Jerry Seinfeld's blog?

As I was watching a Seinfeld rerun the other day, I thought whether someone like the real Jerry Seinfeld would have a blog. Seems like it could be a good forum for bigtime comedians who want to do comedy incognito. Once some comedian becomes rich and famous, there will always be a lot of expectations when that comedian performs. On one hand there would be a lot pressure to meet expectations. On the other hand, you are treated like a king. People love you no matter how you perform.

If you don't have to worry about money, having a comedy blog could perhaps be interesting for someone like Seinfeld. And by keeping your real identity secret, there's no pressure. You just do what you love: create comedy. A blog definitely doesn't have the personal and live connection of stand-up comedy. But there are still a lot of feedback mechanisms like comment tools that allow authors to make some connection with the online audience. So keep a lookout for that blog by a seemingly noname with really good observational humor that has an amazing way of going full circle.

Whatever happened to the Anthrax Investigation?

Seems like the perpetrator of those anthrax attacks over two years ago may never be found. Every now and then over the last year there have been a few reports of the investigation. Sure seems like there has not been much progress.

Luckily, there haven't been any new attacks. Seems like the perpetrator(s) have either given up or went into permanent hiding. Based on what I heard about the investigation, the anthrax spores came from US labs based on DNA analysis. Seems like some scientist would be the most likely perpetrator. The question is: what would be his or her motiviation for such an attack.

One clue regarding the motivation is when these attacks occurred. It was a month or so after 9/11. Why would someone conduct an anthrax attack then? Someone who's really possessed with hate would probably keep attacking like what Ted Kaczynski did. Makes me wonder if there wasn't some other motivation. Perhaps he's a lone war hawk scientist who wanted to show the US the threat of anthrax and perhaps to help build a case for going into Iraq. I remember when Colin Powell described how much damage a small sample of anthrax did in the US when he was debating the Iraqi resolutions at the UN. One of the most deadly anthrax letters was sent to the House democratic leader. It demonstrated the danger of anthrax (a WMD that Iraq was known to possess.) I doubt there was any conspiracy, but I can see the possibility of a lone madman with an extreme neoconservative agenda.

"If we don't make a mistake, what a paradise we could make of this world"

The heading was a quote from President Truman in the movie "Truman". I just finished watching this 1999 movie on DVD staring Gary Sinise. It was a great movie. His involvement with the A-bomb was most interesting. He wasn't informed of the Manhattan project until he became President. He soon had to decide what to do with it.

Many today consider the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be an atrocity. But at the time, such atrocities didn't seem so extreme. Fire bombing campaigns of Tokyo and Dresden had killed tens of thousands of civilians. Truman's advisors had estimated the atomic bombing would kill a similar number. Everyone back then seemed totally committed to a complete and unconditional surrender by the Japanese. It was anticipated that the Japanese were willing to fight long and hard. So the alternative to the A-bomb also meant death for tens of thousands of Japanese and Americans. So from that perspective, I think Truman made the decision to drop the A-bombs. At that time, I don't think he fully understood the long term ramifications.

Later during the Korean war, Truman faced another hard question: should he follow MacArthur's advice and turn the war into a total war using A-bombs against China if needed. MacArthur seemed to be heading that way whether Truman approved or not. Truman did not want world war III and made the very tough decision to relieve MacArthur. It was a decision that was very unpopluar in the congress and in the country, but it likely prevented a world war and more dropping of nuclear bombs. Interesting that North Korea is still a threat, and now they have nuclear bombs themselves (or are very close). So some may think MacArthur's advice would have been the best long term decision. But after World War II, presidents have realized that a total war is no longer a viable solution. A mistake that leads us to a total war is a mistake with unimaginable costs. This brings me back to Truman's quote "If we don't make a mistake, what a paradise we could make of this world."

Got Carried Away

I always enjoyed historical biographies. The movie Truman was just one of many that I've seen. A few weeks ago, I watched the documentary "Abraham and Mary Lincoln" on PBS. Well this weekend, I visited Half Price Books. As I was looking around, I found these Reader's Digest series of great biographies. Five books cover 21 world and American historical figures. At first I was trying to decide which one of the 5 books I should buy. But finally, I just decided to buy all five. Pretty big spender you say? Well, luckily, these books were all in the one dollar area. So I got all 5 books (about 3000 pages in all) for only $5.41 (after tax), and thereby, maintained the honor of this website.

Beware of the Decade-Old Pants

As you may suspect, I'm a believer of getting my money's worth of all things including clothes. Well that can be dangerous. I had these slacks that I've been wearing for about 10 years. The pants have held up well. The only problem had been the pockets which were getting some holes. I had to start putting my keys in the right pocket since the left pocket was developing a sizable hole. But besides that, the external look of the pants was fine. However, recently, I began to have a little problem with the zipper. I didn't think much about it until last Thursday while at the restroom at work. All of a sudden the barn door wouldn't close. The zipper had gone bad. Luckily, I could arrange the pants so nothing would show as long as I was careful. Also luckily, I didn't have a presentation to give. I made it home without an incident. So it looks like I will now retire those slacks. It was ten years of solid performance. Sadly, often the end comes quickly and is rarely honorable: maybe a little like MacArthur's retirement...

One last interesting note: The guy that played MacArthur in "Truman" was the same guy who played Kruger in Seinfeld (George's boss for awhile). The actor's name is Daniel von Bargen. More info can be found at imdb.com.

posted by Ken on 3:46 PM permalink and comments  

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