Turkey

Turkey was bombed or something this week. They instantly call it a terrorist attack. Ok maybe it is... my insider friend from Europe also had something to say about Turkey, U.S.-base of operations there, etc: Turkey wants for Kurds not to have their own state, even though that region of Iraq right now is not governed/governable. If this is true, that the U.S. and Turkey have an agreement that there will be no separate state of the northern section of Iraq allowed, this sheds an interesting light on the current situation. The bombings that recently occurred (and the HUGE national reporting on it) make Turkey such an injured party that it will be easy to rush to their side and keep our side of the bargain against Turkey's threateners.

That's all for now.

Nemesis

I am reading Nemesis by Isaac Asimov, as mentioned in another post. I haven't really presented my take on the book, and I shall do so here.

Surprising to me are the number of characters the author uses. I don't think this was one of his strongest or most hailed books, or if it was, it wasn't because he wove a complex tale of multiple people. I sense the lack of participation on the part of scientists, workers, government people, settlers, etc, since they're all lumped together.

I do enjoy, however the logic and reasoning in the book. I've often tried to place a reasonable, logical train of thought into words, via email, and it takes me brain time to craft the sentence, and the most frustrating thing about that is that the sentence looks perfectly normal. In this case, I'm enjoying the author's depth of thought into why this will happen and why this else won't happen. The political pushes and pulls that are demonstrated along the plot, either in explanation or through actions are neatly stitched, so that the reader has no trouble gliding down the pages.

Synopsis: (I realize many of my reviews don't include synopses, or if they do they're very limited. In this case it's a little easier because this is a relatively short and pointed work of fiction, at least compared to some of the other books I've read, and easier to summarize. I of course can only summarize to the point where I have read.) Technology on Earth has developed to the point where people have built space stations to orbit earth, and they are big enough to house entire neighborhoods with bulidings, streets, shops, and gardens. The floating neighborhoods are called Settlements, and they look down on dirty mixed up earth. On one station, Rotor, where much of the action of the story takes place, they have discovered the ability to partially move through hyperspace. They have also discovered a star closer than Alpha Centauri. They go there and establish themselves. Everyone else who are back on Earth or orbiting Earth wonder where they've gone and start to peice the puzzle together. Throughout the story is a girl named Marlene who is enthralled by the new world they discover.

There's actually a LOT about Marlene, such that it almost becomes tiresome how long it's taking for the big Marlene reveal at the end, if there is one.

In all, it's a page turner, and a good one. I'm sorry to say I was never a fan of Asimov till now, but I'll now gladly join the ranks of those who like his work. I take the tack that if I can like one book, I can count myself a fan in general.

More book stuff - industry

I'm still pondering the scenario in which my book will take place.

I'm reading wikipedia's version of social contract here. Reading about these concepts of general will and sovereignity remind me that even captialism is limited by what the masses will accept. Either corporations will succeed in dumbing down the masses a la Idiocracy, or that book about a world where everyone is implanted with a brain scrambler that keeps them stupid (anyone know the book? I'll add it later if I find it and if I don't forget). The former case doesn't really demonstrate malicious intent by either government or industry, and the latter case is primarily government as the agent, but the concepts could be used.

So that led me down the track of labor unions as a check against the power of corporations. I admit I'm just not a fan of unions. They're effective as a check against a company's power to use and abuse its employees, but it does not promote productivity and if anything from the stories I've heard, often deters productivity. I also don't know and don't want to know that much about unions, so they couldn't figure very prominently in my scenario.

My next thought was a benevolent mogul of some kind, in the vein of Rockefeller, or Carnegie, or Gates (modern version) who either intentionally or unintentionally crushes a middle-poor family (my Krug) through his actions.

Now granted this whole scenario is entirely plausible without using the world of Jennifer Government, and without any new sci-fi technology, but all that just adds to the fun, I wouldn't want to leave it out.

If I went this direction, I think, rather than making a straightforward sci-fi novel, I'd want more of a cyberpunk feel to it, the narrator would be someone like Hiro Protagonist. But then that would leave the Adam Krug convention. I wonder if I could write in more than one type of central character/narrator/events-happen-to-er?

I need to read another Nabokov, I made the mistake of looking up Krug's name, since I couldn't remember it off the top of my head, and Amazon being the wise servant it is, suggested other Nabokov books, which I can't read right now, but want to.

I'll have to hurry and finish Nemesis

My book - Gov't vs Industry P.S.

I think I need to read what Hobbes or Locke have to say about the social contract.

I also think thatthere has to be some enforcement of the law, whether it's by the government or by private corporations. But how would private corporations do it? Would they form a consortium, run by the big companies, elected to office from among their ranks? Would they build (or buy existing) jails? It starts to sound like re-inventing the wheel.

Since re-inventing the wheel is not the most cost effective option, I suppose it would be better for industry to work through the existing government infrastructure... OMG this is what they're doing now!

My book - Gov't vs Industry

Here's an idea. Jennifer Government was already in a place where the government no longer had any power, to the extent that investigations are privately funded by the victim. What about the process or a slice of the process of getting to that point? Government, ever more mired down by paperwork and the 'acquisition process' becomes less and less capable of 'governing' and industry becomes more and more powerful and ungovernable.

This train of thought led me to think on what government exactly does. In my mind I see two roles. 1) redistributing wealth, and 2) creating/enforcing the law. The redistribution of wealth via the IRS also requires law enforcement, so maybe #2 comes first and #1 is a corollary, since laws have been crafted which are intended to redistribute wealth. If I go below the federal level, we start to get into useful things like maintenance of roads and education, not that federal funds don't finance such things, but on a federal level I think it's possible to see that as redistribution of wealth.

I just realized I also left out 3) National defense.

Taking #2 and #3 together, we have essentially a federal government with the main goal of manufacture and deployment of law enforcement and soldiers, with the necessary array of weapons.

Question: will weapons ever be in serious jeopardy of being held up by the acquisitions process? I don't think so, becaue acquisitions are primarily slowed at the technology development stage. Once an item has attained production, and is being produced, or I would daresay has already been produced, the amount of approvals required are minimal, and this item, be it a tank or a gun, can be produced as long as the government has money.

I think the acquisition process won't necessarily bring the federal government down. I've just reasoned that one through. So if in my book I want to present a plausible scenario in which the government is unable to bear its own weight and capitalism holds sway in the extreme, what scenario would cause Krug the most grief, not in a police state but in a money state.

Waxing Political: Iran

I have a friend who works in Europe, and recently visited with him. We got into politics a little, and I completely agreed with him that Bush was a terrible president. He talked some about Iran, and said that China and Russia were the reaons the U.S. no longer has an overtly hostile intent to use military force, because China gets their oil from Iran, as does Russia. Something to that effect. I didn't fully understand the argument, and even said so to him, that we the regular folks don't get that perspective here. But it's planted a seed of curiosity in me, so in my free time I read up on China, oil, and Iran to see if I could find information related to China telling (not asking) the U.S. to back down. He also added that China can threaten because so many U.S. dollars are in their foreign currency reserves, the result of an imbalance of trade.

More as I think about it... does anyone have comments, or information that puts me closer to the truth?

Kids in Book

Readers, or should I say reader, since I only know for sure at this point that I am reading this and possibly no one else ever. On the other hand, I don't have to be that optimistic to make readers plural, since the plural only requires one other person on the planet to read this iotb accurate.

I've summarily decided that there will be children in this yet to be written novel/story of mine. I've also decided that a majority of them will do normal children things, which I have observed in my own children. I'm reading Nemesis by Isaac Asimov, and I give him props for including children in his story, one of which is almost telepathic in her ability to use her Admiral Akbar eyes and read body language. I also hark back to Ender's Game which I haven't read in a long time, which features all kinds of children, two of which are killed by Ender, but that's beside the point. I might include a kid of super abilities, but I'd prefer not to, and in the end I think if I do, the kid will have to die suddenly and unexpectedly. Unexpectedly is sudden almost by definition, at least when reading, but is suddenly also unexpected? I don't think so, since a death could be foreshadowed but then happen suddenly.

I think the most logical ways in which a child could die are: falling into something like wet cement or the ocean, or a lot of air under which is a hard surface like a rock or sidewalk; eating something bad and not good for you; or parents not paying the ransom. I'm still sad that the guy really did die in the movie The Clearing but the betrayal of basic human trust carried so much more impact.

Dystopian Capitalist

My book: Still wanting to write about the dystopian capitalist future, a la Jennifer Government. See also my post on Orgarden City. I've started reading Asimov's Nemesis just to get a sense for future writing, exposure to scifi from one of the acknowledged greats. I didn't ever read him, because one book I read of his, I could not understand very well. Of course I didn't understand Faulkner either, but the style was enough to keep my interest. Bradbury on the other hand has a great concept in Fahrenheit 451 but I could not get past his style. I won't be reading Bradbury. Asimov on the other hand is relatively accessible in the book I'm reading, and actually I'd be interested to find the book I read as a teen which was so confusing the first time around. I think it was one of the Foundation books, but I don't know.

I also saw Idiocracy last night, from Netflix, and it wasn't absolutely awful. It was a great concept, but admittedly small budget. The atmosphere clearly harks back to Brazil, but the comedy echoes Mad TV (never mind that the leading female is from SNL). There's a great capitalist bit in there about a Gatorade-like product completely replacing water for everything, including watering crops. Then when water is re-introduced, the company's stock goes to zero and its computer automatically lays off its workforce. The fact that the head of that company is played by Thomas Hayden Church is only a reminder that it's been 10 days and I still haven't seen Spidey 3.

The other dystopian future with a capitalism-gone-wrong as a side point was Michael Bay's The Island. There's enough money out there that people can actually buy clones of themselves. The movie never really verged into serious assessment of the morality of whether or not the clones are human beings, nor was it very serious in general, but the idea that money can buy an entirely new functioning body, not only is the height of capitalism (the offer of eternal life) but could be treated seriously in my book. The one I've yet to write.

Sometimes I feel that the best I'll be able to do is a re-hash of what's been done, only mixed a little differently. Where would Star Wars be without the knights of the round table, damsels in distress, and evil tyran lords Lucas used to piece together a fun new tale of intergalactic adventure?

And then I think of Nabokov. Entirely original even in this world of regurgitated concepts. I can see the end result but I (seem to) have no way of getting there. Entirely original? The concept stresses me already.

My new book

If I were to write a book right now, it would probably be entitled "Orgarden City" based on the fac that the two most recent books I've read have been about industrial, organic, and farm grown food; and urban development, castigating Garden City mentality.

I thought, as I walked in from the metro, about people in general, even the ones in 'suburbs' as opposed to the ones in cities, they are probably going to continue to be part of more and more dense populations as time goes on. Jane Jacobs' book will become more and more relevant.

This novel of mine, "Orgarden City" would be a futuristic look, at cities with social ills, and bad food, touted as good food, and bad city planning, touted as 'perfect if only people would do what they're told, not as they'd normally/naturally do.'

Black

I don't know if I already made this rant, but I feel the urge to make it today (again, if that be the case) regarding race. This is slightly related to my earlier post regarding diversity regardless of skin color.

The other day some kids were hanging out behind some buildings where condos hadn't been sold yet, they were right next to, across the ravine from our condos which have been. We told them there had been problems with suspicious people around, and that people often call the police on a moment's notice. As the kids walked away, they muttered something about them being black was why we went and talked to them. I wish I had T-shirts for everyone who is white who is unfortunately compelled to walk on by when asked by a black man for a dollar, or who steps into the escalator ahead of a black person, or who is annoyed, bothered, or discomfited by a black person, "IT'S NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE BLACK." I just feel that often in our society we are on eggshells when it comes to black people, and we have put ourselves there by allowing the ongoing witch hunt for racists. Any time a black person is nabbed by police, for example, it's because of the blackness, it couldn't be because that person was actually breaking the law. I read an article not too long ago, maybe it was a blog, where someone had recently observed a street over a period of time and determined that yes the police were pulling over more blacks than they were whites. Was it entirely because they are black? What if we were talking about Italians and Irish? What if it was because of the type of cars, with the type of paint jobs, and driving habits that caught the attention of the police? What if there were simply more black people breaking the law (I know this insinuation is heresay, since white people could not be more law abiding than blacks), there's just too many factors before the conclusion has to be racism.

Ethnism I can buy, however. It doesn't take a genius to realize that certain cultures, behaviors, practices, moralities, what have you are less conducive to civilized society and therefore prosecuted more aggressively, and disproportionately so depending on what neighborhood you live in.

Ok I'm done with that rant.

Diversity

Question: can diversity be accomplished in a meeting full of white males?

Talk amongst yourselves.

Answer: Yes, diversity can be accomplished in a room full of white males. There are farmers and city slickers, there are gay and straight, there are educated and uneducated, there are engineers and poly sci majors, there are so many different points of view and so many different cultural exposures even within white populations. I just think that too often there's a strong association between the word 'diversity' and the idea of making sure there's at least one or two black people in your meeting/company/school.

Power Symbols

More on power symbols: I put on my red shirt yesterday, it was one of my shirts I'm wearing until it has to be washed and folded. It has a lightning bolt on the front, a copy of The Flash's lightning bolt. In fact, I might have bought the shirt at a comics store in Long Beach. That was 1997. I like the shirt, not to show my affinity for the flash, although I'm sure he's super, but because of the simple, bright and straightforward symbol it is.

This goes back to my (mild) fetish for symbols of power.

I noticed EG&G (the company) has a symbol, and it's not that great. I wonder how much they paid for it. Most corporate symbols to my mind don't convey a lot of power, they're just branding. Although I have to admit, I like Lockheed Martin's star point (just the upper right hand point that usually accompanies their company name. By and large it's branding rather than power that companies are after, so their logos and typeface are boring and office-y. Lockheed Martin is a good example of a company whose power comes from the powerful products they make, especially the military toys. In that sense they're like Coke, where Coke puts a small symbol at the corner of a picture of people enjoying life (we are an integral part of your culture), Lockheed Martin puts a their logo at the bottom of a picture with a supertech weapon, fighter, vehicle, whatever they are building. This is power in a sense too, the military might of a country.

Hillarious Clinton

For those of you who saw my cheap shot at Obambam, I have a cheap shot for the other minority in the race, Hillarious Clinton. The picture was unabashedly stolen from somewhere in the internets, if you do a google image search I'm sure you can find the original.

Also, is anyone else getting that link in their gmail feed about Bill's "girlfriend" who was a legislator in Canada and will move to Detroit or something? What's up with that? Truly random but someone must be paying for it to show up on my screen.

ctrl c ctrl v

To this day I have a fear of typing in long strings for search. Even my short strings are sometimes butterfingered and I have to search again. Since I was first introduced to they keyboard, the <--Backspace has been the single most important key. To this day, I prefer ctrl + C, ctrl + V to search, knowing that I have it exactly as it was in the text.

Omnivore's Dilemma

Back to my penchant for posting quotes from my reading books, there are lots of quotable bits in The Omnivore's Dilemma, but this one, which was in my morning's reading is especially related to the title, and as such probably especially good.

The author goes into the hills above UC Berkeley (he actually said, "the Berkeley Hills" so I assume somewhere around the Berkeley of UC), he went in search of a chanterelle. While I was reading it I had temporarily put a mental sketch of a bird, not knowing what a chantarelle is, not having dined very well, I suppose. It's a mushroom as it turns out (erase orangeish bird, sketch mushroom with orangeish top).

I took the mushroom home, brushed off the soil, and put it on a plate, then pulled out my field guides to see if I c ould confirm the identification. Everything matched up: the color, the faint apricot smell, the asymmetrical trumpet shape on top, the underside etched in a shallow pattern of 'false' gills. I felt fairly confident. But confident enough to eat it? Not quite. The field guide mentioned something called a 'false chanterelle' that had slightly 'thinner' gills. Uh oh. Thinner, thicker: These were relative terms; how could I tell if the gills I was looking at were thin or thick ones? Compared to what? My mother's mycophobic warnings rang in my ears. I couldn't trust my eyes. I couldn't quite trust the field guide. So whom could I trust? Angelo! But that meant driving my lone mushroom across the bridge to San Francisco, which seemed excessive. My desire to saute and eat my first-found changerelle squabbled with my doubts about it, slender as they were. But by now I had passed the point of being able to enjoy this putative chanterelle without anxiety, so I threw it out.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I had impaled myself that afternoon on the horns of the omnivore's dilemma.

Disorientation

A brief entry today about disorientation: I'm starting to enjoy the feeling, somewhat, of looking up from my book at a segment of street seen from the bus window, and not knowing where I am. I believe the initial panic has roots in the past where on many occasions, I've flown past my bus stop unknowingly or even worse, taken the wrong bus. There's also a hint of being on the bus for the first time, and making my eyes and brain ache trying to pick out some clue that tells me I'm on the right track and will get where I am going. This disorientation in micrositu (TM (c) patent pending) I believe to the byproduct of 1) reading while moving and 2) a limited view from the bus that either presents not enough information or the same information from a slightly new angle, such that it's not instantly recognized and placed in context. With respect to the former reason, being lost in the pages of a book will often warp the reader's sense of time, and hence sense of distance travelled. This may produce a personal information gap, the brain not able to determine if I am on the wrong route, have gone too far along the route, or gone not far enough along the route.

I think also it is old age and senility setting in early.