Alaska Legislature Determined To Give Alaska The Record

The headline in this morning's Alaska Dispatch News front page:

"GOP legislators eye health, education for cuts"

 The headline in Section B:

"High school graduation rate among worst in US

With a new round of education budget cuts, maybe Alaska can get ahead of Washington DC, Nevada, and New Mexico and be at the very bottom.  Way to go legislators, always thinking of ways to make Alaska stand out.


I would put some caveats in this though.

First, graduation rate is a tricky measure because it's something the schools can manipulate.  Teachers are told to pass marginal students.  Graduation standards can be reduced.  It's a good thing to increase, but the best measures aren't ones school districts can control.

That said, I'm not too sure what having a high school diploma actually means these days.  Not having one has big consequences.  But does it represent something significant enough to justify the stigma (particularly ability to get a job) not having one imposes?  For the clear cut cases, sure.  But the student who just barely misses it?  Not so sure.  But then GED's are available for those who finally get there stuff together.

Two more points.  Money alone doesn't make a better school.  How the money is used is important.  We have a basic system and it's hard to tinker with.  When I taught 6th grade for a year, I concluded that I could teach a lot more to each kid if I had only five in class.  The results would be significant enough that setting up school so that each kid only had academics for ten weeks would be more effective than having a class of 30 for forty weeks.  I'm not proposing that, but I am saying ways to tinker with education delivery could greatly impact output.  But all things being equal, if more money means smaller classes (rather than more highly paid administrators) more money is better than less.

Finally, there is a national conservative effort to get public education money diverted to private schools.  Vouchers, for example.  One way to achieve their goal is to make public schools so bad, that the public gets totally fed up and supports diverting public money to private schools, including religious schools.  I'm sure that some of the Republicans wanting to cut the education budget consciously or unconsciously have this goal.

Information and Power - A Few Examples

My dissertation was on privacy and I concluded that the consequences of exposure is the critical issue and thus the privacy debates are basically about power.  It's about the power to keep others out of your physical space and the ability to prevent access to information about yourself.  My conclusion was that given changing technology, if someone really wants to know about you badly enough, they will be able to do.  There is no way to protect yourself from someone determined to get into your life.  The only protection, and it's certainly limited, is to have everyone equally vulnerable so that people don't invade others' info because they could have the same thing happen to them.  We are protected thus only by enlightened cooperation or observation of the Golden Rule.

Time has confirmed my predictions made back in the 1970s.

This all is a preface to some articles in the LA Times today that illustrate different aspects of this power to hold one's info and the power to get into someone's info.

• Malik’s Facebook clues Shooter sent two private notes sharing jihadist longings to Pakistani friends online, officials say.

Let's start with US security officials failing to find private Facebook messages written in 2012 and 2014 in Urdu by Malik.  It's a little scary to think that anyone thinks the FBI should have been able to find those messages.  It's just mind-boggling to think of the level of intrusion into private communications that security agencies would have to do to detect such messages.  

• Plumber sues over ‘jihad’ truck Texan is tormented after his business vehicle shows up in an image posted by rebels — in Syria.

This guy traded in his truck for a new one.  The dealer stopped him from scraping off the lettering with his company's name and phone number.  The dealer didn't want him to scratch the paint and assured him they'd do it.  But then his truck shows up as an ISIS vehicle on ISIS websites with weaponry in the back.  The picture quickly went viral resulting in hateful calls and emails.

• Mystery owner buys Las Vegas paper  Speculation on the sale is that a wealthy individual is looking for political influence.

Las Vegas' newspaper has been secretly bought.  The owner isn't being disclosed.  What does that mean for readers?  The article says this is unprecedented.   Unfortunately, most people aren't willing to cancel their subscriptions until the owner's identity is revealed.

• Trial of key rights lawyer in China prompts scuffle: Police violently shove away journalists and diplomats seeking to observe proceedings.

The Chinese government is trying a key human rights attorney.  He's blogged openly, but his trial is secret.  How many Chinese officials get away with corrupt behavior because criticism of the government is so strictly limited?

• A BROKEN PLEDGE Officials let China Shipping ignore emissions-cutting requirements

Here, LA Port officials, in response to protests of pollution, promised to require ships reduce emissions while in port, to turn off their engines and to plug in for power,   But the LA Times, through a public records act request, found out the port authorities gave the Chinese shippers permission to ignore the regulations.

• L.A. schools to reopen Wednesday; threat against schools was 'not credible,' officials say

Anonymous emails threaten terror at LA schools and the district decides to shut them all down.  Who sent the emails?  How can the officials know if they are real or not?  And how many school districts are going to get similar threats just to shut them down?  And how many times will it take for the districts to ignore the threat?  Think of the sense of power this gives a disgruntled school kid.


The movie Stink! which I saw at the Anchorage International Film Festival chronicled how corporations hide toxic chemicals in products by preventing the FDA and other agencies from even knowing what's in their products, let alone disclosing them to consumers.

Just keep your eyes open for examples of the power to hide or expose information and who wins and who loses.

No Kill, No Catch Mouse Trap And Other Maintenance Adventures

Living would be truly great if one didn't have to spend so much time just keeping things maintained.  But such isn't the case.  While the film festival was going on, we are also trying to maintain, and in some cases, even get ahead.

First issue was health.  Our granddaughter shared her cold/cough with us when we saw her over Thanksgiving.  It wasn't debilitating, but it sure was persistent.  You can tell how the news infiltrates our minds by the metaphor I started using.  My body is mostly back to normal, but there are still insurgents hiding, taking advantage of any weak points they can find.  Fortunately for you, the Film Festival kept me too busy to do a post on phlegm.

Last week we had the plumber out because the upstairs thermostat wasn't working.  He fixed that, but while he was here he noticed a leak in the new water heater that he installed in September.  (It's good to have the same guy come out.)  The good news is that it's tiny and not urgent so it doesn't have to be done immediately.  The better news is that it's still under warranty for parts AND labor.  It's good to have honest workers.  He could have overlooked it, but he didn't.

While I was cleaning things up (what I do instead of looking for something, which always leads to frustration because I never find it;  but if I clean up, I'll find other things and get something done even if I don't find what I was looking for), I found the notice we got from Subaru last July saying the passenger airbag on J's car needed to be replaced but they don't have the parts yet and will notify us when they do.  It's almost six months now.  What originally caught my attention was the part that said

". . .the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death."

So I called the number and asked why, almost six months later I hadn't gotten a new notice, that it's really a hassle not letting anyone sit in the passenger seat.   He got me a name and number of the local Subaru dealer.  The dealer set up an appointment for January (since it was going to take a week or more to get the part and we're headed out of town.)  But they called back later that day, and today J took her car in and got the new airbag.

I picked up some copies of Peter Dunlap-Shohl's My Degeneration at Blue.Holloman gallery at 36th and Arctic, and I'll do a post on that book before too long.  Peter's been blogging about his Parkinson's adventure for years now, rendering it something like a superhero comic book about fighting the forces of his disease.  You can see parts of it at his blog Off and On: The Alaska Parkinson's Rag  which I've had in my Alaska Blogs list on the right for a long time now.  It's a great book for anyone with Parkinson's and probably better for the people around them, who are trying to figure out what's going on.

I bought a mouse trap.  I'm calling it my No Kill - No Catch trap.  There's a very cute mouse who's moved in and runs around the living room and kitchen, and sometimes goes downstairs.  So far, I haven't had my camera handy when I've seen him and he moves pretty fast.

Every website about catching mice said to use peanut butter.  We only had almond butter and maybe that's too healthy.

The closest I've gotten to capturing him on the camera are footprints in the snow.  But I'm not really sure if these are mice or not or how he gets from outside to inside.  Maybe he opens the sliding glass door to let his friends in when we're out.

I've been trying to spend at least 30 minutes a day going through the boxes I throw things in to clean up when company's coming.  When they're in the boxes it seems easier to go through them and toss things or put other things where they belong.  My mom's house is a great incentive to clean up here.

And I'm looking forward to 2016 because I bought this planner that appealed to my current mood.

For each week, it's got a page with the following categories:

• Things I have to do but that can wait a day, or two, or three ...

• Small things I have to do before I can do the big things I have to do

• Things I absolutely have to do unless I absolutely don't want to do them

• Things people have been bugging me to do for a really long time

I'll let you know how it works out.

[Sorry for reposting - more Feedburner problems]

AIFF 2015: Special Directors' Award and Audience Award Winners UDATED with Pictures

Tan and Toyami at AIFF 2015 Gala Awards

Special Directors award to Shoji Toyami  and Shuichi Tan  of Magic Utopia.  

King Tan, and Toyami

Also involved with the film was King.

This was very much an artistic film with lots of abstract imagery.  A beautiful film that you won't see coming out of Hollywood.












Audience Award

This is one of the most coveted awards because it's the one the audience liked most.

Sharon Shattuck (l) listening to audience member

Winner   -   From This Day Forward

Below is a shot I got of director Sharon Shattuck at the Bear Tooth Tuesday night listening to one of the audience members after the showing of From This Day Forward.


This was a film about a family whose dad comes out as transgender when the kids were fairly young, made by one of the daughters, much later. It was a powerful film.

AIFF 2015: Documentary Winners UPDATE: Features

[I originally understood that all the docs were grouped together for one award, but at the ceremony, it turned out they had awards for short docs and for full length docs. I tried to note that quickly as the awards were being announced.]

Docs

Bihttoš          Winner  Short Docs

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers

Children of the Arctic  Honorable Mention  Docs

Nick Brandestini

Circus Without Borders   Runner Up  Docs

Susan Gray, Linda Matchan

Lost & Found

Nicolina Lanni, John Choi

Love Between the Covers

Laurie Kahn

Madina’s Dream   Winner Docs

Andrew Berends

Man in the Can

Noessa Higa

Superjednostka    Runner Up Short Docs

Teresa Czepiec

Nicholas Coles and Rich Curtner after Awards

The House is Innocent  Honorable Mention  Short Docs

Nicholas Coles

 The House Is Innocent is about a house in Sacramento whose owner murdered and buried several older folks whose social security she kept collecting. [I should have added that a couple bought the house and fixed it up, but left some signs indicating the history of the house.]  Rich Curtner, AIFF Board President, talked to film director Coles about an Anchorage house of a murderer that is now owned by someone involved with the film festival.

FEATURES

And The Circus Leaves Town   Runner Up

Mete Sozer

Creditors

Ben Cura

Jasmine     Honorable Mention

Dax Phelan

Magic Utopia    

Shoji Toyama, Shuichi Tan

Orphans & Kingdoms   Winner

Paolo Rotondo

The Descendants

Yaser Talebi

      

AIFF 2015: Made In Alaska Winners

Honorable Mention - We Are All Related Here

Runner Up -  Degrees North

Winner -  Heart of Alaska

AIFF 2015: Animation Winners UPDATE With Super Shorts And Shorts Winners

Here's a list of the films in competition and I'll mark the ones that win awards.

Animation

Chhaya      Honorable Mention

Debanjan Nandy

Golden Shot    Winner 

Gokalp Gonen

Rosso Papavero

Martin Smetana

Slovakia

The Apple Tree

Scott Storm

The Looking Planet

Eric Law Anderson

The Present

Jacob Frey

wHole

Verena Klinger   Runner Up

Super Shorts

Merry Xmas      

Boman Modine

Mike                  Winner

Petros Silvestros

One-Minute Time Machine   Honorable Mention

Devon Avery

The Poem of a Memory

Christhian Andrews

Unleaded      Runner Up

Luke Davies

Shorts

Nkosi Coiffure

Frederike Migom

Scary Larry

Greg Ivan Smith

The Bravest, The Boldest   Winner

Moon Molson

The Call

Zamo Mkhwanazi

The Story of a Rainy Night  Honorable Mention

Mehdi Fard Ghaderi

Zawadi                  Runner Up

Richard Card

AIFF 2015: Awards Ceremony Beginning

7pm

The festival director Rebecca is thanking everyone whose been involved.


I think I'll just update this post as the evening goes on.  So you can just reload the page for updates.

AIFF 2015: It's Sunday, the Festival Ends With Films And Gala

So, here's the last day's program.  [Well, technically, there will be Best of The Fest next Friday and Saturday nights.]

This is a screenshot - for the original with links click here

If you haven't seen any of the shorts programs, I'd recommend them first.

Lost and Found is a documentary about beach combers in Alaska and British Columbia who find Japanese tsunami debris and try to fin the original owners.  While I had one problem with this film, it's still worth watching.

There are two Alaska made films Heart of Alaska and Sea Horse.

Midori in Hawaii - This is a strong film about a Japanese woman who visits her younger sister in Hawaii.  I wasn't all that impressed when I watched it, but scenes from the movie have been replaying in my head.  That's always a sign the movie was better than I first thought.

The Awards Ceremony is in a different place this year - The Williwaw - which is at 6th and F (602 F Street).  I'll try to live blog from there if they have wifi.

AIFF 2015: Powerful Bengali Film Under Construction

Lots of themes interwoven into this film about a an actress performing aTagori play, Red Oleanders, married to a rich husband who is ready for her to quit acting and have babies.  Her servant who becomes pregnant and leaves to work in a clothing factory.  Concerns that the character she plays, Nandini, is not a realistic woman because she only cares for others and has no self.    She gets a chance to direct a modern version with a modern interpretation, but this conflicts with the wishes of her husband who doesn't take her work seriously and her mother who is becoming more religious.

So much there, all with Dhaka as the backdrop - her fancy apartment and then the hustle and bustle of street life.  Well done and unexpected film

Animation starts soon.