Jim Putnam - Thinking Through My Fingers

Corning

We really love to travel.  When we drive, we use side and b ack, less traveled roads, giving us the opportunity to see parts of the country that remain somewhat unchanged by the rush and press of the tourist trade.

But, even with that, there is a difference in quality.  There are first class places on the back roads, and there are poor ones also.  One lesson; first class is always better.

Monday evening we stayed at a hotel in Corning, NY that is as good as any I've ever had the pleasure of visiting in a town that had more surprises than I expected.  Corning is the home of Corning Glass.   They have sponsored the Corning Museum of Glass, and it is absolutely wonderful.  Corning is also the home of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art.  These two features provide sufficient reason to schedule another trip to Corning.

The hotel we were at is the Radisson Hotel, and they are excellent.  For just a bit more, $5.00, than a motel chain, our stay was excellent.  I'm not a hotel critic, but this was easily one of the best I've been in.  We stayed at another Radisson in New York City when our daughter was going to college, and they run a first class operation.

The Corfning Museum of Glass was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed.  There was a special exhibit of glass flowers.  These are exquisite works of art.  Without touching them, and that isn't allowed, it's impossible to tell the difference between the glass flowers and real ones.  Walking through the exhibit, I was entranced.  Each flower was wonderfully done.  The last flower was a large orchid.  Then there was a placard stating that all the flowers in the exhibit were glass, "except the last one."   If they hadn't made that statement, I would have thought all were glass, simply because this was a glass museum.  There was no discernible difference between the glass flowers and the real one.  If you're ever close to Corning, I recommend the museum, and if you ever have the opportunity to see the Harvard Glass Blowers in another location, don't miss it.

That's it for this evening.  It may be a day or two before I get another chance to write to the blog.

Travel

We really love to travel.  When we drive, we use side and b ack, less traveled roads, giving us the opportunity to see parts of the country that remain somewhat unchanged by the rush and press of the tourist trade.

But, even with that, there is a difference in quality.  There are first class places on the back roads, and there are poor ones also.  One lesson; first class is always better.

Monday evening we stayed at a hotel in Corning, NY that is as good as any I've ever had the pleasure of visiting in a town that had more surprises than I expected.  Corning is the home of Corning Glass.   They have sponsored the Corning Museum of Glass, and it is absolutely wonderful.  Corning is also the home of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art.  These two features provide sufficient reason to schedule another trip to Corning.

The hotel we were at is the Radisson Hotel, and they are excellent.  For just a bit more, $5.00, than a motel chain, our stay was excellent.  I'm not a hotel critic, but this was easily one of the best I've been in.  We stayed at another Radisson in New York City when our daughter was going to college, and they run a first class operation.

The Corfning Museum of Glass was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed.  There was a special exhibit of glass flowers.  These are exquisite works of art.  Without touching them, and that isn't allowed, it's impossible to tell the difference between the glass flowers and real ones.  Walking through the exhibit, I was entranced.  Each flower was wonderfully done.  The last flower was a large orchid.  Then there was a placard stating that all the flowers in the exhibit were glass, "except the last one."   If they hadn't made that statement, I would have thought all were glass, simply because this was a glass museum.  There was no discernible difference between the glass flowers and the real one.  If you're ever close to Corning, I recommend the museum, and if you ever have the opportunity to see the Harvard Glass Blowers in another location, don't miss it.

That's it for this evening.  It may be a day or two before I get another chance to write to the blog.http

From The Road

Marrianna and I are on our way to visit our daughter in New York.  We almost never us the Interstate system when we travel, preferring to us small roads.  Today, we certainly saw some small roads, and it was wonderful.

I've not attempted to post to the blog while traveling for a very long time.  For one thing, our  home ISP is Time Warner cable, and using a cable based system when on a net at hotels and motels is, I think, deliberately difficult.  The roaming email system is really bad, but since we weren't able to retrieve our email on our last trip, I am satisfied, and since I can post to the blog I'll put up with their kludgey interface for a network ourside their cable system.

When Marrianna and I travel, we very, very seldom use the radio.  Yesterday we listened to two almost two hours of the Diane Rehm show on NPR, and when that faded turned the radio off.  We don't listen to CD's or tapes very often either.  I don't know why we do not.  Perhaps it is because we enjoy talking to each other.  We always have a half dozen CD's with us, but don't listen to them.  Once in a while Ithink of getting XM or Sirius satellite radio, but I don't think we would listen to it enough to justify the cost.

A few golfing guys and I were talking about a GPS system for our cars.  The benefits sound very good, but to me it seems that a paper map would give me enough information to get in an approximate area.  I'm sure there are benefits, but as with music, don't think it would be worth the cost.  We had a little problem finding our motel this evening, and I'm sure a GPS system would have helped.  But we found it without GPS assistance, so what's the need for GPS other than making traveling more simple.  But simple travel isn't the point is it?  Isn't a good part of travel new experiances?

Another benefit of travel, especially when you don't listen to the radio, is that you get an entirely different perspective.  There are no politics, and the small roads go through scenery very different than the Interstate.l  I'm aware that politics and war continue, but for this small period of time I can ignore them.  Life on the road is good.

You Can Teach An Old Dog

Marrianna and I are leaving Friday for an almost three week trip, driving up to Potsdam, NY over four or five days.  We expect to be there about the same number of days, and then leave to come home, stopping in Cooperstown, NY and Silver Spring MD.

We have owned a very nice laptop for over two years, buying it primarily to be able to access the internet and email while we were traveling.  On our first trip with it I encountered so many problems that a) I felt like a dummy, and b) I became discouraged and the laptop has been in the closet since.

I decided that this was a waste of resources, so several weeks ago I extracted it from its case and tried to use it.  When I had some minor problems I took it in to Circuit City and Firedog, their unit corresponding to Geek Squad at Best Buy.  The man updated my operating system with the last two years of changes, and showed me how to use it.  And incidentally, he did not make me feel dumb for having to ask basic questions.

Following that, I contacted my cable carrier to determine how I could access email from the laptop while on the road.  It took two sessions, but today I got a guy to walk me through the process for both my and my wife's email, and I think I'll have no problem.  Of course, he walked me through it on the desktop, not the laptop since my home is not a hot-spot or wi-fi that is available at most motels and hotels now.  But I know the procedures.

I don't know everything, of course.  For instance, I am not sure what is the, or if there is a, difference between a hotspot and wifi, but know enough to at least feel a little more confident on the road.  Bottom line, we will have the laptop with us when we leave.  I expect to use it regularly, though not every day, to post to the blog and to get our email.  And thus the title for this post.

It is interesting how much technology and internet availability have expanded in just over two years.  When we traveled back then, only a few motels and hotels had high speed internet access, and a cable was required to do it.  Now it seems that every place has a small local area network providing internet access.  I've thought of getting a modem and try to put one in here so that the laptop can be used downstairs while the desktop is being used upstairs.  Supposedly, it isn't too difficult.  Another lesson I learned is that Firedog will make home visits.  I'm sure they charge an arm and a leg, but it may be worth it.  On the other hand, how often will we need to be using two computers simultaneously?  Not enough to justify the expense; it's just a glitzy nice-to-have.

I will do my best to find time to post tomorrow sometime but if I do not, the next time I'll be able to post is likely going to be Saturday evening.  I'm sure I'll miss writing more than you will reading.

Serendipitous Find

Last evening I wrote about the eye of the camera teaching me to see differently. Today, Felix has taken an aspect of that to write about.  It's interesting, and requires some more thought.  Then, this evening there's a post by Real Live Preacher that continues the eye of the camera thought.  I invite you to read RLP's entry, and especially look at the picture.

I often discover such common threads in life.  Coming upon them is, as this title says, serendipitous.  I've never quite figured out how they occur.  Is there some trigger that causes several people to explore different aspects of the same thing?  Or, conversely, am I just finding  similar themes in places that they are not really.  Something occurs that heightens awareness, as the camera similarly heightens it.

A similar awareness occurs when one acquires something new, such as an automobile.  Suddenly,  one begins to see other automobiles like yours, where normally they would just not register in the mind.  Obviously, I don't know what all that means in any real sense, but I still think it interesting.

Expanding on the thought; wouldn't it be interesting if we were to learn to hold on to the kind of awareness we have for other automobiles and apply it to all of our surroundings?  There is so much of life around us that slips under our level of awareness, and if we were just able to see more of it, perhaps we would do more to improve or change what we see.

But, which is worse, seeing life's detailed images and becoming overly stimulated, knowing that the individual cannot do everything, or to be unaware of what around us needs changing?  There is probably something to be said for each.  It's important that an individual be able to immerse himself in a small world of his own choosing, and at another time to also be able to recognize the worlds around him.

Having wandered far afield with little focus, I think I'll close now.

A Line That Made Me Think

Over at Crooked Timber, two of their writers, Chris Bertram and Eszter Hargittai, are participating in a photography project.  Their posts on the project are interesting.  My skills with a camera are not very strong, as witnessed by the majority of the photograph appearing to the right.  Actually, I'm quite proud of some, but the vast majority are bland, everyday photos.

Felix Grant, who writes "The Growlery," is a very good photographer, and, incidentally has a personal project very similar to Flickr, the one  Chris Bertram references.  I'm continually impressed by his eye.  He makes the mundane special.

The line that makes me think is in the latest post by Chris Bertram. 

... Dorothea Lange’s words “A camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera”.

Now, when I view a particularly interesting, photograph, I shall wonder which came first, the eye or the camera.  Does the eye truly change, acquiring depth and insight, after getting the camera, or was the camera purchased to capture what the eye wants to preserve?

Bertram goes on to say:

But not all of that change in awareness is perceptual. I’ve come to realise just how much petty harassment people suffer for pursuing a fairly innocent hobby. The worst I’ve had to put up with myself is being pestered by a security guard for photographing university buildings. But many people in London get stopped by the police and questioned under terrorism legislation.

That is disturbing.  It signals that our society has become so frightened that they are questioned merely for taking photographs.  And from that I conclude that the terrorists have won a small battle in the war.  I hope that it's only a small battle, and that our society is strong enough not to frighten ourselves to the point that we cannot allow photography.

We desperately need that eye that the camera trains.  We need to see more, and allow  the camera to train the eye.  Without the mental camera, how can we see the injustices, cruelties, and pain?  It seems to me imperative that we not close any of our eyes.

Aesthetic Eccentricities

The subject title will speak for itself after a few words of political commentary.  I cannot say it any better than Greg Greenwald, Dr. C, and Felix Grant.  Therefore, I recommend you read them. They write the words that would not come for me after listening to General Petraeus, Ambassador Crocker, and our President, and the reason I've not written for two days.

Now to the subject, my wife and her aesthetic eccentricities.  I'll tell two short stories to illustrate.  The first was some time ago when we moved and our books were being placed on bookshelves.  I couldn't understand her method, and finally asked.  She was putting the books on the shelves according to how they looked next to one another.  When I remarked that the method made it very difficult to find a particular book when one wanted it, several times, she relented, and now our fiction is by author and everything else is arranged by subject.  I have to admit that she draws an aesthetic line at books bound alike so that they look good on a shelf, and that's good.

Yesterday, I discovered another of her eccentricities.  We went to the grocery story to get a few items.  One of my purchases was a bottle of mouthwash.  She looked at it in the cart and remarked that she would like to try it.  She didn't like the taste of the one she had been using, but that she had bought it because it was purple and would look good in the bathroom.  I can't begin to tell you how much ribbing she has received from me since that discovery.  I've never known anyone so color conscious that she buys her mouthwash by color to match the decor of the bathroom.  I've spread the story to family, and now you, and  I continue to chuckle whenever I think of it.

There.  Isn't that better than reading another version of complaining about our government?  Eccentricities are better than political criminality.  Obviously, the politicians aren't listening to anyone.  So I may as well write about my wife's color eccentricities as about politics.   I'm discouraged.  Quoting Dr. C.:

...  Ranting and raving about the disaster in Iraq or the impending disaster in Iran is like all of those light beams heading out into interstellar space from the events on earth. Gone, irretrievable, irrelevant and ultimately meaningless.

My sentiments exactly.  But, as I imagine will Dr. C., I know that I'll get over it and continue to send my irrelevant and meaningless thoughts about the atrocious political mess we have allowed to happen on its way outward.  It's just going to take some time.

A Return To Dresnok

Felix Grant has posted about our difference of opinion about a news article on CBS 60 minutes in July.  I wrote what was in hindsight a hot-tempered response to the TV program on July 15, 2007, followed by another, less angry one on July 17.

Having read Felix's article, and letting it percolate, I have some additional thoughts.  Let me begin with a huge thank you to Felix for his comments about our commonalities before I take up our differences.  I should also repeat the old saying, "No man steps into the same river twice."  I believe that today I would write, and feel, an entirely different response to the CBS 60 Minutes story.

Having said that though, there remain some areas of difference between Felix and I.  My primary complaint, and one that my anger did not adequately portray, with CBS was that they chose to air this particular story.  It is still.  There wasn't a story, at least not in the US; the film was made by two British guys, until CBS sent its own crew into North Korea to film and interview Dresnok.  I infer from their actions that CBS felt it was an important story.

Felix writes that:

... If I argue for less Paris Hilton and more Iraq, I am debating an issue of perceived quality; but if I seek removal of all reference to Paris Hilton, I am attempting censorship of my own. If I object to each and every mention of Paris Hilton, I am trading a very fine and hazy line between the two.

Censorship is imposed, not self selected.  If every time Paris Hilton is mentioned on TV I change the channel, that isn't censorship.  If I write the TV station demanding that they not use Paris Hilton stories, that is where the fine and hazy line becomes relevant.

I suppose I must admit that CBS had every right to tell the Dresnok story.  I simply think that they could have exercised better editorial control by filling that particular air time with another of the fine stories they have.  I don't believe that is censorship, rather it is a better use of their precious air time.  But my angry reaction steps over the fine, hazy line.

The most interesting section, for me, of Felix's article was the discussion of defection and desertion.  It caused me to reconsider my attitude of defectors and deserters.  I was reminded of my reaction to General Petraeus's answer to the question what he would do if he was ordered to conduct combat operations when Congress had not funded combat operations.  His first answer was that he would consult his lawyer.  Wrong!  In our system, that isn't one of his options.  Similarly, Dresnok did not have the right to desert, and if, quoting Felix,

...  that's how militaries impose coercive unity over commonsense and natural fear, not a god given law of human behaviour.

then, by extension, we should not have a military.  That's an ideal that I support, but reality tends to step up and say, "What if... ."  So, with humanity as we are, there's a need for a military and, therefore, some form of coercing its members to go beyond common sense and natural fear.

I agree that Dresnok must have been under a terrible strain to go across a minefield.  It seems that following his defection/desertion, you choose, he had a much better life.  He discovered a talent for language, and a skill for teaching.  He successfully used them for decades in North Korea, overcoming his "bleak past," and, reluctantly, I must congratulate him.

He did not, however, through his success restore his honor or alleviate his guilt.  The years have not accomplished that.  I think that he forfeited his right through his defection, and should for some reason he returns, as Jenkins did, he should be arrested and given his day in court to establish his reason for defecting, explain as extenuating circumstances his bleak, brutal childhood, and hope that the jurors are merciful.  After this discussion with Felix, I believe if I were a juror, I may be.

Felix's final paragraph:

If that level of desperation prompts me to criticise anybody, it would be the society in general, and the military in particular, which engendered it. I can think of few stories more worth attention in an overcrowded media than how a human being came to be so broken that he did the unthinkable. At a more abstract level, I think it good for any free society to be confronted, in serious depth and at serious length, with views of itself which question its own myths and assumptions.

I admire those words and the intellect, compassion, and humanity behind them.  He has succeeded in part.  I have confronted in serious depth and length, and continue to question my myths and assumptions.

A Few Thoughts About the Petraeus/Crocker Hearings

Not much was accomplished here this afternoon since much of it was spent watching the CSPAN coverage of the Senate questioning General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.  Having watched, I'm no more aware of what's in store in Iraq.

It seems to me these two had a few talking points and no matter the question kept using them.

Even without national reconciliation, the folk in the provinces are getting the job done.

It's hard, and there can be no guarantees.

There are hopeful signs.

They are trying to push the Maliki government to meet objectives they set for themselves.

Only one Senator impressed me, Sen. James Webb.  Every other one used his time to make a speech congratulating them both for being fine, outstanding people, whose integrity is beyond reproach, and then to either point out how badly the war is going, or how well it is.

If these senators conduct the business of the nation as they do a hearing, it is a full blown wonder that anything ever gets done.  They have the unique ability to talk too much without ever getting to their point or question.

For me, the most interesting moment was General Petraeus's answer to what he would do if the Congress cut off funds for combat operations and the President ordered him to continue.  His answer was that he would consult a lawyer.  Later he amended that considerably, but somehow I think the original was the most honest answer all day, and it was wrong.  If there is to be civilian control of the military, he has little choice but to proceed.  To resign is his only other option.  Consulting a lawyer to determine whether to follow orders is not acceptable, and if he were a Captain rather than a General giving that answer, he would be in deep trouble.

General Petraeus is a much better speaker than Ambassador Crocker, or at least seemed so today.  Ambassador Crocker may have been getting tired late this afternoon, it had been a long day, but his answers had a great number of "Uh" interspersed, in some places about every other word.  Petraeus was sharp and speaking in full sentences even at the end of the day, very seldom saying "Uh."

I believe these two people are highly qualified, intelligent individuals.  Today, I got the impression that even though they said they had written their presentations without pressure form the Pentagon or White House, they were being very careful to stay on a message conforming to the administration's.  In general, I think we had expected too much from these reports.  There was never a chance that the General would come back and say that the surge was working.

I think we are screwed.  This war will continue well beyond the next sixteen months, and even if the Democrats are elected, they don't seem to want to make a firm commitment to have 100% of our troops out for years to come.

We Are Tonsil Deep

As my Saturday post said, our Friday was wonderful, with friends and conversation that just did not touch on politics.  It was refreshing. Last night, I started writing about something I had not thought through and, in my opinion, it became a mish-mash going nowhere.  Even then though, there was little politics, just a confused discussion about decisions.

This afternoon I watched almost two hours of General Petraeus's and Ambassador Crocker's testimony.  Discouraged.  Pessimistic. Saddened.  These words describe relatively well how I feel about the report.  It absolutely does not make one bit of difference how many valid studies have concluded that there is very little progress in Iraq, the general and ambassador are going to pull out the message that they didn't cover the entire period as his does, that the situation is improving, and they need more time.

A trawler across the screen on MSNBC this afternoon said the US is building a massive base next to the Iranian border to intercept weapons and people from Iran.  Our number of troops by next June will be approximately the same as it was before "The Surge."  According to Ambassador Crocker, getting the Iraq government to function and control their own country is "hard work."  I wonder if that's the same "hard work" our President said about being President. And, is that hard work going to be any more successful than the President's?

Most of the Democrats seem to be laying down before the administration's steam roller.  There isn't going to be any vote to curtail Iraq.  Most Democratic candidates for President don't foresee pulling out troops immediately after taking office.  They seem to be drinking the kool-aid that if we leave there will be civil war and ethnic cleansing, and that our remaining there is the only way to keep it from happening.

It's enough to cause me to want more days like Friday, and even more days of confusion about mental and moral questions.  It's enough to cause me to want to pull back and enjoy life today, because there is absolutely nothing that can be done to change the actions of our government.  It's too late.  We are tonsil deep in their shit and making waves is too unpleasant.