View from the Mountain

Something to worry about

My college concentration was in history.  Much of it was colonial American history.

The people who founded our country didn't trust "standing armies."  They were especially distrustful of those who made a career of fighting for the highest bidder.

In colonial times, those fighters were called mercenaries.  Today we have a less threatening name for them, private contractors.

I found the article, NO MORE MERCENARIES, by Eric Margolis very enlightening.  The numbers were especially interesting.

There are 180,000 to 200,000 US-paid mercenaries in Iraq – or `private contractors’ as Washington and the US media delicately call them. They actually outnumber the 169,000 US troops there. Britain pays for another 20,000. At least half are armed fighters, the rest support personnel and technicians. Without them, the US and Britain could not maintain their occupation of Iraq.

These private enterprise fighters, like the Renaissance’s Italian condotierri, German landsknecht, and Swiss pikemen, are lawless, answering to no authority but their employers.

The world has changed a lot, but making war with private contractors is likely not a good idea.

Then again, lots of people agree this is a problem.  Paul Krugman has an interesting article, Hired Gun Fetish, about it in today's NY Times.

As is often the case, people wanting the problem solved, doesn't mean that anything happens.

Perhaps that is why Congress' approval rating has sunk to 11%.

How many different people are you?

You can pretty well guarantee that the folks in this picture enjoy fishing.  That's what they are doing.

Some people have an online life, and their real life. Others are rooted in reality.  A few have lost themselves to the new virtual worlds.

How we are defined has changed greatly in just a few years.

At one time people would live in a neighborhood, and often that neighborhood would define them.  It wasn't unusual to find people working for the same company living in the same area.

Then companies got more complex. It became normal to be defined by your company but to not have anyone from your company around you.  I worked for Apple computer for nearly twenty years.  Most of that time I was lucky to have someone from Apple within an hour's drive.

Few companies command much loyalty from employees these days.  Some days I question whether companies command much loyalty from consumers either, but in some strange ways, a lot of people are now defined more by what they consume than where they work.

You're likely to find a different kind of person buying groceries at Fresh Market than you might find at Kroger or the Roanoke Natural Foods Coop.  This isn't a hard and fast rule as you will find people like us who shop them all.  You will run across some people who are passionate about their grocery stores.

Lots of people try to define themselves with products.  Companies like Apple want their products to equate with cool.  Unfortunately I think a lot of iPod toting kids have fallen for this trap.  If you drive a Toyota Prius, you're definitely defining yourself as part of a special group.  I know one person who has a Prius and a big truck.  That's definitely a subset of vehicle owners.

I once did a post with the theory that you are defined by your footwear.  Of course that footwear evolves over time as we change.

My footwear is pretty weird these days on the coast.  It has been a while since I have worn socks even to church.  Yesterday all of us at Bluewater, the company where I work, got dressed up in white shirts and tan pants for a picture on the beach.   We had lots of people carrying their shoes.

Discipline isn't what it used to be.  One lady showed up in a tan top and white pants. She endured the suggestion that she stand on her head so she could fit in with the rest of us.

Several folks had white polo shirts or tee shirts.  Being old school I went out and bought a long sleeved white shirt. All the older management people showed up wearing the same as me.

That brings up the thought of tan pants, blue shirt, and a blazer.  Now there is one uniform that has stood the test of time.

Perhaps we are moving to a world where we are defined by those with whom we communicate in our free time.  Often I feel a closer tie to the people with whom I have an occasional online chat than I do to some neighbors whom I meet while walking around our subdivision.

I have more serious conversations with Russ, a friend in State College, Pa, and Stephen my globe trotting ex-Apple colleague than I do with any of my neighbors.  This morning I had a chat with Stephen.  He was in London.

Almost all of our conversations are instant messaging,

Wait a minute.  Am I defined by whom I communicate with or how I communicate with them?

That's a pretty good question, but I am not sure of the answer.

The summer that won't let go

I read that Roanoke reached 93 degrees Fahrenheit today.

In fact I saw that Roanoke, Blacksburg, and Bluefield all set record high temperatures for today.

Here in Carteret County on the Carolina coast, I think everyone is ready for summer to go.  Carteret is one of only two counties in North Carolina feeling only a minor impact from the drought that is torturing both North Carolina and parts of Virginia.

One of the benefits of living on the coast is that you get used to warmer temperatures. 

We had to make a company picture of all Bluewater employees today.  Being a beach based company means the picture needs to be on the beach.

I had to go buy a long sleeved white shirt to wear with my tan pants.

It was pretty easy telling our employees.  We were the only people on the beach in white shirts and long pants.

As this last bit of heat hangs on, the impulse is to wish for some cooler weather.

The unfortunate things is that once we start down that hill of cooler temperatures, it can be a quick trip.

After all this heat this summer, it will be interesting to see what kind of winter we will face.

Fooling with nature

We often think that we can outwit nature with our superior technology.

Perhaps the far better track to take is figuring out how to work with nature and imitating what nature does.

Here are a couple of examples to consider.  The Roanoke River seems to flood pretty easily these days.

I believe the answer being pursued is dredging and taller banks.  Maybe that will work and prevent floods, but it won't solve the real problem which is more storm water.

Emerald Isle had a beach erosion problem,  they did some beach renourishment, but  they also relocated a channel that was part of the problem.  It's turned out to be pretty successful.

The more Roanoke becomes developed, the bigger challenge it is handling the storm water that is funneled into the Roanoke River.

Storm water management is a big deal at the coast.  The recently completed Walgreen's in Swansboro took a lot longer to build because they had to build storm water management under the parking lot.

My driveway has a drain which funnels all the runoff from it through six buried bags of styrofoam pellets.

It is one of the creative ways to slow down water before it gets to our the White Oak River.  However, it isn't an option, it is mandated by CAMA.

The old idea of getting storm water to the river as fast and efficiently as possible is the opposite of what needs to be done which is slow the water down as much as possible and in fact hold it if you can so the sediment can drop out of it.

We need to work with nature instead of trying to implement solutions which focus on the symptoms and ignore the underlying problems.

A visit to the birthplace of Pepsi

We had heard so much about New Bern, NC that we decided to check it out.

It was a little warm for doing much walking around town, but I suspect we will be back for their big MUMfest on Oct. 13 &14.

It sounds a little like Festival in Park in Roanoke.

New Bern has done a nice job with with downtown renewal.  Their waterfront park and convention center looks to be very nice.

We were sad that their Farmers' Market was closed today.  We had to content ourselves with a Pepsi from the birthplace of Pepsi.

We drove by Tryon Palace so we'll be ready for the opportunity to walk the grounds for free during MUMfest.

I took slides of downtown New Bern and their waterfront park.

It was a nice day, but I will be glad to see some cool weather arrive.