2008 January : Slarty's World

Archive for January, 2008

Military Justice Can Be Harsh – Eddie Slovik

January 31st 2008 Posted at World Politic
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According to high level sources (google), today is the anniversary of Eddie Slovik being executed by the US Military for desertion. the story over at Wikipedia. Reading that article and then following it up with the article entitled List of individuals executed by the United States Military, is a nice morning stroll, perfect for a fresh cup of coffee.

I had never thought about it, but there are specific rules about military executions and the following offenses are only punishable by death in times of war:

Desertion
Assaulting or willfully disobeying superior commissioned officer
Spies
Misbehavior of a sentinel or lookout

When someone is sentence to death for these offenses, the President of the United States has to personally approve it. So in the case of Eddie Slovik, Eisenhower gave it the green light. I wonder if Ike felt worse than the firing squad guys?

In 1945, the military executed 14 German POWs for killing fellow German POWs/informers. Sounds a little more harsh than the Gitmo. I wonder if there was more hatred for the enemy back in the World War days?

The only time the Navy executed folks was for the Mutiny on the USS Somers. One the people that was executed was the son of the then Secretary of War. There must be books about this one.

I do not a support of the Death Penalty, for sure, but I can see how in times of war it would be a necessary evil. How else could you enforce a culture of people wanting to sacrifice their lives for their country? I know some people would do it willingly, but I would bet there are others that would not because they value their personal freedom over their country’s freedom.

Save the Plants – Build More Coal Plants

January 24th 2008 Posted at Science and Technology, World Politic
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A new past time for me is to listen to the Sirius Radio’s political commentary stations (144 for right, 146 for left). I listen to one and then on commercial breaks I switch over (or I switch over when I am so irritated by what the show is talking about). Yesterday’s drive to work had a few discussion points that really had me worked up.

A trucker dude called The Mike Church Show on Sirius Patriot (the right) and was talking about how he is driving a truck in South Carolina to go pick up logs that have been cut on land that is destined to be a coal burning plant. He was reveling in the fact that he was part of this slap in the face to those ‘Tree Humpers.’ That is all fine and dandy, a man can believe what he wants. Mike Church then went on to say that they should build 30 or 40 more. He then sited this article about CO2 emmissions [ ‘Medieval Environmentalists’ attack CO2 in their efforts to derail civilization. ] In particular, this section:

So, how low would anti-carbon dioxide crusaders consider pushing CO2 levels, if they were able? At 250 ppm, plants suffer and at 150 ppm most die, resulting in no oxygen and no life on the planet. Maybe that answer is the objective, or is it just the people who should go?

He then made an implication that ‘tree humpers’ are so naive, that their CO2 cutting policies are going to threaten the plant life of the planet and that we should be building coal plants to save the earth. You can read part of his rant here : [The King Dude Polar Bear Elimination Expedition]

It seems that modern day conservatives are into besmirching research on global warming, rather than trying to understand it and argue rationally about it. Many arguments against it, including the article I quoted above, seem to have a bottom line of, “Hell, we are humans, put here on earth (by God) and since it is a dog eat dog world, we should take all we can and not worry about the consequences.” A quick Google pointed out tons of articles that seem to take issue with CO2 emissions.

Honestly, I don’t know enough about it, but my gut tells me that this is something to worry about. I have heard good things about this article in the MIT Technology Review [The Messenger - The best scientists, scrutinizing atmosphere, ice, earth, and sea, say global warming is approaching a tipping point. But we still have time to keep it from reaching catastrophic levels.] MIT did not accept me into their undergraduate program, so I have a lot of respect for their work, so I will be reading it, along with some of the dog-eat-dog world articles.

This whole thing makes me really mad, because I see not reason why conservatives cannot be pro-environment. It is unreasonable talk like this that makes the general public stereotype conservatives as uncaring grandfathers.

Encaff Products

January 23rd 2008 Posted at Food and Drink
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A year ago, I wrote about about this amazing new discovery about being able to make caffeinated donuts. I thought it would be interesting to do a small update about the company, Buzz Donuts. Not too suprising how long it is taking to get this idea to market – since this is something we will be ingesting. Micro-encapsulated caffeine in fired donuts might sound like a natural fit to you and I, but I bet the FDA will want to get its grubby hands on this first.

The company was mentioned in Popular Science in May of 2007; at that time, the due date for the product was six months. If that were accurate, we would have seen the product by now. There is no real mention of this event on the company’s web site – so I am guessing that it is still a ways away. (The pictures of the donuts and bagels on the site are not very appetizing either, I hope that caffeinated donuts in the final form look better).

Master of Grayskull, errr, Wine – Tim Hanni

January 21st 2008 Posted at Food and Drink
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I was directed to a Wall Street Journal article about Tim Hanni’s life around wine(see The Wine Antisnob) by reading Dr. Vino’s wine blog. I think it is an interesting article and addresses a number of subjects near and dear to my heart. In particular, you should eat and drink what tastes good to YOU, not what people of consequence say should taste good.

This is not to say that you should not try the latest and greatest or that you cannot be picky about the food you eat. Here are a few points from the article.

Mr. Hanni has developed a short quiz that predicts your taste profile for wine. Take the Budometer quiz I am interested in how accurate the quiz is, so post a comment when done. The science of taste buds is fascinating to me. The thought that I taste something one way and you have a completely different take on it is pretty neat. (Of course, I am not sure you exist…)

Mr. Hanni was one of few that passed the Masters of Wine test, having to solve problems “such as identifying the region, production method and alcohol levels for wines from a blind tasting.” This blows my mind. I can tell the difference between red and white wine, and maybe between a few major sub groups of each. I suppose you can determine the alcohol level by tasting the sweetness of the wine or the smell, but the region has to be based on absurd amount of tasting.

He also had to come to grips with being and Alcoholic. Particularly of note is that he used to be able to drink a few bottles of wine and not feel drunk, but at some point he did feel drunk and he would experience blackouts. He ended up going to treatment and is still working in the industry – dry. Must be hard and I would guess he would never be able to do it unless he had drank an absurd amount of wine before he gave it up. It also interests me because of the change in his alcohol tolerance. I wonder if it is because your body slowly loses it ability to process it as you punish it with spirits.