Est. 1984
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Up and Atom
Jan 12th
I can’t remember right now what got me interested in atomic weapons in the Second World War; most likely, Wikipedia led me to it by degrees. It got me reading the discourse about the usage of the atomic bombs in Japan- a debate that can have no conclusive outcome, but still attracts alot of attention and thought.
The two opposing theories I learned about years before in school were fairly
Hiroshima before the bombing.
Hiroshima after the bombing.
simple. From the pro-atomic perspective, it was necessary to end the war. A ground invasion of Japan would have, by some estimates, cost millions of lives, both Japanese and American (this requires you to set aside any scepticism about how accurate such projections were). Certainly, the Japanese Empire showed no interest in surrender, in spite of their worsening situation, so the U.S. had no choice but to make use of a weapon that would deal immense physical and psychological damage. This would, ultimately, result in fewer lives lost in comparison to an invasion. So goes the pro-atomic reasoning.
In the opposing corner, the anti-atomic faction insists that under no circumstances was it necessary or prudent to use the atomic bomb. They maintain that the total annihilation of a city, with all its men, women, and children, is a war crime, and that Japan would have surrendered without the use of the Bomb.
Both of these arguments have a healthy mix of ethical considerations and some practical, albeit speculative elements. I don’t have any desire to debate the morality of the choice, since morality is too easy to judge 60 years removed, and even then, human moral standards are like snowflakes- no two are alike.
One thing in favor of the anti-atomic viewpoint is that history has since given them ample opportunity to find fault with the outcome of the war. The argument goes that had the U.S. not dropped the Bomb, there never have been a nuclear arms race that would bring us to the brink of cataclysm on several occasions. An interesting observation, but I’d like to jump in a suggest the opposite- that if the Bomb hadn’t been dropped twice by the U.S. in 1945, it would have inevitably been used by us or someone else, with potentially more destructive results. To put it another way, I suggest that Hiroshima and Nagasaki taught humanity a lesson, one that has not yet been forgotten, and the destruction of two cities and their inhabitants has kept us from an even worse fate.
Like the other arguments I’ve heard, it’s just silly speculation, but it gives me something to think about while my toes freeze in the middle of winter.
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Smell you later, 2009
Dec 31st
What a lousy year! My basement was flooded more often than not, state funding was cut for my employer, and there were two mediocre Ubuntu releases.
Overall though, the decade has been successful- I finished school, met April, and got a motorcycle. What dramas and adventures will unfurl in 2010? I’ll let you know when the hangover from New Year’s wears off…
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The Problem with Socialism
Sep 10th
In the recent debate over healthcare in the USA, the proposed socialized healthcare program has been praised and demonized. It’s either the solution to just about every problem we face as a nation, or it’s a sinister plot to kill off the elderly and rob the rest of us of decent care. Whichever side of the debate you find yourself on is irrelevant to me. What I find intriguing is the concept of socialism, and specifically, social programs provided by the government.
The concept of socialism is easy to understand, same with capitalism. In my opinion, socialism is the idea that the government will take care of citizens, and capitalism is the idea that the citizens will take care of themselves. They’re not opposites- just different from one another.
What makes them incongruous is the the hypocrisy of using both- to say that some things should be controlled by the government, and others left to business. The walls of the capital echo with the shouts of angry protesters who feel that socialized healthcare will be the death of us all. Why aren’t they screaming about socialized education? Every child in this country is guaranteed an education, at the expense of taxpayers. Has it destroyed as many lives as socialized healthcare would? Should it be up to parents to pay for their children’s education? Or the armed forces- should we have a private militia? Given the concerns that citizens are raising over socialized healthcare, a socialist national defense program ought to be an appalling prospect. Is it right for the government to tax us in order to protect us, or should we be responsible for protecting ourselves?
These are serious questions that everyone should consider. How should healthcare fit in with our array of socialist programs? How much does it chafe against our capitalist mantra? To me, that is the real problem- we have a hybrid system that is not built logically, but is the result of the last 200 years of struggle. Struggle between state and federal government, between taxpayer and government, and struggle between citizen and business. In turn, each struggling player has gained an advantage, abused it, and ceded it. The resulting legislation has left us a legacy of doctrinal hypocrisy, and reconciling a sticky issue like healthcare with that hypocrisy is damn near impossible.
To take a step away from our current situation towards the abstract, my belief is that healthcare should be an inalienable right. No one should have to fear the cost of healthcare, as is the case now for all but the most well-heeled.
I have excellent health insurance, but if I lose my job, I won’t be able to afford it anymore. If I get sick without health insurance, an important decision will have to be made- which is worse, poverty or illness? Curse my socialist education, for giving me these troubling thoughts!
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A misty enemy
Apr 12th
It’s been two weeks since my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. I was at work when he called to tell me; I remember it clearly. At least, I remember the feeling of hearing the news- I have no idea at all what I said in return. It was like every synapse in my brain had suddenly darkened. My thoughts and emotions were completely suspended- I felt no fear, anxiety, doubt, not even sorrow. Everything was completely still.
In the few minutes between hanging up and leaving work, I was inundated with thoughts of what might happen. To clear my head, I decided to go for a walk. The weather was beautiful, but there was no solace in a Spring day. Until that day, cancer was a vague thing; now the meaning of the word had changed entirely. I liken it to the rainforest: everyone discusses it , frequently but abstractly, and until you’ve felt it’s presence, it’s really only a word. It’s much more than a word to me now. I walked for hours, searching for something to anchor myself to, something to comfort me. There were a dozen people I could talk to, a dozen shoulders to cry on. Unfortunately, some things have to be reconciled from within; the sympathy of others is cold comfort.
Not long after getting the news, I accepted what had happened to my Dad because I believe he’ll survive it. He’s young, healthy, and stubborn; what better armor to have for the fight to survive?
Worry was quickly replaced by genuine hope, but that doesn’t make cancer any easier. For my own part, the most difficult part of the last two weeks has been worrying about my family. My hitherto one-dimensional understanding of cancer was confined to the patient, but cancer gnaws at the hearts of everyone around the patient. People can be undone by worry, especially since the popular face of cancer is the victims, not the survivors (of which there are many).
If the last two weeks were difficult, the next two should be a little easier. The largest tumor has been removed with great success, and a little recovery time is in order before chemotherapy starts.
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Kitchexplosion, meet ReStore
Mar 28th
With Kitchexplosion winding down, we find ourselves faced with a garage full of crap. Leftover boards, drywall, sinks, paint, rusty nails, it’s all crammed into the one-car wonder. In an effort to assuage our collective conscience, Ape and I agreed it would be wrong to throw it all in the nearby dumpster; rather we would take it to the Habitat ReStore in St. Louis.
It’s a great place to take leftovers from construction/destruction. After we dropped the kitchexplosion remains off, we browsed the warehouse for a few minutes. I’m pretty sure you could have built 15 houses from all the stuff they had, but there wasn’t anything I needed….this time.
Anyway, take your old stuff there rather than the dumpster. Maybe they should call it UnDumpster…
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Sink and Swim
Mar 24th
The Kitchexplosion 2009 inches towards completion- we now have a working sink, faucet, cabinets, a sink….
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Ikea, and you can too!
Feb 23rd
The northern wind was biting as we left for Bolingbrook on Sunday, but we had a mission to fulfill: the acquisition of Ikea kitchen cabinets. Removal of the old cabinets and installation of the new is Phase 3 of the Kitchexplosion 2009, and in planning Phase 3 I remembered the biggest challenge of remodeling the bathroom (last year’s project): we didn’t have a replacement vanity for the one we’d just ripped out. Thus, before removing the kitchen cabinets, I vowed that we would have the new cabinets on hand.
For those unfamiliar with buying things at Ikea, it’s kind of a crapshoot. You can check inventory online before you go, but there’s no guarantee the things you want will be in stock, nor will they hold items under any circumstances. So the night before we spot-checked the inventory of most of the cabinets we had picked out, and hoped against all odds that the stuff we wanted would still be available.
The voyage to Bolingbrook consisted of me, Ape, and my parents, followed by a cargo trailer, driving about 160 miles through the barren plains of central Illinois. Once we arrived, we made straight for the self-service area; a vast warehouse filled with flat-packed furniture of all sorts. We couldn’t find any of the kitchen pieces, so we asked for help. The response was simple: we couldn’t find any of the kitchen stuff because it wasn’t available to the public; one had only to go upstairs to the kitchen department and find a kitchen specialist, who would submit an order and all the pieces would be brought out of the bowels of the warehouse.
In the kitchen department, we had the fortune of finding someone intelligent and interested in helping us, a rare combination in some places. He spent about a half-hour figuring out what we would need, and having finished that, even helped us pick out door hardware. Super.
The receipt is roughly half as long as April
After we got the full manifest, we ambled back to the warehouse, where the checkout lines live. It only took a few minutes to purchase the cabinets, but it tooks months to pay for them! Afterward, we took the manifest and a receipt to the pick-up area, where we were treated to a very thorough inspection of all the pieces we’d purchased. Satisfied that everything was present, we loaded the trailer and headed to lunch.
That’s all it took- a few months of planning, a trailer, a couple of grand, and parents to help. Now that you know the secret to procuring Ikea cabinets, stay tuned as I attempt to assemble them!
Oh yeah, and watch out for the cabinet organization stuff; it’s where you really get taken 
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Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Feb 4th
I begin the 100th post to Quebecker with the swing of a hammer and a cloud of dust. The Kitchexplosion 2009 has officially begun!
Of course, the story of my kitchen doesn’t begin with the hammer swing; it begins in 1946 when some nitwit decided that a solid wall separating the east and west sides of my house (or specifically, the kitchen and living room) was more useful than a dining space. If you’re serious about sitting down to eat in my house, it has to done in the basement or on a card table in the living room. 63 years later, April and I set to the task of correcting this major oversight.
Phase 1:
We planned to remove a portion of the wall and to use the open portion as a eating/working space in our kitchen. This turns out to be no small feat, since the wall in question is bearing the weight of the roof, and is itself supported by a steel I-beam. The second plan of attack for phase 1 is refitting our rather narrow and deep pantry to be home to our refridgerator. Unfortunately, the pantry is a hair past 29″ in width, and we own a 32″ fridge. A quick trip to Lowe’s and $500 got us a new 28″ GE. Lastly, we’re having an outlet installed over the stove for a wall-mounted microwave. Owning a wall-mounted microwave has pretty been April’s dream since she was a little girl.
So far Phase 1 has been….dusty. Plaster walls disintegrate under the slightest pressure, sublimating from a solid wall to a gaseous cloud. The cloud either settles onto everything in the house, or is inhaled and settles in the lungs. And since it was a whopping 8 degrees yesterday morning, opening the windows to blow out the dust was not an option. Still, we thrive. The sight of a floor-to-ceiling opening between the two rooms was inspiring, and leads to think that the glorious completion of Phase 1 cannot be far off.
Until then, the fate of Phase 2 hangs in the balance, riding on a cloud of carcinogenic dust.
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Holiday cheer
Dec 24th
We’re fast approaching my favorite holiday of the whole year. The songs, the presents, the cards, and tv specials don’t do it justice. Yes, there’s something magical in the air when Boxing Day comes around; it’s a time for families to come together and remember what’s important in life. Far beyond the noise and glitter of Christmas, Boxing Day is a solemn occasion for us to reflect on life and work off that holiday hangover.
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Some things never change.
Dec 11th
For those who argue that Google is changing the world for better or for worse, I present you with the proof that google isn’t changing anything. Observe:
I’m a big fan of finding the definition of tough words on google. So today, I popped this gem into a google search:
define: stultifying
And google, with billions in profits and an army of computer scientists, answered my query:
Definitions of stultifying on the Web:
Tending to stultify
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stultifying
Yes friends, even in the 21st century the actual definition of a word is quite elusive. Nor is there a link to the verb stultify, which would represent a great leap forward in dictionary world. I would have come to the same conclusion if I’d brushed the cobwebs off of the stultiest old dictionary in the world. When will we see the day that a person can find a definition of a difficult word that doesn’t include the incomprehensible word which sparked the search?
This underscores a pattern I’ve been noticing for the first time. The web is not, as is so often believed, an innovative thing. It’s largely a new manifestation of the old- and I happen to have the perfect example. For centuries, libraries have relied on paper cards stacked oh-so-neatly into a drawer which sits amidst dozens of other drawers. This represented the pinnacle of bibliographic organization- the card catalog, as it was known at that time.
Then came library automation, a term which to my ears sounds every bit as archaic as talking picture.
Automation relied on very primitive computers and a helluva lot of magnetic tape, which in time was transferred to more complex computers with magnetic platters (most still use this medium), and most recently, library catalogs on the internet. From the time of little cards up to the age of the iphone, libraries have developed dizzyingly complex system which allows us to search for any library material, anywhere, anytime we want. And we call it….the card catalog.
Should this surprise anyone? Not if you look at the information stored first in paper cards, then magnetic reels, then magnetic platters, and soon solid state drives. No, bibliographic information has scarcely changed at all throughout a period of unprecedented technological advances. Naturally, you’d assume it’s because your average librarian is a luddite bookworm, loathsome of google and the monopoly on information it has formed. But you’d be wrong.
At every level of our society, technology shapes our activities. What it doesn’t change is our habits/needs. If you think about it, it’s hard to prove that any technology has really changed what we do; it merely changes how we do it. Library catalogs contain the same information, regardless of what medium they occupy. Same with video- it went from reels to smaller reels (tapes) to dvd’s to blu-ray discs to the internet. But we still watch it, just the same. Music is nearly identical, if not much older example- we’re just as aurally stimulated by tribal chants as the Beatles music in the itunes store. Agriculture, one of the oldest activities our civilization has ever pursued, bears no resemblance at all to the pasttime our ancient ancestors (or even farming as our grandparents knew it, for that matter). And of course, the world’s oldest profession hasn’t changed a bit.
What then, constitutes a real change? I can’t say with certainty. I can’t even be sure that there is ‘real’ change. It’s entirely possible that time is circular, and we just keep reliving the same things in different settings. A very simple analogy is foliage- every year the trees grow new leaves, each one absolutely unique, yet almost indistinguishable from its neighbor. Every year they spend the season, change colors, die, and re-emerge. If you think about it on a larger scale, this yearly cycle might seem to never end. Left alone, our consciousness might not even conceive of linnear time, since every year the leaves experience the same cycle.
Our bodies give away the illusion- year after year, we change (sometimes imperceptibly, other times not). It’s most noticeable in children- they make change more quickly than the rest of us (or maybe we stay the same more than them). In any case, it would seem that this is definite evidence of linnear time. Naturally, I disagree. I don’t think we’re fundamentally different from leaves- we’re all unique, each with his own time and place, yet we’re bound to a singular existence- no matter what, we still do the same things as the folks who witnessed the turn of the first millennium, and we’ll still be doing the same things 1,000 years from now.
With that in mind, I fully expect many things to be different. We’re pretty screwed if 1,000 years from now we haven’t begun to spread to other planets, fly in air-cars and walk our dogs on automatic treadmills. But then, we’ll still be doing the same things, whether it’s in space, in hell, or somewhere in between.
