Category Archives: Poetry

Poetry, Security

Credit card thief applauded by Ohio courtroom

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Is this an “only in Ohio” story? I think not. The lesson here seems to be that if you can recite versus from the bible, you get favorable treatment in America even if you were caught trying to use stolen credit cards:

When Eric Hine appeared in court this morning, his attorney described him as a church-goer, hoping the judge would set a low bond.

Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge John Burlew was skeptical and asked Hine to recite the 23rd Psalm.

He did: all six verses. Some in the courtroom applauded.

Did the judge read along to verify or did he also have the 23rd Psalm memorized? It’s not exactly the least well known passage:

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

I hear it might even stop a police officer from arresting a suspect. Wonder what the judge would have done if the alleged criminal was a devout Muslim. Or what about just a voracious reader of philosophy? Recite Descartes? Camus?

Poetry, Security

When We Two Parted

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Yet another look at confidentiality and trust by George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824)

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever the years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder, thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sunk, chill on my brow–
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame;
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o’er me–
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well..
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met–
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.

Cleverly worded thoughts about the controls and countermeasures of his relationships.

Poetry, Sailing

The Set of the Sails

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by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 – 1919)

One ship drives east, and another west
With the self-same winds that blow;
‘Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
That decides the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As they voyage along through life;
‘Tis the will of the soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

I won a recent regatta on the A-Cat. It was an odd feeling because I felt that I was just trying to improve upon my previous mistakes, a typical theme for me in competition against others. It was also odd because the other sailors are so amazing I feel really lucky to get to sail against them and hardly expected to come out ahead.

Over time I have found that I become less interested in finding ways to beat others at a game and instead focus on verifying positive changes relative to my own last performance. Not sure if that makes sense without more context, but it seems to me there are those who want to win at any cost in a most relativistic sense (the win/lose mindset), and then there are those who strive to become a better sailor through generous cooperation of others on the course (in front or behind).

One day in Long Beach after a long day of racing I remember arriving at the beach with a big smile I couldn’t shake. I said to Jay Glaser, who happened to be standing nearby me after we landed our boats, “I made so many mistakes today and learned so much, it was great!” He laughed. Then he and Pease told me about a famously successful sailor in Europe who created a detailed log of every mistake made on the water in order to ensure constant improvement. Too much trouble to be fun, I would guess, but it did emphasize a philosophy about quiet and patient success I found heartening. I have little desire to go back to crewing on big boats where raunchy conversation ofter turns into rah-rah “there is no second place — you either win or lose” shouting matches. And so after five races, where I made numerous mistakes but still somehow managed to finish second in every race, I ended as the overall winner by a fair margin.

Here I am on the final leg of the last race, pleased to be in second, again…

07springopen_acat

Notable mistakes made:

  1. did not adjust mental record of marks after big windspeed change — was having so much fun going super fast down-wind i over-sailed lay-line by miles. the angles were exciting until i realized i had to sail upwind to leeward mark
  2. tried to show-off by blasting through a fleet of 505s going down-wind. a (smarter) a-cat and two 505s with kites to windward really does cut-off the juice
  3. started a tacking duel but forgot to clear the lines. reverse-rotated mast is really slow, and ugly
  4. impatient at the start line, i wasted a beautifully clear lane and was over-early by seconds
  5. pinched instead of powered-up in light air with lumpy seas. power first, then pinch, or maybe just power if it’s too lumpy
  6. put two drink bottles in the same diamond wire and left the tension off for light air. don’t know where the top one went but i was really looking forward to the blueberry flavor. hopefully someone finds it and enjoys it.

Notable successes:

  1. since i was over-early, i had a laugh, hurried myself to an immediate restart and sailed on to finish second
  2. kept the foot loose and paid attention to markings to avoid overtrimming
  3. giant organic apple pie slice with whipped cream for breakfast. Mmmm, Pergolesi!
  4. slept on hardwood floor. i don’t know why, but i always sail better after sleeping on a hard surface
  5. avoided kelp monsters. i think this might just be luck, but maybe past kelp experiences helped
  6. tried some risky but calculated moves that paid-off amazingly well. lost all the tacks in a duel but still kept my wits and ended up closer to the line
  7. relaxed and recovered from bone-head mistakes by just trying to enjoy myself
Energy, Poetry, Security

EU may tax US goods for carbon-carelessness

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Interesting to read that the EU has started to describe products from the US as cheap and dangerous due to the lack of environmental concern in American leadership. The global impact of the US pollution is something that deserves attention, but will higher tariffs or even an outright ban on American goods drive the changes necessary?

…products imported from the US being taxed to compensate for resulting differences in production costs. Thus EU firms would be protected against unfair, carbon-careless competition from outside.

This seems connected with another report that the EU is successfully alerting consumers to the risks of harmful products:

The European Commission has released figures showing a rapid rise in the number of dangerous goods withdrawn from sale across the European Union.

The increase is seen in Brussels as proof that an EU-wide alert system is working better to protect consumers.

[…]

Ms Heemskerk said that the high proportion of Chinese goods among those withdrawn said more about the volume of imports from China, than Chinese safety standards.

A European Commission source also said that China was co-operating with the EU by revoking export licences for some hazardous goods.

Will the US co-operate with the EU by revoking export licenses for carbon-careless goods? Or is the demand sufficient that the prices will just have to be increased in order to compel the European’s to seek more sensible alternatives.

Henry David Thoreau once wrote:

Live in each season
as it passes;
breathe the air,
drink the drink
taste the fruit,
and resign yourself
to the influences
of each.

Little did he realize how much risk would be introduced to those simple concepts by unscrupulous folks trying to make more money at the cost of everyone else. The influences are therefore not so much the air, drink and fruit, but the chemical treatment plant, the industrial rancher, the land developer….