The Intersection of Viniculture and History
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 7:24AM h/t Michael Flynn
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 7:24AM h/t Michael Flynn
Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 10:22PM I attended Dale Shewalter's funeral this last Sunday. It was a very good service [my father served as Master of Ceremony], with lots of good stories about Dale and his life. Dale Shewalter died young, but he nevertheless had a full life. I learned lots of things that I never knew about Mr. Shewalter. This is not really surprising, because I knew him in his role as an elementary school teacher, and he did so many other things. After the service, the Magistra turned to me and said "I never knew how much Mr. Shewalter was like you." Honestly, I didn't either.
I knew about his service with the Marines in Vietnam, because he had shown us slides he had taken while he was there. I of course knew about the Arizona Trail as well, because we got to mark out portions of the trail on class field trips. I was exposed to his passion for Southwest history in school, but I have a much different appreciation for it as an adult than I ever could in the 4th grade. What surprised me at first was his love of firearms. However, thinking of his time in the Marines and his love of the Southwest, it really was not all that surprising after all. You just don't tell your school kids about the neat guns you like.
There were a lot of little things I had forgotten until the service as well. Mr. Shewalter had a love of puns, did an amazing Bullwinkle the moose impression, and played the harmonica. He used to do a little dance called the Shewalter shuffle, and he was always in a hurry, striding about on his long legs. He liked poetry, such as The Cremation of Sam McGee. I also remember he liked the ballad The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald:
I scanned the program and placed it online here for those who were unable to make it to the memorial service. It was packed in Ashurst Auditorium, they had to bring out extra chairs. People from all parts of Dale Shewalter's life were present, his brother and sisters, a teacher who taught him, his students, his colleagues, outdoor enthusiasts, and other Marines.
I regret that I never really had the chance to know Dale Shewalter when I was an adult, but I feel that I have grown into a man he would be proud of. I do know that my dad kept him updated when they ran into each other, "Mr. S&W was asking about you," he would say. We go to our rest in the hope of rising again, so hopefully I'll get to see him again someday. Stand down Marine, you are relieved.
Places to contribute in memory of Dale's life, per his family:
Any animal rescue organization
Arizona Trail,
Dale Shewalter in
Education,
History
Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 10:15PM 300 Style Workout
3 rounds, 20 reps each
Time 15:58
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 10:10PM Written by Yu Aida 相田 裕 Aida Yutaka
Published by Funimation
This review covers the two anime series Gunslinger Girl and Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino. Each is a 13-episode adaption of the manga by Yu Aida. Each season covers only part of the manga, which as of the time of this review has 11 volumes published in Japan. These seasons cover roughly the first six volumes, but not exhaustively.
The first season is simply beautifully done. Motions are fluid, proportions are maintained in perspective, and detail is high. However, the first season is rather unfocused, not following any particular story arc with any fidelity. Il Teatrino on the other hand, was personally supervised by Aida, and consequently is very tightly plotted, but suffers from lackluster animation that is often crudely drawn. I enjoyed both seasons, but these differing strengths ought to be borne in mind by any potential viewers.
Gunslinger Girl is a story both about the fractious nature of Italian politics and the consequences borne by the players in the Great Game of politics by other means. The focus is upon the fratello of the Social Welfare Agency. The Social Welfare Agency is a front for a mysterious organization known only as Section 2. They do in fact do some good, because the same technology that allows them to create cyborg assassins can also be used to cure the lame and allow the blind to see. However, that is not the Agency's primary purpose. Their job is to eliminate the enemies of the Italian state.
Each fratello is a team composed of a handler and a cyborg. The handlers are usually recruited from the military or from other intelligence agencies, whereas the cyborgs are created from orphans rescued from hospitals. I say rescued, when perhaps kidnapped would be more accurate. Only orphans are used, and most often the girls selected would otherwise die if not for the intervention of the Agency. Only girls are used, because for some reason the process works better on girls, the younger the better.
This sounds horrible, and it is, but there is at least a patina of actual concern layered over the Machiavellian purpose of Section 2. In addition to being crippled, the girls have usually been psychologically traumatized. The psychoactive drugs used to control the girls and unite them with their mechanical bodies have the blessed side effect of erasing their memories: they cannot remember their families or their families terrible ends. The girls cannot remember their past lives, but every night they silently weep in their sleep, mourning their lost humanity.
Accordingly, their handlers must fill the roles of father, brother, and even lover. This is not to say that we have mechanical lolitas. The drugs were meant to produce unquestioning obedience, but instead prompt a fierce, and even dangerously unstable attachment born of the girls' need to be loved. This provides the central drama of the series, because even the hardened men who are recruited for Section 2 cannot easily reconcile themselves to what they are really doing.
This is compounded by the the tradeoff produced by the conditioning: more conditioning produces a more pliable girl, but makes her duller and shortens her life. Those handlers who choose to minimize the conditioning find they need to buy their cyborgs teddy bears and take them on outings to maximize their kill count. For dramatic purposes, most of the handlers have psychological hangups involving innocent young girls. You would think a mysterious government agency could vet their employees better, but that is not really the point here.
The central drama is provided by the essential immorality of using brainwashed girls as assassins, but the series would not be near so interesting if it weren't set in an Italy of the near future. I am not an expert on Italian history or politics, but what I do know very much tracks with what you see in Gunslinger Girl. Italian politics in some ways still operates in the Renaissance mode of constant intrigue and upheaval. Add on top of this the recent unification of Italy into a nation by force, the influence of the Mafia in the south, and the critical role Italy played in the Cold War and you have many well-armed and well-financed factions prepared to fight for power. The separatist Padania organization featured in the series actually has real world counterparts in Italy. It is of course unwise to get historical and political information exclusively from entertainment, but as long as one keeps the inherent limitations of the medium in mind this is a good way to spur interest in a subject.
I would classify Gunslinger Girl as gun porn, in the same sense Steve Sailer refers to movies like Brideshead Revisited and Atonement as period porn. Each gun is lovingly drawn, a precise representation of an actual firearm. Since gun ownership is nearly nonexistent in Japan, there is a gun-loving subculture there that finds fulfillment in anime like this and in buying very expensive Airsoft replicas of real guns. Each gun used by one of the girls is readily identifiable: Henrietta's FN Herstal P90, Triela's Winchester 1897 Trench Gun, or Rico's CZ-75 pistol. This, and the lolita aspect probably explain the series' popularity, but there is an underlying historical acumen that makes this anime worth seeing.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 7:41PM Tonight was an AMRAP [As Many Rounds As Possible]
20 minutes
I made 4 rounds in 20 minutes.
Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 9:30AM I forgot to mention that John offers the Olympic Weightlifting class at the end of each month at Summit Health and Fitness. Go take it!
Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 5:24PM Today I attended an Olympic weightlifting seminar at Summit Health and Fitness offered by John Tuitele. It was an absolute blast. I may change my tune tomorrow, John warned me that I'm going to be epically sore. However, at least for the moment it was worth it. It just felt very satisfying to learn the techniques of Olympic weightlifting.
I am of course a complete newbie here, and I have much more to learn. I plan on doing plenty more, My back and knee felt great afterwards, even though most of the rest of me hurt, so I see this as a good sign that I can pursue this kind of training with my existing injuries. I would recommend this to almost anyone who is interested in gaining strength.
Friday, January 29, 2010 at 8:00AM I'm currently reading a biography of Keynes for review, so I found this pretty funny. I am gaining more respect for Keynes, because I really knew nothing about him; Keynes name was mostly used as an epithet in my experience.
h/t Edward Feser
Economics in
Friday Fun
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 10:16PM I did something strenous and logical in honor of St. Thomas.
Top Deck Lunge
3 rounds
Time 15:40
My knee is still a little off, so the lunge laps were perhaps a bit slow.