Benerson Little

Questions and comments regarding articles on this page may be posted on the Questions page. New commentary and articles on writing and publishing will be posted on the Writing & Contact page as of January 2010. The most recent posts can found below the pirate myths section.

Forthcoming (One of These Days): Top Pirate Myths & Misinterpretations (Including Some Promoted by a Few Scholars)

July 20, 2010: Replica Roundshot, Grapeshot, and Grenades

Loyalist Arms is now offering replica roundshot ("cannonballs" in the parlance of lubbers), grapeshot, and inert grenades for re-enactors and others with an interest in pirate and age of sail accessories. Loyalist Arms also sells fully functioning flintlock and other firearms. I've used a replica doglock pistol, purchased from Loyalist Arms, for a variety of test firings. Loyalist Arms also offers film services.

June 8, 2010: Minor Mystery Solved

I finally learned a few days ago, after nearly a year, who put the accurately rigged model of a Spanish galleon on my front porch. The blame lies with David Meagher, who did the illustrations in my first two books. David does outstanding maritime illustrations, especially of line art. If you think you might need his services, email me and I'll put you in touch.

March 23, 2010: Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Officer Adam Lee Brown

From the UDT-SEAL Association: "Chief Petty Officer Adam Lee Brown, 36, a decorated combat veteran, was fatally wounded during a battle with heavily armed militants, according to a statement Friday from Naval Special Warfare Group 2 at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. He was a recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart." Chief Brown was a native of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is survived by his wife and two children.

March 22, 2010: More on Penelope the Pirate

Press releases indicate that Penelope Cruz will be playing Blackbeard's daughter in the forthcoming Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, and, naturally, will be Sparrow's romantic interest. Regarding other female parts in the film (pun unintended, read on), Disney recently announced a casting call for young women dancers and swimmers, all of whom must have natural breasts. Implants not allowed, and I suppose airbrushing, as was done with Kiera Knightly in at least the first film, won't be permitted either. All in all, a good thing I suppose. Anachronisms may abound in the film, but at least the breasts will be correct. That being said, at least one blog has pointed out that "fit dancer bodies" were probably uncommon in pirate haunts. Perhaps Disney is looking for mermaids.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has stated that the film will be going in a "new direction," and also noted in regard to Ian McShane as Blackbeard, that Blackbeard was the "nastiest pirate ever." In fact, he wasn't--he just had good press. As a doer of dirty deeds, he doesn't even make the top ten of his age, nor the top one hundred of history. However, his notoriety--and notoriety is important, because among criminal enterprises it creates fear--makes it necessary to include him in any pirate history. In other words, Blackbeard was made for Hollywood.

March 22, 2010: The Pacific

HBO's miniseries The Pacific began airing last week. The war in the Pacific was very much a Navy and Marine Corps war, although certainly not entirely so. The series is highly recommended. Almost 37,000 Navy personnel were killed in action, died later of wounds received, or died in captivity during World War Two, and similarly almost 20,000 Marines. The majority of Navy and Marine losses were in the Pacific theater.

March 18, 2010: Rest in Peace Daniel and Davy

Fess Parker, known for his television portrayals of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, died today at the age of eighty-five from complications of old age. We'll miss you, Mr. Parker, Kentucky pioneer and "King of the Wild Frontier."

February 18, 2010: SO2 Ron Woodle Dies in Diving Accident

Special Warfare Operator Second Class Ronald Tyler Woodle, 26, of Waynesville, North Carolina died near Key West, Florida during a dive training exercise. A star high school soccer player, Woodle decided to become a Navy SEAL after several months of research into the US military. Due to the uniquely hazardous nature of naval special operations, diving accidents are responsible for a high percentage of non-combat SEAL deaths.

February 17, 2010: Penelope the Pirate?

For those so inclined, rumors abound of Penelope Cruz signing aboard the fourth Disney Pirates of the Caribbean. Although it's unlikely the film will elevate the genre from its current form as pirate fantasy, Cruz would nonetheless be a likable addition, perhaps making the film worth seeing, beyond its appeal as a pirate swashbuckler/​fantasy. The film will certainly need an appealing female lead to replace Kiera Knightly. See the BBC and Bilgemunky for details.

February 17, 2010: New Orleans Saints

Can't say I'm much of a football fan, but I am a New Orleans fan, so Way to Go, Saints!

January 29, 2010: Fear Unchained

If today's reported US decision to move the trials of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other suspects from downtown Manhattan sends a message, it is the wrong one: that we fear terrorists even when they are in chains. Quite the propaganda coup for Al Qaeda.

January 19, 2010: Favorite Pirate Books for Young Readers of All Ages (Updated January 20)

I had intended to post this before the holidays, but the holidays themselves happily intruded. Perhaps a few readers still have some money left on their gift cards and can put it to good use. Some of these titles are in print, but several are only to be found in used and antiquarian bookstores (and libraries!). Abebooks.com and Alibris.com are good online sources.

And (thanks, Shell!) don't forget to look for these in libraries, both local "brick and mortar" and online! See Shelley Barber's links on the Questions page for other youthful pirate books.

For readers of all ages...

Mystery in the Pirate Oak by Helen Fuller Orton. Not a pirate story per se, but a tale of a small treasure in an old "pirate" oak. Ever since a teacher read it to my first or second grade class in Chula Vista, California, I've been looking for lost treasures and the secrets surrounding them.

The Ballad of the Pirate Queens by Jane Yolen, illustrated by David Shannon. Anne Bonny and Mary Read, a cowardly Jack Rackam and crew, silver seas and moon, and pregnant pirates, in verse with beautiful illustrations.

Lucy and the Pirates by Glen Petrie, illustrated by Matilda Harrison. Follow Lucy and runaway slave Wilkins, not to mention a black and white cat tucked away in most of the illustrations, as they search for Lucy's missing father.

The Ship's Cat by Richard Adams, beautifully illustrated by Alan Aldridge. Inspired by an incident in Hakluyt's Voyages ("The voyage of M. Iohn Locke to Ierusalem" in 1553) in which a captain sent the ship's boat to rescue his cat who had fallen overboard and was quickly carried away by wind and water. The writer doubted the captain would have spared such effort for any of his crew. The ship's cat of Adams's tale--a cat's cat indeed!--takes on the Spanish in the New World-- rats, cats, and men--in the time of Elizabeth I and her sea dogs. In verse. (Full title: The Adventures and Brave Deeds of the Ship's Cat on the Spanish Maine, Together with the most lamentable losse of the Alcestis and Triumphant Firing of the Port of Chagres. The text of the inspiring incident can be read at the front of the book itself, or in Hakluyt, volume IX [Asia, part 2], Edinburgh: Goldsmid, 1889.)

Just after the holidays I ran across the recent A Pirate's Night Before Christmas, charmingly written by Philip Yates and just as charmingly illustrated by Sebastià Serra. As in the book, my daughters occasionally find small treasure chests under the tree.

And for older readers...

Peter and Wendy, aka Peter Pan. With a cast of, in many ways, less than admirable yet endearing leading characters who never change their ways, the book is nonetheless worth re-reading every few years for its adventure, truths, and atmosphere. Many beautifully illustrated editions exist, both in and out of print, but the best illustrations are those found in one's own mind. As with Neverland itself, each reader will--and should--see something different.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Inspired by a variety of literary sources, the book is a classic must-read. N. C. Wyeth's illustrations capture its essence, although my favorite edition (and also my first copy) is an annotated version sold in grocery stores circa 1970. Treasure Island remains one of the best pirate stories ever written, its pirate anachronisms and fostering of pirate myths notwithstanding.

Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, as well as its two sequels of related short stories, The Fortunes Of Captain Blood and Captain Blood Returns. Classic sea roving adventure! I should probably add Black Swan, far better (and more subtle) than its film version, and The Sea Hawk as well, noting that the book has absolutely nothing in common with the Errol Flynn film except the title. Sabatini's The Seahawk is about an English renegade among the Barbary corsairs, while the film is about invented English "sea hawks" (as opposed to the correct term, sea dogs) raiding Spanish dominions and spoiling nefarious Spanish plots. Of course, it was necessary to use the term "sea hawks" in order to profit from the popularity of Sabatini's book.

Howard Pyle's The Book of Pirates and Tales of Pirates and Buccaneers are also highly recommended, and are available in various editions.

Older readers, women in particular, may enjoy Daphne DuMaurier's Frenchman's Creek.

Recommended non-fiction includes any of the various editions of Alexander Exquemelin's The Buccaneers of America, and Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates. (Note, Daniel Defoe is often incorrectly given as the author of this book. The edition linked here is the complete 1726 edition. Many published editions are incomplete.)

My daughters highly recommend Pirates! by Celia Rees.

January 15, 2010: Haiti

Given the scope of the recent disaster in Haiti, all who can are encouraged to donate to the American Red Cross (Haiti Relief and Development Fund, a donation link is located at www.redcross.org) or to other relief agencies. For those soapbox bigots who claim that such aid is pointless, or that the Haitians brought the disaster on themselves, it is unfortunately too much to hope that their listeners will ostracize them, much less ride them out of town on rails.

Haiti was formerly known as the French colony of Saint-Domingue on the island of Hispaniola.

January 15, 2010: The Right to Confront Witnesses (Updated January 18, 2010)

Commentary on the American Legion website rightly points out that the three Navy SEALs, more or less accused of punching a prisoner believed responsible for the attack that killed four US contractors in Fallujah in 2004, should be allowed to confront their accuser, Ahmed Hashim Abed. At the moment, their courts martial are set for the US, although prosecutors are apparently reticent to bring their accuser here, in spite of the US intention to bring other detainees and prisoners here for trial. However, I disagree with the commentator's opinion that we should not in general bring detainees here for trial, or hold or incarcerate them in the US. Much of the opposition to bringing accused or convicted terrorists here appears to be grounded in fear, and such fear only strengthens an adversary. A terrorist deserves no such regard.

Update January 18, 2010: According to the Navy Times, the trials of two of three accused have been moved to Iraq in order that the accused may confront their accuser.

January 4, 2010: Death of CIA Contractor and Former Navy SEAL

Jeremy Jason Wise, 35, a former Navy SEAL, has been reported as killed in the recent suicide bomber attack on a CIA operating base in Afghanistan. Mr. Wise worked for Xe, formerly known as Blackwater. Further information is being withheld, given the nature of CIA operations.

December 29, 2009: Kraken Black Spiced Rum (Updated January 18)

Bilgemunky's first notes on Kraken Black Spiced Rum (a new rum, “strong, rich, black, and smooth” according to the distiller). If nothing else, the advertising campaign and rum bottle are worthy of note.

Update: Bilgemunky's review is posted here. (He likes it.)

December 17, 2009: French Court Fines Google Books

A French court has fined Google for electronically copying books without permission. Read the BBC article here.

October 21, 2009: Hand Salutes

The Defense Authorization Acts of 2008 and 2009 contain amendments permitting out-of-uniform military personnel as well as veterans to render a hand salute during the raising, lowering, or passing of the US flag, and also during the National Anthem.

October 21, 2009: More E-Book News

A new york times article notes that e-book sellers and some e-book owners suggest that readers are reading more due to the availability of books in various electronic formats. Maybe. I've yet to purchase an e-book reader, and a day of research through .pdf books generally leaves me feeling seasick, although I do appreciate the access to books I might not otherwise have. See "E-Book Fans Keep Format in Spotlight".

Barnes and Noble is introducing its own e-book reader, the Nook, $259, available November 30th.

October 19, 2009: Rum (Updated January 18 and March 22, 2010)

With the coming of fall, my palate tends to turn to hot drinks and comfort food, several of which do well with the addition of rum, notwithstanding that rum is by origin and popularity a notoriously tropical drink. The fact is, rum travels well everywhere. Given the season--although in fact I could have written this same commentary this past summer--I'm noting my favorite rums below. But be advised: by no means am I a rum connoisseur, or a connoisseur of any liquid spirit, much less am I able to do justice to any rum in a review. Nonetheless, I know what I like, and the suggestions below are based purely on my own preferences. For real rum reviews you need to see Bilgemunky's rum reviews, very highly recommended.

Gosling’s Black Seal: my favorite for drinking straight, by a hair over Pusser’s. Maybe it’s the “Seal” in the name. It's dark and strong, and it tastes like adventure. A great drink after you’ve cheated death one more time. Also use it for a toast when you need to take a hard line against the idiots, asses, and egos of the world. I’ve been told (thanks, Mary) that in Bermuda “Black and Coke” is a popular drink. Even so, Black Seal is best drunk straight up--neat, as it were. Don’t waste it by mixing it with something else. Savor it.

Pusser’s Rum: authentic Royal Navy rum. Likewise drink it straight and savor it. Great for toasting nautical adventures, cheating death, rich memories, absent friends, and fallen comrades. It does make a good punch when mixed with Pusser’s punch mix, but I hesitate to suggest mixing for a rum that should be drunk straight. I alternate Pusser's with Gosling's. I've heard that Jack Tar Rum is comparable, but have yet to find a bottle in Alabama.

Myer’s Dark Rum: A good general-purpose rum. Drink it straight, mix it, use it for cooking and flavoring (see below). Makes a good rum punch (rum, fresh key lime juice, dark muscovado sugar, water) as well as a good piña colada (follow the recipe on Coco Lopez coconut cream). To hell with those who say mixed rum drinks require white rums. In general, though, I avoid mixed drinks. If you're going to pay for decent liquor, you might as well be able to taste it.

Cruzan Black Strap Rum: Not to be drunk straight unless you really like to drink molasses. Nonetheless, it’s a great rum for cooking and flavoring. For example, French toast: bread, heavy cream, eggs, fresh grated nutmeg, vanilla, and rum. Or plantain in butter and sugar: slice the plantain, cook in butter, add dark muscovado sugar, flame with black strap rum. It also makes a great hot buttered rum: rum, butter, cloves, dark muscovado sugar, and hot water, all to taste.

Sailor Jerry’s Spiced Rum: If you must drink a spiced rum. Generally I avoid them, but am occasionally tempted. Perhaps it's the woman in the grass skirt.

When all else fails or you need something different: drink Irish whiskey. Jameson’s might well be the best thing to drink after a cold salt water soak, accidental or intended, or when you contemplate the satisfaction of living yet one more day under any circumstances. The recent commercial (lost cask, cold Irish seas, giant octopus) actually does a bit of humorous justice to the whiskey. Again, drink it straight (no ice, no water!), and savor it. Jack Daniels and Maker's Mark will likewise work in a pinch, and my Scotch drinking friends swear by a good single malt. Not to be forgotten are good 100% agave mescals and tequilas. Tasting of earth and sex, they coax out memories of some of life's best experiences, and occasionally inspire some of them as well--provided, as with all liquor, you don't go overboard with them. Enjoy wisely!

Update, January 18, 2010: I think I'll have to add Cruzan Single Barrel, placing it alongside Pusser's and Gosling's. I also neglected to mention Appleton Estate VX, an old standby.

Update, March 22, 2010: Added Maker's Mark after Jack Daniels. Damn good, Maker's Mark.

October 17, 2009: This Can Only Hurt Most Writers

Walmart and Amazon continue their price war over books: "Price War Over Books Worries Industry"

October 15, 2009: More Writing and Publishing Articles of Interest

The potential dangers to writers and publishers of electronic lending in libraries: "Libraries and Readers Wade Into Digital Lending"

The latest on the Google book pact: "Google to Revise Book Pact by Nov. 9"

Google's take on its electronic library: "A Libary to Last Forever"

October 7, 2009: Hallowe'en

See last year's post below regarding Halloween seafaring fare.

One arguable addition to the list is The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, starring Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney. The script and Harrison's acting indeed capture the classic essence of the mariner, and the music and mood capture the sense of a haunted presence. Still, the movie is ultimately a romance, and certainly one worth watching, but if you're looking for scary sea-going Halloween fare, you need to look elsewhere.

October 7, 2009: E-Libraries and E-Books

Two more articles of interest: "In E-Books, It's an Army Versus Google" and "New Amazon Kindle to Download Books Beyond U.S."

October 4, 2009: Book Pirating

A new york times article, "Will Books Be Napsterized?"

October 1, 2009: SO2 Ryan C. Job, USN (Ret.)

Former Navy SEAL Ryan C. Job died unexpectedly on September 24th after surgery to repair an eye socket. A combat injury sustained during a SEAL Team Three combat mission in Iraq in 2006 had left him blind. The following is from a UDT-SEAL Association notice: "Although Ryan lost his eyesight to a sniper's bullet and his lifelong dream of becoming a commercial pilot, he returned from Iraq determined to press on. He embraced his recovery with the same passion and drive he embodied to earn his Trident. He was supported by many caring people in his recovery process these past three years, and none more dedicated than his loving wife Kelly who is pregnant with their first child and due in May. Ryan and his family drew strength and inspiration from his teammates and veterans organizations who rallied around him to help him reach his goals. Ryan just graduated from college this last semester and had recently started a new job with General Dynamics in Scottsdale, Ariz. Ryan has been an inspiration to us all. His passing is a tremendous loss for the Navy and this Nation."

September 16, 2009: Talk Like a Pirate Day is Saturday September 19th, for those so inclined.

September 16, 2009: Special Operations at Their Most Effective. The killing of terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in Somalia by US special operations forces, identified by some spokesmen off the record as US Navy SEALs and other special operations forces: "U.S. Kills Top Qaeda Leader in Southern Somalia."

September 8, 2009: More Electronic Book Issues

Google Books tries to mollify European fears: Google Books and European rights.

Amazon can delete your Kindle books, or rather, can delete the material you are licensed to view--you don't actually own Kindle ebooks: see this brief National Business Review article on the subject.

Don't expect Amazon to disable your stolen Kindle: tracking (but not disabling) stolen devices.

September 4, 2009: Google Books and Its Adversaries

The BBC's take on the Google's digital out-of-print books effort and the opposition to it.

September 3, 2009: Charity Chain Harming Independent Booksellers

A new york times article on a charity used book chain in Britain putting independent used booksellers out of business: "Beleaguered Bookseller Knows Whom to Blame: Oxfam"

September 3, 2009: From the Authors Guild

The Authors Guild sent the following email out today:

"Headline: Amazon Accuses Someone Else of Monopolizing Bookselling
Amazon made it official yesterday, filing a brief in the Google case claiming that someone else might gain a monopoly in bookselling. It seems we're compelled to state the obvious:

Amazon's hypocrisy is breathtaking. It dominates online bookselling and the fledgling e-book industry. At this moment it's trying to cement its control of the e-book industry by routinely selling e-books at a loss. It won't do that forever, of course. Eventually, when enough readers are locked in to its Kindle, everyone in the industry expects Amazon to squeeze publishers and authors. The results could be devastating for the economics of authorship.

Amazon apparently fears that Google could upend its plans. Amazon needn't worry, really: this agreement is about out-of-print books. Its lock on the online distribution of in-print books, unfortunately, seems secure.

The settlement would make millions of out-of-print books available to readers again, and Google would get no exclusive rights under the agreement. The agreement opens new markets, and that's a good thing for readers and authors. It offers to make millions upon millions of out-of-print books available for free online viewing at 16,500 public library buildings and more than 4,000 colleges and universities, and that's a great thing for readers, students and scholars. The public has an overwhelming interest in having this settlement approved.

Feel free to forward, post or tweet. Here's a short URL for linking: http:/​/​tiny.cc/​Zkcq5."

August 17, 2009: Best Mexican Food in Town

Hands down, the best Mexican food in Huntsville is found at El Cazador on South Parkway, an innocuous and inexpensive restaurant serving real Mexican food, not Tex-Mex or a bland "Anglo" version. I haven't had any as good except in Mexico itself.

August 17, 2009: Sea Film

Miyazaki's Ponyo opened this week, a refreshing animated film about the complex nature of humanity and the sea, built around an uplifting retelling of The Little Mermaid. Small children as well as adults will enjoy it.

August 17, 2009: Babbling Twits

According to US market research firm Pear Analytics, forty percent of Twitter messages are "pointless babble." (BBC)

July 25, 2009: More Twits

Yet again Alabama officials are busy promoting Alabama's image as a national backwater replete with Puritanical hypocrisy, this time by rejecting the nude nymph label on Cycles Gladiator wine. Apparently Alabama law does not permit sales of liquor whose labels illustrate a person in "an immoral or sensual manner." The label was actually rejected last year, but the fact that the wine with the label was still being sold in the state was brought to the attention of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board by a concerned citizen, perhaps of the same sort who protests the reading of Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying in public schools, or shields their child's eyes from a nude Bouguereau (La Nuit, if I recall correctly) once on display at Huntsville Museum of Art. This is not the first such sex-art-and-wine-fearing nonsense to afflict the state. Some years ago the ABC Board prohibited the sale of wine during the intermission of the nude Broadway musical Oh! Calcutta! in Huntsville, probably fearing that Chardonnay imbibing patrons would cavort naked in the aisles. I have to wonder whether anyone who objects to the label fears it's alcohol inducing, sex inducing, or, worse, fears it might lure someone into enjoying life. Here it is, in all its offensive nude artistic glory:

And by the way, it's also good wine.

July 3, 2009: Lit for Twits

According to the Chicago Tribune, two University of Chicago freshmen have signed a deal with Penguin Books to rewrite classic novels as "Twitterature." Doubtless the twitterati will be ecstatic. The rest of us will probably do without, letting substance reign in both literature and life.

July 3, 2009: Antitrust Books

The US Justice Department is conducting an antitrust investigation into the settlement between Google and the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers over Google's online publication of orphan and out-of-print titles. (Details below, November 2, 2008.) Read the new york times article here.

June 5, 2009: Reader's Circle

For readers interested in joining a book club or in forming one, check out Reader's Circle, a non-profit organization that helps readers find local book clubs.

May 25, 2009: Memorial Day

Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Eric F. Shellenberger died on May 7, 2009 during a diving accident while conducting SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) operations in Alaska. SDV operations, which involve “wet” submersible vehicles and which are often conducted in cold water, are inherently hazardous. Chief Shellenberger was a member of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and had more than seven combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Between ten and eleven thousand men have served as Navy SEALs or their predecessors, the Combat Demolition Units, Underwater Demolition Teams, Scouts and Raiders, and OSS Operational Swimmers, since World War Two; approximately 260 of them (roughly one in forty) have been killed in action or have died in training accidents. Many more have been wounded in combat or seriously injured in training. More than forty Navy SEALs have died in combat or in training accidents since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began.

The National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Ft. Pierce, Florida is raising funds for a permanent Memorial to Navy frogmen and SEALs who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. Details, as well as information on making a donation, can be found here.

May 21, 2009: Terrorism and Fear

The fear of imprisoning terrorists on US mainland soil, a fear displayed both by many members of the public as well as by the majority of the US Senate (many of whom probably fear most the possibility of being put out of office), serves only our enemies. If we cower before our enemies we reinforce the idea that we fear them, which in turn strengthens them. The terrorist’s purpose is to incite fear, and via this avenue, produce a reaction that serves his purpose. In many ways, by pandering to fear and fear mongering, the US has given Al-Qaeda exactly what it wants.

April 20, 2009: Mystery Ship

To the unknown person who left a model of a sixteenth century Spanish galleon on my front porch Friday night or Saturday morning: my thanks and my compliments on the quality of your work. The ship is on display in my dining room.

March 16, 2009: Book Review, Threats in the Age of Obama.

I rarely review books, and when I do, I do so only if I can do so fairly and favorably. This attitude probably derives from the many bad reviews of books I’ve read that deserved far better, and perhaps from a couple of amusingly slanted reviews of my own books. Too often the reviewer has an ax to grind, has an ego that demands attention, or is competing professionally or financially with the material or ideas he or she is reviewing. One need only look at the variety of reviews on Amazon of outstanding literature--look at some of the negative reviews of Moby Dick, for example--to see what I mean. Perhaps not surprisingly, not even the published “peer reviews” of academia are immune to the aforementioned. In the case of competing ideas, some academic reviews occasionally cross the line of legitimate review so egregiously--perhaps deliberately, perhaps due to myopia--as to be considered unethical, if one assumes the standard to be one of intellectual honesty, fairness, and fact. Thankfully, such reviews are in the minority.

All this being said, I highly recommend Threats in the Age of Obama, edited by Michael Tanji. The compilation is an excellent review of the threats facing both the US and the world, from a broad range of perspectives, with emphasis on their evolving nature. Chapters range from Matt Armstrong’s insightful evaluation of public diplomacy--in particular, of “global engagement”--as a vital part of national security in “Arming for the Second War of Ideas,” to Daniel H. Abbott’s surely controversial thesis of true democracy as a threat to the US military-industrial complex, and thus to itself, in “An Outbreak of Democracy.” Whether or not one agrees with all of the many assessments and arguments presented in it, the book is a must-read for anyone with an active hand in world affairs at any level, and for that matter, for anyone with an interest in the both the near-term and long-term future of our world in general.

March 6, 2009: Strip Clubs and Sailors

The BBC recently reported ("Israeli admiral's go-go bar regret") on an apology tendered by an Israeli admiral after he was caught visiting a strip club in Tel Aviv. For those naïve enough to believe that sailors won’t be sailors, let me advise them now that male sailors--and their officers--have all visited a strip club at one time or another. Sometimes it’s merely social, sometimes it’s to watch the women, often it’s both. I well understand that strip clubs are sexist and often demeaning to women as well; however, sailors will be sailors. (And let's not forget that there's a strong business in male strip clubs for women.) As one woman noted to me regarding the situation, “It’s not like strip clubs are going away, and sailors are stereotyped as they are for a reason.” The admiral's job is to defend his country, not pander to or kowtow to the puritanically-minded. In other words, cut the admiral some slack.

February 11, 2009: Microsoft Vista and Navy SEALs

Yesterday Shaun Chittick, an active duty Navy SEAL, emailed me an article by Lewis Page for PCs and Chips on the purchase of twin-screen hardened laptops by Naval Special Warfare Group Two. The computers are designed to SEAL Team specifications, and are destined for rigorous use in the field. SEALs require equipment that works first time, every time, and this goes for computer operating systems (OS) as well. The choice of OS for the SEAL laptops did not surprise me at all, considering my own experience with various OS. My most recent experience with a new OS came about when I involuntarily switched to Microsoft Vista. Being on something of a budget, I had bought a stock laptop from an electronics store, and it was naturally configured with Vista, given Microsoft’s ability to leverage computer manufacturers into including its latest OS.

My initial impressions of Vista were unfavorable. At first my browsers--Firefox (primary) and Internet Explorer (backup)--locked up and white-screened at least once a day. My desktop icons randomly rearranged themselves. My laptop often went to sleep unexpectedly and for no good reason. I could not move certain directories without first changing administrative permissions for every file in the directory. And it seemed like every time I wanted to do something that had been routine under previous OS’s, Vista wanted me first to grant permission. Then, when I urgently needed to send a fax, I discovered that Microsoft no longer included a fax software package. Worse, several programs that had worked well under XP did not work at all under Vista, and even some hardware would not work under Vista either. After a while most, but not all, of these problems disappeared or were resolved as a result of Vista updates, my own routine fixes, and a fair number of frustrating hours of troubleshooting. Yet soon came the service pack, and immediately every photo CD I had created under Vista before the update was suddenly unreadable on my laptop. With the most recent updates, various applications have begun to create new empty Documents and Pictures folders, sometimes in the main directory, sometimes in sub-directories, although the folders already exist. Occasionally, changes to the settings of some applications revert back to default for no apparent reason. All such issues are greater or lesser nuisances, but they probably won’t kill me.

SEALs, however, as well as others who operate in critical, life-threatening environments, can’t afford the luxury of this beta "we'll fix it later" bullshit. Every moment counts, and any failure in the SEAL Team environment can be fatal. Gear must work correctly, as I noted before, first time and every time. So what OS is being installed in the laptops? Not Vista. Group Two is sticking with XP Pro. Maybe they’re doing so because it meshes better with their existing systems. Maybe. I’m betting it’s because XP Pro is less prone to error, and thus less prone to kill someone whose life might rely on it.

Update 26 March 09: Now Vista has quit recognizing the data floppy disks in the USB floppy drive I occasionally use, mostly to transfer ancient files to new media. Instead, it wants to format the floppy disks. Must be the result of another update, for it recognized the disks in the past.

February 4, 2009: The New York Times and Navy SEALs

I’ve noticed that a couple of recent New York Times articles mentioning US Navy SEALs have referred to them as “Seals.” Just for the record, SEAL is a near-acronym of Sea-Air-Land, although the words themselves are seldom used; a "Seal" is a pinniped with a large ego. Qualified members of the elite SEAL Team naval commando units are most correctly referred to as “Navy SEALs,” although commonly the term “SEALs” suffices. SEAL is always written in the uppercase in the US military--Navy SEALs themselves are adamant that SEAL be written in the uppercase--and newspapers should follow this correct usage. Even Merriam Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists the term correctly. An email I sent to the newspaper last year pointing this out received no reply, nor has the newspaper changed its policy of lowercasing SEAL. Although I am an avid reader of the New York Times, I have to wonder what sort of editorial intransigence or hubris permits the paper to modify terms--in this case, to reduce the name of an elite US Navy organization with a distinguished reputation to what is essentially a diminutive--as it pleases.

Update, February 5: Today I sent a second email regarding this issue to New York Times and received a prompt and courteous reply. In short, the newspaper's style guide defines "Seal" as the informal name for the US Navy's Sea-Air-Land units. I suggested in reply that the newspaper amend its style guide to reflect the usage of the US Navy and of SEALs themselves, that is, Navy SEAL or SEALs. A copy editor from another newspaper advised me that both the AP Stylebook and Webster's New World College Dictionary Fourth Edition correctly use the uppercase form, and I pointed this out as well in a subsequent email.

Update, February 9: No reply to my two follow up emails. Here's to the triumph of administrative inflexibility over fact and substance.

Update, April 15: Even CNN spells SEAL and SEALs correctly, as observed on the news crawl at the bottom of the screen during the Maersk Alabama hostage crisis, in which Navy SEAL snipers killed the three pirates holding the Alabama's captain. The new york times, however, continues to spell SEAL as Seal.

January 16, 2009: Andrew Wyeth Dies at 91

Andrew Wyeth, the famous American painter whose work was often decried by art critics, has died at ninety-one. Wyeth first studied under his father, N. C. Wyeth, the famous illustrator, who had himself studied under Howard Pyle, another famous American illustrator. All three were often inspired by the sea. Andrew Wyeth, damned by many art critics for the style and eventual popularity of his works (neither in keeping with the "true artist" cliché of the 20th century), was nonetheless an American icon and national treasure, and was, above all, quintessentially an artist. For details and a retrospective, read the New York Times article.

November 29, 2008: More Fencing Gripes, Some Also Ultimately Courtesy of the IOC

Over the last three decades we participants in modern fencing have seen quite a few rule changes, many of them purportedly designed to make the sport of fencing easier to comprehend to audiences--in the Queen's English, to make them "televisual." Many of the following rules changes are directly or in part due to attempts to make the sport more appealing to an ignorant or naive audience. To date, all have failed to make the sport more appealing to the spectator. Epee and saber strips have been shortened from eighteen to fourteen meters, making them equal with the foil strip--epee and saber, being dueling weapons, were originally granted more ground to maneuver on. Five touch bouts have been shortened from six minutes to three minutes in an effort to reduce competition time and to force fencers to be more active and aggressive. The double defeat in epee has been eliminated, taking the weapon further away from the duel it was designed to emulate. Non-violent contact in epee now draws a halt (another step away from the emulation of the duel), although thankfully not (yet at least) a yellow card. Pool competitions have been eliminated, primarily due to cheating at the elite level, and have been replaced by a fifteen touch DE table, which can give skewed results. At the Olympic level, the size of the competitor field has been reduced to such a degree that it is no longer a truly broad international field (the US qualified only one epee fencer this past Olympics, for example). The world championships are now the best indicator of a nation's fencing prowess, as they permit a much larger, broader field. The rules changes and right-of-way interpretations in foil and saber deserve their own separate rant, saved for another day.

November 30, 2008 11:58 PM EST
It seems more and more things these days are being shortened and changed in ways that harm their quality. Sorry to hear fencing is part of this trend. Rant on!
- Ann Marie

November 29, 2008: The UIPM, Under Pressure from the IOC, Alters the Modern Pentathlon

In yet another bid at making sports more appealing to a television audience, pressure from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has once again diminished the original nature and spirit of a sport. In the case of the Modern Pentathlon (riding, one touch epee fencing, shooting, swimming, and cross country running), the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne has combined the shooting and running events, primarily in order to sustain the sport at the Olympic level. Recently the IOC has been considering eliminating the event, which has been in every modern Olympics since their inception, and the UIPM's action is doubtless in response. Read the sordid details at http:/​/​www.nytimes.com/​2008/​11/​27/​sports/​olympics/​27pentathlon.html.

November 1, 2008: Days of Remembrance in October

October has passed with little remark on the anniversaries of two significant US military incidents in which US service personnel were killed. Twenty-five years ago on October 25, Palestinian terrorists used a suicide truck bomb to attack the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing two hundred forty-one US servicemen, most of them Marines, and wounding sixty. Two minutes later, fifty-eight French paratroopers were killed in a similar attack. Four months later, President Reagan ordered US troops withdrawn.

October 3 and 4 of this year was the fifteenth anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu, in which US forces consisting primarily of Army Rangers and Delta Force commandos attempted to capture leading members of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s clan. Eighteen US troops were killed in the failed action and seventy-three were wounded. Again, US troops were soon withdrawn, this time by order of President Clinton.

Both incidents led to a reevaluation of US military missions and the circumstances under which they would be employed. In both cases, some observers considered the withdrawals to be retreats, while others considered them to be practical acts that removed US troops from hostile areas in which there was no reasonable US mission with a reasonable chance of success. In both cases, both major US political parties tended to react according to perceived political advantage.

November 2, 2008: $125 Million Settlement

Last week the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and Google settled a lawsuit over Google’s copying of millions of out-of-print but not out-of-copyright books. Google has not only been copying books whose copyrights have expired, but also those still under copyright. The search giant has placed most of the former on the web in their entirely, but also brief “snippets” of the latter as well, a practice both the Authors Guild, which represents authors’ rights, and publishing companies have objected to on the grounds of copyright infringement. Authors of such books will, once the settlement is approved, receive a small sum, and in the future will receive a share of revenues from institutional subscriptions. The entire text of such books will be available for a fee, provided the author or publisher consents. Although the ruling does not resolve the issue of whether the scanning of books still under copyright was acceptable under copyright law, and while some librarians and commentators have reservations about having a single institution control access to such a wealth of information, its protection of the value of writers’ works is a good start, and strikes a reasonable balance between the rights of writers and publishers, and Google’s desire to create greater access to out-of-print works. Google, in turn, is to be commended in particular for its effort in providing an easy access library of out-of-print, out-of-copyright, formerly hard-to-find books.

However, to date the quality of many of the Google-scanned books no longer within copyright is not ideal. Scanned fingers show up on some pages. Here and there a page is blurred and illegible. In a few cases some pages are duplicated. In many cases, fold-out maps and illustrations were not opened and scanned, but were copied in the folded position, rendering them useless. The resolution of some illustrations is less than ideal, and often the small print in some illustrations is impossible to make out. The book scans in the digital library of the Bibliotèque nationale de France set a standard Google would have been well-advised to follow. The ultimate digital library, of course, would be of high resolution photo-quality scans of each page, as is done with select works in some libraries and on some book CDs.

All this being said, the Google pdf library of books no longer in copyright is still an outstanding research source, particularly to researchers who may have only limited access to university library systems. Contrary to the image of universal access to materials, many resources remain difficult to access without a PhD and associated university post. The Google library goes a long way in aiding the researcher, whether amateur or professional.

The Authors Guild has posted resources associated with the settlement here.

October 27, 2008: Right Out of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

A recent article in the UK Telegraph describes how the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has initiated a contest to develop a vehicle capable of flight, as well as of travel on and under the surface of the water--a flying submarine, in other words. The vessel would be primarily used to insert and extract US Navy SEALs. Such a vehicle was first envisioned by the writers of the 1960s science fiction and fantasy television show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Just how feasible such a project will be with current or near-term technology is debatable. The US Navy's Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS)--a mini-sub designed to insert Navy SEALs--had its inception in the late 1980s, was years overdue, was fraught with developmental problems and cost overruns, and was finally cancelled in 2006. And it was only a submarine. However, one ASDS was built, and further testing and development with this mini-sub is apparently still ongoing. More feasible, at least as an interim project, might be a flying semi-submersible--a vehicle which transits with most of its hull submerged, but whose upper surface or deck remains at sea level.

October 16, 2008: Maritime Halloween Fare

Hallowe'en, or All Hallows Eve, a holiday well-celebrated in our home due much in part to a Hallowe'en birthday, is in the offing, and thus a review of some of the films and books celebrating the dark side of the sea is in order. From the sea are a multitude of images suitable to the holiday that celebrates the brief period when, as some believe, the dead briefly walk among the living. There are ghost ships and the ghosts aboard them, and spirits guarding treasures lost beneath the sea or buried in sandy shores. Strange sights and sounds are often seen and heard on stormy nights on or near the sea. Within the wrecks of ships are the bones and souls of those lost at sea. Anyone who has spent any time at all at sea can attest to at least one inexplicable occurrence that hints of the supernatural, whether or not the witness actually believes in ghosts and other things that go bump in the night.

Looking briefly at films, Ghost Ship, 2002, starring Julianna Margulies and Gabriel Byrne, is a modern tale of a violently haunted abandoned cruise liner, and one of several films that exploit the mystery of a cursed abandoned ship. The Fog is a coastal horror flick bound to a notion of lepers, mariners, murder, and revenge. The 1980 version stars Jamie Leigh Curtis, and the 2005, Selma Blair. In the "sea monster aboard ship" genre are Leviathan, 1989, starring Peter Weller and with an undersea base substituting for the usual ship; Deep Rising, 1998, starring Treat Williams and Famke Janssen; and Virus, 1999, starring Jamie Leigh Curtis, screenplay by ex-Navy SEAL Chuck Pfarrer. The Goonies is adolescent adventure of dead pirates and their treasure. The first Pirates of the Caribbean film might make the cut, as it is at least fodder for pirate costumes and dead pirate Halloween props, not to mention that the Black Pearl of the first film, with its cursed skeleton pirates and shredded black sails, is a ghostlier ghost ship than the Flying Dutchman of the second and third.

But films are social fare. Books, read in solitude, play better with the genre of ghostly tales of the sea, particularly late at night with the lights down low, or better, with candlelight, and if the weather cooperates, with wind howling outside and rain lashing at the window. Poe as ever is a good place to start. His "MS. Found in a Bottle" and "A Descent into the Maelström" are classic supernatural short stories of the sea, and may have influenced the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films. "The Gold-Bug" is not a tale of the sea per se, but of buried treasure on a sea island and is listed here for its influence on Stevenson's Treasure Island. Ghosts, after all, are invariably associated with buried treasure. A Skeleton at the Helm, edited by John Richard Stephens in the tradition of the N. C. Wyeth's compilations Marauders of the Sea and Great Stories of the Sea and Ships, is an excellent collection of short stories, excerpts, and poetry of the supernatural at sea during the age of sail.

Turning to the novel, Bram Stoker's The Mystery of the Sea, a gothic tale replete with every cliché of the genre, is a good title to start with. Within its pages are ghosts, a Gaelic seer, the second sight, caves, vaults, grottos, buried treasure, secret passages, a shipwreck, an old castle, international intrigue, a kidnap plot, and a fight at sea, not to mention late nineteenth century stereotypes of women (even a strong-willed independent woman must be subordinate to her husband, for example), race, nationality, and ethnicity. The story even includes some clichés I had only seen spoofed in films mocking the gothic genre, and which, so as not to spoil them, I won't note here. The book is not up to the standard of Stoker's Dracula, but it does provide nearly everything one expects from a gothic tale of the sea, only a ghost ship excepted.

Failing all of the above, you could simply imagine yourself in the shoes of a Spaniard attacked and captured by a seventeenth century pirate such as L'Ollonois. Think Disney's Pirate's of the Caribbean ride with a pirate-costumed cutlass-armed sociopath on the loose. Surely the living nightmare of an assault by a man who might cut your heart out alive--and eat it--is far more horrific than even an imaginary headless horseman hunting heads.

October 13, 2008: Columbus Day

Today in the US it is Columbus Day, a half-holiday celebrated by bankers, most government employees, and some students taking a day off while the rest of us go to work or school as usual. Ostensibly we are celebrating the discovery of America by an Italian (Cristoforo Colombo) or Spanish (Cristóbal Colón) explorer and empire builder whose contacts with the New World led almost immediately to the death by disease, assault, and enslavement of thousands of Native Americans, and set the stage for European conquest and the enslavement of thousands upon thousands of Africans as well. From the European perspective at the time, Columbus did discover this land of two continents and an archipelago, or at least re-discovered it, the Vikings and quite possibly some European fishermen as well having already been here. Some faiths, the Catholic Church in particular, celebrate the holiday as the day in which Columbus brought the word of the true god to those who knew him not. This past weekend the Catholic television channel EWTN even broadcast an old biopic about the discoverer, replete with every Columbus myth and cliché. The film's advertising on the channel focused heavily on how the discovery led to the saving of souls--of "Indian" souls, that is. Of course, Columbus only opened European eyes to the existence of a lands unknown to them, but which had already been discovered, populated, and civilized some thousands of years before.

Given this reality, the holiday might better be celebrated both democratically and reverently as a day of change for both Europe and the Americas, as a day which soon and for centuries afterward wrought both good and bad. We are, after all, the offspring of a history we had no hand in, at least until our birth. The Americas would not be what they are today were it not for Columbus, or someone like him, and for those who followed him, again for good and bad. Perhaps then we should celebrate Columbus Day as a holiday in honor of the courage of exploration, or of Spanish influence in the Americas, or of all races, creeds, nationalities, ethnicities, and philosophies which have had a hand in the Americas to date. We could mourn the tragedies of misunderstanding, greed, and misused power, and celebrate the good that has been born from the ashes they made. Columbus Day would then stand as a day in review of and in honor of the history of the Americas in all their multi-ethnic glory and pathos.

October 13, 2008: Activist Authors

After a very narrow victory in the British House of Commons, the House of Lords today soundly defeated a measure that would have extended from twenty-eight days to forty-two days the amount of time a terrorism suspect could be held without being charged with a crime. This past Sunday forty-two British writers, organized by the human rights group Liberty, contributed to a "collection of satire, essay, fiction and poetry" in order to protest the proposed measure. Writers have a long history of political protest, and many famous British writers in past centuries were the authors of anonymous broadsheets and pamphlets that attacked corruption and violations of civil liberties. Writers--thinkers who can clearly express their thoughts--remain a primary bulwark against tyranny. (News reports consulted: Associated Press, BBC.)

October 12, 2008: Melville and the Rule Makers

This past Thursday the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a law designating Moby Dick as the state's epic novel. The vote came after a "spirited" and even contested debate over the relative merits of the novel and of Melville as writer, as compared to other Massachusetts novels and writers. State representative Christopher Speranzo originally proposed Moby Dick as the state novel, but his proposal wilted in the face of resistance, and eventually state representives agreed on the compromise of "epic novel." In particular, the works of Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne, which include Little Women and The Scarlet Letter respectively, were cited in opposition to Melville and Moby Dick. The law must still pass muster in both the state Senate and the governor's office.

In my own opinion, unqualified except as a reader, writer, and longtime lover of that fickle mistress, the sea, Moby Dick is the best novel ever written in the English language, and one of the best in any language. This epic tale has been analyzed, over-analyzed, and even mis-analyzed by thousands of scholars of English literature, from undergraduates to professors. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of readers have pretended to have actually read it from cover to cover without skipping pages. Several film versions have been made. There is therefore no need remind anyone of its plot and themes, nor to spoil the tale for those who have never actually read the book or for whom analysis of a novel will invariably spoil the read. But beyond the story of the white whale and a mad sea captain, beyond the book's themes and details, Melville does something in Moby Dick that appeals to my rebellious instinct both as individual and writer, and may be the ultimate source of my affection for the book: he breaks the rules. He takes his time to tell his story. He meanders as he pleases. He breaks up his narrative with technical description. He uses obvious symbolism. He assumes his readers can think for themselves. In other words, he does what many writing teachers, book critics, and the usually banal and useless "how to write" books tell us we must never do. His manuscript might never be published today as a new novel, given modern publishing's readily apparent non sequitur: the search for "new voices with new stories" to imitate successful books already in print. More simply, it is the search for what cannot exist--the unique conformist. Thankfully, Melville heeded his rebellious instincts then, as writers ought to now. It is the only way we will ever see another spirited debate in a state legislature over the relative merits of a host of great books whose authors have been dead for more than a century.

October 6, 2008: Banned Books

The American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week has just passed, and, except among librarians and English teachers, without nearly enough fanfare. Book banners--“book burners” is too strident a term for many book banners, although there are those who would not only ban, but burn books--remain among us today, as they have in one form or another long before the advent of the printing press. After all, book banning is about attempts at limiting or even destroying knowledge, ideas in particular.

Locally--here in Huntsville, Alabama, that is, a center of high technology and home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center--we recently had a parent object to Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying (winner of the 1993 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction), and her objection had the support of a local school board member. The book was on the freshman high school summer reading list, and the first parent who objected (the board member is also a parent of high school students) did so on the grounds of sexual content--she considered the book "pornographic" and "trash"--and of foul language, including "God's name taken in vain." The school board member stated that students should not be required to read the book, and based her objection both on the book's depiction of sex--in her mind it would apparently undermine school abstinence programs--and on its use of foul language. (Obviously, both as parent and board member, she hasn’t spent enough time listening in high school hallways, bathrooms, and cafeterias.) It is not uncommon locally for parents to occasionally object to books, sometimes solely on the basis of lists of “objectionable” titles provided by conservative "family values" groups. Thankfully, such attempts usually fail, at least here, although they often have vocal minority support. Among newspaper staff, readers, and letter writers the issue ignited a minor firestorm of commentary, most of it justifiably critical of what was perceived as an attempt at book banning. Among high school students, or at least among those who had any interest, the issue did little more than cause shrugged shoulders and a joke or two about students being afraid of the word “nipple.” In fact, students whose parents try to protect them from a book’s content are usually well-aware of the content their parents object to. Even if they don’t read the book, they’ll hear about it, or overhear it, from classmates.

But local issues are often national issues as well. The Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been criticized for contemplating book banning when she served as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and this criticism has incited angry, politicized letters, both here in Huntsville and across the nation. However, the issue is not about Democratic or Republican politics, nor the tactics of distortion in a tight political race, nor irresponsible attempts to elevate a petty issue at the expense of a more vital one. Rather, the issue is nothing less than the protection and preservation of democracy. The control of information--again, of ideas in particular--is one of the principal tools of the tyrant and of the would-be tyrant, and book banning is one of the principal forms of this tool. Whether a candidate would consider banning books, and thus ideas, is a fundamental litmus test of any democracy. No political leader, whether local or national, Democrat or Republican, man or woman, who would consider banning books deserves the public trust.

All commentary Copyright Benerson Little 2008, 2009