You Tell Me

Launching the war was clearly wrong. Absent ironclad evidence of an imminent threat, invading Iraq was an unmitigated act of agression, in violation of the laws of jus ad bellum and the U.N. Charter. But I wrote about this back in the Spring until my fingers turned blue, and what did it accomplish? Further, I know that almost everyone who reads this agrees with me on the immorality of the war.

Unfortunately, we can't go back in time and undo what's already been done. The question is, as always, "What now?"

I think we (the "coalition") have 3 major options:

1. Pull out now.
   Advantages: Brings our troops home immediately. Frees up money to help solve numerous problems at home. Reduces international suspicion of colonialist intentions. Reduces threat from terrorism.
   Disadvantages: Creates a power vacuum. Invites criticism for shirking our responsibilities as occupiers.

2. Stay until the Iraqis are ready to govern themselves
   Advantages: Clearly fulfills our obligation as occupiers. Creates a stable power structure.
   Disadvantages: May take several years. Will cost an enormous amount of money, of which we'll have to pay the lion's share. Will likely cost the lives of many coalition troops and Iraqi civilians. Increases international suspicion of colonialist intentions. Increases threat from terrorism.

3. Hand over command to the U.N.
   Advantages: Fulfills our obligation as occupiers. Brings our troops home (almost) immediately. Frees up money to help solve numerous problems at home. Reduces international suspicion of colonialist intentions. Reduces threat from terrorism.
   Disadvantages: I'm not aware of any.

Every Dog Has Its Day

Today was the "dog worship" day in the Nepalese celebration of Deepavali. In the simplest possible terms, Deepavali/Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is a bright, festive celebration of the triumph of light (good) over darkness (evil). Hindus throughout India, and around the world, celebrate it in diverse ways. It's also significant in the Sikh religion. [read more about Deepavali/Diwali] [more]

I don't practice the Hindu Dharma religion, so I don't celebrate the Festival of Lights, but for some reason, yesterday I felt a strong urge to light candles. As per usual, I figured why not? and lit my several fragrance oil burners which are scattered all over the house. Every time the votive candles went out, I re-lit them, keeping the lights and sweet smells going non-stop. I also plugged in my little (but bright) candle in the window. Then today I saw this news photo, and was kind of amazed!

I decided to follow the Nepalese tradition today, to some degree. I didn't "worship" my dogs per se (how would one do that anyway? Besides, I don't think mine would want to be worshipped), but I did try to please them all day long. I played nearly-endless games of fetch with Sage, my Labrador, and petted Girlie a whole bunch.

This evening, I took them for a long walk and let them more or less lead the way. When they wanted to stop and, uh, smell the roses, I let them linger as long as they liked. When they decided to poop on the lawn of the guy who drives his Jaguar two blocks to work every day, who was I to stop them? When we got back to the house, I gave them several treats (even including some of my favorite Vermont cheese!), and, of course, lots of love.

Maybe I'll even take them for a hike in the mountains this weekend. So what if Sunday isn't technically "dog worship" day! One thing I've noticed about dogs over the years: they don't obsess too much over technicalities. I hereby resolve to follow their good example.

Happy Diwali!

What was that you said about a WALK???

Posted by Me at 23:31 link

Live Long and Prosper?

A tiny round worm can live six times longer than normal if certain genes and hormones are tweaked, according to a report in the journal Science.

The worms - Caenorhabditis elegans - had a metabolic hormone inhibited and their reproductive systems removed.

They went on to stay healthy and active for a human equivalent of 500 years, which is the longest life-span extension ever achieved by scientists.

Researchers say some of these findings may hold true for mammals.

[full story]

First of all does "reproductive systems removed" mean no sex, or just no reproduction? If the former, I'll just take my three-score and ten and call it a life, thanks. Can you imagine how long 500 years of not getting laid would seem?

Then, there are major population control issues. If scientists develop a practical way of sextupling human lifespan before we can achieve a global sustainable birth rate, then we'll have one serious mess. Worse than now, even, I mean. (I'm assuming some folks wouldn't take 'the snip' at all, while others would elect to have kids first, and then do it.)

Aside — I hope Green Fairy chimes in on this.

I'm thinking retirement age would have to be increased beyond 67. And we'd really need to do something about social inequities; imagine 500 years of trailer park living, for instance.

But imagine the possibilities! I think we (humans) couldn't help but develop a longer term view of history if each of us lived half a millenium. I think our society would inevitably become less frenetic, more focused on maximizing everyone's happiness.

I guess those benefits outweigh the risks of human life coming to resemble something between Groundhog Day and an Anne Rice novel.

Maybe I'm wrong, though. After all, I'm very, very young.

Posted by Me at 22:21 link

Taking The Plunge

Quiet Desperation.

The more I learn about this man, the more I feel a kinship with him and admire what he did. I think all but the very shallowest of us have wrestled with the same existential quandary at least sometimes. I remember a line from a Kurt Vonnegut novel I read as a teenager: "What are people for?" I haven't been able to get that out of my head since. And I still don't have a definitive answer.

Do you?

I believe the best we can do is to strive for happiness, which means a myriad of different things to different people. The title of Al Franken's book Oh, The Things I Know! A Guide to Success; or, Failing That, Happiness pokes fun at the way most people look at happiness. Other folks are less cynical about it.

Most of us won't be rich or famous. Some find that fact easier to accept than others. Among those of us that "succeed," a great many seem to find riches and (especially) fame to be profoundly unsatisfying. Just check out the divorce and substance abuse rates among celebrities.

Among those of us who have more or less given up on wealth and (especially) fame, what else is there? What are people for? Vonnegut came back to the question in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: "We're here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is." That didn't, and doesn't, really cut it for me.

I think it's up to each of us to decide why we're here and what we want to do about it, to figure out what makes us happy and then to Go For It.

Even if it seems completely insane to everybody else.

The best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
It's only life, after all!

Indigo Girls — "Closer to Fine"

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad (et cetera) World

You've probably heard about Kirk Jones, the 40-year-old from Michigan who went feet first over the Canadian side of Niagara Falls — smiling — and walked away largely unhurt. Or rather, he walked unhurt into police custody; he faces a $10,000 fine for the "stunt," but if Jones doesn't end up getting paid a lot more than that for his story, then there's something seriously wrong with him. (Um....)

It's less likely that you're familiar with the plans of British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Later this week, he'll attempt to run seven marathons in seven days, starting in Antarctica this coming Sunday. He plans to run a marathon on each continent, finishing with the New York marathon on November 2. Impressive, you say? Wait! There's more! Sir Ranulph is 59 — and in June of this year he underwent heart bypass surgery.

O.K., I'm truly not worthy!

Mad, Mad (et cet) World, Part II: Politics

It should be no surprise that Bush has received the bulk of his funds (85%) from large donations (> $1000). What is surprising is that Bush doesn't lead the field in this regard — John Edwards does (he's gotten 88% from large donations).

You may ask How could this be? Maybe for the same reasons conservative editor David Brooks claims he thinks Edwards is the Democratic candidate who best understands "the common touch." Another excellent piece from Curtiss.

No surprise whatsoever is that Howard Dean leads the field in contributions from small donations (< $100), which would suggest that he's the candidate who truly has "the common touch."

Posted by Me at 21:16 link

File Under "Obvious"

AMMAN, Jordan (Reuters) - The U.S.-led war on terror has radicalized more Arabs angry both with the West and their autocratic rulers who are bent on curbing their political rights, a U.N.-commissioned study released Monday showed.

The Arab Human Development Report 2003 said Arab countries lagged other regions in dissemination of knowledge. Readership of books was relatively limited, education dictated submission rather than critical thought, the Arabic language was in crisis.

The report, launched in Amman, blamed an absence of "effective and peaceful channels for dealing with injustices" for pushing radical political groups to seek change by violence.

Rima Khalaf Hunaidi, the top U.N. official behind the team of Arab intellectuals who wrote the report, said anti-Arab sentiment in the West after the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities was a further factor radicalizing Arabs.

The U.N. Assistant Secretary General and regional director of UNDP's Regional Bureau for Arab states said educational opportunities were further limited as an anti-Arab backlash made young Arabs retreat from studying in the United States.

Arab student numbers in the United States dropped between 1999 and 2002 by an average 30 percent, Hunaidi added.

Arab disenchantment was deepened by autocratic rulers who were given a "spurious justification for curbing freedoms on the pretext of fighting terrorism" by Washington's war on terror.

[full story from Wired]

[Full Story From UN News Service]

Do our leaders believe that basic principles of right and wrong (e.g. "Two wrongs don't make a right"; "Good ends never justify bad means") simply cease to apply in international relations? For the sake of the people of the Middle East — and no less, for our sake (remember 9/11/2001?) — we'd better get a clue right now.

In local news....
Today was a day of catching up on all the things I should have done over the weekend. Success! It wasn't easy, but I'm back up to speed in all my classes, and the dogs, having now been walked, are feeling better about life. I am, too!

Posted by Me at 20:50 link

Leisure Suits Me Just Fine

I'd planned to get outdoors, though I hadn't made up my mind whether to head north to Virginia for some cycling, or to head west into the NC mountains for some hiking with dogs (which I haven't done in a shamefully long time). The dogs, who always seem to have a better handle on these things than I do, seemed convinced that Plan B was in effect. They danced around, did that thing with their ears and reminded me just where their leashes were hanging, in case I'd forgotten.

Around 8 AM, I was within mere minutes of heading out. Then I realized I wanted some more sleep. In A Big Way. So back to sleep I went. For five hours.

When I woke back up, the dogs had their hopeful-but-realistic faces on. No dancing, ears only halfway up. I had a flash of joy as I realized that it was no longer Daylight Savings Time—I had an extra hour! Then, of course, I had a corresponding let-down when I quickly realized that wouldn't happen until next week.

The wind now fully out of my sails, I made a list of things I needed/wanted to do: schoolwork for 3 of 4 classes, get some exercise, send a few e-mails, surf the Web for hours, watch a mountain biking movie.... Actually, those last two weren't on the list, but for whatever reason, were what I ended up doing with the rest of today's still-conserved daylight. The movie was New World Disorder II — Fat Tire Fury. Utterly mindless, but kind of amazing anyway.

Then I started thinking about biking. Wondering if the slick tires I'd just put on my mountain bike would really make me faster on the road, I did some Googling, and discovered that the consensus of the biking world was "No." So I went to eBay and almost bought a really cheap road bike. Well, not really, but I think I could have gotten it for about $15, it looked like it was in pristine condition and I would have only needed to drive up to Levittown, NY to pick it up! See for yourself!

But I realized even a $15 bike one has to drive 650 miles to pick up really isn't that good a deal (even if I do have a really good ulterior motive for driving to the NYC metro). Besides, I'm in business (sort of) with a guy who owns a bike shop! He just sold me $50 worth of tires for $10!

So I thought I'd take a "sidewalk ride" to try out my new slick tires, but starting out the door, I realized I had a flat. I took the tube out, did the soapy water thing, and sure enough — puncture. I dried the tube and marked it for later repair, then swiped the tube from the bent back wheel of the bike my friend has here for when she comes to visit (sorry!). It actually matters very little about the tube, because I swiped the whole rear wheel back in May or so (I did tell you about that, didn't I?).

After I'd pulled out the tube, I examined the empty rim and realized there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, except for seven broken spokes where I'd hit a curb full steam one night when the power was off all over town. I thought How hard could it be to fix this? and did a quick eBay search for spokes. Then I remembered my business partner again at about the same time I realized spokes were kind of variable — there seem to be dozens of different sizes. Which size were mine? I started to measure one, but from where to where is one supposed to measure? No amount of Googling gave me a satisfactory answer. I decided to leave it 'til Tuesday, when the bike shop reopens.

But I decided to go ahead and take all the spokes off anyway. Then I checked the rim: sure enough, it seemed completely un-warped. Then I looked up a helpful DIY site I'd seen before on bicycle repair, and decided to call the whole thing off! No, really, you should click the link. Only in comparison to sending someone to the moon is wheelbuilding not complicated.

I still wanted exercise, but I no longer wanted to ride my bike, so instead, I rode my trusty Nordic Track for 45 minutes, then recovered with a spartan feast of salmon and rice. While I ate, I read Sean Williams' blog and realized again what a witty, insightful writer he is.

I resolved to get outdoors Tuesday. I realized I felt a bit flu-ish.

I realized I felt more tired after a day of slacking than I usually feel after a day of working.

I decided to call it an early night.

Posted by Me at 20:54 link