Eno • Hyde - 'DBF'

Brian Eno and Karl Hyde, almost recent. 

I'm speechless, I have no comment really.  But I read about this today, and checked up with the 'Tube, and I can't get it out of my head, you know, in a good way. 

Chasin' The Trane - ジャズスタンダード曲テーマ

The strangest things are up on the YouTube now.  Like this, the easy listening version of "Chasing the 'Trane." 

The version of this that I really love is not up on the 'Tube.  "John Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard" on ABC Impulse records features a version of about eleven minutes duration on side two. 

It's nuts.  There are some other good versions on YouTube.  Check them out!  This little clip is the Lawrence Welk version, it's almost disorienting. 

Cool Vehicle Alert: The Train Market

The "Train Market" is a regular thing behind the Seacon Square mall on Sri Nakarindara ("see-nakareen") Road in Bangkok.  It's all the way cool.

It has many good food options and a large area of stalls featuring the usual t-shirts, hats, clothes in general, phone covers, etc.  Then there's a considerable area devoted to indoor shops selling antiques of various ages and countries.  Lots of old radios and TV's, some jukeboxes, telephones, European and American household items like vases, lamps and mugs.  One shop had big racks of ORIGINAL concert t-shirts from bands going back to the early Seventies, faded but solid and very nostalgic.

And then there were the vehicles!  At the top is a very nice Nova custom (1970?).  That's a Sixties Honda Hawk next, probably a 175 cc.  The entire layout is identical to the Hawks and Super Hawks that made it to America.  How about that motorized bicycle?  Isn't that something?  The yellow pick-up truck was very nice.  It must have an air suspension hidden somewhere, I doubt if it would roll at that altitude, it's sitting right square on the deck.

We had burgers (beef, a rarity) at a place called "Halal Food."  The burgers, and the fries, and even the onion rings, were excellent.

A little on the hot side, but we're all used to that.  It didn't rain, although it threatened.  A wonderful outing.

A German Energy Miracle

I recommend that you first read the below post, "Furor Teutonicus." 

FANTASY ALERT:  What follows is an exercise in “what if?” 

At a future meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the German Ambassador is allowed to address the delegates on an urgent matter of first impression. 

He greets the assembly politely, if not warmly, and begins his speech . . .

(clears throat)  We do not wish to alarm anyone, but it has become necessary to inform the entire family of nations of certain developments in Germany’s energy capabilities.

German science has become justifiably famous for its efforts in the area of so-called alternative energy research.  You will be happy, perhaps, to learn that these efforts have borne fruit beyond anyone’s wildest imaginings.  In short, the world’s energy problems have been lavishly solved.  There will soon be in place, assuming all of your gracious cooperation, a worldwide system of totally clean energy generation that will economically achieve an output of power that will be far greater than anything that has been achieved with fossil fuels, and including in that superannuated total any and all of the small contributions of now obsolete forms of alternate energy sources such as nuclear, solar, wind and the rest. 

This was accomplished by a consortium of the German Government, the German scientific and academic communities, and various German business entities.  The results will, or course, remain proprietary, and will be administered by the newly created German Energy Authority.  All cooperating countries will now have at their fingertips a far greater output of available energy then they now possess, delivered at a cost substantially lower than they are now experiencing.  Yes, much more for rather less. 

The new power regime includes power generation, storage, and distribution.  It is intended to completely replace the use of fossil and nuclear fuels, on a schedule to be announced. 

The immediate impact of this simply cannot be overstated.  Not only the problem of energy, but also, for example, the problem of clear, potable water, will instantly be solved.  Many potential effects remain speculative, but it is likely that many of the currently perceived obstacles to the peace and prosperity of mankind will be rapidly moved into the “solved” column. 

The German Energy Authority (the “GEA”), will retain to itself the duty to administer this program of world salvation.  It will do so with an enlightened view to the common good, in consultation with the cooperating countries.  To be clear, the GEA will provide and maintain the physical plant of this enterprise, and the GEA will serve as the vendor of the resulting energy output.  Specifics will be provided later, but I can assure you that the prices will represent a considerable savings for all client states. 

(after a brief pause) It should also be noted that the GEA, and the German government, will be retaining for themselves the full magnitude of these new developments.  In other words, the GEA and the German government will have available to themselves alone an output of energy that will be, and will remain, exponentially greater than that available to any of the client states. 

(clears throat) And, incidentally, and again, without wishing to alarm anyone, I am authorized to inform you that the fullest expression of this revolutionary energy source has already been weaponized by the GEA.  In fact, three generations of heretofore unknown weapons have been developed, tested, and put into production.  These include several new transportation technologies.  The novel forms of transport will be demonstrated during the program of installing the new facilities in client countries.  The weaponry will remain secret, unless demonstrations become necessary. 

I am not authorized to take questions at this time, and there is currently no mechanism for answering questions.  Please be patient, everything will be explained to you. 

It should be obvious to everyone that these developments will put an end to warfare as we know it.  It is suggested that all countries and non-governmental entities now engaged in hostilities should immediately formulate cease fires on an urgent basis.  We suggest, and we are confident, that the tremendous benefits that are about to flow to all parties, everywhere, will be a sufficient balm to sooth whatever disputes have existed. 

Groups fighting groups has also become obsolete, and would represent an unacceptable counterproductivity.  The fighting is over; there is no longer anything to fight about.

 

There will be enforcement.  Think of the metaphor of the carrot and the stick.  There has never been a greater carrot than the gift of peace, health and prosperity for all of your people.  Regarding the stick, well, we remain hopeful that no demonstrations will become necessary. 

(remembers to smile)  We trust that you will all join us in celebrating this wonderful new chapter in the history of humanity! 

Thank you for your attention. 

Something Borrowed

Please forgive me, anyone who cares, but I'm borrowing this from a very nice site called Lapham's Quarterly.  Some kind of English literary site.  They feature very entertaining snippets of one-hundred-plus year old antique commentaries, dating back to the Roman Empire actually, and beyond, probably. 

Here's one, written by a Frenchman in 1834:

Furor Teutonicus

Christianity—and this is its fairest merit—subdued to a certain extent the brutal warrior ardor of the Germans, but it could not entirely quench it; and when the cross, that restraining talisman, falls to pieces, then will break forth again the ferocity of the old combatants the frantic Berserker rage whereof Northern poets have said and sung so much. The talisman has become rotten, and the day will come when it will pitifully crumble to dust. The old stone gods will then arise from the forgotten ruins and wipe from their eyes the dust of centuries, and Thor with his giant hammer will arise again, and he will shatter the Gothic cathedrals…When you hear the trampling of feet and the clashing of arms, your neighbors’ children, you French, be on your guard, and see that you mingle not in the fray going on among us at home in Germany. It might fare ill with you. See that you take no hand in kindling the fire; see that you attempt not to extinguish it. You might easily burn your fingers in the flame. Smile not at my counsel, at the counsel of a dreamer, who warns you against Kantians, Fichteans, philosophers of nature. Smile not at the fantasy of one who foresees in the region of reality the same outburst of revolution that has taken place in the region of intellect. The thought precedes the deed as the lightning the thunder. German thunder is of true German character: it is not very nimble, but rumbles along somewhat slowly. But come it will, and when you hear a crashing such as never before has been heard in the world’s history, then know that at last the German thunderbolt has fallen. At this commotion the eagles will drop dead from the skies and the lions in the farthest wastes of Africa will bite their tails and creep into their royal lairs. There will be played in Germany a drama compared to which the French Revolution will seem but an innocent idyll.

End of ruthlessly exploited stolen material.

I read this piece last week, and it reminded me of something that I actually used to worry about.  As a younger man I had a list of things that I desperately hoped would not come to pass during my lifetime.  Things like, please, God, wait until I am gone before aliens land some kind of flying saucer on the White House lawn.  Like, please let no one invent a fool proof lie detector while I yet live, things like that.

On the list was, please don't let Germany make some kind of technological breakthrough of a magnitude that would tempt them to dictate terms to the world.  It is perhaps a strange thing for me to fear, because in real life I rather like the Germans, and I get along with them very well.  I can speak German, and that serves very well to put one in their good graces.  My own blood is twenty-five percent German.  So yes, I like them, and I prefer their company to most other Europeans, but honestly, can we really ever trust them to have abandoned all of their old predilections? I trust them well enough, but only so far evidently. 

I trust them a lot more than the writer of the above article.  

I'll be posting something tomorrow that addresses this fear. 

The Vietnamese L-Shaped Fighting Hole

You couldn’t call it a foxhole, not really, although it is the ultimate architectural triumph of the concept of the foxhole. 

The idea is defilade (rhymes with lemonade), put something in between yourself and enemy fire.  Defilade is “the protection of a position, vehicle or troops against enemy observation or gunfire.”  This could be a building, a vehicle, a wall, or the earth itself, into which you have carefully crafted a hole. 

Defilade comes from the French word defiler, “to protect from the enemy.”  It is related to the English word defile, “a steep sided, narrow gorge (originally one requiring troops to march single file).” 

One of the true things about warfare is that as the conflict drags on the participants seek and create more and more defilade.  Experience teaches them that it is necessary.  They want all of the protection that they can get from the now familiar threats. 

In the beginning of a war, foxholes are barely scratched into the surface of the ground.  Digging is very hard work, and it must often be performed after other strenuous work, like marching long distances.   Take the war between the Russians and the Germans, for example.  The Germans managed to keep it a war of maneuver for the first two years.  Much of that time, digging in was not a priority.  Every soldier carried an entrenching tool, those simple little (usually) folding shovels that all soldiers carry.  After those initial successes the Germans were thrown back on their heels.  For the remainder of the war they were constantly falling back from one defensive position to another hastily constructed position.  In photographs from this period it seems like every other trooper is carrying a full-sized, long-handled shovel.  The impressive firepower of the Russians made them dig deeper and deeper trenches and foxholes. 

More firepower equals deeper holes. 

The Vietnamese L-Shaped Fighting Hole

The greatest excavators of earth in the history of warfare were the Vietnamese in the final phase of their war to expel the colonial powers.  (This conflict was known in America as “The Vietnam War.”)  They achieved this superlative position owing to the superlative quantities of firepower that were applied to them by the Americans.  The vast numbers of artillery shells of all varieties and sizes, and the profligate application of gravity bombs of all weights and types, was of an order of magnitude that the world had never seen before. 

The entire fighting area was covered by mutually supporting artillery bases, and generally there were tactical aircraft, loaded for bear, already on station somewhere, orbiting an area and waiting for a fire- mission that could be only a few minutes away.  There were high-explosive bombs, napalm bombs, and white-phosphorous bombs (and shells), technologies that were perfected during World War II.  There were also new innovations, such as cluster bombs, where the casing falls away to deploy a large number of small explosive devices.  Not to mention the new “concussion bombs,” which were designed specifically to kill opponents who had dug themselves deep into the earth.  Concussion bombs descend on a small parachute, and on the way down they release a mist of kerosene.  The mist creates a dome in the air which is then ignited, causing a neat little dome shaped explosion above ground level.  This detonation uses up all of the air in the dome.  The concussion part comes when the surrounding air crashes back into the dome.  The opponents in underground bunkers may then be discovered in their tunnels, stone dead but otherwise undamaged, with trickles of blood drying around their ears. 

The Vietnamese responded to this firepower with their shovels.  Their masterpiece was the L-shaped fighting hole, sometimes called the “spider hole.”   These were one man fighting positions. 

These ultra-foxholes were up to eight feet deep.  At that depth, it’s important to cut climbing steps into the sides.  You’d need a shelf or two near the top for grenades and ammunition.  The “L” element was cut horizontally near the bottom.  The fury of the incoming firepower was so vast that even at the bottom of a narrow, eight-foot deep hole, the occupant could be killed by shrapnel coming straight down.  A sheltering area was cut into the side of the hole to avoid this. 

For me, this thing takes the cake.  The Vietnamese troops fighting in these positions were very difficult to eliminate, short of making it right up to the hole and dropping in grenades.  And of course there were always a bunch of them, mutually supporting, and multiple AK-47’s could control a wide area by fire.  If the attacking force stepped back to allow an artillery interval, the defenders went down into the shelter area.  The artillery stops, and the gunners are back at the tops of the holes. 

Of course, the mere existence of the holes doesn't mean too much in the scheme of things.  Much more important was the quality of the troops that maned them.  I would say that the Vietnamese troops that opposed the Americans in that war, both Viet Cong and NVA, were among the best dough boys ever to fire a weapon in defense of their country.  Bar none.   

You could say that the vast tunnel complexes like Cu Chi were more impressive, and you’d probably be right.  For elegance and utility however, for shear design economy and military effectiveness, I’m giving the L-Shaped Fighting Hole the nod as “Best Soldier Created Defilade in the History of Warfare.” 

The New Guys On The Mesopotamian Block

"Large swaths of North-Eastern Iraq taken over by ISIS."  Remember that news from a few week ago?

ISIS being the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria."  Or was.  These guys are very sophisticated in many ways, it's clear.  They do a good job with the social media and public relations in general.  But they missed the boat when they changed their name.  Repeatedly, I might add.

ISIS was a great name.  It sounds great, and the association with the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis didn't hurt.  These guys didn't feel that way.

First, they started to quibble about he entire historical validity of Syria.  They have a major hair across their collective asses about the Sykes-Picot map, created in 1916 by England and France.  That map created the countries of Iraq and Syria out of what was, up until World War I, the Ottoman entity called the Levant.  So the ISIS crowd changed their name to "The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," ISIL for short.

At that point somebody must have remembered that they'd forgotten to jettison the colonial entity of Iraq as well.  So they did.  The name was changed to "The Islamic State."

"The Islamic State" has a certain elegance to it, undoubtedly.  I still prefer ISIS though.  Charm still means something in Fred World.