Irony of fatherhood

The irony of my experience of fatherhood is that (IMO) one (adult) child has an inordinately high self-concept and the other has an inordinately low self-concept.

A Recollection of Peter Bergman

Peter Bergman died yesterday at age 72. I was privileged to meet him and work briefly with him. He had a significant impact on me.

In 1965, I started working as a volunteer at KPFK Radio in Los Angeles. I was only 14, so I either rode the bus or my bicycle to the station. At first I worked for the chief engineer, Nick Cramer, disassembling an old transmitter in hope of rebuilding it for the station's use. That was the summer of the Watts Riots, and I remember going with the news director, Mike Hodel, to interview Los Angeles residents at the Coliseum during the melee.

Peter arrived in 1966. To me he was an old man, already bald on top, but I guess he was only 26 or 27. He set about to create comedy shows. I remember helping him to create a reverberation sound effect for the line, "penis envy," for one of his early skits. A while later Peter started his Radio Free Oz program. He had a button that said OZ, but you could also rotate it to say ON, NO or ZO. I wore it with pride. I was too young to listen to the Oz program very much, but I remember calling in one time. Peter recognized my voice and called me the "Tin Woodsman."

Later on, Peter got together with David Ossman and Phil Austin, two KPFK announcers, and Phil Proctor, who I never met, to form the Firesign Theater. They were the rage of my friends at the UCLA Computer Club in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Surprisingly, I never bought their records or even listened to one completely at a friend's place. I regret that, and I'll make an effort to get to know all the material I missed so many years ago.

Peter was a unique individual. I'm glad to have met him; I'm saddened by his death, and, like so many, I will miss him.

Lady Godiva Meets George Orwell

We learn from the New York Times ("Don’t Look, Don’t Read: Government Warns Its Workers Away From WikiLeaks Documents") that the Obama White House has decreed that a federal worker or contractor may not look at the WikiLeaks documents, unless the individual is cleared for the classification level placed on a particular document.

Lady Godiva rides again!

WikiLeaks

Today's big news is the latest document dump from WikiLeaks. I don't condone leaking classified material, but I have a few comments based on what I've read so far:

• The best way not to be embarrassed by something you might do or say is not to do or say it in the first place.
• In general, honesty is the best policy. Saying one thing publicly and something else in private, when revealed, destroys your credibility.
• It's likely that our allies and enemies already know what we think of them and their leaders. Why bother to try and keep it secret?
• According to an article I read, three million people, including lowly enlisted personnel, had access to the leaked documents. Anyone who believed the documents wouldn't be leaked by someone was dreaming.
• An archive system should sound loud alarms when someone downloads large quantities of material. Either someone designed the archive without such alarms or someone wasn't paying attention to the alarms (if any).
• As in so many other situations, the classification system was sometimes used to hide mistakes from our citizens. We rightly expect better from our military and public officials.
  

Stanley Fish: Not Thinking

Stanley Fish is not thinking when he dismisses all the Hillary Clinton-haters. Many quite rational people have an extreme dislike (i.e., hate) for many aspects of both Mr. and Mrs. Clinton's behavior. The reasons vary, and many of the reasons may be overblown, but the essential revulsion should not be brushed away. The Clintons are not empty vessels, and their slimy tactics are well-known and well-documented.

Contemplating the journey

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." His bold statement, recounted in Plato's "Apology," has haunted me ever since I first read it in college. Here I will try to share the results of my examination. Your comments are welcome!