Thanksgiving On Bainbridge Island

Hoping everyone had a good holiday with family and friends.  

Leisurely Birthday Hike Grand Forest Bainbridge Island

My daughter asked me to bring the new camera along on this trip.  I've been lazy about taking it where I actually have to carry it - like on the plane - but a daughter's request has more power.  I'm still not anywhere near figuring this camera out, but these basic in the forest shots were ok.  With a little photoshop help you can get a sense of the forest trail.

The spider web was a little harder.  The auto focus didn't see the web at all, but I have figured out how to turn it off and use the manual focus, though it doesn't feel near as precise as my old film Pentax lens.

 

It was a really small web (maybe six inches across) and a tiny spider (it's in the middle of the web.)  You can click it to enlarge it.  But with film I wouldn't have it ready to post yet either.  

I still have to figure out how to work the manual speed and aperture.  When M tried to take this picture of me and Z in the old tree trunk, the speed was way too slow.  I'm trying to just figure it out by playing with the camera, but I think I'll have to check the manual.

But it was nice to be in the woods with my son and daughter, grand daughter and daughter-in-law. 

Happy Birthday Moni, Ropi, and Alex

Sharing a birthday with someone is its own kind of special bond.  I hope you three all have a wonderful birthday and anyone else whose birthday is today, you too. 

Sufganyot And Other Hannukah Specialities

We were invited to a last night of Hannukah party and since it was less than a mile away we walked over about 5:15pm, just in time to see the last of the pale blue western sky fade and the beautiful crescent moon in the cold crystal clear air. (It's about 0˚F  or  -17˚C) Batches and batches of latkes were being pulled out to be heated as guests arrived (I think she said they'd made 3 or 400, 15 pounds of potatoes.)



Then placed on the table with apple sauce and sour cream.

The dessert table had sufganyot.  (It's ok, I had to ask what they were called too.) These are jelly donuts.  The Houston Chronicle has a recent article about them, including two recipes.  In part it says:

"Kuchenmeisterei" ("Mastery of the Kitchen"), published in 1485 and later translated into Polish as "Kuchmistrzostwo," has the distinction of being one of the first cookbooks to be run off Johannes Gutenberg's printing press. It also contains the first record of a jelly doughnut - "Gefullte Krapfen" - according to "Encyclopedia of Jewish Food" by Gil Marks.

Germans had many names for them, including Berliners. In Austria, they were known as krapfen. In Poland, they were called paczki. In Russia, ponchiki.

"In Israel, however, ponchiks soon took the name sufganiyah (sufganiyot plural), from a 'spongy dough' mentioned in the Talmud, sofgan and sfogga," Marks writes. "Sufganiyot subsequently emerged as by far the most popular Israeli Hanukkah food."

There were also other sweets and people brought lots of the things to taste.  

And when there were enough people there that latke supply had dwindled, they  said the prayers and lit the candles.  Since it was the last night, all the candles were lit.

Happy Birthdays - Moni, Ropi, and Alex

Three great people to share a birthday with.

Alaskan Seemantham

We were invited to a Seemantham ceremony Sunday afternoon here in Anchorage. This was a first for me.  A delightful first.  But I claim no expertise.  I can just show you some pictures and offer some information from some sites I found. 

[S]eemantham is a function celebrated in the bridegrooms house by parents of bride ,when their daughter is in her first pregnancy usually 7th month before bringing her to their home for delivery relatives and friends are invited ladies put colourful glass bangles on the pregnant ladies hands bangles are also given to lady guests. [From Desitwist]

There are lots of sites giving different and/or verbatim information.  One said eight months and some have lots of details.  Some are forums where people are asking for information because they would like to put on such a ceremony.

Our friends' parents were here from Bangalore, India and the mother began and then the sister and then other women guests followed suit. 

A Tamil-Brahmin site had a very specific list of things that were needed:

Requirements for pumsavanam and seemantham:
Turmeric powder 50 gram; sandalwood powder 10 gram; kumkumam 10 gram; plantain fruit 25;Betel nut 100 grams; betel leaf 200; plantain leaf 6; thodutha pushpam 5 meters; mango leaf bunch 10; ghee 500 grams; haaram for the Aala mokku 6 nos; couple 2; for brass kudam 1; wheat 2kg; raw rice 2 kg; black gram 300 grams; gingilly seeds 100 grams; vraaty 10 nos; sraai thool 2 kilo; cow's milk 200 milli; scented sticks 1 pocket; camphor 1 pocket; Brass kudam 1; vasthram for brass kudam 1; Bell 1; aasana palagai or thadukku 8 nos; visiri 1; kuthu vilakku1; oil for deepam and thiri and match box; Vasthram for aalamokku paal piliya; pethy leaf bunch 1; panri mul 1; paady 50 grams well drenched in water a day before; Veena music CD 1; pancha pathra uthirini 1; elakkai; pachai kalpooram vilamichai root; krambu; coconut 6 nos; ammi kulavi 1; sambhavanai for the kanya girl who crushed the aaalamokku; small brass sombu for punyahavachanam;

As you can see from the pictures that some of these things had been gathered. 

Clutter Wars: Old Photos - Checkpoint Charlie 1964-2010, Loussac Opening

My new strategy in the Clutter War is to get rid of things in the garage to make room for boxes from the house.  But I'm being distracted by what I'm finding - like old photos.

Here are some pictures from the year I was a student in Göttingen, Germany.  I'm in the window the day I painted my room in the Forum student housing building on Brüder Grimm Allee, on my scooter (I think it's a Lambretta, but I don't remember for sure and can't find pictures on line that match this model.  But I did find a history of the Lambretta here, beginning before it made scooters, including a 1939 declaration that the factory was  a "model of fascist establishment.") There's a picture of me at the Fasching Party and one with Claudia in Berlin at Schloss Charlottenbe[u]rg.  These are all 1964 and 1965,

In 2010 we visited Berlin and I took and posted this picture of Checkpoint Charlie which is now just a tourist attraction with a guy in a soldier suit in the middle of bustling Berlin.  But I couldn't find my old pictures until today.  The back of the 1964 picture says, "Checkpoint Charlie from ramp on Western Side looking over the wall.  Barbed wire on bottom of picture is on top of the wall."  That's me looking at the sign.   In those days the space between East and West Berlin was no-man's land and today it's just a historical footnote in the middle of Berlin at a point where you otherwise would have no idea this had been the border.

In the last set, you can see Loussac library at what I think was the official opening in 1986.  Then there are two kids preparing for Halloween (this picture is here for their spouses to enjoy).  And finally a picture my son took of his father during the red beard period.  I don't have exact dates but these are mid 1980s.  

OK, back to the garage.  I don't think I've made much room today.

Spray Of Plaid Foil and Soap Doily Roll Far

Are you scratching your head?  Look back.  If it still makes no sense, find help here.

Would You Have Been a Loyalist or Patriot? Or Uncommitted?

As we observe the Fourth of July, it's tempting to ponder which of us would have sided with the British, which with the new American Patriots, and which would have tried to avoid taking sides and just lived their lives.

THE QUIZ APPROACH

Allthetests offers a quiz for that which begins:

Question 1: If a soldier came up to you and asked if you would join the army to fight Britain, what would you do?
	Agree to fight for your independence
	Say that you will think about it, but never get the time to actually choose
	Yell "NO" and slam the door in his face

Question 2: If you found a spy for the Americans and he was getting caught by the British, what would you do?
	Grab your gun and fight off the British so the spy can run for it
	Try to compromise between the British and the spy
	Help the British grab him and take him into custody to reveal the Americans' secrets

But how can the typical American of 2011 honestly answer a question like that? How would you answer a question like:

If you saw a someone being robbed, would you run to help the person?

I doubt very many of us know how we would react in such a situation. Each robbery has a different context.  Are there others around?  Does the robber have a gun?  Are we in a hurry?  Have you - the bystander - been trained to fight?

So many things come into play that even if we've been in the situation before, we may not be able to predict what would happen next time.  When it comes to taking personal risks,  our emotional response doesn't always match our ideals.

With  something as abstract as what we would have done 200 years ago, where our personal standing in that society is undefined, where the 'right' and 'wrong' answers are so known, and where all the personal emotional context is non-existent, is impossible.


THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS APPROACH

Wikipedia says that Larabee (1948) has identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative:

* Psychologically they were older, better established, and resisted innovation.
* They felt that resistance to the Crown—the legitimate government—was morally wrong.
* They were alienated when the Patriots resorted to violence, such as burning houses and tarring and feathering.
* They wanted to take a middle-of-the road position and were angry when forced by the Patriots to declare their opposition.
* They had a long-standing sentimental attachment to Britain (often with business and family links).
* They were procrastinators who realized that independence was bound to come some day, but wanted to postpone the moment.
* They were rightly cautious and afraid of anarchy or tyranny that might come from mob rule, which did cost many their property and security after the revolution.
* Some say they were pessimists who lacked the confidence in the future displayed by the Patriots, while others point to the memory and dreadful experience of many Scottish immigrants who had already seen or paid the price of rebellion in dispossession and clearance from their prior homeland.

Could we use these to better gauge where we would have been?

• Would older folks who don't text today, have been loyalists?  
• What about folks who think we need to respect the president, even if he's not always right?
• Is aversion to violence today the equivalent of aversion to the violence of Patriots in the 1700s? 
• What sort of long-term sentimental attachment today would be equivalent such an attachment to Britain back then?

Wikipedia's article on Patriots offers characteristics about Patriots that seem to overlap those of Loyalists to some extent.

The Patriots came from many different backgrounds. Among the most active of the Patriots group were highly educated and fairly wealthy individuals. However, without the support of the ordinary men and women, such as farmers, lawyers, merchants, seamstresses, homemakers, shopkeepers, and ministers, the struggle for independence would have failed.
In 2000 historian Robert Calhoon estimated that in the Thirteen Colonies between 40 and 45 percent of the white population supported the Patriots' cause:

Historians' best estimates put the proportion of adult white male loyalists somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Approximately half the colonists of European ancestry tried to avoid involvement in the struggle — some of them deliberate pacifists, others recent emigrants, and many more simple apolitical folk. The patriots received active support from perhaps 40 to 45 percent of the white populace, and at most no more than a bare majority.

Clearly, calculating those numbers, over 200 years after the fact, has lots of complications.


Are there members of current political groups who would have been more likely to Patriots or Loyalists?

Tea Party members and supporters, according to an Atlantic article last year, made up

• 4% of the population (actual members according to a CBS/NYTimes poll) or
• 28% identified as "supporter[s] of the Tea Party movement" (Gallup poll)
•  4%  (18% of the 20% supporting the Tea Party in another CBS/NYTimes poll had actually given money or attended a Tea Party event)

Those numbers were calculated a year ago, but the 28% and 20% number is vaguely close to the estimated number of Loyalists.  Of course, that's a ridiculous correlation.

Do Tea Party supporters have characteristics more like those of Patriots or Loyalists?

Apparently that same CBS/NYTimes poll, this time cited in the Dallas News, identifies a number of factors that are more associated with Tea Party supporters than the general public. [I've reorganized the list a bit to make it briefer.]

• Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as "angry."  Their anger is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country.
• Obama does not share the values most Americans live by, and that 
• he does not understand the problems of people like them.
• More than half say administration policies favor the poor, and 
• 25 percent, compared with 11 percent of the general public, think the administration favors blacks over whites. 
• Tea Party supporters offered three main concerns: 
• the recent health care overhaul, 
• government spending and 
• a feeling that their opinions are not represented in Washington.
• More than eight in 10 hold an unfavorable view of him personally, and 
• 92 percent believe he is moving the country toward socialism - an opinion shared by about half the general public.
• Most describe the amount they paid in taxes this year as "fair." 
• Most send their children to public schools; 
• do not think Sarah Palin, who spoke at a Tea Party rally in Boston on Tuesday, is qualified to be president; and, 
• despite their push for smaller government, think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost. 
• They are actually more likely than the general public to have returned their census forms, despite some conservative leaders urging a boycott.

How would you compare this list (assuming it was even accurate a year ago) to characteristics of Patriots and Loyalists?


Even though they are named after a quintessential Patriot event, one interpretation of this list could be that many Tea Party supporters are more like the conservatives who were resisting change to the status quo.  People who thought that they had something to lose from radically changing the system.

CONTEXT TODAY?

But I'm not willing to make such a conclusion.  Tea Party supporters are probably a pretty varied group.  And just as 'older, and better established' is listed as a Loyalist characteristic, leaders of the Patriots were also from the wealthier classes.

But, as we observe Independence Day, it's useful to question ourselves carefully about the kinds of risk we would be willing to take and under what conditions.  (To what extent is risk-taking genetically inherited and to what extent is it environmentally shaped?  Do people take risks in some areas, but not other areas of their lives?) 

What are you willing to risk today to protect democracy?
How many of us use lack of understanding of how to effectively protect democracy as an excuse not to do something?
How many of us are working at understanding what roles we can effectively play?
How many of us would not have understood the right path back in the 18th Century? (Was there only one 'right path' or did it matter who you were.  For instance many black slaves fought for the British after being promised their freedom.)

None of this is easy.  But I urge you to go out and listen to someone you disagree with.  Assume that the person is rational and sincere in his or her beliefs.  Then ask the person to explain the position taken and how he knows he's right.  (I tried hard to make that sentence work without gendered pronouns, but finally gave up.)  Don't contradict.  Don't challenge.  Just ask, respectfully, to better understand.  It's hard to do.  but worth it. 

Happy Fourth of July.

April Fools: Chenault, Costello, Dick, Fairclough, Feige, Foster, Gatto, Hawker, Johansen, Johnson, Keller, Lynn, Millett, Munoz, Olson, Pruitt, Saddler, Stoltze, Thomas, Thompson, P. Wilson, T. Wilson

These are the Alaska House members who voted yesterday to give some of the largest corporations in the world about $2 billion a year in hopes the oil companies will invest more in Alaska oil production. The companies in turn had to guarantee. . .


nothing whatsover. They even said out loud they wouldn't promise anything.



As regular readers know, I rarely take a strong stand on an issue because generally I can see more than one side. Sometimes there are only two sides - the right one and the wrong one. It's hard to find any 'right' in the arguments for passage of HB 110. They are all literally incredible. Those who argue they don't want to lose their jobs or their children's future jobs (many who testified) failed to show the connection between giving these breaks to the oil companies and increased oil production in Alaska. Others worship at the Church of Capitalist Fundamentalism which preaches government is Satan and the market is the miracle cure for everything. They have forgotten (or never knew) that even gods of capitalism, like Milton Friedman, warned of capitalism's

Soon to be on endangered species list in Alaska

failures. Some have forgotten the Bill Allen story, or maybe they think that the reversal of fortune for the FBI and the Federal prosecutors means they have a free period to make deals with oil companies. This last group may be more crooks than fools. I'm sure there are other forms of delusion I'm overlooking.

I heard a rumor that an unnamed legislator slipped language into HB 110 that makes the rabbit's foot the state talisman.  Every Alaskan will be required to carry at least one at all times.

But let's also salute those who voted no (including two Republicans):

Austerman, Doogan, Edgmon, Gara, Gardner, Gruenberg, Guttenberg, Herron, Holmes, Joule, Kawasaki, Kerttula, Miller, Petersen, Seaton, Tuck.

Doing right is its own long-term reward. Thank you!

Should the Senate go along with this (reports are that they won't) the oil companies could possibly make some gesture that looks like the vote caused them to reinvest in Alaska. But they really don't have to and are arrogant enough not to. And if they do, just count the dollar benefit to Alaska against the dollars we would have given away. It won't be close. And will the yea votes and their supporters realize they were taken? Don't count on it. They'll find reasons to explain why 'conditions' changed and they weren't wrong.

Year of the Hare - Happy Chinese New Year

From the Taipei Times (which has a beautiful calligraphy rabbit)

Emerging from the fierce Year of the Tiger, the Chinese lunar calendar now enters the Year of the Rabbit (or Year of the Hare), and the imagery is certainly of a more peaceable nature, although much of the trauma from the Tiger still continues to cause havoc across the globe. . .

From the Qi Journal:

HARE:
January 29, 1903 to February 15, 1904 (water)
February 14, 1915 to February 2, 1916 (wood)
February 2, 1927 to January 22, 1928 (fire)
February 19, 1939 to February 7, 1940 (earth)
February 1951 to January 26 1952 (metal)
January 25, 19673 to February 12, 1964 (water)
February 11, 1975 to January 30, 1976 (wood)
January 29, 1987 to February 16, 1988 (fire)
February 16, 1999 to February 4, 2000 (earth)

Celebrities include:
Michelangelo - Napoleon - Albert Einstein - Walt Whitman - Marie Curie

Hares (rabbits) are happiest when with friends and safely inside of social circles. They are often meek and withdrawn among groups of strangers. They seldom like to argue and enjoy quiet, peaceful lives. A Hare is cautious and will weigh the pros and cons from every angle before moving ahead.

A lover of good conversation, reading, and intellectual discussions, the hare is sincere and are often gifted healers, herbalists, and doctors. Traditionally associated with clear-sightedness, the Hare is an excellent judge of character and has a certain ability to recognize when others are lying. A Hare's home is typically a beautiful one, and they take great care and expend a lot of energy making it comfortable. You will find a lot of expensive and precious items in the home of a Hare personality.

The Chinese have many strange legends about the Hare, one of them is that they inhabit the moon, together with three-legged frogs. Another legend has it that the Hare possesses the secret recipe for the elixir of immortality.

From Webexhibits:

The Chinese calendar - like the Hebrew - is a combined solar/lunar calendar in that it strives to have its years coincide with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar:

• An ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months.
• An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days.

When determining what a Chinese year looks like, one must make a number of astronomical calculations:
First, determine the dates for the new moons. Here, a new moon is the completely "black" moon (that is, when the moon is in conjunction with the sun), not the first visible crescent used in the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is the first day of a new month.
Second, determine the dates when the sun’s longitude is a multiple of 30 degrees. (The sun’s longitude is 0 at Vernal Equinox, 90 at Summer Solstice, 180 at Autumnal Equinox, and 270 at Winter Solstice.) These dates are called the Principal Terms and are used to determine the number of each month:

• Principal Term 1 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 330 degrees.
• Principal Term 2 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 0 degrees.
• Principal Term 3 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 30 degrees. (etc.)
• Principal Term 11 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 270 degrees.
• Principal Term 12 occurs when the sun’s longitude is 300 degrees.

Each month carries the number of the Principal Term that occurs in that month.
In rare cases, a month may contain two Principal Terms; in this case the months numbers may have to be shifted. Principal Term 11 (Winter Solstice) must always fall in the 11th month.
All the astronomical calculations are carried out for the meridian 120 degrees east of Greenwich. This roughly corresponds to the east coast of China.
Some variations in these rules are seen in various Chinese communities.

[This site has a lot more interesting information about the Chinese year and calendar.]

Alaskan Snowshoe Hare

It's Marmot Day in Alaska

44.12.110. Marmot Day. Marmot Day is established on February 2 of each

year. The day may be observed by suitable observances and exercises

by school programs, the Alaska  Zoo, civic groups, and the public. 

(The picture was taken during the summer and if any marmots stuck their
heads out today they didn't see their shadows, at least not around the
Anchorage area.)

AIFF 2010: Fanny, Annie, and Danny - and their creator Chris Brown

Danny's interrupted by the phone while playing computer games in his fancy apartment, which leads to a confrontation that shows us a darker edge to Danny's life.

Fanny is practicing a Christmas song on her recorder. It's pretty bad. Then someone knocks on her door.

Lady: Fanny, you can't practice your flute . . .
Fanny: It's not a flute, it's a recorder.
Lady: You can't do this at 6 am, other people are sleeping.

Fanny acts like a 5 year old, but she's clearly adult, living in a type of independent living/group house. We then follow her to work where she sorts chocolates on a conveyor belt in a near empty factory.

We meet Annie in the dentist office where her boss is telling her, over an open mouthed patient, that he's thinking of adding another 'girl'.
Annie: But I don't need any help.
Dentist: Business is expanding.
Annie: I can handle it.
Dentist: I've already placed an ad, people are coming this afternoon.
Annie:  I have an appointment, but I can cancel it.
Dentist: I can handle this, go to your appointment.

As I write this, I'm seeing foreshadowing of things to come that I didn't see when I first saw this on DVD the other night. I can also see how vividly the whole movie impressed itself in my brain. I think I could reconstruct almost every scene.

I'm not a fan of dysfunctional family movies in general, and my initial reaction was that no one could be so relentlessly nasty to her kids (even these adult kids) as the mom, and if someone were, that those who could - like the husband and Annie - would just leave. For example, Fanny, who comes by bus, gets to the house early. Mom says, "It's not 2 o'clock yet. Wait outside."  Mom has not one atom in her body that is sympathetic to Fanny.

But for the last couple of days, these characters have inhabited my head. They were so real. I can't imagine the actors not really being the characters. And I learned so much about them in 82 minutes. Though I'm still perplexed by the mom - though I'm sure there are people like her. If she hates her kids (except for Danny) so much, why do they get together for Christmas?  But a good film should leave you still chewing when it's over.  And my jaw is sore.

Fanny is a wonderful, wonderful character. A good person struggling to make her way in a world too complex for her brain. Chris did miracles to show her humanity on the screen so well
. And Annie's boyfriend, Todd, though he has problems of his own, is also thoroughly decent and talks to Franny adult to adult. And Dad is in second place only to Job.

This is a powerful movie. It's not a light parody of dysfunctional people, but more a like a serious documentary that follows them as they move toward a disastrous Christmas dinner (well Mom likes to celebrate the week before Christmas, something about less pressure). 

Anyone nervous about going home for Christmas because of family dynamics might want to check out Fanny, Annie, and Danny. I promise you, unless one of your family members gets cut up and put in the freezer, this family will make you feel good about your own. (I say this half seriously, but I want to emphasize, this is a movie that drew me right in with its absolutely real characters.  Even if I don't understand this mother (I'd like to think she's a little over the top, but maybe there are people out there like her) watching each sibling individually in their own lives and then watching them come together was riveting. 

And Thursday night I got to meet the film maker - Chris Brown - and to ask a bit about the dark characters in his film.





This film won Best US/International Narrative at the Kansas City FilmFest and Best Performance at the San Antonio Film Festival. It says a lot for the quality of the films at our festival that this one didn't make it into the films in competition. Or it might say something about the selection committee's tastes. (Don't know cause I haven't seen the films in Features in Competition.)