Book Review - The Brenner Assignment by Patrick K. O'Donnell

As stated in last week's book review post of O'Donnell's Dog Company, small war-time stories can be quite riveting, as we see what a few people are going through in their individual missions, the camaraderie that they have with their fellow soldiers (or whoever they're working with) and the potentially harsh circumstances that they're going through. Since many of these stories are done through interviews with the living, we get to see what those who didn't make it through the events of the book were like through the eyes of friends and colleagues.

It can be quite powerful.

Back in 2009, I read O'Donnell's The Brenner Assignment and was captivated. It's a true spy story that can have more impact than any fictionalized one. The Brenner Pass is a mountain pass through the Alps connecting Austria and Italy that the Germans were using to bring troops and supplies to their northern Italy war effort. The Allies wanted it closed to prevent this. This book is the story of the two missions that attempted to do this.

It has all the makings of a spy novel, but it has the benefit of actually having happened.

My review of the book is on Curled Up With a Good Book.

From the review:

"Modern spy novels don't really do much for me, though I do like those taking place during World War II for some reason. One thing I haven't read much about, however, is *real* World War II spy missions. That's why I was excited to pick up Patrick K. O'Donnell's new book, The Brenner Assignment, about a mission to close the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy that allowed the Germans to bring their troops and supplies down into the Italian boot. Taking place in 1944-45, this mission has everything: derring-do, romance, battles against tough odds, and lots of intrigue. O'Donnell tells it in an interesting fashion, and it would look good on any World War II history fan's bookshelf.

O'Donnell uses a combination of sources, mostly interviews with the surviving participants in the mission. The main "character," Howard Chappell, was still alive but very reluctant to talk about what had happened. O'Donnell spends the Preface telling us how he came up with the idea to research this assignment and the difficulties he had in getting Chappell to speak. It took having a mutual friend, Albert Materazzi (who was the operations officer in charge of Chappell's mission and his best friend), to finally get him to open up."

It's understandable that Chappell would be reluctant to talk. It sounds like the mission was quite emotional for him. I'm glad that he finally relented and O'Donnell was able to complete this fabulous book.

News of the Weird - Jeopardy-Winning Computer Swears Too Much

Some linguists say that "street" language will eventually be the death of the English language, at least as we know it.

Who knew that it would also be the death of an intelligent computer in a much more immediate fashion?

Yes, "Watson," the computer that beat two Jeopardy champions at their own game, has had to have its "memory wiped" because it was starting to swear too much (no word on whether this was before or after Quentin Tarentino offered it a role in his next movie).

According to the Daily Mail, programmers had it download the entire contents of the Urban Dictionary site, and the machine took it a little too much to heart.

Evidently programmers were trying to create a machine that would pass the Turing Test for machine intelligence (The Turing Test is basically a test where a machine tries to sound like a normal human being if you're conversing with it without knowing it's a machine. If it passes, it's considered intelligent).

Yes, speaking in slang would be a good indication that you're talking to a human and not a machine, but without the intelligence to realize when you should use slang and when you shouldn't, it's really hard to consider you intelligent (a fact that also applies to far too many human beings to begin with).

So poor Watson digested the entirety of the dictionary and then start responding with "bullshit" or other similar profanities to some questions that it was asked (so it thought it was talking to a politician then?)

According to the International Business Times:

"Watson unfortunately learned all of the Urban Dictionary's bad habits, including throwing in overly -crass language at random points in its responses; in answering one question, Watson even reportedly used the word "bullshit" within an answer to one researcher's question. Brown told Forbes that Watson picked up similarly bad habits from reading Wikipedia."

So it's a student trying to fake a research paper in college?

I had no idea Watson was so versatile!

Anyway, in typical fashion, the Daily Mail overstates things. It keeps saying that Watson had its "memory wiped," when in reality the programmers just removed the Urban Dictionary from its memory and put a swear filter in (which Watson typically gets around by putting asterisks in the middle of its swear words). Yes, I suppose it's technically accurate that it had its memory wiped of the Urban Dictionary, but the connotation of "memory wipe" is that it's entire memory was erased.

That's not what happened.

Poor Watson. Isn't there somebody who will stand up for his right to swear as much as he wants? Isn't this part of what a free society is?

They're stopping Watson from swearing.

Are you next?

The Daily Mail doesn't get into questions like that.

Star Trek: DS9 - Ep 18 - Duet

Note: While I don't reveal everything in the main plot summary, I do talk about the ending. Some of the ending is too powerful not to talk about. Spoilers beware!

Even 70+ years later, visions of the Jewish Holocaust horrify us. To some, still living after having survived that horrible time, the reality of it still inhabits their dreams and turns them into nightmares. We keep saying that we'll never forget, but one wonders sometimes: when the last survivor of the Holocaust has finally passed on, how close will we feel to it? Will it lose some of its immediacy? We may never forget, but will we stop thinking about it?

It's questions like these that makes episodes like "Duet" all the more important and powerful. "Duet" is Deep Space Nine at its best, with nary a wrong move made. Sure, one can quibble here and there (and believe me, I will), but taken as a whole, it's a stellar episode with an important message that we should all remember. I say above that I reveal everything about the episode's plot. It doesn't matter. Episodes like this never lose their power, even if you know what happens. I have seen it countless times, and the ending still brings tears to my eyes. It's a must-see episode.

A Kobheerian transport arrives at the station, asking for medical assistance for one of its passengers, who has Kalla-Nohra Syndrome. Kira (Nana Visitor) quickly agrees, and asks permission to attend to the passenger. The only people who have Kalla-Nohra are survivors of a mining accident at the Cardassian labour camp called Gallitep, and she wishes to pay homage to one of her heroes, one of the survivors of the camp. When Kira reaches Sickbay, she's surprised to find out that the patient is actually a Cardassian, and quickly orders his arrest for war crimes.

He claims that he was only a file clerk at Gallitep, named Aamin Marritza (Harris Yulin). Sisko (Avery Brooks) is determined that he will not be handed over to the Bajoran government until his identity has been confirmed. An interrogation and subsequent investigation reveals that it is not Marritza who they are holding, but actually Gul Darhe'el, the infamous Butcher of Gallitep. Kira must not only deal with having a vicious war criminal in front of her, but also with how his story doesn't quite add up. Will Kira figure out what is going on and allow justice to take its course?

Let me get the quibbles out of the way first so I can gush. First, one of the guest actors, Tony Rizzoli, plays a Bajoran drunk who ends up playing a major role in the climax of the episode. Unfortunately, for as important as he is, he doesn't really hold up his end. He only has three scenes, but he was irritating in all three. His tone of voice and his attempted sneer when he realizes that he's imprisoned with a hated Cardassian just simply doesn't work, looking forced and unrealistic.

Secondly, while I will extol Nana Visitor's virtues for the rest of this review, she does go over the top a little bit at times. This includes the final scene, which lessens the impact just a touch. Not enough to bring the episode down, but enough to wish she had done better.

There, that's it. I can't say enough about the rest. Let's start with Harris Yulin. He was simply phenomenal in this episode. He has the perfect balance between Cardassian arrogance and the meekness of a file clerk. He turns it on and off like a faucet, and only when necessary. When he's first tossed in prison, he's just a Cardassian who wants to be released because he's being held for no reason. Then, it's confirmed that he was at Gallitep and he becomes just a little more arrogant, stating how wonderful Gul Darhe'el was as a commander. Then the insanity really starts when it's revealed that he's Gul Darhe'el.

He starts ranting and raving, poking Kira with his words, holding over her all of the crimes he's committed ("I don't think I can pay for all of them, Major. There were so many. And you can only execute me once."). Finally, there's the breakdown when the truth is revealed. He's able to change at the drop of a hat as the circumstances change, and he doesn't have a false note in any of it. When Kira says that she can't let Marritza go, he fires back, with a chilling calm: "Oh no no no no. Of course not! No, see, you're the one who's lying now, Major. It's not the truth you're interested in. All you want is vengeance."

The exchanges between Yulin and Visitor are simply wonderful. Visitor holds her own, perhaps because she has a great actor to work off of. Surprisingly, the couple of weak moments mentioned above are when she's with other people. Yulin is the catalyst for some great acting from Visitor, and my respect for her only grew with this episode. She had some tough material, and she worked it like a pro. Visitor plays Kira with a passion in this episode that had only been hinted at before ("Commander, I know what I've done isn't exactly policy, and may not even be legal. But it's right."). It's a wonder to see what a good actor can do with great material.

This is really Visitor and Yulin's episode, but the rest of the cast have some standout performances as well. Sisko and Dukat (the ever-wonderful Marc Alaimo) have some great byplay as Sisko discusses Marritza's situation with him. These two always sparkle when they're together, even when they're on a communication screen so the actors are probably not together. Alaimo has the same chemistry with Rene Auberjonois, playing Odo, when they discuss things.

In fact, it's almost better, and makes me wish there had been more Dukat/Odo scenes in the series. Odo wants to see confidential files on Gul Darhe'el and Dukat refuses to let him. The surprise on Dukat's face is palpable when Odo tells him that the man in his cell insists that he's Darhe'el, a man whose funeral Dukat attended six years ago. Even Terry Farrell gets into the act, with a great scene counseling Kira on whether the need for vengeance outweighs the need for justice. Again, the acting is simply engrossing all around.

All the acting in the world would not make this episode powerful without having a solid script and production behind it, but thankfully that's not a problem here*. The lines tingle and the camera shots perfectly capture what they're intended to. The pull-away shot at the end, as everybody gathers around the dead body is a chilling end to a wonderful episode, but even the interrogation scenes are well-done.

When Kira finally agrees to answer Darhe'el's questions, she slowly starts to walk away and then calmly sits down in the chair she's been using in her interrogation. For the most part, the director lets the actors and the words do the work, and the episode is even better because of it.

Whatever you do, you have to see this episode. It's one of Deep Space Nine's best, and deserves a look-see. It's episodes like this that will keep the Holocaust in our minds after the survivors are dead and gone.

*There have been some accusations on the Net (especially Usenet) that this episode was lifted almost word for word from Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth. I have seen a lot of debate on the subject, but have seen no real conclusions. If it's true, then it's a shame that the producers did not credit Shaw in some way. Whatever the truth is, that doesn't take away from the power of this episode, especially of the actors involved. I just wanted to acknowledge that the accusation is out there.

Here is some great interaction between Yulin and Visitor.



Memorable Quote:

"What you call genocide, I call a day's work." Gul Darhe'el

5 Stars

News of the Weird - Special Edition - Toilet-training iPads

I try and keep my Weird News posts to Tuesdays if I have them, just because I like my themed days.

Sometimes, though, there's just too much (and I'm aware of the irony in the fact that I haven't had one in a while, but there's another one scheduled for this Tuesday already).

Does your child have everything? Are you one of those parents who insists on buying an iPad for your kid even though he is only a year old?

Then you must buy the iPotty for him!

That's right. The iPotty is a combination toilet/iPad holder for those kids who just can't be torn away from their shiny new toy to learn the intricacies of going to the bathroom.

According to the Daily Mail:

"The firm behind it claims the gadget, revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, can help children feel more comfortable by allowing them to watch videos or play games while answering the call of nature."

As you can see, it's a little toilet with an iPad holder, complete with splashguard in case little Timmy is a bit too wild when he lets loose! And the seat folds down so you can have little Timmy sitting in it all the time. You know, so you can have him sit there in "time out" when he misbehaves. This will be a good way to ease in to sending him to the bathroom itself when he's been bad when he's a little older.

It will let little Timmy continue watching his videos or playing his games while he's also learning how to not use a diaper.

It's a win-win!

Is this really a good idea? Are toddlers that good at multi-tasking? I'm not a parent, so this is an honest question to you parents out there. If you are potty-training your kids, should you really be distracting them? Or do you think this would actually ease their anxieties about doing it?

And of course, as newspapers and print books die out, Big Timmy will eventually be taking his iPad for his evening constitutional anyway, so this is good training for him!

Parents, please chime in. Is this a totally silly idea or mana from heaven?

Podcast Stuff - Episode 50 of Down the Hall

Has it really been 50 episodes? We started this podcast back in December 2010 and it's been going strong with only a couple of hiccups along the way. I'm very proud of what we've done with it.

It's also the first episode of 2013, so there's a double-reason to reflect on things.

We have an interview with Dr. Marv Westwood, head of the Veterans Transition Program out of UBC. He tells us all about the program, from how it was envisioned to what it has done to help those service members who have been traumatized by their experiences, and to help them return to civilian life. It's a wonderful program, and the interview is fabulous.

We also talk about the Royal Canadian Legion (for some reason I keep trying to type Canadian Foreign Legion, and what a concept that would be!), our holidays, and much more.

While it is an episode of reflection, that doesn't mean there aren't laughs. There are plenty of them.

Episode 50 can be found here. Take a listen and let us know what you think.

While you're at it, there's something else you could do for us too. I'm not sure exactly what it is, though. Let me think...

Oh yeah! You could go like us on Facebook.

You know, to follow your New Year's resolution to be kind to people and stuff like that. You don't want to fall off the wagon this early, do you?

Star Trek: DS9 - Ep 17 - Dramatis Personae

Star Trek episodes which involve characters being possessed by aliens that change their personality are almost a dime-a-dozen, and the only way they are entertaining at all is how the actors play those characters. At times, the situation leads to some nice set pieces (like O'Brien threatening Keiko in TNG's "Power Play"), but often it just gives the actors a chance to act "evil." "Dramatis Personae" is yet another in the pantheon of "let's let the actors run wild and see what happens to them" episodes, but the acting, for the most part, makes the episode a lot more interesting then it should be. It's too bad that the plot itself isn't stronger.

Major Kira (Nana Visitor) is trying to convince Commander Sisko (Avery Brooks) to investigate a Valerian freighter that is coming to Deep Space Nine. The Valerians used to run weapons to the Cardassians when they were occupying Bajor, and Kira thinks they still are. Sisko agrees that something is kind of fishy, but refuses to treat them any differently until something can be proven. Kira, frustrated, agrees to do all she can to prove it without inconveniencing the Valerians. Suddenly, a Klingon ship comes through the wormhole and explodes before any communication can be established, though a Klingon manages to beam aboard. He quickly dies, however, muttering the word "victory" before passing on.

Soon, crewmembers start to act strangely, all except Odo (Rene Auberjonois), though something weird does happen to him. He appears to lose shape temporarily, but quickly recovers. Bashir (Siddig El Fadil) can't find anything wrong with him, and releases him, but not before he makes some cryptic statements about choosing sides in the coming conflict. Odo's suspicions are aroused, especially when the conflict between Kira and Sisko starts to verge on mutiny, pitting the Bajorans on the station against the Federation. Will Odo be able to figure out what's going on before the station explodes into conflict?

One strong point of the episode is that it uses the existing tension between Kira and Sisko to great effect, though I think it would have been more effective earlier in the season when that conflict actually existed. By this point in the season, they've settled into an understanding of each other that robs the episode of some of its tension. It doesn't help that the first sign of something wrong is Dax (Terry Farrell) acting all giddy. If the first indication had been a confrontation between Kira and Sisko (which, admittedly, does come soon after), it would have extended the "is something weird going on or is this going to be a political episode?" question for just that much longer.

The force that's causing all of the trouble doesn't follow the usual Trek formula, because while it is, in effect, re-enacting a conflict from a distant planet, it adapts itself to the current situation. Sisko doesn't start spouting some gibberish from something that we have no frame of reference for. Instead, it takes the existing tension with the Valerians and transforms that into the catalyst for the civil war. That was a nice touch.

I also liked how each character took on a slightly different personality that had some basis in the "real" personality of the character, no matter how distorted. O'Brien (Colm Meaney) is fiercely loyal to Sisko, to the point where he's almost willing to commit violence to defend him. Kira is adamantly nationalistic, being even more stridently for Bajor and against the Federation then she already is. Dax becomes a nostalgic storyteller, and it's funny how she keeps getting interrupted by the other who don't have time for her trips into the past. Bashir is almost a neutral party, reveling more in the cloak and dagger aspect then actually choosing a side.

The only one that's unrecognizable is Sisko, and I don't know if that was intentional or if the producers are saying something about him that I don't really care for. Sisko becomes a "hands-off" commander, not really caring what's going on. He lets O'Brien handle everything until the mutiny actually happens. Some have said that maybe it represents his earlier attempts to distance himself from Starfleet and his responsibilities after Jennifer died. Maybe, but that doesn't quite ring true.

The acting in the episode is very good, with only the occasional over-acting on Brooks' part. He actually nails a few of the scenes, especially when he's building the clock and telling Odo to let O'Brien handle everything. Auberjonois does another stand-out job, especially after the last two sub-par episodes. It's nice to see him in fine form again. He shows Odo's intelligence beautifully as he slowly figures everything out, and his using Bashir's arrogance against him to force him to find a cure, tempting him with the power that controlling the force would entail. He also has a wonderful scene with Quark (Armin Shimmerman), which is also nice to see after so long.

Ultimately, while the episode is enjoyable, a couple of things bring it down. First, Odo mentions that the force has only affected the crew members in Ops. While this explains why only three other Bajorans are with Kira, it doesn't explain why nobody else appears to notice anything wrong. Sure, there's a throwaway line in there about Keiko and Jake being off the station on some kind of field trip (how convenient).

What about the other Bajoran security forces? Hell, what about the rest of the Starfleet officers? The climax of the episode just doesn't fit when all these questions are asked. O'Brien's talking about leaving the station with Sisko and bringing a Federation task force back. What, he's just going to leave the rest of the Starfleet folk there?

The coda is also especially weak, with an unnecessary apology from Kira and nothing really profound or funny being said. It just kind of sits there, and the episode could have ended a lot better with a few final lines after the force is finally driven out. One final problem, as well. After all this build-up, the Valerian situation is never even dealt with! Kira seems to prove that they were running weapons, but not a word of this is mentioned at the end of the episode. Huh?

Still, after the horror of the last two episodes, "Dramatis Personae" marks a step up for the series, ramping up to the conclusion of the first season. It's entertaining, which is pretty much all we ask for. A little tighter, and this would have been an even better episode. Still worth checking out, though.

Memorable Quote:

"Anyone who's against Sisko is against me." O'Brien

4 Stars

Is there an age limit on the term "boyfriend/girlfriend?"

Throwing this out there for you language aficionados (yes, I do use big words in posts about language...what of it?)

We all know what a boyfriend or a girlfriend is, in the romantic sense (though linguistically, maybe there is even a question regarding when a woman is talking about her "girlfriends" as well?) Is there a time where this isn't the correct term to use?

Last night, I was reading one of my favourite blogs out there, Instapundit (it's now on my blog list on the right side of the page, so check it out!), and came upon this post. It links to a fairly humorous post on "The Cut" with some other ideas for naming your romantic partner.

The list is ok, but it does bring to mind the question: since language continues to evolve and language customs change, is it a bad thing to use those terms when they might not be appropriate?

Everybody knows what is being talked about when a 65-year-old woman talks about her boyfriend. Just like everybody knows what "their" means when you use it so you don't have to say "his/her" all the time, like when you say "when a student doesn't read their email..."

Going by the letter of the grammar law (and watch out for that ruler, kiddos!), both of them would be wrong. Can a 67-year-old man really be a "boyfriend?" Maybe not grammatically, but why play around with it? You know what you mean. I know what you mean. Even Emily Litella knows what you mean (but she will mis-hear it, most likely).

I like "boyfriend/girlfriend" a lot more than trying to figure out exactly what you mean by your word choice. Is he a "lover" if you have sex more than once a week? Does a "beau" mean that you haven't had sex yet? Is there a code? A dictionary? A Google Translate site?

So have at it, those of my fans with linguistic tendencies! Is it better to just say "boyfriend/girlfriend," or does that offend your sensibilities? And if it does, what would you say instead?

Extra credit if you can explain why women can use "girlfriend" for their female friends but guys can't use "boyfriend" for their male friends.

You only get the credit if you *don't* invoke "fear of being seen as gay" in your response.