M.C. Miller's Blog, page 4

I've been living outside the States for a couple years no...

I've been living outside the States for a couple years now. In that time, I've enjoyed being unplugged from much of the memes and drama that drive the pace back there. Recently though, I had a chance to sample a portion of the red-white-and-blue evolving culture. I guess getting a perspective from outside really does inform one's sensibilities differently. 

They say a constant drip of water can eventually wear away a rock. And a frog will, in due course, be cooked in a pot of water oh so slowly getting hotter. Likewise, it's been said that TV programming isn't called programming by accident. Over time, I imagine a constant drip of the right kind of stuff can nudge a population towards any new view of things -- even things they once said they cherished.

Take for instance a popular TV show. This show is quite well done - one hardly can't help but like it, and judged by its ongoing success, the show provides the kind of entertainment people enjoy. And yet, along with the likable characters, the professional stunts, and good writing, there is also an undercurrent that's subtle as it is pervasive. Cleverly, to access the likable characters, one must tacitly accept the premises delivered between-the-lines. These premises effectively link people we like and their good motives with questionable things that, once accepted on any level, begin to move the needle on our beliefs and principles. 

At first we look past what may bother us in these plot lines in order to get our entertainment fix. But the question is - eventually, are we no longer bothered at all? And for those viewers young enough not to remember times when the needle hadn't yet moved so much, this slow-drip process only serves to instruct them in what their world view should be now. With no experience of a past time when the water wasn't so hot, the current temperature of the culture naturally appears normal to them. And thus a new normal is established.

As I said, I watch this show from outside the States.
From my outside-the-pot view, here's some of the bubbling undercurrents I see:

With a stroke of a pen, a governor can create a "special task force."This task force officially is given preemptive immunity before they even engage in their work, which begs the question, immunity from what? Following the law? Why would a government-sanctioned task force, operating anywhere but especially on US soil, need immunity? What kind of official charter would require this and why? When there are bikinis to see, it's easy to gloss over those questions.All local, state, and federal agencies freely work with or even under direct command of this immune task force. Actions that local police would never do, task force members do routinely in pursuit of suspects. Local police, state authorities, and federal agents are in full knowledge of what this task force does, and so they are accessories before and after the fact in this immunity behavior.In operation, the task force routinely practices "the ends justifies the means." As long as task force members individually judge their own intent is true, any action is condoned and protected by task force immunity. Suspects may be beaten when task force members believe them to be bad. If later facts prove the real culprit is someone else, the earlier beating of the innocent person is deemed acceptable because at the time, task force members believed that person to be bad and anyway, all of their actions are with the best of intentions. This kind of behavior is rewarded by the task force, even if one is not a member of the task force. For example, when one highly experienced police captain disables an entire SWAT unit and hands over SWAT assets to the bad guys because the captain's daughter has been threatened, the police promptly fire the captain but the immune task force proudly gives him a badge as part of their group, a prestigious career bump up. The police then proudly work with this same captain going forward and take orders from him, despite kicking him out, disgraced, only days before.Suspects, if deemed to be impeding progress of task force work as task force members subjectively judge correct in the moment, can be beaten and even renditioned to a private task force dungeon in the basement of a state government building. Doesn't every state capitol have one? Never are Miranda Rights read to any suspect; in fact, one suspect even recites their own rights to task force members while being chained to the rendition chair. Requests to see a lawyer are routinely mocked and ignored. Watch out, if you don't give the right answer in the rendition chair, a task force member may feel like shooting you in the leg. But I guess you had it coming you scumbag so it's all right.Gun play in the show is quite over-the-top for the city the show is based in. Fire-fights that appear more like major engagements in Fallujah or the foothills of Tora Bora routinely take place in major commercial districts and family neighborhoods. Even though the prevailing politically-correct wisdom says guns and gun violence are bad, the show's producers sure know how much family-time viewers like to watch people get mowed down with glorified automatic weapons. Despite the show's love-affair with showcasing the destructive potential of powerful machine guns, at the same time the immune task force members make snide comments about the 2nd amendment and anyone who believes in it. A gun-store owner gets portrayed as a trigger-happy dolt for seeing any value in a citizen possessing a firearm, but it's quite all right for our heroes and the audience to luxuriate in endless bloodbaths where thousands of rounds of ammunition are expended within the span of minutes. Because our heroes have good motives, we the audience get a pass for our vicarious ultra-violence thrills. The message is clear - you shouldn't have a gun but the guys and gals with immunity can have all the wiz-bang firepower fit for a platoon of Marines.The one character who believes that conspiracies really do exist and abuses of power in many guises throughout government and corporate/financial sectors are being systematically covered-up -- that character is portrayed as the marginally likable but deluded buffoon. Although he repeatedly supplies the task force with valid data and tips, it is universally understood that, although he may be able to research stuff, his overall view of how things work in the world is hopelessly flawed and deserves constant ridicule. Lesson learned -- even though some conspiracy nuts may occasionally trip over valid facts, their conclusions about those facts are fatally flawed and not to be taken seriously. In fact, this likable dope is so clueless, a grown man living in his mother's basement, he is easily co-opted by the task force with the false lure of being one of them and getting to play with their hi-tech toys. So much for principled conspiracy nuts.Much weepy sentimentality and maudlin piano music is served up over the concept of "ohana." As Wikipedia likes to say, "Ohana means family (in an extended sense of the term, including blood-related, adoptive or intentional). The concept emphasizes that families are bound together and members must cooperate and remember one another." It's such a sweet concept, and truly a cornerstone of the beautiful Hawaiian culture. But once again, as portrayed by our heroes on the immune task force, one must tacitly accept their transgressions in the name of ohana if we are to understand ohana at all, at least according to the show's producers. Murder, theft of money from evidence lockers, flagrant abuses of citizen's rights, violent trespass of the sovereignty of other nations' borders, favors given to convicted felons, letting family members escape the city even though they're wanted by the FBI, just about anything is justified -- as long as the maudlin piano music plays for the task force over the issue of ohana. Of course, regular citizens never get such a get-out-of-jail-free card, whether they have family or not. No vigilantes wanted here. There is never any excuse for regular citizens not following the letter of the law -- because, well, they're regular citizens. The tacit implication here is that regular citizens are something less by virtue of that status. So know your place. Enough said.If we hadn't learned this enough from other movies and TV shows, let's revisit the lesson that Police Internal Affairs Departments are nothing but petty, self-serving cesspools of maggots with nothing but personal vendettas and grudges. They can't be trusted to do what they should be doing. It's only the beat cop with the flak-jacket and battering ram at your front door who has a heart of gold.Let's not forget that any rumor you have heard that the CIA (since the 60's) runs drugs for its own nefarious reasons, including financing criminal enterprises and off-the-book little wars, that's all wrong. In this show when the CIA is revealed to be involved in a billion dollar cocaine operation in Columbia, deeper background intelligence reveals the Agency's true altruistic motives -- which is to save our economy because those unsophisticated saps on Wall Street invested in a bogus real estate scheme in South America and will lose their shirts if the scheme goes south. And if they lose their shirts, we all do because, as you know, some people are just too big to fail. Of course, no mention is made of the international bankers who are getting an ongoing cut of cartel business for laundering drug money. Nothing else to see here folks. Go back to watching the machine guns pump out metal-jacketed rounds in slow-motion. That's where the real action is.And I like patriotism as much as the next flag waver, but this show plays out love of country in such a heavy-handed way it reminds me of either a recruitment poster or a bund rally. I guess you're either with us or you're against us. No grey areas here. If you think there is, you must be one of those domestic terrorists, you know, like the  Culpeper Minutemen of 1775. And heaven help you if you're against us because, if somehow you've missed what has to be obvious by now, even to those more concerned with supersizing it -- we have immunity.
I know, I know. The trolls are massing to shout at me -- It's just a friggin' TV show. Lighten up.

Yeah, I guess that's exactly what might be so casually insidious.
And this is just a quote from a dead guy from another century:

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”   ― Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda

Beauty and Grandeur Once Again -- the Cajas National Park...

Beauty and Grandeur Once Again -- the Cajas National Park

After a recent hike in the Cajas, I was researching some potential areas for future hikes and ran across the following video. Not only is it a great demonstration of one of the positive uses for drone technology -- it amply captures some of the awesomeness of the Cajas. Of course, as with any place in nature, being in the picture gives one the most "wow."  But the Cajas never fails to delight at any scale -- from high above, as in this video, it's amazing -- but equally so, as you get closer, the wonderment only grows. Close-up, one can experience the infinite shades of emerald and turquoise lake waters, the profusion of tiny yellow, orange, blue, and purple flowers, or the rare but quite possible sight of a soaring hawk or condor.


What follows are a couple of pics from my most recent hike with a good friend. This area of the Cajas is actually outside the formal park boundary on the western side of the mountains near the village of Rio Blanco. It is also near Cerro Arquitectos, the highest peak in the Cajas at 14,656 ft. The final lake we arrived at on this day was about a 1,000 ft. lower than the highest peak. We're planning on heading towards "Architect's Hill" on a future day. Here's looking back on the second lake we climbed to:


An example of the quinoa trees and rocks we navigated on our way up:


 A lakeside quinoa tree and the crystal clear, blue and emerald waters:



And approaching the highest lake we got to -- there was no way beyond this lake without some heavy-duty climbing. The pattern of the icy winds, common at this altitude in the Cajas, plus the clouds blowing in fast from the east confirmed for us that wet cloud-cover would be moving in within a couple hours so we headed back down from here.




Some parts of the journey up were steep, through dense brush and trees and over rocks -- but at other times wide vistas would open up as we came over a rise to find elevated plateaus. In many places throughout the Cajas, one will find a series of lakes positioned in steps, ever higher, each one feeding the lakes below via streams meandering through these isolated plateaus:


We came down a different way than going up. Entering, we followed a cascading creek and had to find our way through trees and rocks. Even so, we made a 1k elevation gain in the first hour. Since it was our first time exploring this area, we wanted to get a broader lay of the land and the potential alternate routes for entering and exiting the area. Looking west towards Guayaquil, the view of horses grazing on the high plateau was a nice surprise.

What If This Happened in Your City?Passengers board a pla...

What If This Happened in Your City?

Passengers board a plane and are ready to depart but are then told the flight is cancelled due to bad weather. The cabin door is opened and everyone is instructed to de-board the plane. 

But outside the sky is clear and the day is beautiful. 
Some passengers call relatives and hear reports of beautiful weather in the destination city.  Passengers begin to grumble and ask the obvious question -- why cancel the flight when the weather is perfect in both places?  The only answer they get is a repeated instruction to get off the airplane because the flight has been cancelled. Passengers begin boo-ing and making catcalls. The cabin crew demands everyone leave the aircraft immediately but no one budges. It becomes clear - all of the passengers are refusing to get off the airplane. They demand the flight proceed as originally scheduled.

If this happened in your city, what do you suspect would happen next?
I will not speculate, even though I could.
I can only tell you what happened on July 22nd in Ecuador's capital city when this exact scenario played out --- 
--- the airline gave in, closed the cabin door, and reinstated the flight as originally planned.
Here's a photo of that flight upon arrival at its "bad weather" destination in Cuenca.


If this were your city, what would happen next to those passengers?
I will not speculate, even though I could.
I can only tell you what happened in Cuenca --
the passengers disembarked and went about their day;
some of them took the time to go to airport administration to register a formal complaint against the airline. 
The people felt empowered to stand firm for what they believed in.
And the government, airport, and airline authorities were willing to engage the people in a manner that respected the people's voice and had the wisdom to de-escalate to a resolution.

There were no SWAT teams in sight.
No elevated threat levels.
No airport lock downs.
No sensationalized media reports that nearby neighborhoods must "shelter in place."
No shock grenades.
No pepper spray.
No zip-ties of hands and feet.
No indictments for federal felony crimes.

Cajas at 14,200 ft.Hiking the Cajas can be relaxing or ad...

Cajas at 14,200 ft.
Hiking the Cajas can be relaxing or adventurous. The other day a good friend and I discovered the adventurous when we decided to blaze a new way back to the road. Instead of doubling back the way we came once reaching the target upper lakes at 13,000 ft, we decided to try a return via the ridge line to the east. Our plan was the cross the far ridge line and exit through the next valley. The only problem was, no matter how far down the ridge line we went, there didn't seem to be a reasonable way back down. We ended up traversing the whole ridge line at the 14k ft. level for several hours looking for a way back down. For added interest, there was a strong icy wind blowing out the east the entire time. Late in the afternoon, far past the time when we could have doubled back the way we came without leaving us up there in the dark, we decided the only way down was to tackle a steep slope. Luckily for us, the fog and drizzle didn't move in until we got back down to the road. We started the hike at 7:30am and was at it continuously except for 5-10 minute breaks until 6pm.

Exceptions can be difficult when learning a new language,...

Exceptions can be difficult when learning a new language, as my experience learning Spanish has demonstrated. Twisted and mostly forgotten in the passage on time, the reasons why exceptions exist are not always clear and yet we adhere to the rule of following those exceptions without protest or review.

I bought a new blanket in Cuenca, a very comfortable and warm blanket, perfect in every way --- except for one thing --- someone had written "Sheeps" all over the blanket, no doubt referring to the notion of "counting sheep" in order to fall asleep. 

I got the message even though the method of relaying it was obviously flawed. Inexplicably, the plural of sheep in English is sheep. A non-native speaker of English might easily be fooled into following the generalized rule of adding "s" to make such things plural. But in faithfully following the rule, without exception, this blanket manufacturer arguably produced a flawed blanket -- for the plural of sheep is an exception. 

And yet, ironically, in this case, the flaw imbued the blanket with a endearing kind of uniqueness, a reflection of the humanity in all of us that tries to understand all the things that remain elusive due to the exceptions rife in life.

I still bought the blanket and I still enjoy the blanket as a very warm and comfortable addition to my bed. I don't consider it flawed in any respect. It's the way I choose to view such things. The flaw would be to judge such things without factoring in the law of exceptions in life, if there is such a thing. Perhaps it isn't a law, no more than exceptions in the natural world are flaws that require a separate law to govern them. 

Instead of reducing life to rules and exceptions, maybe the truth lies in a third option - one that will forever go unnamed. Most things get names but in this case -- I make an exception.



"If Moses had gone to Harvard Law School and spent three years working on the Hill, he would have written the Ten Commandments with three exceptions and a saving clause."
Charles Morgan

"Everyone knows what a curve is, until he has studied enough mathematics to become confused through the countless number of possible exceptions."
Felix Klein

"A good teacher must know the rules; a good pupil, the exceptions."
Martin H. Fischer

"There are those whose sole claim to profundity is the discovery of exceptions to the rules."
― Paul Eldridge

"Systems are to be appreciated by their general effects, and not by particular exceptions."
― James F. Cooper

"Every fundamental law has exceptions. But you still need the law or else all you have is observations that don't make sense. And that's not science. That's just taking notes."
― Geoffrey West

"The fact that anytime you think you really know something, you're going to find out you're wrong - that is the rule. The moments where you think you have something figured out, those are the exceptions."
― Conor Oberst

"Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception."
― Carl Sagan

"Nature provides exceptions to every rule."
― Margaret Fuller

"Science does not permit exceptions."
― Claude Bernard

"The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions."
― Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“There’s always someone or something that will make you feel so strongly that you will go against everything you are ever taught or planned.”
― Beth Rinyu

“Miracles are exceptions principles are the rules.”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Be the exception, and be happy.”
― Marty Rubin

“How Ironic, when you do business you create exceptions to create new opportunities, when you write code (do a job) you handle exception to make it clean.”
― Pushkar Saraf

"There are two great rules of life; the one general and the other particular. The first is that everyone can, in the end, get what he wants, if he only tries. That is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is, more or less, an exception to the rule."
― Samuel Butler

"There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception."
― James Thurber

"There are no exceptions to the rule that everybody likes to be an exception to the rule."
― Charles Osgood

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception."
― Oscar Wilde

"Be the exception to the rule. It's the surest way to become exceptional."
― Ron Kaufman

Trees Come Down One From High River Water, Others Pr...

Trees Come Down 
One From High River Water, Others Proactively

In Cuenca, Ecuador - high river water undermined the roots of an eucalyptus tree overnight, causing it to fall across a roadway bridge onto utility lines. Luckily it fell at a late hour when there was no traffic so it didn't hit any cars. A work crew had to figure out how to remove the tree from the wires and get it off the bridge. To prevent future incidents like this, the crews also proactively removed another group of trees. A crew member climbed the trees to tie a rope high up so another man could pull it in the direction they wanted it to fall. Crew members also scurried across the river on the fallen trees to get things ready. Everything that fell into the river they then had to use a truck to pull out of the river, cut it all up, and then load for removal.

Waiting for my fajitas at a roadside restaurant in the co...

Waiting for my fajitas at a roadside restaurant in the countryside a half hour out of Cuenca, 
I notice a photo on the wall with the caption -- "Solo Borracho o Dormido, se me olvida lo JODIDO ."


Translation --- "Just drunk or asleep, I forget how fucked up."

Can you juggle four soccer balls at once?Can you bounce o...

Can you juggle four soccer balls at once?
Can you bounce one off your head and keep juggling?
Can you let one ball drop to the ground and kick it back in line with the rest?
Can you flip a ball behind your back and up overhead while juggling?

Would you do this in a crosswalk of a busy intersection at eight in the morning?
Would you do this in that crosswalk while it was cold and drizzling?
Would you stay out there for hours, repeating the same performance for each change of the light?
Would you have done this as a young teenager?
Would that teenager have done this not for fun but to try to earn money?
Would you walk the line of cars after each performance hoping for some spare change?

This morning I watched that teenager.
He was not large physically and looked undersized for the task but he was huge in spirit.

Cuenca is adorned with interesting street performers -- some juggle soccer balls, one in a crosswalk I saw juggle three machetes while spinning a basketball on top of an umbrella balanced on his chin, all while hurrying before the streetlight changed and the roar of cars, trucks, and buses passed him by. There are well-rehearsed break-dancer routines performed in sync by 2, 3, 4 dancers. Other surprises await around the corner.   

There is more than what some will see as only the desperation of poverty in play here.
It is not only what is done but how it's done that amazes and inspires. 
That amazement and inspiration can be found in the people of Cuenca.

Taking a Walk in Cuenca"We laugh at sheep because sheep j...

Taking a Walk in Cuenca
"We laugh at sheep because sheep just follow the one in front. Ah, stupid sheep! We humans have out-sheeped the sheep because at least the sheep need a sheepdog to keep them in line. Humans keep each other in line. And they do it by ridiculing or condemning anyone who commits the crime -- because that's what it's become -- of being different." -David Icke

TWO GRINGOS GO INTO AN ELEVATOR A gringo is riding an ele...

TWO GRINGOS GO INTO AN ELEVATOR
A gringo is riding an elevator up in a condo building in Cuenca.On the way up another gringo gets on.The gringo on the elevator smiles with a welcoming, "Hola!"
 The gringo getting on humorously answers, "Hola! Como estas?""Muy buen," comes the answer, plus, "Esta buen dia para ti?"
 "Si," is the reply, then hopefully, "Habla inglés usted?"This elicits a smile and the mournful answer, "Un poco, muy poco y lentamente."
 The two gringos have a laugh and the elevator doors open.The gringo exiting offers, "Que tengas un buen dia!"
 In return there's an appreciative nod and wave.
 And who says old gringos can't learn new tricks.True story.