You know the old saw about how leaders always to learn the wrong lesson from history? So, WWI happens because everyone blindly stands by their treaty commitments, so 25 years later we get Munich, where they don't? That sort of thing? Reading about the Third Reich, and Lebanon, and Somalia, and Iraq, I'm starting to wonder, what if there are no lessons? What if these ethnic pressure differentials just build up until they're resolved? Speaking of Lebanon, it occured to me the other day, that if Iraq worked really well, better than we could possibly hope for, it might turn out like Lebanon, in a state of restless tension, with an army that's unable to do anything without collapsing back into civil war, leaving the countryside open for terrorists. That's sort of the best case with the current stategy, and even that isn't possible. Lebanon doesn't have oil. Oil, unlike tourism, doesn't need peace. The only reason Lebanon has held together at all these past 20 years is that there's nothing to fight over. That, and, apparently, a occupying foriegn army. If they don't have a occupying army, they go out and launch rockets until one comes back.
I need to learn more about the history of India and Pakistan, about the partition and the wars. At the moment partition and displacement seem like the route to peace, but I don't know much about how it turned out there. But do you move people forcibly? Or just wait until they're so terrified that they move themselves? Not good either.
This is why I tend to focus on things like abolishing the penny, when it comes to politics. I feel I understand the penny issue, and can take a firm stand on it. You can see why totalitarian governments abolish history. The whole problem comes down to history. Brainwash everyone, get them in the same churches speaking the same languages, and there are far fewer things to fight about. Of course, if people don't know history, they just make some up to get angry about. I may be depressed. It's a good thing I'm not in charge of the world, so don't actually need to decide what everyone should do. They just get on with it without me.
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(14)
10:04:13 PM,
Friday 21 July 2006
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Free Friedman! I've just discovered that I have access to the New York Times historical archive through our public library systems website. A bit labor intensive, but at least I can get to it.
Why am I willing to pay for consumer reports online, but not the Times? Recent claims that the Times is treasonous have made me reconsider somewhat. A newspaper willing to be treasonous is a valuable thing. Reading Rise and Fall of the Third Reich the free press point thoroughly home. Hitler's peace speeches from 1934 are jaw dropping in their utter disregard for truth or internal politics. By eliminating internal politics entirely, Germany was able to do things that a democracy never could. Looking at history, capable government, capable of focus, determination and long-term planning is a terrifying notion.
Question: What do the ideas that can create and sustain totalitarian movements have in common? Would modern american liberal notions, for instance, be able to do so? The immediate reaction is of course not, but why not?
I should try to find a history book group.
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(3)
05:59:01 PM,
Friday 14 July 2006
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If you google ipod battery, the top entry is a "unofficial" faq site, that simply had to be written by an Apple PR staffer. They say they aren't affiliated, but they don't say anything else about themselves. I smell googlebombing. Our iPod mini has died. It didn't even last two years. On the positive side, it looks like I'll me able to scrounge a battery from a co-worker whose hard drive died.
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(5)
04:53:15 PM,
Thursday 13 July 2006
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My computer at work, the processor, produces static in the headphones. Normally this is nothing but a source of headaches, but very occasionally, it's useful. If I have a memory intensive macro or script running in the background, I can hear when it finishes.
You would think that this static would have lead me to buy some sort of MP3 player for work. You would think.
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(2)
03:04:43 PM,
Monday 10 July 2006
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Watched the fireworks from Erika's building, overlooking the Charles. Could see the raft below us. The building shook when the large ones went off. Was a bizarrely moving experience. Not for any symbolic content, but simply for the beauty and scale.
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12:01:15 PM,
Friday 7 July 2006
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Odd seeing Wilkes Barre in the news. That's where I was born, more or less. Actually Kingston, which is just on the other side of the Susquahanna. Never been there since. Further down the river, the Swatara, which flows through Hershey, is 5 ft above floodstage.
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10:37:44 AM,
Thursday 29 June 2006
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There are far, far too many games where you learn the level, rather than some skill that lets you beat the level.
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05:38:50 PM,
Tuesday 27 June 2006
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Long Term Career Goal:
Please provide a long-term career goal. What do you believe is the highest position you are capable of attaining at Mumprh? Remember that individual career goals change from time to time and you will have the opportunity to revise or confirm your response each year.
Grand Vizier
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(1)
12:55:08 PM,
Monday 26 June 2006
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I am being told that I need to internalize the corporate goals. So...
To do list:
Accelerate my organic growth.
optimize my resources by looking differentially.
leverage my assets. (I want a corporate branded atl-atl)
foster a high performance culture.
Reach my potiential. (an evergreen of business-speak)
Grow my footprint through differential growth.
Become a growth engine.
pursue differential growth potentials.
Become one integrated organization by means of new business cards.
Leverage my marketplace reputation.
Pursue a blue ocean strategy, rather than a red ocean. (This appears to mean pursue monopolies)
Improve my margin.
accelerate differentially! Differential is the word of the day, hands down. I think it means they're going to eliminate some departments.
develop modular solutions
Get to end-of-job to drive our organic growth.
And.. apparently, it boils down to... getting new customers, keeping old business, and do the actual work (that one is always the last one mentioned
Ooh, opportunistically pursue adjacent space! That's a good one. It means sell things we don't have.
Yay mmmf! She asked how one goes about having no competition. (Blue ocean-like) The answer... become like Cirque de Soleil. Will have to work on my juggling.
How we become one company? Meetings. There is no one magic wand. (how many are there?) It's a process.
Realignment coming. There are things we can do differentially. I knew it. Overdue, if you ask me.
At the end she asks if it was helpful, or whether it was a lot of mumbo-jumbo. I was too cowardly to say that it was helpful mumbo-jumbo, which it was. You have to keep an ear to the mumbo-jumbo.
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(6)
01:53:49 PM,
Thursday 22 June 2006
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A ballot option, more practical than none of the above: Random. If Random wins, a name would be pulled at random from registered voters, and they would be offered the office. You keep going until someone accepts.
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(11)
08:05:40 PM,
Wednesday 21 June 2006
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The client gave me a geek ribbon*! I don't know when I've felt so flattered.
*a ribbon that says GEEK
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(1)
04:52:52 PM,
Wednesday 21 June 2006
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Hmph. So I take out a bit of memory, and my computer works again. So, I think, aha, bad memory, and go out and buy a new and better bit of memory. I put it in, and computer dies. So I take out the other blue bit of memory (I've got 4 slots, 2 with blue clips, 2 with white clips) and put the new bit of memory in, and it works. So I think this means my motherboard is unhappy with me. Will it get worse? And now I need to work out what the white memory is, if I want to get up to a reasonable quantity of memory. It also means I have 320 MB of perfectly good blue memory I can't use. Also, I can't find the sole remaining screw to hold the side panel of the case anywhere. Disturbingly, my final memory is one of tucking it away in my beard. I find this unsettling.
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(1)
05:42:31 PM,
Tuesday 20 June 2006
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