Friday, August 29, 2014

It is AMAZING how Proactive Microsoft Windows Support Has Been lately... I don't even have a Windows Computer

So I assume anyone who reads this will not fall for the scam of which I will speak.  I am positive you will not.  After all, you are all intelligent, attractive, forthright ladies and gentlemen.
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A scam that I used to get about once a quarter has been hitting me lately every other day I am at home.  Someone calls from "Microsoft Windows Support" to explain my computer is a mess.  Sending errors messages (to the Global Windows Server) and infected with Malware.
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Today I, as I always do, said, "Look, I know this is a scam, try some one else."  But "Sergi... I mean Sam" told me no, I had a real problem.
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So I played along for a while.   Was I in front of my computer? Yes.  What did I see on my screen? My desktop.  What about my keyboard, what was the key in the lower left corner?  Control.  How about next to that?  Option.
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Sir, do you see the key that looks like the Windows icon, it should be right there? No, Sergi..er Sam.  I don't have that key because I am on a Apple Computer and you are trying to scam me.  I told you I wasn't a f*cking idiot.
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I hear Sergi explaining this "problem" to his boss in the background (because idiots don't have a"hold" button").  Sergi's boss mumbled, grunted and (I assume) wavedhis hands until Sergi's said to him, "What?"  And I hear the boos say, "Hang up the f*cking phone".
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I knid of enjoyed that too much.
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The Amazing Sailing Stones of Death Valley - Solved

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Science is amazing, but can sometimes make the world a less miraculous place.  These are stones at "The Racetrack" in Death Valley.  The Racetrack is far from anything - at the end of a long dirt road where humanity seems far far away.
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And for years - decades - hundreds of years, the mystery of the stones has been an enigma (and not the kind that Matthew McConaughy found).  These massive stones leave tracks across the mud flats, but no one knows how they move.
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Or they didn't.  Scientist put GPD trackers on them and the once every 20 year event happened in less than 5.
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Turns out it is a very very light sheen of ice that melts on the land just before it does around the rocks.  That and the right wind pushes the stones across the lake bed.  It is rare, but it happened and scientist bolted out to see what was happening and caught it. (Story on Huffington Post and ABC News)
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For Ed's birthday a while back, Eddie, Lynn and I had trekked out to see them for ourselves.  It was surreal.  And magical.  Going forward it will still be surreal, but a little less magical.
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The Dog was cranky until...

Trevor was all cranky this morning as I am working at home. I couldn't figure out why until I finally brought his snuggle ball into the office. 

And, Re: Russian Invasion, We are Playing Along...

Nice Story.  Well, sad story if you are Ukrainian.  Or if you care about peace.  Or if you have a sense of duty - after all the UK, US and Russia all agreed to guarantee Ukraine's borders when it gave up Nucs.
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FYI, if I was Israel, Iran or North Korea, I would NEVER give up Nuclear Weapons!  Talk about a stupid thing to do, believing in Superpowers to keep their word.
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Russia Invades Ukraine - You Know... Just FYI

So those of you that avoid the news at all costs - and I understand why you would, might not have heard this tidbit.  Russia has invaded Ukraine.

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Don't get me wrong, not a big invasion, a small invasion.  But an invasion none the less. Ukraine has Russian Military POWs.  There is fighting.
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What is interesting is Putin's way of slowly upping this conflict.  I think he totally understands that Westerners (US, Western Europe and others) have the attention span of a gnat.  He sneaks in a little to the rebels.  Then a little more.  Then he gets caught, talks ("negotiates") until we lose interest and then does more.
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It is like we all learned the lesson from blitzkrieg to stand up to quick moves, but don't understand the slow game.
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Oh well, we ignore this at our own peril.  The Russians have spoken openly about saving ethnic Russians not only Ukraine but in the Baltics.  And the Baltics are in NATO.  Which means we are obliged to go to war for them.
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We might not.  We might hang them out to dry.  But I doubt it.  However, if Putin is trying to test us, this is the way to do it.  Him, his military and his German enablers.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Vinod Khosla is Kind of a Dick

Here is a story and you can read it, but the end result is that Vinod Khosla is kind of a Democratic Fund-Raising Dick.  Or as Cartman once said about Kyle's Mom, A Super King Kamama Bitch.
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King of the Dicks in his "What Me Worry?" pose

Short story - he bought a lot in San Mateo by Half Moon Bay with centuries old access to the beach (Martins Beach).  The lot that had included the road to the beach.  After complying with  California State Coastal Access laws for years, he decided, you know, "screw the people of the state" and closed access to the beach.
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That is way illegal in California.  You can't close access to the beach.  I mean if David Geffen, king of the gay-movie-mafia can't get away with, either can you, you johnny come lately Indian venture capitalist pig.  Now, on appeal,  he did buy some smarmy judge who said it was legal under the deed to the property which predates the state of California (under Mexican law).  Which is - you know - bullshit.
"Mine! Mine! Mine!"
Bullshit.  He is a rich Upper Caste Mindset American of Indian heritage who thinks he is above the law.  I have to deal with caste-conscious Indians all the time and they infuriate me.  No one can hide their distain for others less than a high-caste Indian.
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Being a Californian, always, I would like to tell him to go fornicate with himself, excessively.  Luckily, it seems that state overcame his attempts to buy the legislature and may take care of this (LINK).  But someone tell me what he has invested in (beside Sun and Java) and I will launch a campaign against it.
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oh... I am hot about this.
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(WARNING LYRICS might ARE be offensive***)
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Happy Birthday Bradley

Bradley's Birthday was yesterday. But I couldn't get to this until I reinstalled by Cloud.  So here it is. A little Throwback Thursday Happy BDay to Bradley-san.

Sometimes Art is in the Eye of the Beholder

On the recent Neppl visit, we took in the Highline and the latest "Art" installations.
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Both abstract pieces, one struck my fancy and one did not.
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First the one I liked....
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This is a simple piece echoing the regularity of the train track trestles.  I like it.
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This item below is (honestly) entitled "Realism Marching Triumphantly Into the City."
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Now, perhaps this is a sly play on the entire idea of a monument to militarism.  Perhaps it is a call to us all that  the impact of militarism on a city or a population is ugly.  Even in triumph, victory eats at our soul.
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Or perhaps it is a skewed vision on the idea that our next military overlords are lurking now, but we cannot yet recognize them.  Maybe aliens, maybe people who's souls are warped.
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Or perhaps it is just poop being trucked into town.

Absurd-o Reduct-o


As they might say in Hogwarts, award of 3 points to the Attorneys for Indiana and Wisconsin for bring a new argument against gay marriage to the Superior Court of the Unites States (District of the 7th).  LINK 
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And a deduction of 300 points for an asinine new argument against gay marriage.
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I trust you are all dying to know what the argument is, aren’t you?  Well, according the Attorney General of Indiana, the State of Indiana believes that marriage is necessary because drunk and stupid straight people can have sex and accidentally have kids.  Marriage forces those self-same drunken parents to stay together and raise the children.  Or, more accurately incentives them (i.e. bribes them) to stay married.  Gay people, on the other hand, have to plan ahead to have kids and so don’t need the incentive of marriage in orderto raise them.
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The judges questioned them about  this particular line of "reasoning". First, one postulated, "Wouldn't be a simpler solution to outlaw all fornication?"  Posner, the Reagan appointed Judge,  then questioned them about adoption and kids and their whole argument before dismissing the argument out of hand.
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The Wisconsin Attorney General didn’t do all that much better.  He feel back on Tradition in the US Law and Democratic Process.  Both of which he then implicitly invalidated that self-same argument, with the acceptance and approval of the result of Loving v. Virginia as precedent.
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I don’t normally comment on Gay Marriage cases anymore (don’t teach a pig to sing), but I did lurve the Indiana Attorney General’s argument.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

End of an Era (But I have thought that before)

Lleyton Hewitt went out in the first round this year.  He did get a bad draw (his first game was against #6 player who had about 9 inches on him in height).
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It made me a little sad.  He is getting old.  I have seen him at pretty much every tennis slam I have been to in the Ed Neppl Era.
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But still, cute as a bug.


Monday, August 25, 2014

Consider the Mark Missed

Expectations from about 1960 – 2005 or so (actually you can probably date it to exactly June 1, 2007 at the introduction of the iPhone) was the continued growth in immersive, big entertainment.  TV screens got bigger and bigger. Beta turned into VHS into DVD and home entertainment.  The expectation, Star Trek Style, was a holographic fully immersive environment and movies like The 13th Floor and Surrogates flirted with this fully immersive environment.
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But somewhere along the line, the iPhone, iPad and other devices changed the expectations of the future.  Now the small screens pull people into their environment.  Rather than large and immersive, it is personal, tiny but involving.  Watching people start at their phones or iPads, transfixed by something only they see is a little freaky.
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But we don’t get to plan the future.  We only get to react and watch.  Had it not been Apple,  it would be someone else.
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Thursday, August 21, 2014

The End of The Nation State

I don’t know if you all know, or remember or care, but this year was the 100th anniversary of World War I.  At the time it was called variously The Great War, or the War to End all Wars.
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It was not, of course.
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And everyone has "learned" the lessons from that war, but the lessons are, I think, being interrupted incorrectly.  Here is what I mean.  
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The generally accepted consensus (from which lessons are “learned”) is that a system of alliances between the European Powers (then the Great Powers) forced war in a domino effect style upon the continent.
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Nation states, with a infrastructure were fairly new at the time.  Russia, Austria/Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Romania, Serbia, Prussia had recently been (or still were) nations run by a King, Duke, Prince, etc.  Before World War 1, the monarchs could usually hammer things out.
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So it seems easy to say that when Russia invaded and absorbed Crimea this year (a very similar thing that the Serbian was trying to do in Bosnia before WWI)  and there was no war - ta da - Nation States  learned that nation states didn’t plunge headlong into war.
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In fact, I would argue it is not that nation states got smarter, but instead they are no longer free to act.  The nation state is now fully constrained by the commercial interests which are both broader and less easy to track than "self-interests" countries.

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Germany did not “restrain” itself as a country when Russia invaded Crimea.  The heads of industry (with an ex-chancellor as their spokesman) immediately rushed to tell the Russia oligarchs that Germany would still do business with them.  Similarly London and American Bankers lead the fight against even meaningful sanctions.  Ultimately the United States, with minimal investments, did produce stronger sanctions.
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But Scott, I hear you ask, isn’t the fact that Russia invaded Crimean proof the nation state is still powerful?  No.  Russia as run by Vladimir Putin is a cross between a cleptocroacy and a plutocracy. (a gang of thieves or a gang of rich industrialists).

http://www.dw.de/german-firms-fear-spiraling-sanctions-in-ukraine-russia/a-17509325
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And outside of Crimean, the nation state fares even worse.  Countries are nearly powerless in the face of non-nation state pressure.  Israel and Gaza.  The Ukraine against Russian infiltrators.  The grow of ISIS / ISIL in Iraq proceeded quickly, until they tried to take on a role as a nation state.  Even now, the Untied States is rather befuddled on how to manage the threats and beheadings.
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As an aside, the only way to deal with ISIL of course, is to drop a massive bomb or small nuke on a headquarters city and say, “You fuck with us again and more are coming.”  A nation state can’t do that, but if they beheaded a Fox News guy and Murdoch had a little nuke, he’ld do it. Would that fix the world of ISIL?  No.  But ISIL wouldn’t go after Fox News anymore.
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Why are we, The United States, pissing about in Iraq?  Why is Israel pissing about in Gaza?  Because there is a level of reciprocity we as civilized people try to maintain (and Israel can’t nuke what is essentially it’s own territory).  The nation state is constrained in a way unattached terrorists are not.  When AlQueda was shielded by the Afghanistan government, the government was easy to dislodge.  The actor, much less so.
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Don’t’ get me wrong, I don’t want to kill the people of ISIL.  But I don’t think they really understand anything but a big – don’t screw with us moment.  They are joyriding in US tanks like a coke’d up 6 year old at a go-cart track  Sure.... nuke a mountaintop first if you want to give the civilians time to get out.
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But we can’t do that.  Because the age of the Nation State is over.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7119752/#.U_YdBrxdVXI.
PS - The example is Crimea and Germany is ONLY an example.  Our own Vice President Dick Chenney, when CEO of Haliburton worked around sanctions to supply Iran.  It is, if anything, probably a stronger player in the United States.

Quiz!

Here is a Quiz:  This pictures are from Ferguson or Elsewhere?
a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)

g)
     

------------ Select More for Answers-------------

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Montana and FCBs

Well, my mom lives in Montana and has, more than once, explained that California Transplants are not always the most welcome of refugees.  Something about driving up prices, driving like idiots, looking shocked when confronted with a deer kill and generally being liberal pains-in-the-ass.
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This graph, from the New York Times, helps explain the animosity.  There are a hell of a lot of Californians moving there.
You can't see the X Axis, but it is time since 1910
Californians became the prime movers in about 1998
For a state that usually had migrants from North Dakota, Iowa or Minnesota, adjusting to Californians (and later latte-sipping Seattleites) could not have been an easy transition.
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You can go to the site and look up any state to see where the inbound population is from over time.  Very cool.  And California's is mainly from overseas (Mexico and Asia).

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

This Week-End with Suzanne

So Ed's old roommate and friend from Wisconsin and Chicago was visiting this week-end, Suzanne.  We had a great time with her.
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One of the cool things we did was walking in the Park Ave. Tunnel during "Street Days", which is when they open certain streets in New York to Bicyclists, Joggers and just plain walking people for the morning.
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There is also (sometimes) installation art.

About to go in

This week the installation art was in t he Park Avenue Tunnel  it was dark and they light it as if it were under water.  Then, as you walked through, different sounds were played. 
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Sometimes waves, sometimes whales, dolphins, dripping water.  It was kind of weird and cool.

inside
At, at the end, you exited right where the tunnel comes up near Grand Central Station.  And it was an amazing view you normally don't get of the Clock and Statue.
This is my favorite statue most times.  I kind of this the worker to the left has a crush on Mercury.

Monday, August 18, 2014

In the Scope of Building Bridges of Understanding... New Team Names

The NCAA has outlawed Native American names for school mascots and teams.  This has resulted in a run on Jaguars, Bobcats and other “fearsome” felines.  These are, I say, both boring and repetitive.  Particularly since the country has such a rich historical culture.  So here are some other possible names:


University of North Dakota Jackalopes

The University of North Dakota were the “Fighting Sioux” for years.  The NCAA and the North Dakota legislature finally reached an agreement to drop the Fighting Sioux, and they are prohibited from taking a new mascot until 2015.  Why not the Jackalopes?  Those fearsome creatures of the Western Plains that are kid-friendly cross of Jackrabbit and Antelope.  Who doesn’t remember the first time, as a youth, you got the postcard of the Western Jackalope and said, “Cool!”.
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University of Illinois Governor Corruptor
The University of Illinois has officially removed Chief Illiniwek as their mascot – and the Native American logo has been removed to the blank I of the Illini.  Dull, but not impossible to get around. Illinois has a grand tradition of corrupt politicians.  Instead of the Chief doing his famous halftime dance, perhaps it is time for a Illinois Governor, with cash bulging out of his pockets dance to try to buy votes.  Clearly Chief Corruptor has a grand tradition in Illinois – 4 of the last 7 Governors have been convicted and served time in prison (LINK).  The Mascot could run onto the court, money falling from his pockets, while 4 other students, dressed keystone kops-style could chase him with a foam jail cell.
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Carthage College Snipes
Carthage College was the “Redmen”.  To meet NCAA requirements, they changed the name to “Red Men”, supposedly in reference to the red jerseys they used to wear.  It is a compromise that I don’t imagine makes anyone happy.   So, though my first choice was Carthage Hannibals, for the invasion of Rome.  But then I thought, everyone will think of Hannibal Lector – which is pretty dominating sounding, but probably a copyright infringement.  Now I have not heard of Wisconsin’s Carthage College before, and I couldn’t find it on a map.  So I thought, Carthage College Snipes.  Because there is a great tradition at camp of making the new kid going on a snipe hunt.  When there is no actual snipe.  And trying to find Carthage College Red Men is like trying to hunt snipe.
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Possible T-Shirt

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San Diego Surfers

Now San Diego State is in an odd condition.  They are still the San Diego Aztecs.  But they had to 86 Montezuma, who (unlike Chief Illiniwek) stood stoically on the sidelines.  But somehow they were allowed to keep the Aztec name.  Now I don't know if that was a compromise because the Aztecs are gone (although that didn't help the Illini) or because it was not the US Americans that wiped them out but the Spanish - who knows.
But my guess is that the Aztec name has not got a long life left, even after Montezuma was retired.  So I say, go now.  Go San Diego Surfers.  No one other school is the Surfers yet.  And it will piss off Hawaii (the Rainbow Warriors who first thought it was too girly (gay) being the Rainbow Warriors to became the Warriors; only to change their mind a few years ago and Rainbow back up).  
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I even have a mascot for you....

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Satire - Sad and only more true after the police "Explanations" in Ferguson

So Vox.com has a satire of what the issues in Ferguson would be written like, if the US press covered it in a mid-east country.  It is sad and funny.  It was written before the police smeared and then tried to un-smear the victim.  Which just makes is sadder and truer.  From VOX
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How would American media cover the news from Ferguson, Missouri, if it were happening in just about any other country? How would the world respond differently? Here, to borrow a great idea from Slate's Joshua Keating, is a satirical take on the story you might be reading if Ferguson were in, say, Iraq or Pakistan.
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Reporters surround Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
FERGUSON — Chinese and Russian officials are warning of a potential humanitarian crisis in the restive American province of Missouri, where ancient communal tensions have boiled over into full-blown violence.
"We must use all means at our disposal to end the violence and restore calm to the region," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in comments to an emergency United Nations Security Council session on the America crisis.
The crisis began a week ago in Ferguson, a remote Missouri village that has been a hotbed of sectarian tension. State security forces shot and killed an unarmed man, which regional analysts say has angered the local population by surfacing deep-seated sectarian grievances. Regime security forces cracked down brutally on largely peaceful protests, worsening the crisis.
America has been roiled by political instability and protests in recent years, which analysts warn can create fertile ground for extremists.
Missouri, far-removed from the glistening capital city of Washington, is ostensibly ruled by a charismatic but troubled official named Jay Nixon, who has appeared unable to successfully intervene and has resisted efforts at mediation from central government officials. Complicating matters, President Obama is himself a member of the minority sect protesting in Ferguson, which is ruled overwhelmingly by members of America's majority "white people" sect.
Analysts who study the opaque American political system, in which all provinces are granted semi-autonomous self-rule, warned that Nixon may seize the opportunity to move against weakened municipal rulers in Ferguson. Missouri's provincial legislature, a traditional "shura council," is dominated by the opposition faction. Though fears of a military coup remain low, it is still unknown how Nixon's allies within the capital will respond should the crisis continue.
Now, international leaders say they fear the crisis could spread.
"The only lasting solution is reconciliation among American communities and stronger Missouri security forces," Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a speech from his vacation home in Hainan. "However, we can and should support moderate forces who can bring stability to America. So we will continue to pursue a broader strategy that empowers Americans to confront this crisis."
Xi's comments were widely taken as an indication that China would begin arming moderate factions in Missouri, in the hopes of overpowering rogue regime forces and preventing extremism from taking root. An unknown number of Kurdish peshmerga military "advisers" have traveled to the region to help provide security. Gun sales have been spiking in the US since the crisis began.
Analysts warn the violence could spread toward oil-producing regions such as Oklahoma or even disrupt the flow of American beer supplies, some of the largest in the world, and could provide a fertile breeding ground for extremists. Though al-Qaeda is not known to have yet established a foothold in Missouri, its leaders have previously hinted at assets there.
Though Missouri is infamous abroad for its simmering sectarian tensions and brutal regime crackdowns, foreign visitors here are greeted warmly and with hospitality. A lawless expanse of dogwood trees and beer breweries, Missouri is located in a central United States region that Americans refer to, curiously, as the "MidWest" though it is nearer to the country's east.
It is known among Americans as the home of Mark Twain, a provincial writer from the country's small but cherished literary culture, and as the originator of Budweiser, a traditional American alcoholic beverage. Budweiser itself is now owned by a Belgian firm, in a sign of how globalization is transforming even this remote area of the United States. Analysts say some american communities have struggled as globalization has pulled jobs into more developed countries, worsening instability here.
Locals here eat a regional delicacy known as barbecue, made from the rib bones of pigs, and subsist on traditional crafts such as agriculture and aerospace engineering. The regional center of commerce is known locally as Saint Louis, named for a 13th century French king, a legacy of Missouri's history as a remote and violent corner of the French Empire.
Though Ferguson's streets remained quiet on Friday, a palpable sense of tension and uncertainty hung in the air. A Chinese Embassy official here declined to comment but urged all parties to exhibit restraint and respect for the rule of law. In Moscow, Kremlin planners were said to be preparing for a possible military intervention should political instability spread to the nearby oil-producing region of Texas.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

The Weaponization of the Police Force

Let me start by saying that I admire Policemen (and women).  It is a job I couldn’t do.  I don’t have the patience or the bravery to do it day in day out.  So this isn’t a rant about how Police are bad.  Because they aren’t.
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But this is a rant about how the United States, quickly and barely noticed, has turned our police into over equipped paramilitary organizations.  And that isn’t good.
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Yes, this looks like your friendly police force.

With 9/11, funds were opened up to local police to respond to terror – no matter how unlikely that was.  Look at this picture of the police of Ferguson, Missouri.  They look like they are ready to hit Ferguson, Iraq.  And while local police in 2001 – 2004 might have seen this as a cool little boondoggle in order to get nifty stuff for free, we are now 13 years removed from 9/11.  A decade on, there are a lot of new police.  And if you tell someone (police or not) that this equipment is for emergency, you are telling them that is how you handle an emergency.  And you risk blowing things WAY WAY out of proportion.
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And that is what is happening in Ferguson, Missouri.  A Policeman shot an unarmed young man on his way to college.  His original offense – walking in the middle of the street with a friend.  The police decided to put a stop to protest with a massive show of force, and people responded as a people under siege.  Last night police dug in deeper.  They won’t give out information, started firing tear gas before asking questions, required TV cameras to leave and arrested reporters.  The first person account of a Washington Post reporter who was arrested and assaulted, although he tried everything to go peacefully can be read here, with video.
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If you treat people like they are evil, regardless of what they are doing, people feel will push back.  The United States isn’t a dictatorship but our police have become paramilitary in many ways.  And that is a bad thing.  Bad for the citizens and bad for the Police, who didn’t sign up to hurt people but to help people.  We should never been on different sides of the divide.
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As for the Police forces getting more and more weapons, the New York Times back in June had a piece about the excess from Iraq and Afghanistan going to Police Departments around the country because, well hell, nothing could go wrong there! STORY
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One last thing.  I have heard a number of reports that the crowd was "throwing Molotov cocktails."  I tend to question this.  We have video of police arrests.  We have video of the police firing tear gas into news truck.  We have video of bullets and tear gas canisters.  We have Police video of protests form the ground and sky. But no video of Molotov cocktails.  Even though there were enough police to bring in tanks and armored personnel carriers.  I think they might have caught the stray Molotov Cocktail on camera.  Police, kids, nice time, infiltrate and lob one yourselves.  You look silly lying about it when you could so easily fake it.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Hiking in Connecticut

Trevor in his "top down" seat belt
This last week-end, Eddie and I took Trevor to the Mianus River State Park in  Connecticut.  We took the dog and went for a little hike.  It was actually a very nice little place - not far from the city - and up the Merritt Parkway.
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Here are some pictures:
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Eddie and Trevor at the Trailhead above the Mianus River (okay "river")

Head off into the dappled sunlight (poetic eh?)

The first part of the trail was like this.  With some river bank fenced off for replanting.

Later we hiked up and down for over 2 miles.
Trevor - not big on endurance - had to be carried up the hills towards the end.

The River Park abuts the "Treetops State Park" too.
You can see why they call it that.