Oh, and look who decided to show up to the party! :)

I share my birthday with two other famous composers: Peter Maxwell Davies and Antonín Dvořák. The Davies coincidence is cool, because he wrote one of my very favorite pieces, Eight Songs for a Mad King. The sad thing is, my CD of it got sucked into the ether during one of my moves... ah, the peregrine, vagabond life of the musician... And there's no youtube of it, can you believe it? Well, it's really cool, you'll just have to take my word for it!

I'm sad to report that I have a bunch of errands to run today, but the bright side is that McDoc has the day off, so I'm sure he and I will find time to go do something fun to celebrate.

Meanwhile, here's a fun song to dance to. No disrespect to Max or Tony, but there's a time and place for everything. ;)

One of the authors of a blog I read regularly recently mentioned that he keeps up a postcard regimine. Coincidentally, a friend of mine frequently sends my house postcards/messages/collages.  I really like the idea of sending people random postcards, and I think I'll start doing it weekly. The first one is above. Not only is it a brief and welcome distraction from routine, my family has inherited a (miniscule) wealth of old stamps that have no real value but are still really cool.

I mean, that's pretty great design. Check out some others. So if you recieve a postcard from me, feel free to respond! I want to correspond with pretty much everyone. Leave addresses in comments if you want, or email me your address.

Scoopit!

A selection of historic photographs from The Times archive.

From what many may now see as a kinder, gentler age!

Scoopit!

“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.”

Mao Zedong December 26, 1893–September 9, 1976 was a Chinese military and political leader who led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War, and was the leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976.

Regarded as one of the most important figures in modern world history,and named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, Mao is still a controversial figure today, over thirty years after his death. He is generally held in high regard in China where he is often portrayed as a great revolutionary and strategist who eventually defeated Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War, and transformed the country into a major power through his policies. However, many of Mao's socio-political programs such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution are blamed by critics from both within and outside China for causing severe damage to the culture, society, economy and foreign relations of China, as well as the deaths of 44.5 to 72 million people

Wikipedia

found in 1883
near McGehee, TX

My life, explained to flies, would have them laughing.

Two years ago I killed the Emperor's oldest son.

On the holy road to the Temple of Heaven
I buried a spear in his back
Because of one of the Royal Guard shot my old teacher, Po.

He had stumbled in fron tof the Prince's caravan.

A good man lost because those with power
have no time for those without it.

And it must be a strange pleasure   believing the world
was made only for you, that your wealth is proof,
that the breeze actually prefers your face.

I thought I would die in China that day-

with the large bounty offered by the Royal House
 and the random hangings-

but the people kept my shadow in their pockets. 

I have the robes that say I know
killing does no one honor,
that no injury is ever rightly avenged.

But what do I do with the ache in my blood
That was eased when I threw that spear.

February 1881 aboard
cargo ship "Yun Hee" 

Now, I am in Mescalero, New Mexico- America-

a half-white Shaolin,

always only a few steps ahead of the price for my death.

Mostly, people here are hard-working and stupid.
If an American has two thoughts the first and the second
involve money. 

Though skin lies simply along the surface of a man
people here think it is a sign of something deep- grace
if you are white   fault if you are not.

There are places where I can not get a glass of water.

By my eyes, they know I am not white, but by my height and color
they suspect that I am not white. 

October 1881
Carrizozo, NM

Yesterday, I blinded someone
for spitting on my food. He laughed.
Then I reached into his face. It happened
so quickly- I swear, for that second,
my hand belonged to someone else.

I have seen black people and red also and others not seen in China.

To witness hate coming to live along the lines of skin- 
suppose some rabid animal were roaming the countryside,
everyone would agree to kill it, to stop it somehow. Here,
it is as if the people would take this thing in and feed it,
so quick hey are to nurse this cruelty.

January 1882
Kenna, NM

It is unfortunate that the whites here are so many.
They have grown invisible to themselves   like the air
which is also everywhere.

In a hundred years
much will be regretted and very little forgiven.

May 1882
Paducah, TX

There is a woman named Qi Do. 
Two eyes are not enough to hold the shimmer in her hair.
Some days I catch my heart trying to memorize her face.

A man, the sheriff's friend, tried to open her blouse.
I merely turned his hand and told him she was not
from the saloon.

He said he would peel me "like a slant-eyed banana." 

When I killed the Prince, I became sick in my stomach,
though the Royal House is yet famous for torture.

When I killed the first assassin sent after me, it was like
slapping a mosquito poised to suck from my wrist.

Laotzu has written, One who recognizes all men
as members of his own body
is a sound man to guard them.

I am a priest. I believe in living
toward this. But often my anger occurs to me

as its own creature   with its own teeth. 

 July 1882
Knox City, TX

To those who would sleep through the wounds
they inflict on others,
I offer pain to help them awaken, sometimes death
to keep them calm. 

There is no question injustice can ask
to which violence is not a fair answer.

The man who wanted to peel me- I helped him
fit half his blade into his thigh,
his right hand still on the hilt.

The look on his face then:
as if he had seen a sparrow swallowing a wolf.

______________

All my life I have stood apart from other Chinese
because I looked white, and here   been outcast by whites
for the shape of my eyes. Now, I see beauty
in the motions of revenge, the making of harm-

 so now   I am not even Shaolin.

But why should belonging be such a prize?
Except to one who needs others
to tell him his name. 

Membership is only another word for obedience.
Obedience is for dogs and children.

I know who I am   but where can I

March 1883
Abilene, TX

Note: The Shaolin were a sect of Taoist priests in China, who were deeply committed to peace. They were especially drawn to nature as a model of the intrinsic harmony of living things. Much of their meditation was realized through the practice of kung fu.  

9.  Johnny Cash - The Man in Black changed the way music was made, songs were sung, and concerts were put on.  His biographical movie Walk the Line is perhaps one of the greatest biographical movies ever made.  Cash was the epitome of a man who lived between the tension of failure and success.  Addicted to drugs and alcohol along with failed relationships seemed to tear him down.  But, late in life, one quote stands out above all the lyrics, "I might have been a C+ Christian, but at least I was one."  Cash never gave up and at the end of his life, he played at Billy Graham Crusades, seeking to bring people to the joy of what he found in God.

8.  George W. Bush - This will probably garner the most opposition, but Bush's composure and incredible confidence after 9/11 showed that he is a leader to be trusted and feared.  When American needed a confident hero, it found one in Bush.  We can judge whether or not the war in Iraq was the right choice, but for what Bush has had to go through in his 8 years was unprecedented.  No other president has had to deal with terrorist mad-men who take their own lives for their religion.  Bush stood boldly on the mound of Yankee Stadium to throw out the first pitch in the World Series in October that year.  He was wearing a full-body bullet proof vest.  He threw a perfect strike.

7.  Jackie Robinson - He paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement as he had the courage and determination to step into the all-white Major League Baseball.  Robinson inspired millions of black Americans to pursue their dreams without apology.  Still today, he is honored in the MLB each year on "Jackie Robinson Day."

6.  The 1980 U.S.A. Men's Olympic Hockey Team - At Lake Placid, New York, in 1980, when the United States faced the Soviets in the semifinals, there was more at stake than a place in the gold medal game.  This Olympic contest was about more than hockey.  USSR's downfall would be coming soon and the Cold War would be over.  The U.S.A. Men's Hockey Team's victory over the Soviets gave Americans hope and joy.  Democracy over dictatorship.  Capitalism over socialism.  Freedom over enslavement.  It was a mere foreshadowing of what would soon come when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.

5.  Todd Beamer - On September 11, 2001, on United Airlines Flight 93, Islamic terrorists hijacked the plane and Todd Beamer placed a credit-card phone call to notify authorities.  During that call, he learned that the World Trade Center had already been attacked.  The last words the phone operator heard from Beamer were, "Are you guys ready?  Let's roll."  Beamer's action showed to Al-Qaeda and other groups that America will not back down in the face of death.

4.  Franklin Roosevelt - While our nation was in an economic downturn, FDR stepped in and systematically helped pick us back up on our feet.  He was a stalwart leader in the face of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.  He was crippled in his legs, but not in his heart and wisdom.  When this country needed a leader to be confident, charismatic, sensitive, decisive, and prepared, it found one in one of the greatest presidents the world has ever seen.

3.  Billy Graham - Billy Graham has brought millions of Americans to their reality of their hopelessness without God.  Graham was the spearhead of a mini-revolution in the mid-1900s, with his crusades in which he told the beautiful story of Jesus, who gave his life for our freedom from spiritual slavery.  Chances are that if you ask a person who became a Christian in the 50s, 60s, or 70s what influenced them to follow Jesus, the answer would be "Billy Graham."

2.  The American Soldier - Whether you lean left or right on the political spectrum, you must appreciate and stand in awe at the dedication, resiliency, and courage of the U.S. military.  They truly fight for what they believe in and have an undying passion to spread freedom and democracy all over the world.

1.  Martin Luther King, Jr. - No person has done more in terms of reconciliation in the U.S. than King.  His life was marked by sorrow, pain, loss, hurt, and rejection, yet in the face of turmoil he stood and was not afraid to proclaim that he had a dream to live in a country where white and black could stand shoulder to shoulder and live in harmony.  He will forever be linked to the transformation of America into a desegregated country, and he is still a symbol of equality, justice, and hope today.

I'll have to do some more thinking before I can say anything perceptive about how Thomas Sutpen relates allegorically to the South and why Quentin and Shreve are so affected by the story (Quentin especially, with that illuminating last line). In a sense, the South of the time, and perhaps of today, is weighted by its history---it can't forget, it won't forget, its defeat and humiliation. Where did it go wrong? Sutpen asks himself this question too when Charles Bon reappears in his life. Speaking to General Compson, Sutpen say again and again that this is all a mistake, but it's a mistake that will haunt him and eventually destroy him, his family, and his ambitions.

Right off the bat I was wondering about the extra layers of narration. Why does Faulkner choose to expose the reader to the story through Quentin? Why have Quentin hear the story, or pieces of it, from multiple (unreliable?) sources: so far, Miss Rosa and Mr. Compson, who must have heard it from his own father?

One of the consequences of this kind of structure is the fragmentation of the narrative. We learn early on that Henry will kill Bon; gradually we also learn when and perhaps why. Causal events are revealed after their effects are already known. But why would Faulkner break his story into disjointed, nonconsecutive pieces when it might be easier (on the reader) to simply tell Sutpen's story from beginning to end

This is a bit like saying that if lions were bigger, they could hunt elephants. Of course they could! But in the meantime, they are still lions, replete with claws, jaws, teeth, muscles and power enough to maintain a place at the tippy-top of the food chain, and incidentally to dispatch, in fair combat, just about anything else on the planet desirous of messing with them. However, even if a coterie of mad scientists were keen on breeding a strain of Giant Super-Lions with atomic brains and laser-eyes, I would still prefer this to America developing the real-world equivalent of a death ray.

Y'know why? 'Coz lions, awesome predators though they may be, are still in no danger of blowing up the entire fucking planet.

Behold my staggering lack of confidence in human restraint, mercy and sanity when it comes to pushing the Big Red Button, as personified by this quote from the above article:

"To be sure, there are serious arguments both for and against developing such a system. Part of the justification is that the U.S. military already has such a capability. Unfortunately, it's nuclear, which renders it worthless for anything but Armageddon."

Let's tackle this statement one sentence at a time. First off, there are "serious arguments" for such a system? As in, in favour of? Pro? Sweet Frickety Moses. I can argue seriously to be paid a $100,000 salary to stay home, write books and watch Dr Who  (incidentally, if anyone does want to pay me for this, please contact ASAP), but that doesn't mean it's a good argument, no matter how serious I am.

Similarly, very small children can argue quite vociferously for their right to stay up late, hit each other with Tonka trucks and eat sugar until they vomit, but that doesn't mean any right-thinking adult should let them. In this instance, at least, there are signs of prevailing intelligence, Congress having blocked George Bush from building his new toy two years in a row. The article phrases this as: "Lawmakers are concerned that Russia, and soon China, might mistake the launch of a conventionally-armed Trident with the start of a nuclear war against them — and respond in kind before realizing they were mistaken."  (My emphasis.)

Secondly: part of the justification for building an Awesome New Weapon (ANW) is that - wait for it - they already have one. Is it lonely, do you think? Are they trying to get it a mate? If the ANW were a giant panda, I can see why finding it a friend and eagerly awaiting the pitter-patter of little panda paws would be a good thing. There would be cute photos, and women worldwide would go, "Awwww." But we are discussing high-tech, city-destroying weaponry, and not a photogenic variety of large, endangered fauna, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.

Thirdly: this existing ANW is nuclear. Oh - this makes it better. The Awesome New Weapon is too awesome. They want permission to build a slightly less powerful variant (i.e. one which will leave vast stretches of God's Green Earth inhabitable for Americans after they've won the Next Great War, but still destroy the lives of countless millions) and use that instead. How do they describe it? Safe as houses, aye: "The lack of any explosive would generate precise mayhem, "comparable to the type of limited damage caused by meteor strikes.""

Meteor strikes? Meteor strikes. This is their benign military alternative to nuclear Ragnarok? This, according to the article, "Sounds nifty, until you read the fine print"?

Nifty?

Jesus.

The fine print (for those who are wildly curious) means, essentially, that the weapon "represents only a "niche capability" designed to attack stationary terrorists or nuclear weapons or supplies," and not, say, anything that moves. As weapons go, I almost like the sound of that, except (warning, warning, Danger Will Robinson) "there remains the challenge of finding a target in the first place". (Translation: we can, potentially, hit anything - just not necessarily what we were aiming at.)

The next paragraph lists two (notably specific) scenarios in which the system "could" be perfect for saving the day - except that this still "raises at least the possibility of an accidental launch of a nuclear weapon".

All in all, I think they'd be better off with a pointed stick and maybe a cartoon anvil. Possibly, under strict supervision, they can use the adult scissors. Or, here's an idea, we could not blow each other up.

Now that, I like.

I though it was quite an interesting social commentary.

What do you think?

'BH

"The American stock is being cursed with the curse of sterility, and it is earning the curse, because the sterility is willful. It is due to moral, and not physiological, shortcomings. It is due to coldness, to selfishness, to love of ease, to shrinking from risk, to an utter and pitiful failure in sense of perspective and in power of weighing what really makes the highest joy, and to a rooting out of the sense of duty or a twisting of that sense into improper channels…

…Our forefathers were the heroes of the tremendous epic that tells of the conquest of a continent. The conquerors, the men who dared and did, with hearts of steel and thews [sinews] of iron, looked fearlessly into the eyes of the future, and quailed before no task and no danger; are their sons and daughters, in love of effortless ease and fear of all work and risk, to let the blood of the pioneers die out of the land because they shrink from the most elemental duties of manhood and womanhood?...

Many willfully sterile people actually regard themselves as good citizens, and even look down on what they stigmatize as "vice." But in reality, willful sterility inevitably produces and accentuates every hideous form of vice. Nor is this all. It is itself worse, more debasing, more destructive, than ordinary vice. Every decent citizen must abhor vice; I rank celibate profligacy as not one whit better than polygamy; yet after all, such vice may be compatible with a nation's continuing to live; and while there is life, even a life marred by wrong practices, there is chance of reform. But the cardinal sin of willful sterility in marriage means death; and for the dead there is no reform…

…In the partnership of man and woman, the woman risks most, and for that reason we should hold in peculiar abhorrence the man who fails to realize this and to be gentle and tender and loyal in his dealings with her. The birth pangs make all men the debtors of all women; and those men have indeed touched the lowest abyss of brutality and depravity who do not recognize something holy in the names of wife and mother. No man, not even the soldier who does his duty, stands quite on the level with the wife and mother who has done her duty." - Theodore Roosevelt, "Race Decadence," The Outlook, April 8, 1911.

(HT: Controlling Reproduction - google books)

Scoopit!

“I was a product of the times, the war, the occupation, the reoccupation, my 4 years in Britain, admiring but at the same time questioning whether they are able to do a better job than we can.”

Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH (Chinese: 李光耀; pinyin: Lǐ Guāngyào; born September 16, 1923; also spelled Lee Kwan-Yew) is a Singaporean of Chinese immigrant background. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 1959 to 1990.

He has remained one of the most influential political figures in the South-East Asian region. Under the administration of Singapore's second prime minister, Goh Chok Tong, he served as Senior Minister. He currently holds the self-created post of Minister Mentor under his son Lee Hsien Loong, who became the nation's third prime minister on August 12, 2004.

Wikipedia

Scoopit!

The above video is a Dutch news bulletin broadcast on the occasion of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on the night of 20-21 August 1968, ostensibly to protect the people of Czechoslovakia from dangerous influences at work in the economy, as exemplified by Alexander Dubček, of course the only real danger was from the Soviets, their Warsaw Pact allies and their stooges in the Czechoslovak government.

Adam could not find an English language video, but he thinks the gist is all too clear.

]]> http://adamsmith.wordpress.com/?p=5125 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:07:32 +0000 adamsmith1922 http://adamsmith.wordpress.com/?p=5125

Scoopit!

Sir John Tusa recalls in The Telegraph in an article 'Don't forget Czechoslovakia' the day the Soviet empire crushed the Prague Spring on August 21, 1968. The piece is an evocative one and brought back many memories to Adam.

Adam was about to start work. He had spent two summer holidays, 1965 and 1966 in Prague and the Tatras. He was appalled by the Soviet action.

Adam just two years previously had wandered some of those streets where the tanks now stood.

The pictures of the tanks rolling in, the story that the Soviets had acted to protect the people of Czechoslovakia, how eerily echoed today with the Russian move on Georgia.

He has wondered always what happened to some of those he met on those trips.

It is somewhat disturbing to recall that some 40 years later Russian tanks roll into Georgia to again enforce a Russian view of what is theirs.

It was not right then, nor is it right now.

While the text is highly introspective, with frequent mystical and imaginative tangents, it's Wolfe's use of repetition that infuses the prose with a poetic quality. "The seed of our destruction will blossom in the desert, the alexin of our cure grows by a mountain rock..." begins the novel; 150 pages later the paragraph reappears, word for word, marking a larger-scale rhythm of the book.

Well, what a fun morning I had on saturday - I finally made it to one of the open days of the Battersea Power Station site! A rare opportunity indeed. If you can possibly make it you should try and get along this saturday (Aug 23rd) between 10am and 5pm - it may be the last chance you get to see it this close up for a long while.

Just a word of warning though, if you're a dog you probably won't be allowed closer than I am in this piccie (above) - I had to get special permission (in my professional capacity as representative of Dog and Deco) to get into the site, and as you will see I took Health and Safety Exec guidelines very seriously, sporting a not-so-sexy fluorescent vest throughout my site visit. 

For more info see the website: www.battersea-powerstation.com