Pragmatics win. We'll play best two of three...
There are definitely times when I wish my knowledge and skill sets were based more in the practical world than in the theoretical. About two months ago, my computer started to malfunction in small ways. It started small, with a couple of weird windows stop errors (commonly known as the ‘blue screen of death’ errors). Under normal circumstances, those are errors you shouldn’t be seeing, so I noted their type and character and went on with my business, hoping that a pattern wouldn’t develop.
A pattern, of course, developed. Soon, the occasional errors cropped up more and more frequently. About three weeks ago, they started happening at random’ish intervals, but I never got longer than about a half-hour on the computer without having to restart the machine. Needless to say, that interferes with almost anything you want to do on the computer.
Finally, I decided it was high time I diagnose the error and fix it. My investigation revealed that there was a problem with the hard drive. The Microsoft web site indicated that the stop errors I received indicated an imminent hard drive failure (an unexpected, but not uncommon, hardware error), and recommended replacing the drive.
For two weeks, I madly backed up everything I could, purchasing a 25-pack of CD-RW’s for the occasion. After a crash erased several pages of a thesis, I opted to do all of my computing from the computer lab at the law school. I even went out and priced hard drives of equal size to mine and was disappointed to find that they run between $125-175.
Well, my brother stopped by for Thanksgiving, and I had him take a look at the computer. In only a few minutes, he removed the case of the CPU, diagnosed the real culprit, and moved the Serial ATA cable from one slot on the controller to another slot. Done.
The computer is now fully repaired. I suppose I can at least take consolation in the fact that I now have my whole hard drive backed up on about 40 CD-RW’s.
A pattern, of course, developed. Soon, the occasional errors cropped up more and more frequently. About three weeks ago, they started happening at random’ish intervals, but I never got longer than about a half-hour on the computer without having to restart the machine. Needless to say, that interferes with almost anything you want to do on the computer.
Finally, I decided it was high time I diagnose the error and fix it. My investigation revealed that there was a problem with the hard drive. The Microsoft web site indicated that the stop errors I received indicated an imminent hard drive failure (an unexpected, but not uncommon, hardware error), and recommended replacing the drive.
For two weeks, I madly backed up everything I could, purchasing a 25-pack of CD-RW’s for the occasion. After a crash erased several pages of a thesis, I opted to do all of my computing from the computer lab at the law school. I even went out and priced hard drives of equal size to mine and was disappointed to find that they run between $125-175.
Well, my brother stopped by for Thanksgiving, and I had him take a look at the computer. In only a few minutes, he removed the case of the CPU, diagnosed the real culprit, and moved the Serial ATA cable from one slot on the controller to another slot. Done.
The computer is now fully repaired. I suppose I can at least take consolation in the fact that I now have my whole hard drive backed up on about 40 CD-RW’s.
posted by The Academian | 2:32 AM
2 Comments:
I just read Ahmadinejad's letter to the American people, it sounded surprisingly similar to your delightfully anti-semetic post a few weeks ago, you should see about getting some recognition for your efforts.
Well, anonymous, you certainly have me baffled. I haven't the foggiest idea of what I might have ever said that could be misconstrued as being anti-Semitic. I have Jewish friends, for a period of a few weeks recently had a crush on a Jewish girl I know, have attended synagogue dozens of times, and laughingly held the nickname in college of ‘the reluctant Jew’ for a few years. While those things aren’t proof of a lack of anti-Semitism, they certainly do seem a bit out of place for the raging anti-Semite you seem to think of me as being.
I consider any claim against my perceived prejudices, whether against a religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any number of other classifications, to be a serious charge which I am more than willing to investigate and remedy in whatever way I can. I take the charge of anti-Semitism particularly seriously, given the history of the Jewish people and their tragic legacy of being oppressed and exterminated.
For the record, I do not consider myself anti-Semitic, do not recognize any particular feelings of resentment or hatred toward Jewish cultural institutions or practices, and have no desire to see Judaism wiped off the face of the Earth. I do, however, recognize that such feelings may be present in individuals unconsciously, so will strive to examine my own writings to discover what you find so upsetting.
For your benefit, and to ensure that my own memory isn’t deficient in this regard, I have meticulously combed my way through each and every post I’ve entered on this blog searching for anything about Jews or Judaism and came up with the following:
My first mention is from December 13th of last year (has it really been about a year? Wow.), and concerns my feelings about the tragedy that was the Holocaust, viewed through the lens of the movie Schindler’s List. I can’t construe sympathy for the suffering of human beings as anti-Semitic, so I’ll have to rule that out.
My next mention of Jews comes on February 3 of this year, in which I express my dismay over a Kansas official using the term ‘jew down,’ to refer to a negotiation to lower the price of a rental of a space at the mall. Since I was clearly referring to my shock over using such language in a derogatory way, I’ll have to rule out that statement as being anti-Semitic as well.
A third and fourth mention come on September 20, in a discussion about legal positivism and the dangers the jurisprudential position plays in justifying atrocities like ghettoization or extermination of Jews during the Holocaust. Since I clearly portrayed these things as problems rather that benefits of the position, I will have to exclude that from indicating any anti-Semitic sentiment.
This search has revealed nothing to me that might be construed as anti-Semitic. If anything, these instances where I referenced Jews or Judaism reflect a deep sympathy with the suffering of individuals who have done nothing to deserve such suffering.
You indicated that a particular post of several weeks ago caught your ire, so I’ll try to nail that down next.
I had a brief discussion concerning the discrimination against a man for his political speech freedoms when entering upon an airplane while wearing a T-shirt with written dialogue in Arabic script, but I can’t find any way to construe that discussion as being anything more than a disparagement of how people can have their freedoms taken away by a society run amok on fear. If you disagree and find something anti-Semitic in that particular writing (August 30-September 1), please let me know and I can try to find a way to explain my true intent with the writing as presented.
The one to which I believe you might be referring to is the entry “Got Peace?” from September 8. The entry never mentions Jews, and when writing this entry, I carefully crafted my words to ensure that readers would understand I criticized the governmental actions of a foreign government. I stand by my words that criticize the government of Israel, and I find many of its actions (particularly ones I note in the entry) to be inhumane, unjustified, and unjust.
Nowhere in the entry to I suggest that the religious, cultural, or racial makeup of Israel’s citizenry is to blame for the problems I cite. Rather, if you re-read the entry, you will note that I refer to Israel’s military policies, historical war-making tendencies, and unjustified responses to external and internal violence.
I have no qualms in admitting that I abhor the State of Israel. I disagree fundamentally with its creation for the same reason that I abhor the creation of the American colonies – such a creation was the act of a foreign invader imposing its will on a near-helpless populace with tragic consequences for the native inhabitants.
The state of Israel condones policies which violate international norms, human rights laws, and simple common decency. The immoral and unethical actions of a government (no matter who the individuals are who make up that government or the people they govern) are more that sufficient grounds to criticize the government and its actions. I stand by that position for the same reason that I continue to criticize the actions of the United States and any other governments whose bad actions catch my attention in my meandering ramblings.
Every claim I make in the entry is backed up by external authority of International human rights organizations, non-governmental organizations, and scholars. If you dispute any of these claims, that is your right and I encourage you to dissent if you truly feel differently. However, criticizing the actions of a government is far different from demonizing the racial, cultural, or religious classifications of people living within that country. I highly doubt that readers would find me to be engaged in racist propaganda if I criticized the government of Mali for allowing private militias to run amok within its borders.
In conclusion, I want to dissuade you from accusing those who criticize Israel of anti-Semitism for the following reasons.
First, the only way in which an individual could read my entry (“Got peace?”) and find it to be truly anti-Semitic is if that individual identified the state of Israel with Jews. Israel is a country, just like the United States, Japan, Germany, or Angola. A state is not identifiable with the characteristics of individuals who populate it. As a country, Israel would still exist if every person in Israel magically become racially Korean, spoke Dutch, worshipped their ancestors, and favored flat-taxation rather than a progressive tax system. Given those changes, if Israel continued to engage in unjustified wars, detain children in violation of international law, colonize occupied land in direct violation of treaty-obligations, and knock down family homes in a discriminatory and unjust way for crimes of attainder, I would criticize the country. Identifying Israel with Judaism is the main error made by the enemies of the Jews like the President of Iran and his ilk. Their beef is with Israel, not the Jews. Don’t approach the issue on their terms. Separate the two into their two constituent parts (the Jews, and a state which some portion of them happen to inhabit at the current time), and take the higher ground.
Second, anti-Semitism is a very real and very dangerous phenomenon. History has shown civilization time and time again that anti-Semitic sentiment can lead to terrible actions that range from the burnings of tens of thousands of rare Rabbinic texts in Italy in the 16th century to the extermination of millions of Jews in the 20th century. When people make spurious allegations of anti-Semitism when none really exists, they dilute the ability of real anti-Semitism to be taken seriously, both by neutral observers and by the people actually involved. Anti-Semitism needs to be addressed in society, and accusations like the one you have leveled at me hurt the cause of addressing anti-Semitism in any real and effective way. If individuals cannot tell real anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews or Judaism) from simple criticism of other entities (governments of foreign nations, for instance), then the task of stamping out real hatred becomes nearly impossible.
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