Politics

Remember the brouhaha over President Bill Clinton's involvment with Monica Lewinsky? Ken Starr was the prosecutor of that farce. Would you like to know who his right hand man was? Brett Kavanaugh, that's who. Just goes to show you that what goes around comes around.

On Sunday The Oregonian announced their support for Knute Buehler, a Republican, for governor. This is in deep blue state so I was a little surprised. The story seemed fairly well balanced and fairly rational, but then I thought "who are they kidding"? Nobody cares about the facts. The only thing that matters to the public is rumor and innuendo. If there aren't any sexual shenanigans, nobody cares.

We're about halfway through The Rise of the Phoenixes (why do I think it should be The Rise of the Phoenii?) and it continues to fascinate. The plot is a little convoluted as it involves a couple dozen characters that are intimately involved in palace intrigue, so it can a little hard to follow sometimes, but it's a series, so there is plenty repetition and flashbacks to fill in what you've forgotten. The best part is that you don't have to spend thousands of hours watching the screen to find out what's going on like you do with real life politics. They've distilled it down so you only get the high points. I guess my point here is that political infighting hasn't changed in a zillion years.

There is one scene (episode 32) where our hero, who is pursuing revenge for crimes committed 20 years ago, finally has the villain dead to rights, or so he thinks. We have a showdown in the emperor's court (not like a modern court with lawyers and judges, this is an old feudal court where everyday empire-level business is conducted). Our hero lays out his case, thinking this will be end of the villain, but, naturally enough, the villain denies everything. It was incompetent subordinates, so yes, it's his responsibility, but he apologizes for his failure to maintain proper control and promises to punish the miscreants. Our hero dang near bursts a blood vessel when confronted with this mountain of bullshit. Reminds me of the old trial lawyer's rule of thumb: don't ask any questions in court that you don't already know the answer to.

There is another scene where a visiting prince wants to gain admission to the royal academy. He is enamored of the director, who is a woman pretending to be a man. Not quite sure what's going on here. The character is maybe 20 years old and very thin, so she could be a boy, but from her face alone she is obviously a woman. All I can think is that they have rules of conduct and if you follow the rules, nobody is going to question whether you are really a man or a woman.

Qingming Academy Entrance Examination
The director, the prince and the three students.

Anyway, the prince wants in. To gain admission he must pass the entrance exam (episode 35, 28:42 mark). The exam consists of one question. The prince is presented with three students, each holding a small box. One box holds a stone, the other two are empty. Each student makes a statement regarding this situation. Two of them are lying and one is telling the truth. Their statements are:

1. The stone is not in this box.
2. The stone is in Yao Yangyu's box (student #1).
3. The stone is not in this box.

Prince Helian cannot figure it out. I admit that at the time, relaxing in an alcoholic haze, I couldn't figure it out either. Ready for the solution? Student #1 is the only one telling the truth and the stone is in box #3. It's a fairly simple matter to deduce the answer using elementary logic. Makes me wonder whether logical thinking was really such a rare commodity that being able to solve this problem qualified you for entrance to the academy. I guess I shoulnd't be surprised, logical thinking is still in short supply, as evidenced by stupidity on display every day in the halls of power.