Philip Greenspun’s Weblog

Inspired by David Letterman’s bringing a dentist from New Jersey to review the epic film “Reds”, here is an airplane nerd’s review of “The Incredibles”:

Elastigirl is flying an airplane right at the top of a cloud layer, more or less in and out of the clouds, and calls an air traffic control facility saying that she is “VFR on top”.  Visual Flight Rules would generally require at least 1000′ of clearance above the top of any cloud and 2000′ horizontally from clouds.

[The dentist’s sole comments on Reds related to the fact that the dental work visible on screen was anachronistic and not representative of what dental care would actually have been like in early 20th century Russia.  If you do see the Incredibles, look for a scene in which the wife is upset at the idea that her husband is cheating on her and then gets slapped a few times by a fashion designer.  This scene was animated by my cousin Doug Frankel.]

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In Oaxaca, as in most of the places that I’ve visited in and out of the U.S., it was nearly impossible to find someone who admits to favoring George W. Bush.  Yet the guy won 51% of the popular vote.  Even here in Massachusetts fully 37 percent of voters supposedly chose Bush.  Perhaps voting for Bush is like being a consumer of online porn.  Statistics show that it is popular but nobody will admit to doing it.

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People in Cambridge and Berkeley should be happier for the next four years than if Kerry had won because whenever anything bad happens they can blame George W.  Contrast with Nice Guy Jimmy Carter’s administration.  Things were going horribly for Americans with 18% inflation, high unemployment, our embassy staff taken hostage by Iranians, and the Soviets crushing our Muslim allies in Afghanistan.  Amidst all of this depressing news there was seemingly no one to blame and therefore people could only get depressed.  I’ve met quite a few Cantabrigians who seem to have enjoyed their anger at W. for the last four years.  For most people it would appear that anger is preferable to despair.

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Here are some random things that I have observed so far on this trip to Mexico:

• eight Mexicans speaking English to each other all night at a dinner party so that their one American guest (me) would not feel left out
  
• a family gathered around the grave of a loved one offering me a drink of whiskey
  
• families staying up all night with musicians and refreshments
  
• two Japanese tourists, complete with nametags and three cameras, marching in Santa Maria del Tule’s “Parade of Death”
  
• three tall white Americans dressed by REI and bedizened with cameras in a small village’s graveyard saying “we’re not tourists, we’re photographers”
  
• tens of thousands of flowers for sale in an open-air market with upbeat Latin music playing
  
• enormous banners hanging from the sides of churches and cathedrals arguing against the legalization of abortion (abortion is currently illegal in Mexico but if you have USD$3000 you can get breast augmentation, laser hair removal, Viagra (“30% off” according to the big signs in Oaxacan pharmacies), and a procedure in a discreet private clinic)
  
• Spanish-speakers cringing in pain when I pronounce Oaxaca “Oh-axe-a-ka” (to be consistent with the English pronunciation of a hard “ex” in “Mexico”)
  
• multi-acre downtown cactus garden from the balcony of one of the world’s best prehispanic art museums
  
• a brass band playing and costumed locals dancing for hours underneath the balcony next to my restaurant table on the main square in Oaxaca

In addition to seeing a lot of interesting and fun things I found a good job to apply for once I get my commercial helicopter rating.  It seems that on the north shores of the Hawaiian islands there are surfers who pay to be dropped from a helicopter into the middle of a swell.  From there they get onto a jetski and are towed to the top of the 18-24 foot waves that are typical in the Hawaiian winter.  One would need an endorsement to be legal to carry surfboards externally strapped to the helicopter skids but otherwise it didn’t sound too challenging and you’d be meeting cool people all day.

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Imagine an average guy with an average job (tire salesman, cubicle-dwelling Java programmer, whatever) with two teenage kids.  The father is upset because his son is using heroin.  Now that the movie Ray is out the son can reply “if I stayed off the smack I might be able to get a job like yours dad but I’d rather be like Ray Charles.”  The 17-year-old daughter is pregnant with her second child, which also earns her some verbal abuse from dad.  In the 1970s she would have to suffer this abuse but today when Buddhism is recognized as the provably optimal religion for human felicity she can say “sorry that you’re upset dad; I was ‘in the moment’ when this baby was conceived.”

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A friend in Alaska sent this email in response to a postcard from warm sunny Greece:

“So, you are there…and… well…we are here… in the snow, sleet, rain, pestilence, fog, and darkness.  What more can be said?  The dogs are howling, the bears are hibernating, and we are hunkered in our camp, slowly cooking cassoulet while riding out the storm.  In fact, it has been so bad here that one of our local judges, Sam Adams, age 47, died of a heart attack while on a moose hunt a week ago, and he had to stay put with his hunting party for a few days before the clouds could clear and the plane could land. Can you imagine being one of the guys around the fire, wondering whether to put cards in Sam’s hand, or look for another moose, etc.”

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Picked up a copy of The Onion on the street corner in Manhattan and enjoyed this entry, headline “Tibetan Teen Getting into Western Philosophy”:

LHASA, TIBET—Deng Hsu, 14, said Monday that he is “totally getting into Western philosophy.” “I’ve been reading a lot of Kant, Descartes, and Hegel, and it’s blowing my mind,” Hsu said. “It’s so exotic and exciting, not like all that Buddhist ‘being is desire and desire is suffering’ shit my parents have been cramming down my throat all my life. Most of the kids in my school have never even heard of Hume’s views on objectivity or Locke’s tabula rasa.” Hsu said he hopes to one day make an exodus to north London to visit the birthplace of John Stuart Mill.

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This article on physician salaries should be emailed to undergrads planning their future and, perhaps more importantly, to any person with a PhD who insists on calling him or herself “doctor”.  It turns out that the average physician in the U.S. makes around $200,000/year after paying malpractice insurance and all other expenses.  The clever docs who specialized in radiology earn a median income of $350,000/year after paying their malpractice insurance premium of $12,000/year.  So next time the pompous PhD signs an email with “Dr.” ask him “Wow, are you making $200,000+/year?  No?  Why not?”

Maybe these are the folks who’ve stripped America’s car dealers of all the minivans…

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Just got back from a showing of the new Alexander Payne movie Sideways here in Manhattan. I went with a couple of old friends to this movie about old friends on a pre-wedding bachelor road trip in central California wine country. Everyone in the theater was laughing. Highly recommended.

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I keep reading about how the U.S. economy is in such bad shape and that people are out of work.  Yet when I try to buy a new minivan, either Toyota or Honda, I’m told “You have to wait three months to get your choice of color and options and you have to pay list price.”  What I want is a 2005 Honda Odyssey, Touring trim, white, with nav system (the center windows go up and down on the Odyssey, making it good for dogs).  The list price is something like $35,000 and presumably dealer profit is around $3000.  Toyota dealers were selling leftover 2004 Siennas for nearly list price as well!  If one listens to the John Kerry supporters here in Cambridge it sounds like doomsday for the U.S. economy.  If one walks into the local car dealer, however, it is apparent that the minivan-buying middle class has a lot more cash than back in 1998 when I bought my Sienna for $500 over invoice.

[p.s.  I’m going down to NYC tonight through Sunday morning.  More evidence that the economy is booming is supplied by the fact that nearly every Broadway show is sold out, despite $100+ ticket prices.  Any NY locals reading this blog with ideas for Thu, Fri, and Sat evenings?]

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