Wonderful Wife and Mother

Mom died peacefully at 5:35 Saturday morning. She was 74.

The obituary in Sunday’s paper itemized a long list of accomplishments, from running garden clubs to missionary work in Haiti. There were many that weren’t listed, such as editing and writing for a small magazine, Hoosier Gal, when she lived in Indianapolis, and playing the cello.

Nor was her greatest accomplishment singled out— being a devoted and loving daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother. My earliest memories are of her helping me work puzzles, draw and color pictures, and write my first words, to name just a few. She was there through the following decades, almost taken for granted.

She will be missed.  1/13/03

Less Fear Not More

Remember when the Soviet Union disintegrated, nuclear physicists there were making ten bucks a month, and we were worried about suitcase atomic bombs falling into the hands of terrorists? There was no whisper of invading Russia to prevent that, yet hand-held nukes are much more terrifying than anything Saddam— at worst— is believed to have.

So why the rush to invade Iraq? Let’s at least wait until Saddam tries to attack or invade someone. That should be an indefinite wait— he likes his power and his palaces, and unlike previous to his Kuwait adventure and the Gulf War, he now knows that next time will definitely be the end of him.

Since other countries in the region have terrorists and are developing weapons, including atomic ones, after an unprovoked U.S. invasion of Iraq few Muslims would enjoy sleep, wondering if their country was next on our list.

We want to end— or at least reduce— fear, not create more of it.  1/29/03

Alternative To War

Instead of sending a message that terrorism doesn’t work, our going it alone in Iraq would tell the world that might makes right, precipitating an arms race the likes of which humankind has yet to see, with even the smallest nations scrambling for weapons— especially nuclear.

Every worried little tyrant would ask himself “Would the U.S. Administration have been as eager to invade Iraq if it was known that Saddam had half a dozen or so working nukes at his disposal?” then act accordingly.

Terrorism on the other hand would increase, fueled by Arab and Islamic bitterness over invasion and occupation, no matter how just the cause in our eyes. We would have no more ability to quash it worldwide than the Israelis have to quash Palestinian terrorist groups in their own backyard.

Saddam is an immediate and omnipresent menace— to his own people, to his neighbors, and to the world. Lets face it, the current inspections aren’t really working. The only reason we’re getting what we are is that he’s got the world’s strongest army hunkering over him, with a Texan cowboy in the saddle.

For us to back off now would appear unresolute— even skittish.

Yet there’s an alternative. Call it power containment. Containment with forced action— in this case, a program of disarmament.

There would be no one deadline, rather a series of deadlines. Outlawed weapons would be handled on an individual basis, as follows:

When intelligence determines that there is sufficient evidence for a weapon or weapon program, it is presented to the U.N. Security Council. If they see fit, a reasonable deadline is given for completely destroying or dismantling the weapon and/or program, to the satisfaction of inspectors.

In the event the deadline is not met, penal bombing is authorized to destroy specified facilities associated with the weapon, or— if facilities are indeterminate— specified compensatory facilities, in either case well in excess of voluntary disposal. Saddam is attacked en masse only if he attacks, invades a neighbor, or resumes genocide.

Casualties and collateral damage might be one percent or less that of full invasion. Sanctions, except those on weapons, would be lifted— to relieve human suffering, allow their citizens better access to outside information, and perhaps our intelligence organizations better access to inside information.

Our force buildup would eventually be reduced and rotated, perhaps years in duration. More doable than years of hostile occupation, and with the world as our partner.  3/15/03

Winning the Peace

We wish our troops the best of success, with a minimum of casualties on both sides and a speedy victory.

Some think that if Bush wins the war quickly, or even not so quickly, his decision to pursue invasion at this time would have been validated and his popularity unassailable— odd considering that with our power vis-á-vis Iraq, accompanied by the skill of our men and women in uniform, any other result would be an aberration.

The test of Bush as President and leader will be after the march into Baghdad. That is when the piper will have to be paid, in terms of the fear of other authoritarian governments and the fertilization of terrorism by increased Arab/Western acrimony, not to mention the intricacies posed by the occupation itself.

While it’s argued that our weapons and readiness to use them will deter potential terrorists and their supporters, people who feel mashed down, unjustly or not, have that much more impetus to fuel action with bitterness— nor has the prospect of even the certain loss of their own lives shown to have been much of an impediment.

Now that we’re invested in Saddam’s well-deserved riddance, we must play the hand out, fully supporting our soldiers and their mission, including President Bush in his role as Commander-in-Chief.

If there’s anyone to get sore at it is Al Gore who, unlike even Mondale during his famous 1984 debacle against Reagan, could not manage to garner his own state’s electoral votes.  3/23/03

Is Saddam in a Freezer?

Ever since the war started I’ve been telling friends that I think Saddam has been rallying his troops from inside a freezer, an unacknowledged victim of our first bombing strike.

Instead of fellow members of the Baath Party, his intimates would have names such as Oscar, last name Mayer, and Baskin-Robbins. Not at the morgue, which would needlessly risk discovery, but in a palace cooler, a butcher-paper mummy obscured by sausages and multi-flavors.

Let’s say that Saddam and his two sons were killed in that March 19th raid. Let’s also say that somehow we knew with at least 75% certainty that they were casualties. Imagine the possibilities.

Bush could have declared the war won, telling the Iraqis that the monster was decapitated and it was up to them to finish off the leadership and replace it with a government of their choosing. If they could do this and disarm to the satisfaction of inspectors within a specified deadline— say one to three months— any invasion would be called off.

Sure, the circle in power would have still tried to hide the missing tyrant. But if the deed was declared accomplished by the President it would have then been up to Baghdad to come up with a live Saddam, later if not sooner. The longer they stalled the greater the doubt— and their susceptibility to overthrow.

It could have gone down as the shortest and most brilliantly-waged war in history.

Even now there could be compensations, such as when desert-weary palace invaders from the 3rd Infantry go for ice-cream sandwiches, Ted Koppel on Nightline spectacularly albeit inadvertently correcting the most persistently-infamous embarrassment of Geraldo Rivera’s career, capturing every live second as the vault door opens.  4/4/03

An American Nightmare

We are at present the most powerful nation on earth. But let’s suppose for a moment that in the not-too-distant future we aren’t. The most powerful country is a fictional country that we’ll call Utopia.

Utopia isn’t happy with us for a number of reasons. After the explosion of an American-owned orbiting industrial module over their country kills thousands, their Prime Minister declares that we pose an immediate and present danger to the world— that our environmental and safety measures in space and on earth are inadequate.

Inadequate because our government is not truly democratic, that it’s run by corporations via their ability to donate to candidates’ election campaigns. While the candidates with the most money don’t always win, a sufficient proportion of them prevail to control critical votes.

Although attempts from within to break this impasse are continually blocked by the corporate-backed contingent, the Utopian P.M. demands that it be done, one way or another. When our President says that it can’t be done, the P.M. announces that the American people will be liberated, regrettably by force only if necessary.

While it had been a while since we’d invaded another country, and even longer since we practiced genocide (Native Americans), we remain one of the few nations that still allows the death penalty. In addition, although militarily no longer first, we have dangerous weapons, including hundreds of nukes— many times more than “required for defense.”

As like-minded countries join us in protesting the Utopian force buildup, we appeal to the United Nations, finding we have enough support to block a war resolution against us. Still the P.M. decides to go it alone, with one other military power and a contingent of light-duty allies.

The White House, Capitol, and Pentagon are bombed, along with enough other government buildings that order collapses into anarchy. Our museums are looted— art works and national treasures disappear, including the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Our nukes along with many of our other weapons are destroyed, and after we finally gain a new government that some but not all feel is better than the old the Utopians pack up and leave. Many nations cower, fearful of Utopian might. The world seems more dangerous, not less.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m deeply patriotic. I feel our government is the best in the world and our nation the greatest. I proudly display the flag on occasion. This hypothetical journey is to better understand feelings in people and cultures that might sometimes seem puzzling. We can’t walk in their shoes, but we can imagine.  5/23/03

Phone, Email Down

My telephone will be off for a while, including all of my email addresses except warrenfarr@hotmail.com. All my other addresses will accept mail but I won’t be able to read them until I can get phone service restored. I’ll check Hotmail remotely once or twice a week. If you want to reach me sooner, just stop by. I’m usually here.  7/15/03 (service restored 7/30)

Spammers are Thieves

Phone pitches can be No-Called; paper mailbox stuffings limited by the costs of printing and postage. The problem with spam is that comparatively it is incredibly cheap— for the sender. For the recipients it is proportionately extremely expensive, in time if nothing else.

While many spam emails go to dead addresses or are trapped by spam filters, the rest end up eating someone’s time, to hit the delete button if nothing else— say one to ten seconds. Averaging in the dead ones, we could conservatively estimate that each item consumes at least one second of someone else’s time.

It might cost a spammer only a few hundred dollars to send twenty million of these, yet on the receiving end they come to upwards of three person/years of labor, at two thousand hours per year. For forty-thousand-dollar-a-year employees, that’s well over a hundred grand in time alone that the spammers steal, apart from servers and bandwidth.

If spam can’t be eliminated in some way the next best thing would be charge a nickel “postage” for every unsolicited pitch or ad. The money could be used to give everyone in the world a free internet connection for life.  7/31/03

Killer Logos

I’ve designed a few logos, two or three of which, having been used extensively, perhaps could be called killers. That’s for others to decide.

Those aren’t the killer logos I’m referring to though. I’m talking about logos that can really kill, albeit cumulatively and quietly— degrade aesthetics, mitigate experience, and obfuscate information. Don’t think they are insignias of terrorist organizations or other malevolent entities, they’re nothing of the sort.

Have you guessed what logos I’m referring to? They are the logos of television networks.

Many of them are by themselves attractive enough. The problem is that while they didn’t used to be, now they’re always on the screen, down in the right hand corner.

Most of the time you tune them out. But when you do notice them, it’s because they are blocking something you don’t want anything in the way of— an immaculately-framed landscape for instance, or a Civil War photo that tells more than any book.

In the new high definition format— what little I’ve seen of it— the logos are even more troublesome, despite— or maybe because of— the wide, clear image. While on talking-head news shows, especially networks like C-Span, they are of little concern, they’re a bane on more visually-oriented material like PBS documentaries, and on movies.

If they were just during breaks they wouldn’t trouble. Notice though that the only times they are happily missing is during ads. Does television exist for the viewers or the advertisers?

Is the purpose of the logos to let you know what network you are on? In that case they could do like they used to, fade in after each break and disappear after a few seconds.

Is copyright protection the impetus? Then how about digitally encrypting the signal in a way not visible to the viewer at all.

Hopefully networks and stations will soon can this nonsense. In the meantime I don’t watch movies on networks with continual logos, other than the occasional must-see made-for-television flick that you can’t buy used, rent, or borrow from a library or friend.  9/11/03

Paint With Me

I’ve started offering private painting sessions to adults, oil or acrylic, beginner to intermediate levels. Students paint with me for a couple hours in my studio while I do my own work, offering assistance only as needed in an unstructured environment.

The goal is to help participants express what they want the way they want, rather than instill any particular approach, style, or technique. The times are adjusted where possible to fit their schedules, and per the informality of the sessions rates are reasonable. Apart from an easel, students furnish their own materials.

If you live in or convenient to Paducah, Kentucky and are interested email me at warren@warrenfarr.com or call 442-0903 for more info. A résumé of my accomplishments as an artist can be found here.

If you prefer a classroom setting I’m also planning a non-credit painting class at the college next semester, one evening each week for probably ten weeks. The class would be small (6-12 students) and like the private lessons loosely-structured, or as desired. Again email or call if interested.  10/13/03

Millionaire In Friends

Good and lasting friendships are worth more than money. By that standard I am up with Bill Gates.

Friday I hosted a mini-party, sans heat and decent liquor, just a little something to get the old gang back together on the occasion of Deon’s return visit from the desert (Arizona to be more specific). He is making a movie about me. Everyone needs friends who make movies about them.

Chad made it down from his spread in Goreville. As a soon-to-be design graduate of SIU he has already conceived and built a variety of useful, imaginative, and fun objects for around the house ;-).

Wes named his band after one of my paintings, UFO Diner. (Does that entitle me to half as many chicks as the drummer? I think not.) He has me over for rum, movies, South Park, and sometimes his latest musical composition.

I could go on but enough said. It’s in poor taste to flaunt wealth.  12/2/03