Seventy-two years ago, a surprise attack came.
It can be argued that the attack should not have surprised naval strategists, or military leaders of that day. However, it did.
There is even evidence that the Japanese diplomats in Washington, DC did not know that their nation was shifting from negotiations into armed conflict.
Pearl Harbor is at the edge of living memory now. (Last
year at this time, I had five relative alive who could remember that
day. Now, only three are alive...) Soon, it will pass beyond living
memory.
Even so, the lesson that could be learned has probably not been learned.
Jim Miller has said a little more than I have, and probably more cogently.
His main point is cultural difference. That, blended with an ongoing simmering of preparation-for-possible-war and lack of clarity on the target chosen for military attack, kept American leaders from understanding that an attack might come in Hawaii. Worse, technological advances (some less than a few months old) gave the Japanese naval forces an edge.
The war that shaped a generation, and turned America into a dominant power on Earth, had started years earlier. But the United States was brought into that war by surprise attack.
UPDATE: like every day in history, there are many important details...and there are also interesting trivia.
2013-12-07
2013-12-06
Rest in Peace
I saw in the news last night that Nelson Mandela has passed away.
This man has a good recounting of Mandela's interaction with Communists. I trust his opinion, mostly because of his personal knowledge of South Africa and his ability to connect that knowledge to his studies of history.
It's an open question whether Mandela's jail time (and his involvement in terrorist-style attacks) are absolved by his later deeds. I can't say much on that. I hope that Mandela's death does not portend a change for the worse in South Africa.
Another comment which I found enlightening is in this comment-thread on Mandela's death.
In part:
It appears few outsiders understand the differences between various tribes present in that part of Africa.
And it is easy to forget the racial and tribal animosity, as well as imperial aggression, can be found between those African tribes.
This man has a good recounting of Mandela's interaction with Communists. I trust his opinion, mostly because of his personal knowledge of South Africa and his ability to connect that knowledge to his studies of history.
It's an open question whether Mandela's jail time (and his involvement in terrorist-style attacks) are absolved by his later deeds. I can't say much on that. I hope that Mandela's death does not portend a change for the worse in South Africa.
Another comment which I found enlightening is in this comment-thread on Mandela's death.
In part:
The South African struggle against apartheid was seen in this country through the lens of our own Civil Rights struggle.
It was much different. ... it was also the rise from utter disaster of the Xhosa people, of which Nelson Mandela was one.
...
South Africa didn't have two imperial powers --- the British & the Dutch --- it had three --- the Zulu. The Zulu Empire at its 19th century height had an estimated 14 million subjects. All three imperial powers shared one thing in common: the Xhosa were to be a subject people. Under apartheid, the Zulus had, then as now, much self-determination in KwaZulu, and they often backed the apartheid regime.
The rise of the Xhosa under the ANC was not just a white vs black or an anti-imperialist struggle. It was the story of a broken & despised tribal people rising to power from the ashes. It's a story that is much more interesting in its own terms than in the terms that the rest of the world uses to it.
It appears few outsiders understand the differences between various tribes present in that part of Africa.
And it is easy to forget the racial and tribal animosity, as well as imperial aggression, can be found between those African tribes.
2013-12-03
Return to blog
After a hiatus, I wonder what I should post about.
A big problem with a train running faster than safe through a tight turn. Was it operator error? Equipment error? Both in concert?
A murder case in a University town is solved after going cold for a month. A computer was stolen from a neighboring house at the time of the murder. That computer, resold over Craig's List, reported itself when used. Does this mean that Craig's List helps find criminals, or that Craig's List helps criminals resell stolen goods? Much more importantly, how often does solving small crimes lead to criminals guilty of more heinous crimes?
Lastly, just today a Federal judge made a ruling allowing a major American city to enter bankruptcy. That major city is the core of the Metro Area I currently live in.
There's an odd feeling to the area. The Tri-County region has approximately 4 million people. Detroit currently has about 750,000 residents, in a region that used to have nearly 2 million residents. A person can travel a route some 40 or 50 miles long around the edge of Detroit. In many places, they will see a a suburb on one side, visibly nicer than Detroit on the other. In some places, they will look South across the river into Canada.
The area is not doing well, though it is not doing extremely badly. A combination of factors led to noticeable flow of residents leaving the Metro Area shortly before the national housing market boom turned into a bust. Population hasn't shrunk much for the Metro Area, but it hasn't grown either.
The auto business hit a sharp downturn in 2008. Many companies involved in that business have since recovered to their pre-downturn business levels. But some haven't. And not many are doing better.
I wonder what this bankruptcy will do to the local political and business climate...
A big problem with a train running faster than safe through a tight turn. Was it operator error? Equipment error? Both in concert?
A murder case in a University town is solved after going cold for a month. A computer was stolen from a neighboring house at the time of the murder. That computer, resold over Craig's List, reported itself when used. Does this mean that Craig's List helps find criminals, or that Craig's List helps criminals resell stolen goods? Much more importantly, how often does solving small crimes lead to criminals guilty of more heinous crimes?
Lastly, just today a Federal judge made a ruling allowing a major American city to enter bankruptcy. That major city is the core of the Metro Area I currently live in.
There's an odd feeling to the area. The Tri-County region has approximately 4 million people. Detroit currently has about 750,000 residents, in a region that used to have nearly 2 million residents. A person can travel a route some 40 or 50 miles long around the edge of Detroit. In many places, they will see a a suburb on one side, visibly nicer than Detroit on the other. In some places, they will look South across the river into Canada.
The area is not doing well, though it is not doing extremely badly. A combination of factors led to noticeable flow of residents leaving the Metro Area shortly before the national housing market boom turned into a bust. Population hasn't shrunk much for the Metro Area, but it hasn't grown either.
The auto business hit a sharp downturn in 2008. Many companies involved in that business have since recovered to their pre-downturn business levels. But some haven't. And not many are doing better.
I wonder what this bankruptcy will do to the local political and business climate...
2013-07-30
A little scary
In news that touches on the industry I work in, a pair of computer programmers show what a knowledgeable person can do to a modern car.
Of course, the methods shown in that article require a physical, wired connection to the CAN bus on the car. (CAN is the usual abbreviation for Controller Area Network, the most common architecture used to connect micro-controllers in automotives.)
Most cars have one such connection, the ODB-II port. Usually, this can be found in the driver-side footwell.
However, many cars also have a Bluetooth-enabled entertainment unit, which is connected (often via a subsidiary microprocessor) to the car's CAN bus. I don't know how easy it is to trick the BT-processor into feeding unintended signals onto the CAN. In theory, it is possible. In practice, this likely requires a great deal of inside-industry knowledge, and access to a Bluetooth device that is already, or will be, paired with the car's electronics.
(Pro tip: if your car comes with a mechanically-operated clutch or emergency brake, you can stop it from moving even if a hacker has control of steering, throttle, and ignition. However, a mechanically-operated clutch is usually only found on manual transmissions. And a mechanical emergency brake is usually seen on vehicle with drum brakes. If your car has disc brakes on all four wheels, you may have an emergency brake that depends on the electronic controllers in your car to activate. An emergency brake that is electronically-controlled may be vulnerable to a hacker. My currently daily drive has a mechanical emergency brake, but an automatic transmission. However, it is old enough to have no wireless-connection-capable electronics on-board.)
The potential danger from this kind of hacking is frightening.
One note: among the top 6 car manufacturers in the world, I am not aware of any two that use the same definitions for data and instructions on their CAN bus. (The design for CAN separates the data definitions from the transmission protocols, and allows any manufacturer to write their own data set and instruction set.) But I might not be well-informed; my specialty doesn't require me to know those details.
However, any hack against one car manufactured by one company will likely work against most vehicles offered by that company. And once that hack is publicly-available, it will be very hard for the affected company to recall and fix every affected vehicle.
Electronic security on cars is a new thing, and is currently in its infancy. I hope that it will improve faster than the security in Windows-branded Operating Systems did...
Of course, the methods shown in that article require a physical, wired connection to the CAN bus on the car. (CAN is the usual abbreviation for Controller Area Network, the most common architecture used to connect micro-controllers in automotives.)
Most cars have one such connection, the ODB-II port. Usually, this can be found in the driver-side footwell.
However, many cars also have a Bluetooth-enabled entertainment unit, which is connected (often via a subsidiary microprocessor) to the car's CAN bus. I don't know how easy it is to trick the BT-processor into feeding unintended signals onto the CAN. In theory, it is possible. In practice, this likely requires a great deal of inside-industry knowledge, and access to a Bluetooth device that is already, or will be, paired with the car's electronics.
(Pro tip: if your car comes with a mechanically-operated clutch or emergency brake, you can stop it from moving even if a hacker has control of steering, throttle, and ignition. However, a mechanically-operated clutch is usually only found on manual transmissions. And a mechanical emergency brake is usually seen on vehicle with drum brakes. If your car has disc brakes on all four wheels, you may have an emergency brake that depends on the electronic controllers in your car to activate. An emergency brake that is electronically-controlled may be vulnerable to a hacker. My currently daily drive has a mechanical emergency brake, but an automatic transmission. However, it is old enough to have no wireless-connection-capable electronics on-board.)
The potential danger from this kind of hacking is frightening.
One note: among the top 6 car manufacturers in the world, I am not aware of any two that use the same definitions for data and instructions on their CAN bus. (The design for CAN separates the data definitions from the transmission protocols, and allows any manufacturer to write their own data set and instruction set.) But I might not be well-informed; my specialty doesn't require me to know those details.
However, any hack against one car manufactured by one company will likely work against most vehicles offered by that company. And once that hack is publicly-available, it will be very hard for the affected company to recall and fix every affected vehicle.
Electronic security on cars is a new thing, and is currently in its infancy. I hope that it will improve faster than the security in Windows-branded Operating Systems did...
2013-07-22
Motown Madness
I'm from Detroit. Except I'm not.
(Cue a line of regional humor: You know you live in Michigan when: half the people you know grew up in Detroit, but you don't know anyone who currently lives in Detroit.)
You see, I've never resided in (and only occasionally set foot in) the City of Detroit. But for most of my life, I've lived in the suburban cities that surround the City of Detroit.
It's an odd dichotomy. All that time, I've lived in areas that are generally violence-free. Crime is known to happen, but not in significant amounts. The local schools are respectable. Local Police usually respond in good time, and rarely see things more heinous than property theft and DUI cases.
Three miles away from my current abode, across the political barrier between City and Suburb, is an area where crime is common, the school system is broken, and violence seems to be part of the background noise in the neighborhood. Murder is shockingly common.
Detroit was by turns a river fort, a trade center, Underground Railroad terminus, industrial city, Arsenal of Democracy, and one of the wealthiest cities in the U.S. Eventually, it became a notoriously crime-ridden city, a place of racial tension, a City whose primary businesses struggled against rising overseas competition...
And now, an example of the potential financial collapse of city governments that make promises that can't be kept.
I never knew the glory days of Detroit. I don't know what will arise from the ashes.
Indeed, I don't even know if the self-immolation of the City is complete. It is sad, and strange. So far, the suburbs have managed to not share in the ruin of the CIty. I don't know if that will be the case in the future...
(Cue a line of regional humor: You know you live in Michigan when: half the people you know grew up in Detroit, but you don't know anyone who currently lives in Detroit.)
You see, I've never resided in (and only occasionally set foot in) the City of Detroit. But for most of my life, I've lived in the suburban cities that surround the City of Detroit.
It's an odd dichotomy. All that time, I've lived in areas that are generally violence-free. Crime is known to happen, but not in significant amounts. The local schools are respectable. Local Police usually respond in good time, and rarely see things more heinous than property theft and DUI cases.
Three miles away from my current abode, across the political barrier between City and Suburb, is an area where crime is common, the school system is broken, and violence seems to be part of the background noise in the neighborhood. Murder is shockingly common.
Detroit was by turns a river fort, a trade center, Underground Railroad terminus, industrial city, Arsenal of Democracy, and one of the wealthiest cities in the U.S. Eventually, it became a notoriously crime-ridden city, a place of racial tension, a City whose primary businesses struggled against rising overseas competition...
And now, an example of the potential financial collapse of city governments that make promises that can't be kept.
I never knew the glory days of Detroit. I don't know what will arise from the ashes.
Indeed, I don't even know if the self-immolation of the City is complete. It is sad, and strange. So far, the suburbs have managed to not share in the ruin of the CIty. I don't know if that will be the case in the future...
2013-07-14
Vacation
Spent some time overseas for a vacation, in an unusual place: South Africa. The plane flights were a little long, but I had a good reason to take the long flight to Johannesburg.
The visit was the result of a developing relationship with a woman. She was visiting her hometown, seeing family, and helping an elderly relative celebrate a birthday. I was offered an opportunity to travel to see the relatives and the homeland.
A few odd details stick out in my mind:
The visit was the result of a developing relationship with a woman. She was visiting her hometown, seeing family, and helping an elderly relative celebrate a birthday. I was offered an opportunity to travel to see the relatives and the homeland.
A few odd details stick out in my mind:
- The countryside is a mix of beautiful vista and small towns. The small towns range from cute to poverty-stricken.
- Everyone is friendly.
This goes double if the person thinks they can sell you something. - The big cities aren't much different from big cities in the U.S.
Except that all houses in the middle-class neighborhoods are behind walls, and electric wires are not uncommon on top of the walls. - Almost everyone I met had at least one dog, but dogs are considered outside animals. Cats were allowed inside the house, though.
- Traveling to visit a game-preserve in the bush can get a little...interesting when the directions weren't perfectly clear, and phone service is spotty.
- The game preserve is peaceful. The guys who were there with me hunted some, but seemed more intent on having fun than on getting game.
- It seemed that every tree or bush in the preserve had thorns on it.
- Everything looked cheap, after I did the SouthAfricanRand-to-USD conversion in my head
- The old gold mine is interesting, but the ratio of mined-rock to extracted-gold is mind-bogglingly-large.
- Descending 220 meters (~740 ft) in a caged elevator can be a little scary, even though the tour guide entered the lift cage with us.
2013-06-25
Had a blast
Last night was the fireworks celebration in downtown Detroit.
For many reasons, Detroit and Windsor have had a common celebration a week (or week and a half) before the 4th of July. The celebration is centered around a huge fireworks display launched from three barges in the Detroit River. It it intended to cover both Independence Day and Canada Day. But being so early, it seems more like a pre-celebration than a celebration.
I and a couple of friends found a location to park about a mile from Hart Plaza in the downtown area. It seemed easier to park there, for free, than to drive closer to the event and pay to park. This meant that we had to traverse a good deal of the downtown area on foot...but it also meant that we were not going to be idling in traffic on the freeway out of the downtown area at the end of the night.
(I think the part of the parking plan was that the chosen parking location is next to a building that is heavily-used by City Police. A pleasant surprise ensued when we arrived. The Police were using the site as a staging area. The staging area was cleverly supported by an afternoon cook-out. Several dozen officers were milling around the site when we arrived, and a handful looked to be tasked with keeping an eye on the cook-out and the staging area all night long. Teams of alert-but-slightly-bored Policemen were at many intersections and road blocks near the Downtown area. That sight was also encouraging...as was the short chat about Police motorcycles with the team stationed in front of the Cobo Center.)
During our walk into Downtown, we saw many buildings that were faded relics of the former days of Detroit. The Grand Army of the Republic Building was a surprise to me. (It was built in the 1890s, and was used by the Grand Army of the Republic until the 1930s.) The building looks like a castle, and it nestled on a triangular lot edged by Grand River Ave, Cass Ave, and West Adams Rd. Currently, the building is surrounded by scaffolding (at the sidewalk level) indicating some sort of renovation project.
We also saw the Michigan Building (once a theater, now a parking garage), the empty Book Tower, and the in-use Book-Cadillac Hotel. Once we arrived at Hart Plaza, we had a very good view of the Rennaisance Center, One Detroit Center, and the Madden Building.
About 5 minutes into the fireworks display, there was a rush of people trying to leave Hart Plaza. And there were rumors of shots fired and people wounded. So far, those rumors have not been confirmed. This disturbance did, however, make the event more stressful than it should have been.
The thunderous booming of the fireworks rose and fell many times during a 20-minute period. It turned into an accelerating, staccato drumbeat during the closing.
This would have also provided great cover for the sound of gunshots. The heavy Police presence was successful at putting a damper on low-level crime (theft, mugging, fighting, and juveniles disobeying a City curfew). And this likely discouraged shootings.
All told, the night was enjoyable. Though I wish that the potential for an ill-timed panic had been less.
For many reasons, Detroit and Windsor have had a common celebration a week (or week and a half) before the 4th of July. The celebration is centered around a huge fireworks display launched from three barges in the Detroit River. It it intended to cover both Independence Day and Canada Day. But being so early, it seems more like a pre-celebration than a celebration.
I and a couple of friends found a location to park about a mile from Hart Plaza in the downtown area. It seemed easier to park there, for free, than to drive closer to the event and pay to park. This meant that we had to traverse a good deal of the downtown area on foot...but it also meant that we were not going to be idling in traffic on the freeway out of the downtown area at the end of the night.
(I think the part of the parking plan was that the chosen parking location is next to a building that is heavily-used by City Police. A pleasant surprise ensued when we arrived. The Police were using the site as a staging area. The staging area was cleverly supported by an afternoon cook-out. Several dozen officers were milling around the site when we arrived, and a handful looked to be tasked with keeping an eye on the cook-out and the staging area all night long. Teams of alert-but-slightly-bored Policemen were at many intersections and road blocks near the Downtown area. That sight was also encouraging...as was the short chat about Police motorcycles with the team stationed in front of the Cobo Center.)
During our walk into Downtown, we saw many buildings that were faded relics of the former days of Detroit. The Grand Army of the Republic Building was a surprise to me. (It was built in the 1890s, and was used by the Grand Army of the Republic until the 1930s.) The building looks like a castle, and it nestled on a triangular lot edged by Grand River Ave, Cass Ave, and West Adams Rd. Currently, the building is surrounded by scaffolding (at the sidewalk level) indicating some sort of renovation project.
We also saw the Michigan Building (once a theater, now a parking garage), the empty Book Tower, and the in-use Book-Cadillac Hotel. Once we arrived at Hart Plaza, we had a very good view of the Rennaisance Center, One Detroit Center, and the Madden Building.
About 5 minutes into the fireworks display, there was a rush of people trying to leave Hart Plaza. And there were rumors of shots fired and people wounded. So far, those rumors have not been confirmed. This disturbance did, however, make the event more stressful than it should have been.
The thunderous booming of the fireworks rose and fell many times during a 20-minute period. It turned into an accelerating, staccato drumbeat during the closing.
This would have also provided great cover for the sound of gunshots. The heavy Police presence was successful at putting a damper on low-level crime (theft, mugging, fighting, and juveniles disobeying a City curfew). And this likely discouraged shootings.
All told, the night was enjoyable. Though I wish that the potential for an ill-timed panic had been less.
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