The Apostles' Creep

I guess this is probably self explanatory.

Everything You Know is Wrong

Stewart Brand sets out some new ideas to me in this video.



1) Cities are good. The growth of mega-cities and urbanization of our world may be a net positive. What we see as slums and cesspools of human castoffs are actually hugely energetic engines of human social growth and advancement. Sure they are messy, but they are fermenting capitalism and upward mobility from a ground level -- and fermentation always smells a little funky. The migration to urban centers also reduces birthrates, and allows rural areas to recover from the ravages of subsistence farming. These are new perspectives I had not considered. Pay special attention to his video of the train.

2) Nukes are good. Energy by nuke is the new green option - no carbon footprint, and with new technology, very little nuke waste for the energy released. Safe and quiet. I had thought this for some time, especially with the advent of micro reactors and distributed grids. I want one.

3) GMC's are also good. He makes a case here, but it is slight and needs development. He completely ignores the counter arguments, some of the most powerful have more to do with the way the owners of the technology are marketing and licensing the technology, rather than the crops themselves. I am not convinced that GMC's are the unmitigated evil that seems to be the prevailing wisdom, and I remain equally unconvinced that they are an umitigated blessing.

4) What the heck is geo engineering? Is he serious?

boB Goes to Iceland

In 1996 I walked from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail. People are often amazed at this as if walking was a difficult thing to do. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy actually.

I spent much of my time on that stroll with Paul Palm aka Bachelor boB. After completing the AT, boB did a stint playing the trombone for the U.S. Navy. Apparently during his hitch working for Uncle Sam he saved up all his pay and spent none of it, except to go hiking in various places around the Pacific Rim. He has been out for several years now (probably a good thing for the the Navy and for boB). Last year he spent some time walking in Patagonia (in South America, not the clothing company). This year he is apparently going to Iceland. I got this email yesterday.

I'm still packing when my departure is less than 12 hours away, as usual. This is just a test/first mass e-mail. If you're getting this it's because, a) I think you'll probably want to hear about my 4-week hike across Iceland, b) you already know of my hike and want to hear about it in order to confirm that I'm still alive, or c) you already know of my hike and want to know as soon as I croak so you can come collect some of my goodies.
Having survived my 6 weeks in Patagonia last Xmas, including the solo (and nearly gearless) crossing of Viedma Glacier and the crazed/failed attempt to hike around Tierra del Fuego, I think I'll be fine in Iceland. All I really need is for nothing to erupt during my time there. Famous last words?
Anyway, e-mail will either be far more rare or more frequent than from Argentina/Chile, depending on whether I truly head across the island (coast to coast) or opt to ring the coast (flatter, greener, populated areas). I'm more itinerary-free than I've ever been on a trip, so I don't really know which it will be yet. Reading guidebooks on the flights and seeing what others at the first hostel are headed for will point me in a direction. It's an island, so any direction will ultimately work.

I'm glad to see the boB is learning to live spontaneously. Of course, he made plans when he hiked together as well, but usually chucked them about 2 minutes into the day. It looks like he has rather given up the practice altogether in favor of just striking out. Interesting enough when the trail is all blazed for you. Should yield some interesting results when there is not trail.

Today I get a follow up:

Not very auspicious beginnings. The flight from NC to Philadelphia was delayed for hours, which would have caused cascading flight misses. So I flew to Charlotte, NC instead, then Charlotte to Boston. The Boston arrival was later than my original from Philadelphia, but my tension was unwarranted, since check-in took about 1 minute and the departure was later than my foggy brain recalled.
The problem was Boston to Iceland. A five hour flight that covered 4 timezones. We landed when my brain felt 2am, but the sun here says 6am. (Of course, it gets light here around 2:30am.) PLUS, never underestimate the endurance of a 2 year old. They can bounce on a seat, yelling in excitement for 2 hours, then scream in misery for the next 2. All while they should be dead asleep, since it was 9:30pm-2:30am to their brains. I searched, but couldn,t locate the eject button for their seats.
So, my initial idea was to leave directly from the Int,l airport and walk straight across Iceland (west to east), with no resupply, for nearly 4 weeks.. After reading books, maps, and websites, even I decided that that wasn,t a workable plan. (Still no set plan; that,s today,s to-do.) Well, guess what the guy sitting right next to me on the flight is doing?!
Exactly that. He walked away from the airport with 26 days of food, which fills *two* packs: a full pack on his back and a day pack worn backwards on his chest.
My pack, with 21 days of food, but no water, weighed in at 48 lbs. I then added my camera bag and the bag of clothes I will wear. Not counting the shirt, pants, and shoes I was wearing, the scale said 60.5 lbs. I,m gonna die. Oh, the 48 lbs. is about 22 kg. This guys, pack was 26 kg. He really may die. And he,s well smaller than me. We swapped contact info to see what happens. For once I have firsthand knowledge of someone doing something nuttier than me. I,m feeling both unprecedented relief and envy/rivalry.
So, while some of you are just waking up and others not yet up, I,m trying to defeat jet-lag by just skipping a night (which the flight abbreviated to 5 hours anyway). I,ll buy maps, fuel, etc., set-up camp in Reykjavik,s campsite, and try to come up with a 4-week plan. Something not too strenuous, since my 21 days of food is only 1,150 kcal/day and I,m already feeling hungry.

You may have deduced that boB is single, and has no children of his own, thus little sympathy for either the parent or the child on the plane. Also, that he is a first class and very artful complainer of a high order, but never lets any of that stop him from doing anything. In fact, half of the fun of walking with him was just listening to the sheer erudition of his complaints. I'm not sure what the other half of the fun was.

Of course, for most hikers, complaining about pack weight and lack of food are the two mainstays of existance. Of course, if you think about it, they generally run in inverse proportion to one another, so that a skilled hiker NEVER runs out of something to complain about.

Then later today, this:

Oh, I forgot to mention. Iceland looks like the Moon, but with moss, lichen, and flowers. Not very foot friendly. Those 12-15 km/day estimates may be more accurate than I thought. Looks like slow-going terrain.

As far as I know, he has never been to the moon, but who knows...

And just for reference, 60 lbs is a lot of weight. Soldiers do that and more, but nobody claims it to be easy. I currently carry about 30 lbs for a 5-6 day trip. If I spent some money on lighter gear I would be at about 20 lbs. But still, with 4 weeks worth of food at one shot? It would be hard to get away with less than 40-50 lbs. I think a sled, a travois, or even a wheeled cart might be a good option. Don't think boB hasn't thought of that.

He usually takes lots of pictures. It used to be ONLY 35mm slide film, but that was back then. Goodness knows what he uses now. If I can get some, I'll keep you posted.

Vegas

I flew into Las Vegas last night on business. I have never been here before. The plane touched down about 9:30 p.m. and the flight attendant announced the the outside temp was 99 degrees Farenheit. I looked out the window. Ninety Nine degrees and no trees. I wasn't in New Hampshire any more.

I hopped the shuttle to the Luxor. I looked around a bit as I rode along.

Vegas is ridiculous.

Vegas could only exist in America.

In fact, I think that Vegas is a powerful and concentrated distillation of a certain strain of American culture. It is at once amazing and (to me) slightly repulsive. It is so completely over the top, so absolutely contrived, so artificial and stimulating and....I'm not sure what. It is a sleight of hand practiced on monumental scale. At a certain level, you have to appreciate the genius of it, but...damn.

And I really haven't seen that much of it. I've been working mostly, and trying not to spend much money. Not much to do here without spending money. That's part of the genius. That's why it could only exist in America.

So I am sitting outside Krispy Kreme inside the Excalibur shopping gallery, logged onto the Krispy Kreme wireless network, passing the time until my shuttle bus takes me to my red eye flight home.

I really love America. What a country!

Growing Up Fatherless

My father died when I was 5 years old. I have only a few memories of him, but a rather sharp picture of him in my mind and in my heart. For this I thank my mother, who spoke of him often to me, and told me stories that gave me a strong sense of his character. She was always careful to build him up, and I think that was not a hard task as I know that she love him deeply and admired him greatly. I'm aware of some of his defects, which I have come to understand more through deduction of what I know of his life, rather than through direct experience or testimony. Those flaws don't seem to matter much though. It is his strengths, his better side that I see and know and try to be at all times.

• He worked hard, even though he failed often and saw hard times.
• He was competent and skilled at his labor.
• He loved me and my brothers and my mother and sacrificed much for our good.

I stumbled upon an article called 6 Lessons I Learned about Being a Man from Growing Up Fatherless. My case is not the same as this young man's (my father did not abandon us, nor was he an addict, or abuser of people ) but I appreciate what he has written here and would echo it. I learned many of the same lessons, but not in reaction to my father, rather in admiration for my father.

So here's to you Ernest Octave Denis. May I be half the man you were.

Just Five Smooth Stones

New Yorker recently published an article called "How David Beats Goliath." I have been thinking about it a lot since I first came across it thanks to 10-4 Good Buddy.

The basic thesis is simple. The only way that a smaller, slower, weaker team/person/nation/army can beat a larger, stronger opponent is to redefine the rules of the game. The smaller entity must refuse to play by the rules of the larger, and instead play only the game that maximizes whatever advantages they have, but downplays or minimizes their weaknesses. The article mostly uses a basketball analogy, but shows some applications to other spheres as well.

This is one reason this article so captivated me. It strikes me as one of those observations that holds so much truth on so many levels that it bears real study. Of course, the most obvious application is at a national level where we are having to learn quickly to adapt our goliath nature to use davidian tactics. One of the most remarkable things about today's U.S. Military is that they actually are beginning to learn how to use Davidian tactics, even though they are goliath. Can they learn them fast enough and apply them consistantly enough? Or are we doomed as goliath to always be at the mercy of little people with slingshots?

There is a tendency to be angry at the terrorist for not playing fair. I think we can be angry at them for attacking us. We can be angry at them for being wrong, and wrongheaded. We can be angry at them because they have sworn to be our enemies. But we can't blame them for adopting the tactics they use. There are no other tactics open to them. They simply cannot defeat us in open direct battle. They HAVE TO use guerilla tactics. They have to refuse to play by our rules. Recognizing that, then we need to refuse to play by theirs. Meaning we need to be better at their game than they are. I'm thinking mostly of the situation in Iraq here, possibly also Afghanistan and Pakistan. Not so much terrorist attacks here in the U.S.

Cheney and his gang, seem to think this means we should terrorize the terrorists. That is why we can't refuse to use torture techniques. I have read some persuasive arguments along these lines. Even so, I think that that may be falling into the trap of playing their game of their strengths. They are good at creating chaos, dividing allies, sowing fear. It is cheap, direct and hard to stop.

Unless...we play the game by our strengths. We have resources and expertise. Rather than attacking the terrorists, perhaps we should place more of our resources and energy into protecting -- and thereby winning the hearts of -- the people. Repair the grid. Provide clean water. Help with food, clothing, cooking fuel, heat. At the same time, use military force to stop bombs and attacks. Make the streets safe. Rather than attempt to instill terror in the hearts of the people, we should be protecting and providing for them to win over the hearts of the people.

As the articles suggests, this is a hard hard strategy. Like the full court press, it involves a great deal of physical commitment and dogged determination and real stamina. But it has the advantage of effectively undercutting the terrorist agenda. Far from being soft and squishy, it is actually a seriously hardnosed approach.

Beyond the national political and military implications, I also love this article for the personal implications. Davidism as a way of dealing with personal problems. Refuse to play the game given you. Instead, redefine the game to your own strengths. I'm working on this.

Birthday Parties for Whores

Lots of people have lots of trouble with Tony Campolo. I get that. People just love to get all bent out of shape over Campolo. Mostly they think he talks too much about loving people and bringing our social structure in line with the gospel's call to care for the poor and outcast. By the same token, he seems to not talk enough about consequences and responsiblity and all those concepts beloved of the moral bean counters. This shapes his politics and his analysis of our society. I get that, but I don't have a huge problem with it. It takes all kinds, and I love Tony because his ideas grow organically out of his love of Jesus and his Good News. The Good News just makes the bean counters' heads explode.

I will say that at a few key points in my life I have read things by him or heard things from him that have been very influential.

This video is exactly the kind of story that gives fits to the bean counters - the people who have a seizure whenever they hear the name of Tony Campolo.

My favorite line?

"Naw....I'd GO to a church like 'dat."

Tribe

Over the past year, the term “tribe” has come to my attention from several different directions.

Assistant Village Idiot uses the term to describe a sort of sociological unified field theory (or perhaps only a general relativity theory) wherein tribal identity is so ingrained into human behavior and thinking that even we moderns find ourselves assuming tribal identities. Membership in modern social tribes is not so much a matter of name identification as it is the assumption of certain social/political/sub-cultural cues or signals. To see AVI’s analysis, go here.

A few months ago, Seth Godin, renowned marketing guru (on wonders if he has the word “guru” on his business card) spoke on the subject of tribes as relates to marketing. Successful marketers are people who actually leverage technology to create associations of people he calls Tribes. Whenever someone figures out how to tap into the sentiments of enough people who are thinking the same thing, but are unconnected, that person unleashes social power of some magnitude. That opportunity is greater than ever through the power of techno tools related to the internet. Tribe becomes a sort of sophisticated, fluid, self-inventing psychographic.

Along a completely different line, Tim Larkin of Target Focused Training (which deserves a post of it’s own) directed me recently to Scott Pressfield’s analysis of the War in Afghanistan. Unlike the other two, Scott is not redefining the term Tribe here, but is using it in the classic sense. He uses the classic concept of tribe and tribalism to help us re-frame the way we view the conflict in Afghanistan. It’s all about the tribes. His analysis contrasting the meaning of being a citizen of a nation, as opposed to a member of a tribe is outstanding. I hope that our commanding officer’s responsible for the conflict in Afghanistan can grasp this concept. Our leaders must recognize that asymmetrical warfare has already become the dominant model around the world and we are just playing catch up.

You can see all the video's in Pressfield's analysis of War in Afghanistan here.

It’s just fascinating to see how one word can be used to clothe such different types of ideas.