100 percent off-topic

Everything in this posting is off-topic. Because there is no topic. Just random observations. (But in the absence of a topic, does that mean everything is on-topic?)

The background: Last week I went to visit my mother, who is recovering from surgery. She lives in a retirement community in a town in the deep South that happens also to be the home of the state university.

Airports. Surprisingly, at both the outgoing and return airports -- major ones -- the TSA was neither using the radiation backscatter machines nor visibly searching anyone physically. Just the walk-through metal detector and the X-ray for the carry-on baggage. It might have been 1990.

Has the widespread negative publicity about virtual strip teases and pat-downs encouraged the TSA to back off? Highly unlikely. The TSA is a government bureaucracy, like all the rest indifferent to the preferences of mere citizens, its loyalty strictly to political string pullers. Turning airport security over to an equivalent of the post office wasn't the stupidest thing Jorge W. Bush-Gonzales did, but it's on the short list.

Every time I go to an airport it's bigger than the last time. Charlotte, an intermediate stop, is now enormous. Not, probably, because so many people want to go to (or get away from) Charlotte, but because it's a beneficiary or victim of the hub-and-spoke routing system.

That airports are now shopping malls with associated runways has its benefits and drawbacks. Of course if you are unfortunate enough to have a layover of several hours, it's easier to pass the time in stores and restaurants. But the re-tail now seems to be wagging the aviation dog. All those stores take up real estate, which means the distance between terminals and gates expands farther and farther. Even with moving walkways it can take 20 minutes to get from some gates to others, which can make tight connections nerve-wracking. And there seems always to be at least one stretch where there is no moving walkway or intra-airport train, and you walk and walk.

The South. It's still different.

The second Yankee invasion has been going on for years, and I suppose the biggest cities like Atlanta are less regional than they used to be. In the college town where my mother lives, you hear northern accents (and of course the multi-cult has left its footprint, although it appears not nearly as evident as in semi-foreign colonies elsewhere).

But oil and water still don't mix. Southern speech seems not to have been diluted in the slightest; as far as I can tell, the native accent is as strong as ever. I find that encouraging.

In Yankee circles, whenever the South comes up, the first observation is about how church-oriented the region is. That is correct. And of course it grates on many people who are not part of the southern life. To most English people -- or Californians, for that matter -- the very idea of a religious culture is beyond ridiculous, a barbarous throwback. I myself am not entirely comfortable with it. At the same time it's refreshing that there is one part of the country that professes, and I suspect on the whole genuinely aspires toward, values that transcend the material and financial. Take what works for you and leave the rest (which doubtless many southern Christians would object to).

The other southern religion is sports, especially football. The sports obsession would send me mad if I had to be immersed in it full-time.

Southern women are still different. They may be steel magnolias and manipulative and all that, but based on what I observe they continue to cultivate femininity and charm.

At the discount store where I bought a couple of shirts, the young woman cashier engaged in a little mild flirtation. I'm not such a fool as to imagine it had anything to do with her being attracted to me. It was just a habit, but a pleasant one that we both enjoyed. I hope this tradition never dies.

Golden youth. With my mother's blessing, my wife and I went out on the town looking for a decent restaurant dinner (my mother temporarily not up to accompanying us because of her recuperation). If you want to eat at somewhere other than Cracker Barrel or Chick-fil-A, about your only options are in the university neighborhood. Luck was with us and we enjoyed a good meal in a pleasant environment (except for it being too noisy, but aren't all restaurants these days) across the street from the university.

We sat by the window and watched the passing parade of students; saw others in an after-dinner stroll. The guys came in two species: (1) "Cool" -- shaved heads, baggy threads (isn't that look passé by now?); (2) frat boys, looking like frat boys have always looked. 

The young women were almost without exception smartly dolled up as if for a cocktail party, drooping necklines, off-the-shoulder blouses, all manner of jewelry. I don't want to sound ancient, but when I was an undergraduate, both sexes of college kids just looked ordinary tending to the slobbish. Now they seem to be self-consciously on show every minute. 

Certainly the women at that tender age looked glowing, healthy, chic (aided by the stratagems of southern femininity). And those fashions didn't come from Goodwill. Were the students offspring of rich families? Could be. From what I read, state colleges are now as expensive as Ivy League schools were not so long ago. 

These young people seemed chipper, confident, happy. No care lines on any faces. I don't begrudge them their time inside the charmed circle. It will end soon enough, and it may go harder for them than it did for many of us in earlier generations, with the economic and social iceberg toward which our ship of state is steaming.

Drachma queen

Athens and its allies clobbered the Persians in the fifth century BC. I'm not sure, but that may have been the last war Greece won if you don't count Macedonia and Alexander. But the Greek people haven't lost their pride. They're willing to go to war against their government, as well as the European Union that was foolish enough to invite them in. The country that came to dinner. And stayed. And dined off its host's largesse.

I'm glad I'm not a Greek politician, or any politician. But especially not a Greek one. The poor sods are caught between Scylla and Charybdis (an old Greek metaphor). Zorba wants to keep pouring the ouzo and dancing on the tabletop. Every man and woman their own Force of Nature. Unfortunately, that leaves little time and energy left over for uptight northern concepts like work. 

That, in turn, leaves scant revenue for the state that is expected to provide welfare for the masses. So Greece is in debt up to Athena's eyeballs. To be a member of the EU, you have to agree to certain regulations intended to stop you being a drain on the other EU members. Like not being bankrupt. Greece didn't read the fine print in the contract.

Meanwhile, The Club decided it was time to put a flea in Greece's ear. Get your economic act together and do it last week. Try a new dish: austerity souvlaki. Greek politicians tried to comply. Greeks responded by reading their leaders and the EU the riot act -- no, acting the riot act.

What fettle now?

Said the Toronto Globe and Mail yesterday (you should make allowances for journalistic sensationalism):

With crashing stock markets, a plummeting currency and furious talk of military interventions in the Greek economy, this may be remembered as the Monday when the European crisis turned into an utter cataclysm. ... Greece, pushed to the wall by a sequence of German-led bailouts that have done little more than pile on more debt, announced on Monday that it is nearly out of cash. ...

This has led to desperate measures. On Sunday, Greece announced an emergency property tax of about 50 cents per square foot on all buildings, payable immediately, in an effort to top up government coffers enough to meet bailout conditions. Senior German officials leaked suggestions to the media that Greece be forced out of the 17-country euro zone and returned to the drachma – a move that would likely do terminal damage to German banks, which hold huge shares of euro-denominated Greek debt, and might send Italy and Spain plummeting into default. 

Trying to make up a deficit by taxing Greeks is like trying to squeeze champagne out of a cabbage.

Zorba the Delinquent

Germany, which sees itself as the long-suffering ringmaster of a circus of particularly fractious beasts, isn't having it anymore.

Other German officials stirred up markets and raised long-simmering animosities to a boil by making far more radical, even militaristic, suggestions.

Günther Oettinger, Germany’s representative on the European Commission, said last week that Europe should send United Nations soldiers to Greece to liquidate its assets and force tax collection, according to the Daily Telegraph. This resulted in headlines in Greece denouncing the “Fourth Reich” and “terrorism against the Greeks.” 

Sending UN troops to pillage Hellenic assets is a splendid touch. However, rather than sporting the usual blue helmets, I'd suggest they be kitted out with helmets and uniform patches bearing the logos of Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, UBS, etc. -- institutions said to be holding Greek bonds that have the aroma of fish left out in the sun.

There have been half-serious suggestions that Greece sell of some of its more touristworthy islands.

Well, if the best minds of a dozen countries can't sort this mess out, I'm double sure I can't. A few years ago I visited the Athens Archeological Museum. Some nice pieces there. I'd be prepared to make an offer. What are a few antiquities more or less in a country that has millions of them but can't pay its dry cleaning bill?

Sept. 11, 2011: A day like any other

 

 "The End of American Innocence." No, American innocence is alive and well.

Right, it's a different kind of innocence. No longer the naive and ignorant sort. It's an official, dictatorial policy of innocence.

We continue to believe -- all the following is government-defined belief, of course, unlike that of many Americans -- that everyone in the world goes to bed mumbling, "Can't we all just get along?" We believe that Islam is a religion of peace except for a few extremists, and the best way to fight the extremists is to suck up to the Moderate Majority. That's innocence, in the most negative sense.

We innocently believe that terrorism is completely random and equally distributed throughout the population. So 80-year-old airline passengers in wheelchairs must be felt up by convenience store clerks in federal cop uniforms. 

We are so innocent that we know nothing of American history except that it was all racist. We insist that the United States of America is not a country with a European, and particularly English-Scottish, heritage, the English language, and a widely revered set of traditions. Our innocence proclaims that the United States is no more than an "idea" and anyone from anywhere in the world is welcome to waltz in and set up colonies so long as they give a perfunctory nod to the "idea."

We are innocent of any knowledge of human biodiversity, to the point that our average innocent-in-the-street has no idea of what the term means.

We are innocent of demographics. We cannot understand that Islam doesn't have to knock down buildings to bring the joys of sharia to our shores. We are unable to fathom that the Muslim breed-a-thon will guarantee their dominance after a few decades of assembly-line reproduction.

We are so innocent we turn the education of American's children over to featherbedding union doofs and sing-along Marxists who will indoctrinate yet more generations.

Our national innocence -- the cynical version demanded by our rulers -- is an everyday 9/11.

Talking points for O-jobs

Jobs. You should pass this right away. Warren Buffett. Secretary. Tax cuts and more government spending. Put  people back to work. Jobs. Money in pockets. You should pass this right away. $450 billion. New panel to find budget savings. Jobs.

Stop the political circus and actually do something. Subsidize employment for union, uh, scratch that, young workers. Jobs. Urgent needs of my people, uh, our people and communities. $450 billion package. You should pass this right away. Bridge our differences. Aid for teachers' unions, I mean, unions -- no, teachers, that is. Grand bargain. Jobs. I'm pretty sure I know what most Americans would choose. Government can make a difference. Jobs. Specifics next week. You should pass this right away.

Telecom martial arts

 

Onward to the inevitable triumph of
City Telecom!

City Telecom, a Hong Kong–based company, is taking no prisoners.

Its core purposes include:

"To experience the emotion of competition, winning, and crushing competitors."

"To experience the joy of advancing and applying telecommunications technology for the benefit of the public."

"To fulfill the desire of Self-Actualization and to become everything that one is capable of becoming."

Getting down to brass tacks:

"We will not rest as long as there is a single outstanding unresolved customer service complaint." 

They are the "People's Leader and Pioneer."

"We never give up. We are never afraid. We are ever a group of aggressive youth (spiritually)."

They've gotten rid of those corporate hierarchies that plague so many businesses:

"We encourage direct communication between the bottom and the top. Kill those who intend to block or cover up." 

What a motivational poster that would make for the employee lunch room.

Egalitarianism doesn't seem to have reached Western heights in Hong Kong:

"Human is not the same in every aspect. Some are smarter and more capable at workplace."

City Telecom offers this "vivid description" of itself:

"No one believed we could do a better job than PCCW or HGC. They thought we were just crazy and hopeless. They thought we could at most only survive for a short period of time. Then, we would be forced to sell the Company and assets; and HKBN would disappear in the market. But, we have proved ourselves: they are all wrong! By 2016, our results will prove that, the 10-year investment and business strategy is correct. We shall prove that we are right! ...

"We will be one of the well known telecommunications companies in this region. Our products and services range from network infrastructure to customer's software and hardware implanted in the human body.

"My children would say, 'Dad, I love to have you as my Father.'"

The shares are down 27 percent over the past year. The stock pays a handsome dividend of 7.95 percent. You can buy it as an American Depository Receipt, under the symbol CTEL.

Disclosure: I do not have a position in CTEL. 

Disclaimer: I am not an investment adviser. This is not advice. Pay no attention. Keep this posting out of the hands of young children.

Depressed beauties

To me, depression in a woman makes her more attractive.

Below are some examples of photos illustrating depression, from journalism and advertising.

The women are probably all professional models and not really depressed, but that's beside the point; they're asked to look depressed. And that adds its own strange allure.

Why? For one thing, they're not smiling. Nothing wrong with smiling if it stems from a real emotion, but that isn't behind most of the smiles you see. Usually a smile is a mask. At most, a signal: I'm not going to hurt you. Relax, feel good, buy.

More important, a woman whose face speaks depression is looking inward -- rare in our culture, and not encouraged outside of psychotherapy. She is more in touch not only with sadness, but with the human condition, than the obsessively "positive" role models we see in most adverts.

Depression can be a dreadful experience. But like so much that feels bad, it can help develop humane values, showing the futility of so much that our culture offers us promising to make us happy. Even a partial detachment from the illusive quest for fun and excitement is a step in the right direction. Sometimes depression turns us toward the world of spiritual experience, which ultimately transcends all worldly pain.

I suppose all these ladies would still be lovely laughing their heads off. But I am more drawn to them in their isolation and hurt, as they struggle to build character to fit them for the tempests of this world. A special beauty is in that.