Ralph Nader endorses "We Need a Department of Peace"

“…very important little paperback…a pragmatic argument for a department of peace…”

Photo courtesy of The Lakeville Journal.

Nader's radio interview with Charlie Keil.

Meanwhile, in the Twitterersphere:

@hipbonegamer @bbenzon @zenpundit I like what George Will said about this years ago: we have several institutes of peace: USMA, USNA& USAFA

— Timothy Furnish, PhD (@Occidentaljihad) July 26, 2016

@bbenzon @hipbonegamer @zenpundit Either way, what they do is far more useful than the abstract, chimerical "study of peace."

— Timothy Furnish, PhD (@Occidentaljihad) July 26, 2016

@bbenzon @hipbonegamer @zenpundit Right. Because the US has done so poorly in conflict the last 230 years.

— Timothy Furnish, PhD (@Occidentaljihad) July 26, 2016

@bbenzon @hipbonegamer @zenpundit No one said anything about "bombing the world." Stop putting words into my mouth, er, Tweets.

— Timothy Furnish, PhD (@Occidentaljihad) July 26, 2016

@Occidentaljihad @hipbonegamer @zenpundit What else have we got? Our ground game is not working. It's blowing us back to the Middle Ages.

— Bill Benzon (@bbenzon) July 26, 2016

Purchase at Amazon.com (paperback, Kindle), or Barnes and Noble (paperback, NOOK Book).

My Favorite Shots from The Blizzard of 2014

I've been tweeting some blizzard photos over @mlyhlssgolf (featuring such immortal hashtags as #futilitymeetexercise, #moveoverSisyphus, and #blizzardhacks), but that doesn't allow me to arrange related shots.  So here's a little tour of The Constructivist Family's neighborhood from Tuesday to Friday.

Let's start with the view from right near the end of my driveway on Wednesday morning.

Compare it to the view from my neighbor's flat roof looking in the opposite direction from a few houses to the right of mine relative to the previous picture.  This one was taken Friday morning.

Next up are a couple of shots of our front entryway (which fortunately we never use anyway), first from Wednesday morning (in the aftermath of round 1) and next from Thursday night (in the midst of round 2):

The snow and ice formations on our back roof were strange and beautiful.  The first 2 are from Wednesday morning:

This one's from just about 25 hours later:

Let's go back to some street views, these ones featuring my trusty shovel (which for maybe the 2nd time since we moved to Hamburg actually needed an assist from a neighbor's snowblower)!  First from Thursday morning (this one I did by myself); you can see half of the neighbor's house across the street that kicked off this photoessay:

Next is the same time, opposite point-of-view:

Here's a close-up from Friday morning:

I was excited because I had just reached the edge of my driveway.  Yup, I probably spent about 5 hours just shovelling off the road this week.  The plows just couldn't keep the streets their normal width.

So here are my 3 favorite shots of the week.  The first is from about lunchtime on Wednesday, when I had cleared my flat roof off for the 2nd time of the week and all seemed well with the world:

Next up is an action shot from Tuesday (while onechan and imoto were still excited about playing outside!):

I'm nostalgic for how low those mounds at the end of my driveway were back then!  Didn't realize my shovel photobombed that shot until just now, either!

Here's the Full Metal Archivist wishing everyone a good night yesterday evening:

Here's hoping this turns out to be the worst one we have to deal with in our entire time in Hamburg!

[Update (2:58 pm):  Onechan has other ideas.  After the Full Metal Archivist and I cleared enough snow off our garage roof that the girls could climb up onto and slide down it safely, she exclaimed, "This is the best day ever!!  I can't wait for the next huge storm!"  Here are some photos from this morning:

And to top it off:

Yup, hot chocolate and the FMA's own twist on kimchi jigae!]

Make It BABYMETAL in 2012!

Happy New Year from Mostly Harmless!  Enjoy some BABYMETAL, what looks like an elementary-school-aged kawaii metal band from Japan, to kick off 2012:



OK, so even though Laughing Squid thinks they're teenagers, I'm going with Blabbermouth, who has the lead singer at 13 and the 2 dancers/screamers at 12, not least b/c it fits my '12 theme.  Anyway, if you think they look young in this video, check out this fan montage, which lays the "Doki Doki Morning" track over clips of Sakura Gakuin performing live (that's the band they are an offshoot of):



It's going to be a great year!  Or at least a weird one!  How could it not be when a fan came out with a computer-game style video of their debut song within 8 days of its official release?

On the Conservation of Matter and Greed

Just checking in with a little eco-commentary from my favorite philosopher scamps.

Earthquake/Tsunami: What Can We Do from Here?

Wherever "here" is for you, there's something that you can do to help those directly affected by the monster earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.

The most reliable international relief organizations are first responders like International Medical Corps, Doctors without Borders, Direct Relief International, and Convoy of Hope, along with aggregators like globalgiving.org, the American Red Cross, and the Salvation Army.

I'm hoping that the golf world bands together over this disaster. Perhaps those who sponsored and organized the now-cancelled JLPGA golf tournament this week, for instance, will find a way to help the Tohoku region in particular. Leadership from golfers with connections to the region can make a huge difference. Yuta Ikeda, who's playing in Doral this week, is from Chiba and captained the golf team at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, the major city in the region that was devastated by the quake and flooding. On the JLPGA, Miki Saiki and Erina Hara attended the same private university.

Think before you give. Given Japan's resources, infrastructure, preparedness, and experience, the key is to figure out the best ways of supporting and enhancing existing relief efforts. I'm researching which Japanese relief organizations are prepared to accept international donations. More on that later.

[Update 1 (10:31 am): Beth Ann Baldry tweets that Ai Miyazato and Chie Arimura went to high school in Sendai. Here's Ai-sama's blog post. Will try to get a translation.]

[Update 2 (3/13/11, 11:23 am): Here's a link to Miki Saiki's blog.]

[Update 3 (12:13 pm): Here's the link to google translate, fwiw.]

[Update 4 (3/16/11, 11:49 am): More on how you can help from Time Out Tokyo and The Japan Times.]

EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMI

The Full Metal Archivist has been able to get through to her sister and her family in Okinawa. It seems like everyone there and in Chiba in her family is doing ok, but it sounds like Sendai (where I gave a talk when I was living in Fukuoka during my Fulbright in 2006-2007) has been devastated. Even though the quake was only on the order of a 5 in the Japanese earthquake scale when it reached the Tokyo area, there was still a lot of damage.

I'm contacting my friends and colleagues in Japan to see if everyone's ok.

Here are some links for those who want to find out more:

In English:

http://www.weather.gov/ptwc/
http://japan.usembassy.gov/
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1148.html
http://www.cnn.com/
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/category/world/japan/2011-tsunami/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/11/japan-earthquake?intcmp=239
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/12/japan-tsunami-earthquake-live-coverage
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/12/japan-earthquake-tsunami-aftermath-live

In Japanese:

http://disaster.yahoo.co.jp/1299850510/meteo.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/tsunami/index.html
http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/

On video:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/foxtokimekitonight
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=Japan+tsunami&search_sort=video_date_uploaded&suggested_categories=25%2C24&uni=3

On social media:

http://mashable.com/2011/03/11/follow-japan-earthquake-online/

[Update 1 (9:47 am): Here's an email alert from the U.S. Embassy in Japan:

March 11, 2011

The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the situation in Japan in the aftermath of a powerful earthquake, measuring 8.9 magnitude, that struck northern Japan on March 11. U.S. citizens should avoid travel to Japan at this time. This Travel Alert expires on April 1, 2011.

The Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid tourism and non-essential travel to Japan at this time. Tokyo airports are currently closed; other airports in Japan may be closed or have restricted access. Public transportation, including trains and subways are closed in the Tokyo area, and service has been interrupted in other areas. Many roads have been damaged in the Tokyo area and in northern Japan.

Strong aftershocks are likely for weeks following a strong earthquake such as this one. The American Red Cross recommends that in the event of aftershocks, persons should move to open spaces away from walls, windows, buildings, and other structures that may collapse, and should be alert to the danger of falling debris. If you are indoors, DROP, COVER AND HOLD ON: If possible, seek cover under a sturdy desk or table, hold on, and protect your eyes by pressing your face against your arm. If there is no table or desk nearby, sit on the floor against an interior wall away from windows, bookcases or tall furniture that could fall on you. Avoid damaged buildings and downed power lines. Great care should be used with matches, lighters, candles, or any open flame due to the possibility of disrupted gas lines.

U.S. citizens currently in Japan should contact family and friends in the United States to confirm their well-being at the earliest opportunity. Where internet and telephone services are not available, it may be possible to contact people using SMS (Cell text message) or other forms of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. U.S. citizens may contact the Department of State at JapanEmergencyUSC@state.gov and the emergency contact numbers below.

U.S. citizens in Japan are encouraged to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) at the following website:

https://travelregistration.state.gov. U.S. citizens without internet access may enroll directly at the U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulates. By enrolling, U.S. citizens make it easier for the Embassy/Consulates to contact them in case of emergency.

Updated information on travel and security in Japan may be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. For further information, please consult the Country Specific Information for Bahrain, as well as the Worldwide Caution, which can be found at www.travel.state.gov.]

[Update 3 (9:49 am): From talks with her friends, the FMA has heard that all cell phone services are down. They've been able to get in touch with their families via Skype and cell phone email, while landlines seem ok but are hard to actually get through on. Here's an earlier advisory from the U.S. Embassy in Japan:

March 11, 2011

This warden message is being issued to alert U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Japan that the Japan Meteorological Agency has issued multiple tsunami alerts covering regions in Mainland Japan and the Amami islands, as a result of a magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck off the Northeast coast of Japan at 2:46 pm.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a tsunami warning for the entire pacific coast of Japan. As of 4:38pm Japan time, the list of affected prefectures follows. Real time updates can be found at the JMA website: http://www.jma.go.jp/en

Tsunami Forecast Region Classification of Tsunami Warning/Advisory
IWATE PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
MIYAGI PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
FUKUSHIMA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
CENTRAL PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
PACIFIC COAST OF AOMORI PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
IBARAKI PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
KUJUKURI AND SOTOBO AREA, CHIBA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
IZU ISLANDS TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
EASTERN PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
WESTERN PART OF PACIFIC COAST OF HOKKAIDO TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
JAPAN SEA COAST OF AOMORI PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
UCHIBO AREA, CHIBA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
OGASAWARA ISLANDS TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
SAGAMI BAY AND MIURA PENINSULA TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
SHIZUOKA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
WAKAYAMA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
TOKUSHIMA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(MAJOR TSUNAMI)
PACIFIC COAST OF AICHI PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
SOUTHERN PART OF MIE PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
KOCHI PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
MIYAZAKI PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
TANEGASHIMA AND YAKUSHIMA AREA TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
AMAMI ISLANDS AND TOKARA ISLANDS TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
SOUTHERN PART OF JAPAN SEA COAST OF HOKKAIDO TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
MUTSU BAY TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
TOKYO BAY TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
ISE BAY AND MIKAWA BAY TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
SOUTHERN PART OF AWAJI ISLAND TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
BUNGO STRAIT COAST OF EHIME PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
SETONAIKAI COAST OF OITA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
BUNGO STRAIT COAST OF OITA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
EASTERN PART OF KAGOSHIMA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
WESTERN PART OF KAGOSHIMA PREF. TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
OKINAWA ISLANDS TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
DAITOJIMA AREA TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
MIYAKOJIMA AND YAEYAMA AREA TSUNAMI WARNING(TSUNAMI)
OKHOTSK SEA COAST OF HOKKAIDO TSUNAMI ADVISORY
OSAKA PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
SETONAIKAI COAST OF HYOGO PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
OKAYAMA PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
KAGAWA PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
SETONAIKAI COAST OF EHIME PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
ARIAKE SEA AND YATSUSHIRO SEA TSUNAMI ADVISORY
WESTERN PART OF NAGASAKI PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
AMAKUSA NADA COAST OF KUMAMOTO PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
AKITA PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
YAMAGATA PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
NIIGATA PREF.,EXCEPT SADOGASHIMA ISLAND TSUNAMI ADVISORY
SADOGASHIMA ISLAND TSUNAMI ADVISORY
TOYAMA PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
NOTO AREA, ISHIKAWA PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
HIROSHIMA PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY
SETONAIKAI COAST OF YAMAGUCHI PREF. TSUNAMI ADVISORY

We will continue to monitor the tsunami’s track and will issue updated messages as appropriate. Please monitor the tsunami’s track by listening to the radio or watching television. Locate shelter, monitor media reports, and follow all official instructions. Carry your travel documents at all times (i.e. U.S. Passport, Birth Certificate, picture ID’s, etc.) or secure them in a safe, waterproof location. You should also contact friends and family in the United States with updates about your whereabouts.

Please continue to monitor the Embassy’s website, http://japan.usembassy.gov/, for updated information. For telephone inquiries, please call 1-888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444. Please consult the Country Specific Information Sheet for Japan, available on the Bureau of Consular Affairs website at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1148.html.

U.S. Embassy in Tokyo
American Citizen Services
1-10-5 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8420
Tel: 03-3224-5174
After Hours: 03-3224-5000
Fax: 03-3224-5856
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/tacs-main.html
The U.S. Embassy serves Americans in Tokyo, Chiba, Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Nagano, Niigata, Saitama, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Yamagata and Yamanashi.

Consulates:
• Osaka-Kobe: 11-5, Nishitenma 2-chome, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-8543; Tel: 06-6315-5912, Fax: 06-6315-5914; serving Americans in Osaka, Tel: 06-6315-5912, Fax: 06-6315-5914; serving Americans in Osaka, Aichi, Ehime, Fukui, Gifu, Hiroshima, Hyogo, Ishikawa, Kagawa, Kochi, Kyoto, Mie, Nara, Okayama, Shimane, Shiga, Tokushima, Tottori, Toyama, and Wakayama prefectures. http://osaka.usconsulate.gov/
• Nagoya: Nagoya International Center Bldg. 6th floor, 1-47-1 Nagono, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya 450-0001; Tel (052) 581-4501, Fax: (052) 581-3190; providing emergency consular services only (including death and arrest cases) for Americans living in Aichi, Gifu, and Mie prefectures. http://nagoya.usconsulate.gov/
• Fukuoka: 5-26, Ohori 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka 810-0052; Tel: 092-751-9331, Fax: 092-713-9222; serving Americans in Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Oita, Saga and Yamaguchi prefectures. http://japan.usembassy.gov/fukuoka/wwwhmain.html
• Sapporo: Kita 1-jo, Nishi 28-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 064-0821; Tel: 011-641-1115, Fax: 011-643-1283; serving Americans in Akita, Aomori, Hokkaido, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. http://sapporo.usconsulate.gov/
• Naha: 2-1-1 Toyama, Urasoe City, Okinawa 901-2104; Phone: 098.876.4211, Fax: 098.876.4243, DSN: 645-7323; serving Americans in Okinawa and the Amami Oshima Island group
http://naha.usconsulate.gov/]

[Update 4 (9:54 am): The FMA's mom is on a cruise ship somewhere in the Pacific. When she'll be able to get back home, nobody knows.]

Golf Channel, Here I Come!

Today in history, the Constructivist family entered the 21st century. We've had high-speed internet since we got back from Japan but now we have it with Verizon, whose triple play deal means that we also have DirectTV (with a sweet HD DVR) and a home phone (VTec, of course!), plus we went in for a Sony Blu-Ray player (connected to our new 42" plasma Panasonic with the scariest of Monster HDMI cables) to supplement our old Sony DVD-VCR player. Golf Channel, here I come!

Now, some of you may be wondering, "Constructivist, how can you afford your rock and roll lifestyle?" Well, I'm happy to report that I'm starting a serious product placement initiative here at Mostly Harmless (see above). Other than that, I don't have a clue. Anyone out there in Blogaramaville got any ideas?

I'm Back! Miss Me?

Hey all, the move from Dunkirk to Hamburg not only took up much more of my time than I hoped, but also involved a switch in our internet service provider. It turns out the phone line to our new home was damaged while the computer we left in the old home crashed, so we've been cut off from e-civilization far longer than I planned (which was, uh, not at all). Anyway, I'm hoping when I get back home with the last carload of our stuff the problem has been fixed and I can get back to blogging for my hundred or so regular readers! Plus, in just under 2 weeks, we'll be back in TV-land, so I might even get to watch some golf on tv on a fairly regular basis this season. Provided, of course, DirectTV doesn't drop Golf Channel. Anyone know the status of that little corporate dust-up?

William Benzon, 1912-1998: He Went Out Swinging and Smooth Shaven

My father, William Benzon, was born on Jan. 31, 1912 in Baltimore, MD, and died November 21, 1998 in Allentown PA. His parents were Danish immigrants. For about the first sic years of his life he lived with his parents and two older sisters, Karen and Signe, on Curtis Bay in Baltimore in a house which had formerly been a yacht club. The family then moved to Longwood St. He attended Boy's Latin School and, according to his high school year book, was regarded as an intellectual and as the 2nd brightest in his class. He was on the boxing, fencing, and football teams and his favorite expression was "Well blow me down."

He did two years at the University of Virginia, where he managed to run up gambling debts that his father had to satisfy. He completed his college education at Johns Hopkins, graduating in 1934 with a degree in chemical engineering. He then went to work for Bethlehem Steel (initially at Sparrows Point) where he spent his entire career. He entered their "loop" program which was for hotshot college graduates they wanted to nurture. I don't what his initial duties were or how he ended up in the mining division of the company (Bethlehem Mines Corp.). He spent most of his career there and rose to Superintendent of Coal Preparation, a position that was created for him. He stayed in that post until his retirement in 1974. He continued to consult on coal preparation after retirement.

Early in his career he moved to Johnstown Pa. where Bethlehem Mines had its headquarters. There he met my mother, Elizabeth Tredennick, and married her in 1940. I was born in 1947 and my sister in 1951.

What was he like?

He was a brilliant man, attaining an international reputation in his field, coal preparation. He was also a loving father, expressing his love in various ways, including making some very fine things for me and my sister. He made furniture for my sister’s dolls, a high chair, and a very elegant play pen with the letters of the alphabet cut into the slats. He made me a gorgeous Indian headress – feathers of various kinds, ermine tails, abalone shell ornament, a beaded head band – and various swords and knives etc. as appropriate for various Halloween costumes. He encouraged my sister and me in whatever we wanted to do. When I went off to Hopkins and grew long hair, a beard and mustache, that was OK. And so was going to graduate school in something as impractical as English literature. When, as an adult I needed to borrow money from him because I was out of work, he loaned me money (even after he had retired and was obviously living on a fixed income). He never ever suggested that I "face reality" and move into the corporate world, etc. He knew my intellectual work was important and helped me pursue that, as he has helped my sister pursue her interest in poetry.

He was an intellectual and books were important to him; he had many of them, including many he inherited from his father. I remember a number of Christmas seasons where he read Dickens' A Christmas Carol to the family after dinner on a number of evenings. And he certainly read stories to me before bed as a child – I remember him reading me from Mark Twain, Rafael Sabatini, and others. I was particularly struck by his ability to read dialog so naturally, with expression, like people would actually have said it. He spent a great deal of time helping me and my sister with our homework. He never just told me answers or worked problems. He always asked questions designed to lead me to the answers myself.

My father had an excellent sense of humor, which he slyly attributed to his Danish heritage. He loved Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, and one Jerome K. Jerome, and the Marx Brothers. He was also quite fond for Victor Borge. For one thing, Borge was from Denmark, where his parents were born and raised. Borge's humor was often of a linguistic nature, and my father was interested in language (he owned books by Otto Jesperson, the Danish scholar of the English language, and H. L. Mencken). Borge was a musician and much of his humor involved committing mayhem on various pieces of classical and not-so-classical music.

An Athlete - Golf

He was a good and dedicated athlete. Beyond his high-school sports he was also an excellent swimmer and loved the sea. As an adult he was a cyclist (mostly in his youth, in Baltimore and in his early days in Johnstown) and, above all, golf. 

He took up the sport as an adult and pursued it passionately. During his prime – say from 30 though 55 – he had a single digit handicap, even as low as two or three. He kept systematic notes about his game throughout his entire golfing career. One winter he painted golf balls in red nail polish and golfed in the snow. He experimented with putters he either built himself or modified from putters he'd bought. He also had ideas about custom golf shoes which he half-way finished (my sister and I found the half-completed shoes in the basement).

One of the highlights of his life was playing golf at St. Andrews in Scotland (he shot 81 on one round). He read a great deal about the sport, knew its history backwards and forwards, and had a good collection of golf books, including a classic written by a relative of Charles Darwin. It is absolutely clear to me that, as I use music to balance out my intellectuality, so my father used golf to achieve balance in his life.

Stamps

My father was an avid stamp collector, with particular interests in Canada, Liberia, Germany, and China. He loved the look of stamps, their design (line, color, shape, form, etc.), but also what they told about history and society. Stamps were his vehicle for encountering and organizing human history. Stamps commemorate individuals, events, ideas, and so forth, and thus tell the history of the nations that issue them. All of that was important to my father.

As was the craft of collecting itself. Used stamps are, of course, stuck on envelopes. They have to be separated from the envelope before they can be mounted in books. So my rather spend hours doing that. He had special chemicals, magnifying glasses, balances, tweezers, hinges etc. all relevant to the physical preparation of the stamps. He had books about stamps, and catalogues. He engaged in extensive correspondence with various stamp dealers, some he had come to know on an all but personal basis, even though he'd never met them. Over the years he'd developed relationships with them though the simple and cumulative acts of buying stamps.

Professional Life

In his professional life by father was awareded three patents for ideas he came up with about coal preparation. Bethlehem Steel used coal as fuel in smelting the iron out of iron ore. However, coal typically is laced with impurities, generally rock and sulfur compounds. It was my father's job to design the plants that separated coal from these various impurities. He traveled to Holland to learn techniques the Dutch had invented and introduced these techniques into this country.

His job required him to go into coal mines, where he developed sympathy with the coal miners. He came to feel that anyone with responsibility for making decisions about the operation of coal mines needs experience in working in coal mines in some way in order to understand what was at stake. (How many BP managers have worked on off-shore oil rigs?) Though he spent his professional life among managers, he was unsympathetic to managers who didn't understand how brutal manual labor could be.

Politically he was a Democrat when most of his professional colleagues were Republican. I can remember him telling me about how he and his colleagues were under pressure from the company to contribute to the Republican party and how Bethlehem discouraged its employees from buying foreign cars (he bought a Volkswagen in the mid-sixties because it was a good and economical car). I suspect this is why he was sympathetic to my anti-war activities.

Back to his professional life, he spent good deal of time explaining his work to me, which I enjoyed a great deal. I am proud of what he did and feel that he never got the credit he deserved.

He Went Out Swinging

And so we are brought to his death. He died in style.

He had gone into the hospital to have his bladder removed as treatment for cancer. The surgery went well, but he got blood poisoning afterward and that resulted in a badly swollen colon. A gastroenterologist attempted to scope out his colon and to relieve some of the gas that had built up. The colon was so badly inflamed, however, that they couldn't insert the endoscope deeply enough to relieve any gas; there was a threat that attempting to do so would perforate the colon. The gastroenterologist thought there was little chance that even the aggressive antibiotic therapy they were using would be successful; the colon was too badly inflamed. My father’s only hope was to remove the colon. He decided against the surgery.

I don't really know why he decided against the surgery. By that time his lungs were so burdened with water that he could talk only with great difficulty. When asked, for the 3rd, 4th, or 5th time in a period of several hours, whether or not he wanted surgery or whether he wanted to die he said, in a commanding tone, "I want to go." When a young pastoral intern came by to talk he asked her to "pray for my family" – he was clearly thinking of my mother, for he was not himself a religious man. When I asked, with very practical and mundane considerations on my mind, whether there was anyone he wanted to handle the liquidation of his stamp collection he was able to tell me "William Weiss, he's in the phone book." That's all he was able to say, so there was no possibility of extended discussion about why he preferred to die.

When he went in for the bladder surgery he knew that, when it was over, he would have to have a bag attached to his abdomen and empty it on a regular basis. My sister tells me that he had a great deal of difficulty facing up to this prospect but he decided to undergo the surgery. A successful colonoscopy would required at least three months for recovery, a difficult three months, after which he would be able to return to an almost normal life. He wouldn't have been able to lift anything over 20 pounds and, of course, he would have another bag, this one for feces. He decided, somewhat to my sister's surprise, that he didn't want the surgery.

My guess, then, is that he didn’t want the reduced quality of life he would have had, nor did he want to impose a burden on my mother that she could not handle (she had Alzhimer’s). He had lead a rich, full life, and was going to die some day. Why not now?

Given that there was to be no surgery, one more decision had to be made. Dad was on very aggressive medication, perhaps six IV drips of one sort or another. Did it make any sense to continue this therapy in the unlikely hope that a miracle would happen and the infection would clear up? Or would it be better to stop the medication and allow him to die with less fuss and clutter? We discussed this with the surgical resident on duty and decided to stop all the medication except the antibiotics and to allow him a morphine drip to make him more comfortable.

And it was done.

When, later that day, my sister, my mother, and me returned to the hospital, Dad was restless and tossed and turned quite a bit. Both my sister and I asked him whether or not he was uncomfortable and he indicated that he was not. One time when I asked him how he felt he just shrugged his shoulders and looked at me as if to say, "How should I know how I feel, I've never done this before." One thing he did, and it was quite striking, was to clasp his hands together and move them together over his right shoulder and then down to his waist. He seemed to be practicing his golf swing.

By this time the the morphine drip had began to relax him. Figuring we might have to be here all night, my sister, mother, and I went to the waiting room to rest. When we returned the nurse to his room, Gino, a nurse, was shaving him. Gino told us that he'd asked Dad if he wanted a shave and Dad indicated that he did. Dad had enough presence of mind to move his chin and cheeks to cooperate with the shave. Then he simply went to rest. About 10 minutes or so after that he'd died.

He went out swinging and smooth shaven.

Mimi Channels the 60s, Morrison, the End

Nina Paley is the creator of Mimi & Eunice and is unleashing them on the world under a copyleft license.

Blow Your Nose for Peace

I attended yesterday's (2 May 2010) anti-nuke demonstration in Manhattan, at which the Japanese contingent out-numbered all others by three or four to one. Some of the Japanese were handing out small packets of facial tissue, like this:

I can't read Japanese, but I recognize the number 9 when I see it. In this context that means Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, the constitution imposed on them after WWII. Article 9 prohibits the state from waging war. Perhaps the Japanese are telling us that the U.S. Constitution needs a similar article? Here's the other side of the pack of tissue:

. . . where you found this insert:

The Hibakusha are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Peace Now! - First Mix

Sakaki Rides a Dolphin in the New Savanna

Hey kids! I've set up a new blog, just around the corner. It's called New Savanna. And it's got photos and writing AND, a longish piece about a dolphin ride that I couldn't post at That Other Place. It's got about 10 seconds or so in Azumanga Daioh, one of the cutest anime series ever (for tweeners, I suppose).

'Twas the Afternoon Before Honika... Uh, Two Weeks Ago

OK, so I'm a little late with this, but I finally finished grading and it's time to celebrate! Actually, T-Joh is to blame for this departure from my usual anime Hanukah thing:



That's the real Lady Gaga in there, right?

For background on Smooth-E, check out this youtube timeline of Hanukah-themed parody songs:





Merry QSMS, everyone!

[Update 1 (12:24 pm): OMG, I'm such a bad Jew I even got the title and timing of this post wrong! Should have posted it at sundown so I could have called it "'Twas the Sundown Before Honika... Uh, Two Weeks Ago"! Yeesh.]

Golf History has taken a new turn

The world has changed, if only just a bit: Y E Yang wins the PGA championship, the first Asian to win a major golf championship.

Ponyo's Out This Friday!!

Here's a little exercise in comparative trailer study. First, a Japanese trailer for Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo:



Now, an American one:



Observations? Conclusions? Daniel Thomas has the link to finding show times and places!

All Hail 3Tops-san

Ashes to ashes

Paint to paint

Where 3Tops was

Now 3Tops ain't

Girrlz!

Here's about big long grow-ups post about the antecedents of Sparkychan, Gojochan, Jumpsan, Kongsan, Haatochan, and the Powerpuff Girls, Grrrrr!

And this is the girl who started it all. Her name is Flossie Mackenzie, she's 10 years old, and she lives in Africa, the imagined Africa of Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain. We're in chapter 4 where Quatermain has asked her whether or not she feels lonely living "among all these savage people and without any companions of her own age":

'Lonely?' she said. 'Oh, indeed no! I am as happy as the day is long, and besides I have my own companions. Why, I should hate to be buried in a crowd of white girls all just like myself so that nobody could tell the difference! Here,' she said, giving her head a little toss, 'I am I; and every native for miles around knows the "Water-lily", -- for that is what they call me -- and is ready to do what I want, but in the books that I have read about little girls in England it is not like that. Everybody thinks them a trouble, and they have to do what their schoolmistress likes. Oh! it would break my heart to be put in a cage like that and not to be free -- free as the air.'

'Would you not like to learn?' I asked.

'So I do learn. Father teaches me Latin and French and arithmetic.'

'And are you never afraid among all these wild men?'

'Afraid? Oh no! they never interfere with me. I think they believe that I am "Ngai" (of the Divinity) because I am so white and have fair hair. And look here,' and diving her little hand into the bodice of her dress she produced a double-barrelled nickel-plated Derringer, 'I always carry that loaded, and if anybody tried to touch me I should shoot him. Once I shot a leopard that jumped upon my donkey as I was riding along. It frightened me very much, but I shot it in the ear and it fell dead, and I have its skin upon my bed. Look there!' she went on in an altered voice, touching me on the arm and pointing to some far-away object, 'I said just now that I had companions; there is one of them.'

She was pointing to Mt. Kenya.

Spring Fiddling

What would Sparkychan and Gojochan think?

April Is the Cruelest Month for the LPGA in '09...but for '10?

Now that the dust has settled from last week's disturbing news that Ginn is ending their sponsorship of both their LPGA and Champions Tour events, it's clear that the Ginn Open is gone and the LPGA's April is looking mighty thin. If it weren't for their events in Asia and Mexico this winter and early spring, the LPGA would have one tournament each in February, March, and April--assuming they are able to line up a course in Phoenix to host their late-March event.

If I were Commissioner, here's what I'd be doing right now to shore up the LPGA's spotty spring for 2010. First, I'd open up talks with the heads of the KLPGA, JLPGA, LET, and ALPG to explore the possibility of some serious co-sponsorship in winter and early spring '10. I'm talking setting up an extended Asian-Pacific Swing to start off the LPGA season, like so:

January: kick off the 2010 women's professional golf season with a bang at the HSBC Women's World Match Play in Rio (top 64 Rolex Rankings, co-sponsored by LPGA, JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET), then fly the LPGA's best back to Florida for the revived ADT--yes, ADT--Championship.

February: join the LET and ALPG in co-sponsoring the two big Australian events, then offer the JLPGA co-sponsorship of the LPGA's Thailand event and craft a similar deal with the KLPGA and a Korean transnational to flesh out the shortest month of the year.

March: end the Asian swing with the HSBC Women's Champions event, then move the SBS Open after it to bring the tour back to the States (and provide a kickoff for those who couldn't get into the previous events or who didn't want to travel to Asia), before heading to Mexico for 2 weeks for the MasterCard Classic and Corona Championship (the latter moved up from April).

April: make the Phoenix event the last tune-up before the the year's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, which closes out the Asian-Pacific Swing and comes the week after the Masters to capitalize on media coverage. Then build in a 2-week break before kicking off the Eastern Swing, hopefully with an event in May to precede the Michelob Ultra.

That's 12 LPGA events to kick off the 2010 season, 4 of them in the States. Unlike the fall Asian-Pacific Swing, this one would consist mostly of full-field events with cuts. Setting up the schedule this way would keep the mid-level pros on the LPGA happy and competitive, as spots would open up for those lower down the money list and world rankings when some of the top players decide to limit their early-season jet-setting. But there are still 4 major-quality events in the swing and a few others that might come to rival the Phoenix event in prestige, assuming the best off the LPGA decide to play golf in Australia and southeast Asia in February. Moreover, all the major women's tours would expand their lineups and save money (by pooling their resources), while the golfy media would find it easier to focus on women's golf (as many of the top PGA golfers play quite limited winter schedules).

My next move would be to do whatever it takes to beef up the LPGA's May-July stateside schedule and end their strange tradition of a summer vacation in August. If that means crawling back to ShopRite on hands and knees, so be it. If that means starting up some new events with only a $1M purse and a reduced fee to the tournament organizers, so be it. The LPGA needs to face reality and offer discount, basic, and premium tiers to locations and sponsors willing to take a bet on Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, and the other LPGAers who are off the national radar compared to them. Better to have relatively few breaks between May and October, particularly if it means moving into markets with relatively large populations of Asian and Latino heritage, than to hold the line on a pre-financial crisis strategic plan. When the worldwide economy recovers, the tour and its members will be well-positioned for massive growth.

Finally, I'd lay the groundwork for that kind of growth by immediately pursuing a full-spectrum new media strategy--not just as a back-up plan in case the 2010-2015 network tv contract turns out to be a flop (I still owe everyone a post explaining my odd optimism on this), but, and more important, as an effort to reach and hook new fans, ages 5 and up, by getting them interested in a wide range of LPGA players. Hound Dog is on the right track here, but I'd go further. Start by choosing 1 hole per weekend round and connecting a live cam to the web all day on it, following 1 pairing around per round in live streaming video, providing longer post-round highlights than you can get on Golf Channel directly on LPGA.com, and turning each player page into a portal for interaction as well as information (with links to an FAQ [frequently asked questions] page, a form for asking questions of them, their blog, Facebook page, archived interviews, profiles, and features in the media and blogosphere [not that hard to do, what with rss and all these days], not to mention lots and lots of photos and videos, for each player). I've heard a lot about making LPGA.com a must-see site, but seen little effective action so far. That needs to change.

A related move consists of developing different tactics for different target markets who haven't yet moved to the LPGA in large enough numbers and restructuring LPGA.com to include cute stuff for girls, reality-tv stuff for teenagers and young adults, fashion stuff for single women, hot stuff for single guys, family stuff for the rest of us, and funny stuff for everyone (more of Christina Kim, Jane Park, Minea Blomqvist, and other great interviews). Yeah, that's stereotypical, but the list can be expanded and fine-tuned. The key is to use each target marketing tactic to tell part of the main story and contribute to the central strategy: the LPGA is both a truly global tour and the face of a new America. That means celebrating the tour's diversity and no longer betting the farm on the appeal of a handful of mostly blonde American stars. That means giving people a chance to confront and rethink their stereotypes about the tour and its players. That means creating an LPGA blog and assembling the tour's best writer-players to join Lisa Mickey in getting different kinds of stories out, dialoging with good commenters, engaging the best bloggers on women's golf, and influencing the golfy media.

The key in all this is giving a wide range of people from around the world both reason to check out the LPGA and a variety of ways to go from being a casual checker-inner to becoming a committed fan. You build a committed online fan base and that translates to better attendance, better participation in pro-ams, better ratings, better coverage, and (eventually) better sponsorships, tv deals, and overall revenues. If Barack Obama was the first Presidential candidate to really get the possibilities of new media, why shouldn't the LPGA aim to become the first professional golf tour to replicate his success?

I would love to see the LPGA striving to break the 35-event barrier in 2010 for the first time since 2001 (rather than scrambling to avoid breaking 30 in the other direction) and laying the groundwork for the best decade in their history. They certainly have the young talent already on tour and on their way to provide compelling competition as the Ochoa Era enters its post-Sorenstam phase. Now they need to figure out how to provide them more and better venues and more and better-informed coverage.