Wednesday, February 22, 2006
The Most Evil Guys in the Room
Do you ever watch a TV show or documentary, knowing full well beforehand that when it's over you are only going to be more angry or depressed than you are going in?
I just finished watching Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, a documentary which details the rise and fall of Enron in the mid- to late-90s through 2004. It debuted at Sundance in 2005, but I wasn't able to see it then when I went a year ago January due to its pre-screening buzz.
What makes seeing it now so pertinent and relevant is that the main players in the colossal fraud perpetrated, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, are now on trial - the story is still being told. But what is clear is just how virulent the strain of greed was that permeated that "company", how exploitative they were of the inherent weaknesses of the system, and how completely they violated the trust of the honest rank-and-file workers who signed on with them and are now left with nothing. It also makes clear the complicity of major financial and government institutions - sometimes knowingly, sometimes not - when they believed there would be no repercussions. Despite its occasional inability to clarify the exact nature of the fraud (not surprising given the subject matter), the film does capture the human element, the basic nature and motivators of the duplicity, some truly damning moments on video, and the pervasive culture of corruption in Enron's energy traders and its devastating consequences. For that I highly recommend it, especially as someone who lived through the fraud perpetrated by them on California back in 2001, and most certainly overpaid some electric bills to those bastards as a result.
What was equally striking to me too was that, in spite of no real explicit attempt to make it so, the story makes for a stunningly apt metaphor for the current Presidency of the United States. The obscurantism, the arrogance, and of course the deflections consisting of character attacks whenever someone has the audacity to question just what is going on. I'd want them to also be taken down too, however like these Enron thugs I wouldn't put it past them to take everyone down with them.
tags: Enron, greed, Ken Lay, Kenny Boy, fraud, Jeff Skilling, movies, Smartest Guys in the Room
I just finished watching Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, a documentary which details the rise and fall of Enron in the mid- to late-90s through 2004. It debuted at Sundance in 2005, but I wasn't able to see it then when I went a year ago January due to its pre-screening buzz.What makes seeing it now so pertinent and relevant is that the main players in the colossal fraud perpetrated, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, are now on trial - the story is still being told. But what is clear is just how virulent the strain of greed was that permeated that "company", how exploitative they were of the inherent weaknesses of the system, and how completely they violated the trust of the honest rank-and-file workers who signed on with them and are now left with nothing. It also makes clear the complicity of major financial and government institutions - sometimes knowingly, sometimes not - when they believed there would be no repercussions. Despite its occasional inability to clarify the exact nature of the fraud (not surprising given the subject matter), the film does capture the human element, the basic nature and motivators of the duplicity, some truly damning moments on video, and the pervasive culture of corruption in Enron's energy traders and its devastating consequences. For that I highly recommend it, especially as someone who lived through the fraud perpetrated by them on California back in 2001, and most certainly overpaid some electric bills to those bastards as a result.
What was equally striking to me too was that, in spite of no real explicit attempt to make it so, the story makes for a stunningly apt metaphor for the current Presidency of the United States. The obscurantism, the arrogance, and of course the deflections consisting of character attacks whenever someone has the audacity to question just what is going on. I'd want them to also be taken down too, however like these Enron thugs I wouldn't put it past them to take everyone down with them.
tags: Enron, greed, Ken Lay, Kenny Boy, fraud, Jeff Skilling, movies, Smartest Guys in the Room
Sunday, February 19, 2006
It made me feel....
I'm jaded about many things, but I still have a soft spot for the Olympics. I try to watch them when I can, although that's become increasingly difficult with the way NBC broadcasts them. I swear, sometimes I believe they are doing their damnedest to sabotage the whole event with the way they cover them.
Try watching during primetime, and you'll quickly notice that you get three minutes of event coverage - THREE - followed by three minutes of commercials. And this goes on and on for hours. Well, actually I only know for certain that it goes on for at least half an hour, because that's about all I can stand before I just give up and switch the stupid thing off. Think about it - 30 minutes of commercials every hour. If you watch a race of any sort that naturally lasts 10 or 15 minutes, you can be assured that it will take you twice as long to see the whole thing, and even then you'll only see it in annoying 3-minute increments. Even as they are coming down the home stretch, they cut to commercials.
In case you were wondering, this is what the world looks like when marketing heads take over programming departments. I can't imagine watching any substantial amount of the Olympics these days anymore unless you have a TiVo.
Another kvetch of mine is the interviewing of athletes by the moron reporters and talking heads. One thing I've noticed is the preponderance of questions based not on specifics of the race or the training, but on the current emotional state of the athlete. Now I don't doubt that such things are relevant to an athlete's performance, but what I'm getting at is the prevailing significance attached to feelings, and not to any actual observable truth. "When you passed Sven Svennson going around that far turn, how did you feel?"
And that is why I am in love with Shani Davis, the recent winner of the 1000-meter long-track speed skating event. He didn't bite when the reporter asked "How does it feel to be the first African-American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics?" You could tell that the boneheads at NBC were just waiting for him to gush all romantic about how important it was to him, that he was proud to be a pioneer and all that, blah blah blah. He certainly could have said all that, and he had good reason to. But no, instead he coolly responded with a perfunctory nod and, "It feels pretty good." And that was it - dead air the rest of the time. The reporter was caught flatfooted and stammered to move on to the next dumb "How does it feel" question. When he again gave a short answer, the reporter asked, "Are you angry?" Again, the quest for finding out athletes feelings. As if the Olympics are just one big daytime-TV talk show.
Shani probably had other reasons for being as sullen as he was toward NBC. But regardless, for me it was a breath of fresh air to see someone who frankly didn't give a shit if he didn't offer any feel-good soundbites for NBC, set himself up for product endorsements, or simply play along with the charade that is the post-event interview. I don't necessarily begrudge other athletes for doing so, but you have to admit, it gets pretty tedious when you know pretty much what they're going to say every stinkin' time, doesn't it? How many times did I hear Dan Jansen's oh-so-insightful pre-race commentary about so-n-so, "I skated with him a few hours ago during warmups, and he's calm, relaxed, but energized." Really, Dan? He's not bitter, exhausted, and wound up like a coil spring? Thanks for the clarification, that's good to know! Ugh.
And that's pretty much how I feel about that whole matter.
tags: Olympics, NBC, Shani Davis, sports
Try watching during primetime, and you'll quickly notice that you get three minutes of event coverage - THREE - followed by three minutes of commercials. And this goes on and on for hours. Well, actually I only know for certain that it goes on for at least half an hour, because that's about all I can stand before I just give up and switch the stupid thing off. Think about it - 30 minutes of commercials every hour. If you watch a race of any sort that naturally lasts 10 or 15 minutes, you can be assured that it will take you twice as long to see the whole thing, and even then you'll only see it in annoying 3-minute increments. Even as they are coming down the home stretch, they cut to commercials.
In case you were wondering, this is what the world looks like when marketing heads take over programming departments. I can't imagine watching any substantial amount of the Olympics these days anymore unless you have a TiVo.
Another kvetch of mine is the interviewing of athletes by the moron reporters and talking heads. One thing I've noticed is the preponderance of questions based not on specifics of the race or the training, but on the current emotional state of the athlete. Now I don't doubt that such things are relevant to an athlete's performance, but what I'm getting at is the prevailing significance attached to feelings, and not to any actual observable truth. "When you passed Sven Svennson going around that far turn, how did you feel?"
And that is why I am in love with Shani Davis, the recent winner of the 1000-meter long-track speed skating event. He didn't bite when the reporter asked "How does it feel to be the first African-American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics?" You could tell that the boneheads at NBC were just waiting for him to gush all romantic about how important it was to him, that he was proud to be a pioneer and all that, blah blah blah. He certainly could have said all that, and he had good reason to. But no, instead he coolly responded with a perfunctory nod and, "It feels pretty good." And that was it - dead air the rest of the time. The reporter was caught flatfooted and stammered to move on to the next dumb "How does it feel" question. When he again gave a short answer, the reporter asked, "Are you angry?" Again, the quest for finding out athletes feelings. As if the Olympics are just one big daytime-TV talk show.
Shani probably had other reasons for being as sullen as he was toward NBC. But regardless, for me it was a breath of fresh air to see someone who frankly didn't give a shit if he didn't offer any feel-good soundbites for NBC, set himself up for product endorsements, or simply play along with the charade that is the post-event interview. I don't necessarily begrudge other athletes for doing so, but you have to admit, it gets pretty tedious when you know pretty much what they're going to say every stinkin' time, doesn't it? How many times did I hear Dan Jansen's oh-so-insightful pre-race commentary about so-n-so, "I skated with him a few hours ago during warmups, and he's calm, relaxed, but energized." Really, Dan? He's not bitter, exhausted, and wound up like a coil spring? Thanks for the clarification, that's good to know! Ugh.
And that's pretty much how I feel about that whole matter.
tags: Olympics, NBC, Shani Davis, sports
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Weather geek
How do I know that deep at heart, I'm still a weather geek?
Because when I found this website called the Conditional Symmetric Instability Homepage, hosted at the National Severe Storms Lab in Oklahoma, my first thought was, "Sweeeet!" My second thought was, "Kids today, they don't know how lucky they have it. If only the web had been like this when I was in grad school..."
It's been a while since I've thought about such things, so it's time to brush up - especially with winter finally making its return to northern Colorado.
tags: meteorology, geeks, science
Because when I found this website called the Conditional Symmetric Instability Homepage, hosted at the National Severe Storms Lab in Oklahoma, my first thought was, "Sweeeet!" My second thought was, "Kids today, they don't know how lucky they have it. If only the web had been like this when I was in grad school..."
It's been a while since I've thought about such things, so it's time to brush up - especially with winter finally making its return to northern Colorado.
tags: meteorology, geeks, science
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Neil Peart
Neil Peart, the drummer for Rush, has his own web site, and diary page that's almost a blog but not quite. In his January 20th entry he talks about the initial efforts the band is making toward creation of their next album, and even admits the trepidation he feels when it's time for him to show the first draft of his lyrics to Geddy and Alex. (He writes all the lyrics for their songs, while Geddy and Alex write the music.)
Later he digresses onto the topic of sports, something which true Rush fans like myself know is very important with the band even though it never comes up explicitly in the music. But he then said a couple things which surprised me:
So he's buddies with Matt Stone? Interesting. But that wasn't the real surprise. Rather, it was his summation that a whole season's involvement with a beloved sports team, regardless of outcome, leaves you with nothing. I suppose that's true, as far as it goes. That is, to the extent that virtually anything we do with our lives and with our time is illusory, then perhaps it's fair to say that one is empty at the end of the season. But if that's true, then surely we are just as empty during the season? And that too may well be, but it doesn't ring true to me - or rather, it seems to miss the whole point altogether.
For my part, the purpose of my interest in following teams isn't always explicable (nor likely rational), yet it's quite palpable and undeniable. I do derive a feeling of community from it, even when around those who root for other teams. Merely the act of pulling for a team provides a commonality with someone else, because for better or worse we have agreed to place some amount of importance on the outcome of the game, or season. Why would that sense of common ground vanish merely because the season ended? The tension may disappear, to be replaced by relief, joy, or anguish, but emptiness? That's just not in my experience. And if Neil's issue is instead with the vicariousness of spectating itself (which I don't think it is, but I just want to cover that ground), then he would be left in the odd position of suggesting that his very fan base is likely bereft of meaning at the end of Rush's own concerts.
None of this is to suggest that spectator sports are meaningful in the way that art or personal struggle or self-sacrifice are. It is only to say that they aren't utterly meaningless either.
Well, whatever. Even if I don't agree with Neil here, I still admire him greatly for his personal strength, his lyrics and his musical craft. Oh, and Rush ROCKS!!! Woohooo!!!
tags: Rush, Neil Peart, spectator sports, bands that totally rock
...on the Rush front, just this past week Alex and Geddy and I have started work on some new songs. Although we are 3000 miles apart, the two of them at home in Toronto and me in California, last week I received an e-mail from Geddy saying that he and Alex had spent the day in his home studio, and not only did they have fun, but they also thought they’d written something good.
A couple of weeks ago I had written to both of them that I had spent some time at my Quebec place in November, and decided to see if I had any lyrical “muscles” built up. With the first snows of winter whipping around outside, the lake beginning to freeze over during the cold, still nights, I spent five days sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. A pile of papers grew in an ever-widening circle around me, and in the end — after much forehead-wrinkling and gnashing of teeth — I felt that I had about six half-decent ideas under construction. I wasn’t that confident they were any good, mind you, but I never am until the other guys respond to them. And anyway, those words won’t come alive until after the “little miracle” of hearing them sung for the first time.
Later he digresses onto the topic of sports, something which true Rush fans like myself know is very important with the band even though it never comes up explicitly in the music. But he then said a couple things which surprised me:
There have been times when Alex and Geddy and I have been in the studio, for example, and I’ve gotten totally caught up in the hockey playoffs. During breaks in the recording, or while waiting to hear a mix, we would sit in front of the television, all anxious about something over which we had absolutely no control — and I would get all tense about the outcome.
And then after all that tension, there was no release — no reward. Inevitably, we were either disappointed by other people’s failure to win the game, or briefly elated by their victory. Even after a whole season of watching something that either tortures you with someone else’s failure, or even excites you with their transitory victory, you are left with… precisely nothing.
A few days ago I was hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains with South Park’s Matt Stone, and he was telling me that for him, growing up in the Denver area, everything had been centered on football. If the Broncos won on Sunday, his world would be a better place on Monday.
So he's buddies with Matt Stone? Interesting. But that wasn't the real surprise. Rather, it was his summation that a whole season's involvement with a beloved sports team, regardless of outcome, leaves you with nothing. I suppose that's true, as far as it goes. That is, to the extent that virtually anything we do with our lives and with our time is illusory, then perhaps it's fair to say that one is empty at the end of the season. But if that's true, then surely we are just as empty during the season? And that too may well be, but it doesn't ring true to me - or rather, it seems to miss the whole point altogether.
For my part, the purpose of my interest in following teams isn't always explicable (nor likely rational), yet it's quite palpable and undeniable. I do derive a feeling of community from it, even when around those who root for other teams. Merely the act of pulling for a team provides a commonality with someone else, because for better or worse we have agreed to place some amount of importance on the outcome of the game, or season. Why would that sense of common ground vanish merely because the season ended? The tension may disappear, to be replaced by relief, joy, or anguish, but emptiness? That's just not in my experience. And if Neil's issue is instead with the vicariousness of spectating itself (which I don't think it is, but I just want to cover that ground), then he would be left in the odd position of suggesting that his very fan base is likely bereft of meaning at the end of Rush's own concerts.
None of this is to suggest that spectator sports are meaningful in the way that art or personal struggle or self-sacrifice are. It is only to say that they aren't utterly meaningless either.
Well, whatever. Even if I don't agree with Neil here, I still admire him greatly for his personal strength, his lyrics and his musical craft. Oh, and Rush ROCKS!!! Woohooo!!!
tags: Rush, Neil Peart, spectator sports, bands that totally rock
Friday, February 10, 2006
Altered States
(Tip o' the hat to yooperprof)
Today's meme is yet another nifty web mapping tool, from the folks at douweosinga.com. There you can make your own customized map of states you've visited, using whatever criteria you prefer for what constitutes a 'visit'.
I didn't realize how biased I am towards the southwestern quarter of the country, including Hawaii.
tags: travel
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Close Encounter
As I've mentioned previously we've been having a very windy winter. One of the side effects is that random garbage upwind makes its way into our yard, either in or around the junipers or the compost heap. On occasion though, I find things that you'd only see at flea markets or on Ebay.
This arrived in our front yard a couple days ago, after another windy day. As you can see it is a 45 single (actually it plays at 33 1/3) of the theme music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the movie by Steven Spielberg. A strange and unlikely thing to find in your front yard, to be sure. But of all the vinyl owners in Fort Collins whose yard this record could have ended up in, it found the only one probably who also owns an intact version of this same record. (I even double-checked my own copy to make sure something horrendous hadn't somehow befallen it.)
Imagine my surprise to learn that someone just west of here (and there aren't too many of them, as we live on the west side of town) actually owned this record like I do until very recently. It's a "special complimentary single, not for resale", that came with the full soundtrack album as pictured here in this pilfered Ebay auction image. This record is almost 30 years old, and presumably it remained intact all that time, until it seems by appearances someone accidentally sat on it.
It has renewed in me a sense of purpose, to ensure that my copy of this record, of which only a few are extant (or are at least admittedly so), remain in good, playable condition for the years to come. Its memorable 5-note theme set to a snazzy disco beat cannot be allowed to perish from this earth. Besides, I don't want to risk disappointing our alien overlords when they come to greet us.
Cosmic Coincidences 'R' Us
tags: Close Encounters, disco, silliness, coincidences
This arrived in our front yard a couple days ago, after another windy day. As you can see it is a 45 single (actually it plays at 33 1/3) of the theme music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the movie by Steven Spielberg. A strange and unlikely thing to find in your front yard, to be sure. But of all the vinyl owners in Fort Collins whose yard this record could have ended up in, it found the only one probably who also owns an intact version of this same record. (I even double-checked my own copy to make sure something horrendous hadn't somehow befallen it.)Imagine my surprise to learn that someone just west of here (and there aren't too many of them, as we live on the west side of town) actually owned this record like I do until very recently. It's a "special complimentary single, not for resale", that came with the full soundtrack album as pictured here in this pilfered Ebay auction image. This record is almost 30 years old, and presumably it remained intact all that time, until it seems by appearances someone accidentally sat on it.It has renewed in me a sense of purpose, to ensure that my copy of this record, of which only a few are extant (or are at least admittedly so), remain in good, playable condition for the years to come. Its memorable 5-note theme set to a snazzy disco beat cannot be allowed to perish from this earth. Besides, I don't want to risk disappointing our alien overlords when they come to greet us.
Cosmic Coincidences 'R' Us
tags: Close Encounters, disco, silliness, coincidences
Writing like a god
My brother posted a wonderful quote about the art of writing on his blog about a month ago. I'm going to do the brotherly thing and steal something of his that he simply left lying around, and re-post it here.
“. . . I believe in writing – nothing else; just writing. Man may live like a worm, but he writes like a god. There was a time when that secret was known, but now it has been forgotten; the world is composed of disintegrating fragments, an incoherent dark chaos, sustained by writing alone. If you have a concept of the world, if you have not forgotten all that has happened, that you have a world at all, it is writing that has created that for you, and ceaselessly goes on creating it; Logos, the invisible spider’s thread that holds our lives together.”
tags: writing, Logos
“. . . I believe in writing – nothing else; just writing. Man may live like a worm, but he writes like a god. There was a time when that secret was known, but now it has been forgotten; the world is composed of disintegrating fragments, an incoherent dark chaos, sustained by writing alone. If you have a concept of the world, if you have not forgotten all that has happened, that you have a world at all, it is writing that has created that for you, and ceaselessly goes on creating it; Logos, the invisible spider’s thread that holds our lives together.”
tags: writing, Logos
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Shame of the Union
Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh admits:
Josh, Josh, Josh. Are you kidding? There are legions of us out here exactly like you. You couldn't pay me to watch that phony imcompetent jackass speak, especially for an hour. The only time I would ever watch him is if he ever had the courage to speak extemporaneously in front of a non-screened audience and would take non-scripted questions from them. Why should I (or any thoughtful individual) care to allot more precious free time to watching Potemkin Village townhall meetings, photo-ops, and campaign love-fests?
For my part, I think I watched the SOTU in 2002, after 9/11. That was chilling enough. Before that, I'm sure I missed most of Clinton's SOTUs as well. The whole thing has turned into a stupid charade, devoid of real information and more like a pure cheerleading event than an honest assessment of where we are and what we're doing. Until that changes, you can count me out.
tags: politics, SOTU
I have a confession: I'm not sure when the last time was when I watched the State of the Union address. I think I may have watched it in 2003. But I'm not even certain of that. Perhaps a glance through the archives would show that I watched a bit of it last year, I don't know.
The truth is, I find it unwatchable.
...the thing itself (watching the actual production in real time) and then the imbecile chatter afterwards -- I just can't deal. I just find it unbearable.
Are there others out there like me?
Josh, Josh, Josh. Are you kidding? There are legions of us out here exactly like you. You couldn't pay me to watch that phony imcompetent jackass speak, especially for an hour. The only time I would ever watch him is if he ever had the courage to speak extemporaneously in front of a non-screened audience and would take non-scripted questions from them. Why should I (or any thoughtful individual) care to allot more precious free time to watching Potemkin Village townhall meetings, photo-ops, and campaign love-fests?
For my part, I think I watched the SOTU in 2002, after 9/11. That was chilling enough. Before that, I'm sure I missed most of Clinton's SOTUs as well. The whole thing has turned into a stupid charade, devoid of real information and more like a pure cheerleading event than an honest assessment of where we are and what we're doing. Until that changes, you can count me out.
tags: politics, SOTU
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