Funmurphys: the Blog

The War By Ken Burns

I'm watching The War, and I have to wonder two things: (1) What kind of makeup are they putting on these people, because they look amazingly young for their eighties (full disclosure, my father who signed up with the Navy in 1942 at the age of 17 aand served on submarines doesn't look near that good), and (2) what kind of nutritional supplemants were the people on, because they remember every last little detail (full disclosure, I haven't talked too much about with my father about his wartime experiences, but he does remember quite vividly two things -- how the Navy screwed him out of two weeks of leave between basic and signalman training, and how much he hated the peacetime Navy following the war -- but his memory doesn't seem near so detailed).

I have time to wonder this because the show alternates between what I like to call action and boredom. Great, I get to see the exact process of recycling a tin can, from removing both ends, to stomping it, to putting it in the tin bin. Can we get back to Gaudalcanal please, before I fall asleep. Marines are dying out there. I'd much rather listen to the guy tell the heartrending story about wishing his best buddy would hurry up and die on Bougainville because the sounds of him dying were keeping him awake than hear about how everybody pitched in on various drives stateside.

The show starts out as the story of 4 American towns in WWII, which is an odd organizational principle, but quickly it doesn't matter. If they need a veteran to tell a story, why they just don't mention what his hometown was. David Inouye is interviewed, and he wasn't from any of the 4 towns, but they wanted a decorated Japanese-American so they got him. The show is an odd hybrid - a mix of on camera remembrance, photos and videos from the time, and voice over from the omniscient narrator. It's kind of like going to the Golden Corral to eat - there's a little of something for everybody, the food is good if uneven, but not outstanding.

I have to say though, one thing comes through loud and clear: war is hell, even if it is just or necessary.

Ahmadinejad Confronted at Columbia

I don't know who's more shocked, me or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Lee Bollinger was Lucy to Ahmadinejad's Charlie Brown last night at Columbia; both Mahmoud and I figured he was going to get a free kick, but President Bollinger to his credit pulled the ball away and Mahmoud took a tumble. When I read the front page article in the Post-Dispatch this morning, was I ever surprised. Not only did an American academic confront evil, the Post reported it!

Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended Holocaust deniers and raised questions about who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks in a tense showdown Monday at Columbia University, where the school's head introduced the visitor by calling him a "petty and cruel dictator."

Ahmadinejad, appearing shaken by what he called "insults" from his host, sought to portray himself as an intellectual and argued that his regime had respect for reason and science. But the former engineering professor soon found himself drawn into the type of rhetoric that has alienated American audiences in the past.

He provoked derisive laughter by responding to a question about Iran's execution of homosexuals by saying: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country. … I don't know who's told you that we have this."

Man, did I ever misjudge President Bollinger:

Bollinger drew strong criticism for inviting Ahmadinejad to Columbia and had promised tough questions in his introduction. But the stridency of his attack on the Iranian leader took many by surprise.

"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad about the leader's Holocaust denial. "Will you cease this outrage?"

While I wasn't the only one (pleasantly) surprised, apparently I'm in the minority. I admit it, I thought Columbia was going to roll over on it's belly like a submissive dog, but instead the Hound of Cullan showed up.

It's one thing to call people names when you know that person isn't going to do a thing to you and you aren't looking evil in the eye (yes, I include all those people who compare Bush to Hitler); it's another to be on the stage with a man, President of a ruthlessly repressive government who doesn't hesitate to order the torture and death of his own people, who murders via proxy (Hezbollah, Hamas) civilians in neighboring countries, and who is currently waging a proxy war with America in Iraq, look him in the eye, and call him out. Believe me, if that happened in Iran, Bollinger would be dead now. That takes both moral and physical courage, a couple of virtues that I thought was totally lacking in today's Universities.

Lee C. Bollinger, you da man!

And no, I don't think calling out Ahmadinejad, even though he's the face, not the brains and muscle behind the current dictatorship, is disrespectful of Iran and it's rich and ancient culture. Iran and Iranians deserve better than Ahmadinejad and the mullahs behind him, but I can understand their reluctance after being burned by the 1979 revolution that brought the current religious dictatorship to power to have another go at revolution.

A Season For Every Activity

The Fruit of the Murphy Loins are just a touch older than Da Goddess's, so I have to respond to her observation:

It doesn't matter if I just saw her the day before or two weeks ago or whenever, the simple fact is, she's growing up so fast. In just over a month she'll be 15. Little Dude is going to be 11 about a week from now. Both of them are constant reminders that I'm getting older.

If Moms Ran the World ...

The flying nun got everybody stirred up the other day by saying:

“May they be seen, may their work be valued and raised, and to especially the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait – wait for their children to come home for from danger, from harm’s way and from war. I’m not finished. I have to finish talking … if the mothers ruled the world there would be no goddamn wars in the first place.”

The left is decrying "censorship" because FOX cut the cussing (and the rest of the statement with it) out.

Personally, this underscores you're on solid PC ground claiming women are superior to men (not just the flying nun, but entire women's studies departments claim this), but you're in trouble if you claim men are superior to women -just ask Larry Summers who was disinvited to speak by the University of California Regents after they were reminded of Dr. Summers remark that it would be worth researching whether the dearth of female professors in the hard sciences was due to innate sex differences. How is this different than saying mothers are more innately fit to run the world than fathers? Just asking.

I also have to wonder at the condition, if moms ran the world.

Umm, don't they already?

Saint Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) famously observed "Give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man". I not so famously have observed that women in general, and mom's in particular, have the children -- boys and girls -- to at least seven. I'd pay money to see a discussion between Mr. Jason Whitlock and Mrs. Sally Field on this subject do we have insufficient fathering in this country?

At the risk of raising ire from the right people, I'll also point out that "momma's boy" is not a compliment.

So my answer to the question What would life be like if moms ran the world, I have to say not much different. Actually, I take that back. If we mean only moms ran the world in a dictatorial fashion, then there would be more emphasis on reducing risk across the board - physically, economically, etc. And there would be more emphasis on religion. And we'd all wear clean underwear under penalty of law. I say this because these are two areas where men and women are different - women are more risk averse and more religious, and everybody knows about moms and clean underwear.

But an end to war altogether? No.

Ann Coulter Interview

I'm not a fan of Ann Coulter's an insult too far style of attention getting, but I did find this interview funny:

FB: Sexual harassment is a big issue in certain industries such as politics and the modeling business. Do you think people who trade sexual favors really get ahead?
AC: It seems to have worked for Hillary.

FB: You are a brilliant self made and accomplished woman. Would you ever date a model?
AC: Is the model a Republican?

FB: Which is the Bigger Disaster... a) Britney Spears at the VMAs... b) The New York Times.
AC: At least there's hope for Britney.

The comments would be even more funny if they weren't such a sad commentary on the current state of political discourse.

Death Is The Best Insect Repellent

Our troop recommends the use of Permanone applied to clothing when hiking or camping to keep the bugs (ticks especially) away. Permanone uses Permethrin.

It works.

I went with 40% DEET on arms and legs for my night out at the OA campout and got 2 tick bites under my clothes for my trouble.

I read with interest that the DOD is having field uniforms made with Permethrin to keep the bugs (mainly mosquitos) away. Maybe it will come to a scout uniform near you one day.

No Highway

I read Neville Shute's No Highway a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it, so much that I even checked the movie made from it, No Highway In the Sky from the library and watched it last night. As per usual, the book was better than the movie.

A scientist (Theodore Honey) at the Royal Aircaft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough has developed a theory about fatigue in light alloys and has obtained a test article to test his theory. Since the book was written in 1948, the theory is laughable now, but that itsn't important. When Dr. Scott takes over the metalurgical section at the RAE, eventually he gets around to asking Dr. Honey what he's working on. So when Dr. Honey explains he's testing his new theory of fatigue and he's using a Rutland Reindeer tail to do it with. Dr. Scott, clearly an engineer, instantly notices a detail that escaped Dr. Honey's attention - the Rutland Reindeer is a brand new plane that has just become basis of trans-Atlantic travel for the national (and monopoly) airline BOAC. When Dr. Honey tells him that his theory predicts the tail will fail at 1440 flight hours (shades of the deHavilland Comet), the story really begins.

The story is straightforward and told without villains. Just the natural working of different organizations and their interests provide conflict. The biggest reason I liked the book was that it was about aviation engineers - and there's no better 1-2 combo than that. Sadly, it's a combination rarely seen in print or pictures. Since I've worked on a couple of different British projects, I had a ball reading about the RAE and Boscombe Down. I was also pleasantly surprised by how little aeronautical engineering has changed in 50 years. The same personality times, the same organizational types, right down to the manager who flips from the biggest doubter that something is a problem to being the champion of the solution.

OA Weekend

If you live in the St. Louis area, you can thank me for the rain over the weekend. Yep, I went camping. The OA Fall Reunion was held at S-F Scout ranch and I was there. Friday night I had to undergo me pre-ordeal since I was unable to complete it due to broken toes at summer camp. I thought there would be maybe about 5 of us, but it was more like 80. Apparently a bunch of troops went out of council for their summer camp and were completing their pre-ordeals that night as well.

At 3 AM most of us bugged out when it sprinkled; the decision looked much better in retropspect when it poured at 4AM. It poured on us Saturday morning and Saturday evening, so we were grateful New Horizons moved up the candidate ceremonies to the afternoon so they could take place without rain. But that meant we were done by 6PM so the boys all voted to pack up in the rain and leave Saturday night instead of Sunday morning. The vote wouldn't have been different if we were an adult led troop.

9/11 + 6

Six years ago America was attacked. It was not the first attack. It has not been the last attack carried out by al Qaida.

Some people just wish that it would all go away. It won't go away on its own.

We have to understand the threat, not our projections, prejudices, or preconceptions.

The war has split open a major, pre-existing fault in not just America, but Western Civilization. The war did not cause the fault, and the end of the war will not eliminate the fault. But with the fault wide open, the full strength of civilization cannot be brought to bear on our enemy.

We are fighting both persons and ideology, but once a person gives up that ideology there is no need to fight them; as long as they hold on to that ideology, however, they must be opposed.

Craig, Gore, and Begley: Hypocrisy Examined

I think charges of hypocrisy are thrown around far more than warrented. The most common case is where someone who advocates what we shall call virtue is found not to always act in accordance with that virtue. For me the person would be a hypocrite not just because they sometimes failed to live up to their standards (only the standardless person would not then be a hypocrite), but the person who advocates something as a virtue they really don't think is a virtue and who have no intention of living up to it as a standard.

So do I think for example that Senator Craig is a hypocrite as some have suggested for being a closeted conservative homosexual while not supporting a liberal homosexual agenda? No, I don't think so. I think he should resign for soliciting sex in a public restroom, but I don't think he's a hypocrite because his politics don't match someone else's idea of what they should be because of his sexual orientation.

I think Al Gore is a hypocrite because while he tells us that because CO2 emissions are going to wreck the planet and kill millions, we need to change our lifestyles to reduce carbon emissions, he has not made any such changes in his lifestyle (nor is he alone in this).

Which brings me to Ed Begley Jr. I've seen his show on HGTV a couple of times (it's on after Design Star) and he's the anti-Gore. While I'm a global warming sceptic, I appreciate that making changes in the atmosphere's chemistry may not be a good idea without a much better understanding than we possess. Begley seems to live the lifestyle he advocates, and he makes a fear free pitch. He doesn't say you need to change everything or we're all going to die; instead he tries to give practical advice on how you can save energy (and money) in a pretty non-judgemental way:

I think there will be a lot of takeaways; that’s the thing that we’re going to try and stress, that people should grab the low-hanging fruit first. Not everybody is going to buy a hybrid car, an electric car, put up solar panels, or maybe even do solar hot water — that may be out of people’s budgets — even though it’s a lot less than solar electric. But people can afford a light bulb. They can afford a thermostat if it’s going to put them into profit in six months. They can afford perhaps some insulation, if they have a little piece of dirt in their backyard or front yard, they can plant some vegetables, they can afford to compost, or ride a bike or take a bus. Those things are quite affordable; indeed they’re quite cost-effective.

Who gets better press coverage - Al Gore, or Ed Begley Jr. Who should? I'll take Ed any day of the week.

We'll always have No Way Out

Maybe I was too harsh on Waterworld.

Cereberus Now Has Three Heads

I suppose I'm a bit of an oddity - an ardent free trader who only buys American nameplate cars (kind of the exact opposite of all those "progressives" who decry American companies sending jobs oversees but who will only drive a foreign nameplate car). I'm not a car guy, but I have paid some attention to Chrysler if only because of friends who work there. While Ford and GM continue their slumber, Chrylser has been shocking - first being bought by Daimler, then being sold to Cerebus, then hiring Robert Nardelli of all people, and now hiring Toyota's top American (in both senseis of the word). Now that Oldsmobile has gone the way of all flesh, I can say without risk of legal intanglements that this isn't your father's Chrysler. I suppose it just shows you that it's the company closest to going the way of Oldsmobile that makes the biggest transformations.

Now Cereberus has Lasorda, Nardelli, and Press to run their car company - three heads are better than 1!

Who Keeps Returning the Bums to Office?

David Bernstein asks a good question, Why should Larry Craig Resign? While he makes a good point, namely that other Senators have done far worse regarding their legislative duties -- a critique I'm pretty much in full agreement with -- one has to ask whey don't the other Senators resign, and I have to wonder why incumbents are such heavy favorites for reelection given how badly so many of them perform. Why don't we ever turn the bums out, and will the current catasprophically low approval ratings of Congress lead to fewer reelected bums?

Stop Excusing Vick

I never put much stock in the whole "white privelege" notion, but I'm reconsidering a bit. The bit is that as a white person I don't feel the need to defend someone just because they are white. That doesn't seem to be the case for people of non-pallor, or at least it's the only reason I can think of that Whoopi Goldberg (among others) defended Michael Vick's torture and murder of dogs:

Goldberg pointed out that Vick was raised in the South.

"This is part of his cultural upbringing," said Goldberg.

So was slavery Whoopi, so was slavery. If it were, for instance, Trent Green who was in the dock, would Ms. Goldberg be defending him?

The Skinny On the Skinny Gene

The good news is that yes indeed there is a gene that can keep you skinny. The bad news is that a therapy utilizing it is 10 years away.

Khosrow Adeli, professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Toronto and Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, who studies obesity, called the most recent finding an important one.

"Many of the genes we have found so far appear to promote obesity," he said. "This one appears to basically control it."

However, multiple factors are involved in obesity, including metabolism, fat cells, liver, and most recently, the brain, Prof. Adeli said.

"We certainly are going to see more of these similar discoveries to fully understand all of the factors involved," he said, adding that it's more difficult to design drugs that increase, rather than inhibit, something.

"If one can devise a way to increase activity of this adipose [gene], then it can certainly be very helpful in treating cases of obesity."

Until then, I'll be eating whole grain barley for breakfast.

Hey, I'm not overweight, I just don't provide enough stimulation for my adipose gene.

I return (again)

You may have noticed I haven't been posting much around here. There are several reasons, from being busy, to not having much unique to say, to being tired of most of what passes for polical discourse these days (You're evil! You're eviler!! You're evilest!!! You're evil infinity!!!!!), and to self-imposed standard that after not posting awhile I have to have post that makes up for the time away. So I'd like to thank Carl, still desceased according to the Stanford Alumni Association, for writing a blog post that makes up for my not posting for months on end.

So let me do an incomplete speed round on while I've been gone:

Larry Craig - he did the right thing by resigning, and yes we should actually have police officers maintain order in public bathrooms so they don't become nothing but tea-rooms. I'm not a fan of the put all our police in one basket theory of law enforcement for too reasons - (1) it's the typical cry when somebody is caught doing something illegal that the police ought to be concerned with real criminals, and since there is a worse criminal for everyone except for the actual worst criminal, it's just a cop out, (2) theory and practice have shown that you need to sweat the small stuff when it comes to keeping order which should be the main function of police work.
I don't imagine the police like such duty, but somebody has to take out the trash.

I happened to be in an Apple store this weekend (or the Temple as I affectionately call it) and noticed two things - it was a lot more crowded than anywhere else in the mall, and the iPhone is a joy. I hate my cell phone, and if I could persuade myself, let alone the funWife, that it was worth all that money I'd own one. The interface is simply amazing and, yes, intuitive. I was able to navigate and have a ball just from having read a review. Based on sales figures, America agrees with me to the tune of making it the best selling smart phone out there. [full disclosure, I own Apple stock.]

Why doesn't Congress provide benchmarks for all of our Government activities? And isn't all the testing requried under No Child Left Behind benchmarks?

1998 isn't the hottest, fourth hottest, or even 1 millionth hottest month on record. Not if the record stretches back more than 150 years, but actually is the record of our best estimate of global temperatures over the eons.

That's all I have time for today, thanks for your attention, and tune in again next time (whenever that is).