Howie Mandel appeared on Leno tonight to plug his new television show, Howie Do It. It looks fairly dumb, but what I found interesting was the clip he brought and explained, in which an unsuspecting participant is tricked into thinking that he has electrocuted his friend. The strikingly similar Milgram Experiment has been roundly denounced for the cruelty inflicted on the participants, while simultaneously praised for the surprising and disturbing results. But television, of course, has no such ethical guidelines. Cruelty for the purpose of useful science would be wrong, but cruelty in the name of entertainment is just business I suppose.
January 23, 2009
January 21, 2009
Justice Perverted
(No pun intended.)
I wrote some time ago about a situation at a local school. Apparently another county in Pennsylvania has taken it a step further. Can they be serious?
The argument (as I understand it) that the production of child pornography should be illegal is based on the belief that minors do not yet have the intellectual capacity to understand and consent to a sexual act. Leaving aside the questions of whether simply having a picture taken while nude could be traumatic, whether nudity is inherently pornographic, and whether teenagers are really children in this sense, it seems like a reasonable standard. But then we turn around and say that persons of this age are indeed capable of understanding this to the extent that they could be punished for such an act? Does this make any sense at all?
Certainly taking nude photos and distributing them is unwise, and in that sense it is reasonable to “send a strong message” to other teenagers, but if these children are convicted their lives will be effectively ruined. Sex offenders are barely considered human in our society, and the actual circumstances by which the label has been earned are irrelevant. “Think of the children!” has been a rallying cry of plenty of crusades to take away rights from the citizenry and create a police state, but it is time to reverse that. Won’t the prosecutors in this case please think of these children? The article states that a survey showed that 20% of teenagers in the study had engaged in this kind of behavior. Shall we lock them all up and throw away the key?
Even in the wake of another shining example of the peaceful transfer of power in a functioning democracy, we are slapped in the face by the absolute idiocy of what passes for political and legal discourse in this country.
January 20, 2009
Food For Thought
I am currently reading The Grapes Of Wrath, and came across an interesting soliloquy about a third of the way through. I am not sure I agree with it, but it may provide some comfort for those of us who look upon the senseless, human-caused suffering in Iraq, Gaza, Darfur, Mumbai, the Twin Towers, Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere. The first part will not make much sense out of context, but it sets up the second part.
The western land, nervous under the beginning change. The Western States, nervous as horses before a thunder storm. The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the change. The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simply — the causes are a hunger in a stomach, multiplied a million times; a hunger in a single soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied a million times; muscles and mind aching to grow, to work, to create, multiplied a million times. The last clear definite function of man — muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need — this is man. To build a wall, the build a house, a dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back something from the wall, the house, the dam; to take hard muscles from the lifting, to take the clear lines and form from conceiving. For man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. This you may say of man — when theories change and crash, when schools, philosophies, when narrow dark alleys of thought, national, religious, economic, grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes. Having stepped forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back. This you may say and know it and know it. This you may know when the bombs plummet out of the black planes on the market place, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, when the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust. You may know it in this way. If the step were not being taken, if the stumbling-forward ache were not alive, the bombs would not fall, the throats would not be cut. Fear the time when the bombs stop falling while the bombers live — for every bomb is proof that the spirit has not died. And feat the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live — for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken. And this you can know — fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.
January 19, 2009
Adventures In Cat Ownership
My wife grew up with a cat and has wanted to have one herself ever since moving out of her parents’ home. This was not possible while she was still in medical school, but now that she has some downtime before she starts residency she has finally decided that it was time. On Saturday she picked up a 9-week old tiger-striped tabby from an adoption day at a pet store in Reading. I’ve not been looking forward to this day in particular, but I find cats to be tolerable and, if no work is required of me, perhaps even pleasant to have around.
Fortunately, the one she purchased is litter trained and quite sociable. In fact, getting her to go away from you for a few minutes can be difficult. Yesterday we had some friends over to watch the Eagles game, and she was not at all shy about all of the people, and in particular wanted to play with the toddler. She does have a bit of a problem with biting, and the experience of the last two days makes it likely that we will have accidental scratch marks for most of the next 5 months while she still has her front claws.
Unfortunately, she is exceptionally curious and has not yet learned to understand the phrase “No!”. She *loves* laptop keyboards, which makes it rather difficult to work when she is nearby. She managed to type and send an email for me, the body of which was “ZZZZZZZZZZZZZXVGGGGGGGGGB9″. There are a number of surfaces where she is not allowed: the kitchen counter and table, the desk, the digital piano, and the open part of our TV stand. Of course, these are the most tantalizing places, and at one point last night she was moving from one to the next as soon as my wife would see her on one, scold her, and put her on the floor. This probably happened 20 times in as many minutes. Most disturbingly for me, she decided to climb on the uninterruptible (hah!) power supply and hit a switch, cutting electricity to all of my “essential” computers.
Other than a tiny bathroom, our apartment consists of only two separate rooms, and the cat is not allowed in the bedroom. (In addition to loving cats, my wife is also mildly allergic to them.) This means that there is nowhere we can put her to keep her away from us for a short time. Eating breakfast on the couch this morning was a challenge, to say the least.
We have decided to name her Zoe, the Greek for “life”. However, my wife insists that the word “Zoe” is pronounced similarly to “Joe”, and that we should thus spell her name “Zoie”. I have not yet managed to convince her otherwise, so please comment to add your voice of reason to mine.
The End Of A Season
NBC10′s Sports Final asked the question “Who do you blame for the Eagles loss in the NFC Championship Game?”, and viewers texted in a variety of angry responses. Actually, it really was a team loss. The defense played very poorly for two quarters. Except for a few cases, the schemes were good; players were just missing tackles again and again. Several of McNabb’s passes were significantly off-target. Several good passes were dropped by the receivers. Akers missed a field goal that he should have made, missed an extra point that is inexcusable regardless of the position of the laces on the ball, and inexcusably put a kickoff out of bounds. The officials missed two arguable pass interference calls against the Cardinals. The coaches were too quick to abandon the running game entirely.
Losing at this point is frustrating, but I am not overly upset about it. Despite the many mistakes listed above, the Eagles made this a game. Getting blown out is embarrassing, but losing a game that was contested until the last few plays just means that you faced a team that played better or got luckier that day. I can live with that. As for all the hand-wringing about losing the championship game four times, I find this ridiculous. Is this a team that “chokes” in big games? If so they would not have found a way to win against Dallas, Minnesota, or the the Vikings. The truth is, putting together a string of consecutive playoff wins against the best teams in the conference is not easy. Only one team out of 16 makes the Super Bowl each year, and I am just glad my team has been to the conference championship five times in eight years.
The Eagles are my team, and I do not imagine that will ever change. That does not mean, however, that I cannot appreciate some other teams. The cross-state Steelers are certainly my second-favorite team, and I was reminded of why while watching them play the Ravens. I think that defense is the heart and soul of a team, and excellent defense has been a hallmark of Steelers play for a long time. Troy Polamalu epitomizes everything that makes this game worth watching. A relentless rushing attack is the second trait of a good, serious football team, and the Steelers have been no slouches in that department either. Whether they do it with a wrecking ball like Jerome Bettis or a bolt of lightning like Willie Parker, they always seem to find a way to push forward. Speaking of Parker, I love to see a team bring in a rookie whom no one wanted to draft, make him your starter, and then have him absolutely excel. The other endearing player on the Steelers offense is Hines Ward. He isn’t the fastest, toughest, or strongest receiver you will find, but he catches everything thrown his way and takes his role as a blocker for his running back or other receivers as seriously as anyone else at that position in the league. Cowher and Tomlin have been the kind of coaches you would love to play for, and Dick LeBeau could be Jim Johnson’s brother. All of these things combine to give the team a blue-collar, hardscrabble, everyman image that fits what football should be all about. In an era of flashiness, even their helmets look like they stenciled the numbers on as they were leaving their shift at the steel mill that morning before the game. Exact revenge against the Cardinals for us!
Questionable Advertising #2
(Perhaps part of a continuing series with this.)
Today I filled my gas tank at the Wawa at the intersection of 8th Avenue and Schoenersville Road in Bethlehem, as I usually do when it gets low. Sitting on top of the pump was a placard that read “Save money with Wawa no-fee ATMs.” Below that was a picture of a woman with the quote “I saved $24.50 in one month!”, then in fine print “Based on average fee of $1.75.”
If you are using an ATM machine 14 times in a month, you probably need to cut back on spending or make larger withdrawals at a time. More importantly, it you are using an ATM that requires a convenience fee 14 times in a month, you are an idiot. In addition to places like Wawa, you could just go to a branch of your bank to avoid a fee. In my entire life, I think I have paid about 6 ATM fees because I found myself unexpectedly in a situation where I wanted cash quickly.
January 18, 2009
Concert Review: James Hunter with Ryan Shaw
I had previously seen Ryan Shaw at Musikfest (review here), so I knew that this would be a good show. I was not planning to attend, but I became aware that as a Lehigh student I could purchase a ticket for $10. At that price, it would certainly be worth it. Shaw and his band put on a fantastic 1 hour performance as expected. I really cannot say enough good things about his voice and his bass player — this guy makes me a bit less sad that I was born too late to have seen Jaco play live. The one disappointment was that the setlist was almost exactly the same as used for that earlier Bethlehem show. At one point he said he was going to do some material from his upcoming album, and I thought that would surely be new to me. On the contrary, it was primarily familiar. In fact, one of the new songs, “Choosin’”, was the one I remembered as my favorite of his repertoire. Thankfully the band put enough energy into the performance that it was well worth a second trip through the same material.
The main event was James Hunter, of whom I had not previously heard. He plays guitar and sings, and is accompanied by a drummer, a bass viol player, an organist, a tenor saxophonist, and a baritone saxophonist. A large band to pay, but he made good use of them. The rhythm section pretty much stayed out of the way, while the horn players were quite active on nearly every song. Hunter sang and played well, but I did not think he was really exceptional in either regard. He was, however, the consummate showman. I don’t think his feet stopped moving for the entire 85 minute set. I would have liked to hear a bit less of the horns and a lot more of the organ, but the mix was acceptable. The bari player couldn’t decide between a breathy tone and a biting one in the middle of his solos, which was a bit annoying. The total performance, however, was excellent.
The two groups complimented each other well. While both played soul music, the differences were stark. Ryan Shaw’s music was loud, exciting, and brash. James Hunter’s music was a low-key, smoky simmer, quite reminiscent of his mentor Van Morrison. I would definitely pay $10 to see either one again, and perhaps much more.
As usual, I made recordings of the event. It will probably be a month or two before I get them mastered, but leave a comment if you would like a copy. (And buy the official albums!)
January 16, 2009
Book Review: Sons And Lovers
Lawrence writes beautifully; that I think no one can dispute. His style and character portrayals maintained my interest in the absence of any significant plot, which is no small task. There is something about these characters, their experiences and personalities, that does not ring true to anything I have seen in my own life. I recognize the son’s desire to make his mother proud and happy. I have seen the mother wanting the best for her son, fearing that his own decisions will never lead him there, and fighting against losing her centrality in his life. Paul’s relationships with Miriam and Clara, however, make little sense to me. How could a person have such a close intellectual and sexual relationship with someone, yet be unable to find any love or empathy for them? How could a person so easily vacillate between infatuation and disgust? The person of Miriam is equally foreign to me. Since the novel is apparently nearly autobiographical I must assume that people of this nature exist, but it does not provide a great deal of illumination of my own life.
January 14, 2009
Possible Summer Project?
If there are three things that fascinate me, they are industrial history, ancient warfare, and fire. Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but they are all cool. Thus, it is no wonder that I am interested in the ancient process of turning rocks into swords and other useful implements. For some reason I’ve been thinking about it recently, and I think it should be possible to recreate.
I would like to avoid using too much modern technology or anything especially dangerous and get a product that, while not intended for use, would not be absurdly weak. Furthermore, the ore should be reasonably inexpensive. This rules out iron (melting point too high), gold and silver (weak and expensive), lead (somewhat toxic) and many other metals. It seems that the easiest metal to work with would be tin from cassiterite. Aluminum from bauxite should also be in the range of possibility. The ultimate would be to get copper from cuprite to mix with tin and create bronze, but the melting point of copper seems to be at the very upper limit of temperatures that can be produced by a natural charcoal fire without bellows or other equipment.
The process would start by smelting whichever of the above ores I decide to go with. All of them are compounds of the base metal with oxygen, so they should reduce easily in the presence of carbon. Thus, placing them in a charcoal fire should free the liquid base metal. There would undoubtedly be quite a lot of slag, but I believe it could be skimmed from the top or would remain solid.
The molten metal could then be poured into a sand cast (basically just wet sand with a shape dug out from it) and allowed to cool into ingots in the shape of long, thin, rectangular prisms. Once cool, portions of the ingot could be heated to below its melting point and hammered into an edged shape. A crossbar could be built into the sand mold or fashioned from some other material and attached later.
I am sure there are numerous complications that I have not thought of, and that a first attempt would likely be a spectacular failure. Still, I think it sounds like a fun project for a day or two. Who’s in?
January 13, 2009
Tribute To A Great Eatery
I had a feeling the end had come when I drove past Ginny’s Luncheonette yesterday morning and saw that the windows were boarded up and the lettering on the sign had been removed, but it was not official to me until today’s newspaper article. I am not going to tackle the question of the fairness of eminent domain, but merely let you know what you have missed if you never visited the place.
I first ate at Ginny’s on the second day I was in Bethlehem, while searching for an apartment. I do not recall what I ate, but it was good enough to keep me coming back. Throughout the next few years I would stop by several times each year, and always had good food, friendly service, and reasonable prices. When I first heard that the restaurant would eventually be closing I started coming more frequently with my advisor and labmates, and in fact had hoped to go today to celebrate two conference submissions that we finished up yesterday.
The creamed chipped beef on toast and homefries was the perfect breakfast, and the country fried steak and mashed potatoes made an excellent lunch. They also frequently had specials that you just could not pass up, and I am sure everything else on the menu was good too. Even though we only came once a month, the waitresses recognized us and knew our usual order.
One can only hope that they will find another location that suits their needs, because Bethlehem is indeed losing a landmark. Billy’s Downtown Diner on the Northside makes a mean breakfast and Alexandra’s Bistro on 4th Street is ok, but neither can replace Ginny’s.