Random Thoughts From A Himalayan Cave

Door knocker on the door of a Chicago Chinese restaurant

I've spent the last several days pretty much by myself, which is generally a good thing for me. I'm not a very social person, and would do very well in a Himalayan cave meditating for eight years. To that end, here are some random thoughts.

- I don't like zoos. While I understand the purposes; money, research, and display. I think we as humans can do better.

- BRicks (Bike-Run, ick!) workouts are the bane of most triathletes, and I dislike them as much as anybody, but they're a necessary evil for me this year as my bike-to-run transitions suck.

- I need to go to the zendo tomorrow morning and sit… a lot.

- Matt Damon's Green Zone is a good movie, and I enjoyed it very much. I like Matt as an actor.

- Paramedics need to think clinically and have a good medical reason to "collar and board" a patient. Mechanism alone is not enough.

- Chain sushi restaurants tend to be not very authentic and not very good.

- I like Barnes & Noble's electronic book reader, the Nook very much. I'm an Amazon Kindle owner, but am considering trading up.

- I don't understand why funeral processions have the right of way and are allowed to inconvenience hundreds of people along the route. Certainly this wasn't the deceased's last wish? I want to pass the deceased in my car, not drive over him.

- I need to go fly fishing but the Chattahoochee River is too swollen with all of the recent rains. I'm not a good enough fly fisherman to lure a trout out of a fast-flowing, murky river.

- I need to call my parents.

Not So Good With Technology

A passing taxi driver. Happy guy.

The Iraqi's have a new device at selected security checkpoints around Baghdad. A serious looking operator holds what looks like a toy remote-controlled car device in his hand, and wearing a pair of earphones, dutifully walks down the side of the car. What he's listening for I have no earthly idea; maybe the ticking of a bomb? Who knows?

This ridiculous display prompted a tirade of comments from my Scottish security partner about how the Arab culture is not the most technologically savvy on the face of the planet. My favorite remark described how you could give Iran, Iraq, etc... the most sophisticated fighter aircraft in the inventory complete with state of the art weaponry and in the end you will still have some guy at the controls wearing a green scarf around his head mumbling "Allah akbar".

I'm not sure why the Arab culture has not embraced technology. Maybe its a function of it's education system; preferring to spend time studying religious subjects instead of physics or chemistry. Quite possibly they don't need to, as they can afford to hire foreign "technicians" to manage things for them. This is certainly the case in much of the Middle Eastern oil industry.

I helped a 30-something year old Iraqi set up his first laptop. I got him a Yahoo account, an email address, login, and password. I did it all for him in minutes as he curiously looked on. When I got to the mandatory "security question" I scrolled through the various options to find one that was appropriate for him. OK, "What was your childhood friend's first name?" He looked at me with dinner plate size eyes and exclaimed, "They know that about me!?"

Kindle Craving

I'm a gadget geek, I admit it. I'm attracted to bright, shinny things, and think Steve Jobs should be beatified. Nonetheless, my latest fascination is Amazon's Kindle, the wireless reading device that allows the user to browse, purchase, and download electronic forms of books and read them on the device. All of this is done wirelessly, without aid of a laptop or synching.

My attraction stems from the fact that when I travel I have to pack enough books to last me for the trip, and inevitably I'll run across other material that I want to read. It's not like there's a Barnes & Noble right down the street here in Baghdad so I'm forced to wait until I get home, which may often be several weeks. The reader will allow me to pack one device that may hold as many as 200-300 books, and give me the flexibility to download more as I find other reading that interests me. Perfect.

Most of the criticism of the Amazon device is centered on the design or the ergonomics. People have grown to expect the sleek, shinny objects coming out of the Apple shop, and the Kindle doesn't live up to those standards. I can get past this shortcoming as hauling an extra 10 lbs of books in my luggage is not exactly ergonomically friendly either. More to follow is the weeks to come, but until then I'm still relying on Johannes Gutenberg's contribution to society.

Same Thing, Different Day

Wall of sandbags surrounded by water, the same technology that fortified the trenches of World War I almost one hundred years ago.

I was watching Joan of Arc on the television this morning; scenes of siege warfare with men running about the castle walls wearing heavy protective armor. I was struck by the fact that here we are 577 years later and we're still scurrying about in body-armor and hiding behind huge walls of concrete. Mortars are being lobbed over the walls indiscriminately killing or maiming those inside. We're still firing weapons propelled by the expanding gases of exploding gunpowder, an ancient Chinese invention. How far have we really advanced in 500 plus years? Is the fact that we can now do it from insanely long distances away with extreme accuracy considered 'advancement'? To me, 'advancement' is simply just not doing it at all.