Dennis Zaki is Getting His Brother Married in Georgia

Dennis Zaki of the Alaska Report is in High Falls, Georgia for his brother's wedding. He says he's totally out of internet contact and his time is fully booked getting ready for the big day anyway. So I'm posting this for people wondering why his site hasn't been updated or people trying to get hold of him. He'll be back next week.

The photo is from atlantacorvetteclubs.com.

A Stop at the Bookstore

We managed to slip into Barnes and Noble Tuesday night after dinner with a friend. There are bookstores in Chiang Mai, but most didn't excite me and we didn't get around to them often. But I remembered at B&N why dropping into a bookstore for an hour now and then is healthy. Bookstores remind me of how much I don't know. And, usually, in an hour, I can pick up a few ideas that are either totally new or that renew something my brain's flirted with briefly and forgotten about.

This book title - Throw Out Fifty Things. What kind of society do we live in that people have to buy a book to help them get rid of things? Clear evidence of society where at least some people have too much.






Would this book have caught my eye if I hadn't been to hear David Chalmers recently? I don't know. Looking at this quickly, it does seem to extend Chalmers notion that the mind is more than just inside our heads.











And I hadn't noticed before that you could buy a book and get to also read it online AND get an audio version. In this case, I don't even know what the book was about at all. I was just interested by how it was delivered.






This is just one tiny section of the bookshop. So much to know! There really is something different about unplugging from the distraction of a computer connected to the internet and finding a nice chair, a spot on a beach, or even a seat on a bus or an airplane, and getting deep into a book. One book. On one topic. Focused so that you actually learn something about the topic, rather than skipping around to get tidbits of lots of things, but nothing in depth. You really can become relatively expert on some subjects by reading a few books on it. Though some blogs - like Maddy's Ramblings and Empty Wheel which I've listed in the "Links Worth a Look" on the right - do go into great detail and give a more than basic level of expertise. (I've updated Empty Wheel from the old The Next Hurrah on the right of the page.)


And then yesterday, in an article called "Ear Plugs to Lasers: The Science of Concentration" John Tierney reinforced that theme:

“People don’t understand that attention is a finite resource, like money,” she said. “Do you want to invest your cognitive cash on endless Twittering or Net surfing or couch potatoing? You’re constantly making choices, and your choices determine your experience, just as William James said.”

And while non-fiction often seems more solid than fiction, I've found that good fiction has as important and potentially life-changing content as non-fiction. Good fiction deals with those ineffable issues such as interpersonal relationships that science has so much trouble 'proving.' And it's often much more readable.

Oh, and yesterday, when Jim emailed and asked if I'd subscribed to Sun yet, I followed the links and subscribed. I have to be really impressed to subscribe to anything more coming into our house, but having read several copies of Sun, thanks to Jim, I think it is worth my time. And I have a few more books on my list to pick up at the library after my trip to the bookstore.

Getting books at the library not only saves money and prevents more clutter in our house, but it also gives me a deadline to finish the book. Because of that, I tend to be much better about reading books from the library than ones I buy. But before I borrow or buy, I've got several books I'm still working on.

CC Back on air Friday - 4pm KWMD

There was enough positive response to Monday's broadcast on KWMD (picture includes CC, Jeremy of KWMD, and Cary Carrigan at Monday's broadcast)that CC will be back on the air tomorrow (Friday) at 4pm, with a special guest(s). Not sure where they will be broadcasting from this time, but you can hear it on:

Anchorage: 104.5 and 87.7 FM
Wasilla: 107.9 FM when it works
Kasilof: 90.7 FM

And this time the Eagle River translator should be working too:

Eagle River 92.5

4pm Friday, May 8

Call in at 771 0205.

This could become regular if enough people listen and call in. There's even been interest in linking in from a radio station outside of the general Anchorage/Matsu/Kenai area. And they are working on the streaming too, but probably it won't be up for tomorrow.

In some ways this is something of a breakthrough for Anchorage audio media. Bloggers have broken the dependence on a publisher. CC mentioned Monday how dependent a radio person is on a station to give her airtime. KWMD is still radio, but it's a non-commercial community station that should be doing this sort of thing. But it also used internet technology plus it had a group of blogs publicizing the fact that CC would be on so that interested listeners could catch it.

People have been doing video-blogs and podcasting for a while now, but we haven't had (to my knowledge) any regular video-bloggers covering key issues in Alaska. (OK, I'm sure they are out there, so let me know. I do know about the video guys in Juneau - can't find them right now but they make funny videos - but that's slightly different from what I'm talking about.) Let's see how this evolves. Meanwhile, in a post Monday, I mistakenly posted a photo of a piece of equipment and said it did the phone calls. (I thought it was lighting up whenever a call came in. So it isn't just in other languages that I can get into trouble by making assumptions.) Jeremy has done a long comment on that post explaining in technical detail how the phone calls were handled. I told him at least two people would be interested.

Would Anyone Be Troubled if They Had to Vote in a Mosque?

We had a mayoral runoff election in Anchorage yesterday. My polling place is in a church. As I walked in to the building, the door was open into the sanctuary with all the religious trappings appropriate for a church.

But is it appropriate to have to enter a religious house of worship to vote in a government election in a country where people are supposed to be free to worship or not as they choose? Since most Americans are Christians, perhaps they don't understand how a non-Christian feels having to pass all those religious symbols in order to vote.

So how many Christians would be completely comfortable walking into a mosque with all its religious symbols on full display as you pass by to vote? And then I had to be reminded again as I put my ballot into the ballot box.

I don't have a problem going into a church to attend a wedding or even as a guest at a service. But I'd like my civic obligations in more secular settings. Like the fire station across the street where we voted for years and years. Now that they've torn down the old station and built a new one, perhaps we can move back there.

At least I have the options of absentee or early voting.

Our Early Spring

A warm spell at the end of April and beginning of May really woke things up early. I posted shots of early green poking up a few days ago. And now there's more. It was only May 5 when I got this picture of the greened up birch. It was a bit cooler yesterday and the clouds are in today. So the trees may stay in suspended animation until it warms up again and the leaves fully pop out. But this is definitely one of the earlier displays of birch green in our 30 + years here.

Some sedum peeking out.

The thalictrum is spreading. This one will get to about five feet high. But the aphids love it so I have to water them off frequently. Last year they stunted it significantly so I'll be more vigilant this year. The plant can take a pretty strong stream of water - enough to get the aphids off.

I don't know how this rose got here. It's not an Alaska wild rose, it's a 'real' rose. But it hasn't bloomed over four or five summers.

And the iris are rapidly growing too.

And it sure seems like there isn't much snow left on the mountains. This was May 4. The ADN says that 'snowfall season to date" is 93.4 inches and "Snowfall normal month to date" is 69.5 inches. I remember there being snow on the mountains all the way until fall, but my old photo albums aren't dated well and a 2007 late August digital picture doesn't show any snow at all.

And I finally got close to some Canada geese.

Cary Carrigan is Here Too

Cary was momentarily out of the studio when I took the last set of pictures, so here he is now. CC and Cary are on the air live now here:

Anchorage: 104.5 and 87.7 FM
Wasilla: 107.9 FM when it works
Kasilof: 90.7 FM

771 0205 if you want to call in.

More Pictures from the Two Bay Studios

This is a bit unfair. These folks are radio people who assume that you can't see them.
But there isn't much I can say that they aren't saying on the air now.

Anchorage: 104.5 and 87.7 FM
Wasilla: 107.9 FM when it works
Kasilof: 90.7 FM

771 0205 if you want to call in.

Jeremy responding to CC

The machine that takes the phone calls

The feet and wires

More Jeremy

Jeremy and the computers

CC, Cary, and Jeremy Preparing to Go On-Air

At five o'clock, if all goes well, CC will be broadcasting again. A few minutes away. You can listen at KWMD

Anchorage: 104.5 and 87.7 FM
Wasilla: 107.9 FM when it works
Kasilof: 90.7 FM

771 0205 if you want to call in. This is seat of the pants radio in an undisclosed location.

For more info on what this is all about, see the previous post.

CC Back on the Air - At Least Today at 5 on KWMD

Progressive talk show host Camille Conte (CC) was let go last week from KUDO. Phil discusses that story in his account of the changes at KUDO.

But today, for one more show, CC will be back on the air. KWMD is a community FM radio station run mostly by Jeremy Lansman. Jeremy is a national hero to people who know about community radio. Phil's blog covers a lot of topics and here's his piece on Jeremy from November 2007. Also, if I understood it right, Cary Carrigan may also be on. He too was let go from KUDO.

Today is a chance to hear live local radio on KWMD and to hear CC again until she gets another paying gig.

5pm

90.7 FM Kasilof,

104.5 & 87.74 FM Anchorage

107.9 FM Mat-Su

So, turn on the station now so you can find it. Set it on one of your buttons. And make sure you're back there at 4:55 pm so you can hear CC.

Jeremy says he's got it set up so CC can take phone calls, but he hasn't done that before with this equipment, so we'll see how that works. The call-in number is

(907) 771 0205

But if that doesn't work, listen for the number they give on the air.

Jeremy has cobbled this station together with his FCC and technical radio expertise and few other dedicated radioheads. But so far, he hasn't had the time and help to make the community part work. He's mostly got downloaded programs from around the country that offer listening opportunities we can't get at any other local radio stations. A week ago Friday when I was showing three African delegates to the Indigenous Peoples Summit snow at Glen Alps, I got Jeremy to set up a spur-of-the-moment live show where we talked about the conference and the three delegates' impressions of what happened.

The Role of Insults and Profanity on Blogs

A blogger friend of mine occasionally writes things like:

Mr. XXXXX, you're a lying sack of shit.

That bothers me. Is it just a difference of style? Is it just that my friend has spent time with fisherman and others who tend to use more colorful vocabulary? Is it just that I'm out of touch with the modern world where profanity is common?

Actually, it's not the profanity per se that bothers me. Though I think that when it is used as frequently as it is, say on The Wire or even Jon Stewart, the words no longer have the power that profanity once had. After all, if every other word in every discussion has 'fuck' as its root, what can you use when something truly worthy of profanity happens? The power of the truly taboo word is gone when there are no taboo words left. But that's a minor part of my concern here.

Probably I'm most disturbed by insults like this in political blogs because they divert the reader from the argument. Wikipedia explains this sort of attack:

Ad hominem argument is most commonly used to refer specifically to the ad hominem abusive, or argumentum ad personam, which consists of criticizing or attacking the person who proposed the argument (personal attack) in an attempt to discredit the argument. It is also used when an opponent is unable to find fault with an argument, yet for various reasons, the opponent disagrees with it.

This isn't much more than a third grade level argument. But there's no teacher around here to explain to the children why this is inappropriate and to get them past being miffed and to go back to playing together.

I think it is also bad strategy for political bloggers for several reasons.

1. Calling others nasty things is a form of venting. It makes the ventors feel good when they are frustrated and feeling otherwise powerless to do something about a situation. (On the other hand it can be like kicking a victim who is already down and out. Perhaps that also is a sign that one knows the problem hasn't been solved.)
   
2. So, as self therapy, being bitchy is appropriate when you are alone or with your close friends. But not publicly. Your friends know that you are using hyperbole and they may even encourage you. Your friends probably agree with you, it's not aimed at them, and they won't hold it against you tomorrow. If it is aimed at them, they know not to take you seriously.
3. In fact, with your ideological cohorts, you may even build up a sense of solidarity and enthusiasm. Sort of like Sarah Palin on the campaign trail riling up all those anti-'them' passions.
4. But when you do this publicly on a blog, everyone else can listen in. This invective is proof of your weak arguments to them. More likely these are seen as fighting words that increase the divide and justify their own counterattacks. This is no longer political, it's personal. I can understand Sarah genuinely feeling that she's being attacked personally by some of my fellow bloggers, that it isn't her actions that are being attacked.
   
5. When someone starts calling you names, it's easy to react only to that and not even see the rational arguments that proceeded or followed. There is no trust for the motives of others. What 'they' say and do is merely strategy to defeat 'us.' So we don't listen to their arguments and they don't listen to ours.
   
6. I believe that people are extremely complex and their behaviors and words are often intended to be masks to hide what they really believe or feel. Rather than call people like Sen. Larry Craig a hypocrite or worse, we should be asking what is it in our society that causes people like him (and countless others - including Bill Clinton) to have to dissemble and even be hypocritical about their sexuality? Or their other socially disapproved behavior? What happened in their lives that causes them to have to escape into alcohol, drugs, gambling, or making lots of money, or having a bigger house? Calling someone a lying bag of shit doesn't help our understanding of the behavior. Understanding might ultimately lead to ways to reduce that sort of behavior in the future. Not just of this individual, but others who have the same behavior patterns.
   
7. In many Asian cultures, losing one's temper is seen as loss of self-control. It's natural to get mad, but it's generally better to be in control when you are dealing with your opponents.

I don't deny that it's important to stand up for what you believe. Standing up to bullies is a way to get them to back off. But one needn't be nasty and brutish. One does need to be firm and have solid facts and a stiff backbone.

I guess on a less important level, I'm dismayed by such language because it reflects a lack of rigor on the part of the writer. For me, a comeback should be witty and unexpected, so that even the recipient has to admire the mind that came up with it. Or it should be couched so that it takes a moment to realize that one has even been insulted. Ideally it should be closely linked to the issue at hand. Studying the words of masters - for inspiration, not for copy - such as Winston Churchill or Oscar Wilde might inspire one to work at it a bit. Here's one from Churchill:

He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.

And Oscar Wilde reflects a theme I've been trying to get at here:

If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.