Category Archives: Life

Life

Toys

Leave a comment

A couple of comments on toys…

My wife’s dad has a nice woodworking shop, which he uses to make great bowls and boxes.  He let me play with the lathe a little bit.  I thought tops would be a relatively easy thing to make so I took a stab.  I had a basic idea in mind when I started, but as I turned the wood, something else developed.  The one on the left was my first attempt.  It was sort of what I had in mind as a more traditional top, but then I put different grooves and such as I went along.  I wasn’t really thinking well, though, and separated it from the lathe before sanding it.  It turns out it is a lot easier to sand something like this if you keep it on the lathe and let it spin as you sand it.  Same with finishing.  My father-in-law had a finish that you apply as the lathe is spinning.  It heats up a wax that is part of the finish that makes the finish deeper and more even.  With those things in mind, I made the second top, which is somewhat simpler in overall design, except for the depression at the top.  It is also wider, with more mass distributed further from the top axis, which I think is why it likely spins a lot longer than the first one.

I made these for my daughter, who I think is a little bit too young to really care.  Her cousin, though, who is 3 and a half, really enjoyed watching them, even if she couldn’t get them to spin.  It makes me want to get a lathe.  It seems there are lots of cool things you can do with just that one tool.
At left are are a couple of finger puppets I got from my godmother when I was a kid.  I don’t remember playing with them, but I remember them being around when I was older.  Some of them, especially the alligator, are a little worse for wear, but overall they’ve held up very well, considering they are maybe 35 years old or so and have not been treated in the most kind manner (after all, I was a kid!).  I just find them great.  The expressions are awesome (a buck-tooth lion?!?) and while the coloring is simple — all solid for each one — the shapes are very nicely designed.

I don’t know much about these.  All they say on the bottom are “Made in Japan,” something you don’t see on toys very often any more.  I don’t know if Japan used to be a bit like China is now, the maker of all things like this.  I’m really curious to know more about them.  Were they part of some bigger set?  Were they some sort of promotional item?  Anyone know?

They just seem so great in their simplicity, the kind of thing that we just don’t see much of any more.  Sure, they are plastic, but they don’t make any noises, they don’t take any batteries (my daughter was trying to squeeze them, either trying to get them to squirt like her bath toys or make noises like some of her stuff animals).  I just really like what they represent to me of a somewhat simpler time when toys left something to the imagination.  I hope that my daughter enjoys them when she is a little bit older (those are her feet in the background, next to my wife’s).

Life, Movies and TV, Science

Final thoughts on the finale of Battlestar Galactica

1 Comment

Warning!  You might not want to read this if you haven’t seen the final episode of Battlestar Galactica, as this post might contain spoilers!

It has been a while now since Battlestar Galactica concluded, but it has taken me that long to get a chance to write what I thought about the show and the ending.

When the show premiered, I wasn’t initially interested.  I remembered watching the original when I was a kid, but it seemed, in retrospect, a bit hokie and I wasn’t sure I was all that interested in a revival.  My wife, Lisa, though, got into it and eventually got me to watch too.  And I’m glad I did.

I really enjoyed the show.  I’m not much a fan of science fiction, mostly because it never feels all that true to science.  Being in science, I always have a hard time suspending my disbelief with sci/fi; it is much easier for me to do so with fantasy.  However, the one genre of sci/fi I really like is cyberpunk, the near-future, post-apocalyptic vision of a dystopian future.  And Battlestar Galactica (BG) had that feel to me.  The sci/fi wasn’t the focus, but was rather the vehicle for the story.  It was the politics that drew me in, that and the characters.  Their interactions.  That was why I tuned in every week.

So, what about the finale?  I certainly enjoyed the first half.  The big space battle between the BG itself and the Cylon colony was extremely well done and entertaining.  And, upon reflecting on it, I didn’t mind the second half, the way they ended the story.  There were two aspects, though, that did get to me.

There was a strong message that technology was the source of a lot of the problems of both the humans and cylons, and by extension, us as well.  I can understand how people blame technology for the problems around us.  While I don’t think those problems are unique to our modern, technological era, I think that technology may exacerbate some of those problems, making issues like deforestation that much more pressing as we are able to clear out so many more trees at a time with modern tools.  However, there are also so many benefits (improved health, the chance for everyone to do what they want with their life as opposed to being a serf on a farm, the marvelous leaps and bounds we’ve made in understanding the universe around us) that I just can’t accept technology as a pure evil.  And that was one of the messages I got from the finale.  The way for the humans and cylons to continue their existence was to abandon their science and technology and start fresh.

The second was that religion was the answer.  Religion is what guided these characters to the new Earth, saved them in the end via Starbuck’s miraculous understanding of what the song was supposed to mean, and has been what has guided two of the main characters from the beginning, through angels.  That religion played such a strong role at the end, and was entirely positive, just struck me wrong.  In my opinion, religion has been responsible for just as much wrong in our world as has science and technology.  Maybe even more so, as the people who have committed those wrongs in the name of their religion did so with the moral certainty that can only be gained via blind faith.

Even so, I did enjoy how the characters ended up. I liked how their personal stories ended.  And it was a way to end the show such that there was no possibility of a sequel or a continuation (though, for all we know, there is another ship of humans adrift in the depths of space).  I just didn’t like how the universe of the show ended, with such a blatant moral message: science is the source of our problems, religion is the answer.  I think that is a disservice to the audience, a simplistic assertion that I personally believe is wrong.

Basque, Life

Inherited History

Leave a comment

On the way back home from Idaho, Lisa and I began listening to the audio version of Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father.  We aren’t done yet, so I’ll wait until giving my thoughts of his story, but there was one thing that jumped out at me.

Obama’s father was from Kenya.  So, while he is African-American, his ancestors didn’t experience slavery.  Even so, it is very evident from his story that Obama has inherited that history, the history of the majority of African-Americans, shaped by the fact of slavery and the ramifications of that history on their lives today.

In Obama’s case, this is a direct result of his skin color. And, at first glance, it might seem he is somewhat unique in this regard.  But, thinking about it more, it seems to me that this happens to everyone who is born to immigrants.  It is the difference between cultural history and what might be called familiar history, or the history associated with one’s ancestors.  In Obama’s case, he inherited the cultural history of African-Americans, not the familiar history of his Kenyan father.

I’m the son of a Basque immigrant, but the history I know, that I identify with, is most certainly that of the United States.  I really know relatively little about the history of the Basque people or of Spain and France.  However, it is precisely because of this that I’ve taken such an interest in the Basque people and their history.  And, I think, this happens to many children of immigrants.  It is why there are people who call themselves Basque-Americans, Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans, Italian-Americans, or what have you.  I think it is because they lose the history of their parents or grandparents by the simple fact that they were born and raised in a different country.  They inherit the history of the culture in which they grow up, not that of their immigrant ancestors.  And it is the desire to connect with that history, to connect with their ancestors in some way, that lead people such as myself to call ourselves Basque-American.

I’ve often been asked why I consider myself as something other than just “American”.  Why do I add “Basque” in front?  And, beyond vaguaries about it being the culture of my dad and my grandpa, I never had a really good answer.  I think that this is the answer.  It is to connect to their history, to their experience, to not be completely disconnected from the cultural reality in which they grew up.  It is to honor their culture, but it is more than that.  I call myself Basque-American because the history that shaped some of my ancestors was not the American experience, it was something else, and I want to better know what that was so as to better understand who they are and who I am.

Life

The Symbolism of Barack Obama

5 Comments

Where I grew up in rural Idaho, there were no black people.  Not to say it was a completely homogenous community, as there were hispanics, Japanese, whites, and sub-cultures such as the Basques, but there were no African-Americans.  All I knew about black people, I learned from the television, where, in the typical TV show, black actors played gangsters, thugs, criminals and other negative roles.  Outside of fiction, black people were not visible in the high offices of the land and, even in real life, if they were on TV, it was usually in a context of violence of some sort.  So, my perception of black people was more than a bit skewed.

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America means that my daughter will grow up in a very different world with a very different view.  She will see that the highest office in the land is occupied by a black man and she will see that, regardless of the color of our skin, we can all achieve what we set out to achieve if we work hard enough.  She will see a world in which blacks can achieve every bit as much as whites, and that will give her a perspective of black people that I didn’t have growing up.

As a result, I think that President Obama will go a long way to improving race relations in our country.

None of these reasons played into my decision to vote for Obama.  I described in my previous post why I voted for him.  And I’m sure that some people voted for him for exactly these reasons.  But, I also think this is an important consequence of his election, and I am hopeful for the future of our country.

Life

Why I voted for Barack Obama

1 Comment

I voted for Barack Obama because I think that I am better off if the nation as a whole is better off.  My life will be better if my neighbor has access to education, has adequate health care, and has the opportunity to follow their dreams.  If all of our lives are improved, my life will be improved, and my daughter’s future will be brighter. I think that a “me first” attitude, that looks out only for my own immediate self interests at the expense of those around me, leads to a society that is overall worse off.  By focusing on “us” instead of “me”, our country will be a place where people can aspire to be their best, will have the hope and desire to better themselves, and will make society better, safer, and more secure for me and all Americans.

This isn’t to say that I think people should be given a free ride, should be given handouts without effort.  I think people should try to improve their lot in life, they should take responsibility for their situation.  However, I also recognize that, whether due to bad judgement or just plain misfortune, not all people succeed and that some, even with the best of intentions, will fail.  Also, some just never get the opportunity, due to life circumstances, to go to school, to get the education they need to get a better job.  And, I think, that if we help those people better themselves, society as a whole will be better for it.

I also think that Obama is an intellectually curious man, a man who thinks about things, dwells on them, looks at multiple sides before forming an opinion.  He is a man to whom the world is not black and white, but is various shades of grey.  I think he is a man that will look at the available evidence before acting, he will not rely upon his intuition, which so often leads us astray.  He is a man who will surround himself with knowledgable people, people who know more than he does about the important topics of the day.  He will listen to those people and make informed decisions after weighing the available evidence.

I don’t expect that Obama will succeed at all that he has promised — just as all politicians promise more than they can deliver in an effort to get elected, so did he.  But, I think he will point us in the right direction, in terms of energy security, basic research, improving infrastructure, protecting civil liberties, and providing a nominal amount of health care to the majority of Americans, to name a few.  These are issues that are important to me personally, but also that I think are vital for the health of our nation.  If we neglect these issues, our country will lose its position as an important world player.  I think Obama will correct course and help us regain our standing in the world and earn back the respect of the rest of the world.

Finally, I am impressed that Obama is a self-made man.  He worked for everything he has, he has earned it by his own effort.  It wasn’t given to him because of who his family was.  He didn’t get any special favors.  He did it all on his own.  He is the embodiment of the American dream, a dream where the son of a foreigner, raised by a single mother, can become President of the United States.  I think that this is something to be admired.

For these reasons, I voted for Barack Obama.