matter how dangerous, to get out of a small town.

We saw the World's largest Prairie Dog from the highway, but didn't stop at Prairie Dog Town in Oakley, Kansas even though it has farm animals with extra parts. I wanted to, but cooler heads prevailed. OK, the Fruit of the Murphy Loins let it be known that they weren't interested in either concrete or freak animals when they had all the modern comforts in the van.

They farm sunflowers in Kansas. Huge, beautiful fields of vibrant yellow right there for your enjoyment along the road. Makes me wish I could have gotten to Lompoc CA when the flowers where in bloom.

The Holiday Inn Express in Salina KS has a great free breakfast but a tiny swimming pool. The Fruit didn't even bother with the pool on the way home.

Cruise control is one of the great driving inventions of the 20th century. Not only does it allow you to put your feet up on the dash on a long trip, it lets you feel superior to drivers without it. Most people are predictable, they slow down going uphill and speed up going downhill. People on cell phones, however, go crazy and speed up and slow down based, near as I can tell, on whether they're talking or listening at the moment. Then there are the "sticky" drivers - when you go to pass them, they speed up so you have to take your foot off the dash, mash down on the accelerator to get by, and then slow back down when you finally manage to get ahead of them. Or they come flying up behind you, match your speed five feet from the back bumper, and stay with you for 150 miles before exiting. And it never fails that as you come up behind somebody going slower, somebody else comes up behind you going faster. Then the fun begins -- just how close will you come to the car in front before either getting in the passing lane or taking it off cruise.

Ah, the joys of the open road.

Who's Your Daddy

Tonight we went to a picnic for my daughter's "team" at middle school. The school breaks the class down into three teams - red, white, and blue - to divide up their teachers. My wife warned me beforehand not to do anything to embarass her. I pointed out that since she is 13, my mere existance is an embarassment to her.

Towards the end of the picnic, my wife made her wave to a couple of the teachers to let them know she is our daughter. As we drove away, I asked if I had done anything to embarass her. The answer was no. I then asked if her mother had embarassed her by making her wave. The answer was yes. For once I'm ahead.

Back In The Saddle Again

The Murphy Family has returned refreshed and renewed from the mountains. And with views like this one, how else could we have returned? It's not like I had to endure 2 days of hearing the Fruit of the Murphy Loins cooped up in the van tell each other "Don't touch me" a hundred times a day. OK, I did. But just look at the view. And when they went with "Don't touch me in any way, shape, or form", that almost made me smile. Almost.

You can almost hear the wind whisper in the trees. I did.

Toys 'R' Ze

Josea "Ze" Frank has a wild and varied collection of videos, documents, and some interactive toys on his site. Two that I liked best are Draw Toy and Build Your Own (separately or together):

• Draw Toy 2003


• Build Your Own (Kaleidascope)


• Draw Toy vs. Build Your Own (Kaleidascope)