The New York Times May 20
"SRE LEAV, Cambodia — Researchers are examining a long-unknown killing field in Cambodia with the graves of thousands of victims of the Khmer Rouge from the 1970s.
But local villagers found it first. By the time the researchers arrived in early May, some 200 graves had been dug up and the bones scattered through the woods by hundreds of people hunting for jewelry.
“Everyone was running up there to dig for gold, so I went too,” said Srey Net, 50, describing what seems to have been a communal frenzy that seized this poor and isolated village. “If they can dig for gold, why can’t I?”
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Religion of Peace
New York Times May 20
"What began as a raid on several homes in Tripoli early today in pursuit of suspected bank robbers tied to the militant group Fatah al-Islam quickly escalated into an open confrontation with members of the group, which has claimed loyalty to Al Qaeda’s principles, at their stronghold in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Tripoli.
Three soldiers and four militants were killed in that fight, officials said.
Hours later, militants tied to the group attacked an army patrol in the Koura region of northern Lebanon, Lebanese officials said, killing four other soldiers.
The Lebanese Army said this afternoon that Fatah al-Islam had also attacked army posts around the refugee camp as well as in northern Tripoli.
The fighting continued this afternoon as the Lebanese Army called in reinforcements, including tanks and heavy armor, and began shelling parts of the camp where the militants were believed to be hiding. Gunfire continued well into the afternoon, as Palestinians inside the camp called for a cease-fire in order to evacuate civilians from the area. It was not immediately clear whether any civilians inside the camp had been injured in the fighting.
Under an agreement with the Palestinian leadership, the Lebanese Army is not allowed to enter Palestinian refugee camps.
Last month Lebanese authorities arrested four members of Fatah al-Islam charging them with a bombing of two commuter buses carrying Lebanese Christians in February."
"What began as a raid on several homes in Tripoli early today in pursuit of suspected bank robbers tied to the militant group Fatah al-Islam quickly escalated into an open confrontation with members of the group, which has claimed loyalty to Al Qaeda’s principles, at their stronghold in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Tripoli.
Three soldiers and four militants were killed in that fight, officials said.
Hours later, militants tied to the group attacked an army patrol in the Koura region of northern Lebanon, Lebanese officials said, killing four other soldiers.
The Lebanese Army said this afternoon that Fatah al-Islam had also attacked army posts around the refugee camp as well as in northern Tripoli.
The fighting continued this afternoon as the Lebanese Army called in reinforcements, including tanks and heavy armor, and began shelling parts of the camp where the militants were believed to be hiding. Gunfire continued well into the afternoon, as Palestinians inside the camp called for a cease-fire in order to evacuate civilians from the area. It was not immediately clear whether any civilians inside the camp had been injured in the fighting.
Under an agreement with the Palestinian leadership, the Lebanese Army is not allowed to enter Palestinian refugee camps.
Last month Lebanese authorities arrested four members of Fatah al-Islam charging them with a bombing of two commuter buses carrying Lebanese Christians in February."
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Laughing at the Mirror
I finally got the GMC Truck Center on the phone. As is usual for such places they promised three days and then took two weeks. As is usual they came in at just about three times the initial estimate. As is usual it sounds like they accomplished nothing at all except replacing things that did not need replacing.
I was working at being polite while the schmuck on the phone totalled up the made-up numbers to come out to the largest amount they thought they could get away with. Then I made the connection between the belated tax return I had just completed, and the other schmuck on the phone....
I was working at being polite while the schmuck on the phone totalled up the made-up numbers to come out to the largest amount they thought they could get away with. Then I made the connection between the belated tax return I had just completed, and the other schmuck on the phone....
Sin at CERN
New York Times May 17, 2007
"The culprit is quantum weirdness, one principle of which is that anything that is not forbidden will happen. That means the Higgs calculation must include the effects of its interactions with all other known particles, including so-called virtual particles that can wink in and out of existence, which shift its mass off the scale."
Unlike Saturday night in San Francisco where anything that IS forbidden will happen.
"The culprit is quantum weirdness, one principle of which is that anything that is not forbidden will happen. That means the Higgs calculation must include the effects of its interactions with all other known particles, including so-called virtual particles that can wink in and out of existence, which shift its mass off the scale."
Unlike Saturday night in San Francisco where anything that IS forbidden will happen.
Barely Worth Noting
New York Times Thursday May 17
"Fatah retaliated by attacking a position of Hamas’s Executive Force, a parallel police force, killing four men. Another Fatah attack on the Executive Force prompted the Hamas men to take shelter in an apartment building, where they gathered the residents into the basement as Fatah forces surrounded the structure and shouted for revenge. The Fatah forces fired rocket-propelled grenades into the building of the Anour Tower and set it on fire."
The folks who fired grenades into a building full of hostages and set it on fire are the moderates.
"Fatah retaliated by attacking a position of Hamas’s Executive Force, a parallel police force, killing four men. Another Fatah attack on the Executive Force prompted the Hamas men to take shelter in an apartment building, where they gathered the residents into the basement as Fatah forces surrounded the structure and shouted for revenge. The Fatah forces fired rocket-propelled grenades into the building of the Anour Tower and set it on fire."
The folks who fired grenades into a building full of hostages and set it on fire are the moderates.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Better and Better
Nicholas Sarkozy, today the President of France, has named Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister and is expected to name Francois Fillon as prime minister.
Kouchner is a socialist elephant (important Socialist Party members are called "elephants") and the founder of Medecins sans Frontieres. He has the reputation of being an Atlanticist and has notably stood aside from the open hostility of the French Left to the United States. His father is a Jew and his mother a Protestant - he is from religious minorities on both sides.
French Protestants are generally less prone to antisemitism than French Catholics. During the Nazi occupation, French Jews who were in hiding, like Sarkozy's grandfather, usually hid among Protestants. For example Sarkozy's grandfather could only get her parents' permission to marry his grandmother by converting to Catholicism. Kouchner's father was not forced to the same extreme.
Kouchner's tenure as foreign minister at the very least means an end to the possibility of French support for Quebec independence, which Segolene Royal said she favored, and the endless turmoil that would have caused Canada.
Fillon is to be appointed because he is a supporter of Sarkozy's proposed economic reforms. But he fits in in another way as well. He is an Anglophile who served in the French diplomatic corps in England and married a Welsh bride, Penelope. His younger brother Pierre married Penelope's younger sister Jane.
With these three in power it is foreseeable that the dark days of Arafat coming to Paris fresh from some massacre of Israelis and being received as a hero at the Elysee Palace, are over. Similarly French foreign policy reflexively giving the back of the hand to the United States and Britain is over as well.
Kouchner is a socialist elephant (important Socialist Party members are called "elephants") and the founder of Medecins sans Frontieres. He has the reputation of being an Atlanticist and has notably stood aside from the open hostility of the French Left to the United States. His father is a Jew and his mother a Protestant - he is from religious minorities on both sides.
French Protestants are generally less prone to antisemitism than French Catholics. During the Nazi occupation, French Jews who were in hiding, like Sarkozy's grandfather, usually hid among Protestants. For example Sarkozy's grandfather could only get her parents' permission to marry his grandmother by converting to Catholicism. Kouchner's father was not forced to the same extreme.
Kouchner's tenure as foreign minister at the very least means an end to the possibility of French support for Quebec independence, which Segolene Royal said she favored, and the endless turmoil that would have caused Canada.
Fillon is to be appointed because he is a supporter of Sarkozy's proposed economic reforms. But he fits in in another way as well. He is an Anglophile who served in the French diplomatic corps in England and married a Welsh bride, Penelope. His younger brother Pierre married Penelope's younger sister Jane.
With these three in power it is foreseeable that the dark days of Arafat coming to Paris fresh from some massacre of Israelis and being received as a hero at the Elysee Palace, are over. Similarly French foreign policy reflexively giving the back of the hand to the United States and Britain is over as well.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Reading the Koran
I have started reading the Koran. It is generally assumed that since it is the holy book of a major religion it must somehow resemble the holy books of other religions. It doesn't. For one thing it was written by only one person. The Hebrew bible was written by dozens of hands over a period of almost a thousand years. Its heterogeneity reflects its authorship. The New Testament is a compilation of writings spread over more than a century and also done by several hands. So are the Buddhist sutras. No word of Hebrew, Christian, or Buddhist scriptures is believed to have been written by Moses, Jesus, or Gautama. Every word of the Koran is attributed to Muhammad, the founder and prophet. All of these literatures reflect the character and personalities of the folk among whom they arose as they evolved over centuries. But the Koran reflects only the personality and mood of Muhammad.
Unfortunately Muhammad, when he was writing the Koran, was embittered and resentful. The first chapter, 'The Cow' (which has nothing to do with cows), is an angry man's private ventings of spleen, made into scripture. Unfortunately most of his angry ventings are against the Jews and the Christians. He is quite explicit that the reason for his anger is that both refused to accept him as their messiah. Both refused to change their religions to accomodate him.
I expected that the text of the Koran would be a mass of pious exhortations and an occasional unkind word about the Jews or Christians here and there. Quite the contrary. The great majority of the text is composed on the same verse form. Each verse begins with three or four sentences denouncing Jews (whom he calls 'evil-doers'), Christians (whom he calls 'those who anger G_d'), or unbelievers generally. Occasionally he denounces idol-worshipers by which presumably he means the illiterate pagan Arab tribesmen whom he recruits. The last sentence of each verse is generally an admonishing platitude about G_d.
He says explicitly and repeatedly that it is the duty of Muslims to fight against unbelievers. So much for the 'Religion of Peace'. In most Muslim countries, education consists in large part of memorizing large parts of the Koran. I hope the rest of the book will be less scolding and angry and contain less violent language.
So far my conclusion is that we have been kidding ourselves in believing there is such a thing as a moderate Muslim. Judging by this text, that is an oxymoron. So far as I have read, the bulk of Muslim teaching consists of exhortations to hostility toward Jews, Christians, and pagans.
Our problems with Islam will not go away soon. 'Live and Let Live' is NOT what they are taught. The only way we will ever find to deal with people who accept the teachings of the Koran will be by force and by isolating them. They will ALWAYS attack their non-Muslim neighbors.
Unfortunately Muhammad, when he was writing the Koran, was embittered and resentful. The first chapter, 'The Cow' (which has nothing to do with cows), is an angry man's private ventings of spleen, made into scripture. Unfortunately most of his angry ventings are against the Jews and the Christians. He is quite explicit that the reason for his anger is that both refused to accept him as their messiah. Both refused to change their religions to accomodate him.
I expected that the text of the Koran would be a mass of pious exhortations and an occasional unkind word about the Jews or Christians here and there. Quite the contrary. The great majority of the text is composed on the same verse form. Each verse begins with three or four sentences denouncing Jews (whom he calls 'evil-doers'), Christians (whom he calls 'those who anger G_d'), or unbelievers generally. Occasionally he denounces idol-worshipers by which presumably he means the illiterate pagan Arab tribesmen whom he recruits. The last sentence of each verse is generally an admonishing platitude about G_d.
He says explicitly and repeatedly that it is the duty of Muslims to fight against unbelievers. So much for the 'Religion of Peace'. In most Muslim countries, education consists in large part of memorizing large parts of the Koran. I hope the rest of the book will be less scolding and angry and contain less violent language.
So far my conclusion is that we have been kidding ourselves in believing there is such a thing as a moderate Muslim. Judging by this text, that is an oxymoron. So far as I have read, the bulk of Muslim teaching consists of exhortations to hostility toward Jews, Christians, and pagans.
Our problems with Islam will not go away soon. 'Live and Let Live' is NOT what they are taught. The only way we will ever find to deal with people who accept the teachings of the Koran will be by force and by isolating them. They will ALWAYS attack their non-Muslim neighbors.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Thoughts for Laurel
Laurel, a smart and charming 14 year old girl attending an arts middle school in the southern Appalachians, wrote in reply to my remarks about the Fort Dix Plot:
"You have a point, but remember that if we give up on human rights to fight terrorism, the terrorists win. They make us into what they are and what they want us to be. If that happens, we loose all moral high ground and become what we are trying to defeat. Human rights must always be protected, in war or in peace, if our democracy and the values writen into our constitution are to survive."
And I replied:
"Hi Laurel,
Two thoughts -
As to the terrorists winning, if the Muslims had succeeded in massacring 100 of our soldiers as they planned, would not that have been a big win for them?
Second is a hard truth. Just as five is early to learn that there is no Easter Bunny, fourteen is early to learn that our constitutional rights do not come from G_d. They come from the Supreme Court. The Court both articulates and shapes our laws, values, and customs. And over the past two hundred years of war and peace the Court has said repeatedly that we have fewer freedoms in wartime than in peacetime. Yet another reason to love peace and avoid war.
In simpler more human terms, in wartime we and our enemies are physically destroying one another with the unthinkable violence of high-powered rifles and high explosive bombs. Compared to those affronts to human beings, whether we wiretap them or profile them beforehand is trivial. And it is less important still when the results of the wiretapping and profiling may determine whether that annihilating violence will be done to fewer of our own people."
P.S. Have a great time in Paris.
"You have a point, but remember that if we give up on human rights to fight terrorism, the terrorists win. They make us into what they are and what they want us to be. If that happens, we loose all moral high ground and become what we are trying to defeat. Human rights must always be protected, in war or in peace, if our democracy and the values writen into our constitution are to survive."
And I replied:
"Hi Laurel,
Two thoughts -
As to the terrorists winning, if the Muslims had succeeded in massacring 100 of our soldiers as they planned, would not that have been a big win for them?
Second is a hard truth. Just as five is early to learn that there is no Easter Bunny, fourteen is early to learn that our constitutional rights do not come from G_d. They come from the Supreme Court. The Court both articulates and shapes our laws, values, and customs. And over the past two hundred years of war and peace the Court has said repeatedly that we have fewer freedoms in wartime than in peacetime. Yet another reason to love peace and avoid war.
In simpler more human terms, in wartime we and our enemies are physically destroying one another with the unthinkable violence of high-powered rifles and high explosive bombs. Compared to those affronts to human beings, whether we wiretap them or profile them beforehand is trivial. And it is less important still when the results of the wiretapping and profiling may determine whether that annihilating violence will be done to fewer of our own people."
P.S. Have a great time in Paris.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
In Memoriam
Alfonse 2005-2007
To some only a squirrel, to others a mere tree rodent. But to those of us who knew him he was a cheerful if standoffish neighbor. Always energetic, he frequently had a bad word for passing dogs and cats whom he scolded from his tree. To others he was a beloved mate and a devoted dad (or mom - hard to tell with squirrels).
He is now at eternal rest under the apricot tree in the yard (unless a dog or raccoon digs him up - it's not that deep a hole.)
To some only a squirrel, to others a mere tree rodent. But to those of us who knew him he was a cheerful if standoffish neighbor. Always energetic, he frequently had a bad word for passing dogs and cats whom he scolded from his tree. To others he was a beloved mate and a devoted dad (or mom - hard to tell with squirrels).
He is now at eternal rest under the apricot tree in the yard (unless a dog or raccoon digs him up - it's not that deep a hole.)
The Lessons of Fort Dix
One wonders whether the FBI investigation that bagged the six Muslims planning a massacre at Fort Dix involved wiretaps? Were the perps' spied on? Were they profiled? Did the FBI infiltrate as many agents into Methodist churches and Reform synagogues as into New Jersey mosques? Were the perps' rights as scrupulously protected as if it was peacetime? I hope not.
What comes after Gen X?
On Jeopardy! College Tournament the final question was "Who was the first president to conduct a televised news conference?" One of the kids, a fairly smart one, thought it was LBJ. I was stunned. How could he have thought that? Then I realized he was born twenty years after Johnson left office. To him Johnson and Eisenhower are equally figures from the Dark Ages. Another moment of feeling senior....
Monday, May 07, 2007
You Heard It Here First
Amid the shouting and brouhaha of the French election campaign, the name that has not been mentioned is that of Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher was to Britain what Lee Iacocca was to Chrysler. She was elected to reform a British economy running on welfare, deficits, unemployment, strikes, and inflation, and she did it. Britain had become the Sick Man of Europe. Today the British economy is the envy of Europe.
Sarkozy was elected with essentially the same mandate as Thatcher. The contrast with the defender of welfare and political correctness, the Socialist Segolene Royal, could not have been clearer. Whether he will be as successful as Thatcher will unfold over the next five or ten years.
The problem for Americans is whether France, without its snug status quo economy will be as much fun for tourists. Can a recently remodeled restaurant or hotel ever be as good a tourist experience as the old one, unchanged since 1912, was? Can big box malls be far off?
Sarkozy was elected with essentially the same mandate as Thatcher. The contrast with the defender of welfare and political correctness, the Socialist Segolene Royal, could not have been clearer. Whether he will be as successful as Thatcher will unfold over the next five or ten years.
The problem for Americans is whether France, without its snug status quo economy will be as much fun for tourists. Can a recently remodeled restaurant or hotel ever be as good a tourist experience as the old one, unchanged since 1912, was? Can big box malls be far off?
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Little Ones and the Big One
Life is a big defeat. We look both ways before crossing the street, we get vaccinations, we stay out of dark alleys, we dodge the draft, we drive defensively. But in the end we die anyway.
That is why small victories are so important. A few weeks ago my kitchen drain stopped draining. But the clog was porous enough that the water would go down eventually. A few days ago the water stopped going down at all. Standing water, dirty dishes. A fetid slum. Guaranteed Miraculous liquid drain cleaner had no effect whatever. Finally I was home and I had a snake in hand.
Fifteen years ago I spent several weekends straining and swearing, to unscrew a rusted-tight galvanized steel drain plug. Each weekend I upped the torque ante and the risk of breaking the pipe. After it ever so reluctantly came out, I replaced the galvanized rust blob with a black plastic screw-in plug. Today I reaped the benefit of my long ago prudence. Out the plug came with no screaming or gnashing of teeth whatever. To quote the sage, "Calloo callay!"
I snaked out a disgusting blob and ran the water and behold! Nothing. It still backed up. Open the plug a second time and run the snake the opposite direction. More disgusting blobs. Free running drain.
It ain't V-E Day but it made my day. Washed the dishes, washed the sinks. I am a simple man and simple things make me happy.
That is why small victories are so important. A few weeks ago my kitchen drain stopped draining. But the clog was porous enough that the water would go down eventually. A few days ago the water stopped going down at all. Standing water, dirty dishes. A fetid slum. Guaranteed Miraculous liquid drain cleaner had no effect whatever. Finally I was home and I had a snake in hand.
Fifteen years ago I spent several weekends straining and swearing, to unscrew a rusted-tight galvanized steel drain plug. Each weekend I upped the torque ante and the risk of breaking the pipe. After it ever so reluctantly came out, I replaced the galvanized rust blob with a black plastic screw-in plug. Today I reaped the benefit of my long ago prudence. Out the plug came with no screaming or gnashing of teeth whatever. To quote the sage, "Calloo callay!"
I snaked out a disgusting blob and ran the water and behold! Nothing. It still backed up. Open the plug a second time and run the snake the opposite direction. More disgusting blobs. Free running drain.
It ain't V-E Day but it made my day. Washed the dishes, washed the sinks. I am a simple man and simple things make me happy.
Friday, April 20, 2007
From Lordsburg
Life is full of major defeats and small victories. My small victories today were several. My defeat was major.
I have learned the routine with getting the decorative and thoroughly inconvenient wheel covers off and bought my own pipe wrench so I could get them off myself. With the wheel covers off one can get at the lug nuts. (The Lansing minor league baseball team is the Lansing Lugnuts by the way, in case you were wondering.) They are an oddball size and the truckstop where I wanted them tightened to the specified torque did not have a socket that would fit. I went to a few places that didn't have large sockets, then to one that had a row of them but I didn't know which to get. But by the trial and error of buying one after another and returning them, I discovered that all day I had been wanting a 30mm socket and had not known it. I bought a pipe wrench in the same place. Later I will find a place with a Filson wrench and dump the pipe wrench in California, but for now.....
I actually succeeded by mutual intimations in bribing the wheel-and-tire guy at the truck stop in Deming to work on my bus (using my exciting new 30mm socket) ahead of the 18-wheelers lined up there. Even a palm already greasy can be greased. $30 and worth every penny. It was one of those small adventures that are precious for being preposterous.
Between Deming and Lordsburg on I-10 is a mountain pass which marks the continental divide. For days now there has been a stiff wind out of the west (presumably Mariah) which for me is a head wind. The Pachyderm has an immense cross section to the wind and clearly was going to get me killed by slowing to a crawl on the way up to the pass. My small victory was having the foresight /intimidation to get to Lordsburg via Silver City, an additional 40 miles but over little-used roads.
In addition to other small victories this morning, this eveing I succeeded in broiling steak over a portable Coleman grill I got in Las Cruces. I have been looking forward to this for a while now. Restaurant steak is usually too salty for me so I have learned to avoid it. And there is a sense of accomplishment in cooking one's own dinner.
The last of the small victories was delightful. I arrived in Lordsburg at dusk and was looking for a place to look at a telephone book and came upon Holiday Inn. In looking for a place to park I discovered a large graveled area next to a wide field with a few heavy trucks parked in it. I parked there too. The people at the desk were ungracious because I was not going to stay at their motel and because I am quite dirty from crawling around and under the Pachyderm all day. In returning to the Pachyderm in the broad graveled area, I discovered that I can get Holiday Inn's wi-fi signal just fine. Smile.
The defeat was that in spite of the new alternator, the Pachyderm's electrical system still occasionally shuts down under heavy load and sometimes under not-so-heavy load. It did it once between Deming and Silver City and again between Silver City and Lordsburg. (I love Western place names.) The first time it started again almost immediately. The second time I sat in the road for fifteen minutes before it would start. Even the emergency flasher was disabled. I will take it to yet another mechanic in the morning
But in spite of this frustration, during the whole day I was active and busy, I exerted myself, and enjoyed most of what I did.. I accumulated almost 12,000 steps on my walkmeter. That is a successful day, whether the Pachyderm works consistently or not.
I have learned the routine with getting the decorative and thoroughly inconvenient wheel covers off and bought my own pipe wrench so I could get them off myself. With the wheel covers off one can get at the lug nuts. (The Lansing minor league baseball team is the Lansing Lugnuts by the way, in case you were wondering.) They are an oddball size and the truckstop where I wanted them tightened to the specified torque did not have a socket that would fit. I went to a few places that didn't have large sockets, then to one that had a row of them but I didn't know which to get. But by the trial and error of buying one after another and returning them, I discovered that all day I had been wanting a 30mm socket and had not known it. I bought a pipe wrench in the same place. Later I will find a place with a Filson wrench and dump the pipe wrench in California, but for now.....
I actually succeeded by mutual intimations in bribing the wheel-and-tire guy at the truck stop in Deming to work on my bus (using my exciting new 30mm socket) ahead of the 18-wheelers lined up there. Even a palm already greasy can be greased. $30 and worth every penny. It was one of those small adventures that are precious for being preposterous.
Between Deming and Lordsburg on I-10 is a mountain pass which marks the continental divide. For days now there has been a stiff wind out of the west (presumably Mariah) which for me is a head wind. The Pachyderm has an immense cross section to the wind and clearly was going to get me killed by slowing to a crawl on the way up to the pass. My small victory was having the foresight /intimidation to get to Lordsburg via Silver City, an additional 40 miles but over little-used roads.
In addition to other small victories this morning, this eveing I succeeded in broiling steak over a portable Coleman grill I got in Las Cruces. I have been looking forward to this for a while now. Restaurant steak is usually too salty for me so I have learned to avoid it. And there is a sense of accomplishment in cooking one's own dinner.
The last of the small victories was delightful. I arrived in Lordsburg at dusk and was looking for a place to look at a telephone book and came upon Holiday Inn. In looking for a place to park I discovered a large graveled area next to a wide field with a few heavy trucks parked in it. I parked there too. The people at the desk were ungracious because I was not going to stay at their motel and because I am quite dirty from crawling around and under the Pachyderm all day. In returning to the Pachyderm in the broad graveled area, I discovered that I can get Holiday Inn's wi-fi signal just fine. Smile.
The defeat was that in spite of the new alternator, the Pachyderm's electrical system still occasionally shuts down under heavy load and sometimes under not-so-heavy load. It did it once between Deming and Silver City and again between Silver City and Lordsburg. (I love Western place names.) The first time it started again almost immediately. The second time I sat in the road for fifteen minutes before it would start. Even the emergency flasher was disabled. I will take it to yet another mechanic in the morning
But in spite of this frustration, during the whole day I was active and busy, I exerted myself, and enjoyed most of what I did.. I accumulated almost 12,000 steps on my walkmeter. That is a successful day, whether the Pachyderm works consistently or not.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The SOB's at Freightliner El Paso accomplished almost nothing in spite of charging a great deal and wasting eight days of my time. I got almost to Deming, New Mexico and had a sidewall blowout on a front tire. That took two full days of screwing around to get a front tire replaced. And to get the other tire replaced as well because of cracks in its sidewalls. I had the air filter replaced. It was clogged and changing it significantly improved the performance of the engine. But it still spontaneously shuts down under heavy load, i.e. highway speeds. I had assumed that fixing the air filter and thus the air pressure problem would also fix the shutting down problem since I assumed that the engine was being throttled off by too little air.
Now I have no idea at all what the problem is. I drove back to the mechanics shop in Deming that changed the air filter (it is a huge cylinder and hard to get to). They said that they didn't do such work and that I had to go to an RV service department to get it fixed and the nearest ones were in Las Cruces. So I backtracked fifty miles to Las Cruces. And learned the exact opposite. The RV service department I spoke to said they did NOT do that kind of work. So my trip to Las Cruces was pointless. But since I am here I am going to talk to yet another mechanic tomorrow. So it goes on and on. I cannot see a way get out of this without solving it.
While it is discouraging and dispiriting, it is still true that I have gotten three of the problems fixed: the tailpipe, the air filter, and the tires. If I can get the engine shutting down problem fixed, I think I can go home.
Now I have no idea at all what the problem is. I drove back to the mechanics shop in Deming that changed the air filter (it is a huge cylinder and hard to get to). They said that they didn't do such work and that I had to go to an RV service department to get it fixed and the nearest ones were in Las Cruces. So I backtracked fifty miles to Las Cruces. And learned the exact opposite. The RV service department I spoke to said they did NOT do that kind of work. So my trip to Las Cruces was pointless. But since I am here I am going to talk to yet another mechanic tomorrow. So it goes on and on. I cannot see a way get out of this without solving it.
While it is discouraging and dispiriting, it is still true that I have gotten three of the problems fixed: the tailpipe, the air filter, and the tires. If I can get the engine shutting down problem fixed, I think I can go home.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The News from Pakistan
New York Times, 20 March 2007
"At least 46 people died in the fighting between militants and tribesmen on Monday and Tuesday, the military official said without elaborating.
The two officials, speaking in Islamabad, said the clash was between pro-government tribesmen and foreign militants. However, a local intelligence official said the fighting was part of a feud among rival militant groups."
Is it still about Israel, or can we give that up now?
-
"At least 46 people died in the fighting between militants and tribesmen on Monday and Tuesday, the military official said without elaborating.
The two officials, speaking in Islamabad, said the clash was between pro-government tribesmen and foreign militants. However, a local intelligence official said the fighting was part of a feud among rival militant groups."
Is it still about Israel, or can we give that up now?
-
Saturday, March 17, 2007
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Maybe it isn't. The one customer review of this thing says that it is just a reprint of a not very good book published in 1930. The original covered only French gargoyles and was not well laid out, poorly researched, and badly written. I have sent for it and a few others with the word 'gargoyles' in the title. I may yet become an itinerant
photographe living in a gypsy van. I will know in a few days. It might even provide a place to start and plagiarize from using better modern technology. It might be that the main significance of this thing is that somebody at Dover Press recently thought that a book of photographs of gargoyles was worth publishing.
photographe living in a gypsy van. I will know in a few days. It might even provide a place to start and plagiarize from using better modern technology. It might be that the main significance of this thing is that somebody at Dover Press recently thought that a book of photographs of gargoyles was worth publishing.
A day late and a euro short
The project I have been planning to spend about a year of my life doing, has been done. I have been obsessing on the right lens, the right camper-van, and the right season for photographing Europe's gargoyles for a coffee table book. Out of an abundance of caution I checked on Amazon this morning. I was and am aghast that the book, vaguely in mind for more than fifteen years (since Carcassonne with Patty, whenever that was), has been done. And only last August. The Gargoyle Book: 572 Examples from Gothic Architecture (Paperback). I am undone. I literally don't know what to do with myself.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
from Arches National Park, Utah
The subject here is sandstone, all the marvels, antiquities, colors, and layers of it, the things ancient seas have built and wind and water have carved of it Arches National Park is not misnamed. Among its other wonders and glories, great sandstone arches abound.
I am going to write Ellen Tauscher, my congresswoman, to ask, nay demand, that something be done about the names perpetuated by the Park Service. I demand that Double Arch be renamed Petrarch and Beatrice Arch, Turret Arch must become Plutarch. In honor of Utah's own Brigham Young, Landscape Arch must become Heresiarch. West Window and East Window must become Patriarch and Matriarch. My demands go on and on, but those are the non-negotiable ones.
I hiked up to Heresiarch today, the extraordinary long narrow one on the cover of flyers about the park. Part of it fell down in 1991 which made it still longer and narrower. There were people under it at the time but they ran away upon the initial rockfall and no one was hurt. There is even a picture of the rock falling. The Park Service has now gone the Forest Service one better by closing off the area underneath for fear of Hazardous Arch Failure.
When I was at Balancing Rock it occurred to me that though the thing has been where it is for tens of thousands of years, it must eventually fall. One would have to be a schlemazzel on a cosmic scale to have Balancing Rock fall on him. But we all have to go sometime. I think it would be good to go in a way so innately preposterous that there would be an inkling of laughter at the last. But later. Much later.
Reading about and seeing geology, deep time, and uniformitarianism is always relieving. I consider the layers in the sandstone as I walk over them. Each tenth of an inch thick layer is a year's cycle of seasons and there are miles and miles of them as I walk, and more miles and miles of them that eroded away long ago. Life seems less serious and compelling then.
I am going to write Ellen Tauscher, my congresswoman, to ask, nay demand, that something be done about the names perpetuated by the Park Service. I demand that Double Arch be renamed Petrarch and Beatrice Arch, Turret Arch must become Plutarch. In honor of Utah's own Brigham Young, Landscape Arch must become Heresiarch. West Window and East Window must become Patriarch and Matriarch. My demands go on and on, but those are the non-negotiable ones.
I hiked up to Heresiarch today, the extraordinary long narrow one on the cover of flyers about the park. Part of it fell down in 1991 which made it still longer and narrower. There were people under it at the time but they ran away upon the initial rockfall and no one was hurt. There is even a picture of the rock falling. The Park Service has now gone the Forest Service one better by closing off the area underneath for fear of Hazardous Arch Failure.
When I was at Balancing Rock it occurred to me that though the thing has been where it is for tens of thousands of years, it must eventually fall. One would have to be a schlemazzel on a cosmic scale to have Balancing Rock fall on him. But we all have to go sometime. I think it would be good to go in a way so innately preposterous that there would be an inkling of laughter at the last. But later. Much later.
Reading about and seeing geology, deep time, and uniformitarianism is always relieving. I consider the layers in the sandstone as I walk over them. Each tenth of an inch thick layer is a year's cycle of seasons and there are miles and miles of them as I walk, and more miles and miles of them that eroded away long ago. Life seems less serious and compelling then.
Friday, March 09, 2007
News from the Middle East
Would like to hear the bad news first and more bad news second, or the other way around?
That the agreement between Hamas and the Fatah arranged at Mecca brokered by Saudi Arabia ended the fighting between them is well known. Less well known are the terms. One of them is that Fatah agreed to PA schoolbooks teaching that the destruction of Israel is a religious duty, not just a nationalist obligation. A nationalist obligation can be negotiated about, however insincerely. A religious struggle (Ribat) cannot. http://www.spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=1908 has quotes.
The other not so good news is that an American Jewish group, Brit Tzedek vShalom, has already come to the defense of the new textbooks. They wrote a letter to Senator Clinton who had publicly criticized the new textbooks, asking her to reconsider, claiming the new textbooks "encourage a peaceful resolution of the conflict" and "endorse democracy".
That the agreement between Hamas and the Fatah arranged at Mecca brokered by Saudi Arabia ended the fighting between them is well known. Less well known are the terms. One of them is that Fatah agreed to PA schoolbooks teaching that the destruction of Israel is a religious duty, not just a nationalist obligation. A nationalist obligation can be negotiated about, however insincerely. A religious struggle (Ribat) cannot. http://www.spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=1908 has quotes.
The other not so good news is that an American Jewish group, Brit Tzedek vShalom, has already come to the defense of the new textbooks. They wrote a letter to Senator Clinton who had publicly criticized the new textbooks, asking her to reconsider, claiming the new textbooks "encourage a peaceful resolution of the conflict" and "endorse democracy".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)