Author Archives: Dan Nguyen

  

Settlers of Catan: A peaceful “Monopoly Killer”

Just finished reading this 2009 Wired piece by Andrew Curry on the popularity of Settlers of Catan, which apparently is the “Mona Lisa” of modern board gaming.

The most interesting insights to me were how board games are so popular in Germany that major media review them with the same seriousness as they do movies and books. And, that Germany’s post-WW2 revulsion towards violence affects their board game industry, so much that “Risk” risked being banned for fear that it would inspire another Hitler among the youth. They ended up getting past the censors by having players “liberate” opponents’ territories, rather than conquer them.

Back when I was in college, a lot of my dormmates played the game (it was an engineering/science dorm…) nightly. I avoided it because there didn’t appear to be any battleships or ICBMs and was more interested in Counterstrike anyway. But it sounds like a pretty legit game, sans armies. I bought the $4.99 iPhone app today.

  

Rep. Ron Paul shows how conservatism is done, re: Cordoba House

In contrast to my previous post on Republican U.S. House candidate Ron McNeil telling schoolkids that Islam is the enemy, Rep. Ron Paul demonstrates what happens when you take conservatism to its logical end (and in the process, showing up even Democrats when it comes to protecting civil rights):

I think it’s a big distraction, a grand distraction from the real issues… To me it should have been a grand opportunity, and you really touched on the opportunity, because it’s really a property rights issue, and who owns the property? And it’s also a civil liberties issue. It’s a freedom of speech issue… Property rights and civil rights are one and the same… drives the neo-cons nuts… I don’t believe for a minute that the, quote, religion of Islam is our enemy.

  

Ron McNiel (R-Fl. candidate) shows how teaching religion in schools is done

From Northwest Florida Daily News, this report of U.S. House candidate Ron McNiel teaching high school students how to make compromises on a heated First Amendment issue:

“That religion is against everything America stands for. If we have to let them build it, make them build it nine stories underground, so we can walk above it as citizens and Christians.”

As the Daily Show/Colbert Report’s Indecision blog notes, “You can’t un-read that, sorry.”

  

Men’s Health: The Tarahumara Indians, Men Who Live Forever

Again from longform.org, this 2008 article in Men’s Health magazine that seems too good to be true: the Tarahumara Indians, a remote tribe in Mexico’s Copper Canyons, live cancer and disease-free lives on a diet seemingly of corn and beer. Outsiders have adopted their lifestyle and writing technique: Scott Jurek was able to to win two ultra-marathons (100+ miles) within two weeks, all on a vegan diet.

The piece, by Christopher McDougall, is beautifully written, though devolves at the end into a technical dissertation on running technique. Not that it isn’t useful, and something I’m going to try (basically, the Tarahumara advocate a barefoot-running style that looks like riding an “invisible unicycle”, but I would’ve liked to read more about the Indians themselves. McDougall wrote a book, “Born to Run,” reviewed favorably by the Washington Post.

  

When Scientology was nicer. In 1995.

From longform.org comes this 15-year old Wired article about the Internet discovering Scientology, and vice versa. It’s a quaint read; the descriptions of how the early Net adopters traded messages through Usenet is about as unfamiliar to the Facebook generation as the Pony Express was to telephone users.

The author, Wendy M. Grossman, describes how early on, a Scientologist staffer wrote a memo advocating the flooding of the Internet with “positive messages”:

“If you imagine 40 to 50 Scientologists posting on the Internet every few days, we’ll just run the SPs right off the system. It will be quite simple.” She ended with, “I would like to hear from you on your ideas to make the Internet a safe space for Scientology to expand into.”

This memo, when leaked to Usenet, caused an uproar, according to Grossman, which led to an all-out war between the church and its anonymous online critics…a war that hasn’t quite abated 15 years later. If we give the Scientologist staffer the benefit of the doubt, isn’t she basically describing the marketplace of ideas? That is, that the best, most truthful ideas will rise to the top without the need for censorship. Without reading the rest of this memo, it’s difficult to say whether the staffer intended a more insidious campaign, such as a denial-of-service attack (a flood of messages making it impossible for others to read or post to the the newsgroup). And, as Grossman writes, the church opted for a strategy of aggressive censorship and litigation, which, as we know today, didn’t help the church’s image at all.

If the church wanted to adopt a more benevolent approach today, that is, having all of its followers post to the Internet in a reasonable and rational manner…well, it’s probably too late to convince people that it was sincerely trying the “marketplace of ideas” route. What could’ve been, I guess…

  

JetBlue’s Steven Slater’s Great Escape

Steven Slater

I predict a great talk-show circuit for (former) JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, who had an Office Space like moment at the end of a flight and went crazy, in a happy, mostly harmless way. I mean, he’s no Sully, but he’s got to have some admirers among frequent fliers, who’ll see his maniac episode as confirmation of the madness that is modern air travel.

From the NYT:

On Monday, on the tarmac at Kennedy International Airport, a JetBlue attendant named Steven Slater decided he had had enough, the authorities said.

After a dispute with a passenger who stood to fetch his luggage too soon on a full flight just in from Pittsburgh, Mr. Slater, 38 and a career flight attendant, got on the public-address intercom and let loose a string of invective.

Then, the authorities said, he pulled the lever that activates the emergency-evacuation chute and slid down, making a dramatic exit not only from the plane but, one imagines, also from his airline career.

On his way out the door, he paused to grab a beer from the beverage cart. Then he ran to the employee parking lot and drove off, the authorities said.

And c’mon, this is as graceful as an arrest as you can get:

Mr. Slater, Mr. Krakowski said, “had a smile on his face when the cops brought him out, like, ‘Yeah, big deal.’ ” Mr. Slater was taken to a Port Authority police building at the airport and was expected to be held overnight.

Here’s his MySpace page…I don’t want to make a flip judgment, but if you’re 38 and still maintaining an active MySpace page…

General Back flying after five years off the job and having a ball. If I am on the ground, I am probably in my humble home in the ‘burbs doing something domestic and trite. like vacuuming.Or dining, as I just love to dine. Which leads to the gym, to offset the dining. Big fan of sand and sun, I am often found on the beach or in a park, anywhere I can catch some exercise and a few rays. My airline affiliation allows me amazing travel privileges, and I love to max it out with trips around the world, sometimes on a moment’s notice!Let’s go!

Music totally random and eclectic tastes here, my iPod is full of cheesy disco trash and sappy big hair metal ballads. Had a New Jack thing recently, New Edition, Ralph tresvant, etc. Must be feeling nostalgic in my years. Enjoy classical, and give me an Irish tenor anyday. Jazz and New Age, Ambient, loung, chill

Well howdy friends and loved ones! Thanks for stopping by my little piece ‘o the web! Chances are I am flying 35, 000 feet somewhere over the rainbow on my way to some semi-fabulous JetBlue Airways destination! Truly, some are better than others. But I am enjoying being back in the skies and seeing them all. The last few years have ssen me grounded, doing the daily grind,’9 to ‘5-, “real job” thing and hating most of it. Now I am back in the swing of life and having a blast. Can’t wait to see where I go next! Beating alcoholism and substance abuse “one day at a time” has opened up new worlds of opportunity for me, and I am so thankful to those who have guided me along the path to successful living, and given me new wings to fly. See you above the clouds….

Who I’d like to meet:
Anybody with a good attitude, a positive vibe, and a curiosity for the world around them. People who most appeal to me are warmhearted and kind, have a sense of right and wrong, and a decent head on their shoulders. Be whoever you are, just be real and be yourself. We are all God’s children, each unique and talented in our own right.

As the NYT puts it, he was a career flight attendant. His work itinerary, according to MySpace:

Steven- NYCFLYER’s Companies
JetBlue Airways
JFK, US
Flight Attendant

Delta Air Lines
CVG,ATL,JFK, US
Flight Attendant

1997-2002
TWA-Trans World Airlines
JFK, STL, US
Flight Attendant

1995- 1996
Business Express Airlines- Northwest Airlink
BOS, PVD, BUF, US
Flight Attendant

1994-1996
SkyWest Airlines
SLC, PSP, US
Flight Attendant