Musings

General-purpose musings

There are 780 posts filed in Musings (this is page 39 of 78).

Spanish treasure .. or Native American treasure?

This deep-water shipwreck exploration company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, finds a sunken ship filled with millions of gold and silver coins. Spain argues that the ship, the Spanish naval vessel Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes and its contents belongs to them, and a U.S. judge has agreed.

I know international law says Spain owns the vessel. But the gold? Wasn’t that looted from the goldmines of the Incan and Mayan people? Shouldn’t their decendants have a stronger claim?

And what about the British, which sunk the Mercedes in 1804? Since it was their cannons made a reef out of the Mercedes wouldn’t they also have a claim?

It seems to me that all of this is simply a bunch of thieves fighting over loot none of them legally own. Perhaps it belongs beneath the waves after all.

Twenty years ago

In addition to it being Hallie’s birthday, today is also the 20th anniversary of the curshing of the Tienanmen Square protest. At the time of the protests I was in the Navy. My ship was in drydock so I had plenty of time to watch the events on CNN. It was stunning to watch these people bravely ask for their right to choose their destiny. It was so sad to watch the carnage that ensued, but now the country is safe for Starbucks, Apple Computer, and the thousands of other Western companies that have set up shop there.

My 2007 visit to Tienanmen Square has been on my mind today, too.

Seven Years Ago

This night seven years ago was one of the scariest nights of my life. Kelly was in the hospital seriously ill with preeclampsia, her vital organs slowly shutting down. I watched in terror as her blood pressure soared, feeling utterly helpless. It was a terrible feeling. I worried how it would all turn out.

And yet through it all was the chirp of a baby’s enthusiastic heartbeat, offering hope for a happy future. Sure enough, the next day became one of the happiest of my life when Hallie was born. We had to wait another 7 weeks to take her home, but we made it through. If only I could’ve seen back then where we’d be today.

In her young life Hallie has shown there are no barriers she can’t overcome. Our amazing girl turns seven tomorrow. Happy birthday, Hallie!

A tale of two stadiums

While we were enjoying yesterday’s baseball game, Kelly pointed out something quite true.

“This just makes me all the more angry at Walnut Creek,” she said offhand.

Kelly was referring to the rampant price-gouging that occurs at the Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek (that’s its $20 name. Locals know it by its $2 name of “Walnut Creek”). Go see a show at Walnut Creek and you pay $6 per ticket for parking (wiping out any incentive to carpool). Expect to pay $10 for a shitty beer, a few bucks for a bottle of water, and if you want a souvenir T-shirt you’ll be parting with two Ben Franklins at least. It’s out of control.

By comparison, the Mudcats game cost some money to get there, as it’s a 30 minute drive out of town. You pay $4 per car for parking, but then the concession prices are reasonable ($3.50 for a pretty good-sized ice cream, for instance). Ticket prices are affordable at just $6 for general admission seats. The kids had a great time and so did we.

Kelly and I have seen more concerts and show this year than we have in a long time, but with the exception of Buffett none of those were at Walnut Creek. And we’ll not set foot in that place again if we can possibly help it.

Admiral Mullen and Guantanamo

Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen was on ABC News This Week when the topic came around to Guantanamo. Here’s one snippet from the transcript that caught my eye (my emphasis):

STEPHANOPOULOS: The Republican leader of the Senate was quoted in The New York Times today saying there’s actually a very slim possibility now that the Congress will allow Guantanamo to close. If he’s right, and Guantanamo doesn’t close, what would that mean for your military mission?

MULLEN: Well, the concern I’ve had about Guantanamo in these wars is it has been a symbol, and one which has been a recruiting symbol for those extremists and jihadists who would fight us. So and I think that centers — you know, that’s the heart of the concern for Guantanamo’s continued existence, in which I spoke to a few years ago, the need to close it.

Admiral Mullen makes it sounds like that his only concern about Guantanamo is that it’s a jihadist recruiting symbol. While that’s certainly a concern, I would hope his bigger concern is that we are imprisoning people without habeas corpus, trial, or often any solid evidence. Admiral Mullen’s remarks seem to imply that what we’re doing at Guantanamo would be okay as long as it is done in secret. I hope that’s not the case.

America’s justice system is strong enough to handle terrorist trials. What remains to be seen is whether our cases against these individuals are as strong.

Penny wise and pound foolish with napkins

I met some friends for lunch at the farmers’ market’s N.C. Seafood Restaurant last week. My friends were running late so I sat down with my $8 plate of grouper and people-watched while I ate.

I started noticing that diners were often finishing their meals and leaving large stacks of unused napkins, some of which were an inch thick. If the diners didn’t throw these out themselves, the bus staff would later come along and pitch them all into the trash. It seemed pretty wasteful.
Continue reading →

Children’s House of Raleigh shutting its doors

I found out recently the Children’s House of Raleigh, the parent-run Montessori-based preschool that gave Hallie such an academic boost, is closing its doors at the end of the month due to the retirement of its two teachers.

It’s sad to think the school is closing as we really put a lot of work into it while Hallie was there. It just never made it over the hump somehow. It was good while it lasted, though. We’ll continue to have fond memories.

Credit cards

Kelly and I have long since kept zero balances on our credit cards. We’ve instead paid an annual fee on our card and enjoyed the perks of frequent-flier miles, free flights, and other rewards that they provide – all without costing us a fortune in interest.

Looks like our free ride is over, though. In the past few days, some of our credit card companies have sent us notices that the rates they charge for interest are going through the roof. The purchase APR will be jumping to 24.41% and the cash-back APR is rising even higher. The reason for this was clearly (and boldly) spelled out in the “other notices” section of the letter:

“The principal factor we considered in amending your account is maintaining profitability on your acccount.

Continue reading →

V-chip

Anyone remember the V-chip? That wondrous addition to televisions which would automatically keep televised Yucky Bad Stuff from entering our homes? Does anyone actually use it? And why does the FCC still think it needs to be a nanny now that every TV owner can automatically filter out “filth?”