Creative Thinking - Rejection Letter

Here's a good example of someone NOT thinking routinely that I found at The Zohar Class.

Herbert A. Millington
Chair - Search Committee
412A Clarkson Hall
Whitson University
College Hill, MA 34109

Dear Professor Millington,

Thank you for your letter of March 16. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me an assistant professor position in your department.

This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

Despite Whitson’s outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will assume the position of assistant professor in your department this August. I look forward to seeing you then.

Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.

Sincerely,

Chris L. Jensen

[Originally from here]

Propaganda Techniques

To get a little perspective on political propaganda, check out this video. I'm guessing it is 1950's vintage. Things have gotten a lot more sophisticated.





But, it still doesn't hurt to use their checklist:
1. Recognize the technique
2. Get the facts
3. Know the purpose
4. Weigh the facts against the purpose and techniques

I found this YouTube video on a Barcelona blog that had linked to my blog.

Golf or Trees?

Yesterday on the ADN front page:

Twenty-three acres of forest would be cleared under current plans to upgrade the nine-hole golf course and surrounding areas at Russian Jack, a 320-acre park that is the largest oasis of green in East Anchorage and one of the oldest parks in the city.

Today in the ADN Community Datebook:

Plant trees for clean water, 5:45- 7:30 p.m., Russian Jack Springs Park chalet. Tammie Wilson with the Municipal Watershed Management Division will describe how to make attractive gardens that capture and filter runoff before it reaches storm water drains. Hear about Habitat for Humanity's innovative housing project where plants and new construction materials and techniques eliminate runoff. Sponsored by Anchorage TREErific. Free.(343-4288)

Does an expanded golf course at Russian Jack at the expense of 23 acres of trees make sense?

Cable Starlings, a former state amateur golf champion and president of the Anchorage chapter of First Tee," thinks it does. He's pushing golf as a way to "reach [low-income] kids how to play golf, [and also teach] social skills..." I think it is great when someone takes his sport or hobby and uses it to help others in his community. But one also has to consider what the community has to pay for this and who in the community loses from the effort.

The problem I see here is that Cable has started out with 'golf' rather than starting out with kids. If we are really trying to help kids, especially low-income kids, to develop life skills, we would start with a study of programs that have been successful doing that.

We should also consider, given that developers constantly tell us that Anchorage is 'land scarce', how many kids can we serve per square foot? If we use that measure, I bet there are a lot of other projects that would serve a lot more kids with a lot less land with equal or better outcomes. We should also consider serving these kids for as many months per year as possible. Golf is certainly not a year round activity in Anchorage.

If one were suspicious, one might wonder whether the kids are an excuse to get the city to upgrade Russian Jack so it can be accredited by the US Golf Association. (The article says "One of the requirements [of First Tee] is a course accredited by the U.S. Golf Association, which Russian Jack is not.) The Alaska Railroad used commuter service to Matsu and Girdwood by 2005 as part of their justification for the Bill Sheffield Railroad Depot whose trains still only serves cruise passengers. I have no reason to believe Cable isn't truly interested in programs for kids. And he likes golf. But is this plan the best way to help those kids?

And, then there are the environmental issues that they are talking about at Russian Jack tonight.


The United States Golf Association does ongoing studies on the effect of pesticides and fertilizers on surface runoff and groundwater contamination:

Environmental Impact of Golf In response to public concerns about the effects of golf courses on the environment, the USGA has funded research examining the fate of turfgrass pesticides and fertilizers since 1991. The USGA continues to support scientifically based investigations on the environmental impact of golf courses. The focus remains on research to understand the effects of turfgrass pest management and fertilization on water quality and the environment. Research on best management practices evaluates pesticide and fertilizer programs for golf courses in order to make turfgrass management recommendations that protect environmental quality. The research is conducted on university experiment stations and participating golf courses. Projects evaluate pesticides or nutrients that pose an environmental risk, and identify cultural practice systems that minimize volatilization, surface runoff, and groundwater contamination.

The US Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment Golf is optimistic about golf and the environment:

"Golf has come nearly full circle in its relationship with the environment. The game began as an ecologically benign pursuit. In the second half of this century, golf ran roughshod over the landscape. Lately a more balanced and subtle approach has emerged with anew generation of course designers: moving less earth, preserving wetlands and shifting from the obsession of lush lawns." With the many societal responsibilities prominent in today's world, we cannot avoid the fact that we must respond to them. Conservation of water, energy, and maintenance man-hours have taken on as much importance as playability and aesthetics."

Compared to even a decade ago, today's superintendents use less water, fertilizer, pesticides, and fossil fuel than their predecessors, but without a reduction in turf quality." Good environmental management and design is the result of a multitude of factors including a thorough understanding of how these factors interrelate on a specific site in a specific locale.

"In general, golf can become part of any environment and materially affect it, and if proper planning, construction, and maintenance are done it can enhance the site." "The golf industry conveys a more cooperative sensibility towards environmentalism than it did a decade or two ago."

Other sites that discuss the impacts of golf courses:


America's 18,000 Golf Courses Are Devastating the Environment
Japan Golfcourses and Deforestation (JPGOLF Case)
United Nations Environmental Programme

Environmental Institute for Golf discusses the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America’s Golf Course Environmental Profile Project

"typically you receive $4 for every story"

I got this email today. Obviously not from a native English speaker. Fits in the category of too good to be true (at least the $4 per story just to post it). What's the angle? Are they going to need my bank account number to pay me? Legitimate advertising? Anyone have any ideas?

Hi,my name is Tracey
I took a look at the site , and Its good what you have so far. http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/
We would like to hire you to update your blog , with simple little articles,
we write the articles, you just have to post it. Its simple really.

We have added your blog site here in order to get started.

typically you recieve $4 for every story ( 2 paragrapgh) you post on your site for us.
you an't only limited to that. You can receive up to $10 for posting a story more than 1 story is post daily,so thats good.
they are on average sometimes 10 posted daily.

Talk on stories of interests

• travel
• entertainment
• news
• music
• biz
• sports

How to post our story.

- log in to blogger
paste the story we give you,
hit publish
email me the url of the published story
thats it
estimates time
You are paid daily for each published story

1 mminute.

Let me know if your interested . You begin today , your paid today.
Thanks Tracey

I just googled the domain name from the email. It goes to a website with lots of hearts and flowers and romantic - but not pornographic - links. Not going to send people there for free though. :)

[9:33pm - Just saw the awful font this was in and cleaned it up so you can read it]

Rural Sexual Abuse - Anchorage Daily News coverage v. Tony Hopfinger's Newsweek coverage

The Anchorage Daily News had a front page story today on sexual abuse in rural Alaska. It gives no context at all. If I were relatively new to Alaska, or just uninformed about rural Alaska, I might conclude, from this story, that Alaska Natives are nothing but sex abusers. We get statements, undoubtedly true, but without context, such as:

Ground zero is the Bethel region, where troopers investigated 17 percent of the cases, more than any other post in the state, TePas said.

"We have an epidemic," she said. "It's a statewide epidemic, but the epicenter, our data shows, is the Bethel region."

The early figures paint a disturbing picture of rapes and other sexual violence against adults and children in Western Alaska, where the population is largely Alaska Native and villages are often loose extensions of family.

In all the 989 cases, family members and friends sexually abuse or assault each other in more than 90 percent of the incidents, she said.

While the ADN chose to run a Tundra Drums piece which just gives statistics but no discussion of the context on today's first page, to my knowledge, they have not given any coverage to Alaska writer Tony Hopfinger's in depth Newsweek article mentioned last week by Alaskan Abroad on the multi-million dollar settlement of sexual abuse cases by the Roman Catholic Priests in the Yupik community of St. Michael. [January 23: They did run a good piece on the settlement in November by Lisa Demer.]

I can't give you a precise account of why the sexual abuse levels are so high in Western Alaska. There are probably multiple causes. Alaska Natives being inherently evil is NOT one of them. Tony's other article on Wales that I mentioned in two previous posts gives a lot of context into why a young man in that community might commit suicide. All the issues he raises in that article might help us understand what is happening in Western Alaska. Alcohol is clearly a factor. But the St. Michael's article also suggests that perhaps the church[es] helped cause some of the sexual abuse problems in these villages. In St. Michael's the abuse, according to the article, was extensive - one specific priest had about 60 victims. We know that people who were abused are more likely than others to become abusers, though, as this article from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service suggests, it is not inevitable and it is far more complex than a simple correlation.

It would be nice to see the ADN do a more careful job of reporting about rural Alaska. The Tundra Drums, according to the Alaska Newspapers, Inc website,

is an independent newspaper dedicated to being the definitive informational medium for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and is published weekly by Alaska Newspapers, Inc.

Its audience is in rural Alaska. They have a better understanding of the context than people in Anchorage and other places in Alaska where the ADN is read. You can't just take such an article and drop it onto the front page without some background.

It is important that the problems of rural Alaska be covered by the ADN, but raw data without context may do more harm to urban-rural understanding than no coverage at all.

Pollution of Public Discourse

Anonymous commented last November, "You seem to be infatuated with Dan Fagan." I had been wondering myself why I was spending so much time on this guy.

Pollution of Public Discourse.

What's that? Suppose some chemical seeps into the water system. You can't drink the water anymore til you take the time to clean out the whole system, if it's even possible.  Or you can drink it and sooner or later it makes you sick.

Well, when we have civic debate, theoretically, the idea is that through debate we can work out our disagreements. Say Sam makes a proposal of some sort. We should do X and these are the reasons why. Ben tries to find flaws in the argument, questions Sam on a few points. Sam responds. He explains his reasoning, pulls out his supporting facts. Ben might challenge the facts, or even the underlying assumptions. They go on until they eventually get to a point where they've worked out a way to do the thing Sam wants to do without messing up Ben's needs.

When people come to the public forum, but insult their fellow citizens, spout half truths and complete lies, don't learn the complexity of issues, they are really civic outlaws who pollute the public forum. I see Dan Fagan in this sort of role. His columns aren't a part of a discourse. They're simple ranting and raving. He's not interested in hearing what others think, he's just interested in venting. I stopped writing about his columns because they were so totally ridiculous, but a few people told me that my posts helped them see the holes in his arguments. That they just hadn't known enough to see through his misleading arguments.

When someone like Fagan makes up facts or throws out false generalizations, he pollutes the public square. Our progress to finding alternatives that we can all reasonably live with is thwarted. Instead, the public forum is cluttered with rhetorical litter - lies, falsehoods - that have to be cleaned up before we can go on. But it's not as simple as picking up trash. We have to disinfect the brains of those who have found his platitudes convenient excuses to continue being noisy and selfish civic outlaws.

Thus, Fagan's column is not some harmless set of paragraphs that shows up in the paper every Sunday. Instead it pollutes our discourse. It pisses off some because of its arrogance and bombast. It encourages others who want to believe simplistic nonsense about how people should live. Our public forum has to be unFaganed before we can have a civil discussion on how to work through the challenges facing the citizens of Anchorage.

OK, I've made some generalizations, let me give some examples from Sunday's column.
[For more detailed critiques of other Fagan columns go here. Then skip down past this post.]

Of all the lessons history teaches, none is more clear than this. When government punishes good decisions and rewards bad ones, that society is doomed to economic failure.

He just says this sort of thing all the time. How did this become the the clearest lesson history teaches us? Simply because Fagan declared it so. I've never heard this one before. Examples please? Not just the historical examples that prove government punishes good decisions, but the other lessons that history teaches us so we can compare to see if there is none more clear.

The problem with the American dream of home ownership: It's not attainable. As least not in Anchorage.

Alaska Housing Finance Corporation's 2004 Annual Report says:

Alaska’s homeownership rate reached an all-time high of 70 percent, exceeding the national rate of 68.3 percent, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Alaska’s homeownership rate was higher than the nation’s once previously, in 1997.

Harvard's diversity data site tells us that in 2000:

HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES: Home ownership rate: 2000 by Race/Ethnicity, 2000
Metro Area
Hispanic 41.9%
Non-Hispanic White 65.3%
Non-Hispanic Black 36.8%
Non-Hispanic Asian 51.3%

Definition: The share of occupied housing units that are owner occupied.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Census Summary File 2

We seemed to be doing pretty well nationally, and Non-Hispanics Whites aren't doing badly at all. Of course, we'd have to compare a lot of things like age, level of education, how long they've been in Anchorage, etc. to figure out what this all means. But contrary to what Fagan says, home ownership seems to be attainable to more Alaskans than in at least half the other states.

So if for the most part poverty is self-inflicted, what business does government have punishing those who make good decisions and rewarding those making bad ones?

He never made anywhere near a convincing argument that most poverty is self-inflicted, and his other idea, that property taxes is government punishing those who make good decisions is another one of his made up truisms. It's true because he says so. First, we are the government. Second, the tax payers approved of the property tax rate. Third,

Alaska was ranked as the most tax-friendly state in the nation, with Alaskans paying 6.3 percent of their income towards taxes. [source]

and if Anchorage property taxes are somewhere in the middle, so what? It's the only tax we pay to an Alaskan entity. And many families get enough through their permanent fund dividend to pay most if not all of their property tax. Dan's solution is an 8% sales tax instead of property tax. Of course, he maybe forgot President Bush said

Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of our economy

so as patriotic Americans keeping the economy going we should all be out shopping. If we have to pay a sales tax, it would only be "punishing people for making good decisions." Consistency isn't one of Fagan's weaknesses.

But it's clear that there's a whole political industry creating out-and-out lies (Swiftboat type stuff) to pollute the public forum so that every truth is questioned to divert from realities that might hurt one's position. If you can't win through logic and facts, then trash your opponent to distract people's attention. Everything is about winning, truth has no role. Unless people grow up and face inconvenient truths, the US as we know it will disappear. The Dan Fagans of the world are part of this disintegration of public discourse, the backbone of democracy.


Charles Fox and Hugh Miller suggested some conditions for participation in a public discourse. The participants should all possess the following:

• Sincerity - authentic discourse requires trust between participants that they are being honest and truly wish to find a solution.

Fagan's outrageous statements - both made up homilies and nasty tirades - mean there is absolutely no sincerity in his participation in public discourse. His is a one way rant.

• Focus on specific issue - not simply ideological posturing without reference to some specific situation.

Well, he touches down momentarily on an issue, like property taxes, but then goes off on his ideological tirades that have no link to the world most of us live in.

• Willing attention - Sincerely interested in the problem, willing to do the work necessary to get through the issues seriously, including listening attentively to what others say.

Well, he may be interested in the issue - getting rid of property tax - but he's not willing to listen to someone who would reframe the issue into "How do we fund the services the market can't provide nearly as well as government can?" He's a one track bulldog, he grabs his target and won't let go. No matter how reasonable anyone else is.

• Substantive Contribution - having a unique point of view, specific expertise, or something that helps the discussion move along - even just the ability to express the concerns of a class of people.

The only column I read of his that had a substantive contribution was one about Vic Kohring, because he added his own personal knowledge of Vic's interactions. Otherwise, there is nothing but ill will that Dan contributes.

Basically, Fagan is about winning, not about learning.

That's why I've written so much. To point out the nonsense for those who've watched so much tv that they have trouble thinking critically, but aren't so far gone that they can't see the path toward reason when someone points it out. I don't claim to know all the answers, but I do have a sense of logic and consistency and I know how to look up facts.

Bohemian Waxwings return to the Mountain Ash

The waxwings live through winter harvesting mountain ash berries and similar fruit stored on trees around Anchorage. Swarms of up to 100 or more birds perch on the telephone lines or giant cottonwood. Then small groups swoop down into the tree an pick at the berries. Then fly back as another group takes over. Later, with berries all over the snow below, they return to get what's left.

The video is a compromise between what's reasonable for normal people, and all the video I actually captured for the hard core bird freaks. Well, it's only 3:25 minutes altogether. So view as much as you can take. Catherine and Dianne, enjoy. The slow motion is for you.




The quality is much worse than the original. It's hard because our windows look south, into the light. But the birds are right there. But I'll eventually learn the technical necessities of getting better quality onto the web. This was January 5, 2008. I would have loved to get the natural sounds of the birds, but I was inside and there were in the house noises, so I added the Chinese flute music.

Under 30 at Out North

Under 30 means the piece has to be under 30 minutes. We've gone to a number of these in the past and this set of four pieces was by far the most polished we've seen. For very different, very striking short pieces. B. Hutton's time machine was center stage for the first piece as he explored various aspects of time. Great sounds, including the two violins on stage.

Gabrielle Barnett's riff slid from cliche to cliche spoofing (at least that's what I got out of it) those with simplistic answers to life's complex issues from the environmental/eco crowd to those who invoke Jesus for everything.

These first two are not for those who like concrete linear action.

Allison Warden and Wendy Withrow were much more straight forward. Allison was various arctic players from a polar bear to different villagers as she interpreted different stories about polar bears from her hometown of Kaktovik. In the background on a large screen we saw images of ice and polar bears.

Wendy talked and sang us through her college years 1965-69 in a Christian girls college in Texas.

One test of good theater for me is when you forget there are actors on stage. In each of these the character was real, completely into their parts. B.'s was probably the most abstract, but I like that sort of play of music and sounds and ideas that doesn't necessarily have a beginning or end, and whose meaning isn't obvious.

Good stuff. One more performance as I understanding - Sunday afternoon at Out North (kitty corner from Costco on Bragaw). And in the Q&A at the end, they said they would do this again in Homer late February.

Thailand Teacher of the Year - Somprasong Mang-ana

Old Peace Corps buddy Jim Lehman sent me to Wednesday's Bangkok Post to this story on four Thai teachers who were honored on Teachers' Day as the Thai Teachers of the Year. One of them, Somprasong Mang-ana, was my student when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand in the late 1960s. We got to visit his school for a few days last March. I certainly was impressed and I'm delighted to see that more important people than me were also impressed. Here's a link to the five posts I have labeled Umphang. There are pictures of the school in the last three posts. From the Bangkok Post article:

Awards given to mark Teachers Day today

SIRIKUL BUNNAG

The Education Ministry has honoured four teachers for their teaching spirit and devotion to their work to mark Teachers Day today. The four are Somprasong Mang-ana, director of Umphang Witthayakhom school in Tak; Pol Sgt-Maj Sophon Ritthisarn, a teacher at Wat Chonglarp school in Ratchaburi; Banchong Sombat, a teacher at Nong Rua Witthaya school in Khon Kaen; and Suleela Chanthanu, director of Ban Samnak in Ranong.

Mr Somprasong has been praised for his campaign to provide education opportunities for marginalised children in Tak while Pol Sgt Maj Sophon developed a remote school into a quality one. . .

Mr Somprasong said he chose to work at Umphang Witthaya school in the remote district of Umphang on the Thai-Burmese border because he was determined to help tribal and marginalised children get access to basic education.

''When I first took up my job at the school, there were 398 students and only seven were tribal or stateless pupils,'' said Mr Somprasong.

''I thought those children deserved an education, so I decided to travel to remote villages to persuade parents to send their children to study at my school, which offers free education.

''Now, our school has a total of 845 students, of whom 284 are stateless hilltribe children.''

He donates his 5,600-baht monthly academic entitlement allowance to cover the expenses of poor students. . . .

Kasama Voravan na Ayudhaya, secretary-general of the Basic Education Commission, said the four teachers would each be granted a certificate of honour, a golden plaque, a golden pin and a 300,000 baht cash from Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont on Teachers Day today.

Congratulations to New US Citizens!

Friday morning we went downtown to the Alaska Lands Information Center in the old Federal Building to see our fellow blogger become a US citizen. Go over and congratulate him.



The ceremony was in the auditorium, but first we gathered in the Information Center, surrounded by stuffed animals. I had to think about why I thought this was different from the two bears at the Hilton. I asked one of the Park Service people here where the animals came from. A group of large ones came from a private collection that was going to be thrown away. It was donated. A taxidermist had stuffed a dead otter that had washed up on the beach. The others had been confiscated from illegal hunters. None had been commissioned or paid for. They were there to help Alaskans and visitors become more aware of the wildlife in the state. He said some places - like Denali - have artificial sculpted models. I saw those in Denali, they just aren't the same. He said they were necessary there because they don't heat the visitor center in the winter and the stuffed animals would burst in the cold.

I have to say that while watching the new citizens was wonderful, the ceremony itself was tired. The opening film was full of the Ellis Island cliche pictures of immigrants of the early 20th Century. Where were the faces of immigrants getting off of jets, the immigrants of today? Most of the government officials who spoke seemed like they were the ones who got stuck with this duty. The guy from the National Archives talked about what you could see in the Archives in Washington DC.





Yes, it's interesting, but hardly a top priority for these new Alaskan Americans. He should have left it with the register of the first new citizens in Anchorage in 1916 - beginning with a Dane. The Park Service could have had some slides to go along with the talk on Alaska's magnificent National Parks. The logistics were clumsy. The oath a little stilted. Why are we making an older woman in a wheelchair from a war torn country swear that she "will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law?"

The George W. Bush videotape was the most sincere and uplifting greeting of all.

Nevertheless, it was the kind of thing Americans should see once in a while. And I suspect the government officials aren't given much time to prepare for this event or resources to do it better. But we really should make this much warmer, better organized, and congratulatory. The last time I went to one of these at the Federal Court it was much better done.

The Oath of Citizenship

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God. In acknowledgement whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.