05.17.12
Posted in Travel at 10:42 by RjZ
I am in the waiting area, getting ready to board a flight to Israel. All around my is an enthusiastic group of Americans, most with pleasant southern accents and a polite smiles. They’re chatting excitedly with each other and many are wearing an ID stick of the “Hello, my name is…” type so that they can get to know the rest of their tour group. Standing next to me is an amiable gentleman who is stuck behind me and thus slightly isolated from his group. So I ask him, about his trip.
It’s his first time to Israel and he’s very happy to see everything there. The tour is going to be busy, but great. I ask about what they have planned and he rattles off a typical list: “Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Sea of Galilee, oh, and the Wailing Wall of course.” “Oh, that’s right next to the temple mount too,” I add. “The what?” comes his puzzled response. “Um, it’s the site of the Dome of the Rock, from which Mohammed is supposed to have ascended to heaven on his horse. It’s one of the holiest sites of Islam, right next to the holiest site in Judaism and walking distance from the spot where Christ is to have been crucified.” “Oh. I don’t know if we’ll have time for that…” he trails off.
His tour was arranged by a southern Baptist ministry and, obviously, will be concentrating on the Christian sites. I suspect they will see the Wailing Wall in passing (it’s hard to miss) and, who knows, the tour guides might have a different view about the golden dome of the Temple Mount, his sadly myopic view is embarrassing at best, and more likely, a bit sad.Religion has an uncanny knack of separating us into individual tribes yet even the modern internet makes it easier than ever before to put blinders on, sorting news for us so we don’t even have to learn about what we’re not interested in.
Officially, Jews can’t visit the Temple Mount area. They can’t visit any churches in Jerusalem either, because, according to the rabbinical authorities Christianity is polytheistic (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and all). Normally, they’re allowed to visit Mosques (as Muslims and Jews vigorously agree about their being just one God), but the Temple Mount sits atop the site of the Second Temple, which traditionally houses the holy of holies, the Ark of the Covenant, the star of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Today, many agree that this particular ban is actually good for peace, reducing inevitable friction between Jews and Muslims in tense Jerusalem, but some folks shared with me they wouldn’t visit any Mosques anyway, “as a Jew, I don’t feel safe there anyway.”
Each of the Abrahamic religions may teach “Love thy neighbor,” while their followers travel half way around the world or live right next door, and yet still can’t get to know each other.
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05.15.12
Posted in 2¢, Liberty at 11:16 by RjZ
Forget what you think about homosexual marriage, Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, is right. Obama may have sealed his fate as a one term president by admitting he is for equal rights for all citizens.
- Votes in several states, not just fly-over states but California, have time and again gone against marriage-equality.
- Evangelical voters weren’t motivated by Mitt Romney. Now they have a reason to be.
- Conservatives can simultaneously claim to be more focused on the real issues facing Americans (the economy) and still claim to be the only reliable support of conservative social values.
All the posters about being on the wrong side of history won’t do much good if Obama wins by a landslide in liberal states and loses everywhere else.
Instead of being on the right side of history, perhaps we should be asking how to convince the religious conservatives that they, too, benefit from a country that is not a theocracy. That the government deciding who should and should not be married is exactly not the place to stick its nose.
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05.14.12
Posted in Society, Travel at 15:58 by RjZ
“When we were young,” my Israeli colleague told me “we lived in an apartment with both Jews and Arabs.” This is around 1993, after the first intifada in Israel and my colleague was about 9 or 10 years old at the time. He told me that the house superintendent was an Arab and, for the most part, an amiable friend to the families living in the apartment together. One day, alone with my colleague, the older man told the boy “if this were my country, I would kill you.”
Regardless of what you think of the the ham-handed responses of the Israeli government, even if you’re sure the Israeli army has waged war on innocents in southern Lebanon, and although Israeli’s themselves will admit that Arabs in their tiny nation are not always treated fairly, one thing remains clear. It’s easy to criticize, without having to experience living there.
Has Israel treated the Palestinians with fairness and respect? Perhaps not, but imagine living with in rocket firing distance from the Gaza Strip. Israel is slightly smaller than New Jersey. What happens at the borders is local news! Even rioters in the streets of Los Angeles aren’t equipped with rocket propelled grenades or suicide bombing vests. Can you imagine an American, brought up with American exceptionalism and rugged individualism, not to mention liberal freedoms to possess guns, even considering just leaving things up to the government? Who knew? The average Israeli is the picture of moderation!
I’ve sometimes wondered why Israel doesn’t exercise its superior military power to simply eradicate its neighbors. Of course this would make them an international pariah for some time, but couldn’t the country, arguing it’s very existence, justify such a vehement reaction to the threats that surround them? I put this question to my colleague. He brushed it aside. In Israel, military service is obligatory. “We don’t want more war. People will die on both sides.” “But, Israel is certainly stronger than its neighbors,” I protested. “No one wants more people to die” he simply insisted.
Remember, this is the same man who, as a boy, was threatened by his neighbor. Can you imagine yourself reacting with so much restraint?
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05.11.12
Posted in 2¢, Society at 13:45 by RjZ
Obama brought gay marriage right back to the forefront of U.S. political discourse when he took a stand and admitted favorable opinion. As I’ve written before, I am no more for homosexual marriages than heterosexual ones. The government ought to get out of the marriage-business as it is a religious construct which has no place in a government which separates belief from state.
During the Bush II era, I had believed that the focus on homosexuals was simply a ploy by the religious right and conservatives to gin up support for their politicians. It is almost surprising we’re still talking about this issue, after the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Limiting the rights and privileges of legal marriages only to heterosexual couples is unfair prejudice and the president is particularly brave to stand up to those who would force their religious opinions on everyone else. Still, the president has suggested no policy changes to accompany his admission. North Carolina has banned the practice and Colorado is working on passing same-sex partnerships, all unperturbed by the president or the presidential race.
There is no denying that, even in the face of an ongoing war, thwarted terrorist attacks, a failing Euro, and struggling U.S. economy, that gay marriage is still a hot-button issue. For me it is merely further proof of how useless the Bible is when governing a country and a brilliant example of the value of church-state separation. Christians, many of whom are the most angered by Mr. Obama’s statements, can’t even agree among themselves. “When you read the Bible, you can find justification for almost anything, including slavery, the subjection of women and an argument that the sun actually revolves around the earth” vs. “the Bible continues to have authority, and [that] we are obligated to submit ourselves, our wills and our desires to it”
Let me know when they get their story straight. In the mean time, let’s keep expanding freedoms where ever possible. Seems to me, that’s how Jesus would have wanted it.
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04.25.12
Posted in Society at 14:58 by RjZ
It costs more than it ought to go to university, and it’s getting more expensive every year. Tuition has nearly doubled in just ten years at state schools like the one I attended (you may have to search, but CSUF went from $2300 to $4600).
President Obama visited CU Boulder yesterday seeking support to extend the Stafford program which maintains low interest on student loans. Low interest loans allow students to delay the painful investment it takes to get a degree until it is more easily paid off when they’re finally earning money. For many, it’s the difference between reaching their potential and never getting an education.
By spreading out payments, the real cost of education is shielded from the consumer. Students take a risk that the money they invest will generate greater incomes in the future, but, as today’s stagnant world economy has shown, there is no guarantee. The government finances that risk with lower guaranteed interest rates. According to Colorado representative Scott Tipton, “It costs roughly $6 billion a year for more than 7 million students to keep the lower rate.” Students are told throughout their lives that a degree equals opportunity and statistics continue to support that, but what is the rate of return on investment and who’s making the strongest pitch?
In an arms race to outdo each other for customers students, universities must constantly add amenities and degree programs. Did you know you can get a degree in Leadership and Organizations? This masters level program ($23,184) from University of Denver will enable to the student to lead a non-profit organization. Unquestionably an admirable aspiration, but how many non-profit leaders do we need and how many of them will be that different from the for-profit leaders in other organizations (or even should be)?
What about for-profit leaders? With MBA’s costing upwards of $100,000 it’s pretty easy to wonder what students are getting for their money. MBA graduates will tell you it’s all about connections, which it may very well be, but that sure is some very expensive networking. I’ll bet just as many students will become the next Jobs and Gates (both, along with many others, lacking degrees) if they invested their $100K in a business idea and had a four year head start over their college-attending competition.
In terms of return on investment, low interest loans to future leaders of our nation is probably a pretty good deal, but as long as we’re engaging in social engineering, shouldn’t we consider a thing or two to ensure we’re getting something for our money? (And is this the slippery slope we want to start sliding on?) Somehow, we ought to be sure that universities, the ultimate beneficiaries of this subsidy, are somehow free to pursue academic excellence in whatever way they (and the market) decide is best, but are simultaneously focused on the their student’s customer’s real needs. Those needs are training, experience and education; and not just new customer acquisition with perks such as stadiums, multi-media classrooms, and an ever increasing range of customized degree programs.
If we’re struggling to keep costs down for students, then perhaps, until the economy improves, we might skip the slightly less critical degree program in Oriental herbology. OK, fine, who knows what wonders Oriental herbology has waiting for the west. How about Campbell University’s Sports Ministry degree “preparing [students] to teach sport in a Christian environment and under the eyes of God.” (Actually, I couldn’t find that degree on their website, but then I could find their Bachelors or Business Adminstration in PGA Golf Management, so you get the idea.) All this and more is paid for with student loans.
I agree with President Obama: “college isn’t just the best investment you can make in your future, it’s the best investment you can make in your country’s future.” If we’re going to keep offering subsidies to universities in the form of cheap loans to their customers, how can we make sure that, at least, the money is spent on their education?
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04.17.12
Posted in Photography, Travel at 15:29 by RjZ
I take pictures when I travel, but don’t travel to take pictures. Too bad. I’ve practiced the theory that if you go to pretty places and snap enough shots you’ll get some interesting photos, and that’s worked pretty darn well, but the really nice shots are just luck that way. Nothing wrong with that, but it can be frustrating to look at your photos upon return and wonder “what would it have taken to take some of those really amazing shots you saw before your journey?” I’d love to tell you, but the fact is, I don’t know and neither of us is likely to take the time anyway.
Instead of reminding you to stake out a location, discover the best angles and perfect light, and wait for just the right cloud bank, here are some ideas you can do without ruining your trip. Unless someone is paying you to travel to a far away place expressly for photography, then you too, likely have something you want to do during your visit, aside from watching the whole trip through a viewfinder. You could get those amazing shots by doing your homework, but amateur travel photographers, are almost always, first and foremost travelers, not photographers.
Out-and-back again
You’ll rarely have the time to really scope out a location and discover the best shots and the right framing. Often you’re doing the best you can with the lens on your camera when you happen to walk past something. If you’ve got multiple lenses you might notice a shot would be perfect with your telephoto, but moments later, the walk-around has to go back on the camera. All this lens swapping will slow you down. Instead, most outings, can be some sort of out-and-back deal. You walk around the church, or museum, or monument with one lens on, and walk back with another. During the first walk, snapping happily at whatever strikes your fancy, you giving a bit of thought to the other lens you’re going put on for the way back. It’s like doing a mini site review, and your traveling partners don’t even have to notice. The only caveat is that if you see something you think is interesting, by all means take the shot! You can’t be sure you’ll always get back, but you can always delete a few extra photos.
Plan dinner
There are times of the day when nearly everything is a winner. That time, right after sunset, for example, when a well exposed shot turns the sky a deep azure blue that contrasts so well with warm glowing spot lights on monuments. You’ve got to eat, but can’t it wait just a few minutes? It is truly a shame to be sitting at dinner when you could be out getting lucky snaps, over and over again. Maybe it’s not the best light for this location, or you haven’t found the perfect angle, but just delaying dinner a half hour can make all the difference in shots you’re proud of.
Never leave home without it
Most professionals may plan, and sit, and wait for the perfect shot, but they still get lucky now and again. You can’t take a lucky shot with your camera in the bag or back in a hotel room. I stay in hotels too cheap to trust with my camera, so I have the thing strangling me for the entire trip. The upside is that no matter what strikes my fancy, the camera is always ready.
More controversial is how much you drag with you. Rare is the traveler who is comfortable looking like a wedding photographer on assignment, with backup camera and extra lenses swinging from every limb, but, for the same reason that leaving your camera home means you’ll never catch a lucky shot, I suggest everyone weigh just how horrible it will be if they take a tripod, flash, or extra lens. It’s up to each person, and balancing your photography with your experience is a challenge, but remember, these things won’t do you any good at home. Mini tripods and sandbags are easy to pack and a heck of lot better than nothing.
Read a comic
Great scenery takes great patience, and loads of time which you don’t have. Instead, take advantage of how you and your friends will see the bulk of your pictures these days: several at a time. It takes time, planning and loads of talent/luck to make a single picture capture a story, but it’s way easier with three or four shots to tell same story . Instead of framing a single shot of something gorgeous you’ve come to see, imagine a page in a comic book, where few well chosen panes capture the scene completely. You need an establishing shot, some action, some detailed close up, and if you’re lucky, some result of your scene. Maybe it’s you and your travel partner eating an ice-cream. An establishing shot of the street and ice-cream stand, a snap of your partner buying a scoop, a close up of the ice-cream, and finally, a couple of empty bowls. None of these shots is necessarily so amazing, but together, chances are you’ve made a charming vignette from your trip. Either way, you did have ice cream. Mmm, ice cream.
Professional planning takes time and experience, but even a little can go a long way and all these are can be ad hoc each day of your trip. You can capture both the fun you had and a bit of local culture all at the same time. Have the gear you need (and are willing to carry) and have it ready all of the time. Think just abit about what you’re taking a picture of and how it will look flattened out on paper or a computer screen, and you’ve already stepped up form taking snapshots. Finally, at the end of the day, or end of the trip, telling stories is what photography is about, even if you need the crutch of four shots and one walk-around lens to accomplish half of what the greats can with time, planning, patience and a Leica range finder or a medium format box camera. Most of them, didn’t have any sightseeing to do!
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04.12.12
Posted in 2¢ at 15:45 by RjZ
And they say only liberals worry about being politically correct. Conservatives are up in arms because a democratic strategist characterized Ann Romney as “not working a day in her life.” Oh, here we go…of course she’s worked! She’s raised children! How can you evil liberal elitists not acknowledge that raising kids is the most important thing in our society?
You know, it is damn important. And alright, maybe she misspoke, but um, are they saying that it isn’t clear what she meant. She hasn’t worked for a salary. It’s important, but not the same thing. And by the way, most Americans with kids have to actually manage to do both, work, and raise kids, work at home raising kids.
Or are conservatives suggesting that the occupy Wall Street crew is “working” by hanging around occupying and being the people’s megaphone?
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04.06.12
Posted in Society at 9:44 by RjZ
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley loves her parents. She’s proud of how they raised her and what she’s become thanks to them and she believes that even though she converted to Christianity that her Sikh parents aren’t, as some suggest, going to hell. Speaking on National Public Radio (NPR) about Mitt Romney, she said “I don’t think we should focus on what church a person walks into…I think we need to on what they do when they walk out of church.”
Now I have a double standard. I think it’s just fine for someone with socially liberal views to be accepting of a variety of behavior which she doesn’t personally practice or support. It’s actually rather normal for straight people to have no problem with homosexuality even if they’re not interested in it themselves, (and vice-versa!) It’s quite common for women who have no interest in ever having an abortion to support a woman’s choice to decide when to have a family. You don’t have to share a view to accept it. I have a double standard, because I submit that it’s just fine to have these views regardless of your own behavior, but it’s not acceptable when your view states quite clearly, denying what you’re taught in Sunday school is wrong and will result eternal punishment by the almighty. It’s not OK to preach, as many of our conservative religious and political leaders do, about family values and attack others for their perceived lack of morality while sleeping around with same-sex drug using prostitutes.
Governor Haley’s cafeteria religion, choosing a little of this and a little of that from the menu of faith, creates an all too convenient world-view, which, while hopefully kind and accepting, is impossible when it comes to predicting what her beliefs are. She’s Methodist and that’s OK, but her parents are Siks and that’s just fine too? Apparently the part in her Methodist faith which says that the only way to heaven is through Jesus applies to mean people and political opponents, not her parents.
I have a double standard because those who make strong claims are obligated to live up to them. I might agree with Governor Haley’s words if someone else had said them. Coming from a self-identified person of faith, I am not sure what to think. Religion plays such an important role in U.S. politics because many actually imagine they can know a candidate by which church she steps into. A few weeks ago, Mitt Romney was questioned about whether he believes inter-racial marriage is a sin. Mormonism has accepted inter-racial marriage for a few decades now, so his snippy “no” was no stretch, but Evangelicals and agnostics alike will wonder this election year how much of a person’s heart we can know based on what they claim their religion to be.
What kind of God do Romney and Haley believe in? A God who loves each of its creations, regardless of what they do, or one who demands certain standards and will punish those who do not live up to these expectations? For if it doesn’t really matter which church you go to, but only what you do once you leave, then why would it matter if our politicians are Christian, Mormon, Muslim, or Jewish? How would it make any difference if they were theist, deist, agnostic, or atheist? Shouldn’t we be able to judge them by their actions and not by their proclamations.
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03.30.12
Posted in 2¢ at 15:24 by RjZ
I’m coming clean. This isn’t the only place I write. I’ve been blogging businessy things over at Eye On Technology for a little while now. I didn’t mean to hold out on you. I just thought, I dunno, you might not be interested. Traveling Hypothesis supposed be about travel and things I’ve learned by traveling. It’s already scattered enough. But, you know, sometimes other stuff pops into my head, and I think another ten readers might care.
I thought you might find this one interesting. I suggest a common thread between Microsoft software, the Toyota Camry, and the super-size meal. Think of it as Freakonomics’ long lost little brother. Without the Ph.D. in economics.
Go read it and maybe leave a comment. It’ll make my website look more professional. Or not.
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03.29.12
Posted in Reviews, Society at 12:21 by RjZ
I recently read Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game after a friend was surprised to discover I hadn’t yet. I borrowed the book from the library, and it was a little difficult to find there, because it was in the young adult section. Once I’d located it in the card catalog, I had to creep into a sectioned off room, passing teenagers lounging on been bags and quickly escape with my book.
I needn’t have been embarrassed. Reading teen fiction is all the rage these days—for adults. Adults were as enthralled with Harry Potter as kids. Moms gobble up the Twilight series as fast as their daughters. The Hunger Games is repeating the book turned box office phenomenon as I write this. And Ender’s Game was good. Simple, like a Hollywood movie, (there may be a connection here) but good.
‘Young Adult’ fiction doesn’t exist
Educated adults are so captivated by vampires and wizards may simply be down to a good story, well written and direct, in such a way as is all but required to capture the attention of our distracted society. A good book is worth reading. The age group of its intended audience is irrelevant. This has always been true, evidence by the wide range of books transforming with time from children’s story, to literature. Pity the highbrow who hasn’t found time for Lord of the Rings, and Watership Down, not to mention other ‘children’s books‘ like The Adventures of Tom Sawer оr <еm>Catcher in the Rye.
Reading bad teen fiction is no better than reading bad adult fiction. Perhaps what we’re really seeing here is a confirmation bias. it’s not that adults are reading so many teen novels, but rather that good books, with riveting stories are popular and book publishers are following the money and marketing them as teen novels because it’s effective. Of course plenty of teen books are published that no self-respecting adult is reading. Fortunately, we simply don’t hear much about them.
Or, people are stupid and lazy
Or maybe, while a young adult can be forgiven for not appreciating the complexity of character and story that a jaded adult requires to interest a more developed intellect; any adult still stuck in this over-simplified block-buster story telling must be stunted in some way. We can all be happy that, in spite of the vast array of entertainment options available to the modern citizen, that some of us still enjoy the rich, decidedly non-passive pleasure of reading. Reading requires you to engage your brain in a way that even interactive video games still do not achieve. But if the only reading anyone does is carefully conceived by talented authors to tell a story without the use of “big words” or nagging gray area details of the real world, aren’t they missing out?
Perhaps, in response to the overwhelming detail and information flux in our lives, we retreat to the stories where there’s no guessing at deeper levels of meaning. In that case, pity the lowbrow who hasn’t made the effort to decipher Shakespear’s and Chaucer’s olde English, or waded through David Foster Wallace and Henry Miller with no idea what plot was even supposed to be yet still so satisfyingly enveloped in their vivid, evocative language.
Brain candy causes cavities
I teased a friend recently for her excitement about The Hunger Games film opening. Another intelligent adult caught up by the sweet allure of brain candy? Then I read some reviews of the film and book, which I had all too quickly judged on its young adult label alone. I haven’t read it, but, like Ender’s Game, it sounds pretty good, no matter who it was written for.
I retracted my reproach, but I am still concerned. Not because The Hunger Games or Harry Potter aren’t excellent stories, well told, or because we should all be reading great literature all the time, whatever that is. Instead, I’m worried that exactly because our lives are filled with so much distraction, so little time may be left over for those activities that require more effort to yield their rarefied rewards.
It’s ridiculous to judge how erudite is your seat mate on a brief airplane ride and from single choice of reading material, but if we’re all really as busy as we claim to be, couldn’t we have the wisdom to prune and curate our entertainment enough that we’re not only entertained but perhaps improved from the experience? Every book need not to be literature, nor every movie an important documentary, but I think folks would have much more to talk about on Facebook if at least some of them were.
Highbrow or lowbrow? Speak out proud in your defense in the comments.
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