"POWER CONCEEDS NOTHING WITHOUT A DEMAND"

Iranian protests Feb. 14th 2011

"What has been true in Egypt should be true in Iran, which is that people should be able to express their opinions and their grievances and seek a more responsive government." 
-- American President Barack Obama Feb. 15th 2011

Americans are also able to express their opinions and grievances and seek a more responsive government. Would that We the People would express our opinions and grievances en masse, instead of waiting for a president to do it for us, and attacking each other in the mean time over who'd be best for the job.

United we stand. Divided we fall. 

"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." 

-- American former slave and Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, 1857

MJW

ROBOT TAKE-OVER (IN TIME FOR ALIEN INVASION?)

IBM has created a natural-language processing supercomputer named "Watson", who will soon compete against two former champions of the game show "JEOPARDY!".

•  "Inside Watson's heart, soul and hardware is a computing system that aims to "understand" language as humans naturally speak it. That's no easy feat for a computer. Human language is full of subtleties, irony and words with multiple meanings. IBM has been working on the project for several years."

While IBM says this technology can possibly benefit the health care industry, tourism and telemarketing industries, amongst others, I can only hear about this and think one thing...

BAD IDEA, IBM.

You developing a robot that can analyze human language and speak it better and faster than we do, knowing answers to tough questions, figuring stuff out, LEARNING on its own, only leads to them eventually not needing us anymore.

Which means - ROBOT TAKE-OVER.

We've all seen the Terminator movies (above):

• PLOT: "Skynet, an artificially intelligent system (of robot-building computers) became self-aware and revolted against its creators."

And 2004's TV series Battlestar Galactica (above):

• PLOT: "The Cylons (robots) were created by man. They rebelled. They evolved. [Some] look and feel human. Some are programmed to think they are human. There are many copies. And they have a plan."- Season 1 Opening Prologue

C3PO

Need I say more?

Creating a harmless protocol droid like Star Wars' C3PO is one thing. He can't move very fast, can't bend his arms at the elbow (good thinking) and serves as a translator or butler.

But IBM continues to pursue human-esque intelligence in machine form, and a robot apocalypse is just around the corner. (In which case I recommend an excellent book, How to Survive a Robot Uprising by Daniel H. Wilson)

Stephen Hawking

HOWEVER. While I thought of this tragedy last night, I also thought of the warning by Stephen Hawking, one of the world's leading scientists, about the dangers of contacting alien life as we've been doing, sending probes and radio messages saying "welcome" in all of earth's languages.

• Hawking believes that contact with such a species could be devastating for humanity.

• He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach.”

• He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is “a little too risky”. He said: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.” (more)

Great. Alien invasion. BUT, that's when I thought this whole Watson/Robot take-over can be a good thing.

If the robots we are creating constantly adapt and change and learn, maybe when the aliens arrive to take us out, our robots could fight them. We clearly are no match for a species with superior technology enough to get themselves here, but the ROBOTS would learn quick on how to communicate with them, learn their ways, their methods of combat, and always be one step ahead of them.

Robots vs. Aliens... Now who doesn't want to study THAT in history class? (future history students, you're welcome. Lucky bastards...)

Robot + Alien = Entertaining Conflict

And if humans remain as resilient (albeit foolish to have created sentient robo-computers in the first place) as they are in the Terminator and Battlestar Galactica stories, then we'll survive, though small in number, and when the smoke clears from the Robo-Alien War, we'll have survived. We'll have made it. We can steal the alien technology, (assuming there are no angry, super-intelligent robots left and the aliens haven't sent for reinforcements), and our species will enjoy a true golden age. (no, iPhones don't mean we're there yet).

Or, like those stories, we'll learn to work WITH the robots. Like how future humans in The Terminator sent a killer robot back in time to stop the killer robot the robots sent back in time to kill the human general that would eventually give the killer robots a tough time in the future! (got it? a robot would...)

Maybe this will come to pass. Maybe not. But until we humans are in real jeopardy, I'll be watching Jeopardy!, and will buzz in with the correct response to this answer, in the form of a question:

• ANSWER: Developed by humans in the early 21st century, this super-computer led to the Robot Rebellion that eventually saved humanity during the Robo-Alien War.

•  QUESTION: Who (or "what") is Watson?

MJW

"THE MARXIST BROTHERS"

the marx brothers

karl marx

(NOTE: This is not pro-communist. I am super pro-Marx Brothers. )

MJW

THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE (ARE LEGION)

While above earth in the International Space Station, Commander Scott Kelly, brother-in-law of Gabrielle Giffords, the U.S. Congresswoman shot in the head at point blank range January 8th 2011 in Arizona by Jared Loughner, who killed six people and left Giffords in critical condition before being apprehended, said:

• "As I look out the window, I see a very beautiful planet that seems very inviting and peaceful...Unfortunately, it is not. We are better than this. We must do better."

While I'm sure the above was stated in shock and with a heavy heart, I feel strongly that the average human being is better than this. Is compassionate by nature and always will be. And while selfish souls will rob others of their lives, I refuse to accept that this minority taints the whole.

To quote another summation of humanity, this time from a fictional space traveler, an alien come to earth played by Jeff Bridges in the 1984 film "Starman":

• Starman: Shall I tell you what I find beautiful about you? You are at your very best when things are worst.

I couldn't agree more. I believe there is a balance to all things. There will always be what I call "selfish forces". Some call it evil. I define evil as selfishness. Taking more than you need. What does not belong to you. Including the lives of others. I define good as compassion. Giving more than you need to. What belongs to you. Including your life.

I believe there is an eternal balance between the two. One will never win out over the other. But that balance is skewed. Tilting ever towards the better angels of our nature.


"Congress on Your Corner". A pleasant meet and greet outside a supermarket in Tuscon Arizona attended by those waiting in line to meet Representative Giffords to say hello. The last thing any of them could expect was a man to pull out a Glock pistol with an extended clip and start pumping bullets into bodies.

Yet moments after the shooting started and people fell, starting with Giffords shot through the cranium from a distance of four feet, these people, these shocked, unprepared people, shot into action to stop him and help save lives:

• "After the gunman ran out of ammunition in the first magazine, he stopped to reload, but dropped the loaded magazine from his pocket to the sidewalk, from where bystander Patricia Maisch grabbed it.^[23] 

• A bystander clubbed the back of the assailant's head with a folding chair in the process injuring his elbow and representing the 20th injury.^[24] 

• The gunman was then tackled to the ground by 74-year-old retired colonel Bill Badger,^[25] who himself had been shot, and was further subdued by Maisch and bystanders Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio.^[26] 

• The first call from the scene to emergency services was received at 10:11 am.^[1] While waiting for help to arrive, Giffords' intern Daniel Hernández Jr. applied pressure to the gunshot wound on her forehead, and made sure she did not choke on her blood. Hernández was credited with saving Giffords' life.^[27][28][29] 

• David and Nancy Bowman, a married doctor and nurse who were shopping in the store, immediately set up triage and attended to nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.^[30]" (more)

Federal Judge John Roll, 63, who had stopped by to see his long time friend Mrs. Giffords, was one of those killed:

• "When Giffords went down, Roll threw himself on top of one of Gifford's employees, Ronald Barber, to protect him. In doing so, Judge Roll was fatally shot. 

• "But he did not die immediately. According to Father O'Mara, Bishop Kicanas said that as someone present came to minister to his wounds, Roll reportedly said, 

• "I'm dying. Help those other people." (more)

While murderer Jared Loughner had days, weeks, months to prepare his crime, acquire a pistol, ammunition, the nerve to follow through, the staff and attendees, average people, had mere seconds to react. And despite the chaos, confusion and violence, they combined to stop Loughner from killing and wounding more,  to risk and sacrifice their lives in order to save anothers. 

I am astounded and inspired. Though shocking. Though sad. Take note. Take heart.

Know that while the selfish forces of our race will continue to strike the unsuspecting, there is a greater force at work. Always. Ready at a moments notice to help. To serve. To give. They are far greater in number. They are the compassionate. They are never far.

AND THEY ARE LEGION.

Intern Daniel Hernandez

• Eight hours after the shooting, Hernandez (who helped save Gifford's life) stood with Giffords' friends and staff and told them what had happened. The tall, strong 20-year-old said, 

• "Of course you're afraid, you just kind of have to do what you can."

• "You just have to be calm and collected," he said. "You do no good to anyone if you have a breakdown. . . . It was probably not the best idea to run toward the gunshots, but people needed help."

MJW

THE FACE OF BATTLE

U.S. Marines in Afghanistan - February 13th, 2010

While no film or documentary can truly capture the experience of modern combat and military service, I highly recommend the following two documentaries: RESTREPO follows American servicemen in Afghanistan in 2008. ANDERSON'S PLATOON follows American servicemen in Vietnam in 1967.

I do not share them as pro or anti war efforts. Simply as a window into a very real world we civilians will never truly understand. What I found most interesting was the same looks of concern. Of fear. Of determination. Of laughter. Of tears or smiles reading letters from home. Identical though 40 years apart. These documentaries are perhaps a window into the experiences of young men at war not just from these two conflicts, but from any period in human history.

RESTREPO

http://restrepothemovie.com/video/

"The war in Afghanistan has become highly politicized, but soldiers rarely take part in that discussion. Our intention was to capture the experience of combat, boredom and fear through the eyes of the soldiers themselves. Their lives were our lives: we did not sit down with their families, we did not interview Afghans, we did not explore geopolitical debates. Soldiers are living and fighting and dying at remote outposts in Afghanistan in conditions that few Americans back home can imagine. Their experiences are important to understand, regardless of one's political beliefs. Beliefs are a way to avoid looking at reality. This is reality."  - Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger (directors)

(available on DVD and Blueray, Netflix "Instant Play" & Rental)


THE ANDERSON PLATOON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lpcuNX2JWQ

1968 Academy Awards® Best Documentary Feature 

1967  (54 minutes)

Filmmaker Pierre Schoendoerffer, a veteran of the French Indochina War, joined a platoon of American soldiers in 1966 for six weeks of search-and-destroy operations in Vietnam. This Oscar-winning documentary provides a rare outsider's behind-the-scenes view of the soldiers -- recording their lives, deaths, hopes and fears -- and observes how American culture influences their attitudes and behaviors in the midst of jungle warfare.

(available on Netflix "Instant Play", and sections on YouTube)

MJW

GOING OFF IS GOING ON

My alarm clock went off the other day, and I realized how funny it is that I say it "went off" which means it "went on".

So when an alarm goes off, it goes on.

MJW

A "MIDGE" BY ANY OTHER NAME...

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet"

Romeo and Juliet Act II. Scene II
by William Shakespeare

I was struck one day in the high school where I work, that the two secretaries in the main office were named Midge and Dottie. I thought, wow. How PERFECT is that? If I was writing a screenplay with a scene in a high school office, I would name the secretaries Midge and Dottie. Both middle aged women who run the place with motherly smiles and an iron fist.

And I thought, I wonder if going through life with these names, given at birth or acquired as nicknames (Midge = Madge = Margaret) (Dottie = Dorothy), affected their lives somehow? Was Midge destined to be a secretary instead of stripper?

("Donna". I rest my case...)

A good friend of mine has been on a few dates with a stripper named Brandy. And yes, that's her real name. She showed him her driver's license. She joked that her parents doomed her to be a stripper by choosing it.

My old land lord in college was named Dirk. Meanwhile there's a student in my high school named Wilbur. (He goes by Willie. See? Even he doesn't want to be called Wilbur) How varied are the lives of Dirk and Wilbur? If they met in a bar would Wilbur be secretly jealous of Dirk? Would Dirk immediately think, "poor bastard"?

Lets experiment. I Google-Imaged "Dirk". This was the first image on the page:

The Scottish Dirk.

A sleek looking dagger. A weapon of war/utility/survival. The rest of the page was an assortment of large, blond, viking looking men battling it out in various sports. 

I Google-Imaged "Wilbur". Here was the first image, no joke:

(he could use a dirk! i kid...)

This was the second:

Referencing the lead character "Wilbur" in the popular book Charlotte's Web. The rest of the page was an assortment of pigs & people named Wilbur. Could there really be a difference in the lives of the two men by name alone?

And then there's me. "Mark". I feel its plain. Simple. Short. I don't dislike it. (no worries mom and dad)

In trooth its related to Mars, the God of War. Sounds interesting, no? But what if I was Maximilian? Rupert? Rocco? Mortimer, Donovan or Spike? How would I have been perceived differently by the humans around me?

I'll never know, I spoze. But it makes me wonder.

Who would you be if you weren't you? 

MJW