Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Just to Break Things Up a Little...

The Baseball Season can't start soon enough. Baseball symbolizes Spring, warmth, a well-earned reward from a shitty winter, and hopeful healthy competition alongside beer and peanuts. I recently wrote about my absurd quest to get baseball season tickets, and I have tickets for two games this year so far. The season won't start for another five weeks, but I'm so ready. Especially after our latest snowstorm, which gives us 51 inches so far in 2007-2008, placing this wretched winter in the top 20 of Chicago snowfalls. Yeesh. Oh, bring me baseball soon, and gimme a good season. (do not jinx, I pray)

Mad Cap Socialist Self Analysis! ("Mi Casa") Continues. Part Three: Flash Back - Flash Forward

Continuing a piece about my home town, it's odd military history, and my position within.

PREVIOUSLY ON "Mi Casa":
PART ONE: History. A timeline of important dates in this project.
PART TWO: Introductions. In which the players of this one-act socialist analysis first pop up.

------

Part Three: Flash Back - Flash Forward

GREETER
Flashback! (Actors around stage can make flashback sound effects if they feel like it.) Oppenheimer had been planning the Laboratory with some of the world’s most prestigious scientists since September, 1942.

(Actor on side of stage holds up placard reading, “Sept. 19, 1942. Meeting in Chicago to plan new laboratory. Attendees: Oppenheimer, John Manley, Enrico Fermi, Ernest Lawrence, Arthur Compton.” A group of actors gather around OPPENHEIMER. )

OPPENHEIMER
Since our work will be of scientific nature, the leadership will be civilian, even though the military will be actively involved. We’ll collect all of the best
Physicists from around the country! (Circle around OPPENHEIMER disperses.)

GREETER
Flash forward back to early 1943! (Again, sound effects from actors if desired.)
Oppenheimer recruits scientists for the new laboratory.

OPPENHEIMER
(A group of actors congregates around OPPENHEIMER again.) Want to come work at a new laboratory?

SCIENTIST #1
What are we researching?

OPPENHEIMER
I can’t tell you.

SCIENTIST #2
Where’s the laboratory?

OPPENHEIMER
I can’t tell you.

SCIENTIST #3
How long will this take?

OPPENHEIMER
I can’t tell you. But it’s brand new and very important work, I swear.

SCIENTIST #1
Maybe.

SCIENTIST #2
I don’t know. Sounds OK.

SCIENTIST #3
If it’s Oppenheimer, it’ll be good work.

OPPENHEIMER
You’ll be paid better than you are now at the universities.

SCIENTIST #1
Really? That’s good. Who’s funding this?

OPPENHEIMER
Er…um…the Army.

ALL SCIENTISTS
The ARMY???!!!

SCIENTIST #1
We’re building a weapon!

SCIENTIST #2
We’ll have to attend boot camp!

SCIENTIST #3
There will soldiers everywhere messing things up!

SCIENTIST #1
We’ll be taking orders from drill sergeants!

SCIENTIST #2
They’ll be taking target practice and blowing things up!

SCIENTIST #3
We’ll have to wear army uniforms!

(All the SCIENTISTS run away, screaming in terror.)

OPPENHEIMER
This’ll be a hard sell.

GEN. GROVES
(Enters from off-stage) How’s the recruitment going?

OPPENHEIMER
It’s not working. We can’t work in a militarized laboratory. No one from MIT or anywhere else will want to work under military control. There will be friction and loss of morale. I might lose some of the people who have already agreed to come here. We must have scientific autonomy.

GEN. GROVES
This laboratory will be under the control of the Army. Deal with it.

OPPENHEIMER
Can we have a little compromise here?

(GEN. GROVES rolls his eyes, but comes over to OPPENHEIMER. They confer with bowed heads for a few moments, muttering gibberish. They shake hands, GEN. GROVES exits.)

OPPENHEIMER
(Claps his hands. A group of actors as SCIENTISTS gathers around him again.) This laboratory will be developing an instrument of war through experimental scientific and engineering studies. Though we are working on a weapon, the first period of work will be on a strictly civilian basis. During the second period, no sooner than January 1, 1944, the large-scale experiments and handling of highly dangerous material, the scientific and engineering staff will be composed of commissioned officers. (Mutterings of approval from SCIENTISTS.)

GREETER
Fifteen of the thirty-three scientists that Oppenheimer set out to recruit came to Los Alamos. (SCIENTISTS exit.) Starting in December, 1942, Oppenheimer visited the architects and engineers on a bi-weekly basis, constantly refining plans for the new town.

ALBUQUERQUE CORPS OF ENGINEERS (Placard reads, “Helped with design plans and building of Los Alamos.”)
(Walks in with large spreadsheet labeled “Design Plans.”) Geez, this is getting weirder and weirder. What did you say this was going to be again?

OPPENHEIMER
Uhm, a heavy bombardment range.

ALBUQUERQUE CORPS OF ENGINEERS
This sure don’t look like a heavy bombardment range.

OPPENHEIMER
Well, that’s all I can tell you.

ALBUQUERQUE CORPS OF ENGINEERS
Hey boys! Another change for the “Buck Rogers Project!”

(Groans from off-stage. ALBUQUERQUE CORPS OF ENGINEERS exits.)

GREETER
In January, 1943, the first staff of “Project Y,” as the construction at Los Alamos had been named, arrived to begin work. (COLONEL J.M. HARMAN and GENERAL LESLIE GROVES enter.)

COLONEL J.M. HARMAN (Placard reads, “Military Commander at Los Alamos.”)
What a mess. 40 miles from the nearest railroad, no natural gas, limited water, totally inadequate roads. Why are we building a town here?

GEN. GROVES
Security from military attack.

OPPENHEIMER
The idyllic setting.

GEN. GROVES
(To COL. HARMAN) C’mon, hurry up! We don’t want those damn Nazis to build a super-weapon before we do!

OPPENHEIMER
Yes, do hurry up. I can’t believe we had to wait until February.

(A large crowd of SCIENTISTS and STAFF goes by the three men.)

COL. HARMAN
People are already moving in? Are you crazy? There’s hardly a road, we don’t have enough cars, and I don’t even have eating facilities! I’m shipping in box lunches from Santa Fe! I’ve got to do all the laundry in Santa Fe, too!

SCIENTISTS AND STAFF
(Off-stage) This is a little uncomfortable.

OPPENHEIMER
Just look at all the lovely scenery!

GEN. GROVES
Let’s start mining those canyons. That’ll slow down anyone who wants to attack.

(OPPENHEIMER looks nervous. All exit.)

END OF PART THREE. TO BE CONTINUED...

Go to PART FOUR: Start Your Engines
Go to PART FIVE: This Is More Than Just a Test
Go to PART SIX: Remember, New Perspective

Friday, February 15, 2008

Mad Cap Socialist Self Analysis! Continues ("Mi Casa") Part Two: Introductions

Continuing a piece about my home town, it's odd military history, and my position within.

Incidentally,
here's what my home town used to look like.

Now, back to the Blogzine...I'll call this series MCSSA or "Mi Casa" for short.

PREVIOUSLY ON MCSSA! ("Mi Casa"):
PART ONE: History. A timeline of important dates in this project

------

Part Two: Introductions

Setting: A theatre.

(As the audience walks into the theatre, they should see a placard mounted on an easel that says, “Welcome Into the Theatre! The Play Will Be Performed In Here.” Audience lights and stage lights are at the same level as the audience comes in and gets seated. As the audience comes in to be seated, the actors playing ERNST BLOCH, BERTOLT BRECHT, FREDRIC JAMESON, GEORG LUKÁCS, KARL MARX, ALEXANDER RODCHENKO, and LEON TROTSKY are waiting to help the audience to their seats. Each actor is wearing posterboard placards around their necks with their character’s names written in large letters. The placards should be large enough to cover the actors’ chests so their character names are the actor’s most noticeable feature. Other actors with names of other influential Marxists or Marxist critics will also be milling about the theatre, greeting the audience and helping them to their seats. When the play is ready to begin, the GREETER comes on stage, and the other actors congregate in a line in front of the stage.)

GREETER
Good evening, audience. Tonight you will be seeing a play, performed here in the theatre. We will be making this play together as we, the actors and technicians, will put a play on display for the purpose of getting a reaction out of you, the audience. Keep in mind that this is a play. The purpose of this play is to examine the identity of one town from a Marxist perspective. That town is Los Alamos, New Mexico. Some of you may be familiar with this town, some may not. We have provided everyone with historical handouts within their programs. Hopefully you’ve had ample time to examine them. These handouts detail the physical history of Los Alamos, New Mexico and its influence on the development of the atomic bomb. The handout also covers some of the effects of the development of nuclear weapons and the arms race as well as Los Alamos’s later role in the Cold War. Now, let’s bring the purpose of this play out to the stage so that the play can begin. Allow me to introduce Colin Milroy.

(COLIN MILROY walks on stage, looking shy and embarrassed. He waves sheepishly to the audience.)

GREETER
Members of the audience, the purpose of the play you are about to watch is for this man to understand his hometown better. To gain new perspectives from which he can critique. We will help him define his own perspective and give him new tools for examination

JAMESON
Historicize!

BLOCH
Artistic reality: feel free to express!

LUKÁCS
Artistic reality: keep it simple!

RODCHENKO
Look at this differently!

TROTSKY
Haven’t we seen this before?

BRECHT
You’re watching a play!

MARX(Gestures to the audience and speaks to the other actors) Would you quit oppressing them from your supposed position of superiority?

GREETER
(Trying to pacify things by settling the actors down) Now, now, let’s not get over-excited and act stereotypically. We have to think carefully. Get a new perspective. We have to re-examine, not oversimplify. Now, as I was saying, you may refer to your inserts for additional information as we give a short re-enactment of the history of Los Alamos. Mr. Milroy, please have a seat in the audience.

(The actors remove their placards and disperse throughout the stage. NOTE: As actors enter the stage to play their different roles during the re-enactment scenes, other actors on the sides of the stage will hold up placards with the characters’ names written in large letters. The side actors will keep holding up the placards for the duration of the scene.)

COLIN MILROY
This is a little confusing. (Goes and sits in a seat in the audience marked, “Reserved.”)

GREETER
The year is 1942. The United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan have all been investigating the possibility of building an atomic bomb since two German scientists first split the nucleus of uranium in 1938. Russia, initially unconcerned with the possibility of building an atomic bomb, started its research after Soviet spies intercept a report from the British MAUD committee in 1941 detailing England’s research into building atomic weapons. Igor Kurchatov is put in charge of researching the atomic bomb. In America, J. Robert Oppenheimer is put in charge of the American atomic bomb project, called the Manhattan Project. The location of the nuclear weapons deign laboratory is chosen. It will come to be known as Los Alamos National Laboratory, or “The Lab” for short.

(OPPENHEIMER comes on stage with GENERAL LESLIE GROVES)

J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER (Placard reads, “Prestigious University of California Professor, Nobel Prize winner, picked by Groves to head Lab as general in army of scientists)
This place is perfect for the laboratory.

GEN. LESLIE GROVES (Placard reads, “Commander of Manhattan District Corps of Engineers)
Yes, this is better than Jemez Springs. We can control access to the town through the mesa’s main entry road and use the surrounding canyons for explosives tests.

MAJ. JOHN DUDLEY (Placard reads “Manhattan District staff in charge of finding suitable lab sites in western U.S.)
But there’s hardly any water!

OPPENHEIMER
Look how pretty it is. Look at the Sangre de Cristo mountain range! That’ll be good for morale.

GEN. GROVES
Yes, the military staff and commanders will need to be kept happy.

OPPENHEIMER
Military…? Excuse me?

DUDLEY
Fine, Eggheads. All I’ve had to work with is finding a place for a laboratory that’s building I don’t know what and having a staff size anywhere from 265 to
600. Jemez Springs was fine, but big Mr. Oppenheimer has to have final approval.

A.J. CONNELL (Placard reads, “Director of Los Alamos Ranch School”)
(Enters the stage with ASHLEY POND during previous conversation) Ahem. Excuse me, but I’m running a school here. This is a natural habitat where Troop 22 of the Boy Scouts of America can “learn by doing” in the outdoors, following good President Teddy Roosevelt’s ideal of a vigorous life.

(ROBERT PATTERSON enters.)

ROBERT PATTERSON (Placard reads, “Undersecretary of War”)
Sorry. I just approved the land’s acquisition. The military will be taking over the property and we’ll be using your buildings. The property is condemned. Signed and dated in a letter, December 1, 1942.

ASHLEY POND (Placard reads, “Owned land where Los Alamos Ranch School was built. Founded school.”)
Aaaaugh! I’ve owned this land since 1918! The air is clean and healthy here, perfect for outdoor wellness. We’ve been building up this school since 1920!

CONNELL
Yes, I’ve added college curriculum courses. We just had our highest ever enrollment of 47 students!

GEN. GROVES
We’ll use the Big House as bachelor quarters, that garage will become a fire station, the arts and crafts building can be used for housing and a nursery school…

DUDLEY
We’ll have to start digging immediately.

POND
So much for my peaceful, natural habitat.

(Current Los Alamos has landmark named for Ashley Pond)

CONNELL
We’ll have to close to the school. It can’t be transplanted out of this habitat. I’ll send a letter to the alumni. (To PATTERSON) At least allow us to finish our current term. We’ll work through Christmas vacation.

PATTERSON
When will the term end?

CONNELL
February 8, 1943.

OPPENHEIMER
February????!!!

PATTERSON
Very well. You may finish your term.

GEN. GROVES
What a beautiful military installation this will be!

OPPENHEIMER
Ahem, yes, about it being a “military” installation…

GEN. GROVES
(To OPPENHEIMER) Gather your scientists!

OPPENHEIMER
Yes, well, I’ve been talking to some of the best university professors all over the country…

GEN. GROVES
Excellent! Send me their measurements. We’ll start requisitioning their uniforms. (Exits along with PATTERSON, DUDLEY, CONNELL, and POND.)

OPPENHEIMER
Oh no…

END OF PART TWO. TO BE CONTINUED...

Go to PART THREE: Flash Back - Flash Forward
Go to PART FOUR: Start Your Engines
Go to PART FIVE: This Is More Than Just a Test
Go to PART SIX: Remember, New Perspective

Monday, February 11, 2008

I Got My Place in Line!

Yes, I registered for Cubs Season Tickets. In actuality, I registered for a spot on the waiting list. So my current spot on the list is 81,627. Daunting? Hardly. I need that many people ahead of me so I have time to put together the dough to pay the fee. Once an amount of people over four times the size of my home town take their turn, I'll be ready. I can already smell the peanuts and beer from the ballpark.

Thank God spring training starts in two days. This has been a mean winter.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Back to the 'Zine: Mad Cap Socialist Self-Analysis! ("Mi Casa") Part One: History

Back to the publishing aspect of this site, here's another composition. Socialist literary analysis and the odd military history of my hometown with a little self analysis to boot.

LOS ALAMOS AND THE BOMB
A Socialist Perspective in One Act

TIMELINE

December, 1938 – German scientists split the nucleus of uranium, demonstrating the ability to release energy from the nucleus.

September 1, 1939 – Nazi Germany invades Poland. World War II begins.

June 22, 1941 – Germany invades Russia.

July, 1941 – The MAUD Committee, a British agency, prints its final report on Britain’s research into atomic weaponry. Soviet agents intercept most of report and bring it back to Russia in September.

March, 1942 – In Russia, Lavrenti Beria writes a memo summarizing the intelligence he had collected from Britain and the United States. He recommends that the Soviets create a team to investigate building an atomic bomb.

October, 1942 – General Leslie Groves asks J. Robert Oppenheimer to head Project Y: the construction of a new laboratory specifically for designing and building atomic weapons

December 1, 1942 – Undersecretary of War Robert Patterson acquires land in and around the Los Alamos Ranch School for the new lab’s site. The Ranch School’s land is condemned and taken over by the military. The school is allowed to finish its final term.

January, 1943 – Construction of Los Alamos and the National Laboratory begin.

February 8, 1943 – The final term at Los Alamos Ranch School ends.

July 16, 1945 at 5:29.45 AM – The first atomic bomb test at Trinity, near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Aug 6, 1945 - First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

Aug 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.

September 24, 1949 – President Truman says Russia has atomic weapons.

May, 1946 – Operation Crossroads: two atomic bombs detonated at Bikini Atoll.

November 3, 1972 – Colin Milroy is born.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Go to PART TWO: Introductions
Go to PART THREE: Flash Back - Flash Forward
Go to PART FOUR: Start Your Engines
Go to PART FIVE: This Is More Than Just a Test
Go to PART SIX: Remember, New Perspective

Sunday, February 03, 2008

"Believe It or Not," Financial-Style

A quick run-in with what to believe and the unbelieveable in my world of finance. Junk mail, both of the digital spam variety and the material snail mail, is an unavoidable reality. Mail and/or spam promises lots of credit cards or an unending supply of sexual enhancements. Sadly, no more Horny TEENage SLuTz wANNT me BAD bad. That must have been the 90's spam phenomenon before the male enhancement drug phenomenon. Mostly, junk mail spam is simply irksome. I've even had a wee little spam draped on to my writing in the comments of this post. On the one hand, at least I know that's a popular post because of the spamming attention it got; on the other hand, I don't do this for some fool to post their meaningless links here. Usually, no one reads this site, so I don't worry. That's sort of the anonymity I'd been able to settle into in my email and financial affairs existence. Any pre-approved credit notice I get is instantly trashed and any sort of enticing sweepstakes notice meets the same fate. Worldly and wise, no? I'm not going to be taken in by any half-baked scheme and I'm smart enough to research everything so I can avoid being victimized, right?

Not so fast. I got something through the mail, did my research, protected myself, and still got an unexpected little shock in a way I'd never imagined.

I received a statement in the mail detailing a court decision in my favor against many credit card companies. Naturally, I liked the looks of this mail, it did look like an official court document, and it says I'm entitled to money. That last part, of course, gives me pause because there isn't such a thing as free money. But this rather extensive statement says, in short, that a settlement (subject to final approval) has been reached in Antitrust Litigation against Visa, MasterCard, and Diners Club card brands because of foreign transactions between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006; if I made any overseas charges on those brands of credit cards during that time period, I'm entitled to some money. The letter and court documents came from www.ccfsettlement.com. I was skeptical. Through my research, I discovered I was not alone. I was satisfied that this mail was legitimate when I found an MSNBC article explaining the court decision. I did think that it would be easy for a dedicated web designer to fake all of this and I could be blindly submitting my info for anyone to receive. Granted I'm only providing my mailing address, but still; why give anyone any contact information anymore? I question what to believe in media since current technology has enough editing tools to create very believable fakes of people, places, and documents.

The problem was, while I was busy researching and supposedly protecting myself, I learned that my identity had already been stolen years ago, completely unnoticed.

I would never have known had I not started to look at buying property. Thanks to a real estate agent, I learned that my identity via my ss# was taken by a "Raymond Joe" in 2001 for a Sprint account. My financial identity is probably one of the last ones anyone would want to steal because I've done enough damage to own credit in the past and have had to build my financial self back up slowly over the past few years. I'm also lucky that I only got one small theft of my vested self, at least that I know of now. I don't have the first clue how anyone would get my ss# or why they would use it to only open a lousy Sprint account for a few months. Ironically, Raymond and Joe are both family names and Sprint fired my uncle during downsizing years ago.

It was odd putting up all my protection only to learn I had already been robbed. Strange thinking that anyone would be foolish enough to steal my identity, mostly because I didn't think it would get anyone very much, yet finding out it had already happened a long time ago, to my complete obliviousness. And to think someone took a little piece of me out there, looking to better himself. That's oddly flattering, but it's attention I can do without.

This wasn't a quick run-in at all.