What's In A Name?

Miss Mox and I now have the same last name.  No, she didn't take mine, or rather, she didn't just take mine.  We took each other's.  We combined them, and share them. 

Hyphenated names have been around awhile; the first I noticed were as a kid in high school.  It seemed a fair way of changing names when people got married.  Only the women did it though, which seemed odd.  Before my brother got married he and his fiancee  talked about joining theirs but eventually passed, probably due to the complexity.  A woman's name can become the man's almost automatically; hyphenating hers is slightly harder; changing the man's is harder still.  But things are getting easier, and more fair.  We both had to fill out forms and go to court.  The forms were a pain, the hearing was short and sweet (noticing a trend?) and the magistrate was very cool.

It ain't cheap, and there are lots of life details that need updated (taxes, banks, etc.)  But it's worth it.  We're individuals, and connected.  Our name reflects that.  I certainly wasn't going to ask her to give up her name (it's a cool one,) and when she said she would hyphenate them, I said I would too.  Why not?  The combination flows.  They go together, just like us.  And as it turns out, my initials don't change- the initials of our last name are the same as for my old first and last name.  Now I need to work on making my signature readable...

And Jesus Turned Away The Lepers And Tax Collectors, Amen

Indiana governor Mike Pence just signed a bill that will make it okay to discriminate against people based on your religious beliefs.  Who thinks this is a good idea?  Apparently many people.  People who are ignorant of current events, and history, and who have little Grinch hearts. 

If this is your view of how religious freedom works, it's warped and corrupted.  Hey, you're free to worship as you please.  You certainly do not have to marry a guy if you're a guy, or someone of a different race if that goes against your religion.  But your rights end when they impose on mine.  Your religion is yours, not necessarily mine.  This is a license to discriminate.  Fifty years ago, Pence would have been standing up to say it's okay not to serve black people in your business.  (Actually, Republicans have said pretty much that recently.)  There were people who used the Bible to justify their discrimination against, and hatred of, black people.  This particular Indiana law allows discrimination as long as it's not of a type prohibited by the Feds.  So, seriously, 50 or 60 years ago it would have allowed racial discrimination.  That's the logic.  That's what this kind of bill does.  Is that really what we want to return to?  (Again, many conservatives would say "Yep!")

How do you tell if a customer walking in is worthy of your discrimination?  If two guys walk in and order a cake?  What if it's a groom and his best man, both straight, out running errands?  How are you going to decide?  As an individual, you can be as much of an asshole as you want.  But as a business, or government, you're not free to discriminate against people, even people you don't like.

Miss Mox and I will be driving across Indiana later this summer, as we have many times before.  We'll make sure to get gas and food in Ohio and Illinois, and not spend one cent in Indiana.  Of course, I've always seen Indiana as a big obstacle between the two states anyway, so I won't be missing out on much.  But I've spent plenty of money in Indiana over the years, and now that will dry up.  Lots of people, and big companies and organizations, are planning to do the same.

What would Jesus do?  Would he really turn people away?  At the wedding did he turn water into wine but say "those two guys over there can't have any"?  Did he refuse to heal lepers who listened to music he found heretical?  I mean, come on.  This is not about being a good Christian, and it's not about religious freedom.  It's about being allowed to be an ass to people you don't like.  And when it comes down to it, that's not just ethically bad, and rude, and hateful.  It's bad customer service.  This is a law intended to let businesses turn away people they don't like.  Is that really what you want to do with your business?  Is it really what you want your state to do?

Play It

Sometimes no words are needed.  Sometimes the music is enough on its own.  Maybe I've posted some of these before; hopefully they're new to you.  Here are a few instrumentals that make me move and smile.



Misirlou- Dick Dale



Rumble- Link Wray



The In Crowd- Ramsey Lewis



Soul Finger- The Bar-Kays



No Matter What Shape Your Stomach's In- The T-Bones

Taking Flight

It's almost spring, when a young man's mind turns to thoughts of love... and flying.  One of my earliest memories is my first flight.  My dad, who was into planes (and trains, and fire trucks) took me to the airport and bought an introductory flight.  It was him, me, and the instructor, in a Cessna 150.  Now, a 150 is a two-seat trainer with a baggage area behind the seats.  That's where I was, at 4 years old, leaning over the shoulders of the two guys squashed in front. I've flown them as an adult, and it is tight.  You'd best be very familiar with your copilot.  Anyway, I remember every bit of that flight, from taxiing out to landing.  The plane was white with orange and brown stripes.  The noise was not overwhelming.  The sensations- amazing.  The view, all around, was breathtaking.  I had a blast.  I've wondered since if Dad was just doing it for me, or if he really wanted to go for a ride too.  Either way, it was great.

That was at the airport in Findlay, Ohio, where we lived.  After that, he took me there often to watch the planes.  As I got older I would ride my bike there.  And I still see it occasionally since it's right beside the highway, and once in a while I stop by.

That started my love of flight.  Well, maybe it was genetic, and probably dad took me because he already knew I liked planes.  Ever since then I have been nuts about them.  Reading and watching everything I could, going to airshows, drawing them.  My long-suffering mom took me to many airshows, and as I get older I know just how tiring they can be even for someone who is excited to be there- walking around all day in the sun.  She also took me to the Wright Brothers memorial in North Carolina and got me a flight over Kittyhawk.

There were museum visits, mainly to the Air Force Museum in Dayton near where my cousins lived.  There were internships at a museum and an Air National Guard base.  And finally, I saved up enough to get my license.  That day, and my first solo, were also very memorable days.  I could still tell you every detail.  I didn't stop grinning till I went to bed that night.

Since then, well, life has intervened.  Flying is expensive and time-consuming.  Fun, but demanding.  It's hard to stay in practice unless you go every week or so, and I can't.  Money is getting more abundant, but time is diminishing.  Whenever the weather is good I think about going back and knocking the rust off, getting up there.  We live under the pattern for a major airport so I see airliners all the time, and sometimes I see the little bugsmashers here and there.  I don't have a sunroof in my car, specifically so I will keep my eyes on the road and not on the sky.  In fact, even the windshield sometimes gives me a dangerous view of the sky...  It's a little sad not being able to fly whenever I want, and I do hope to get back up there.  I still have all my gear (though it is a bit outdated now...)  I go up when I have a chance- a helicopter ride here, a Trimotor ride there, airliners once in awhile.

I still appreciate the beauty, and romance, of flight.  The effect it has had on the world, and history.  The way it has made travel much more accessible.  And the impact it can have when things go wrong.  I remember September 11, 2001. I had been scheduled to fly that day, but when I got to the airport the police were very definite about staying in the hangar.  A week later, I flew the airlines just as they were getting back up to speed.  It was surreal, and sad.  Everyone else was afraid to fly, and nervous about the other passengers.  I knew it was as safe as ever, more safe right then, really, since everyone was so alert.

Aviation has had a big effect on the world, and on me.  Looking at my bookshelves beside the desk, half of my books are about planes and pilots.  And then there's the helicopter drone sitting on the desk, charged and ready to go confuse the animals.

I remember being a goofy kid jumping off a shed with cardboard on my arms, thinking I might fly.  Watching the birds wheel in the wind, feeling every breeze.  And the feeling of being up there myself, able to go wherever I wanted (at 100mph, with enough gas to get to the other side of the state...)  It's one of those things that lets you forget about the problems of the world while you do it, and gives you perspective, literal and figurative.  It's incredible, and unbelievable.  I dare you to stand beside the runway as a 747 takes off and not shake your head at the impossibility of almost a million pounds lifting off the ground.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go watch the departures out our picture window.

 (Not my first one, but kinda similar)

Dead No-Show

Well, we didn't get tickets to the Dead shows in Chicago.  I am disappointed.  It's been twenty years, and I miss going.  Miss Mox could have seen what it was like, and she loves Chicago anyway so it would have been a fun trip.  And it would've been a chance to see old friends.

Maybe we can all go see Dark Star Orchestra sometime.  They're a Dead tribute band; it sounds corny but I've seen them a couple of times, and musically it's a reasonable facsimile.  You can't replicate the scene around a show, but even the shows in Chicago probably won't recapture that.

There's a lot of depth in the Grateful Dead, which gets glossed over in popular culture- hippies, drugs, peace, right?  But they were around for a long time, and have such a devoted following, because that is just a fraction of what they were about.  Oh, all three are there, all right.  But the Dead are excellent musicians, exploring all kinds of music.  The stories in the songs are varied and archetypal.  Is that a word?  Who cares, they touch on common themes with an elegant poetry.  They weren't in it to be fabulously rich, and always gave back, a lot.  And it was just fun to go to a show- the energy of the band and the crowd, a full day experience.

I'll miss them.  I listen on the radio but it's not the same.  I'll still hang out with friends, and go to Chicago with Miss Mox sometime soon, but the end of the Dead era is coming, which is a bummer.

The Conservative Mindset, part 2 of 496

I've been in my lab, working on a Unified Theory of Conservatism.  I want to understand why they think the way they do.  Why they often ignore reality, or twist it to fit their bizarre view of the world.  I know plenty of conservatives personally.  I like them (well, some of them.)  I can talk to, and learn from, some of them.  Those individuals seem to have a foot in the real world, and know a lot about history and current events, and can think rationally about them.  Even, sometimes, change their minds, or at least notice the obvious excesses of some in the media and politics.  But many conservatives, and most conservative politicians, seem to live in another world.  A world of fear, and hate, and irrational reactions to events.  A world of willful ignorance, of purposeful misinterpretation of reasonable things. 

I think it goes back to childhood.  Or rather, I think they want to go back to their rose-colored vision of their, and the country's, past.

Part of the problem is that they don't understand history.  Oh, they talk about it a lot.  But they don't actually know much about events of the past, and the conditions of the past.  They just have a superficial understanding, a third-grade sketchy view of what happened.  Hell, they just have that kind of understanding of current events too, but you get my point.

Like kids, they have a short attention span, and don't seem aware of what happened even a few years ago.  Partly because of that, they aren't able to put things in context.  Everything looks simple to them, because they don't know much and don't see any shades of grey.  They're right, they know they're right, and to hell with facts (or anyone else's viewpoint.)

They think things are simpler than they are, and pine for the "better" days of their youth.  Of course, the good old days weren't so great.  They weren't really simpler; their memory is just selective.  As a kid, you just don't see everything that's going on.  You don't understand a lot of what you do see.
And as we know, the "good old days" were really nastier, and deadlier, and meaner, and often dumber.

Conservatives seem to live in fear, generally of whatever thing is hyped on Fox at the moment.  ISIS, Ebola, "taking my Medicare."  They blame that weird new kid in the White House for whatever bad thing happens, or might happen.  They react as if the mailman is going to give them a flesh-eating disease next time they open the door.

I don't think Republicans know what America really is, what it's all about.  I don't think they know what democracy is.  They don't understand history or our principles.  They're a perfect example of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."  They think they know a lot, when they are ignorant.   And they are extremists about the things they don't understand.  I am a moderate, but when they see Reagan as a socialist gun control freak, well, the lines have moved.  The conservative craziness has made me more liberal too.  And when I tell them this, thinking it might make them slow down and think, maybe try to be reasonable, it just pisses them off more.  And makes me vote more liberal, and more Democratic.

Conservatives tend to ignore, and look down on, people who are different than them, or worse off.  Cutting funding for seniors in the name of "cleaning up waste."  Yeah, tell us how you really feel.  Pretending racism doesn't exist.  Assuming anyone on welfare is cheating the system.

So: short attention span, easily frightened, short-sighted, self-centered, ignorant, prone to tantrums, insisting on getting their own way.  Does that describe children, or conservatives?  Or both?  And frankly, I'm having trouble coming up with positive aspects of kids that would also apply to conservatives.  Cons certainly aren't curious about the world around them, gazing in wonder at new things.  They don't have that fearlessness that kids can show when discovering new things.  They don't have the (to be fair, often-shortlived) tendency to share and be nice.

Conservatives are children.  Something stunted their moral and mental growth.   They need to grow up, emotionally and intellectually.  And they need to do their homework.

What To Do, What To Do?

I just had a flashback.  Early '90s, cocktail party, mainly liberals.  Yugoslavia was splitting up, and Serbia was attacking Bosnia or Kosovo.  People were all saying "we need to do something."  And I, fairly liberal but aware of the realities over there and the limitations on possible US actions, said "What should we do? What, exactly, do you think we should do?"  "I don't know, something!"  "So, we should bomb somebody?"  "Well..."  "And who, exactly?  With so many civilians mixed in, with a low-scale conflict without clear front lines, who do we attack without accidentally hurting the people we want to help?" "Well, we have to do something!"  I was fully sympathetic with helping the people being attacked.  But I didn't see a good way to help them.  Do we bomb?  Do we send troops?  Any use of force risked hurting innocent people, and adding to the chaos. 

Nowadays, conservatives are saying the same thing about ISIS:  "We have to do something!"  Of course, they have no qualms about using force, or about hurting civilians (since they seem to hate everyone over there anyway.)  But what, exactly, can we do?  We are, and have been, bombing.  Modern weapons are pretty precise, but you still end up accidentally killing civilians, or mistakenly attacking the wrong people.  Do we send in troops?  Does anyone really want that?  Even conservatives are leery of that.  So what, exactly, is your plan?  "We need to do something! Obama should do something!  Anything!"  And, I guess, if he doesn't do anything, or do what you want, that proves he hates America, or is a Muslim, or something, and verifies your hate for him. Well, we have been doing things.  And you criticize whatever is done, even when you barely understand what's going on.   What exactly are we going to do against a fairly small group of nasty people, who blend into the population? Yes, they are all over TV and social media, but that is a perception issue, not reality.  This short news cycle inspires a sense of "OMG, we have to do something RIGHT NOW!"  Well, we are doing something.  And headed toward doing more.  Sit down, and let's figure out something appropriate and effective to do.

Particularly since a group of Christians were killed in Libya, there are calls to intervene more strongly.  Many on the right see this as a culture war, perhaps as the final showdown between "East" and "West," even as the start of Armageddon.  So they're clearly not seeing the world accurately, and are letting their delusions warp what they want to see happen.  If we listen to them we'll end up fighting in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and who knows where else.  Of course we're already fighting there, and elsewhere, but you know what I mean: a full-scale ground war.  That's what they want.  Some of them want that because they're psychopaths, and/or religious fanatics; most because they're bloodthirsty idiots.  They think it will be like an action movie, where the good guys go in and clean things up, and nobody gets killed on our side.  That's not the way the real world works.  From the people who don't believe in science, who don't believe in history, who don't know much about the region and don't even want to- what is the conservative plan?

What, exactly, are we going to do?