“The Unforgiving Minute” by Craig Mullaney

I just finished reading “The Unforgiving Minute” by Craig Mullaney.  The story chronicles a Rhodes Scolar/Army Ranger’s learning curve from West Point, to Oxford and then Afghanistan.  It’s a compelling read, and I was definitely driven to finish the book quickly.

At times Mullaney can be trite and bit cliche in his descriptions of the events that occured in his life, and I was often questioning the depths of some of the relationships he describes.  However, he was still able to create an incredible sense of empathy for his position and the hard decisions he was faced with, not only as a powerless “Plebe” but as an itellectual exploring the depths of a unique college experience, as a man learning the ins and outs of a multi-cultural relationship, a platoon leader faced with the responsibility to protect the lives of his own men, and a son fighting for an identity in the eyes of a unapproving father.

As a civilian its always been tough for me to understand the nature of a someone who has seen battle.  ”The Unforgiving Minute” put into perspective the change that occurs in a person when they put themselves aside and willingly step into the path of danger for someone else.

Considering my politcal position with regard to our involvements in the Middle East, it was somewhat out of character for me to pick up a book like this.  Having read it, I have to say thank you to Craig Mullaney, because he took a concept that is utterly personal, and explained it without involving the, at best, dicy politics that surround it.

Drinking isn’t my problem…

[ I haven't posted in a long time, I hope you enjoy this one ]

Recently I’ve been going through a personal trial.  Its not one of those life altering I’ll never be the same again trials (although I’m not ruling it out), but one that I’ve been through many times in my life.   It’s always preceded by a pattern, which goes like this…

Week 1: Go to the bar on Friday, drink, wakeup with hang over, don’t drink the rest of the week.

Week 2: Go to the bar on Friday, drink, wakeup with hang over, drink a little on saturday to fix hangover, sober up Sunday, think about drinking next Friday.

Week 3: Go to the bar on Friday, wake up in the bar on Sunday morning, have a bloody mary and pass the time until next Friday.

Week 4: Well, if you can’t see the pattern developing, go do something simpler, like tweeting yourself.

Next thing I know, I’m drinking steadily all week long, perhaps not getting wasted, but definitely putting on the buzz on a regular basis, with the crescendo being the Friday night bash, but never really coming to resolution.  All the sober/buzz/drunk back and forth starts to put stress on my brain, my responsibilities and my health. I start to freak out a bit, and I stop drinking.  Just like that.  Its not some mission from god for me to quit drinking, it just happens.  I start drinking cranberry and sodas (the best drinking simulator I’ve found, and its good for your kidneys) at the bar while everyone else gets drunk, and I become the built in DD.  Its quite convenient for me and my friends…

But that’s where the trouble all starts… my friends.   It’s like a social sin to be at a bar, and not be drinking, even if you’re the one with the car keys.  Sometimes the amount of shit I get from my friends about not drinking is worse than the hangover.   The simple repetitive nature of the concept makes me want to drink, and eventually I give in…

Insert progressive drinking pattern here.

My worst friend (in this regard) is one of my closest friends, who went on a three month dryout himself, and knows the importance of the mission at hand, yet he still harranges the shit out of me because I won’t drink with him.

The problem is, I have clean-and-sober type friends, and the rational conclusion is to start hanging out with them and stop hanging out with the drinking crowd… But the truth is, while my clean-and-sober friends are good intellectual/spiritual motivators with their heads screwed on straight, when it comes to a Friday night, at the end of a long work week, they burn on me like a sparkler, when what I really need is a 20 pound mortar.

So you see, drinking isn’t my problem…

 

Quote for the Day, Week, Year, Decade, Millenia

I started reading Common Sense, by Thomas Paine and his opening statement seems to say it well (at least for me):

PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.

- Thomas Paine

Petrol is so 2007: Water is the New Style?

[ This article has been updated to remove some of my ranting and add a little more academia ]

Here are a few claims that we don’t have to screw the environment to get around and appease our needs for luxurious comfort. These two videos suggest that we don’t need to be fossil fuel dependent, and that the solutions is viable enough for the government to use in military vehicles.

Japan even has a working version for metro commuting:

http://www.livevideo.com/video/sm0ky/67E76007E41D40F58E85EF7C67E8D33F/water-fuel-car-unveiled-in-jap.aspx

Here’s some descent on the topic from Treehugger.com. Their argument is pretty good, and its warning about false hopes creating apathy is quite to the point.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/genepax-water-powered-car-japan-debunking.php

Goodbye George … Thanks for the enlightenment

Rest in peace George Carlin.  You’re wit, satire and out-right anger kept me laughing, angry (in the best way possible) and thinking through most of my life.  Your impact can never be measured.

Thanks for everything.

BTU’s Don’t Always Equal Carbon Output

Wired.com has an article on why it’s better to buy a used car than to buy a new hybrid.

The author’s argument states that it takes 113 Million BTU’s to build a Prius hybrid, leaving it having to travel 100,000 miles to make up the debt, as compared to a used car, which has already paid back its debt.

There’s a problem here, he’s talking BTU’s, when the global concern is about carbon emissions.

What’s a BTU? It’s a British Thermal Unit. It’s a measure of heat, having nothing to do with carbon output.

Case-in-point, thermal solar panels work by collecting the suns heat and transmitting it to a liquid medium for use as a heat source. This activity produces BTUs, yet there is no carbon production. Still the author continues to do the math relative to the amount of BTU’s released by gasoline, and makes the assumption that there must be a larger carbon footprint because of a higher level of BTU’s.

WRONG!!!!

This is a completely dis-associated mathematics, because most assembly plants run off of electricity, which could be provided by nuclear or water based sources, leaving his founding premise without any viable weight.

Are we in such a panic that we’re willing to jump on any idea that sounds cool?

[ Read the Article ]

But what do I know?

DOH!: Kids, Hookers and XBox 360

Kids goes on a spending spree with dad’s credit card, orders XBox 360, Dr. Pepper and 2 Hookers. Okay… I’m at a loss for words…

[ Read This Article ]

I wonder what he calls his mommy?

DOH!: The Airforce Has Finally Said It Out Loud

Scary article from Wired.com:

The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it “access” to — and “full control” of — any kind of computer there is.

Oh dear… I need a beer.

[ Read the full Wired.com Article ]

The Pentagon Engaged in Propaganda?

There’s an interesting article from the New York Times that exposes a part of the Pentagon’s propaganda machine that is easily overlooked by the viewing public. Former high-ranking military personnel that contract to the major networks as military analysts.

[ Read the N.Y. Time Article]

This approach to propaganda plays on at two major rhetorical fallacies:

1. Appeal to Authority – These analysts are former military personnel. Of course they know what they are talking about.
2. Appeal to Belief – Because all former/retired/ex military types are no longer associated with the military, and are allowed to speak on issues that are sensitive in nature without retribution.

These fallacies overlook some important facts. Like the supposed authority that these people are providing is coming from a system that brainwashes its members into believing that the system is right and just. Additionally, the members of said system are legally owned by the system for the duration of their term and are not allowed to question the system for fear of retribution. These men are life-long members of the military, even in retirement they are hard pressed not to adhere to the requests from the military.

And for the marginals who might have a moral-complex with the whole situation, money can fix everything. The military has the ability to pay out in sums far greater than the wealth of all the networks combined.

Additionally, we assume that that the military has no hold over these people in other forms because they are now “civilians”. Pick-up a military handbook from any branch of the government. These are life long contracts of non-disclosure that prevents the “civilian” from truly representing their experiences in the military, especially when they’ve reached ranks of a classified nature.

In short we’re hard pressed to find former military personnel that can speak publicly and not have a bias toward the military-industrial agenda.

NOTE: Check out The Nizkor Project for information about rhetorical fallacies and their applications.

Take That FBI!!!

In another attempt to suppress our civil liberties, the FBI subpoenaed the Internet Archive to release private information about one of its users. They fought back. They won.

[ Read the Wired.com Article ]

Interesting point of discussion about the issue. The FBI itself warned that the NSLs (National Security Letters) were to be used sparingly. Meanwhile, they cite that they can only estimate the number of times they have been used since 2001, but that they had “issued tens of thousands of NSLs since 2001.”

Why aren’t they limited by law? Why are our liberties at their discretion? Isn’t this supposed to be the land of the free?