Survivor

So I'm standing in the lobby working on my inventory when the decorative railing around the second story windows start to rattle as if the wind was blowing through an open window. I realized quickly that it might actually be an earthquake, but I didn't feel anything.

Moments later, someone from the 12th floor calls the front desk to report that their room was shaking. Did we have an earthquake? JS had been talking to MP, and was surprized by the call. He didn't know; we didn't feel anything in the lobby. Then someone called from the 10th floor to report the same thing. Then MP's wife called his cell phone to ask him if he'd felt it.

JS started hunting for news online, and discovered that we had indeed had a 4.7 magnitude quake. Later, on Facebook, my friend Mark reported that he'd felt it very strongly. His research revealed that the epicenter was actually very close by. He provided a map with the epicenter's coördinates, smack on top of his little hometown, 50 miles east of OKC.

Several other friends and my husband were reporting that they had also felt the quake. My buddy Jason, who also lives east of OKC, said he was feeling aftershocks till around 5:30am. So now I'm feeling a bit cheated.

Two Down. Way Down.

Yesterday was our 2nd wedding anniversary. I had plans, but had to work last night, so it was just going to be dinner at a new restaurant in town, and possibly a movie. I wanted to be there by 5:30 or 6. I expected Gaby to wake me in time. I also expected him to be close to ready to go. (It takes him an hour and a half to get ready to go to the grocery store.)
I woke up at 6:06. I found him in the kitchen, still in his sweats, microwaving a bowl of beans. I reminded him that we had plans. He had totally forgotten.
I'm trying hard not to be angry --he was, after all completely guileless, though I'm having trouble understanding why he would remember it was our anniversary but not that we were going to be doing something about it. But the truth is that I'm very disappointed and very unhappy.

Stories of My Life II

One day, when I was living in Stillwater, I stopped in at the supermarket to pick up a few items. I came to the register with a package of mouse traps, a can of spray paint, and a frying pan. When the clerk had rung them up, I discovered that I was a bit short of money. The clerk said, "I guess you'll have to put one of them back."

I said, "Yeah, but if I put one back I can't use the other two."

I remember the look of confusion on her face as she studied the three completely disparate items, wondering what the heck I was going to use them for. But I can't remember whether I ever told her I was just kidding.

Four Ad hominems and Me

I read something the other day that I liked: "Very Serious Narrative (VSN) will be trumped by Easily Checked Facts (ECF) every time." Ideally, that should be true, but I've bumped up against a couple of difficulties while pondering this.
My Dad, as I have mentioned before, has a proclivity toward chain emails. Usually, these emails contain a lot of Culturally Pervasive Misinformation (CPM), and CPM can often be dealt with using ECF. But the question always comes to mind: If the truth is so easily found, why does the false keep popping up in my inbox?
But what caught my attention this morning was that somehow I have been lumped in with four other blogs, the writers of which say things like

"Anyone who has read a newspaper or paid attention to world events–even only occasionally–in the last ten years knows that the Muslim world is a savage place that will never be civilized and whose only version of “democracy” is to elect fellow savages. Anyone who needed the Muslim invasion of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, last week as a wake up call should go back to sleep. You simply haven’t been paying attention . . . "

and

"These's protests, like the supposed "anti-war" protests, are usually a bunch of children of upper-middle class families who convince those who've never made anything of themselves that capitalism is to blame for their sorry condition. Yeah right! Just another excuse to find drugs and maybe a hook up for tonight. Dumb hippies!"

In these kinds of cases, it's not just a matter of misinformation and lack of fact-checking. These are expressions of deep-seated prejudices which they justify using current events. It would take a book -- or several books, perhaps -- to explain that these current events have long histories going back decades, and even then they would fail to understand the motivations of the people they are judging.

No, people are going to believe what they want, and they will seek out others who will confirm or justify the things they believe regardless of the data, the numbers, the history or the evidence. To do otherwise would take too much effort.

Inside Job Insider

At the Oscars back in February, the movie that won the award for best documentary was a film by Charles Ferguson called "Inside Job," which detailed the causes and effects of the 2008 economic crisis. By coïncidence, I had begun trying to understand the whole crisis and macroeconomics through my own reading. One book, which I am currently in the middle of, is entitled "All The Devils Are Here," which covers the same topic.
I really wanted to see this film with my Dad, but I missed it in the theater when it was showing at Quail Springs. Later I found the DVD at SunCoast, and then at Target, but I never had the money to buy it when I was there.
Then last Wednesday I found four copies at the Edmond Library. I checked it out and watched it that same morning. It blew me away.
Saturday night I took it over to my parents' house, and we watched it as a family. When it was done, my Dad said, "Everyone in the world needs to watch this movie." The next morning, my Mom called to ask what the title was again because my Dad was going to Target.
The movie, essentially, is about how deregulation over the last 30 years has allowed powerful banks to grow more powerful by breaking basic rules of sound finance. So I thought it was funny, and I know my Dad would think so too, that The Financial Times reported in a front page article that Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, was balking at new banking regulations, calling them "un-American." Too bad, Jamie.
Tonight I saw on my blogroll that Paul Krugman has something to say about it, too:

"September 12, 2011, 9:32 am
Satire Is Dead

"Last month I had a little fun with Jamie Dimon, putting in his mouth the words of the corrupt, embezzling banker in John Ford’s Stagecoach:

"I don’t know what the government is coming to. Instead of protecting businessmen, it pokes its nose into business! Why, they’re even talking now about having *bank* examiners. As if we bankers don’t know how to run our own banks! Why, at home I have a letter from a popinjay official saying they were going to inspect my books.
"I have a slogan that should be blazoned on every newspaper in this country: America for the Americans! The government must not interfere with business! Reduce taxes! Our national debt is something shocking. Over one billion dollars a year! What this country needs is a businessman for president!

"But today I read this: Jamie Dimon, CEO Of JPMorgan Chase, Calls International Bank Rules ‘Anti-American’.

Satire is dead."

Turmoil

I'm upset with a dear friend.
Last night he posted an invitation on Facebook to sign an online "petition" to rob 'Group A' of their basic civil rights because of their superficial resemblance to 'Group B'. This apparently is justified because the acts of Group B were so heinous that anyone who looks like them should be viewed with suspicion and contempt. Failure to oppress Group A might make Group C feel bad, even though Group A is in actuality a subset of Group C. Group A has no actual connection with Group B, in spite of the specious claims made by a cable "news" organization which are reiterated in this petition. The project that Group A is working on is being entirely mischaracterized in order to provide a rationale for the petition.
I have other friends who would gladly sign this petition, and that's just the way they are. But this friend surprized me because I have never known him to be bigoted or unjust. It's very disturbing.

A Well Written Police Report

Augusta, GA

Orville Smith, a store manager for Best Buy in Augusta , Georgia , told police he observed a male customer, later identified as Tyrone Jackson of Augusta , on surveillance cameras putting a laptop computer under his jacket. When confronted the man became irate, knocked down an employee, drew a knife and ran for the door.

Outside on the sidewalk were four Marines collecting toys for the "Toys for Tots" program. Smith said the Marines stopped the man, but he stabbed one of the Marines, Cpl. Phillip Duggan, in the back; the injury did not appear to be severe.

After Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene Cpl. Duggan was transported for treatment.

The subject was also transported to the local hospital with two broken arms, a broken ankle, a broken leg, several missing teeth, possible broken ribs, multiple contusions, assorted lacerations, a broken nose and a broken jaw -- injuries he sustained when he slipped and fell off of the curb after stabbing the Marine.