Potter Post

Just finished reading Harry Potter books 1-6. Have #7 ordered and will probably read it on Sunday.

Not sure where things will go. There's a great blogpost somewhere that has given me some ideas, so what little is below is probably not of my own devising. Anyway, a few thoughts.

1) R.A.B. is Regulus Black.
2) The Hog's Head barman, Dumbledore's brother, has a role to play.
3) Harry is, himself, a Horcrux. I believe he's the one from Godric Gryffindor, because I believe he is descended from GG.
4) I had thought that HP would have to sacrifice himself (Jesus-like) to get rid of the Horcrux, but it's been made clear that the 7th bit of Voldemort's soul, the bit residing in his body, has to be destroyed last, so I don't see how that will work. But I do think Harry vanquishes V and dies in the process.
5) The International Relations/diplomacy angle will figure in, as both sides compete to form coalitions with the various other kinds of magical creatures.

Really neat books, good to read them all again.

Update: here's one of the posts I cribbed from.

And this one by Russell Arben Fox.

Some Colorado Camping

Summer 2006, Turquoise Lake. Wildernet. Beautiful, to be sure. But a little overcrowded. Running water was a big plus for TW.



On the way home, K#4 got to go horseback riding on "Hawken" ... with Mount Massive in the background!

Summer 2006, Pearl Lake State Park. Wildernet. Gorgeous, serene, tranquility!!! Highly recommended if you are looking to escape for a few days. Didn't catch any fish, but lots and lots of crawdads there to keep the kids entertained. We did some canoeing thanks to TW's friend and had a great old time.

Summer 2007, Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Wildernet. I thought this would be a cheesy day-visitor type of place, since it's so close to Denver, Golden, Boulder, etc. But boy was I wrong. We were in the Aspen Meadows area, which is tent camping only, at about 9,000 feet. Beautiful spot, nice and serene. No action at all on Dude's Fishing Hole, though the views from there are pretty nice, with some especially nice rock outcroppings. Big downside, not mentioned in any guides or descriptions that I saw, was that cars are parked away from campsites. So, for our campsite (#35), we had to hoof our stuff maybe 200 yards to our campsite. D'oh! The creek isn't much either. But this was a beautiful, tranquil spot.

Summer 2007, Pawnee Campground on the shores of Brainard Lake, near Indian Peaks Wilderness, in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. Wildernet. Ahhh, the Rocky Mountains. This place is incredible. Gorgeous views of glaciers and glacier trails. Snow still on the ground at the campground (elevation ca. 10,300). Easy catching of brookies on Powerbait in Brainard Lake -- Ks 1-3 all caught, #s 1 and 2 totally on their own. K2's was actually a beatuful 14" rainbow. Massive hailstorm put a damper on our second day, but this places is truly glorious. We'll definitely be going back, if only for day trips.

Up second week of July 2007, fly fishing on the Arkansas!!

'zackly

Farls, in a long post considering various things having to do with the case some are making for invading Iran, says this about Iraqi WMD:

While the allegations about chemical weapons formed the center of the administration's case for war, the real problem is not that the administration was lying (although it was), but rather that Iraqi WMD, even if they existed, did not furnish a plausible reason for war. It doesn't excuse the administration to say that its sin was two-fold; on the one hand, it lied about the existence of WMD, and on the other it lied about the implications of WMD. Even if the United States had found a rump WMD program, it would not have justified the war, and I doubt very much that it would have affected the course of the insurgency. Like an attack on Iran for supporting Iraqi insurgents, invading Iraq for having WMD was stupid on its own merits.

Exactly. This was, in my view, the soundest reason for opposing the Iraq War at the time. It just wasn't necessary.

"Sack up, people"

Classic.

Battle of Algiers, again

Saw Battle of Algiers again today. Great stuff, and so resonant with US in Iraq. You've got your torture, and your generic willingness to forego legality at the altar of lethality and alleged effectiveness. You've got Mathieu telling the media to toe the line (though US MSM ca. 2007 would never dare to ask such tough questions, nor politicians to give such frank answers). You've got moral ambiguity all over the place. You've got your major power unleashing and eventually losing to forces that it seemed not at all to understand. Etc. Really strong film.

Tenure!

'nuff said.

Parlez-vous EU?

This here is some classic EU-speak. Still, it's amazing and imporant to see ridiculous, artificially-precise and seemingly legalized procedural arcania representing the presumptive response to disagreement -- as opposed to, oh, I dunno, war.

In addition, until 31 March 2017, if members of the Council representing at least 75% of the population or at least 75% of the number of Member States necessary to constitute a blocking minority as provided in Article [I-25(2)] indicate their opposition to the Council adopting an act by a qualified majority, the mechanism provided for in the draft Decision contained in Declaration nº 5 annexed to the Final Act of the 2004 IGC [shall apply]. As from 1 April 2017, the same mechanism will apply, the relevant percentages being, respectively, at least 55% of the population or at least 55% of the number of Member States necessary to constitute a blocking minority as provided in Article [I-25(2)].

From Council Conclusions to the recent summit, via James Wimberley at The Reality-Based Community.

Midnight Express

Saw Midnight Express for the first time a few nights ago. I guess it looked interesting based on the Blockbuster online description.

Feh. Didn't like it. Was not persuaded or in the least moved by the main character's descent into madness. Poorly acted, phony feeling, in particular in the rendering of the Turkish as monsters, but also in Billy Hays's initial indifference to being imprisoned. Didn't really get the point of the British-educated guy in section 13 (the nuthouse part) ... whole thing just felt lame and overdone to me.

One of imdb's commentators refers favorably to it as a "delicious, homoerotic S&M-tinged slice of the 70's", which I guess is about right. (Not the 'delicious' part, mind you, NTTAWWT.)

Wait, Oliver Stone was involved? Shocking that it would be lame.

Oh well. Two thumbs down.

Judgment at Nuremberg

Saw "Judgment at Nuremberg" for the first time last week. Loved it. I wish our current regime would take a look at this and see how those accused of even the most heinous acts should be treated. The way we treat our captives expresses who we are, not who they are.

I like the way the movie builds up our sympathies for Dr. Ernst Janning, played by Burt Lancaster, only, at the end, to remind us that he was, indeed, guilty. However bad the system in which we find ourselves, and however much we try to rationalize doing bad things because alternatives are even worse, we are still responsible for the bad things we do. Janning had choices and he chose to do some very bad things.

Anyway, good flick.

Generous Americans

We give lots more in charity than Europeans do. Not at all surprising to me.

On the Road

Just read this for the first time. Loved it. Have a few quotes that I'd like to single out but don't have the book in front of me. Anyway, a neat American adventure that's utterly without a purpose, which purposelessness, of course, makes it deeply suspect in today's America.

Of course have seen it said many times, but I was struck by how much this anticipated Kesey's trip. Also read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test a few months ago, and of course it sounds like Neal (Dean Moriarty) didn't change a lick in the 15+ intervening years. What a wild man.

FWIW, I see that Naropa University is doing a Kerouac Festival next week. Looks like fun!

Britain's Surveillance Society

"The World" had a fascinating and frightening report on surveillance in Britain.

Takedown!

David Rieff brilliantly takes down some of Anne-Marie Slaughter's romanticism about America and its role in the world. I love the ideals she lays out, but his empirical critique is spot-on, IMO.

ouch

FIU "one of the very worst universities in the country"? Ouch.

What's the hortatory subjunctive of "shut the fuck up"?

I was no fan of Slick Willy, and found his "depends on what the meaning of 'is' is" to be a real low in the annals of democratic (small 'd') accountability.

But this is probably just as bad.

Planet of the Apes

So was surfing this morning and caught the middle part of the first "Planet of the Apes" movie. I am sure that others have picked up on this (not that it's particularly subtle), but I love the idea that Chuck Heston is on the side of science, with the apes subjugating science to religion (with Dr. Zaeus both Minister of Science and "keeper of the scrolls"). It makes for pretty funny viewing in light of the christianist position against evolution and the general anti-science stance of a chunk of not just our population, but our "leadership".

Ha ha!

Economist on economics of immigration reform

Neat little piece in the June 2nd "economics focus" feature, entitled "Guests v gatecrashers". Bottom line:

illegal immigration might cost native-born residents some 0.07% of GDP.

But that net cost, if it exists at all, is clearly less than the price of keeping illegal workers out. Since 2001 Congress has more than doubled the amount of money spent on securing the borders and enforcing immigration laws. Mr Bush's 2008 budget proposes spending $13 billion, or 0.1% of GDP. The senators' plans would be even more expensive. A needlessly cumbersome guest-worker plan and a costly war on gatecrashers are bad ideas—even if you don't give a fig for the welfare of would-be migrants.

Yes, I think our concern about illegal immigration is largely misplaced and racist.

prewar intel proved prescient

Too bad they ignored it.

the downside of globalization

OK, I know that globalization has some very real negative consequences on some people who can ill-afford to suffer them. But let me just point out another downside of globalization: all that damn flopping in the NBA. Anyone who watched last year's World Cup soccer match will recognize Manu Ginobili's technique, for example -- BAM, as if taking a close-range shotgun blast. All that's lacking are the stretchers.

Worse, blue-blooded American boys have recognized the incentive to play along and are doing the same thing, with no apparent pride whatsoever.

Give us back our game.

Beneath the Underdog

Finished it a week or so ago. Feh. Didn't really get what people see in it. That it's nonlinear and therefore somehow jazzy? I thought it was self-indulgent crap. I need to look up some info (maybe read a real biography of Mingus) to find out when it was written. It wouldn't surprise if it was ca. 1970, when what CM was playing doesn't move me much, either. But what do I know.

I just wish there were some actual discussion of, ummm, music.

Also read Theodore Roszek's The Making of a Counterculture, which I enjoyed a lot. A little heavy-handed at places, and the author seems to be trying too hard to sound profound, but his analysis, that the counterculture represented an attempted to rediscover magic and rescue life from the technocracy, made good sense to me.