The Buddha on Debt

From "In the Buddha's Words- An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon"-

"And what, householder, the the happiness of freedom from debt ? Here, a family man is not indebted to anyone to any degree, whether small or great, he experiences happiness and joy. This is called the happiness of freedom from debt."

As the Bible says, there truly is nothing new under the sun. Given the current debt situation of the United States, the individual states that make up the Republic and the average American household (not to mention Ireland, Portugal, Greece...well, let's just say the entire world is in hock) these words written over a thousand years ago are as relevant now as they were then, if not more so. Having been deeply in debt, then out of debt, then back in debt and now finally (hopefully) permanently out of debt, I can say that the Buddha was correct in his statement. Drowning in debt leads to despair, stress and depression- being clear of debt leads to freedom, happiness and a lighter view of the world.

In America, the deep debt of the average household was brought on by a consumer driven society where material possessions are used to judge the character and value of the individual- who has the biggest house, the best car, the coolest vacation house. I see this scene play out repeatedly when interacting with parents at our kid's sporting events- despite the financial crisis that has engulfed as all to some degree, the talk is still about who is buying a new house in which upscale neighborhood, who bought a 2011 model year SUV etc. It all reminds me of the scene where the orchestra kept playing on the deck while the Titanic sank. My personal belief is that this behavior is driven by a deep sense of insecurity and lack of self esteem. A person with a healthy view of the world should not care what others think of his or her home or car, and shouldn't judge others on the same basis.

Hopefully, on both the world and individual scale, people have wised up to the personal and national destruction that a debt driven economy has brought upon us. People are saving more, shopping at cheaper stores and generally adopting the spending habits of our parents and grandparents who still carried memories of life during the depression. My prediction is that we will survive this economic crisis only have our own children and grandchildren fall into the same trap. After all, our parents and grandparents didn't know what they were talking about either, right ?

Terrorists, Anarchists and Quakers, Oh My !

The recent revelations that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania paid a company known as the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response for weekly terror briefings has been alternately comical and worrying. On one side, our esteemed Governor Ed Rendell was full of righteous indignation when he learned that over $ 100,000 in taxpayer money was paid for reports that targeted Pennsylvania citizens- everyone ranging from anarchists to tea party members in an operation that was so wide ranging that nobody can really accuse them of playing favorites. As I’ve said before, I really admire the Gov and his ability to spin absolutely any situation to his advantage- brushing aside the fact that it was his administration that hired the company in the first place, he promised that their contract would be immediately broken (leaving out the fact that it was a one year contract due to expire in October anyway.)

This is a perfect example of one of my earlier posts which highlighted the outsourcing of intelligence by the government to private companies. Why spy on your own citizens when you can pay your fellow citizens to do it for you ? Some information on the company suggests that employees posed in chat rooms to gain information on assorted miscreants in Pennsylvania and passed this information on to law enforcement. It's all so very East Germany circa 1975.

If you have some time on a rainy Saturday afternoon, you can read all of the reports in their glory here. I have to say that I read quite a few of them, and even as a former Army intelligence analyst I’m really not sure exactly what the hell is going on. One of my favorites cites a threat by Al Qaeda to use hot air balloons in IED attacks overseas while noting how balloons are poorly secured around the U.S.- the large lake between the source and the target might be a slight obstacle one would think. Other reports mention such totally bad ass, militant organizations like the Quakers. Another one of my favorites involves potential reaction to the Arizona immigration debate spilling into the Pirates-Diamondbacks game at PNC. This completely breaks the rule of intelligence regarding knowledge of your area- nobody goes to Pirate games anymore.

I don’t know if this company is actually employing a whole cadre of analysts (their website and reports even hint at intercepted communications, translation and "closed" intelligence sources) or a couple of guys hitting Google all day long and selling their product to gullible idiots like the ones running our state. I’m amused by the response by those who take positions contrary to the popular ones in our state and feel like they are being targeted- hey, welcome to my life. They seemed shocked and genuinely hurt that our state government would employ a company to spy on them, pay them and then run the other way when the whole operation was exposed. It was all fun and games until Leviathan actually hit back, wasn't it ?

The only genuine hurt I felt was after I read all the reports and realized I never appeared in them.

Not even once.

Bastards.

First Game- Consol Energy Arena

My first game experience at Consol Energy Arena last evening was an enjoyable one. I met up with my brother at Cafe Fifth Avenue which is about a 9 iron shot away from the new arena and had a couple of beers and some wings. Cafe Fifth, like our other favorite pre-game haunt Souper Bowl, won the jackpot when the new arena was built literally accross the street from them. If you're travelling from out of town, I highly recommend both places but be sure to get there early if you want a seat. I've never seen any problems with fans from other cities except for one Caps fan that hurled all over the Souper Bowl bathroom before a Sunday afternoon game a couple of years back.

Heading up 5th Ave. towards the arena-



Up the escalators. Amazing how much more open these are. The old ones at Mellon Arena felt like you were going up to the 2nd floor in your grandma's house.



Malkin scores the opener, view from our seats in 116. Crosby sat out but it was a good chance to see some of the younger guys. My favorite, Goligoski, was out there and looked very sharp carrying the puck through the neutral zone. Kane played for the Hawks, as did Brian Campbell (another favorite) and big John Scott- they show Scott at 6'8" on the roster, he looked like 7'8" on skates.



One strange new twist to the Pens is the introduction of a group of youngsters that have the job of entertainment and ice crew. I don't know if Mario is trying to scrimp on costs because of the new arena, and is trying to consolidate expenses, but both of these roles used to be clearly defined- one group consisted of young hotties who pranced around the arena, the other was made up of grizzled guys who trundled out onto the ice during breaks to clean up around the crease. Unlike the old ice crews that wore shoes with ice cleats, these kids were wearing skates and skated out onto the ice with shovels and buckets. The big difference was that the old ice crew did their job quickly and efficiently. The new ice crew was an outright cluster fuck.

Here is my pic of the "ice crew" coming off-



I'm going to make a prediction here- this venture, no doubt dreamed up by somebody on the Penguin's marketing staff, is going to get the hook in about 2 more games. First, one of the blond girls (who apparently has a twin that was out there with her- eliciting comments from my brother that will go unpublished) nearly ran into Hawks goalie Alec Richards with her shovel. Richards gamely skated out of her way without smacking her with his stick but had to be wondering what perverted sequel to "Slap Shot" he had skated into. Second, and more ominously, I saw some pretty scolding looks from the linesmen and ref which roughly translated as "get your ass off the ice you are holding things up." Since it was a pre-season game, I can sort of see this sliding by- come regular season, I wouldn't be surprised if its being discussed in Toronto.

I'm in a Maine State of Mind

Rush hour commuting is always painful, especially on Mondays, and particularly awful on rainy Monday mornings. I boarded the train this morning with a dozen of my fellow wage slaves for the slog into Pittsburgh, downtrodden commuters pushing ear buds in, burying their faces in their papers and steeling themselves for another day at work. I was particularly depressed because although I was commuting to work in Pittsburgh, I was deeply in a Maine State of mind.

You see, less than 48 hours earlier I had been sitting on the edge of the pond where our family home is located, enjoying sunsets such as the one I snapped to the left. Days were spent working on the house, and getting it ready for winter, but you really can't call it work when the loons were singing, ducks were quacking and a large golden eagle meandered down the lake looking for something to eat. Throw in a lovesick bull moose calling forlornly for a girlfriend, and it was a relaxing week to say the least. No cell phone reception, no phone in fact, no television or internet- just a quietly burning fire, the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore and the haunting cries of the resident loons. I gamely took a bag of books to read, and ended up reading none of them because I was in bed asleep around 8 pm every night. Up early for breakfast and then endless, but enjoyable, hours of scraping old paint, adding new and getting the plumbing system drained and ready for the brutal Maine winter to come.

I felt sorry for my fellow passengers this morning. At least I have such a place to reset my soul once in awhile. The deep quiet of the north woods makes you realize just how completely we complicate our lives with 24 x 7 cable news, I Phones and all of the other accoutrement's of life today. It is a good thing to unplug and enjoy the simple joys of a sunny day, the incredible colors of autumn (which is a good month ahead in Maine,) a quiet paddle in a canoe and the entertainment provided by the local wildlife. I browsed through the pictures on my phone repeatedly with a smile on my face, completely oblivious that we were nearing my stop. I quietly packed up my gear and headed out into the madness of the city streets.

Memory Row Week- 2012 & The End of the World

I have to admit, I really enjoyed writing this piece and have enjoyed discussing it even more. Some follow-up comments are at the end.

I was listening to some REM yesterday when I began to wonder why it seems like every time I turn on the television, I am bombarded by end of the world programming- The Nostradamus Effect, Life after People, Lost book of Nostradamus....why not just tune in for a whole week of Armageddon programming as advertised by the History Channel ? Just can't get enough ? It is rumored that a television series based on the recent blockbuster 2012 is being considered as a replacement for Lost. I usually enjoy watching the History Channel, Discovery etc. with the kids because they have some pretty good shows that are a bit more educational than Sponge Bob or Ren and Stimpy- okay, maybe not Ren and Stimpy but you get my point.

Recent programming, however, makes me wonder if blocking both porn and the History Channel might not be a bad idea. My older son (age 9) has been pretty upset about the whole end of the world media blitz that we are being subjected to and he has every right to be so. After all, when you are 9, the prospect of being vaporized before you turn the ripe old age of 12 has to be pretty upsetting. It reminds me of another kid that was always worried about the end of the world- me. When I was my son's age, it wasn't television that pushed the whole end of the world agenda, it was a book "The Late Great Planet Earth" by Hal Lindsey that my father read and then rather absentmindedly decided to share with the whole family. Armageddon, nuclear war, revelation all mixed up into a potent cocktail that scared the living hell out of me. (I'm happy to note that my old friend Hal is still making a living peddling his bullshit as evidenced by his rather snazzy website. Despite the fact that he was completely and utterly wrong in his assertion that the world was going tits up in 1981, 2012 has breathed new life into his career from what it looks like.) Seeing my son so upset really pissed me off so I decided it was time to sit down and talk through what he was thinking.

While discussing our imminent demise at the hands of planet X, avenging angels or a return of the Smurfs, I taught my son about Occam's Razor "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem" which is a lovely little theory to apply to situations like this. What is more likely- a) The Mayans were able to predict the future and identify the exact date the world is going to end. b) The media has found out that pushing Armageddon sells lots of advertising so they are throwing together programming that supports this conclusion. Congratulations, if you chose "b" you are a rational human being. If you chose "a," please get back to work on your bomb shelter and tinfoil helmet.

What is it in the human mind that just loves predicting our fate ? I think eschatology, prophecy and all of that fun stuff is simply hardwired into our brains. I saw an interesting show the other night on PBS (actually Armageddon free, which was nice) where a scientist noted that we are only species that worries about the future. Zebras, for example, have been observed being attacked by a pride of lions, escaping and then nonchalantly munching grass 5 minutes later a short distance from the lions that chased them in the first place. Unlike the zebras, we constantly worry and obsess about the future- money, our jobs, our families, the economy, the weather, our kids etc. Add a pinch of special effects, a cup of Mayan prophecy that I don't think anyone has actually read, a dash of Nostradamus and the human brain starts accelerating into a brick wall.

Time to throw on the brakes. I think that the prospect of the world ending December 21st, 2012 holds some appeal, especially for those that are living miserable, unfulfilled and unhappy lives. A date certain for destruction somewhat alleviates us of the drudgery of getting up for work, dragging ourselves to our jobs, dealing with the boss and waiting for the next paycheck. What's more scary than December 21st, 2012 ? December 22nd, 2012 when you awake with an Armageddon party induced hangover, stare at the cold December sky and realize that making photocopies of your ass at work the day before probably wasn't the best idea.

"A-ha" you say, "you won't be laughing when you die on December 21st, 2012 !" Guess what cupcake, we are all going to die. I think that the avoidance of the subject of death in modern Western civilization has led to a generation of people that think they are going to live forever. I'm going to die, you're going to die, we're all going to die. "Strive diligently, for all things must pass" were the words of the Buddha and they are as relevant now as they were over 2000 years ago. I don't know if I'm going to kick off on December 21st, 2012...or maybe 2011...hey, I've got good genes I should at least reach 2050 unless I'm a total loser. Car wreck, heart attack, cancer, plane crash, who knows ? All I know is that I'm going to die at some point and I'm fine with that fact. Try meditating on that fact sometime. It makes life even better.

As the clock continues to tick down to December 21st, 2012, the media drumbeat goes on. The plethora of doomsday television shows and books continues to roll off the assembly lines, proving once again that nothing sells as well as potential disaster. You can take your pick of 2012 theories- magnetic pole shifts, mysterious planets slamming into earth, asteroids, demons, UFO's and somebody out there will sell you their theory on it and how to survive it.

Here's my theory and I'm not charging you a thing for it- it's bullshit, pure and simple. I'm beginning to think that this mania is tied to our fat and lazy existence here in the U.S. I seriously doubt that hungry people in Africa are agonizing over this or citizens in not so fun places like Iran or North Korea are worried that Planet X is going to slam into us in a couple of years. Our easy consumer driven lifestyle has created a demand for artificial fears- since we no longer have the primal fight/flee response sitting in Starbucks, we now have to replace the lion chasing us with maniacal theories to scare ourselves and remind us of our own mortality.

I would like to propose a bet with any 2012 proponent out there to put their money where their mouth is. I will pay them $ 100 cash money, right now, on the wager that nothing will happen in 2012. In return, if nothing happens, they will pay me $ 200 on January 1st, 2013. If you are completely sold on 2012, this is a no brainer- you get to enjoy $ 100 during your final days on earth, and know that it's a sucker bet for me since neither one of us is going to be around to collect my winnings when it all comes to a crashing end. Terms and conditions apply, subject to approval by my legal staff.

So come on people, are you gonna get your $ 100 and party like its 2011 ?

Memory Row Week- The World That Never Was

I finally picked up a copy of this book and will be reading it on vacation this week. I'll post a review when I get back.

"The World That Never Was- A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists & Street Agents" by Alex Butterworth. 2010. Pantheon Books.

Book review by Stuart Christie, The Guardian.

Sounds like a good read. I'm going to pick up a copy. The book is available on pre-order for June 15th, through Amazon.

An interesting observation from the review-

"The main story, however, is of the penetration of these groups of often naive utopians by the sinister functionaries of the secret state whose job it was to protect the status quo: the policemen and spymasters who lurked in the shadows seeding uncertainty and dissent, cultivating tensions, beguiling with deceits, and luring credulous and impressionable idealists into committing crimes they may never have otherwise conceived."

History has indeed shown that idealists and revolutionaries are often long on ideas and short on proper counter-intelligence techniques !

Memory Row Week- Funeral for a Soldier

I wrote this article in May 2010 about the death of a local soldier in Afghanistan. My comments are at the end.

Last week, a soldier killed in Afghanistan was laid to rest in a small town near where I live. By coincidence, my son goes to elementary school in the same town and met the soldier a few years ago when he stopped by to visit the children. By all accounts the soldier was an all American type of kid- well liked by his neighbors, a good athlete and respected throughout the community. I picked up my son at school the day his body was brought back to town and the children had lined the streets waving small American flags as the hearse passed by. The light poles were adorned with yellow ribbons and the town had turned out in a show of unified sympathy you only see in small town America.

For a 10 year old, my son asks some pretty tough questions. "Why did he die ?" he asked, followed by "Are we winning the war ?" The local news had covered the story in print and on television and it led the six o'clock news for a couple of nights so it became a running discussion between the two of us. I struggled to explain the war in Afghanistan to my son, the nuances of counter insurgency, the difficulty in defeating a group of guerrillas vs. a standing army. During my time in the Army I had been an intelligence analyst while serving in the Ranger Regiment. My job was reading intelligence reports regarding the Soviets and their invasion of Afghanistan- how they operated, their tactics and techniques and then condensing them for dissemination to the three Ranger battalions for what we thought was an inevitable hot war in Europe. Back then I gained a grudging respect for the Mujahedin and their ability to bloody the Russian bear. Little did I know that the seeds that would eventually lead to Al Qaeda, Bin Laden and 9/11 had been planted.

So why did he die ? The interviews with local citizens on television mostly addressed that question with the answer that he died "defending our freedoms" and "protecting us." I'm not so sure about that. I'm pretty sure that he died first and foremost, as soldiers have for generations, for his comrades and his unit. Grand geopolitical strategy was probably not going through his head in his final battle- he was probably looking out for his buddies and doing the best he could to stay alive. Although I tried to make the case in my head that he died protecting us here in America, I just couldn't make the mental jump that would connect the Taliban and scattered Al Qaeda forces to a direct threat against me and my family. Thinking that through made me feel horrible- he didn't need to die for me and my family, we would have gladly taken the remote chance of a Taliban-Al Qaeda attack on Pittsburgh if it mean't he was safe and sound.

Did he, and over 1,700 other coalition soldiers, die to bring freedom to Afghanistan ? I'm not too convinced on that score either. This wasn't like U.S. troops rolling into Paris or Holland during World War 2. Afghanistan was never really a country in the traditional sense, even during the best of times. Tribalism, war lords financing private armies through the drug trade and various religious factions just don't fit the profile of a country begging for liberation. The U.S. and its allies have suppressed the Taliban to a large extent in many areas of the country but its likely that once the U.S. pulls out the result will be an immediate slide back into its quasi feudalistic former self.

I'm still struggling with the answer. The U.S. invasion after 9/11 made sense- root out and destroy Al Qaeda and those responsible for harboring them. On that count, it is widely agreed that the operation was a success. Al Qaeda, which some reports show as having no more than a couple of hundred members in the country, has been dispersed and generally hunted down. I highly doubt that they have constructed some super secret underground facility in the mountains and are working on a nuclear bomb that will soon go off in the U.S. It is more likely that they are living like moles, reluctant to venture outside and risk being vaporized by a drone attack. If they no longer pose a direct strategic threat to the U.S., why is the Department of Defense adding thousands of new troops into the mix and billions more in funding ? Forget the money for a minute- most importantly, why is our most priceless asset (our troops lives) being spent on this hell hole ?

My guess is that it comes down to money. Billions of dollars for procurement of new weapons, logistical support contracts, beans, bullets and everything else that a modern army consumes. Congressional districts that rely on defense plant spending, corrupt leaders more worried about their own political skins versus those of the troops in the field. Al Qaeda and the Taliban, no larger than a German infantry division in World War 2 (at best) are on the receiving end of the full economic and military might of the U.S. I'm sure that some accounting geek at the Pentagon has examined the grim calculus of death and figured out that every dead Taliban was killed at the cost of about $ 1.5 million to the U.S. taxpayer. An elephant stepping on a gnat isn't even an appropriate analogy to the imbalance between the amount of military and economic horsepower being thrown at the situation.

So, why did he die ? I still don't know, maybe somebody out there can help me figure it out.

Since I wrote this article, the command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan was changed by an article in Rolling Stone, and a massive leak of documents regarding the war has been released. Over 285 coalition troops have been killed since then, many more wounded and billions of dollars have been pissed down this black hole. I am still very pessimistic about the future of Afghanistan and the prospects for the coalition forces to defeat the Taliban. Unlike the U.S. and allied forces fighting at the end of a very long supply line, the Taliban are fighting in their own back yard with access to protection across the border in Pakistan. Most importantly, they have the advantage of time- they can simply wait out the Americans, force the Afghan government to the table after U.S. forces withdraw and create their own state within a state. When the war transitioned from pursuit of Al Qaeda to building a new Afghanistan, the war was effectively lost- not by the forces on ground, but the elected ones playing geopolitics in Washington D.C.

Memory Row Week- 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Review

I wrote this article back in January after we purchased our new 2010 VW Jetta TDI. My update is at the end.

Last weekend, we finally traded in my Nissan Pathfinder for a new vehicle. The old girl had 147,000 odd miles on it, the exhaust system was falling off and it was doing annoying things like shutting off when I applied the brakes too hard. As if to make the point that it really didn't want to go to the big recycling plant in the sky, it died at the largest intersection between my house and the dealer where we had been looking at cars the week before. After a bit of swearing, pleading and pounding on the steering wheel, it wheezed into the dealer's lot and gracefully expired as it coasted into a parking spot.

After weeks of test drives, visiting dealers and doing some research, we settled on the 2010 VW Jetta TDI (diesel.) I've always had a sneaking love of German cars, born of racing AFX cars in the basement, reading racing magazines and dreaming about flying down the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans in a Porsche 917. My first German car, a used 1998 Audi A6, sealed this love affair and also confirmed everything that my engineer father thought of them- "over-engineered and over-priced" he would fume at the dinner table. Being an engineer he just couldn't see any point of designing anything beyond the functionality of an engine, four wheels and a steering wheel. The Audi was like dating a beautiful, temperamental woman. When it worked, it was an absolute blast to drive, luxurious and absolutely bulletproof when driving way beyond the safety limits on a snowy highway. When it bitched and was in a snit, it was horribly expensive to fix, cranky and temperamental. At one point I actually owned two Audis as I re-built a 1991 Quattro V8 which I bought for $ 3,500 cash but that's a story for another day.

Anyways, in the rush to build green vehicles with great gas mileage, Volkswagen has gone back to the future in the TDI. Years of building diesel vehicles (and testing them on the racetrack in Audi's TDI program) has yielded a vehicle that seems to do the impossible- get great gas mileage and yet be fun to drive. Many of the problems that hounded diesels in the past such as engine noise, wet and cold start issues ("don't call me when it's four degrees out" huffed my dad) have been eliminated. The interior is very well appointed, functional and the fit and finish is nice and tight. Turn the switch to the first position, wait a second for the glow plug light to go out and the 4 cylinder diesel rumbles to life.

4 cylinder you say ? No power you think ? Wrong again. Although the engine only generates 140 horsepower, it also pushes nearly 230 pounds of torque to the front wheels. Mash the pedal, wait amount for the turbo to spool up and the beast punches you back into your seat (rumor has it that Audi's new electric sports car will generate over 1,000 pounds of torque.) This is no breadbox with batteries stuffed into every nook and cranny, it is 3,600 odd pounds of solid German iron that makes me shake my head everytime I see a Prius. Although diesels have never really caught on in the US the way they have in Europe, Volkswagen may have finally come up with the right package of fuel efficiency, power and luxury to make more car owners take a serious look at vehicles like the TDI.

So far, so good. The car now has 19,900 miles on it after enduring two very long trips- one to southern Texas, another to northern Maine. As the engine is now broken in, the mileage from the little diesel continues to impress. During the trip to Texas, I averaged 48.5 mpg and slightly less during our summer trip to Maine. One thing that took getting used to was wondering if the fuel gauge had broken- on long highway trips, it barely budges. Getting nearly 700 miles of range out of a 14 gallon tank forces you to think differently about your trip- no more saying to the kids, we'll take a break when we stop to fuel up since that can literally be a few hours away. Despite the fears of my father, we have had absolutely no problems starting the car even during the extremely cold winter we had in Pittsburgh.

Mechanically the car has had no issues except for the hood shocks needing to be replaced. Although this gave me shudders concerning German reliability, they were replaced at no charge under the car's warranty. I am also liking the fact that the diesel only needs to have its oil changed every 10,000 miles and this is covered at no cost as well. The car rides well, is a blast to drive and the Satellite radio and I phone hook up are a godsend on long trips. On the downside, it can be a bit noisy inside the cabin during long trips and the seats aren't that well suited for marathon trips. Still, I can't complain. For a little less than $ 25,000, the car has been an absolute bargain.

Memory Row Week- Home Grown

I wrote this article last Spring as we began our foray into trying to build a deck garden. My follow up comments are at the end.

I constantly daydream about living off of the grid. My thoughts are filled with a hand built house on some acreage in the wilderness, solar power, a big garden and smokehouse full of fish and game living free of the annoyances of modern life. "Mother Earth News" has replaced "Playboy" in terms of my fantasy reading as I eagerly read articles about really cool projects like building alcohol fuel stills.

Reality, usually in the form of a conversation with my wife, soon comes crashing back in and dispels these visions of grandeur. I did, however, take a recent small step towards self sufficiency by planting a deck garden. Whether or not this venture yields anything worth eating remains to be seen, but we have been happy to see the seeds sprout and the plants starting to grow above the top edge of the planters.

For around $ 10 bucks worth of seeds, we planted lettuce, spinach and a good assortment of herbs (cilantro, dill, chives, parsley and basil- I suggested another more profitable herb but was met with an icy stare of disapproval from my spouse.) I built the planters out of cedar boards and bolted them to the deck rail which proved prudent after a couple of severe storms roared through our area. I drilled holes in the planter bottoms for drainage and we filled them with a layer of rocks at the bottom to also help the roots from getting waterlogged. The three planters are all 4' long and cost about $ 40 total to build.

Update- Our deck garden was very successful and the amount of food we produced was far beyond my expectations. For about $ 10 worth of seeds we had multiple harvests of herbs including parsley, cilantro, basil and chives. We started our tomato and pepper plants here and then transplanted them to my in laws garden- the production we received was incredible. We processed most of the tomatoes into sauce and salsa and now have every square inch of our freezer filled with containers.

The peppers turned out great as well, although very hot. The lettuce and spinach did not do well at all and we will probably not plant them again next year. I think the problem was in the depth of the planters on the deck and the weather in the spring was too warm for them to get going properly. We were able to use produce from the garden in just about every dinner over the summer and it has saved us a great deal of money. For next year, I am working on getting back up to speed on canning and looking into building a rain retention and diversion system for our back deck. Using diverted rain water not only makes environmental sense, it makes economic sense as well.

Memory Road Week

This week I will be heading 20 hours north of my current location to do some work on my family's house in Northern Maine. Rather than let a week go by without anything for you to look at, I'll be re-posting some of my past articles along with updates to the stories. I hope you enjoy them and have a peaceful and prosperous week.

Taking the Hot Dog

During the great famine in Ireland, there arose the saying "Taking the Soup" to describe Catholics who denied their faith and became Protestants in order to get something to eat. I'm not sure that this is 100% historically accurate, and it could just be an apocryphal story, but I guess it could make sense given the situation- faced with starvation, and even worse the starvation of our children, who wouldn't sign up with the team that was giving away free food ? A few days ago, we awoke to a very colorful door hanger on our front door knob offering a free hot dog if we attended a local church fair.

Maybe there really isn't anything new under the sun.

Two things in life make me very nervous- clowns and proselytizing. Maybe I was approached by a proselytizing clown on the playground as a youngster, who's to say. I became a Buddhist as essentially an unrestricted free agent- I found a faith that dovetailed nicely with my own view of the world and where I want to end up. Nobody approached me, harangued me or dragged me to the Sangha kicking and screaming. I merely did my own years of research and made the decision on my own. My Buddhist beliefs are intensely personal and I feel that I greatly benefit from them in my life. That being said, I would never, and have never, approached a friend, family member or stranger and told them I had this great conversion that they needed to try as well. Just as importantly, I have retained a deep respect for other faiths and those that follow them- nobody has all of the answers and the only thing I know for sure is the limits of my own ignorance.

I've had my share of experience with front door religious recruiters over the years- earnest, well scrubbed Mormons, serious looking Jehovah's Witnesses and just plain old good folks out trying to get new members for the local church. Anyone coming to my front door is treated with respect, an invitation to have a cup of coffee (or juice for the LDS guys) and I'm happy to hear them out and take their literature. After a few minutes they realize they are dealing with a born again Buddhist who is asking too many obscure questions, they glance at their watches and head for the door. One gentleman pointed out that I was going to Hell unless I converted to his faith, right then on the spot. I genuinely admired they guy for his ability to get right to the point and thanked him for stopping by.

What has always confused me about religions that come to your front door is based on this simple argument that I always fall back on- "If your faith is so strong, so all encompassing and all knowing that I should switch my beliefs, why do you need to go door to door in order to spread it ? Shouldn't it be self evident ? Why are you out on the street effectively selling your faith ? If your particular brand of faith is so strong, the people must be pouring through the doors on Sunday morning, right ?" For the missionaries, I know there is the component of trying to save my soul in order to justify their actions. My soul is just fine where it is, thanks. "How's yours ?" It is very rare to have one of these people actually engage in a two sided conversation and it becomes apparent that they are merely rattling off a script that they are trying to follow. They aren't making the rounds because they are interested in intellectual discourse- they are on a mission and if you're asking too many questions, you're just slowing things down.

These conversations usually end with polite goodbyes and a hand shake. I actually read whatever literature is left, because I'm always interested in different faiths and views of the world. Who knows, maybe someday I'll switch faiths again. Come to think of it I'm getting hungry....now where's that flyer ?

Afghanistan's Buddhist History

An interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about an attempt to rescue an important Buddhist archaeological site in Afghanistan.

938MEMDCJEST

Howard Stern vs. Sirius

I have enjoyed listening to Howard Stern for many years on terrestrial and satellite radio. For me, the Stern Show is a guilty pleasure like Scotch Whisky- something I enjoy but am not really sure is good for me. While many people dismiss Stern as nothing more than a foul-mouthed boor, you start to realize over time what a genius the guy is when you listen to him every morning (or it just might be a media version of the Stockholm Syndrome.) Putting aside the locker room humor, fart jokes, midgets and strippers for a moment, I truly believe that Stern conducts the best interviews in media- period. He has an uncanny ability to disarm and get more out of his guests than any other show host on radio or television. Throw in his dysfunctional cast of characters and you have a mix of entertainment that I happily pay for with my Sirius subscription.

Over the past few weeks, Stern has begun the rumblings that many of us heard before his switch to satellite radio. His 5 year deal with Sirius ends in January 2011 and he has made it pretty clear that he isn't enjoying the treatment he has received of late in terms of negotiating a new deal. Stern has an enormous ego, and a loyal legion of fans, and has only half jokingly proposed that Sirius change its name to Stern. He has made dark hints about taking his show elsewhere by leveraging the new technologies that have emerged over the past few years. These technologies effectively eliminate the middle man (i.e. Sirius) between the provider of content (Stern) and the consumers of that content (his audience.) If I owned shares in Sirius, I would be seriously be preparing to sell my position- fast.

Sirius stock has been dead money for years. Despite the merger with XM, and the rapid increase in subscriptions (due to Stern and free trials of the service in new vehicles) the company has yet to post a profit. When Stern joined the company in 2006, revenues for the year were $ 637 million. By 2009, revenues had increased to $ 2.47 billion- and the company still managed to post a net loss of $ 343 million. Still, for some reason hope still springs eternal. S&P put out a "Buy" rating on the shares on September 11th, 2010 while citing "uncertainties with Howard Stern's contract negotiations" as a potential risk to the shares. I think a better sentence would have read- "Howard Stern has Sirius by the short and curlies- and he knows it. If he leaves, this boat sinks."

To put it simply, Sirius needs Stern far more than Stern needs Sirius. In a matter of a few weeks, Stern could simply build an alternate location for his show to broadcast from and distribute the content via live internet streams, podcasts, pay per view and whatever else becomes available over the coming years. Instead of needing the massive capital investment that Sirius had to make in terms of satellites and equipment, he could probably be up and running on a relative shoestring. His fans, including myself, would happily pay $ 5 or $ 10 bucks a month for this type of content and Stern could probably do something in 30 days that Sirius never could- earn a profit.

New technologies are killing the old dogs of media and although satellite radio seems like the future, it could just be another victim on the list that includes newspapers, radio stations and magazines. All of these sources were merely the vehicles through which media content flowed- now that the channels for this information have become quicker, better and more personalized, the big dinosaurs of yesterday are essentially doomed. Consumers are becoming more discerning and demanding content that is customized to them, not the other way around. Why would I put myself through 30 minutes of Katie Couric, including commercials, when I can get my news on my I phone from the sources that I like and trust ? For me, Couric's inane babbling is content that has no value to me- I wouldn't even take it if it was free. Other people might pay for it, who knows ? The new media will ruthlessly expose companies and individuals that have rested on their laurels and reputations for far too long.

Book Review- "UFOs Generals, Pilots and Government Officials go on the Record" by Leslie Kean

I've had a strong interest in the subject of UFO's (more recently coined "UAPs"- Unexplained Aerial Phenomena") for many years and recently read an excellent book which is the subject of this article. Unlike many books and television programs on the subject, Kean's work is scholarly, well researched and contains a series of pieces written by men and women who have held very high positions of authority in military and civilian agencies around the world. The consensus of these opinions is that UAPs are real and operate with technology that is far beyond anything we have developed.

As I'm writing this, I can see my reader's collective eyeballs rolling skyward in skepticism but please stick with me for a moment. For individuals that have some done some reading on the UAP phenomena, many of the cases presented here are familiar- the silent black triangles reported by thousands of Belgians in the 1980's, the dogfight between an Iranian fighter and UAP over Tehran, Rendlesham Forest, the Japanese cargo plane over Alaska etc. What makes this book different is that the author has the format in which to expound on these stories, interview witnesses and present a very compelling case vs. trying to compress and cram the same information into a television documentary.

Of all of the accounts in the book, my favorite is that of wave of sightings in Belgium as recounted by Major General Wilfried De Brouwer of the Belgian Air Force. At the time of the sightings in late 1989, De Brouwer was a Colonel acting as chief of the Operations Division of the Air Staff of the Belgian Air Force. De Brouwer explains in this part of the book how thousands of Belgians, including significant numbers of police and military personnel, reported large, silent black triangles floating over the countryside. Some of this UAPs were photographed (analysis is included in the book) and triggered the scrambling of Belgian F-16's in pursuit which proved fruitless against the performance of these strange vehicles. For the Belgians, members of the NATO Alliance, these sightings were very distressing- large aerial vehicles were moving in their air space without authority and with impunity. De Brouwer made inquiries with NATO allies, including the U.S., and was assured both officially (and privately) that they were not new technologies being tested over Belgium.

I really enjoyed this book because it doesn't stretch out into the rampant speculation that usually surrounds the subject. It doesn't attempt to answer who is driving these things, where they are from or what their intentions are- despite the thousands of books on the subject of dubious quality that claim to know what's really going on. Rather, it focuses on hard data- aerial and ground radar returns, pilot reports, government studies and briefings and observations made by police, governmental and military reports either published or obtained through the FOIA. Kean provides nearly 300 end notes to reference the materials and interviews she sifted through to build her case.

Later in the book, Kean demonstrates how the U.S. government position on the subject has been markedly different from those of other nations. Unlike the French, who released the recent COMETA report, and English, who released their MOD studies on the subject, the U.S. has taken the familiar tack of denying everything and adding ridicule to those that bring up the subject- a strategy implemented decades ago. If you have seen a news report on your local station it usually includes a smiling reporter and the X-Files theme playing in the background. Kean's straightforward writing, and the quality of the material she works with, effectively demolishes the argument that any of these sightings can be laughed off. With her background as a journalist, and backing of her major publisher (a division of Random House) this book has already made a significant splash on the UAP subject.

Whether a skeptic, believer or solidly on the fence (like me) this is an excellent book that I highly recommend. I rate it a solid 8 out of 10. Regardless of your position on the subject, I am confident that you will find the book eye-opening and thought provoking. Along the same lines of solid research, I also highly recommend the James Fox documentaries, which Kean assisted with- "Out of the Blue" and "I Know What I Saw" both available on DVD.

The book's website.
Available on Amazon.

The Little Grape of Wrath

I started getting a sore throat over the weekend but it didn't seem like a big deal. The kids are back at school and have been fighting colds with their classmates, and I thought it would just run its course and go away. Yesterday at work, I noticed that I seemed to be breaking out in cold sweats, chills and was having trouble swallowing- on top of that I was short of breath. I work at a job that keeps me moving on my feet all day long, so the shortness of breath was the thing that started to worry me. Not wanting to take any chances with what I thought was strep throat, or even worse the big heart attack I keep warning the kids they are pushing me towards, I decided it was time to go to the local Med Express.

I don't know if you have these types of establishments where you live but I think they are the greatest invention since canned beer and sliced bread. Instead of calling your regular physician, and hoping they can squeeze you in the during the next 8 to 12 months, you simply walk in these places, tell them what's wrong and get seen in a matter of minutes. My doctor is a great guy who I really like but I limit my visits to him to stuff like routine physicals- I have no doubt I could call him with a collapsed lung, or partially amputated arm, and his receptionist would ask if I could hold off coming in until 2011.

Like most incidents of adversity, whether great or small like this one, I even had a brief moment to quietly meditate on some Buddhist mindfulness. In this case, because the reception area was extremely busy and noisy, I simply closed my eyes for a minute and reflected on how fortunate I was to have access to excellent medical care when compared to the vast majority of souls on this planet. No matter what the problem was, I was confident I would be quickly patched up and back out the door.

The doctor took a look in my mouth, said something like "hmmmm", took another look and furrowed her brow. "Have you had any trouble breathing ?," yes I replied, "well typically you would want to go the ER at the hospital for something like this." It seems I had a raging case of Uvulitis (the Uvula is the little thingy that hangs from the roof your mouth at the entrance to your throat and means "little grape" at least according to Wikipedia) and it was so swollen it was partially blocking my ability to breath and swallow- which would account for me drooling all over my shirt at lunch. So, I got a shot of steroids in the butt to take down the swelling, some more oral antibiotics and steroids and was sent home with strict orders to go to the hospital if I couldn't breath- sarcasm obviously not being part of the medical school curriculum I just kept my reply to myself and headed for the door.

Old Airplanes Never Die

I took this picture over the weekend at the Pittsburgh Air Show. This is a C-47 transport, the second oldest of its type that is still flying. What makes this aircraft so special in historical terms is that it actually dropped elements of the 82nd Airborne on St. Mere Eglise, France in the early morning hours of June 6th, 1944. D-Day.

I stood by the aircraft while my wife and kids were inside a KC-135 tanker that was on display so I had a few moments to reflect on the reaction of the crowds as they walked by. More than a few kids tugged on their mom and dad's sleeves as they spotted the cooler, more modern F-16's, F-18's and a myriad of other sleek jets that stood by. Some asked their parents what the plane was, but they were at a loss for words- some old thing they muttered as they walked past. What a shame. As far as examples of living history go, nothing among the 50 or so aircraft parked on the ramp even came close.

After their tanker tour, I grabbed the boys and walked them to the C-47. "THIS" I said jabbing my finger in its direction "is the most important airplane on this entire airfield." We were able to go inside the aircraft, through the jump door on the left, and I explained how 55 odd years ago, a group of very brave men strapped parachutes, equipment, weapons and a myriad of other gear to themselves, flew across the English Channel and parachuted into the darkness of the early morning of June 6th, 1944. Standing in the back of the plane, so small and cramped compared to the relative luxury of the C-130's and C-141's that I parachuted out of, I was nearly overcome with emotion. Small groups of young men, who had barely begun to live, volunteered to hurl themselves out of aircraft over enemy occupied ground to defeat Fascism and destroy the worst evil that the world has ever know. Knowing the fate of many of the young paratroopers who jumped over St. Mere Eglise only made it more emotional- some were hung up on electrical and telegraph poles only to be shot by the Germans, one famously on town's church steeple who watched the battle unfold beneath his feet.

I daydreamed for a moment, and imagined the night before after the first day of the air show. I thought of all of the other aircraft, circled around the C-47 as it creaked and turned, sat on its tail and said to a bunch of wide eyed, youthful jets- "You know the difference between a fairy tale and a war story ? The fairy tale starts off with 'Once Upon a Time.' A war story starts with 'This is No Shit."

A Great Bird App

I'm an amateur bird watcher- not too obsessive beyond my time in the woods and watching birds at our feeders. The Peterson Guide to Backyard Birds is a nice, cheap (inexpensive) app that I started using on my I phone. For $ 2.99 you get a lot of stuff. It has some great pictures of birds for identification, samples of sounds from the various species, and a checklist (based on different regions of the U.S.) to mark off the birds and dates on which you spotted them. For times when you are out of the woods there is also a nice quiz function which tests your ability to identify different species by sight and sounds. During a hike last weekend, my wife and I were treated to an old growth oak forest that was absolutely saturated by Pileated Woodpeckers which I have to rank as my all time favorite bird.

Burn Baby Burn

An article from the Guardian regarding the role of social media and the internet in propelling the aspirations of a Florida based preacher to burn a copy of the Koran. I heard a similar discussion regarding this issue on the BBC this morning and the general consensus is that the internet for better, or worse, has given nut cases such as Pastor Terry Jones a global audience for extreme positions such as his. Contrast, for a moment, what would have happened if Mr. Jones had made his thoughts known in 1970, or even 1980. The story might have picked up some local media attention, perhaps a wire story on the AP, but it could never have flashed around the globe in a matter of seconds as happened now. Since internet access, mobile phone availability etc. have increased, technology has ensured that an equal number of nutcases holding exact opposite positions as Mr. Jones were able to get the news at nearly the speed of light.

The predictable result of this story has been an escalation of Muslims now threatening to burn bibles, more Christians threatening to burn Korans and everyone threatening to burn a few Jews (just kidding, at least for now.) The mixture of religious extremism, hair trigger emotions and the technology to deliver hate in nanoseconds has suddenly shrunk the world from a very big place to a nasty, crowded, little one full of tribal and sectarian violence. You could argue that the internet, instead of a tool of enlightenment and education, will help the human race rush to extinction at a much faster rate than would have been expected.

On a side note, who cares if a Koran, Bible or Torah is burned ? Can't the world's great religions survive such barbarism ? Do these people really think that God, whom they believe to be the creator of ourselves and our universe, is somehow upset that one of his favorite primates decided to burn a book ? The absolutely unhinged response to the burning of symbols, whether they be flags or religious tomes, is to me a sign of deep insecurity, not of strength in one's beliefs.

"A ha, you say, what would you do if someone burned a pile of Buddhist books in front of you ?"

I would just shrug and thank the torch bearer for demonstrating the cornerstone of my beliefs-

Everything is impermanent and all things must pass.

Let's Go Saints !

This evening, the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings play the opener for the NFL season. It will be a replay of last year's NFC Championship and will feature two of the marquis quarterbacks in the game, Drew Brees and Brett Favre. More importantly, it will mark the day where my 43 year allegiance to the Pittsburgh Steelers ends, and I set off in support of a new team. As some of my long time readers know, I made my feelings known about Ben Roethlisberger's off field antics last year and my disgust for him, the Steeler's ownership and organization. My wife joined me in this boycott of our hometown team, as have many others, and we settled on the Saints as our new adopted team. We may come back to the Steelers someday, but as long as Roethlisberger is on the team, it ain't gonna happen.

For the first time in many, many years I will not spend many of my Sunday afternoons, and a couple of Monday and Thursday evenings, sitting in Heinz Field. No more tailgating with friends before the game (and after,) enjoying the incredible atmosphere on a sunny afternoon, or snowy winter night. Nope, I'm going to be in my living room watching the Saints. As a born and bred Pittsburgher it was pre-ordained that I would be a Steelers fan, but they have broken the faith and showed their true colors over the past year. It's difficult for fans from other cities to understand how deeply the Steelers are ingrained in this city, how much we are tied to this team. It is therefore even more difficult how strange I feel in knowing that I won't be watching the Steelers this year and could frankly care less if they lose every single game. My buddies were shocked by my decision- probably like a Jewish kid telling his parents he wanted to be a priest- but they mumbled that they understood and hoped I would come to my senses.

Out with the pierogies and kielbassa, in the with the po' boys and crawfish. Let's Go Saints !

Them's Fightin' Words Son

In an interesting side note to the ongoing Iranian nuclear drama, France has warned Iran to quit making disparaging remarks about the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. No, this isn't from The Onion- you can read more about it here. The diplomatic row was apparently sparked by the world's foxiest First Lady, Carla Bruni, who voiced her opinion on the death sentence by stoning of Sakineh Ashtiani. The Iranian newspaper Kayhan called Ms. Bruni a prostitute who deserved to die.

Ouch.

I don't think it's very nice to call a man's wife a whore- I especially don't think its' very bright when that man is President of a nuclear armed power (no, not like the Iranians building one out of "Nuclear Weapons for Dummies"- the real stuff.) Say what you will about the French, they are the only people probably as bat shit crazy as the Iranians when it comes to affronts to personal honor.

This sorry episode just screams with story lines- the beautiful wife of the French President who has, let's be honest, a bit of a past vs. a bunch of sexually repressed mullahs in Iran living somewhere back in the 1100's. She is the the Euro uber MILF and they despise her for it and everything she stands for. As a strong, independent woman she threatens them to their very core. The fact that she is beautiful just adds insult to injury- they hate what they can never have. Okay, perhaps I'm getting too Freudian here.

Forget Sarkozy, Carla might just bitch slap Ahmadinejad on her own.