Executable file
Posted on December 30, 2006
It finally happened and Saddam Hussein has been executed. Stangely, I find myself having some conflicting feelings about this.
Saddam was not a nice man. Not by a long shot. He was a tin-pot dictator who ruled his country with a ruthlessness of Stalin. It wouldn’t take much to convince me he was guilty of the acts on which he stood accused.
In general, I support the death penalty in extreme cases, such as serial killers and mass-murderers, and Saddam was almost certainly guilty of the latter.
Where the conflicted feelings come from is that the trial lacked legitimacy. As soon as we were told he was captured, the outcome was inevitable. His execution was inevitable. It wasn’t inevitable because he was guilty, though he was probably that. It was inevitable because the trial could have no other outcome. The court and the trial existed for the sole purpose of finding Saddam (and co-conspirators) guilty. It was a kangaroo court. A show trial. It was meant to show that “justice” was served. It was meant to show that Saddam got his say before he was killed, and the people could feel good about killing him, because he had his chance in court and if he was found guilty, well too bad for him. That’s the breaks. However, in the end all it was was a show. It was a ceremony. I wouldn’t call it a trial. The trial started before Iraq even had a stable government. Hell, it barely has a stable government now.
The trial was run by the Iraqis and supported by the Coalition governments. However, since his trial started before they had a stable government, I wondered how they can charge him. They didn’t have laws. Without a government, there is no constitution and no laws. Without any laws to be broken, what’s the point of charging him.
Previously, Saddam was The Law. If he wanted someone arrested, they were. If wanted someone dead, they were. They might have been given a show trial, but with an outcome as inevitable as Saddam’s. All the Iraqis did was use Saddam’s own tricks against him. They dragged the trial out for years to give it an air of legitimacy, though the veridct was a forgone conclusion.
I think the trial was pointless for two reasons. Since the conclusion was inevtable, they could have saved the cost of the trial and executed him right away. Why bother with a trial at all? If they wanted Saddam to have a legitimate trial, they should have shipped him to The Hague before the International Criminal Court. I suspect the reason for that is because the US wouldn’t allow it, because the ICC doesn’t have the death penalty.
Anyway, he’s dead. I won’t mourn his passing. May God have mercy on his soul. May God have mercy on George Bush. May God have mercy on us all.
Sitting ’round, talkin’ ’bout the weather
Posted on December 29, 2006
Not much going on this week. Most of the people at work took the week off since the clinics are closed. People kept asking me if I was planning on going anywhere, but I said I had work to do, which is true since I’ve been doing some stuff online and I actually went into work today for a few hours.
I have some relatives who live in Colorado, and they got dumped on from a snow storm. Big blizzard, made all the papers, yada, yada, yada. My brother was planning on going from Denver to Colorado Springs to visit my mother, but the snow made him reconsider. I also heard Alamosa got the record low in the nation a day or so ago with -7 F. When I lived there I remember putting up with some pretty cold temps – in the -30F to -50ish.
Since I don’t have a car and walk everywhere, I’m pretty stoic when it comes to weather. The main reason is that I always know I can tell myself, “I’ve been through colder weather than this.” I remember going to school in -30 degree weather in Alamosa in the late 1970′s. That was a big cold spell when it didn’t get above 0 F for days. I think they only canceled school when it got to -40 F because they didn’t want to risk kids getting frostbite while waiting for the bus. I also remember the police driving their cars around and using their loudspeakers telling people not to go outside. I think the news people mentioned something like any exposed flesh would freeze in less than 15 seconds in those temps. I don’t remember if the temps took wind chill into account. Alamosa was always a windy place. It drove people almost literally insane. Somebody even tried to use it as an excuse in a murder trial. Anyway, that’s why I can tell myself I’ve been in worse weather.
It doesn’t matter at all here in Indy. The temps have been fairly pleasant, only requiring a light jacket. It rained on Christmas Eve and into Christmas, probably remnants of what hit Colorado days before. Somehow, “I’m Dreaming of a Wet Christmas” doesn’t have the same ring to it (sounds salacious though :-D). The rain did turn to snow – barely – late in the evening of the 25th/26th, but by the morning it was melted. The forecast is for more rain over New Year’s, which will likely be the remnants of what’s hitting Colorado now. I’m not planning on going out, but I am thinking of going to the liquor store tomorrow. Not big on champagne, but if they have something cheap, I might think about it, otherwise I’ll be looking at some Woodchuck cider or similar. Maybe I’ll get some Kreik Lambic or Framboise. Both are pretty good and have been available the rare times I’ve gone to the liquor store. I like those tart drinks.
Pedestrian Pursuits
Posted on December 14, 2006
I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I don’t own a car, so I pretty much walk everywhere I need to go, and I stay mostly in the downtown Indy area. Not owning a car, I get a lot of miles out of shoes, and I’ve developed an appreciation for fit and comfort. Every six months or so, I wear down a pair of shoes to the point that I have to replace them. Over the past few weeks, I realized that the days were numbered for the shoes I’ve been wearing.
Last year about this time we had a blizzard in Indy that just piled up the snow. Actually, the depth of the snow wasn’t too bad, but I the shoes I was wearing, which were very nice and business like, lacked any real grip in the snow. The next day I went to a nearby department store and checked out what they had. I had seen lots of people wearing shoes that looked like a cross between sneakers and business shoes. On the top, they look fairly professional (though a bit “sporty”), but they have soles like sneakers. Figuring I would try something like that, I tried on a few pairs, but when I tried on a pair of shoes by a company called Born, I knew I found what I was looking for. They were all black leather and kind of looked like bowling shoes from the top. The bottom was rubber with little “spikes” on it. I knew the spikes would wear out quick, but the shoes themselves were extremely comfortable. It was a pair of shoes that “fit like a glove.” Since they were so comfortable, I decided I would at least try them out, even if the little spikes would wear out quick.
As I suspected, the spikes did wear out pretty quick, but it was a mild winter, so I didn’t have to worry too much about grip. On the upside, I never got any blisters and I wore them until the soles were on the verge of having holes. Actually, the leather shoelace broke, but since the soles were nearly done, I treated myself to another pair. Going back to the same store, they didn’t have any more on display. I started talking to the salesman about various other shoes they had, while at the same time raving about how much I liked the shoes I was wearing. I selected a few pairs to try on and the salesman went in back to get some in my size. When he came back he also had a pair of the shoes I was wearing, but they were a size smaller. He said they were the last ones they had in stock, but he thought I might as well try them on to see if they fit.
Normally, I wear a 10 1/2 in shoes because I like a little wiggle room for the toes. He brought out 10 1/2 size shoes for the ones I had selected, but 9 1/2 for the style I was wearing. I tried on the various pairs, but surprisingly the 9 1/2 size shoes fit very well. When i held them up to the old shoes, there wasn’t any difference in length that I sould see, so I figured one of he pairs was mis-marked. At any rate, I went with the same style I was wearing, albeit supposedly smaller. Today, as I was inspecting the soles, I noticed the holes in the shoes had picked up some pebbles. They didn’t get to my feet or hurt my walking, but I figured it was time to get some new shoes.
I went back to the same store, and of course they didn’t have any of that style on display, let alone in the store. Since I had good luck with Born shoes, I figured I would stay with that brand, though I did try on some others. The ones I ended up with are brown and green, and very comfy. They also have aggressive tread in case I face any serious weather. The best part is today at work they gave out gift certificate debit cards (basically a pre paid debit card), so I only ended up spending eleven dollars and change on the shoes. Not bad.
Wounded in Action, or The Perils of Pagers, or The Minutiae of Blogging
Posted on December 11, 2006
Being a secretary and the department’s computer guy, I carry a pager for work, in case anything important comes up and I’m in another building on campus. Luckily it’s quiet most of the time, however, when the battery starts to get low, it beeps a few times every half hour. This weekend the pager announced it needed its battery replaced, in its usual annoying manner. As an aside, it’s especially annoying when I’m trying to get to sleep.
When I was at work today, I figured I would replace the battery. The pager uses a AAA battery that’s crammed in. The way the pager is designed, you have to take one end out first. You can’t grab either end of the battery because only one end is showing when the battery cover is off. To make matters worse, most electronics that use these batteries have some sort of spring that serves a dual purpose of keeping the battery in place, yet allowing it to move back and forth when being replaced. This pager doesn’t have that feature. The battery compartment has two electrical contacts and is just big enough to hold the battery. To make sure the battery keeps contact, the battery is more or less wedged into place. Getting a new battery in is no problem, but taking the old one out is problematic.
I got the battery cover off (tricky in itself) and remembered the problems I had with removing the battery on other occassions. I slipped the corner of the tiny battery cover between the battery and the inside of the compartment, hoping to pry the battery out. While I was doing this, some guy was showing me this computer problem he’s been having over the past week, so I was distracted. The cover slipped and the corner roughly sliced the tip of my right index finger. I briefly winced at the pain, then turned my attention to the finger. It took a few seconds for the blood to appear. I excused myself and went to one of the clinic rooms (handy that it happened in a hospital) and grabbed a couple bandages. I slipped one of them on the end of my finger and went back to working on the guy’s computer.
I’m usually pretty stoic about pain, but this is kind of like a papercut. It’s at the end of a finger, so it gets a lot of use when I type. Plus, it’s the right index finger, so it’s probably the finger I use the most. It seems like I traded the annoyance of a pager alarm every half hour for the annoyance of a twinge of pain when I type.
Yeah, I know it’s a lame blog post, but I felt like writing and I thought this would do the trick…sort of.
Filed Under Journal, Work | 2 Comments
Life’s little instruction manual
Posted on December 4, 2006
Every so often you come across a piece of information that seems useless to you. It has no bearing on your life. It’s trivial, but you file it in the back of your brain because you never know when you might need it.
I came across something like that today. Reading the the blog of a girl teaching English in Japan, I saw a link on the sidebar that caught my eye. The Squat Toilet Manual is just one of those random pieces of information. For most people who might read this blog, it will be something they’ll never use. Then again, if you ever find yourself face-to-face with one of these plumbing fixtures, you’ll know what to do. Click the link and expand your mind.
Filed Under Culture, Place | 4 Comments
Baby, it’s cold outside…
Posted on December 4, 2006
I usually walk into work because a) I don’t have a car, and b) it’s only a mile and a half from my apartment, so it’s no big deal. Last night before I went to bed, I noticed a bit of snow on the roof of the building next to mine. I was a bit surprised, but it wasn’t a lot, so didn’t think much of it.
This morning when I started my walk, I noticed it seemed cold. As I started walking, I noticed my thighs were getting cold. This usually only happens when it’s really cold. I didn’t check the temperature when I left, so I figured it was in the 20′s. As I was walking, and my thighs started getting colder, I began thinking maybe I’m getting too old for this sort of thing. Even though I’ve been through colder weather, I was thinking about how I should have worn long johns and that maybe I couldn’t take it anymore. Anyway, I sucked it up, got to work, put on some coffee and logged into my PC at work. I hit weather.com and found out why I was cold. The temperature was 12, but felt like 2. I didn’t think it was windy, so maybe there was something else at play there, but at least I knew why my thighs were freezing.
It’s not that I’m getting old and can’t hack it. I’ve been in colder weather. I think it was mostly due to a lack of mental preparation on my part. Twenty degree weather is no big deal, but when it gets into the teens and single digits, I have to some sort of mental prep – “Yep, it’s cold out.” I mostly get by by telling myself I’ve been through worse. I’ve camped out in -20 degree weather and when I lived in Alamosa, CO, I remember walking to school in -30 degree weather (uphill, both ways ;-) At least it wasn’t windy. Snow would have been nice.
There must be some sort of phenomena that happens when it’s snowing, because it doesn’t usually seem so cold. Maybe it’s psychological in that the falling snow gives my eyes something to do. Even in the city it can be peaceful when there are few cars out, and I’m walking through the freshly fallen snow. The snow deadens the noise of the traffic and all I see before me is a blanket of powder, glistening in the street lights.
Grad Student
Posted on December 3, 2006
It’s official. Yesterday I got a letter accepting me to the TESOL certificate program. The idea is I would do this for a few semesters until I take the GRE, then transfer into the MA in English program concentrating on TESOL. I guess now I have to sign up for Fee Courtesy again.
It sounds like they recommend taking 2 – 3 classes per semester, though I will probably only take two. One of the first classes they recommend is Introduction to the English Language, which is a grad level course. My guess is that’s where they teach us all the fundamentals that we learned in grammar school, but have since forgotten. Aside from typos, my spelling is okay, though I guess my punctuation could use some work.
I added a TESOL category and I will be adding some links for TESL related stuff, so keep an eye out.
