June 5, 2010
Biographies, Books, History
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Never one to attract good public relations, Hitler, despite his world class meanness, gets yet another book under his belt. Not the calm narrative like Cornelius Ryan’s The Last Battle, The Last Days of Hitler goes gaga into character stalking and assassination. Yes Hitler hung out with wackos and weirdos, but they were not incompetent buffoons either.
Interesting reading for those who into the popular “last Days” theme. Trevor-Roper goes full bore into belittling the personalities…Hitler in a perpetual froth, Goering grabbing for power, Bormann silently plotting. I am taking a guess, but chaos comes with titanic destruction by conquering armies.
This was a discount book; No doubt very used, like the Death Star exploding, worth watching again and again.
April 10, 2010
Commentary, History
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Every April 10th that comes around reminds me of an incident from years ago. I was at UNH, my freshman year. Amongst my friends was one Glenn David Hayes, a youthful, upbeat, and happy with the world soul from Bartlett NH. He mixed easy and sat behind me in an Intro to Geography class. In the spring of 1983 he came to visit Richardson House, my dorm, He was interested in transferring. Glenn was also deep into Crew. Early in April he hit me up for a fundraiser for Crew team. I gladly sponsored him on that Thursday as he had great dedication to Crew.
A few days later (Saturday) the day was raw and ugly–rain and wind, gusty and gloomy. I gave little thought to Glenn or to the fundraiser. Japanese class had a field trip to Japanese restaurant in Amherst NH. This was at a time when Japanese food was unheard of in NH. The trip, despite the length, was a rousing success.
But when I got back to Richardson early that evening the usual casual and light hearted Saturday was cold and still. My gut told me something was terribly wrong. The day at the Midori Restaurant was pushed aside as a tearful Teresa Leavitt (who went to high school in the Conway area) came up to me and said “Glenn is dead!”.
There had been a freak wind on Great Bay. The shells were swamped. Glenn tried to make it ashore. Other stayed with their boats. They were rescued. It was on the news.
Of course back in THOSE days we had no cell phones and no Internet. But the shock lasted for years. Three years before a buddy from Spring Street, Dennis Quinn, died in a motorbike accident back down by “The Tracks” (where B & M railroad ran).
February 13, 2010
Commentary, Current Affairs, History, Ideas, Media, Politics, Technology
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Since 2001 the United States has been involved in two major wars as part of a world wide of nebulous nature. Despite pouring immense amount of treasure, among other resources tangible and intangible, we have not been able to link effort to long term success.
Looking back historically the wars we won came from full effort or “total war”. Despite one third for, one third against, and one third apathetic, we won the Revolution after 8 long years, The War of 1812 was won in part because our war was part of a wider war—and even then many Americans and parts of America sat out the war.
The Indians Wars were uneven. Despite this it took three bouts to make the Seminoles cry uncle. The Apaches and Sioux were long term headaches. The Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection were more uneven conflicts—yet costs, mostly financial, were easily burdened.
Both the World Wars were “total war” affairs. America went full bore. And even in the most complex Second World War, America made short order of the duece and a half threats.
Korea was a stalemate and Vietnam was a checkmate. In both cases America took a more comfortable tact towards the wars faced. And if the military was retarded in Vietnam, the Home Front never got out of the easy chair.
As I said above, we are coming on the decade anniversary of this war. I would be curious to compare our expenditures to our enemies. Not only do I suspect our body count ratios look bad, but our financials must be far much worse.
Despite our efforts the wars are being fought by less than 1% of the US population. Are we doing it right? Are we placing technology, the darling of the last two decades, on such a “never fail” pedestal that we are losing wars. Is it too late to harness the best of America’s resources, human and otherwise, to go all out and get the job done.
Technology has brought much, but it is no end all panacea for this complex war. Nor does money solve matters. We may be able to hold any line, except the bottom line.
The Twin Towers were a symbol of All Conquering Capitalism. Unfortunately that same decade the captains of commerce not only destroyed lives worldwide, but they came close to destroying the very capitalism that brought them to the position of high and mighty. Tyco, Enron, Madoff…were not commies with AK-47s. Yet they did not lay patriotism ahead of profits.
Are we going to repeat ourselves? We had three rounds with the Seminoles. Will we have to do Iraq Take 3? 1% seems awfully small of effort for the job at hand. Playing the percentages—is a very dangerous margin to bet on.
January 20, 2010
Commentary, Food, History, Lists
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Breakfast has been king for years. Since 1989 the Hortons have staked a homestead in Hillsborough. Here is the chronology of breakfast in Hillsborough:
Millview 1: On Main Street, the muffins were homemade and available via daily trivia on the blackboard. Cindy did the counter while Marcia did the cooking. Popular hangout from 1989 to 1992.
Millview 2: Same place, different owners. High rent drove out Millview 1 and Millview 2. Millview 2 was Aaron Zipper’s baby from 1992-1995.
Lost Loon: After a strange hiatus, Zipper came back, in Antrim with a place of his own. His well lit little eatery had salmon on bagel (bagel with lox) as its supreme creation. Among is help was Donny who later went to pick up after Hurricane Katrina. The Loon was active from 1995-2001.
Brunchy’s: Perhaps the most interesting establishment, Brunchys was right outside of Emerald Lake Village in North Hillsborough. The stand alone shack had terrible acoustics, cheek-jowl seating, and gossip by the gallon. Many a Saturday morning started with french toast and dirty laundry, Once again landlord larceny drove the likes of George and Jerelle from the kitchen. Brunchy’s ran from 2001 to 2005.
Hillsborough Diner: Eating here was like returning to the womb. The Diner had been the original “place” for breakfast. But a diagreement over cigars put the Diner on the blacklist…until they were the only option left. Chocolate cream pie helped to ease ill feelings. The Diner pretty much carries the breakfast load for the town. They reign currently…2005 to present.
