Jokes - who wins what, and who loses what?

BD is back from the war. With an artificial leg. He's staying with an old friend while he's in DC for a short trip. Mark is gay. He makes a joke that alludes to BD's disability.

BD cuts him short.

double click on the cartoon to enlarge it

So why can't Mark joke about BD's new leg?

Power.

As a member of a group labeled "Disabled" BD is now seen as weak, as less capable, as different from the norm. Mark, as an abled bodied male, is part of the more powerful group - the group that doesn't need help, that isn't pitied, that doesn't have to talk to potential employers about accommodations. His joke calls attention to the difference between them, indirectly makes the point that Mark has more power.

BD emphasizes this when he says it's not ok for Mark to joke about his leg, "Not from you, from my peers."

Because the peers are part of the same out group. As members of an outgroup, they can actually make up their own 'in' group - people with disabilities. In the group, they can joke. It's a way out groups have always coped with their out status. Sigmund Freud wrote that humor was a way to express criticism that was "difficult so long as [it is] direct, and possible only along circuitous paths." Charles Gruner writes that, "Humorous situations can be best understood by knowing who wins what, and who loses what."

So BD turns it around.

"Sorry, Let's tell gay jokes instead. See if that helps."

Now BD is in the in group and Mark is in the out group. Now BD has more power than Mark.

When you hear people tell jokes, particularly jokes that are at someone's expense, think about "who wins what, and who loses what." Why did they tell that joke?

Jury Duty

I have jury duty next week. I suspect I won't get on a case, but after spending almost six weeks in the gallery, it would be interesting to see the court from a different vantage point. It's been a while since I was on a jury. But it's always been a very positive experience. And this is State Court, while the trials I was at this summer and fall were Federal Court.

A Short Post - things people search

A good friend complained a couple days ago that my posts were too long to read. So here's a short one while I work on another long one.

As I look through the sitemeter reports on who visits the blog, one thing I get to see is what terms they put in the search engine (if that's how they got here.) Here are a couple recent ones that I couldn't help but wonder about.

Dec. 31, 2007

• "the last 5 times winter solstice happened"
  

• "what do people from sierra leone look like"

I'll let you ponder what they were trying to find out. They actually could get answers to those questions on this blog.

On the last day of 2007 I also got what I think was my first hit from someone in Iran.


Jan 1, 2008

• "how do i know if my insurance will cover an abortion"

Now this doesn't sound like a happy story and I'm afraid this blog didn't have any answers for this one.

Today I went quickly through the last 100 hits to see what pages they went to on the blog. Victor Lebow has been the most popular subject for the last few days. One Lebow googler has University of California Office of the President as the ISP.

Lebow posts - 12
Anchorage International Film Festival - 10
People born in 1908 - 6
Solstice - 3
Dan Fagan - 2
Leslie Gallant - 2 (Alaska State Medical Board)
Maytag A207 -2
Kohring Trial Leftovers - 2
Cruise Lines - 2
Eight others had one hit each.
The rest went to the main blog page or to archived pages from Google image searches.

The Great Auto Race of 1908

One of the things that caught my eye when I looked at what happened in 1908 was this entry:

February 12 New York to Paris auto race (via Alaska and Siberia) begins in New York City George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel

The whole idea was pretty amazing. There weren't very many roads or gas stations back then. Via Alaska?! 1908? A little research revealed those were there plans. We'll do it in winter when the Bering Sea is frozen they thought. Wikipedia says

The Thomas Flyer, a 1907 model 35 with 4 cylinders and 60HP was the first to cross the United States. The Flyer was also the first automobile to ever do so in the winter, with George Schuster the first driver to ever make the transcontinental winter crossing of the US. The route then took them to Valdez, Alaska by ship for the drive across Bering Straits. The Thomas crew found impossible conditions in Alaska, and the Race was rerouted crossing the Pacific by steamer to Japan where the Americans made their way across to the Sea of Japan. Then it was on to Vladivostok, Siberia by ship to begin crossing the continents of Asia and Europe finally ending in Paris. Only three of the competitors made it past Vladivostok, the Protos, the Zust and the Flyer.

A group is working on repeating the race this year on the 100th Anniversary. Here's a brief video I found on YouTube. From what I can tell, they're skipping Alaska this time. Oh well.



Here are some other links:

The Greatautorace.com
TheGreat Race

Happy Year of the Rat

Famous People Born in 1908

[Update January 6, 2009: I've posted a list of Famous People born in 1909. The new list has pictures and short descriptions of each person.]
[Update Nov. 13, 2011:  Famous People Born in 1910  and Famous People Born in 1911. Also, Famous People Born in 1913.]

As we move into 2008 it seems useful to look back to get some perspective. Doing that I found on brainyhistory.com a day-by-day list of events for 1908. You can click the link to see it. The page included people born in 1908. [If you're looking for events or people born on specific days in 1908, that's how the brainyhistory list them.] I thought the people list more interesting. This list of people seems to be US centric, though I spotted some European born people and at least three African Americans.

Of all the people on the list only two appear to be possibly still alive. Deadoralive.com says that Claude Levi-Strauss is still alive. But it didn't have George Kimble, a famous geographer, listed, so I couldn't tell. I have not double checked all the dates that I got from brainyhistory.com. However, for all the people who did not have death dates, I googled and got added the death dates with and *, mainly from Wikipedia.

Abraham H. Maslow 1908 - 1970 Alistair Cooke 1908 - 2004 Amy Vanderbilt 1908 - 1974 Arthur J. Goldberg 1908 - 1990 Bette Davis 1908 - 1989 Cesare Pavese 1908 - 1950 Claude Levi-Strauss 1908 - Edward R. Murrow 1908 - 1965 Edward Teller 1908 - 2003 Estee Lauder 1908 - 2004 Frank Leahy 1908 - 1973 George Kimble 1908 - ?? Harry A. Blackmun 1908 - 1999* Jacob Bronowski 1908 - 1974 Jimmy Stewart 1908 - 1997 John Kenneth Galbraith 1908 - 2006* Joshua Logan 1908 - 1988* Lawrence Welk 1908 - 1992 Lyndon B. Johnson 1908 - 1973 Leo Rosten 1908 - 1997 Louis L'Amour 1908 - 1988 Milton Berle 1908 - 2002 Quentin Crisp 1908 - 1999 Rex Harrison 1908 - 1990

Richard Wright 1908 - 1960 Robert Morley 1908 - 1992 Rosalind Russell 1908 - 1976 Simone de Beauvoir 1908 - 1986 Theodore Roethke 1908 - 1963 Thurgood Marshall 1908 - 1993 William Randolph Hearst, Jr. 1908 - 1993* William Saroyan 1908 - 1981 Yousuf Karsh 1908 - 2002 Mary Hemingway 1908 - 1984* Eddie Albert 1908 - 2005* Lefty Gomez 1908 - 1989* Paul Brown 1908 - 1991 Ethel Merman 1908 - 1984 Carl Albert 1908 - 2000* Rene Daumal 1908 - 1944 Greer Garson 1908 - 1996 Henri Cartier-Bresson 1908 -2004 Pauline Frederick 1908 - 1990 Carole Lombard 1908 - 1942 John Holt 1908 - 1967 Osbert Lancaster 1908 - 1980

Who are they all? I don't know them all, but there are at least three US Supreme Court justices, lots of actors, a great photographer, newsman, comedian, a US president, an economist and ambassador to India, the psychologist who authored the Hierarchy of Needs, a baseball player, a congressman, a key architect of the atom bomb, several writers...

I thought it would be interesting to see how many people born in 1908 are still alive. That is a fairly complicated question to ask it appears. The best I can find is the number of centarians, but that is everyone over 100. Actually as of today, most people born in 2008 would still be 99. Here's the Google-answer for the question: Number of 100 year old U.S. citizens per 100,000 population for various dates.

In 2000, there were 50,454 centenarians in the United States, or 1 per
5,578 people, or roughly 18 per 100,000
In 1990, there were 37,306 centenarians in the United States. or 1 per
6,667 people, or roughly 15 per 100,000

Apparently the numbers before these are less accurate. But the researcher did provide this as well:

In 1900, there were 46 centenarians per million people in the US, or
4.6 per 100,000
In 1930, there were approximately 35 centenarians per million people
or 3.5 per 100,000

So, there are a lot more today (18/100,000 rather than 4.6/100,000 in 1900). I'm guessing the drop between 1900 and 1930 might reflect the 1918-20 flu epidemic.

Who born in 2008 will be on this list in 2108? Among all those babies born will be a host of people who will go on to be world famous. So treat them with respect. You never know what the will achieve.

[November 2008 Update: I'm posting writings by and/or about Claude Levi-Strauss in honor of his 100th birthday at the end of November.]

Hosting Files - scribd.com

Nathan, commenting on the Lebow post, said he'd try to get a better copy of the article posted on scribd.com. I've been looking for a place to host pdf files for this blog so I can actually put up good links to texts. So thanks Nathan.

AIFF - Orange Revolution

OK, one more, then that's it.

Orange Revolution has particular relevance for paranoid leftist Americans. Are the powers that lie behind the Bush administration going to accept defeat in the 2008 presidential election [I'm not predicting defeat necessarily, just a scenario] and allow for a peaceful transition to a Democratic president? They didn't in 2000, and there's been suggestion that they election manipulation in Ohio gave them the election in 2004. So, if you believe that they are capable of anything from tampering with votes, voters, voting machines, etc. or even declaring a national security emergency and postponing the elections indefinitely, this is a movie you need to watch.

The ruling party, despite dictating to the media what they can say about the election and the candidates, is still losing to opposition candidate Yushchenko going into the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election. Yushchenko even survives a poisoning that knocks him out of the campaign for a month and leaves his face disfigured. It's clear the government is manipulating the elections and the polling. According to the DVD blurb when Yushchenko is delcared the loser:

They come into the streets by the hundreds of thousands, from every part of the country. Their election has been stolen, and they have come to defend their votes. They march in protest, set up tent cities, and form human barricades around government buildings, paralyzing all state functions.

But this documentary, which has interviews with many people in Yushchenko's campaign, also shows that the campaign had been expecting this result and planning for these mass demonstrations well in advance. They had gotten the tents, had set up procedures for food, bathrooms, music and all the sound and video equipment with it, and on and on, including donations to pay for everything. So when the election results were rigged, the Orange party were ready for the hundreds of thousands who showed up, in a snow storm. And they had contacts in the government to find out what was happening and how to counter.

Americans have a lot to learn from Ukrainians about how to win back a stolen election. In 2000 perhaps Americans were too lulled into the belief that we have fair democratic elections. In 2004 we have less of an excuse. But if the election is stolen in 2008 there will be no turning back and we'll have no excuse for not being prepared. If the Democrats are not watching this film and talking with the participants in preparation for November 2008, then they aren't doing their job.

I would note that at the end of the film it says on the screen that Yushchenko's party fought amongst themselves and things weren't terrific. But it seems to me the point is that the party in power, who were using that power for their own ends rather than for the people's, were not allowed to steal the election and keep in power. Whatever problems Yushchenko had in ruling, were less serious than had the old regime stayed in power.

198 Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Persuasion

This is only the first 34. This is from RANT - A Trainers Collective.


FORMAL STATEMENTS
1. Public speeches
2. Letters of opposition or support
3. Declarations by organizations and institutions
4. Signed public declarations
5. Declarations of indictment and intention
6. Group or mass petitions

COMMUNICATIONS WITH A WIDER AUDIENCE
7. Slogans, caricatures, and symbols
8. Banners, posters, and displayed communications
9. Leaflets, pamphlets, and books
10. Newspapers and journals
11. Records, radio, and television
12. Skywriting and earthwriting

GROUP REPRESENTATIONS
13. Deputations
14. Mock awards
15. Group lobbying
16. Picketing
17. Mock elections

SYMBOLIC PUBLIC ACTS
18. Displays of flags and symbolic colors
19. Wearing of symbols
20. Prayer and worship
21. Delivering symbolic objects
22. Protest disrobings
23. Destruction of own property
24. Symbolic lights
25. Displays of portraits
26. Paint as protest
27. New signs and names
28. Symbolic sounds
29. Symbolic reclamations
30. Rude gestures

PRESSURES ON INDIVIDUALS
31. "Haunting" officials
32. Taunting officials
33. Fraternization
34. Vigils

These are the sections they have under Resources


Action Planning
Affinity Groups and Spokes Councils
Anti-Oppression
Consensus
Direct Action/Civil Disobedience
Health and Safety, Medical
Legal/Jail
Media
Spanish Materials
Strategy

Meetup.com Anchorage Beach Hike

I haven't been on a meetup.com hike since spring - too busy, too lazy, wrong time, wrong hike, lots of excuses. The concept is great - a website where people who want to meetup for some activity. But walking along the beach near Kincaid sounded just right and the time was fine.











We did ok coming down the steep embankment from the Jodphur parking lot. This big piece of driftwood was at the bottom, on the beach.








































We were eight people and eight dogs, all of whom will sleep well tonight.


















The strong tides in Cook Inlet tend to jumble the sea ice and leave a lot on the shore.

















Doug Van Etten, the mastermind behind the meetup.com adventurer group.






















The clouds were heavy, but there was a break on the western horizon all afternoon giving us a peak of the Alaska Range. I think this is Mt. Redoubt.