Figuring Out My Anonymous Blog Commenter

I've gotten a blizzard of posts from an anonymous blogger urging me on to keep digging about for skeletons in the Stevens' case.

With the traveling I haven't had time to go through everything carefully, but there are three key thrusts that stand out so far:

• He (I'm assuming the poster is a he) doesn't think much of Chad Joy
• He is similarly ill-disposed toward Wev Shea
• He points to the identities of the attorneys who interviewed Bill Allen "who (which, where etc) was the basis to tube the conviction(jury nullification)" as the crux to finding the 'real story' of the Stevens case.

Unlike a traditional newspaper reporter's source, this source posts all his tips are as comments on different posts related to the trial, out in the open for all to see. I've suggested he just send me an email, but it's all going up in comments. Maybe 10 or 15 posts in a couple of days. Most would never make it into the letters to the editor column. Most friends have raised their eyebrows and wondered about the writer's sobriety. The posts defy the rules of grammar and leap to conclusions with fragmentary evidence.

His last couple of posts have been much more grammatical and coherent and specific. Maybe he's getting impatient with me not being responsive enough. But I have been on airplanes a lot of the last 48 hours and still have one more (I hope that's all - I'm in Salt Lake City right now and the plane is listed as on-time about 3 hours from now, but I can only find pay wifi, and I'm not THAT addicted that I can't wait, so I can't check on volcanic activity) til we get to Anchorage.

But I have been thinking about him and here are some thoughts about ways to evaluate an anonymous poster. Here are some factors, each of which would have a continuum from a version of bad to a version of good.

1. Motive - Is this something he's doing for self gain or does he see this as a public service? Is he out for revenge or for justice? Is he trying to settle a score or right a wrong? These are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, revenge to right a wrong could be both for self-gain and public service.
   
   
2. Access to Information - Does he have insider information? Or is he someone who doesn't have special access to this story, but may have an ax to grind with some of the players.
   
   
3. Judgment/Wisdom - Assuming for the moment, that his motive is good and he has inside information, does he have the wisdom and judgment to interpret what he knows accurately? Or is he the type of person who sees a few bits of information which pass through his mental models and spit out nonsense? Having access to the facts is just step one. Then we have to interpret them. Is this guy good at doing that?
   

I don't know enough to determine the answers to these questions. It clearly has a greater interest in the details of this case than most people, and writes about details that the average person knows nothing about. So probably he's more insider than outsider on this case. But the other two factors I can't judge yet.

Then there is the question: Why me? Why this blog? He thinks Chad Joy has done wrong and he thinks that people on the inside have thrown the case leading to the dismissal of the conviction. I've voiced doubts about the substance of the Joy complaint and raised questions whether this case was just badly handled or whether there were people intentionally messing it up. He might see me as someone who is open to the arguments he's making. But maybe I'm not the only one getting this stuff.

At least one reader has told me that I've already been charmed by Kepner into seeing things her way. Others - non-Thais in Thailand who know little about the case - are highly cynical about everything and think this could be someone trying to use me for some unknown agenda.

As I said above, the last couple of posts have gotten more coherent and specific. Maybe I don't have to do anything except let the poster keep posting comments.

Matthew, who's hawking Delta credit cards has offered me access to his wifi so I can even post this before I go.

SFO to SLC

Des arrived after our walk on the beach and we all went for breakfast nearby. Des was a student of mine in Hong Kong 20 years ago and helped me with research in China. He has since gotten his PhD at the University of Michigan and is a new professor in the San Francisco Bay area.

We dropped J back off at home, picked up our luggage, were able to check it in curbside at the airport and have dim sum at a nearby Chinese restaurant. We were lucky, the rain didn't start until after we got back from our walk on the beach.


We flew over Lake Tahoe.

And the Nevada Desert

And the mountains we flew over had snow still. But I'm sure we'll see a lot more if we get home.

There are plenty of shopping opportunities in the airport while we wait. Fortunately window shopping is good enough for us. We already have way too much luggage.

Besides, they have great little desks with plugins for the computer next to a beautiful view. Unfortunately, the wifi is not free in the Salt Lake City Airport.

Morning Beach Walk

Here's the beach we walked on last night.

Full Moon at Half Moon Bay

Our son and his roommate picked us up at the airport and we're now at their place just off the beach at Half Moon Bay. J and J and I walked Kona on the beach in the moonlight.

Here's the sound of the surf while you look at the iPhoto cranked up shots. If you look at the screen from the right angle, not only can you see my wife and son and his dog, but also their shadows and the surf.   [UPDATE:  The site I kept my audio, Jamglue, has shut down, and the audio I had there is, apparently, gone forever.  Sorry.]
Half Moon Bay surf under Full Moon by AKRaven

Looking toward Pillar Point, north of Half Moon Bay.

We left Anchorage a day after the full moon in January and we're due back tomorrow. The sun isn't quite full, but I used my poetic blogger's license with the title.

Taipei to San Francisco

I was impressed that they were able to carry our food preference onto the new flight. Usually when there's a late change of itinerary, we lose our vegie meals. This was Hindu Vegie breakfast. Very tasty.

I've never seen so many people waiting in line to pee on a plane.

The wing.

The seats were definitely too close together.

Almost in San Francisco.

Golden Fronted Leaf birds and Black Drongo Say Goodbye

The birds were out this morning as we did last minute packing. The video is not good enough to see the details of the birds, so I put up this picture of the leaf bird from our Thai bird book. But you can see the drongo chase the leafbird off its perch and hear the leafbird singing. There are two leafbirds. The one on the far right is singing.




I'll set this to go up when the Anchorage folks are just waking up and we should be waiting in the Taiwan airport to fly to San Francisco.

The Way Home - Intl. Flights Still Serve Food

We got picked up about 11:30am, including the bikes which were going to be dropped off at the office. The student interns came out to say good bye. Bon is with them too. It seems it was pink day for the women.

Here's another picture of the compound. One visitor suggested that the grounds looked more like being out in a village, and yes, that is the feel, even though we are in Chiang Mai.


Then to the airport, where despite the overnight in San Francisco, and then the journey to Salt Lake on the way to Anchorage, we were able to check our baggage in through Anchorage. We will get to briefly find stuff we might need going through customs in SF.



We picked Hindu Vegetarian from China Air's long long list of choices way back in December. It was a good choice and when you get special meals, they bring them first. That seems just to be a logistic decision, so they can find the people who ordered special and get them the right meals. The food was good, though extremely mild after eating Thai food.


The salad was very fresh. And I was surprised to see the jello. As this discussion group suggests, Jello itself is not vegetarian, but there are other ways to make a jello like dish that are vegetarian. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but we didn't eat it. Jello isn't high on my list of favorite foods anyway.


I watched the beginning of "Bedtime Stories." The sound was the best I've ever had through airline earphones, but there really wasn't anything worth listening to.




And here we are approaching Taipei, before dipping into the clouds.









And here's my floor view of the Taipei Terminal D plugged into the socket. There's free wifi in the Taipei airport. They even have free computers to use. Well, I probably should check on that. They used to. I'm on the free wifi though.

Why Travel Agents are Worth the Fee

You know that extra fee that travel agents now charge? For long, international flights, it's definitely worth it. Any number of things can go wrong and it's always nice to have someone who knows what she's doing covering you.

An email arrived just before I went to bed from my travel agent. She was on a mission, incensed that she hadn't been notified by China Air.

This morning (Thai time) when I got to the computer our new itinerary was all there. Mystery is gone. We'll fly from Taiwan to San Francisco. One night there, then to Salt Lake City (China's affiliated with Delta, not Alaska Airlines) and, Redoubt willing, on to Anchorage. We'll get back three hours after the polls close, so it will be the first time in 30 years that we miss a Municipal Election, but I'm guessing we'll get to vote in the runoff.

So, Lynda McMahon at "CWT Vacations formerly Navigant Vacations" (and about ten other names over the years,) who has saved my nether parts any number of times from the clutches of fickle airlines, you again get my travel agent of the year award. This is for reading your email after work on a weekend and then If anyone wants a great travel agent who will go head to head with the "Sorry, we aren't allowed to do that" folks on the other end of the phone, email me and I'll give you her email and phone. My email's in my profile on the right.

Last Night Before Mystery Trip as Volcano Diverts China Air Anchorage Flights

Our trip home gets more exciting each day. As I mentioned earlier, the first report from our travel agent was that China Air had diverted the Taipei-Anchorage-New York flight to Vancouver to avoid the volcanic ash around Anchorage.

Then we saw on China Air's website that flights were stopping in Seattle. Well, that's ok, we can see our daughter.

But today I checked and the first flight listed to Anchorage this week is on Friday. But our ticket on the the China Air website still lists us leaving for Anchorage on Tuesday. But the New York flight with our flight number is listed as non-stop to New York. What if they decided it was better to fly non-stop and skip the Anchorage stop altogether even after the volcano stops erupting. That would be awful for us.

Anyway, we have no idea what's going to happen in the next couple of days. All the offices were closed on Sunday so we couldn't try to rebook through LA or San Francisco. So, adventure lies ahead. Since my mom's in LA, our son's near San Francisco, and our daughter is in Seattle, we may get to see at least one of them.

I've tried not to think about this being the last evening as we first met Rachel for sorbets at Iberry.







Then as the sun was just setting behind Doi Suthep, we all went over to Khun Churn where we had dinner with Matt and Rit.







Khun Churn is a vegetarian restaurant that serves tasty and imaginative all vegie meals.

Here's Rit after we finished off most of the dinner. We met him first at Swe's village where he works through an NGO working on education and cultural preservation.


And Songkran begins next week, so the waterguns I couldn't find anywhere when we first got here (for J to ward off menacing dogs) are now everywhere in preparation for Chiang Mai's giant water fight in a week or so. I shot this on our ride back home. We're much more comfortable now riding in the street (there's no place else to ride) and going with the flow of traffic at lights. Our bright red flashing tail lights making sure that drivers can see we're there.

Then, finally, we stopped to pick up our last sticky rice and mango to take home for a snack.

Birding - Not the Video Game

Tomorrow we move out of our fourth floor bird viewing nest. We've had some great birds this week. J definitely saw an owl (she thinks a barred Asian owlet) and I saw either a brown hawk owl or maybe it was a besra. Today we saw a pair of leafbirds - probably golden fronted leafbirds, but they weren't quite the same. One looked like the one on the bottom left. The other looked like the bottom right, but all green on the belly too. Picture from นกเมืองไทย







All these pictures have birds in them. Enlarging the picture will make them easier to see. This one is a big grey bird that flew off before we could even start to identify it.
This pictures has three drongos in it. Double click it to see it bigger.

With the leaves gone now from most of the trees, it's much easier to see the birds. Here's a picture of the same trees back in January.



This isn't to mention our regulars - all the drongos, the bulbuls, the sunbirds (harder to see and photograph as the picture of the olive backed sunbird shows, but if you double click it you can see it better), the doves, the coucal - one flew lazily right past us today, it's brown wings contrasting to the rest of its black body - and the koels, heard more than seen.

Here is this free show, this game - spot the birds, identify the birds - that is available to all. Yet somehow electronic games, using up energy, usually inside, usually costing money is far more accessible to most than watching birds. But the ability to sit and wait for birds, the ability to know the different kinds of birds by sight and by their calls is something that has to be built into our genes. It's how humans survived for all but the last 100 years on earth.


Verlyn Klinkkenborg writes today in the NY Times about the importance of watching birds,

There’s an insouciance about birds in their element that always feels to me like a comment on the human species. I see a vulture looking side to side as it slides by overhead, and it looks to me as though it’s artfully and intentionally ignoring the skill of its flight. I saw the same thing in the Chilean fjords a year ago. We sailed past dozens of black-browed albatross, and every one of them — serenely afloat — looked up at me from the waves with the self-confidence of an athlete, effortlessly drifting on the tide and wondering what element humans call their own.