Author: R J Adams

My apologies for the dearth of posts lately, and my tardiness responding to comments. The approaching trip to Wales mentioned in an earlier post has consumed my time, due to the technological tangle of communications equipment and services needing to be unraveled, in order to maintain a reasonable level of contact with my wife who will remain behind in the States.

Admittedly, one cellphone might suffice, were it not that certain areas of Wales are left bare of network coverage by some providers, plus I want to use my laptop for emails and general surfing while away.

Roaming charges make the cost prohibitive, and have resulted in the purchase of a new quad-band cellphone, additional “non-roaming” sim cards, and the rental of a multi-network data card for the computer.

With hindsight, it may have been less expensive to have simply paid the roaming charges.

OK, I know some geek is about to point out that had I just purchased such-and-such for $2.50 it would have managed all my needs for under tuppence an hour, but phone technology has never been my forte. I hark from an era when you stuck your finger in a hole, spun the dial half a dozen times and held a heavy, bakelite receiver to your ear. The concept of doing more than answering or receiving calls on a telephone is still foreign to my senses. After all, it’s only of late I’ve mastered engaging with the internet on a computer, which at least was designed for the purpose. Now I have to learn how to do it on a piece of plastic smaller than my hand, with a screen requiring a magnifying glass to read.

It’s all too much. Sometimes I just long for those heady childhood days with two old bean cans and a long length of string.

Life was so much simpler, then.

Filed under: Time saving technologies

The case of the fifteen sailors detained by Iran for allegedly straying into Iranian territorial waters is shaming both America and the UK. The belligerence presently being spouted by both nation’s leaders can do nothing but rack up tensions and prevent any hope of an early release for those concerned.

Tony Blair and George Bush have each expressed disgust that the British sailors were “paraded on Iranian television”, a somewhat hypocritical stance given the many Middle Eastern prisoners held and tortured in secret CIA prisons, the debacle of Abu Ghraib, and the oft televised “detainees” held for five years without trial at Guantanamo Bay detention center. We are all too familiar with their bright orange jumpsuits thanks to CNN, NBC, ABC, and a host of other networks, including the BBC.

Both Blair and Bush are responsible for crimes against humanity, so their theatrical, self-righteous, posturing can hardly be taken seriously by their own countrymen – although there will always be those with a misplaced sense of nationalism, ready to jump on any militarist bandwagon – let alone the Iranians.

Why are some Iranians protesting on the streets of Tehran, demanding the trial – and in some cases, execution – of the British sailors? They are simply Iranian equivalents of the Americans and British who scream for Iranian blood over this issue. In all cases, a vocal minority hyped up by the media of all three countries.

Today, in Britain, Terry Waite – himself held hostage in Lebanon for five years – offered to travel to Iran and negotiate for the release of the British detainees. He insisted he would not go as an envoy of the British government, but as a private individual to negotiate in a humane and non-confrontational manner.

No nation can ever be more mature than the leader it elects. Tony Blair and George Bush display the wisdom of delinquent second-graders trying to retrieve their ball, taken from them by an overdeveloped kindergarten kid.

Perhaps one day, our nations may be wise enough to elect leaders with the maturity and wisdom of Terry Waite.

Filed under: Kiddies playing politics

What is it with Americans and cancer? Every night this week NBC Nightly News has run another pathetic, embarrassingly nerve-tingling, segment extolling the virtues of ‘celebs’ who have ‘battled’ the dreaded BIG “C”.

“It’s Making a Difference,” quoth Brian “the overly-sentimentalist” Williams, as yet another “survivor” recalls their courageous endeavors to overcome the enemy within, desperate to rob its victim of life itself. Nothing is said of the vast sums of money these well-stashed celebs pay for the finest, and most expensive, treatment America’s specialists can provide. The poor old guy living on a pittance in downtown Kalamazoo is hardly likely to be inspired by tales of Sheryl Crow’s “courageous battle”, or that of some NBC glamor girl.

Cancer is an illness, certainly not to be glorified the way so many Americans glorify war. It bears no relation to war, which is deliberately self-imposed. Illness can overtake the body for many reasons, but “battling” with it seldom achieves a positive result. Though, outrageously costly medical treatment may prove helpful – to the few who can afford it.

Filed under: No heroics please