Have We Put The Fools In Charge?

I keep trying to disprove the working hypothesis that the world is run by fools. I have so far not succeeded.

The Swedish diplomat Axel Oxenstierna formulated the concept some 360 years ago in a letter to his son: "Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?" (in a letter to his offspring written in 1648, in the original Latin An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur?).

The lament seems to apply most especially to the field of economics. Just this past weekend we have seen the European Central Bank pursuing policies likely to destroy the Euro, after first destroying the individual economies of the Euro Zone. In the US, we have had the failure of the "Super Committee."

The latter failure is just as well. Republicans on the committee seemed bent on destroying the US economy. Whether this is from ignorance, ideology, erroneous concepts, or just to make sure Obama's efforts to put people back to work are obstructed, I can't say. Probably all of the above.

No wonder the powers that be have resorted to violence against the Occupy Wall Street movement. OWS was beginning to figure out how the system works.

American Exceptionalism?

Were the police on the campus of the University of California, Davis, exceptionally annoyed? Perhaps they were exceptionally incompetent.

One of the mysteries of the Occupy movement is how, from coast to coast, authorities have acted with disproportionate force to a petty annoyance. A justified petty annoyance, at that, but it hardly matters.

Just more evidence of how little wisdom informs the world's governance.

Heritage

Today we attended the 16th Annual American Indian Heritage Celebration in Raleigh.

It was a lovely day for a beautiful event.

We usually think of Indian country as being out west. But North Carolina is Indian country, too. Our state is home to some 122,000 Indians, by US census count - more than any other state east of the Mississippi.

The two largest tribes in NC are the Lumbee and the Cherokee. The NC Cherokees, known as the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation, have a particularly sad but heroic history. The Eastern Band are descended from those Cherokees who evaded US and state militia troops bent on rounding them up in the late 1830's and forcing them along the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.

Resisting a century and a half of efforts to take away not only their lands and possessions, but also their customs, religion and culture, the Cherokee have survived. But today's observance was not a lament - it was a celebration of the strength and beauty of a culture that survived.

At one point in the celebration, young girls from each of the tribes in North Carolina, each dressed in elaborate and lovely native dresses, introduced themselves to the audience. The four Cherokee girls introduced themselves in fluent Cherokee before translating what they had said into English. An impressive accomplishment for a people whose language they had been forced by authorities to forget.

But the language hasn't been forgotten. So long as members of the tribe speak the language, so long as they keep their the tribal customs, so long as they pass down the traditional stories and share the life of the tribe, the nation will survive.

But Officer, I wasn't Much Over The Speed Limit

Two months ago, scientists reported that a packet of neutrinos (don't ask) traveled 450 miles from the high energy physics laboratory (CERN) near Geneva to the Italian laboratory at Gran Sasso, faster than the speed of light.

The experiment has been somewhat improved and tried again, with the same results. The packet of neutrinos traveled the 450 miles and arrived 62 nanoseconds before a beam of light would have arrived. How fast is that?

Admiral Grace Hopper, a pioneer computer scientist, used a visual aid in her lectures to show students how long a nanosecond is - that is, how far would a pulse of light travel in a nanosecond. She would hold up a length of copper wire 11.8 inches long. That's a nanosecond.

So the neutrinos exceeded the speed limit by about 62 feet.

Not much, but enough to shake up the world of high energy physics.

CERN is using their new Large Hadron Collider, completed in 2008 - 2009, for high energy experiments. The LHC is about a third of the energy level of the United States' Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) near Waxahatchie, Texas, which was cancelled by Congress in 1993 as it neared completion. Had SSC been completed, it seems likely that the new discovery might have occurred a decade earlier in the United States rather than in Switzerland.

Vegetable Patch Diversity

I'm planning to put in a garden this spring. All the usual vegetables: corn, beans, cabbage, broccoli, beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, pizza.

Anyone able to recommend a good seed catalog?

Seventy Years Ago Japan Underway

Seventy years ago yesterday, the first Japanese naval units scheduled to join the attack on Pearl Harbor, slipped out of their home ports. These were the fleet submarines assigned to patrol around Pearl Harbor in advance of the air attack. Some of the submarines carried midget submarines to be used in the final hours before the attack.

The Kido Butai, the Japanese navy's main battle force of six aircraft carriers, remained in the Kurile Islands, undetected by the US Navy's communications intelligence specialists.

Negotiations continued in Washington.

Elections - Not Over Yet

Late last summer the County Board of Elections attended two days of training in Raleigh. Among the things we learned: the General Counsel of the State Board of Elections informed us that historically, there are more election protests and challenges in odd year elections (municipal election years) than in even year elections, when more eminent officeholders and aspirants seek election.

The explanation: perhaps familiarity breeds intensity.

So far in Pamlico County, elections protests are proceeding quietly and politely. Next Monday, we meet for a preliminary hearing on a protest of the Grantsboro election. On Tuesday, we meet to commence a recount of the election of Oriental town commissioners. The margin between commissioner Johnson's vote for another term and candidate Grady's vote is three votes. That is less than 1% and therefore qualifies for a recount. This is the third election in a row that the fifth seat in Oriental has been within three or fewer votes, including one tie.

The next time someone says to you, "oh, my vote won't count," let them know that sometimes it counts for a great deal.

And never forget: in a democracy, there are no unimportant elections!

On Understanding Herman Cain

Never mind.