Marc’s Musings

Just finishing watching Meet the Robinsons.

When the new family drives off in a 1970’s car. And my 8 year old son shouts, “HEY! That must’ve been in the 1900’s!!! They’re not wearing seatbelts!!!”

I grimace and smile. Em cracks up.

Then he says, “No really. That must’ve been back when you guys were growing up.” (As in way back in the 1900’s.)

I’m not making this up!

Listening to political pundits on NPR yesterday, I heard on say that Bill Clinton’s attacks on Obama are troublesome.

The reason they were troubling was that Bill is being a loose cannon. Despite saying Hillary will be the decider, he definitely has his own opinions. The pundit pointed out that this could lead to a vocally divided White House.

I don’t think I’ll be voting for Hillary. (But I’m not really pleased with the mess of the Republican “front runners” right now so who knows!) I honestly believe that it’s time we had a female president. But I think Bill is a real liability.

Can you imagine if Laura Bush were speaking out against the excesses of the current administration, like warrantless wire tapping? As refreshing as that might be, it would be incredibly confusing for the country.

I sure hope Bill quiets down and becomes an asset for his wife.

I bet you felt something different in the air today, didn’t you? A tingle, an electric aliveness that wasn’t there yesterday, right?

That’s because today is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. It wasn’t the first, Charlestonians claim to have done it earlier. But it was ours.

I think I’ll go dump a little tea down the garbage disposal in homage.

Came across this quote while reading a Wired article on Pong.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
–H. L. Mencken

It’s weird to think that Pong was created the year I was born!

I remember I was at this time in 2001.

Shocked.

Terrified.

And very aware that much of the world lives with this level of uncertainty.

I pray to God we won’t experience this again. But I also pray I won’t be smug in viewing world events.

I find the study of generations to be exceedingly interesting. Wikipedia has a great Strauss and Howe page.

Here’s a bit of it:

Generations last the length of time of one phase of life–the same length of time as a turning. Like turnings, generations also come in four different archetypes, defined in “The Fourth Turning” as Prophet, Nomad, Hero and Artist.

• Prophets are values-driven, moralistic, focused on self, and willing to fight to the death for what they believe in. They grow up as the increasingly indulged children of a High, come of age as the young crusaders of an Awakening, enter midlife as moralistic leaders during an Unravelling and are the wise, elder leaders of the next Crisis. The Boomers are an example of a Prophet generation.

• Nomads are ratty, tough, unwanted, diverse, adventurous, and cynical about institutions. They grow up as the underprotected children of an Awakening, come of age as the alienated young adults of an Unravelling, become the pragmatic, midlife leaders of a Crisis and age into tough, post-crisis elders during a High. Generation X and the Lost Generation are examples of Nomad generations.
• Heroes are conventional, powerful, and institutionally driven, with a profound trust in authority. They grow up as the increasingly protected children of an Unraveling, come of age as the Heroic, team-working youth of a Crisis, become energetic and hubristic mid-lifers during a High and become the powerful elders who are attacked in the next Awakening. The G.I. Generation that fought World War II is an example of a Hero generation. Millennials are expected to emerge as the next generation of this example if all goes well.
• Artists are subtle, indecisive, emotional and compromising, often having to deal with feelings of repression and inner conflict. They grow up as the over-protected children of a Crisis, come of age as the sensitive young adults of a High, rebel as indecisive midlife leaders during an Awakening, and become the empathic elders of an Unravelling. The Silent Generation is an example of an Artist generation.

The Wikipedia page has lots of links to more information on the writings of Strauss and Howe.

I should be used to surveys like the generations one by the Scripps Howard News Service. Once again Gen Xers are being told we’re selfish and lazy. Pretty ironic.

In books like 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? and The Fourth Turning, Neil Howe and William Strauss foretold this would happen. Fortunately, it happened to generations like those that produced heroes the likes of George Washington. Ours is a scrappy, no-nonsense, get-it-done generation that chooses to value life over work. I like those values.

Here’s an interesting comment from the Scripps article:

“The other generations went through sacrifices. The boomers went through the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement,” said Hodge. “But a lot of people see Generation X as semi-spoiled. They’ve had everything handed to them. So they are experiencing this kind of push back.”

What amazes me is that, in addition to being a generation of latch key kids and relative material affluence, we are also having incredibly awful things “handed to” us.

Boomers had free sex. Xers have Aids.
Boomers had drugs. Xers have opiate addictions.
Boomers had great belief in government and entitlement programs. Xers are handed the incredibly crushing debt.

Ok. I’ve vented. I’m talking generalities, broad generational cohorts, not individual people. But I am amazed that I’m still amazed that Xers contributions to technology, social justice, and society still aren’t being realized.

But I’m glad we’re in the company of other slackers like John Adams, Thomas Paine, and Patrick Henry!

[Update 3/5: Over the weekend, I found myself wondering if this post sounds "semi-spoiled." Does this qualify as a Catch-22?]

It bothers me to post about the upcoming hoaxumentary about the Jesus Tomb. I don’t like to give these things more PR. But I know things showing on TV can seem convincing.

The idea is that a couple of bone containers (ossuaries) were found, on with “Jesus son of Joseph,” another with “Mariemne.” So non-scholars are saying it has to be Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdelene.

Jesus/Joshua/Yeshua and Mariemne/Mary/Miriam were common names in Second Temple Judaism (our 1st century). Why wouldn’t they be? Joshua and Miriam were two of Moses’ top confidants and advisors. Naming a kid “Moshe” would seem a bit presumptuous, but Joshua or Mary had less of a stigma. Joseph, the one who’d been second in command in Egypt, was popular too.

So even if these names were on a tomb, it’s a far cry from being “proof” that they’re linked to Jesus of Nazareth. This claim is like someone 2000 years in the future seeing a couple of tombs with the names “George” and “Barbara” and automatically, uncritically, claiming this was the burial site of the Bush family.

I read a great article on the on the whole thing here.

It quotes Bar-Ilan University Prof. Amos Kloner, the Jerusalem District archeologist who officially oversaw the work at the tomb-cave in 1980 and has published detailed findings on its contents as saying:

“It makes a great story for a TV film,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “But it’s impossible. It’s nonsense.”

[Update 3/1: The articles and editorials continue to condemn this:

These film-makers are peddling twaddle about Jesus

Secular Scholars Back Christian 'Jesus Tomb' Arguments]

I love this podcast about the Byzantine Empire. Lars Brownworth, a teacher and former colleague at The Stony Brook School on Long Island, is incredibly engaging in his teaching.

Now with 100,000 listeners around the world, NPR/WBUR’s Here & Now interviewed Lars and you can here it here.

Lar’s podcast is here: 12 Byzantine Emperors.

Some wisdom from that came with my dose of caffeine today:

The Way I See It #182
“In my career I’ve found that ‘thinking outside the box’ works better if I know what’s ‘inside the box.’ In music (as in life) we need to understand our pertinent history…and moving on is so much easier once we know where we’ve been.”
– Dave Grusin, Award-winning composer and jazz musician.