Saturday, April 24, 2010

Californication and the Classics

Dr. Victor Davis Hanson posted "The Remains of a California Day" yesterday. The prolific professor (Stanford University; classics) and author is a descendant of multi-generations of California farmer-grape growers and has an emotional attachment to the land and the state of his ancestry. In this piece he chronicles an average day in his state, commenting on the small encounters that represent a huge shift in the nature and culture of California -- a shift that saddens him deeply. He then writes,
All of which raises the question: how would we return to sanity in California, a state as naturally beautiful and endowed and developed by our ancestors as it has been sucked dry by our parasitic generation?
His long list of recommendations would serve California well, and, in principle, any other state in the union.

I was most struck by his warm reflections on the CSU-Fresno library which he visited that day -- a million-volume library that is one of the best in California, which is nonetheless being transformed into a student-centered hangout, complete with Starbucks. He saw three students reading, about a hundred surfing, texting, watching, and chatting -- a library that no citizen of Alexandria would recognize.

But it was this paragraph that caught my attention:
The newly expanded and modernized library — thanks to the generosity of a local Indian gaming casino—is in the material sense, quite impressive. But even without the massive addition, the early 1980s library was a sui generis, the unique creation of the Europhilic scholar Henry Madden, whose postwar acquisition trips to Europe had ensured the nearly 1 million volume library was among the very best in California (where else in these parts can one find something like the 83-volume Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, the most complete encyclopedia of the classical world in existence — in German?).
First published in 1839 (and continually updated), Pauly-Wissowa has been unavailable to English-only readers (like me) for nearly two centuries. Der Neue Pauly (The New Pauly), an updated German edition of Pauly-Wissowa, began to be published in 1996 and an English translation has followed, Volume 1 appearing in English in 2002 (New Pauly—Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World).

Projected to be 20 volumes, the first 16 or so are now available. (You can view them at Eisenbraun's -- do a title search for "New Pauly".)

Several years ago, when I learned that New Pauly was coming in English, I bought the first three volumes as they appeared. To have the complete 20 volumes would not rival the 83 volumes of the original German Realencyclopädie, but it would contain the finest, most timely scholarship on the ancient Greek and Roman worlds in existence. And it would be in English!

Then the bottom dropped out of the dollar against the Euro, making the Dutch-published New Pauly volumes prohibitively expensive (they now average around $350 per volume). And my plans to purchase the entire set went on hold. So reconciled did I become to never being able to afford to complete the set that I listed my three volumes for sale (not auction) on eBay for half their current price. They didn't sell (though they were a bargain) -- as I recall, they weren't even viewed during the month they were listed, meaning no one was looking to find affordable copies. So I still have them.

While I was disappointed they didn't sell, I wasn't surprised -- any more than Victor Davis Hanson would be surprised to find dust collecting on the 83 volumes of the Realencyclopädie in the USC-Fresno library, ignored by students too busy texting to access classical texts. Seeing the greatest reservoir of information on the classical world go untouched in a California university library (except by people like Hanson), and on eBay, surely is a sign of the times. (In his article, Hanson doesn't say the Fresno set goes untouched, but I'm thinking that English-challenged students don't access the German Realencyclopädie that often.)

Is there a correlation between the drought of culture in California (and on eBay) and the famine of accessing history's classic ideas of civilization?

I'm glad to keep my volumes. While the articles are intimidating, I know they deserve to be read for their power to stretch my thinking beyond that of the Californication world in which we live. Who knows -- perhaps the dollar will gain strength against the Euro some day and I can complete the set. That's more likely to happen in my children's or grandchildren's lifetimes, if ever, than in mine. The same policies that will keep that from happening are the policies V. D. Hanson laments having corrupted his beloved homeland. While he weeps for California, our founding fathers and mothers weep for the land they once knew and now see slipping slowly away.

I'll Be "Back"

Posting has been slow this past week due to lower-back problems and my resulting inability to sit at the computer for extended periods. Like a huge proportion of Americans, I wrestle with occasional belt-level (lower back) pain. My father wore a back brace during and after his Air Force days as a pilot. I must have inherited his structural imperfections given my history, and my son Daniel has suffered occasional bouts (though he has become religious in his attention to proper lifting -- i.e., squat-to-lift -- techniques and remains mostly pain-free).

I recall like it was yesterday jogging with my friend, Joey Falkner, in his quiet, hilly Birmingham neighborhood, somewhere around 1970 -- and the pain I felt shoot through my lower-left-back -- right where I feel it today -- while running up a steep hill (trying to keep up with my fleet-of-foot friend). Uncle Sam paid for surgery at Walter Reed Hospital while I was in the Army (1973) which cleaned out the deteriorated pieces of the disc between the L5 and S1 vertebrae, which relieved the horrific sciatic nerve pain with which all low-back folks are familiar. Surprisingly, the Army also awarded me a 20% service-related disability and has sent me a small check each month since 1974. (I once calculated what I would have accumulated, with interest, had I saved that check every month from then 'til now -- it's more painful to think about than my back pain -- but I digress.)

Since the surgery, I've managed pretty well with only occasional bouts of weakness. I usually don't know what brings them on, but they almost always account for a week of inactivity -- off my feet, spending the day on the floor reading while doing some exercises, etc. I'm at the end of one of those weeks now, and feeling better. (It hasn't been all bad -- I've lost 7-8 pounds from not eating much -- subsisting just on miso soup and juices from my Jack LaLanne juicer -- a great product I have written about before.)

I am anticipating the arrival today of this product -- the Holy Grail for back pain sufferers: a Teeter Hang-Ups EP-950 Inversion Table. I've had one of these before and it worked wonders, but I sold it after I went a few years without any significant back trouble. Bad move. I will likely keep this one for the rest of my life -- for now and for the future, just in case.

The table allows you to lock your feet into the bottom stirrups, lay back on the mesh "table," and assume a position from horizontal (pressure off the back) to 180 degrees inverted -- hanging free, upside down. It's this latter position that is so therapeutic as it allows your spinal column to decompress, taking pressure off discs and nerves. (One is usually a quarter to a half-inch taller after a session, but gravity quickly restores you to normal height.)

This table (and other competing products, I suppose -- but this one seems to command the largest following) really works. I ordered this from Amazon where 70 reviewers have given it a solid 5-star rating. With Amazon Prime the shipping was free, and two-day shipping was only $3.99. Having used one successfully for a couple of years, I didn't think twice about ordering it -- I've got to get back to work.

Have you not joined Amazon Prime yet? I recall Jon Stewart harassing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about Amazon Prime on his TV show:

Bezos: "Join Amazon Prime for $78 and you get free shipping for a year!"
Stewart: "$78 for free shipping? That's not free!"
Bezos: "HA HA HA HA HA!!"

But A.P. is worth it when you order lots of stuff from Amazon, especially these kinds of large, heavy items. Two-day shipping for $3.99? Come on!

Seriously, if you or a loved one needs back relief, consider a Hang-Ups table. (And a shout out to Ben Bradford for my introduction about six years ago.)

P.S. I am also committing to a new resolve yoga-Pilates type exercises to strengthen my core (as well as converting to Daniel's squat-to-lift religion), something biking and rowing don't do very well. I even bought a yet-as-unopened "Yoga for Back Pain" DVD a couple years ago during my last bout. I suppose it's time to open it, right?

Update: The Hang-Ups arrived at 10:00 a.m. this morning. Ordered Thursday night, received it Saturday morning -- a 50" x 30" x 8" box weighing 79 pounds -- for $3.99 shipping (Amazon Prime price). The FedEx lady couldn't believe it. I became a devoted Amazon.com fan not long after they opened for business in 1994 and haven't strayed since -- for reasons like this.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Plant-based School Lunches

Wow -- this is an IMPRESSIVE young lady -- Nina Gonzalez -- a vegan high school student in Virginia who campaigned for her school district to offer plant-based options for school lunches. She was successful, and has testified before Congress about her efforts. This ABC News interview is with her and Dr. Jay Gordon, a plant-based pediatrician in California who has served as a health consultant to ABC News (he is not as well-known as some of the other plant-based M.D.'s, but should be). How could they have not zoomed in and shown the impact of a plant-based diet on the saturated fat in the test tubes Dr. Gordon presented?

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

North Carolina, Amazon, Taxes, and Personal Privacy

My home state of North Carolina, never a state to allow a penny of potential tax revenue to go uncollected, is one of a dozen or so states that requires citizens to disclose the total dollar amount of out-of-state purchases made each year (e.g., catalog and Internet purchases) and pay sales tax on those purchases via the annual state tax return. While it's the law in NC, it's a voluntary disclosure since the state has no way of tracking one's purchases. The lady who does my income taxes every year says I'm one of the few (maybe the only one) of her clients who ever discloses their out-of-state purchases; most NC residents ignore the requirement and don't pay the taxes.

The trend identified by my CPA must be irritating the NC authorities and they are taking steps to find out exactly what NC residents purchase. Recently, NC tax officials journeyed to the headquarters of Amazon.com in Seattle and demanded that Amazon provide full details on nearly 50 million purchases made from Amazon.com by NC residents between 2003 and 2010.

To their credit, Amazon told 'em to stick it -- and filed a lawsuit this past Monday to block the NC demand on the grounds that it violates the privacy and First Amendment rights of Amazon's customers.

As most people have discovered, if an online retailer has a presence in a state (e.g., Wal-Mart, Target, and many, many others) the retailer is required to collect sales tax when a purchase is made online at the company's web site, just as tax is collected when you make a purchase in the local store. But Amazon has no such presence in NC. Amazon's referral program, which allows people with web sites or blogs to collect a small referral fee for purchases made via a referral from a web site, was discontinued by Amazon in NC in 2009 when the NC State Legislature passed a law forcing Amazon to collect sales tax on referrals coming from within the state. Again, Amazon told 'em to stick it -- and discontinued the referral program in this state. (Thanks, NC -- way to promote commerce.)

Time will tell who will win the current battle between Amazon and NC. But it is a sign of the times. Cash-strapped states are going to do whatever it takes to dig deeper into citizens' pockets for their loose change. NC is not alone in this -- Colorado has already enacted a law requiring online retailers to disclose the total dollar amount of purchases made by its citizens (but not the details of the purchases).

You can read the details of this developing trend here at CNET.com.

[So as not to appear naive, I'm the first to acknowledge that the Internet has provided a free lunch for consumers for the last decade by allowing purchases to be made without paying local and state sales taxes. States have lost hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue they would otherwise have received. The Internet has been a disruptive innovation (to paraphrase Harvard's Clayton Christensen) which demands a solution in terms of the sales tax revenue gap. But the heavy-handed approach of North Carolina to Amazon -- "We demand to know who has purchased what from your company!" -- is unlikely to be the solution. Colorado's approach -- total purchase figures without details -- seems more reasonable. The bottom line is that the decade-long free lunch for consumers is coming to a close. If you live in a state that does not currently require your online purchase information, I would start stocking up now. The days of tax-free purchases are numbered.]

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

"Food, Inc" Movie on PBS Wednesday Night

If you haven't seen the documentary Food, Inc. you can watch it for free Wednesday night (April 21). It airs on most PBS stations nationwide at 9:00 p.m. "Check your local listings." It thoroughly exposes how the American food system is now dominated by corporations and politics.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Signs the Apocalypse Is Upon Us

I don't really think the Apocalypse is upon us -- yet -- but I always liked that title line. The source escapes me for the moment (perhaps one of you will jog my memory). It appeared regularly in a publication I read to highlight bizarre things going on in our culture and world.

Things are getting a bit more scary rather than bizarre -- the impact of the Icelandic volcano, I mean. I subscribe to a view of the future based in Scripture that predicts a seven-year period of upheaval on earth called the Tribulation, described mainly in the book of Revelation. Painful and cataclysmic events will destroy much of planet earth and a large part of the population. I've always wondered what news headlines in that day will look like. When I saw this set of headlines on the Drudge Report this morning it provided a glimpse into the future:


"I saw the earth explode" could have been written by the apostle John himself as he recorded the revelation he had of the future. Thankfully, I also subscribe to the view that Christ's true followers will have been removed from planet earth before said chaos ensues, a view which grows more comforting with each passing headline (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).