War News Rather than Seinfeld

Instead of watching Seinfeld reruns, I've been watching the war coverage. PBS's Frontline put together several of it's past shows covering Iraq over the years. It started with Frontlines that were shown before the first Gulf War. In the days before that first war, there seemed to be a lot more concern about war with Iraq. Frontline showed Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense during the start of the Vietnam War) at a Congressional meeting where NcNamara warned that they should expect thousands and thousands of casualties, and he recommended letting sanctions be given at least 12 to 18 months to work.

Also interesting was the first George Bush at a press conference several weeks after the war ended. Bush said:

You mentioned World War II. There was a definitive end to that conflict. Now we have Saddam Husein still there. I haven't yet felt this wonderfully euphoric feeling that many of the American people feel.

Couple other Frontline shows covered the UN inspections after the war. It seems like the inspectors had most of their success right after the war and in 1995 after an Iraqi defector filled them in on the Iraqi hiding strategy. But they mentioned that the inspectors received less and less support from the UN as time past. Finally, in 1998, Iraq was successful in ending the inspections. Clinton then had to figure out how to respond. There were indications that Clinton was planning something significant. The show had a piece of a town hall session where Clinton's top people like Madelin Albright, Sandy Berger, and William Cohen were trying to discuss the issues at Ohio State University. They were being booed and heckled by the crowd who expressed hatred for US sanctions and bombs against Iraq. Albright gave her opinion about Saddam:

He is qualitatively and quantitatively different from every other brutal dictator that has appeared recently, and we are very concerned about him specifically, and what his plans might be.

Well, Clinton did finally act in operation Desert Fox in December 1998. It was a bombing operation that lasted only four days. I guess they thought it would punish Iraq without causing too much anger at the UN or in the US. But in the minds of many people, Saddam had won...

The remaining Frontline continued with the second Bush replacing Clinton and the changes that occurred, especially after 9/11.

Quote from the First Bush

There was one quote that I remember from the first Bush before the first Iraq war. It never received any publicity. To me it had a feel of a Clint Eastwood line, but it wasn't so blatant that people would criticize it. I still remember it although I probably don't remember the exact words. I thought it expressed the situation quite nicely. It went something like this:

The Iraqi aggression against Kuwait will not stand. It's not a threat. It's not a boast. It's just the way it's going to be.

Spam Selling Anti-Spam Software....

Why do people send spam or junk email? I can't believe it really works these days. Only thing I can think is that the spammers must be desparate. I received a quite ironic spam a few days ago. The email was trying to sell me software that gets rid of spam....

Lately, there has been moves to help cut telemarketers by allowing people to sign up for do-not-call lists. Seems like something similar could be done with spam. I wish I could select the unsubscribe option in the spam without worrying that it will just notify the spammers that they had a hit. Seems like some sort of global unsubscribe method that's required by all commercial email could help a lot. This global unsubscribe option could be operated by some trustworthy organization that could ensure its integrity.

posted by Ken on 12:03 PM permalink and comments  

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Sunday, March 16, 2003

 

Any More Technology Innovation Possible Now?

With the huge technology slump that has been going on over the last three years, I've heard some concern that this may be the start of a very long slump in technology. They worry that we may have reached the peak of innovation, and that no company will be able to innovate and create exciting products that create profitable growth.

I have one example of how innovation can arise in the most unlikely of places. The example is Krispy Kreme Donuts. Who would have thought that innovation was possible in donuts? Donuts have been around for ages. Dunkin Donuts have been around ever since I can remember. But all of a sudden, Krispy Kreme comes out with a delicious version of the donut, and everybody wants one. The company goes public and is growing its revenunes and profits every day. So in my prediction, it won't be long before there's a bunch of Krispy Kreme like technology products that will help jump start us out of this slump.

Mount Everest

Our local news just had a story of a group of people starting out on the climb to the top of Mount Everest. The group is breaking new ground since many of them have various handicaps. I always find it interesting on how many people aspire to climb Mount Everest. It seems similar to many people's aspirations to finish a marathon or the Iron Man's Triathalon. In my opinion, their aspirations have gone wild... Albeit, I'm no risk taker, but you got to make sure aspirations don't go overboard. Yes, reaching the top of Mount Everest might make you feel that you've done a great accomplishment. Perhaps it might inspire others.. But couldn't something have been done more useful, more creative, and less risky? I've never been to Mount Everest, but after seeing some documentaries on it, it doesn't really seem glamorous. The trails up to the top seem to be littered with old oxygen canisters and occasional frozen bodies of unlucky climbers. Aren't there other better accomplishments to be done?

Funny Miscellaneous Quote

Thinking about people's opinions about things like marathons reminded me of a quote by Will Ferrell while he was a guest on David Letterman. He told Letterman that he was training to run the New York Marathon, and he wasn't getting too much encouragement from his father in-law who happened to be a doctor. Ferrell described his father in-law's opinion about this planned endeavor:

I'll have you know, running 26.2 miles is not good for the human body.

Pig Man Episode, a Seinfeld Classic

The pig man episode had a hilarious scene with contributions from all four of the characters. I was just going to mention George's quote, but all four of them had great lines in this scene, making it a classic in Seinfeld history. This episode combined the Jewish circumcision, George's bad luck with a hospital's suicide incident, and Kramer's pig man fantasy.

The scene started off with Kramer showing them a news article about the hospital doing DNA experiments and insisting it was proof that what he saw the day before was indeed a pig man. From Kramer:

The pig man is alive. The government has been experimenting with pig men since the 50's.... Jerry, will you wake up to reality, it's a military thing. They are probably creating a WHOLE army of pig warriors!

George then gave his opinion about it:

I tell you something, I wish there were pig men. You get a few of these pig men walking around, suddenly, I'm looking a lot better. That way if someone wants to fix me up, they could say, hey, at least he's no pig man.

Jerry then countered:

Believe me, there would be plenty of women going for these pig men. Whatever the deformity, there's always some group of perverts that's attracted to it. Uhh, that little tail really turns me on.

Then Elaine gave her two cents as she headed out:

I had just about enough.... But could you do me a favor? Could you tape the rest of pig men and the women who love pig men discussion, and i'll listen to it the next time i'm here.

posted by Ken on 12:51 PM permalink and comments  

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Sunday, March 09, 2003

 

Humorous Seinfeld Quotes

I came across some more funny Seinfeld quotes this week.

I was raised to give up

The first is from the episode where Jerry, Elaine, and George decide to volunteer to visit senior citizens. Things turned out to be tougher than they had anticipated. George actually had the easiest assignment. However, he blew it when he became obsessive about old age in his conversation with his senior which made the senior walk out and leave George holding the bill at the coffee shop. Jerry probably had the toughest assignment, and he brought up the fact that he was considering on quiting. Elaine then questioned the wisdom of quiting. George then gave the following hilarious quote supporting his decision to quit:

I'm a great quiter, that's one of the few things I do well. I come from a long line of quiters, my father was a quiter, my grandfather was a quiter, I was raised to give up.

George the Tourist

This is the episode where George comes across a New York visitor centor employee who thinks George is a New York tourist. George starts seeing this lady and decides that being considered a tourist has some advantages. So George continues to pretend to be a visitor and wants to make it look like he was able to get his current job (working in the Yankees organization) and his apartment as someone new to New York. Here is how George described it to Jerry:

You know, if you take everything I've accomplished in my entire life and condense it down into one day, it looks decent.

BTW, this was the same episode where Elaine comes up with the idea of selling muffin tops. Her former boss actually starts a shop called "Top of the Muffin to You!". Wonder if there are any shops out there who are actually selling muffin tops?

The first Seinfeld Episode?

I'm not positive, but I think this was the first Seinfeld or at least one of the first. This was the one that started with Jerry commenting about George's top shirt button while they were in the coffee shop (similar to how Jerry commented about George's button in the last episode.) One could see the early signs of a great series. The characters of Jerry, George, and Kramer were brought out (Elaine wasn't in this episode). An important atmosphere came out. It was a friendly atmosphere where close quirky friends humourously deal with things in their lives. This provided a foundation for a long sitcom series which would be reinforced by great writing.

The humorous quote was from Jerry while he and George were waiting in the public laundry room:

You can't over dry....The same reason you can't over wet. See once something is wet, it's wet. Same thing with death. Like once you die, you're dead, right? Let's say you drop dead and I shoot you. You're not going to die again, because you're already dead. You can't over die. You can't over dry.

If Real Life Could Only Be Like Seinfeld

Iraq?

Seinfeld reruns provide a nice break from reality these days. In the news, it looks likely that the US will go it along against Iraq. Seems like most would prefer the US to only go in if the UN Security Council passes another resolution. The chances of that resolution doesn't look good. So Bush will have to make the unpopular decision to go in alone.

North Korea?

Many Democrats are complaining about too much focus on Iraq and not enough on North Korea which may already have some nuclear bombs and are aggresively going forward on their nuclear program. Seems like the Bush administration may want to keep quiet on North Korea while they take care of Iraq. Then they can turn attention to North Korea. If military action is necessary in Iraq based on the principles of preventive action, it seems more necessary in North Korea. The peaceful agreements that were put in place in the 90's supposedly failed badly. It didn't stop North Korea from pursuing their nuclear program or in selling weapons.

So it looks like action in Iraq for the next month, then attention to North Korea. Probably, the US will push North Korea diplomatically through other countries in that region and through the UN. If no progress is made within a few months, I don't see any alternative for the US other than force if Bush is serious about the principle of prevention. Such action will be much tougher than Iraq on both diplomatic and military fronts.

Historical Significance

If Bush is able to end the regimes of Iraq and North Korea in his term (without creating a disaster), he will likely go down in history as one of the greatest presidents, on a scale similar to Lincoln. In the short term, many will consider him a tyrant. But it should be remembered that many considered Lincoln a tyrant during his days.

Many worry about the precedent this will set if the US acts alone to change regimes. It will make future countries more likely do the same (in ways we won't like). It will add to the US appearance of arrogance in the world, making it harder in our fight against terrorism. Many argue that this will make the future world more dangerous.

What Kind of Leader Could Have Stopped Hitler Early?

It's interesting to ponder the situation in Europe in the 1930's. Although there are many differences between 1930's Germany and today's Iraq, there are a few similarities. Many say Hitler could have been stopped if the European leaders put their foot down early, such as when Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland with armed forces. However, would Hitler have just given up? What kind of action would have been necessary by a French or British leader in the early or mid 1930's to have prevented the European World War II? Would it have just taken tougher diplomatic actions? Perhaps that would have made it more difficult for Hitler, but would it have stopped Hitler? In my opinion, a French or British leader would have had to go into Germany forcefully no later than 1936 to end Hitler's regime. Even though Germany wasn't nearly as strong as it was in 1939, that still would have been extremely difficult. Many neighbors such as Italy would have been vehemently against it. It would have made the British or the French look like war mongers. Hitler would have made it look like he and Germany were the victims of naked aggression.

Again, there are many differences between 1930's Germany and today's Iraq. Iraq has been contained for the last 12 years. The UN has at least put inspectors back into Iraq which has had limited success. But how threatening did Germany look in 1935? How would a change of regime in 1935 Germany affected situations in Asia? How dangerous are the regimes like those in Iraq and North Korea? Can they just be contained? Can't the US deal with these problems in a less arrogant and peaceful way? How did September 11 change the idea of containment?

It's the nature of weak leaders to always find reasons why not to act. However, it's also the nature of tyrants to always find reasons to act. For better or for worse, history is being made this year... Now I have to go back and watch some more Seinfeld reruns.....

posted by Ken on 12:59 PM permalink and comments  

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