Philip Greenspun’s Weblog

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?

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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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