Musings

General-purpose musings

There are 780 posts filed in Musings (this is page 17 of 78).

Introducing two friends from across the country

I got an unusual message on my Facebook wall this afternoon from Jacob Chitsaz, a friend who is the brother of my close friend, Mandy Reid. At first I thought it must be a joke:

In a car with Matthew Feath in Palm Springs… Small world 🙂 he says hi.

Matt and I served together in the same division on the USS Elliot back in the early 90s. We trade messages almost every day. Jacob had taken a limo in Palm Springs that just happened to be driven by Matt. Upon learning Jacob was from Raleigh, Matt probably asked the one-in-a-million question, “do you know a guy named Mark Turner?” Boom, instant connection.

Raleigh’s population is approaching half a million residents. Any one of those residents could’ve been Matt’s passenger. Instead, Jacob was and both of them figured out they knew me in common.

What’s amusing is that I know both of these gentlemen well enough to have attended each of their weddings. That puts them in a very small circle of friends. Small world, indeed!

Not Enough ‘Angry White Guys’

Here’s why I’m not at all worried about the future of the Democratic Party: demographics. The “angry white guys” that have lately been the target constituency of the GOP are fast becoming a minority. Couple with the fact that many of those angry white guys are also older means that this demographic isn’t a long-term way to build a party.

The Tea Party may disagree, but the racism that once kept Jessie Helms in office and Michael Dukakis out of office is a dead-end political strategy. The party that values inclusiveness (and more closely aligns with the changing demographics) will be the one that succeeds in the long term.

Republican senator Lindsey Graham’s remark that there weren’t enough “angry white guys” to bring Republicans to power seemed prophetic in the light of President Barack Obama’s victory. A decline in the number of white voters and a surge in voters from ethnic minorities and women helped Obama on election night. Ohio, one of the key battleground states, was captured in part through a rise in turnout among African-Americans, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama.

via Secret to Romney’s Defeat: Not Enough ‘Angry White Guys’? – U.S. Election 2012 – CNBC.

Dangerous Minds | FACEBOOK: I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK

Dangerous Minds takes a closer look at Facebook’s throttling of posts. On average, posts are only seen by 15% of a user or page’s audience and posters must pay to have the post reach more of one’s audience. What used to work just a few short months ago is now purposefully broken, so Facebook can extort you into paying for the fans you already attracted.

But it wasn’t just the so-called “fan pages,” individual Facebook users were also starting to notice that they weren’t seeing much in their newsfeeds anymore from the various entities they “liked”—or even updates from their closest friends and family members. Something was amiss, but unless you had a larger “data set” to look at—or a formerly thriving online business that was now getting creamed—it probably wasn’t something that you noticed or paid that much attention to.

It’s the biggest danger of putting all of your digital eggs into one basket: Facebook’s walled garden may be one of the prettiest out there but it’s still walled. Your presence on Facebook is subject to the whim of the company’s latest profit scheme. We’re all social media serfs and Zuckerberg (or, more accurately, Wall Street) is king.

via Dangerous Minds | FACEBOOK: I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK.

Anti-science abounds

Bashing science has become popular with politicians lately. Yesterday I read Scientific American’s story bemoaning the beating that science has taken from some American politicians, many of whom have staked “anti-science” stances:

Yet despite its history and today’s unprecedented riches from science, the U.S. has begun to slip off of its science foundation. Indeed, in this election cycle, some 236 years after Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, several major party contenders for political office took positions that can only be described as “antiscience”: against evolution, human-induced climate change, vaccines, stem cell research, and more. A former Republican governor even warned that his own political party was in danger of becoming “the antiscience party.”

Americans are not the only ones science-bashing. Yesterday, an Italian court convicted seismic scientists of manslaughter for failing to predict an earthquake:
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School buses

I had two different instances where school buses came up in conversation recently.

One weekend morning a few weeks ago I had just walked out of the house with the dog when my newspaper delivery person drove up.

She was apologetic. “You didn’t call this morning about your paper being missing did you?”

“No,” I said with a smile. There have been times when I’ve called because the paper has been late.

“Thank you,” she said, relieved. “I also drive a school bus in the morning and sometimes I can’t get out to deliver as quickly as I could. Everytime you call it costs me $4.”

This woman’s been delivering my paper for years. She’s got a family of her own and she has to work two jobs to support herself. I decided right then that I wouldn’t whine so quickly when my paper is late.
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Holding China back

During a recent visit to the wonderful Quail Ridge Books (boy how we need more local bookstores), I picked up a copy of the latest Foreign Affairs magazine. I used to subscribe to Foreign Affairs as an enlisted sailor in the Navy, trying to learn more about why the military was doing the things it was doing. It’s a wonderful (if pricey) magazine. Anyhow, the latest issue has an essay that says China sees America as a bully out to block its rise.

I don’t think that’s an accurate view of America-China relations. If America really wanted to thwart China, however, here’s how it would be done:

  • Keep selling Buicks to Chinese as fast as we can make them. The goal is to make China so car-dependent that its already notoriously-overcrowded streets become permanently gridlocked and the country becomes ever more dependent on oil. Chinese were once happy using bikes and scooters to get around but Buicks and Mercedes are the new hotness. It’s hard to live large on two wheels, right?
  • Export movies to China reinforcing the car-centric culture. See above. It’s all about face and keeping up with the Joneses.
  • Encourage China to build up an oil-dependent military, building a fleet of gas-guzzling ships and aircraft.

With the rest of the world going green by reducing car dependency and building greener military fleets, this strategy should set China back for decades.

Rights, wrongs, and royalties

So for my audition Friday night I decided to buy the sheet music for the song I sang, Somebody’s Baby by Jackson Browne. An outfit called sheetmusicplus.com sold me the song’s sheet music for $5.

After thinking it over a bit I realized just how absurd a price that is. I can buy the song in MP3 form for a buck with Jackson Browne singing and playing it (far better than I can), or I can spend five bucks and do all of the singing and playing myself. Seems a bit backwards that with the sheet music I’m paying more and getting less.
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China Shows Off an Aircraft Carrier, but Experts Are Skeptical

The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning

Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, assistant to the chief of the PLA’s general staff said “All of the great nations in the world own aircraft carriers — they are symbols of a great power.”

No, simply owning an aircraft carrier isn’t power. Anyone can buy one. Knowing how to use an aircraft carrier is a great power.

Cute, China. Cute.

In a ceremony attended by the country’s top leaders, China put its first aircraft carrier into service on Tuesday, a move intended to signal its growing military might as tensions escalate between Beijing and its neighbors over islands in nearby seas.Officials said that the carrier, a discarded vessel bought from Ukraine in 1998 and refurbished by China, would protect national sovereignty, an issue that has become a touchstone of the government’s dispute with Japan over ownership of islands in the East China Sea.

via China Shows Off an Aircraft Carrier, but Experts Are Skeptical – NYTimes.com.

Slain ambassador true believer in Libya, its people – USATODAY.com

USA Today had a great bio of Chris Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya who was killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. He was an amazing diplomat.

Three weeks ago, Ambassador Chris Stevens cut the ribbon to reopen the U.S. Consulate in Libya, the place where Libyans could get visas to the U.S.

“Ahlan wasahlan bikum” he welcomed them in fluid Arabic to enthusiastic applause. “You are welcome to visit America, and there’s the door.”

Tuesday, Stevens and three other diplomats died when protesters incensed by a video maligning Islam stormed the consulate in Benghazi.

“He risked his life to stop a tyrant, then gave his life trying to help build a better Libya,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said. “The world needs more Chris Stevenses.”

via Slain ambassador true believer in Libya, its people – USATODAY.com.

Closing in

The Weatherford property as seen in Raleigh iMAPS, 2012-09-12.


I should’ve known it was too good to last. Word is that the Weatherford property, the 10 acre property across the street from my home, is under contract. I also learned yesterday that the wooded lot behind my home was sold last week.

As for the Weatherford property, the surveyors left marking tape on Monday and Kelly and I talked with executives with the buyer (presumably KB Homes) Tuesday. Their plans include single-family homes around 2500-3000 square feet. They’re said to include “environmental features” that sounded intriguing but weren’t elaborated upon. The lot sizes will be smaller than the 1/3 acre lots that my neighborhood, Bennett Woods, enjoys. This was due to the rising cost of land.

The rep who we spoke with said that our street, Tonsler Drive, made the property “especially appealing.” That means our days of being the last home on the street are probably numbered, though I assume we’ll be the last home on Tonsler proper (due to the existing street numbering) and a new street will begin at the end of Tonsler.
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