Selil Blog

If you were a general sitting in the Pentagon it is doubtful you would be concerned about refugees from the largest economic destabilization in recent history, the substantial number of people who are homeless from a foreclosure “market”, and the budding tent cities outside of metropolitan areas. Even if this is happening in the United States. Recent reports in the media sensationalistic at least have illuminated the growing refugee crisis as joblessness and homelessness (scratch that) as people without jobs or homes continue to expand as a population.

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So, I’m a reasonable individual. I make fair money, I live a great life, my family is healthy, and my community is filled with good people. I am a socially sophisticated, highly trained, wired, enabled, savvy, powerful, user of the world wide web and the Internet. In fact I can talk for days about the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web. Worse I helped build big chunks of it, and repair big chunks of it during my time at MCIWorldcom. So, it sucks when I run across somebody who looks down on me because I might have a clue about it. Worse it really sucks when I am trying a real world transaction that is so much cheaper and easier on the world wide web, and get treated like garbage in the real world for my efforts.

All because I want to take my family bicycling in another town.

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Selil.com and the contributors of Selil Blog have NO ASSOCIATION with the Media Bloggers Association (MBA).  Both Professor Liles have no ties nor desires to be represented by the MBA. As with others we represent ourselves and only ourselves. Selil.Com is primarily original content and represents academic freedom to discuss scholarship. Most content on this site is sole property of the contributor with limited license to Selil.com to publish, archive and in general use the material, this a wild generalization and should not be construed as a substantive change in the terms of use. Though not claiming creative commons license proper citation, linking, and reasonable use appears to be fine until we change our minds, as long as we think you are being reasonable, and until we change our mind again, if we want to, maybe. See terms of use for any other questions (subject to change on our whim). 

Watch enough bad science fiction and you can tell that science fiction as a genre has often used specific plot devices to grapple with current fears of the public. Even the Department of Homeland Security realizes the worth of looking to Sci-Fi for glimpse into the future. From the first inter-racial kiss on Star Trek in 1965 to the incredible issues of fascism and radicalization on the Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica science fiction as a genre grapples with the forgotten issues of society. Perhaps dramatic movies like those produced by Participant Productions allows for an outlet to identify issues. However, any motion picture is going to be more limited in audience then an hour long or half hour long show based in fantasy. There is a certain advancement and detachment from reality we accept in television that is never going to be accepted in a major motion picture. Have you ever watched South Park? [Read more →]

You heard it here first (that was sarcasm). The midwest floods will be :

1. Larger in scope and cost than Katrina. Silly phrases like the midwest Katrina will make no sense when the true scope is realized. Wait five years to see what this current situation costs.
2. The nature of the flooding will lengthen the time of the disaster allowing for spectacular images. This will allow for an anti-war effort you haven’t seen in quite awhile.
3. The river states are going to be hurting for national guard troops. Where are they at? Midwestern states have the highest mobilization rate. The iconic images of police officers pulling guns on residents will haunt Iowan law enforcement. 
4. FEMA hasn’t dropped it’s pants, but inter-agency squabbling is right around the corner when recovery starts.
5. Enough supply of corn has gone under that ethanol production will be in danger, and food prices will sky rocket. Nobody has even linked that to fuel prices yet.
6. During the Red River floods of 1993 North Dakota, South Dakota, and the other river states lost huge chunks of farmland, and the river receded, but the flood waters didn’t. Ground went fallow in the winter unplanted for years.
7. The electric, telephone, water supply, and other utility infrastructures are gone. That means huge cost to repair if it ever will be. Think New Orleans where it is still in disrepair.
8. Mortgage crisis, flood, watch the stock market bottom out next week or when the bill comes in. Parasitic drag on the economy.

These are my prognostications and I’m sticking to them. I think much like Katrina the reality of the impacts of the flood will not truly be known for a few years. Where the destruction in New Orleans was metropolitan in nature and centralized the midwest floods will be over a large (relatively) unpopulated area through the middle of America. The difference continues. The region that has been hit is the bread basket, the engine of food production, for the United States economy. Added to that the fact Indiana and Illinois already had cool wet springs with late plantings and the scope of the food/ethanol/export issues start to be illuminated.

The midwest largely ignored by the cosmopolitan coastal regions of the United States and relatively ignored by pundits as irrelevant the backbone of America will take some time to straighten out. The relief efforts are substantially better orchestrated than New Orleans. 

It seems that I have been tagged. In this game of tag, I am not quite sure of the rules, but I will do my best here.

The Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

There was a 5th rule to present an image of martial discord from whatever period or situation you’d like but I am basically a pacifist, my degree in history is in intellectual history and I cannot even think of any images of martial discord to share — you will have to live without this.

Rule 1: link to my tagger: Wizards of Oz who, by the way owes me a much more complete introduction and probably a drink.

Rule 2: I need to tell you 7 things about myself — these are probably supposed to be things you would not know just by reading my About Syd page.

1. I have been collecting Madame Alexander dolls since I was 7. I have a gorgeous collection and they are both valuable and can be found in antique stores now.

2. I also have a collection of hymnals from several denominations including Catholic, Lutheran, Mormon and Quaker. This started when I friend and I were playing and singing hymns from a Baptist hymnal she had. I noted that the songs were mostly the same as the hymns in the hymnals at the Methodist church. My collection stands as a testimony that we have more in common than we frequently admit.

3. I am a mom of twins (ok, I know you can read that in the About Syd page, but it is very cool). I am not one of those people who always wanted to have twins, but my boys are more fun than I could have ever imagined.

4. I was able to travel to Europe for 2 weeks after graduation as part of a school program and I turned 18 there.

5. My morning has not really started until I have had my first few sips of coffee. My morning is complete once I have buried the totally nonsense stories on Digg.

6. I do not do as much of it as I would like, but I love gardening. I never feel more alive and connected to all things that are than when I am digging in the dirt and minding the growing things. I am currently experimenting with hanging tomato plants that grow upside down.

7. My favorite president is Thomas Jefferson. I enjoy reading his writings and strolling through his restored gardens (Yes, I have been there). My second favorite president is John Quincy Adams. He showed his love of his country with a true life time of service beginning at the age of 11 and not ending until he died on the floor of the House of Representatives where he served after his term as President. And he continued to bring petitions for anti-slavery to the floor even after the Gag Rule was in effect because he believe that this was his duty to allow the people the ability to petition.

Now for the tagging. I feel a little bit awkward about this. I don’t actually know that many people — in real life or virtually. I read several blogs, but I have never posted (not my thing).

Blogs I like to read (but not actually tagged):
Zen Habits
This is a great blog offering lots of ways to simplify life and enjoy the moment.

The Happiness Project
This is another great blog that focuses on what makes us happy and unhappy and how this is a choice and we have to actually decide to do the things that will make us happy.

Jumping Monkeys
The is Megan Morrone from Screen Savers (remember Megan’s download of the day?). She is also a mom of twins and brings humor and technology to this life.

God’s Poltics
This is the blog for the Sojouners and the author of God’s Politics: How the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. An awesome book and a very interesting blog.

MOMocrats
This is a wonderful perspective on the current political drama unfolding. This is a group of bloggers and they do not always agree but they always bring something interesting to the discussion.

I will have to work on the tagging part. I really do not have people (bloggers or otherwise) to tag.

I have been tagged by the mighty morphing pundit the one and only zenpundit. Let loose the dogs of war and the mighty shall fall and here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

5. Present an image of martial discord from whatever period or situation you’d like.

Here are the facts:
1 - Of fact there is no fiction. I have ridden a motorcycle in excess of a 1000 miles on multiple occasions in less than 24 hours. For this endeavor of will and continence I have been given membership as a true iron butt.

2 - When I left law enforcement I put away all of my firearms, I packed them up, and until I took up archery for the second time had no ballistic type weapons. I wanted to protect my hearing. I’m loosing my hearing anyway and I find it quite ironic. Archery though is very quiet and contemplative. People want me to compete so I shoot poorly and they stop asking. That is my story and I’m sticking to it.

3 - I personally own/have almost every x86 chip generation in laptop form and three power pc generations of laptops. My favorite though is an 8086 luggable blue screen monstrosity from Radio Shack (by the way that is darn near 15 laptops). Totally nerd weird. Add to this that I collect old software programs and I’m absolutely sure some day I will either open a museum, or effect the course of national security by providing a critical piece of legacy software in a crunch. Oops that last one already happened.

4 - Between 1986 and 1999 I did not drink, and since 1999 I do not smoke. Though that may seem somewhat strange I still cuss like the Marines taught me too. I also now own a wine cellar that fluctuates between 20 and 100 bottles of wine. I only buy Mexican beer and only twice a year. I miss cigars.

5 - I have military fighting knives/bayonets from almost every major American war including the Spanish American War, World Wars 1 & 2, Korea, Vietnam, but more interesting is the fact I don’t own a k-bar from when I was in the Marines. I have no idea where I put them all though.

6 - I have what is likely 2000+ books in the library in my home. There is near 170 linear feet of shelving stacked two deep (in many places), and nearly half again that much in my office at work. I love books but I sin. I write in them. I write in the margins, highlight them. From Clausewitz to the Bible I put sticky notes and markings all over the place.

7 - Regret is for fools that cannot see the future. I will always be a fool because I regret leaving the Marines as a task undone. That singular task regardless of the broken body I left with, regardless of the pain and suffering that followed, in many has shaped my history and my future. The constant striving for new challenges in new jobs, the incessant travel, the high risk consulting gigs, and in many ways where I am today are symptoms of a long past regret near 22 years old.

Marc @ In Harmonium (because he owes me a drink)

John Robb @ Global Guerillas (will he come out and play?

Matt @ Mountain Runner (becauase he is a great guy)

Swedish Meatballs Confidential (because we miss them)

Fabius Maximus (because I want to)

Bill or Dave @ Small Wars Journal BLOG (Because they work so hard

Dr. Iraq @ Abu Muqawama (because we miss Andrew Exum and want to know more about the others)

The obvious grammatical effluvia of academic discourse wrapped in the absent specter of Pericles pen shows the dishonesty of the academician. There is only shame for the academic hiding behind bellicose diatribes in obfuscation of honest discourse. An attack on grammar is the last gasp held in an attempt to impoverish intellectual discourse while toiling in the dung heap of “ad hominem” sophistry. In a culture of his vanity and imperiled ideas the social order of the academician is challenged by those who he can only engage in fallacious name calling with because his homilies will not withstand the test of daylight and logic. The academician mistakenly imperils his science while in a stupor of ill-considered ideas he lashes out with the sword of injustice only to be bitten by the poison of his politics.

Attacks on grammar and people is but one thread in the unraveling tapestry of scholarship. There is a presumptive arrogance in hiding behind imprecise and obfuscated language of academia. In attempting to use $3 words for $1 concepts there is not much to be said other than they have ceded the high ground. English is a living language of emotion and ideas and those are what we should be talking about. Attempting to foil politics while holding up singularly ideas of scholarship baked in the ovens of Popper, Kuhn, Newton ignores that even science is a political process and subject to the scrutiny of the public. Hiding behind large words is a travesty and failure of the academy in its primary role as service to society. It shows an ultimate hubris in the rampant paternalism found in the attacking of other peoples work.

Sam was invited and appointed to the U.S. effort technical advisory group working on the “Societal Security” standard. As a subject matter expert he will be providing any help that he can and learning a fair bit along the way. This should be a very challenging and interesting bit of work. Sam hopes to be able to help with technology issues and anything especially having to do with communications.