Philip Greenspun’s Weblog

Last night four of us walked over to Passim, the legendary folk music club in Harvard Square, to hear Arlo Guthrie perform.  Passim is a basement room furnished with spectacularly uncomfortable cast-off folding chairs.  Vegetarian food is available.  The chairs and the food immediately raise the question of, if folk music is supposed to represent the struggle of working-class Americans how come Passim doesn’t serve food that these folks would actually like (e.g., hamburgers) and chairs that would accomodate the typically obese frames of the poor.  Most of the time artists at Passim speak out from the stage against U.S. oppression of Iraqis, against George W. Bush, against Republicans, etc.  These protests elicit universal applause from the audience, all of whom apparently can agree on these points and all of whom are apparently rather irritated.  A true protest at Passim, one that would challenge the prevailing beliefs in the room, would be a leaflet arguing in favor of eating steak, touting its anemia-fighting and mood-mellowing properties.  Not to mention the fact that steak encourages the consumption of red wine, which is known to have many health benefits.

Guthrie came on stage after a warm-up by Alastair Moock, whose songs are heavily laced with the modern vocabulary of recovery.  The audience was awed by Guthrie’s impressive guitar playing, songwriting, and storytelling.  The guy has been on the road for most of his 57 years!

Arlo Guthrie is a lot less bitter about the American political situation than the average performer at Passim and the average audience member.  He pointed out that there is only one guy in the White House and lots of folks outside the White House.  Guthrie further noted that if the world were truly full of peace and love like all the folk singers wanted and if everyone were in perfect health then it would be awfully hard to accomplish any positive changed.  By contrast, “in a world as fucked us as this one it has never been possible to do so little little and achieve so much good.”

Guthrie drew a lot of strength from the final words of “Ma” in Grapes of Wrath:  “we will always be here, because we’re the people”, explaining that politicians come and go but the people remain to do the work and therefore can’t be ignored.  It occurred to me that perhaps this idea is obsolete in an age of offshoring.  In the old days there was always work for unskilled uneducated American labor.  Now that Mexico, India, and China are tied to us with Internet and container ships is that still true?

Full post, including comments

The headline in this article says it all… “Britain leads the world in giving out anti-depressants”

Who would have predicted that bad weather, congested roads, and an absurdly high cost of living would lead to unhappiness?

Full post, including comments

Despite widespread dissatisfaction with George W. Bush the Democrats managed to lose the 2004 election.  The U.S. has a population growth rate of 0.92% (source: CIA Factbook) and our population is forecast to reach 450 million by mid-century.  Thus economic (GDP) growth and job creation are essential if Americans are to enjoy a constant or rising standard of living.  Bush and Cheney weren’t our most successful business managers but they at least did work in the business world, attempting to produce economic growth and jobs.  The Democrats picked challengers who spent their entire lives working for the government or suing medical doctors for causing cerebral palsy.  These are activities that may redistribute the pie but won’t grow it.  Edwards might have been a particular weakness on this score because of the studies showing that lawyers reduce GDP.

Does anyone know of a governor or national Democratic politician who previously had a successful career in business?

Full post, including comments

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.]

Full post, including comments

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.

Full post, including comments

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.

Full post, including comments

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.

Full post, including comments

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.”

Full post, including comments

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.”

Full post, including comments

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.

Full post, including comments