Miner Brothers

Of Earth and Sky

2009-12-11T23:29:00Z

On Starry Nights
Mark Miner

On starry nights
you strain your neck
to see the lights
the tiny specks
so high above
and far away
the moon alone
was lit today
and all the rest
poured out their rays
in ancient past
do they still blaze?
The star I sing
that guides me north
is it alight?
does it hold forth
its eloquent expended beams
down to today?
Perhaps it seems
alive, but death
is hiding light years hence and I
will be bereft of breath
and who will see it die?

Ex Terra
Mark Miner

Have you knelt?
have you felt
recently
the earth?
The soil beneath
of which you are,
my friend,
and I, too.
It does no good
to ignore your roots
nor those of God's green weald
so pause
and press the clods
the little fibers of past lives hold it together,
then it crumbles.
Pay attention,
there's much to learn here
as it returns to dust
so will you
so will I
so do you good to it before you die
consider,
you're making your bed.

Sketches of Happiness

2009-11-21T17:55:00Z

By Mark Miner

1)   She was of medium height, the kind of half-cute that can experience moments of true beauty, and she was smiling now, and it worked. It was infectious. My wife and I smiled, too, and politely chatted as she rang up our order. It was a slow night, and three other cashiers were draped across chairs behind her, laughing as one recounted a truly awful relationship, how it ended badly, and had ruined her. She was smiling. Her cohorts laughed sincerely at the appropriate times, and I was sure our cashier would join them in their circle of delight after we left. Our order was not big, but two people offered to help on the way out the doors and into the warm autumn evening.

2)   Her name was Annette, and she was young and gorgeous. On this my wife and I agreed. Her svelte black pants, blue-and-red uniform polo, and cap, could not be more perfectly arranged. You could see her smile, like a road flare, lighting up the drive-thru lane. The whole experience was dreamlike and inchoate, tied together only by a cheerful voice, that brilliant smile, and Annette's true and burning desire to get each and every person exactly the food they wanted, as quickly as her dear soul could. And she succeeded. On all levels, in all ways, Annette, the impossibly, refreshingly sweet carhop, succeeded in life.

3)   He was enormous. Not overly fat, but wide, like a tugboat. He could very well have had a career as a tugboat, if he could have walked on water. He greeted my wife as "young lady", which might have been correct. He greeted me as "young man", which was not. He greeted the middle-aged man behind me as "young man", which was entirely delightful. His pleasure in life, as far as I could tell, consisted in making sandwiches. He wanted to know you, what you liked, what you disliked, and why. He made jokes, which were funny even if they weren't. He made friends with you over the course of a minute, and you valued him as a friend and confidant for the next two, at which time he would bid you a cheerful farewell, and you knew that you and he would be happy the next time you met.

Comments on Ft. Hood

2009-11-06T15:14:00Z

1) May God give peace to the families, and justice to the perpetrator.

2) Brava to the policewoman who put a stop to it, may she recover quickly.

3) At least 43 rounds were fired, reportedly from 2 handguns, which requires planning and some dexterity.

4) He was a Major, obviously had been in for a while, and had not considered how to deal with a deployment to one of the nations we've been operating in for 6 years?

5) Any suggestion that "He was driven to this by an uncaring Army" is nonsense. If you want to get out of a deployment and you have no respect for life, attempt suicide. You can even deliberately botch it. You will not be going overseas after that.

Conclusion: This was a premeditated, sociopathic act. Speculation about cause or blame has very little place in such a situation.

Application: Spare a prayer for the families. Execute the perp, if he lives.

That is all.
MJM

BIRTHERS FALL SHORT

2009-10-09T15:48:00Z

New Advocacy Group Claims Birthers "Miss the Obvious"
PHOENIX - (AP)

A group of irate citizens calling themselves "Existers" are causing a stir by claiming that President Obama simply does not exist. Their arguments draw from portions of the "Birther" campaign, The Emperor's New Clothes, and the award of a Nobel Peace Prize. Karen Clatchner, a self-described "hard-core exister", sums up their views: "Look, if he wasn't born, he can't be real! And all through the campaign, all you heard was 'unbelievable', 'he's just out of sight', and that he was 'a dream come true'. All we're saying is this: it never came true." When asked how the Nobel Prize figured into the group's arguments, Ms. Clatchner cocked her head, blew a raspberry, and said "So the Swedes recognized him? Honestly? You think that helps?"

The reaction of Americans has been mixed. A telephone survey found that 94% of Americans had never seen the President except on TV, and 90% of respondents acknowledged that they don't always believe the TV. Of the 6% who claimed to have seen the President, all admitted "it was from a long way away", and that they were "very excited at the time". Psychologists universally acknowledge the role that excitement can play in causing humans to accept erroneous information, such as "After-Thanksgiving Sales".

The President could not be reached for comment.

Boston and SanFran Poems

2009-09-16T03:20:00Z

From a trip this past winter, not sure why I did not post it before.

Impressions on Boston and San Francisco
By Mark Miner

Chipped enamel lays bare the cold cast metal below
ragged edge on a banister
chiseled by carelessness
It is Boston in February
and the world is chilled
and snow is coming.

Spooning on the stoop of a rundown house
street man and street woman
Adam and Eve in the junkyard of Eden
waiting for the cool of the day to talk with God
the Pacific salts the air to perfection
as I fast-walk past this primeval pair
enjoying a fine evening in San Francisco.

Wyoming

2009-09-02T00:03:00Z

By Mark Miner, upon return from his vacation.

See the hills swoop
sculpted by wind and God
now rolling, now plunging
wallows and ridges
cottonwood skyscrapers
greedily guzzling from lazy streams that don't mind in the least
That kind of country don't mind in the least
Come outside
relish the sun
be permeated by the prairie wind
let it flow between your molecules
until you are fresh
hung out on God's clothesline
to air out
in Wyoming

Corporate Blues

2009-07-13T23:54:00Z

By Mark Miner

Y'all listen here, people,
Got a story to tell,
'Bout how love of money,
Is a ticket to hell.

Well I got the blues,
Yeah I got the blues,
I got the fluorescent-cold-office-corporate-America-blues.
Oh yeah.

You young whippersnappers,
You looking so fine,
Dressed up for your interview,
At the end of the line.

Oh you'll get the blues,
Like I got the blues,
You'll get the worked-so-hard-learned-so-much-just-to-sit-in-a-cube blues.
That's right.

You wizened old creatures,
With your sweaters and tea,
You spent your whole life,
For this cold company.

Now you got the blues
Just like I got the blues
You got the gave-your-health-to-get-wealth-and-a-retirement blues
Mm-hmm

We all got the blues
The corporate blues
We got the sunny-day-stuck-inside-wish-I-could-go-and-play blues
So bad.

Engineering Indispensibles

2009-07-10T20:10:00Z

Ten Things Engineers Cannot Live Without, and Why

A list, by Mark Miner

10) Sweater. Because offices are inordinately cold. Why must we have numb hands?

9) Calipers. They afford a lot of fun measuring your tape dispenser, phone handset, monitor, mouse, and occasionally some useful parts.

8) MS Paint. Because they (or you) were too cheap to get a real graphics program, and you have a presentation in an hour.

7) 5 of each writing implement. Because you will lose at least 3 of them.

6) Whiteboard. A picture's worth a thousand words, and you can doodle on it.

5) Set of files. Because you screwed up the design, but now you're out of money and that hole has to line up. Get ready for sore hands.

4) Hammer. Because you REALLY screwed up this time. Seriously, don't you have calipers?

3) Lunch. Do you need to ask?

2) Other engineers. Because you have to sneer at the idiocy of SOMEBODY.

1) Coffee & mug. Almost doesn't deserve to be articulated, it's so fundamental. On the other hand, you'd never do work before noon without it.

PS- Not sure why I degenerated to list making. I'll just say it's a low-brainspace way of easing back into the blog. We'll see.

Physics

2009-02-25T18:10:00Z

By Mark Miner

Imagine traveling
near the speed of light
where time is so different
for others, not for you.

Imagine the event horizon
swirling like a cosmic whirlpool
and space is so strange
all around you, and within.

Imagine the birth of a star
all the light you cannot see
the majesty of silent explosions
the flung debris, everywhere.

Imagine colliding
with another particle
your joy and release
brand new particles! Stillborn.

Dada world war without end, dada revolution without beginning, dada, you friends and also-poets, esteemed sirs, manufacturers, and evangelists

2009-02-17T19:24:00Z

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Obama Embraces Economic Dadaism
"Why not?" is common reaction

In the face of yet another unprecedented financial crisis, the sitting president of the United States has at last resorted to Dadaism to sort out the troubles. When asked about his new policy, Mr. Obama danced and lilted: "Ungleddodle bunglemee, maybe try this one, you see? Gebbendodder teeter-totter rescue the economy!" The president continued to gibber until the press withdrew quietly from the room.

Economists and the literati are divided on the new approach. Stephen Harrington, a professor of 20th century literature at Colombia, said "the president's new tack squares well with his concern over a 'lost generation', and has a great deal of historical precedent from the Europeans." The economics department of Colombia refused comment, as they had pasted their lips together and were assembling a colossus of books and papers held together with glue.

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner demonstrated his solidarity with the President by sitting naked in the Rose Garden, covered head to toe in body paint, and smoking two cigarettes through his nose. When asked for comment, he screeched "smoking loon!" repeatedly for thirty seconds, then fell silent and refused to discuss further plans. Later this evening, the cabinet is expected to put on a silent play, going into detail on the new rescue plans via the media of pantomime and dance.

Reaction on Wall Street has been mixed. Henry Mitchell, a trader on the NYSE, said that he "couldn't figure out what they were up to before, so damned if this makes any difference." Oswald Harvery, a manager at Dow Jones, reported he was "thrilled that we're finally getting a consistent message from Washington."

America the Weary

2009-02-13T17:11:00Z

By Mark Miner

We are a cold eyed nation
stone faced staring at the blaze
the chaff of our burning paper spoiling the sky
as we gaze into the flames of our finances

We are a quiet nation
around our tables in the evening
chatting lightly of suffering and woe
our neighbors do the same

We are a pensive nation
like children looking at the world out the window
wondering where this train is headed
and if we will like the people when we get there

We are a somber nation
as the smoke rises slowly from each disaster
searing and tearing our eyes
but we do not blink

We are a young nation
though the aches in our bones are of old
and we collectively cup our head in our hands
sighing, wondering how it became like this

Yet we are a patient nation
We have been tried before
and if we have our legs under us still
we can rise and resume the race.
By the grace of Almighty God.

Maybe the real logic bomb would have slowed the foreclosure rate?

2009-01-30T20:33:00Z

Logic Bomb Destroys Fannie, Freddie
Washington, D.C.
Mortgage Giants "Brought to their Knees"

Although Fannie and Freddie recently escaped a crippling attack on their data center, another so-called "logic bomb" has wrought ruin at all levels of the institutions. In an interview with Jim Johnson, former chairman of Fannie Mae, he divulged the troubling news.

"Anybody could have seen it coming," he said, "and nobody did anything. It just blew up on us with a big red ERROR message, and that was it."

He was referring, of course, to the logical fallacy that his organization depended on: you can spend more than you have. Mr. Johnson: "It was like this tidal wave. We'd done it that way for so long, the congress loved it, homeownership was expanding. We thought it wouldn't ever execute that line."

"That line", of course, was the command buried deep within any financial script, no matter what language it is written in, that executes a protocol known as "pay_piper.exe". When this program is called for, it attempts to settle, or at least balance, all outstanding accounts. It is also connected with the collapse of WaMu and Bear Stears.

Millions of American homeowners are expected to suffer as a result of this error, and millions more taxpayers may be required to repair the damage.

A tech writer for "Wired", speaking anonymously, confided to us that "bad structuring can totally f*** your system, but when you basically ask it to tell you that a huge negative number equals zero, you crash everything. Everything."

If the AP would like my resume, I have a copy right here

2009-01-23T23:26:00Z

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Breaking News: Left-Leaning Establishment Propped Up By Right-Leaning Establishment
"Simply a miracle"

Early Friday afternoon, on K-Street, a "miracle" occured. A prominet left-leaning think-tank began to lose stability, drifting further to the left in the brisk wind. "It just looked like it couldn't stay up much longer," said Damon Smythe, who happened to be on the sidewalk below. "I thought I would have to run for it, y'know?"

This near-calamity was averted, however, when the building next door to the left, housing a far-right-leaning advocacy group, tipped just a bit further to the right, exactly intercepting the think-tank's ivory tower. "I wanted to cry, it was so beautiful, so merciful!" Julie Snyder, another passerby, exclaimed. "It could have been this huge disaster, but by drifting just a little further to the right, those nuts really saved the day."

President Obama was quick to comment on the report. "This spirit of post-partisanship, of left and right coming together, this is why I am here today, doing what I do." The president was wearing one of his gorgeous red ties again today.

Another bystander, who wished to remain anonymous, asked "Well, what if they had been on opposite sides of each other?" He was handcuffed and lead away from the scene by the Washington police. The police spokesperson issued a brief statement, saying "We don't have room for perspectives like that in America. It's perfectly obvious that, if it had been the other way around, you would just have had to go around to the other side."

Los Pobres

2009-01-22T21:45:00Z

By Mark Miner

Are you illegal, papa?
How did you come here?
I came across the deserts in the dead of night
I was two days in the journey
then further in the van
We took back roads
because they watch the interstates.
Who watches them, papa?
La Migra, mijo.
Who are they?
They are the government.
If they found papa, they would have sent me away.
Back to la patria.
But papa, don't you love la patria?
Of course, mijo. But I love you more.
Is that why they don't let you work?
Yes. So mama has to work,
And I keep you company.
Sometimes you work on the weekends, though.
Yes, because that's when the gueros do projects.
remember how I came home painted last weekend?
Haha, yes papa, I remember.
A nice man needed painters, and papa needed work.
So I got forty dollars.
Wow, papa. Are we poor?
Yes, mijo, we are poor.
Why are we poor, papa?
Because papa is illegal.

Let's hope so!

2008-10-24T15:26:00Z

By Matt Miner

From today's WSJ:

You know what makes sense? Trying to drive up price as demand plummets. See, when fewer people buy your stuff, watcha' do is...Raise the price like hell! That'll show 'em - they'll buy more for sure!

Oh wait. No, actually it doesn't work like that. OPEC is being very short sighted here. If they had any sense of strategy, they would let the price fall and let the world get re-hooked on cheap energy. Also, in the current downturn, and with cheap energy, investment in renewables would pull way back as is already happening. All those smart people would go get other jobs, and we'd set this process of reducing oil demand back by at least three to five years. But instead OPEC will try to manage short-term revenue, thereby lending support to continued renewables investment. Cool, huh?

The cloud in this silver lining is as follows: The lovely countries that produce our oil (Chad, Niger, Venezuela, Iran, etc.) have an immediate finance problem. If oil goes to $40, these countries will get much poorer. Of course, in the long run, even if oil stayed at $140 but demand was cut in half, they'd still be in trouble. I will go ahead and predict that the process of weaning ourselves from oil will not be without geo-political turmoil. I also will predict that between climate change, general outrage, and the current economic woes, we've passed the tipping point on this weaning process. If OPEC really takes production way down, the shift will just accelerate.

Of course, I may be completely wrong. Check back in ten years.

New Entry!

2008-10-23T15:00:00Z

Hello world,
It's been a while
I hope you're doing well.
I'm busy now
With many things
I bet that you could tell.
Grad school apps
Midterm today
And work goes on and on.
See you soon,
I guess I'll say,
I hope I won't be long.

MJM

Obama vs Palin - Bigotdown '08

2008-10-03T19:40:00Z

I hate politics. They invariably degenerate into power struggles between equally greedy parties or people. This year the stench of machiavellianism is particularly striking.

Don't get me wrong, I think that so far, everyone who has tried to run or is in the race, top or bottom of the ticket, is basically as personally qualified to be president as the rest of them. We are supposed to have a representative system, and there is actually a surprising diversity of the population represented on either ticket. So far, so good.

But then the mud starts to fly. Then the barbs and jibes. Then the slings and arrows. This arms race only has one end that I perceive. Whether the red button is pushed by the campaigns or by the 5th column YouTubers or the 529s, somebody's gonna go nuclear towards the end. "John McCain doesn't want to let a black man in the White House." "Barack Obama won't let a woman get anywhere close to the seat of power." And there will be the fallout and winter of the b-word. Bigot, that is.

It is such a horrid word. It is a harsh, blunt, divisive word, one best ascribed by historians with the protection of time and grave between them and their subjects. You can't say it and win. By calling someone a bigot, you draw a big black line. It doesn't matter which side of that line you are on, since you have sundered rational debate by drawing it. It is the end, and I fear it is nigh.

Why have poll gaps closed so tight in recent elections? Why has the congress been functionally deadlocked for quite some time? Why has our "conservative" president succeeded in squandering his administration, leaving a legacy of missed opportunities and bigger government? I submit that it is due to this strangling of debate that occurs when the bigot lines are drawn. There are many. So many it hurts. Why are there so many? Why do we face such a polarizing choice when flipping between Fox and CNN?

I think our national attention span has been greatly diminished. The decisions people are asked to make are "A or B, NOWNOWNOW!" What the relative merits of A or B might be will be drowned in the din of the next news story. Yesterday's Doonesbury was particularly salient.

If this sort of yellow journalism, yellow legislation, and yellow campaigning takes root, Americans will lose that once-so-defining characteristic: a nation of misfits thrown together who acheive astonishing things. Think about what you think. Consider that others may hold their beliefs equally dear. If you want to win them over, try talking, not shouting. The heritage of our nation, of eurdite lettered men conversing at length with dirt farmers about one idea or another, is in danger from the din of the demagogues.

Let's hold out.

Phoenix September Haiku

2008-09-17T14:48:00Z

By Mark Miner

summer is dying
writhing and lashing with heat
will soon die and cool

winter is plotting
scheming its crooked-hand plans
here we mock his chill

Dreams - Langston Hughes

2008-09-12T14:52:00Z

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Langston Hughes

Sketch from Missouri, part 2

2008-08-27T18:10:00Z

    "What happened to your eye?"
    "Oh, I fell off a motorcycle." He looked nonchalant, but the scar was long and deep.
    "Slice it on the pavement?"
    "Naw, the lens on my sunglasses broke out and just sliced it up."
    "Ouch."
    "Yeah, it's not too bad now, it happened about a week ago." He looked back at the paper in front of him. "Ready for run two?"
    "Sure," I said. "Randy, you set?"
    The operator muttered in his beard and hollered that he was. He called back to the big friendly bubba at the electrical control panel. They were set.
    This was the tech belt of the town. The company had been here for about a century, and been in and out of chapter 11. They knew how to build batteries, but apparently not how to manage. The folks were friendly, good Missourians, who liked hunting, fishing, and barbeque. It was a kind of life I knew about, but hadn't ever run into. They were good people, but something about the whole shop still came off as unprofessional. I was here to ride herd on the testing, representing my company's interests, and I was accompanied by our first-tier supplier's rep. He was a quality guy, I was the engineer, between us we were supposed to keep the bugs out of this batch.
    The engineer with the scar double-checked the paperwork, and gave the boys the go-ahead. The battery was activated, the shock hammer hit, rose, hit again, rose one last time, paused, and fell for the last hit. Now the data processing started. That always took a while. They folks here weren't too confident with the setup that I had made them use. My hands were bound by company policy, though, so I could sit in smugness and point out the requirements. Ah, engineering. Is this what I wanted out of you? To be an emanation of a company, working its will on the good people of Missouri? Life is funny. The next hit was ready now. I scuffed my boot on the floor and got back to supervising.