Nulla Salus Sine The Hives

In the swamps outside New Orleans in 2004

Another fantastic show by The Hives last night at the Roseland, fronted by The Donnas.

Watching The Donnas set reminded me that it was almost exactly 22 years ago that The Pandoras came through Eugene promoting their album Step Pretending. I was still doing radio part-time at KRVM, and interviewed the band live. I’ve still got my individually-signed posters and album cover.

Senryū Twenty-Five. Stormy Weather

Will rough seas, clouds,

Delay missile shield protecting

Us from holocaust?

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis at Arms Control Wonk.com has a worst case scenario about the attempted satellite shoot that some others think is plausible:

I am very worried about the debris creation — particularly the debris that the light-weight interceptor will kick into higher orbits when it hits the massive (bus-sized) satellite. Thnk, as Geoff Forden suggested, of a ping pong ball hitting a superball.

Virtually all the debris should come down quickly. Cartwright said 50 percent would come down within two orbits, with the rest coming down in weeks and months. That seems plausible, at first blush.

But those two orbits could be hairy and some of the debris will remain in orbit. Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator, said there are “good times and bad times” to conduct the intercept, based on the position of the ISS but that “bad times are not all that bad” comparing the risk to an order of magnitude lower than flying the shuttle.

Last I checked, the PRAN [probability risk assessment number] for the shuttle was 1 in 100. Extrapolating, there would be only a 1 in 1000 chance of wiping out the ISS.

Great.

Main Bookstores

In a comment on one of the Oregonian‘s Community Writers columns (“An alternative patriotism” by Lillian Mongeau) the commenter suggests a book and makes an oft-heard charge:

I want to suggest you dig deeper. A new book may provide what is needed, a sound reason for prejudice, and I do not mean racism.

The book is, ‘In Praise of Prejudice” the necessity of preconceived ideas’ by Theodore Dalrymple. 126 pp.

The main bookstores will not carry conservative books. The bookstore owners were also taught by teaches with the same agenda as yours.

Now, despite what the “teaches” taught, and the fact that I don’t spend much time these days at my long-ago employer Powell’s Books — which is about as much of a “main bookstore” as it gets — I know when someone’s talking out of their ass. 50 copies of Dalyrmple’s In Praise of Prejudice alone.

Powell's Books search for Theodore Dalrymple

Non-Community Writer

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Community Writer. We appreciate the time and thought you put into preparing your materials. After reviewing approximately 150 applications, we’ve decided on a new group of 15 writers. We’re sorry to say you’re not among them.

Again, thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,

Bob Caldwell, editorial page editor

George Rede, Sunday Opinion editor

I’m hardly surprised that Bob Caldwell and George Rede didn’t pull my application for Community Writer out of the stack — I’ve made more than my share of comments about the quality of the Oregonian Opinion pages over the years — what really startles me is that out of all the people writing their opinions in this state that they only had 150 applications.

Why Socialism?

Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers’ goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.

—Albert Einstein, “Why Socialism?”, Monthly Review, May 1949

Holdouts

I put Google Analytics in place on the site a week and a half ago, and relatively quickly it logged visitors from almost every state in the Union.

Except for Mississippi, Idaho, Vermont, and Montana. I’ve been waiting for one of those to drop for days now.