Jeremy Lin a Knick!

Knicks picked up Taiwanese American guard Jeremy Lin today. In all likelihood, Lin will fill in for injured rookie guard Iman Shumpert for now and be released before the February 10 deadline for non-guaranteed contracts to become guaranteed for the remainder of the season.

1/6/12 update: Oof. On New Year's Eve, Lin played 4 minutes to end the game and was awful against the Sacramento Kings back-up rookie point guard, 2011 60th pick Isaiah Thomas. Lin looked rushed, struggled mightily bringing the ball up against Thomas's pressure, got picked, after which he couldn't get rid of the ball fast enough after crossing the half-court line, and couldn't defend Thomas on the other end. Lin hasn't played since the Kings game and now Shumpert is back.

12/09/13 update: Lin's 31DEC11 struggle against Isaiah Thomas was misleading. Thomas has turned out to be a dynamic, difficult-to-guard NBA PG in spite of his low draft position.

Eric

Cool website of the day: Who is that hot ad girl?

Ever wonder the name of an eye-catching yet non-celebrity girl featured in a television ad? If you have, this website might have your answer.

Eric

New York City says Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas

As seen from my window and the street below my window, the Empire State Building displays Hannukah and Christmas colors on Christmas Day, 2011:



Eric

Broadway show Anything Goes is racist

Yesterday, I caught the matinee performance of Anything Goes now playing at the Stephen Sondheim (formerly Henry Miller) theater. The Sondheim theater, refurbished and modernized in 2005, is a sleek, comfortable venue. The 2011 Tony Award-winning revival is a richly crafted production, and the leads and supporting cast delivered polished performances. Sutton Foster, playing Reno Sweeney, justified her reputation as a top Broadway star. Foster impressed as a musical theater actress at the top of her game with a demanding display of her acting, singing, and dancing triple-threat abilities.

And oh, by the way, Anything Goes is racist.

Andrew Cao and Raymond J. Lee portray a pair of newly Christian-converted Chinese gamblers named "Luke" and "John" ("Ching" and "Ling" in the original 1934 production). Luke and John are early-20th-century Chinese caricatures with stereotyped garb, speech, and behavior, and serve as comic foils for the non-Asian main characters. In Luke and John's final scene, they are duped into giving their Chinese clothes to cellmates Moonface Martin and Billy Crocker, so they in turn can act out the final racist wedding scene. Raymond J. Lee's John, in particular, is a painful display of yellow face (our version of black face).

It's bad enough when non-Asians or non-American Asians perpetuate anti-Asian racism in American popular culture, but it's disgusting when our Asian American brothers and sisters actively participate in betraying their own. I don't understand how Raymond J. Lee can look himself in the mirror after his nightly betrayal of Asian men. Maybe he's paid a lot. Maybe Asian actors are grateful for any stage role, no matter how demeaning, that's set aside for Asian actors. Maybe Lee can't afford to turn down a job on a top Broadway show. Maybe Lee, who is Korean, rationalizes that he's insulting Chinese men every day rather than Korean men.

Eric

Kim Jong Il has died

Big news. His successor is his 20-something-year-old son, Kim Jong Un. I imagine every S2 in Korea is working on a brief right now.

Now what for north Korea?
A. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
B. north Korea seeks rapprochement and a soft landing with South Korea.
C. Something new that's characteristically aggressive of a 20-something-year-old dictator.
D. New leader loses control and north Korea implodes and collapses.

Eric

Army Captain Travis Patriquin "remember the name"

CBS News's David Martin gives an American soldier his due: "The first glimmerings of the awakening can be traced to one American soldier. Army Capt. Travis Patriquin. Remember the name."



I read about CPT Patriquin and his famous Powerpoint presentation on the mil-blogs when he was killed. CPT Patriquin's friend (now) MAJ Chad Pillai wrote a tribute at Small Wars Journal. Another tribute by (now) LT David Pyle. I should check out this book about him.

Eric

Abandoning allies in Iraq

Upsetting. Can I do anything about it? I should ask them.

Eric

Modular concept of Columbia ROTC+

What will the new Columbia Navy ROTC program look like?

The agreement signed by Columbia President Lee Bollinger and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has not been released to the public. All our information about the form of the new Columbia NROTC program is from official accounts of the 26MAY11 signing ceremony:

Under the agreement, first announced on April 21, the NROTC program will have an office on Columbia’s campus and active duty Navy and Marine Corps officers will meet with Columbia NROTC midshipmen during routinely scheduled office hours. Navy and Marine Corps-option midshipmen will participate in NROTC through a unit hosted at SUNY Maritime College in Throgs Neck, NY.

Here are transcripts of President Bollinger's speech and Secretary Mabus's speech from the signing ceremony.

The basic premise of the modular concept is that delegating the required NROTC training to SUNY Maritime allows the ROTC components on the Columbia campus to be customized to Columbia ROTC+. The modular concept builds on my suggestions for Columbia ROTC designers and builders. Also see Blueprint for Columbia ROTC.

The long-term goal is ROTC programs fully manifested on the Columbia campus. Establishing a complete ROTC program on campus is the practical way for the program to develop a Columbia identity, interact with the University community, and most importantly, build up Columbia ROTC student numbers. I had hoped the provisional Columbia NROTC program would use an extension model (training on campus - headquarters at SUNY Maritime) to maximize presence on campus and access for students. However, indications are pointing to a less visible, less accessible commuter model (office on campus - training at SUNY Maritime).

My modular formulation of Columbia ROTC is based on the principle of making lemonade from lemons or, in this case, making the most out of a crosstown commuter arrangement with SUNY Maritime NROTC with an NROTC-staffed office on the Columbia campus. Under the circumstances, a unified hybrid Columbia ROTC+ program entirely located on the Columbia campus may not be realistic at start-up, whereas a loosely interlocking modular approach can reasonably be achieved with a crosstown commuter arrangement at start-up.

In the short term, the modular concept is actually helped by a physical separation between the Columbia campus and the NROTC foster-parent unit at SUNY Maritime. What's needed is just enough formal ROTC presence on campus to provide focus and direction, and stake out the ROTC space on campus, without defining or filling the ROTC space. We also need the NROTC officers at Columbia to be entrepeneurs willing to facilitate filling the ROTC space on campus with Columbia-defined programming or, at least, Columbia-modified NROTC programming.

The modular concept of Columbia ROTC+ has 3 parts:

Part 1 (off campus). Mandatory NROTC training. Ease the cross-campus demands on students for training at SUNY Maritime as much as possible; the more NROTC requirements students can fulfill at Columbia the better. The bulk of non-adjustable NROTC training will likely remain at SUNY Maritime. I suspect there isn't much tolerance for local experimentation in the mandated NROTC components because Columbia Naval and Marines officers must graduate with the same basic training as all Naval and Marines officers. In order to lessen the cross-campus burden on students, heighten ROTC presence on the Columbia campus, and persistently expose students to ROTC, I recommend replacing the non-mandatory NROTC programming at SUNY Maritime with ROTC+ programming on Columbia's campus.

Part 2 (on campus). Alexander Hamilton's Hearts of Oak. On my suggestions page, I suggest a user-driven creative laboratory space for Columbia ROTC students within the available space allowed by formal ROTC and school commitments. For science fiction fans, I analogized this lab space to Ender Wiggins's launchie practices in Battle School (see Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game). More aptly, the tradition I want to revive with CU ROTC+ is that of Alexander Hamilton and his King's College classmates taking ownership of their military development with Hearts of Oak, innovating their own approach to soldiering, and looking ahead by adopting the most sophisticated and strategic weapon of their day - the king of battle, artillery. While I trust French and Indian War veterans, such as George Washington, and European veterans polished his conventional soldiering skills once he joined the regular army (analogous to the required training at SUNY Maritime), Alexander Hamilton the Army officer was first formed as a self-actualizing Hearts of Oak man.

If we truly believe Columbia ROTC students have unparalleled potential and exceptional collective intelligence, then let's give them the lab space to create, experiment, and look ahead, by their own faculties. I want Columbia ROTC graduates to stand out as leaders who have taken ownership of their profession and rebel thinkers who have been innovating as Alexander Hamilton's intellectual heirs since they were students. When future geopolitical challenges catch other military leaders by surprise, Columbia ROTC graduates should be ready to give new answers for new questions.

Part 3 (on campus). ROTC+. We have barely explored the potential of mobilizing the 21st century Ivy League university to prepare officers for an era in which an agile versatile military is as important as a disciplined technically proficient military. Columbia also provides an ideal setting for students to explore the ethos of American military leadership. With the NROTC foster-parent unit headquartered on a remote campus, what innovative ROTC+ programming can Columbia professors develop for ROTC students under their own domain? Freed of the mandated ROTC curriculum, what ROTC+ programming can campus NROTC officers create collaboratively with Columbia professors? Academic course credit can be used as an objective standard for campus ROTC+ programming.

In the modular concept, campus NROTC officers provide just enough focus and direction to stake out ROTC space on campus, then facilitate Part 2 (Hearts of Oak) and Part 3 (ROTC+) filling and defining the ROTC space. A benefit of separating the NROTC foster-parent unit from the campus is that Columbia Army and Air Force cadets could then join with Columbia Navy midshipmen on campus in Columbia-defined Part 2 and Part 3, which the cadets could be dissuaded from doing if all ROTC activity on campus was contained within a formal NROTC program.

Secondary benefits:

4. Educating the campus. Columbia ROTC advocates have stressed the engagement and educational roles of ROTC. However, while conventional ROTC (as opposed to theoretical ROTC+) indeed has campus engagement and educational features, its primary mission is training, not reaching out to the campus community. I believe the combination of a structurally sufficient yet not overbearing formal ROTC presence on campus, Columbia ROTC student-driven experimentation, and professor-driven innovation can produce uniquely customized engagement and educational opportunities for the University community that are characterized by Columbia entities rather than the military.

5. Pipeline. The future of war and peace and global leadership for America is highly uncertain right now. We know, however, that the Columbia graduates serving in the Navy and Marines will be tasked to manage whatever geopolitical crises arise. Columbia's Army and Air Force officers will be on call, too. We should aim to produce the best mentally prepared officers, but even that may not be enough to manage unanticipated complex situations. If Part 2 and Part 3 become robust on campus, Columbia officers on the ground 'over there' who are stumped and need solutions quickly will then have the option of reaching back to Columbia with real-world based "scenarios", either whole or in part depending on security need. Columbia ROTC students could then pool their intellects and team with interested professors, graduate-student officers, milvets, and even alumni to rapidly work on the scenarios and upload solutions to the Columbia officers anxiously waiting on the ground. Such a pipeline would boost the professional development of Columbia ROTC students, add value to ROTC+, strengthen the bonds of the Columbia military community, and assist Columbia officers in their real-world work.

As the Provost's NROTC advisory committee fleshes out the new program, it matters for Columbia ROTC advocates to have already envisioned what the Columbia NROTC program should look like. Once we have that picture in mind, we'll know how to advise the formation process.

The proper direction is a steady increase of ROTC presence on campus with eventually full ROTC programs at Columbia. A full ROTC program on campus is preferable to an extension ROTC program on campus, and an extension ROTC program on campus is preferable to a crosstown commuter arrangement.

Until Columbia acquires ROTC programs fully manifested on campus, I believe the modular concept of Columbia ROTC+ can work with a crosstown commuter arrangement.

Eric

Cool website of the day: reddit

Reddit looks like a working, infinitely expandable, high traffic, no frills, user driven, content based, on-line community - a revolution in communication, as I say on my blog description.

Eric

Thoughts of the day

I really need to be studying for finals, but the closer I get to my JD, the less certain I am that I want to be a practicing attorney. Some parts of the profession appeal to me. Other parts of it very much turn me off.

I often tack stray thoughts of the day onto my last Thoughts of the day post, which in this case was in June. When I found myself tacking four thoughts today onto a June post, I figured it was time to start a new Thoughts of the day. My last post about zombie dreams and black swans could have been included in this post, but since that post began life as a free-standing post about Wretchard's comments about Nassim Taleeb's recent CFR article, I kept it as its own post. I should think about signing on to Twitter seeing as these accreting thoughts of the day posts are basically a poor man's twitter feed.

I'm featured in a 2-part Spec article (here and here) on the MilVets origin story. There are several factual detail inaccuracies, which I may correct someday on my blog, but the gist of the story is right.

Summary of what I was as a CU student activist: visionary, activist, recruiter, planner, organizer, operations chief, communicator, facilitator, writer. Guided by intuition. Ideas from inspiration. My DNA was in the movement and my fingerprints were on it. Conflict resolver when I wasn't a party to the conflict. Self-conscious leader. Capable administrator. Averse to bureaucracy. Ambivalent socializer. Weak politician.

Game on: The Columbia Provost's NROTC implementation committee has formally begun its work. My blueprint for Columbia ROTC, with much of its content taken from the Harvard ROTC blueprint, has stood up well since its writing. I hope it's useful for the program designers. I'm considering putting up my suggestions and modular approach on SN, too.

Observation about declining Italian demographics applies to CU ROTC student headcount, too: The Catholic Church asserts, Bagnasco said, that “demographic balance is not only necessary for the physical survival of a community – which without children has no future – but is also a condition for that alliance between generations that is essential for a normal democratic dialectic.”

Popular Mechanics (link from reddit) describes the "error chain" of the 2009 Air France 447 crash as mostly due to extreme pilot error. A crew of highly trained professional pilots flying a functioning state-of-the-art Airbus330 in moderately challenging but ordinary circumstances disintegrated into psychological chaos and made baffling errors that resulted in 228 deaths. It's astonishing that basic human panic overwhelmed the most advanced systemic and technological safeguards to crash that plane. More from the author about the psychology of the doomed pilots, particularly Pierre-Cédric Bonin. On last night's Top Chef: Texas, experienced professional chef Whitney Otawka was eliminated for serving undercooked, even raw, potato gratin to the judges, a surprisingly elementary cooking error. In a TV Guide interview today, Otawka gave some telling insights about her state of mind: You know when you're in those situations under so much pressure that your brain doesn't think linearly? [Laughs] My thought process was off. . . . You have to imagine that you're not in your own kitchen, so you're totally not acclimated to everything around you. And then there are 13 of us running into each other. There's so much stress that it carries over into how you're cooking and I go back to that non-linear thought process. Your brain is just bouncing around in a million directions. You look back and you're like, "Oh my gosh! What was I doing?" It takes an exceptional mind to immediately master chaos and make correct decisions when a situation has gone off pattern, alien or unexpected inputs are bombarding the senses, and instant decisions are required with serious consequences. A normal response is panicked brain freeze. These accounts make me feel a little better about my choke job in the Baker final that possibly cost my team the win, but it's no less disconcerting that experienced, respected, skilled professionals also make disastrous mistakes under stress.

American Horror Story is captivatingly good in its 1st season. Showrunner Ryan Murphy, however, has a history of new shows that grab and excite audiences by pushing the envelope with richly crafted, aggressively imaginative stories but then lose their way in their 2nd seasons. See Glee and Nip/Tuck, and think of a souffle made with the best ingredients that puffs up impressively, then collapses. Supposedly, American Horror Story will try to solve the 1-season-hit problem by starting over with a new cast and storyline in Season 2. Freeze Season 1 at its peak of ripeness and begin a new journey. If that's true, 1 year blocks are an innovative, not inelegant, and self-aware compromise by someone who understands the sustainable limits of his process but seeks to preserve the special strengths of his creative bursts. 1/2/2012 add: Entertainment Weekly Popwatch offers solid 'post-mortem' thoughts and information.

MTV's Beavis and Butthead is must-watch stuff, smart, sarcastic, and bitingly incisive. It would have been cool to have watched the show in its first go-around. Interesting how Mike Judge's other famous show, King of the Hill, is so different in tone from Beavis and Butthead.

Look beyond positions. Look at interests, leverage, and incentives.

Zenpundit posts some interesting thoughts on strategic thinking.

Having the power to open Pandora's box doesn't always mean you have the power to close it. But you can quit and leave the mess for others.

Dick Proenneke of the awe-inspiring Alone in the Wilderness films was The Man.

New Red Sox and ex-Mets manager Bobby Valentine reminds me of me.

Interesting observational "slashes" by a conservative Finnish blogger, translated.

Good point about irony and detachment becoming valued over sincerity and conviction in popular culture.

Nice guys do finish last. But I knew that already.

Oh boy. I've done this.

True: "A friendly, non-shit testing 7 with a slender figure is like the holy grail to 70% of the world’s men."

Interesting blog by a pro-feminine (not pro-feminist) wife who takes issue with The Surrendered Wife, which she says goes too far in the opposite extreme from militant feminism.

Another criticique of feminist teachings: The Cost of Delaying Marriage.

Play Shaggy's It Wasn't Me as a backdrop while reading these depressing caught-my-SO-cheating testimonials on Reddit.

Project Runway designer babes: Season 3's Alison Kelly, Season 5's Kenley Collins (returning in the 2012 "all-star" season). In their seasons, Alison was sweet and Kenley was brassy.

Antoni Gramcsi is credited with a compelling poli sci theory.

Eric

Zombies and black swans

I have vivid dreams when I'm anxious and depressed. It's like my brain uses dreams to burn up whatever excessive neuro-chemicals are producing - or are a product of - my anxiety and depression. Almost all my dreams are dramatic stories that relate to whatever is triggering my anxiety. I very rarely have frightening dreams. But occasionally, I have scary nightmares with a particular theme: being closely chased by zombies.

I want a "comfy and cosy" life where I can assume comfort, familiarity, certainty, stability, and security. I avoid conflict. I dislike change. I can deal with a boring life. At minimum, I need somewhere to hide, a cave where I can escape the world. I believe the zombie nightmares express my fear of my safe world stripped away and replaced by a dangerous existence with no safe zone and nowhere to hide, where I'm targeted and chased by angry things actively seeking to harm me, and my only choices are fight or flight.

Last night, I dreamt about a zombie apocalypse. I tried to hide from the growing danger in an apartment by closing the shades and hoping to be overlooked. I didn't know how long I could hold out because I wasn't supplied - the apartment was not a fortified self-sufficient castle. I thought I could at least be safe for the moment. However, the emergency response authorities opened the shades and revealed me to the zombies before the authorities lost control of the situation. The zombies easily broke into the apartment and I was forced to run.

I may be particularly sensitive and anxious, but I'm not unique in my wants and fears. Increasing centralization and government regulation have been human reactions intended to assure constituencies that the risks and uncertainties of the world have been minimized. That's fine if they work. According to an interesting Belmont Club post commenting on CFR article The Black Swan of Cairo, however, our national sense of security is actually a thin fragile veneer on the breaking point. The sweeping centralized social measures of the 20th century have actually increased the threat by making false promises of security, increased fragility by displacing granular resilience, and hidden growing threats until they explode. Upcoming book America 3.0 also speaks about the failure of America 2.0's 20th century institutions and advocates for a technologically networked decentralized 21st century society more reminiscent of America 1.0 to replace them.

If zombies are the stuff of my sleeping nightmares, then black swans scare me while I'm awake.

Eric