The Ninth Annual Old Milwaukee 500

This is what I did for a couple of hours this afternoon...

The Old Milwaukee 500 is becoming something of an Athens tradition - at least in certain small circles.

Bicycles, beer, and silly costumes. Teams of two take turns lapping around part of Five Points - and lapping up some Old Milwaukee.


A few of my favorite teams this year:

Team Brokeback Mountain (pictured below), Team Guns Don't Kill People Dick Kills People, and Team Clockwork Orange.




The race begins with one team member downing an Old Milwaukee, hopping on the bike, and pedalling furiously through the neighborhoods and business district of Five Points.

When the first team member returns, the second team member downs an OM, hops on the bike, etc. This goes on for four laps. On the fifth, the (un)lucky team member puts away an OM tall-boy and heads out on the course.

Left: Beer and strenuous exercise don't really mix too well: taking a breather.


Right: Team Clockwork Orange making the switch.








Left: "This way, dear."











Who won? For the first time in OM5 history, it was a tie!

But, really, everybody's a winner...







Then there was a victory lap. Then there were the awards ceremonies, presided by the Queen of the Race (the grandmother of one of the participants visiting the States from England).

And a good time was had by all. They open up their backyard to whomever wants to come, providing homebrew (the Dark Chewie Ale was featured this year, complete with a label of a pic of the Chewbacca costume from last year), chips and dip, and hotdogs (veggie dogs, too, of course). Not a bad way to spend the afternoon. Incidentally, one of the participants was part of the jury selection that I was also part of a couple of weeks ago. Aren't you glad people like this are deciding the legal fate of the community?

Shrugging

Over the last several years as I've increased my fiction intake, I've noticed that there is a lot of shrugging going on. What's the deal? When I think of shrugging, I think of a raising of the shoulders and a lifting of the arms at the elbow. Usually it is to say something to the effect of "Who knows?" But fictional people seems to shrug in the most inappropriate places at the most inappropriate things. It has led me to rethink my concept of The Shrug, but I don't know where to go. I'm lost. I mean, what do you really have if not a clear notion of The Shrug?

Speaking of shrugging, someone sent me this article about a movie currently in production. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how it turns out. The book it is based on was so dadgum long and tedious (in parts), it might do it some good to be shortened into movie fodder.

Breaking Away

Well, this weekend is Twilight Criterium weekend in Athens, GA. Mitch and I inaugurated it tonight with a viewing of the 1979 cycling classic Breaking Away, which was shown on a huge screen in the streets of downtown. Nothing quite like seeing a young Dennis Quaid in cut-off jean shorts that are so short you can see the pockets sneaking a peek out of the frayed ends. One of the bars downtown was also showing the 1980 miniseries "Breaking Away," complete with the original commercials (which was the best part). There were a few that Mitch and I even remembered from our young TV watching days! The miniseries was filmed in Athens, so we got a few glimpses of the pre-R.E.M. downtown and some shots of Old College on north campus.

Tomorrow is grading an exam I gave today, taking a break to see the Old Milwaukee 500, more grading, and the Criterium race at 9 pm. For you poor souls who are not in-the-know, the Criterium is where a whole bunch of cyclists race around the streets of downtown Athens taking curves at 40 mph, sometimes into the bales of hay (if we're lucky). It's supposed to be a bit of a rainy day, so maybe we'll see some carnage this year. As for the Old Milwaukee 500, I'll wait and post some pics later this weekend - you have to see it to believe it.

Runaway Jury

I suppose I should say something about my almost-jury-duty experience, though there's really not that much to say. On Monday I was summoned to serve as a juror for a criminal case. I had never been summoned before (at least not in a state where I was a resident), so I didn't know quite what to expect. About 70 of us were herded into a large courtroom, were given a $25 check for being there, and were seated in rows of pews that made up the gallery. After a while, we were re-seated in groups of twelve--groups that would see much more of each other for the rest of the day. We were in that courtroom for about an hour and a half total. The waiting was painful, especially since I missed two of the four classes I had to teach that day while sitting there among my fellow citizens. The judge (who was a really nice guy) finally came in (ALL RISE!) and we did something that I hadn't done in ages, probably not since middle school: we recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Standing amid the pews and the communal recitation, I couldn't help thinking that this was an awful lot like reciting the Confession of Faith during worship. This thought from Camus sprung to mind:

We are not ignorant of the fact that all churches are against us [the "conquerors"]. A heart so keyed up eludes the eternal, and all churches, divine or political, lay claim to the eternal. (from The Myth of Sisyphus)

Churches, divine or political. Pledging allegiance to an abstract entity, to God or the State. In some sense laying claim to the eternal--for Camus, to something beyond one's experience, to something that offers something beyond one's experience. Anyway...

Now came the time to weed out those who could be exempt from service. The first to go were those who were "too ill" to be there; that took care of a few. Then those of us who felt like they had a good reason for not serving were allowed to plead our case in front of the group. Among the six or seven full-time students who asked to be excused, I pled my case as a college professor with four courses to teach and with no one available to cover for me. Well, guess what? Those wonderful Georgia legislators decided that students were exempt from jury duty but teachers weren't. When the judge mentioned that, some people (mostly who were sitting near me) snickered at the apparent absurdity. He didn't pretend that it made sense and didn't even try to defend it; but, as a judge, he has to abide by the law. So, those brats with "exams this week" got to go, but those of us with lectures to prepare students for exams had to remain and got an apology from His Honor. Hmm, okay. Chalk one up in defense of Education.

Eventually, three of the groups were herded into a smaller pewed courtroom where we were individually examined by both sets of lawyers in front of the judge and one another. More waiting. But I got to learn a lot about the eight or so people who were questioned before I was. "What do you like to do in your spare time?" "Are you a member of any civil or social organizations?" "Do you own a gun?" "Do you have any strong feeling about gun control?" Etc., etc. I felt more pity for the lawyers who had to ask the same questions to thirty-plus people than I did for those of us who were answering them. But only slightly more pity. It wasn't all that bad. I chatted it up with the funny black lady on my left who drives buses for the city and the cute girl on my right with the biggest blue eyes I've ever seen. (hehe) It was a pretty light atmosphere: some of the people being questioned cracked jokes during their examination, the lawyers made the best of it, and the judge (same guy as earlier that morning) was pretty funny, too. When the questioning began, we'd already been in the courthouse for three hours, so we were allowed to leave and return later in the afternoon after we'd been questioned. (I managed to teach one and a half of my classes during that break. Since we were reading The Myth of Sisyphus in one of those classes, my experience that morning offered some concrete examples.)
Here's a snippet of my interview with the lawyers:

Lawyer #1: "What activities do you enjoy in your spare time?"
Me: "Reading, watching movies, hiking, homebrewing, hunting."
Lawyer: "What books do you like to read?"
Me: "Well, philosophy--yes, even in my spare time [chuckle from the gallery, smile from the lawyer], theology, fiction, popular accounts of science."
Lawyer: "What kind of movies do you like to watch?"
Me: "I like certain directors. And I like movies from the 70s."
Lawyer: "What directors?"
Me: "Some of the more recent ones like Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Wes Anderson, and some of the old school guys like Kubrik and Scorsese."

At this point, the way we were going I thought he was going to ask me out on a date.

Lawyer #2: "So, you're a philosophy professor. I took some philosophy courses while in school. Sometimes I wish that I was back in the classroom."
Me: "Yeah, me, too. Right now, actually [looking down at my watch]." [Chuckles from the lawyer, judge, and gallery.]
Judge [smiling and humored]: "You're not the only one!"
Lawyer #2: "Is there a particular field that you specialize in?"
Me: "Epistemology, I suppose."
Judge: "Is that the study of reasoning?"
Me: "Not exactly, your Honor. It's the study of knowledge--mainly the justification of beliefs that we have, how warranted we are in having them." [the judge nods in acceptance]
Lawyer #2: "You like to homebrew. How long have you been doing that?"
Me: "For about three years or so."
Lawyer #2: "What kinds of beer have you made?"
Me: "Let's see...pale ales, altbier, a couple of stouts, a porter, pilsner, a cream ale."
Lawyer #2: "So, since you like to hunt, I'm guessing that you own a gun?"
Me: "Yep."
Lawyer #2: "Do you have any feelings on the gun control issue?"
Me: "Well, I tend to be pretty lax when it comes to gun control."

That pretty much ended the interview with Lawyer #2. I left, ate lunch, taught a couple of classes, and then came back. To wait some more. Before we were herded into the same little courtroom, Big Blue Eyes and I chatted some more. Turns out she knows some philosophy majors (none of whom I knew). We talked about movies, books, local economies, and urban farming. And, no, I didn't ask her out on a date.

Once we got back in the courtroom, guess what? More waiting. The judge conferred with the lawyers. The lawyers asked group questions. The judge conferred with the lawyers. A bailiff was called to the bench. A potential jury member was called to the bench. It was a regular party. But that wasn't what interested me. I was most interested in the court recorder typing away on his little machine, airline earphones hanging from his ears on his chest. He knew what they were saying. (Microphones were everywhere recording the proceedings.) Some of it he typed, some of it he didn't. What filter was deciding what he typed? He and the judge were about as omniscient as anyone in that courtroom could get. What sort of power was the recorder exercising? Not the same as the judge. Not the same as the armed bailiffs. I wonder what Foucault would say about him?

Anyway, this is way too long, so I'll cut to the chase. The bus driver and Big Blue Eyes were picked for the jury, but not me. Honestly, I wouldn't mind serving on a jury. Just not during the semester. It's such a hassle for us to get our colleagues to cover for us. In general, there is no nearly automated sub system for us like there is for high school (and below) teachers. Maybe the Georgia legislators need to be reminded of this.

Lost - "S.O.S"

Honestly, I wasn't all that impressed with this terribly predictable episode. The couple-dom montage at the end, gimme a break. Tremulous tugs at the heart my eye. I'm just not in the mood at this point in the season. I wouldn't shed tears if Bernard happened upon a hungry polar bear while toting lava rocks to the beach. Nonetheless, there were some interesting things that happened before the final 5 seconds of the show.

1. The rationale behind Rose's unerring faith (in the island?) that her husband was still alive is explored. Like Locke, she also faced a miraculous recovery upon crashing on the island. She, like Locke, seems to sense that the island is special in some abstract but real way.
2. Rose had to know/remember that Locke was in a wheelchair before the crash and that he thus experienced something akin to her miraculous recovery. She is instrumental in restoring Locke's "faith" in the mysterious nature of the island. This allows him not only to let go of "his button," but also to draw an accurate map of what he saw on the blast door. The obstacle of unbelief imposed by "H.G." on Locke's mind is overcome with the help of Rose. (What a fantastic smirk by "H.G." when Locke comes pleading to know whether or not "H.G." was lying about not having pressed the button!)
3. Those who thought Ecko was building a church are proved right. While Bernard is busy trying to save those on the island, Ecko comes back with something like "There is more than one way to be saved." Sweet. Bernard is so busy focusing on being rescued that he neglects salvation of a spiritual kind.
   
4. Kate finally tells Jack about the medical hatch! "When were you planning on telling me this, Kate?" "When you decided to let me back into the club." Whatever. How immature is that? Leave that beauty be, Jack!
5. And how about "H.G." getting the best of A-L.?? Man, I love that character! Even with his hands tied, he pins her choking against the wall. Can't wait to see what comes of that. That guy is dangerous.
   

Well, Michael's back! Did he escape? Did they let him go? Looks like we'll find out next time - in two weeks. "They're not armed. We can take them." Sweet. Showdown, baby!

What I'm really looking forward to is the episode titled "?". In search of the "?" on the hatch diagram! I'm dyin' over here!

In The Air Tonight

Well, they managed a Dukes of Hazzard movie. Now it's time for the big boys to play: Miami Vice is in post production, baby! Although I've never been much of a Colin Farrell fan, I'll probably see it anyway if only for the nostalgia factor. Jamie Foxx as Tubbs? We'll see. Looks like director Mann liked him enough from Collateral to bring him on another venture.

Tax Time

I'm about to pull a Richie Tenenbaum. I've already sheared my head, now I just need to get my hands on some razor blades. I was such a good little boy contributing to my Roth IRA last year and the Government is so kind to let me take a tax credit for my good behavior. Oh, but wait! since I was also such a good little boy last year by investing my money, now I made too much to be able to claim the credit! WHAT THE %&#@!

• Is there a tax incentive for me to make more money this year? Nope.
• Is there a tax incentive for me to contribute the maximum amount to my IRA this year? Yeah, right.
  
• Is there a tax incentive for me to invest my money this year? Gimme a friggin break.

What the heck kinda sense does it make for me to have gotten money back last year but to be this year coughing up more than twice as much as I got back last year because I'm making $4k more? Is it any wonder that there are people in America who see no reason to work hard? Is it any wonder that for the past ten years I've seen the same bums in downtown Athens peddling for my cash? Is it any wonder that people like me, at some level and to some degree, harbor resentment about the whole thing? This is enough to make a man go Libertarian. Give me the flat tax or give me Hoboville.

Lord, please don't let me start playing "Needle In The Hay"...

Lord's Day 15

Part of the Confession of Sin from last Lord's day worship:

We seek your salvation, then act like we save ourselves. We beg your forgiveness, then repeat our errors. We experience your grace, then act defeated. We rely on your power, but only in hard times.

One thing that struck me about this part of the Confession is how we are such unfaithful reasoners. It has been suggested even by secular philosophers that belief has an ethical component, that there is a moral responsibility that goes along with believing certain things. Now, those philosophers don't put it quite like this, but the general idea is still there: our beliefs about God and the relationship we as Christians have with Him have certain implications about what we ought to do. Yet, in proclaiming those beliefs through both word and deed, we so often draw the wrong conclusions in our words and deeds -- conclusions that are more consistent with unbelief than with belief.

Seeking salvation in God implies that we cannot accomplish this ourselves; yet, we behave as if we save ourselves, as if we have no need for God on a regular basis. Begging forgiveness implies a mortification of our sin, that in seeking to have our past sins wiped away we also seek to be free from sin's slavery; yet, we continue to repeat our errors, often without concern or remorse, as if we were not already out from under sin's tyranny. Experiencing God's grace implies that we are more than conquerors in Him; yet, we behave as if we are helpless in defeat. Relying on God's power implies recognition of His constant love for us and our absolute reliance upon Him at all times of our lives; yet, we come to Him on our knees only when we are already knocked down.

Lost - "Dave"

Well, I guess the Libby-Hurley connection is answered. (Another survivor-mental institution connection: Locke's mom admitted herself to the same institution.)

SEE YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE

One of the things that I found interesting was a third time someone from a survivor's past life says something about seeing them in the next life.

• Jack/Desmond - In the stadium, Desmond leaves Jack with, "See you in another life" (or something close, I couldn't find the episode where he said it).
  
• Sayid/Nadia - On the back of Nadia's picture she wrote: "You'll find me in the next life, if not in this one." Another survivor past connection from the previous (?) episode: The woman whose house Locke inspected was Nadia (Sayid's woman).
  
• Hurley/Dave - Before doing the Nestea plunge over the cliff, Dave says to Hurley: "See you in another life."
  

What is this "next life" or "another life"? The island? Sounds kinda fishy, but... Jack sees Desmond again on the island (Desmond is real). Hurley sees Dave again on the island (Dave isn't real, despite some protests). What about poor Sayid?

THIS PLACE IS A JOKE

"H.G." rocks Locke. "I never entered the numbers. I never pressed the button." And what happened? Nothing (that we can tell). Although "H.G." was never present when the timer was reset (that we know of) or when the timer counted down and the heiroglyphs showed up on the timer (as far as we know), he accurately described what happened in past episodes when this occured. So, at some point he must have actually witnessed it (either then or at a previous time) or been told about it by someone who did. This seems to square nicely with the Skinner box theory of the hatch.

"H.G." mentioned hearing a clunk, then a whirring noise, like a big magnet. Where did the magnet thing come from (re: "H.G."'s experience)? Does he know what a big magnet sounds like? Does it sound like anything? Beats me. But that a magnet is involved squares with at least two things:

1. Jack's metal key being attracted to a break in the concrete wall that is surrounding something, presumably the magnet.
2. Some of the notes on the blast door: "GEOLOGICAL COMPOSITION LIKELY TO CAUSE MAGNETIC … INTERFERE WITH WEATHER PROJECT"; the equations look like physics equations dealing with electromagnetism and gravity (or so I hear - I haven't brushed up on my Einsteinian mathematics recently, although God's Equation, a book dealing with that subject, was really good).
   

But how much can we trust "H.G."? He's lied about everything regarding the Henry Gale incident: that he was Henry Gale, that it was his wife who was buried, and that he found Henry Gale's neck broken, for starters. But he says to Locke, "I'm done lying." Yeah, but he could of course be lying about that as well. Jeez.

Remember when Danielle takes Sayid to "H.G."? She warns Sayid: "Don't believe a word he says. He's one of them." (How in the world does she know this? Well, she's been on the island for about 20 years now. Why hasn't she gotten caught by Them? Is she that good? Are they leaving her alone?) "Know this: He will lie. For a long time, he will lie." How long? Not forever. Did he stop lying while he was talking to his new pal, Locke? We know he's not lying about what happens when the timer counts down (heiroglyphs, timer resets to 108:00). Did he put those truths in their to disguise the lies about pressing the button being inefficacious? Is he Mr. Manipulator to the very end?

"HIM"

WHO IS THIS GUY? When A.L. mentions Mr. Friendly ("the guy in the beard"), "H.G." says, "Him? He's no one. Nothing." This squares with what Claire saw (via her flashback) when Mr. Friendly and Ethan are worried about what "he" would say, assuming a subordinate attitude toward "him." During Sayid's interrogation, "H.G." seems quite willing to say how Sayid "doesn't understand" about what's going on or about the Others, but he never says anything about Them, nothing to back up these claims. And when he mentions "him," he gets this look sort of like, "Oops, I just let something slip," but perhaps more like, "I'm going to give a look like I think I just let something slip when I really meant to say it all along." I just can't get myself to believe all of what he says. It seems he is mixing truth and falsehood, the tares with the wheat.

"GOD DOESN'T KNOW"

"God doesn't know how long we've been here, John. He can't see this island any better than the rest of the world can." Man, what the heck? I'm guessing the God part is hyperbole, while the rest is (possibly) the truth. Some have taken all of it quite literally, others have taken the God part metaphorically (in that the place is so evil and such ungodly things are going on that it's like Hell), but I find this uncompelling.

There is an interesting (but ultimately unproven) connection between electromagnetism and invisibility regarding the Philadelphia Experiment, which most reliable sources think is completely bogus. The story is that the experiment was an application in Einstein's (postulated but never proven) unified field theory - the interrelatedness of different fields: electromagnetism, gravity, etc. - in which light could be bent around an object in order to cloak it from both vision and radar. Perhaps part of the show's mythology is that the D. I. folks figured out how to do it for real and tried it out with the island. This would account for the magnet and the physics equations.

1. I took Chesterton's The Everlasting Man off the books-I'm-currently-reading list. I know, I know: "But it's CHESTERTON!" Well, it's been a tough read and I just don't see that I'm going to finish it anytime soon, so I figured I might as well be true to my current reading schedule and just take it off the list. Plus, honestly, I'm not sure I get it. So, GKC has been replaced with Vonnegut. I know, I know: "But it's CHESTERTON!" So it goes.
2. I had my first fast food burger and fries in a very long while the other day. Man, it was good.
   
3. I have jury duty. Not necessarily a good time for it, having recently taken on two extra classes to cover for my once-pregnant-current-mom officemate. (Is there ever a good time to have jury duty?) But it might be less demanding to be on jury duty... I could even rent 12 Angry Men and memorize some choice lines. Or something from the court scenes in A Few Good Men. "YOU CAN'T HANDLE PUNITIVE DAMAGES!!"
   
4. Where is my mind? I'm on the 6th floor of the UGA library and hop on the elevator to head down to the 1st floor. All the while, I'm scribbling notes on my legal pad. Without looking up, I notice that the elevator stops too soon for it to be the 1st floor. But no one gets on the elevator. I look up at the elevator doors with furrowed brow, my first thought being that I'm stuck on the stinking elevator and now the fire department guys are going to have to get me out. I stand there for a few seconds, with furrowed brow, wondering what the heck is going on. Wouldn't you know it - I didn't hit the 1st floor button. There's a first time for everything.
   

Lost (3)

"HENRY GALE"

Okay, so is our busted lipped prisoner of the hatch "Henry Gale" an Other? I would say yes, but for some reason I'm not completely comfortable with that answer. It just seems too neat. But, then, the producers did say (in a recent podcast) that with the chunk of episodes involving the "Henry Gale" character they wanted to explore the idea that someone is, in fact, how they appear or who they say they are. From the tv viewer's standpoint, since the beginning of the show, people are not what they seem. We have been led to believe one thing about a main character, then with a series of flashbacks, are led to something completely different. Characters hide themselves from each other, being something other than what they portray. We have had infiltrators of the camp by an Other (Ethan). We have characters who we're not totally sure about (Danielle - though we've gotten some nice revelations about her character's character). From the characters' standpoint, they've pretty much been trained to think that any outsider is automatically suspect and probably isn't who he/she says that he/she is. "H.G." claims to not be one of these Others; so, per the producers' suggestion, take him at his word?

He gives us every reason not to trust him. The show portrays him as very good at psychological manipulation. Even though he is the one held prisoner, he seems to be exerting quite a bit of control in playing up the alpha male push-and-shove between Jack and Locke. He lied about his story: it was not his wife in that grave - it was the real Henry Gale. Danielle thinks he is an Other (or at least someone very suspect), and she seems to be pretty good at that kind of thing. Sayid The Interrogator didn't believe him, and he is pretty good at that kind of thing. This fairly straighforwardly points to his being something other than who he claims he is. How is he going to get himself out of this mess?

But if he were an Other, someone involved with the D.I. (assuming for now that the D.I. people and our castaways are the only two groups to be considered, which is probably not a safe assumption - there are also those "shoeless Others" walking through the jungle with kids in tow), then wouldn't he have done what he said he'd do at the end of the previous episode (#16) if he were an Other, namely, set up an ambush so that he would be exchanged for Sayid, A.L., and Charlie? That obviously didn't happen. If he never had an ambush (or anything of the sort) planned, he had to know that they'd be back, that there was the possibility of Sayid et al. finding him out, and of Sayid being really pissed when he got back to the hatch. And if I were "H.G.," I wouldn't want to get that close to being pummeled by Sayid again. This just doesn't look like the action of someone who has something as big as being an Other to hide. But, given his lies, he's hiding something. What is he hiding? Who is he? Why take the chance of being found out?

We saw in the preview for next week's show that "H.G." recoils in fear (presumably from Sayid pointing a gun in his face) and says something like, "But he'll kill me!" Dang it, here's the "him" again. Is this the same "him" that Desmond referred to? The same "he" that Mr. Friendly in the Staff during Claire's flashback mentioned in his chat with Ethan? Desmond and Mr. Friendly both know something that we don't, even if it's not the same thing that they both know. It stands to reason that "H.G." is also in the know about something that we are not, in his reference to this "he." Does this mean he is an Other? Was Desmond? (I really haven't thought much about what category to place Desmond in. He was not trying to kidnap or kill anyone, he was just a little on edge about visitors blowing up his hatch door. He doesn't fit the Mr. Friendly and Ethan models of what an Other is.)