&;nbsp and how to display HTML code: Notes from an HTML 'need-to-know-only' non-geek

In a previous post I copied a lot of text from a US government RFA (Request for Applications).  While trying to get it to look right, I noticed in the Edit HTML mode that it had paragraphs made up of  only "&;nbsp".

I would call myself a 'need-to-know' html non-geek.  I'd love to understand all the html, but I'd also like to speak fluent Mandarin and a lot of other things.  So, as a blogger I've gotten to know some html by necessity.  Sort of like learning 'hello,' 'thank you,' 'how much?,' 'where's the bathroom?' and a few other phrases you'll need while traveling in a country for just a week or two.

When I started blogging three years ago plus, in the Safari version of Blogger, I had to add links by using the html code; it wasn't a click on the toolbar.  Blogger has made all these things simpler, but there are still times when I want to tweek something and Compose just won't do.  Generally I've been able to google what I wanted to know, say, "Email link html" and get the answer.

I even wrote a blog post on basic html for non-coding bloggers.  But I never posted it because I couldn't figure out how to post the code without blogger reading it as code.

[As it turns out, I had the same problem with this post.  All the "&;nbsp" disappeared when I looked at the post in Preview.  So I googled "How to show HTML on a page."  - Why didn't I do that last time?  I must have but didn't get good answers. -  But this time I got a great site which allows you to put your code into one box and in a second box it gives you the code converted so you can display the code without the browser reading it as code.  Go to Felgall.com.  This is far more significant than the original point of this post, which was really blogger trivia.]

In any case, out of curiosity, I googled "&;nbsp  html" and got this very informative site which said this is a way to make spaces and indents.  Early on I had looked for ways to make spaces in html but I never found this solution.  This is a real pain in the neck on blogger.   Basically I was told by every site to make a table.  So this is interesting.  Especially the part that says that some browsers won't read this as an indent or space. 

From sightspecific.com

What is &;nbsp? Is it needed?

Short Answer

 &;nbsp is the entity used to represent a non-breaking space. It is essentially a standard space, the primary difference being that a browser should not break (or wrap) a line of text at the point that this   occupies.

Long Answer

&;nbsp is the entity used to represent a non-breaking space. It is essentially a standard space, the primary difference being that a browser should not break (or wrap) a line of text at the point that this   occupies.

Many WYSIWYG HTML editors insert these   entities in an effort to control the layout of the HTML document. For example, such an editor may use a series of non-breaking spaces to indent a paragraph like this:

&;nbsp &;nbsp &;nbsp This first line of text is supposed to be indented. However, many browsers will not render it as intended.

As the example mentions, some browsers will not, in fact, indent the text because of how that particular browser handles the &n*bsp; entity. . .  [go to the link for the whole explanation]

So now I know.  I'm not sure I want to use &;nbsp to make spaces because it sounds like it will look funny on some browsers.  But I can go back and resurrect the old post I started on simple html for non-geek bloggers.

[Update:  When I looked at this in Preview, the symbol worked in the Title, but not in the post itself.  So I didn't fix the title.  But I see that in the title it got read as code and just indented the title a space.  So I've (I hope) fixed it now.]

Implementation of Policy - The Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative

American foreign policy may be debated in Congress - often in ideological colors - but what really matters is what actually happens.  I came across these two requests for applications (RFA) that give a glimpse of the implementation phase of policy.  I have no idea of the context of these two - what else the State Department and others are doing, who will actually get funds from this and what they'll do with them - or what sort of impact these programs will have.  But they do give a little sense of two programs that the US government is trying to implement to improve conditions in the Middle East with some detail.  And they do indicate a long term strategy, because these programs won't pay dividends (except for the people who get the grants) for a while. 

Program Number:   04070
Title:            Tomorrow's Leaders II Scholarship Program and Recruitment                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Sponsor:          Department of State

SYNOPSIS:
 The Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (NEA/PI) announces an open competition for proposals to enhance and expand educational opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. Education is a priority for the Administration, and President Obama has called for an increased emphasis on building partnerships through expanding exchanges and increasing scholarship opportunities for students from this region. With this program announcement the sponsor seeks to promote mutual understanding and respect through innovative projects that provide university-level scholarship and internship opportunities at select institutions of learning in the Middle East and North Africa.

Deadline(s):      01/05/2010
Established Date: 11/03/2009
Follow-Up Date:   11/01/2010
Review Date:      11/03/2009

Contact:          Ms. Jessica Baker                                                                                  

Address:          2201 C Street NW
                  Washington, DC 20520     
                  U.S.A.                                
E-mail:           nea-grants@state.gov

Program URL: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=CVGCKwKFLCFhgWMB8Pvl6Z5SQCcBycPyRTQ4Pb6P8DncGtQyV40h!-1163459943?oppId=50028&mode=VIEW
Tel:              202-776-8500                 
Fax:              202-776-8445       
Deadline Ind:     Receipt                                               
Deadline Open:    No
                   


Award Type(s):    General Project
                  Projects Outside the U.S.


Citizenship/Country of Applying Institution:
                  Any/No Restrictions

Locations Tenable:    African/South African/Sub-Saharan African Institution
                  Middle/Near Eastern Institution


Appl Type(s):     Colleges/Universities
                  Non-Profit


Target Group(s):  NONE
Funding Limit:    $0   SEE BELOW
Duration:         0
Indirect Costs:   Unspecified
Cost Sharing:     No
Sponsor Type:     Federal


Geo. Restricted:  NO RESTRICTIONS                                        

CFDA#:            19.500    

OBJECTIVES:
 A) Tomorrow?s Leaders Scholarships II:  This priority area implements the second phase of a scholarship program for Arab students from underserved backgrounds. Successful applicants will provide an American-accredited education which will create a strong foundation for a cadre of civic-minded, intellectually able, and professionally skilled university students, well-prepared to become future community and business leaders. The Tomorrow?s Leaders Scholarships II (TLII) program will partner with host universities to provide four- to- five year academic matriculation and community service opportunities for secondary school graduates from the Middle East and North Africa who are from diverse and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and whose academic merit and other credentials would qualify them for admission to a university program of study but whose limited financial resources preclude attendance. The TLII project emphasizes the
identification of highly motivated male and female students with demonstrated English language ability and leadership potential. Proposals under this priority area support full four- to- five year scholarships for at least 12 students per class cohort. Strategies to leverage program resources through more students and cost-sharing are strongly encouraged. 

 B) Recruitment for Tomorrow?s Leaders Scholarships II: Under Priority Area B, NEA/PI is soliciting applications from organizations to conduct the recruitment portion of TLII. Currently, 'Tomorrow's Leaders' students are recruited and screened by a single recruitment implementing partner, with the final selection of scholarship
recipients resting with each of the host universities. Applicants under this priority area should be prepared to recruit students for all awards made under priority area A. Proposals under this priority area should include a plan to advertise and recruit qualified scholarship recipients consistent with the profile articulated in priority area A. Submissions should describe how the applicant will
assess the suitability of potential scholarship recipients for the rigors of TLII, including the potential recipients' future leadership plans, as well as the recipients' commitment to the program.

ELIGIBILITY
 Eligible applicants for priority area A include any US-registered, US-accredited universities or colleges; applicant institutions must have the ability to provide a minimum of three years of the program in the Middle East or North Africa. Applicants for priority area B include any registered U.S. or foreign non-profit organization.

FUNDING
 The sponsor anticipates making six awards: five for the Tomorrow's Leaders Scholarship II Project, and one for the recruitment. Applicants to priority area A Tomorrow Leaders II Program may propose initial performance periods for up to six years.  Applicants to priority area B Recruitment for Tomorrow?s Leaders II Program may propose initial performance periods of up to two years.  NEA/PI
encourages applicants to provide maximum levels of cost-sharing from additional sources in support of this project.  The sponsor anticipates $7,250,000 in available funidng. Source: Grants.gov (10/28/09). (cmb)

KEYWORDS:         Africa
                  Middle/Near East
                  Higher Education
                  Grants.gov
                  Grants.gov/S2S


*********************************************************************************
Program Number:   04345
Title:            Youth Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa Program Announcement                                                                                                                                                                              

Sponsor:          Department of State

SYNOPSIS:
 The Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (NEA/PI) announces an open competition for projects that support youth entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa.

Deadline(s):      11/30/2009
Established Date: 11/03/2009
Follow-Up Date:   11/01/2010
Review Date:      11/03/2009

Contact:          Ms. Jessica Baker                                                                                  

Address:          2201 C Street NW
                  Washington, DC 20520                        U.S.A.                                
E-mail:           nea-grants@state.gov

Program URL: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=203ZKwZF9PvzJ1FjSJtB1GVz6fl1M2zrTYy08jcJqvf3Xt5fXpqx!-1163459943?oppId=50035&mode=VIEW
Tel:              202-776-8500                 
Fax:              202-776-8445       
Deadline Ind:     Receipt                                               
Deadline Open:    No
                   


Award Type(s):    General Project
                  Projects Outside the U.S.


Citizenship/Country of Applying Institution:
                  Any/No Restrictions

Locations Tenable:    African/South African/Sub-Saharan African Institution
                  Middle/Near Eastern Institution


Appl Type(s):     Private Institution/Organization
                  For-Profit


Target Group(s):  NONE
Funding Limit:    $0   SEEBELOW
Duration:         0
Indirect Costs:   Unspecified
Cost Sharing:     No
Sponsor Type:     Federal


Geo. Restricted:  NO RESTRICTIONS                                        

CFDA#:            19.500    

OBJECTIVES:
 Sustainable progress requires opening spaces for innovation and creativity. Expanding opportunities for entrepreneurs is critical to helping address unemployment, supporting economic development, and furthering civic engagement in the Middle East and North Africa. We are asking applicants to develop projects to foster a culture of entrepreneurship in youth. Illustrative, but not necessarily
comprehensive, aspects might include entrepreneurial skill-building, idea generation, business incubation, competition, access to capital, access to employment, and development of entrepreneurship networks (including possibly virtual networks) to connect entrepreneurs with each other as well as with a broader range of stake-holders. NEA/PI's desired outcomes are, inter alia, improved opportunities for business development, accelerated sustainable job creation, expanded economic
opportunities, and entrepreneurship stakeholders connected in partnerships and networks across the region. Projects should encourage innovation and creativity ? in both new and traditional sectors. Projects may also support the development of social entrepreneurship, applying business-like efficiency, innovation, and sustainability to tackling pressing social problems.

 NEA/PI seeks applications that would address the varying status of entrepreneurship in the economies of the region: those that have significant economic resources or are well developed in some respects but are still building a local culture of entrepreneurship, those without significant economic resources that must use entrepreneurship to tap into comparative advantages and create niche markets, and those that fall somewhere in between these two poles. Most responsive
projects will address the needs of economies and populations that lack strong traditions of entrepreneurship and will specify how and where they will have the greatest impact, particularly with respect to youth (defined for purposes of this RFA as males and females from 16 to 35 years of age).

Applicants must demonstrate: familiarity with the economic and demographic challenges facing the region (including the increasing number of youth who will seek employment); capacity and expertise in fostering entrepreneurial development; and the ability to help translate innovation into economic activity. Applicants must also
describe how they will measure positive outcomes in the areas of job creation, business startup, and income generation. Applicants should propose measurable results in the short, medium, and long-term, with the understanding that these efforts should continue beyond any funding under the program announcement.

ELIGIBILITY
 Eligible applicants include any registered U.S. or foreign non-governmental organization, and U.S. or foreign private institutions or commercial entities.

FUNDING
 The sponsor anticipates making two awards ranging from $500,000 to $1,500,000.  Source: Grants.gov (10/29/09). (cmb)

KEYWORDS:         Africa
                  Middle/Near East
                  Entrepreneurship
                  Entrepreneurship Education
                  Grants.gov
                  Grants.gov/S2S
                  Children/Youth




Sometimes I think it is useful to just put stuff up, even if I don't understand the context or meaning and just don't have enough information to speculate.  It adds, in this case, factual information about what one agency in the US State Department is trying to do.  It gives me something to think about and maybe it will become more relevant when I get some other information later on.  Or maybe a reader can add some context to this. 

Musical Instruments of Peking Opera - Short Video Tour

I have way too much video from last night's Peking Opera presentation by National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts and sponsored by the University of Alaska Anchorage's Confucius Institute. So I'm going to offer more than one post of the evening. The performance was more of a music education evening with an explanation of movements, stories, music, etc. and then vignettes from famous operas performed. The presenter brimmed with charm and knowledge and skill that came through even though he spoke in Chinese. The translator, unfortunately, captured only the words, not the charisma of the speaker who occasionally demonstrated movements in a way that suggested to me that he'd spent a fair amount of time on stage as an actor.

The actual vignettes were accompanied by recorded music, but at the beginning of the evening we were given a demonstration of percussion, stringed, and wind instruments. You can see the demonstration in the video. Which ends with part of the first opera vignette where you can see and hear the use of the percussion instruments.



For more, Philmulti gives a nice overview of Chinese traditional stringed instruments with pictures and a video.

From a post on a Chinese music forum:

Music accompanies singing. reciting. actions and acrobatics in Chinese operas. It also helps develop the story. personalize the characters. expose their thoughts and feelings. and create a special atmosphere.

http://china-corner.com/images/pics/2006426123021.jpg
The orchestra of a typical opera is composed of two parts -- the Wenchang. or Civil Section. of string and wind instruments; and the Wuchang. or Military Section. composed of percussion instruments. The former section accompanies singing. and the music is Qu (tunes). The latter accompanies the performers` body movements. reciting. singing. dancing and acrobatics.

The beats clearly mark the beginnings and the endings. Led by the main drummer. the music adjusts and controls the rhythm of the opera. The instrumental music is produced by various kinds of stringed. wind and percussion instruments. and each has its own functions and timbres.

French is not a language I ever attempted seriously, but even I can understand this headline. Last year for Claude Lévi-Strauss' 100th birthday I did a series of posts about him and his works. (I even learned how to type the accent mark on my Mac keyboard -option 'e' - doing that series.) He would have been 101 on November 28, 2009.

After  recently spending several weeks in LA in the company of people ranging from 87 to 94, I think that wishing someone to live to 101 is more of a curse than a blessing. There are exceptions, and even those with the most challenging problems, can still live a meaningful life if they have some purpose, some task, some relationship to which they are still dedicated. And Peter Dunlap-Shohl's Parkinson's blog reminds me that life, not as we expected it or idealized it, still has great value to those who know how to find its blessings.

Good bye, Professor Lévi-Strauss. You've made great contributions to what humans know about humans.

From Le Monde:

L'ethnologue Claude Lévi-Strauss est mort

LEMONDE.FR | 03.11.09 | 17h20  •  Mis à jour le 03.11.09 | 20h07

L'ethnologue et anthropologue Claude Lévi-Strauss est mort dans la nuit du samedi 31 octobre au dimanche 1^er novembre à l'âge de 100 ans, selon le service de presse de l'Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) contacté par Le Monde.fr. Plon, la maison d'édition de l'auteur de Tristes Tropiques, a également confirmé l'information diffusée par Le Parisien.fr en fin d'après-midi. Claude Lévi-Strauss, qui a renouvelé l'étude des phénomènes sociaux et culturels, notamment celle des mythes, aurait eu 101 ans le 28 novembre.


Here's how the LA Times started off their report for those, like me, who need an English version:

OBITUARY
Claude Levi-Strauss dies at 100; French philosopher's ideas transformed anthropology


By Thomas H. Maugh II November 4, 2009

Claude Levi-Strauss, the French philosopher widely considered the father of modern anthropology because of his then-revolutionary conclusion that so-called primitive societies did not differ greatly intellectually from modern ones, died Friday at his home in Paris from natural causes. He was 100.

Part philosopher, part sociologist and entirely humanist, he studied tribes in Brazil and North America, concluding that virtually all societies shared powerful commonalities of behavior and thought, often expressing them in myths. Towering over the French intellectual scene in the 1960s and 1970s, he founded the school of thought known as structuralism, which holds that common features exist within the enormous varieties of human experience. Those commonalities are rooted partly in nature and partly in the human brain itself.

The rest of the French and English articles can be found at the links.  A more eclectic perspective of his life and work can be found in last year's 100th Anniversary series on this blog.  Thanks PM for the alert. 

Thinking About How Budget Cuts Are Made

[This is a long post.  I wish I could make these points succinctly, but the issues are complex.  So bear with me.  At least scroll down and look at the headlines.  And gain enough knowledge that you could follow my advice at the bottom and call your assembly member to discuss the budget.  This is a democracy.  You, the citizen, are ultimately responsible if it doesn't work. While this is about Anchorage, the same issues play out everywhere.]

Alaska Morning News' Len Anderson talked with Rene’e Aguilar Monday morning on Alaska Morning News on KSKA.   Rene’e is the Interpersonal Violence Prevention Specialist for the Municipal Department of Health and Human Services, Safety Links Program.  You can listen to the segment here.   The report was about multi-lingual outreach work the DHHS is doing to help victims of domestic violence gain access to information, educational materials, and local resources that can help them while the problem is small.
Sort of like getting people to a doctor when the problem is easily treatable, so they don't have to go to the emergency room later with a much more expensive and debilitating problem. Public Health calls this Prevention!

What the show didn't let you know is that Rene’e’s position is being cut and that DHHS Safety Links Program will not be able to continue to develop and produce public safety materials for vulnerable populations in Anchorage.

This is not a simple issue and I've been struggling with how to write about it. While some details are important to understand, it's really a larger philosophical question. There are various assumptions that lead to totally different approaches here.

1. Public sector v. private sector - Ronald Reagan came to power on the slogan of "Government is the Problem" and that the private sector was the solution.

After 30 years of private sector solution, we have a health care system that while good in some areas, is essentially full of holes. We have had some our most powerful corporations go bankrupt and require government intervention on the grounds that the upheaval to our society and economy would have been enormous had the auto industry and the financial industry not received massive bailouts. People were lured into houses they couldn't afford leaving some people wealthy and others homeless.  The private sector plays an important role, but it's based on greed as a key motivator. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that's probably not the best of human emotions on which to base a society.

One of the rationales, I'm told, for cuts in the programs at the Health Department is that the private sector can do it better. Well, let's think again. The private sector does not make a profit off of people who can't afford to pay. Passing programs like housing assistance funds from HUD to non-profit groups doesn't work unless you pass on money to pay for people to administer the programs. Besides, social service non-profit organizations live mainly off of grants and other government monies. The same money that governments work off of.  (Sure, there are some non-profits, like Providence, that provide services in competition with private sector companies, but with the advantage of not having to pay taxes.  Their surplus doesn't go to share holders.  It's supposed to go into providing more services, though it can also go to large executive salaries.)

Small social service non-profits  might be able to do things cheaper than government agencies only because their employees rarely get a decent wage or benefits. Some of the executive of larger non-profits may do ok, but the people on the ground, the people who used to work for government agencies before so much was privatized, are just getting by in precarious jobs that could go away anytime. That may make a politician look good because he's passed the costs off to elsewhere and caused people to take big cuts in salary and security, but it has big costs to a community when well trained, educated people have to struggle to make ends meet.

So, for instance, in addition to Rene’e’s position, two other critical positions are being cut.  This is a total of three positions or 60% of the Safety Links Program. These two Emergency Services positions administer Housing and Urban Development and other money that passes through the Municipality to help keep people in their homes. They help people in emergencies with rental assistance, utility assistance, paying security deposits and first month's rent. They help pay utility bills so electricity won't be shut off. These are the kinds of small activities that prevent people from becoming homeless. These positions dispersed $198,082 in such direct emergency services to 498 households between October 2008 and August 2009. This was money that came from federal grants and from Chugach Electric and even the Anchorage Water and Waste Water Utility.

The rationale, I'm told, is that the private sector can do this better.

But others tell me that the non-profits don't want this money because it doesn't include money to pay for people to do all the work needed to disperse this money in a responsible and accountable manner. It requires people to interview applicants, monitor how the money is spent, fill out the documentation that the money was distributed according to the laws and regulations. But the positions to do that work are being cut.

Imagine the outcry if someone who didn't qualify got aid because there wasn't adequate staffing  to monitor how assistance was provided.



2. Individual or Collective Responsibility

Along with the private sector model, we've also been held hostage to the individual responsibility model. I'm not putting down people who take care of their own needs - in the traditional sense, I fit in that category.  I've lived within my means, my kids grew up without getting into any trouble, and they have managed to pay their own way in the world.

But I also recognize the extent to which my family upbringing and my genetic makeup and a good deal of luck gave me the skills and abilities to accomplish that. And like everyone else, I too am vulnerable.  My son's bike accident last May reminded me how vulnerable we all are and how easily we can become incapable of supporting ourselves.  Fortunately, my son was able to return to work, but he was lucky.

I also know that saying people are 'on the dole' because they are too lazy to work, is a self serving story. It gives us individual permission not  to worry about them because it is their own fault. Which ignores the impact on kids of a nurturing home environment compared to  growing up with alcohol, witnessing domestic violence, and having no books at home.  Those of us who group with advantages need to recognize that we didn't do it alone.  And that we do have a responsibility to help those who grew up with severe disadvantages.

In Eastern cultures, there is a much greater understanding of the role that society as a whole plays in whether people are rich or poor, sick or healthy. In the US we want to say that all the credit or blame goes to the individual.

It's this kind of philosophical difference that underlies decisions about where to cut funding.

Of the 3500 or so counted homeless people in Anchorage this year, about half are kids and families. These are people getting some sort of assistance because they are involuntarily not in stable housing. They could be in shelters or they could be couch surfing with friends or relatives. As I've related above, the position for PREVENTION of domestic violence is being cut and two experienced line employees who actually do prevention work are being replaced by two executives who are focusing on cleaning up homeless camps.  To be fair, I don't know the previous experience of the two executives, I haven't seen their job descriptions, so they may be much better prepared to do this work than I realize. 

At least some of that work, I know, has been spurred on by neighbors who, understandably, do not want homeless inebriates around their homes and where their kids play in parks and greenbelts. It is more a police function than prevention function. It's about helping the 'worthy' part of society by punishing the 'unworthy' part of society. The homeless are seen as a problem for the rest of us that needs to be swept under the rug, not as a problem of our society that we all need to work to alleviate.


3.  Budget Cutting Techniques.  I understand that the cuts in the Health Department at the Municipality were made by the director, Diane Ingle, in consultation with her department heads. The Mayor's office didn't tell her which programs to cut, just how much to cut.. Though I don't think the Department asked for the two executive positions for homeless camp work.  I would say that the Health Department has taken so many hits already over the last 15 years that there really isn't any program left that doesn't assist people who are really in need or doesn't protect the health of all of us as public health programs (immunization, clean water, etc.) are supposed to do.  Public health programs have had far greater impact on health improvements than private health care.  According to Whatispublichealth.com:

In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. These advances have been largely responsible for increasing the lifespan of populations; over twenty-five of the 30 years can be accredited to public health initiatives, while medical advances account for less than 4 years.

There is a bigger question about whether every department in the Municipality is equal. Are there some programs that have less critical functions, whose loss has less impact on vulnerable populations and the general quality of life of Anchorage? If there are, then asking all departments to make cuts without comparison to programs in other departments, while easier for the Mayor, is not a responsible way to make these cuts.  It allows him to say the departments made their own decisions while not really making the more difficult cross departmental choices.  It also takes the option of paying more for Municipal services off the table before we even look at the impacts of the cuts. 


4.  Long range or short range thinking.  This also involves tangible and intangible benefits and costs.  Government, in many cases, when successful, is invisible.  We have come to expect certain things from Government. So we do not notice when things are working.  We tend to notice when things are NOT working.   For example; When our car doesn't bounce because the streets are well maintened; when there's smooth traffic flow with working traffic lights; when there's effective water drainage;  when we can withdraw our money from the ATM without fearing a mugger; when safe and healthy drinking water flows from the tap;  we tend to take these things all for granted and not think of the infrastructure and work required to keep them happening.  It's only when these things are disrupted by potholes, by malfunctioning street lights, by flooded intersections, or our tap water is brown that we notice government.

Just as much of government prevents problems and is reactive only in exceptional circumstances, live is better for us all if we work to  prevent crime rather than to react to it after the fact.  This includes crimes like domestic violence which has an enormous effect on society, because the victims can't go back to their normal safe homes after the crime.  Their homes are the crime scene and this upbringing means these victims disproportionately become problems for all of us because they lack appropriate skills and emotional stability that most of us get and that enable us to be productive members of society.

So government is about preventing things from happening.  And it's hard to measure the things that didn't happen because government was doing its job well - the accidents that didn't happen because the streets were maintained and the traffic lights worked;  the robberies that didn't take place because kids were at recreational  and study programs after school;  the beating a spouse or child didn't get because parenting training and alcohol rehabilitation worked; the planes that didn't crash because the FAA systems worked.  You get the picture.  Government isn't about making a profit, it's about doing those things the private sector can't do.  But that's a different post. 

Prevention of problems is government’s most basic job.  Arresting robbers is a failure to prevent crime in the first place.  But prevention of most societal ills starts with making sure that people grow up in homes, where not only are they NOT abused, but they are positively nurtured.  We can argue about when government agencies should intervene with how someone raises their kids, but there is nothing to debate about whether fetal alcohol syndrome causes lifelong problems for the victims and for society.  Whether kids that were neglected or beaten or sexually abused are much more likely to become dysfunctional adults.  We all pay that price eventually.

But politicians who are elected for two, three, and four year terms, tend to think and act short term.  (Just as businesspeople have become trained to think about the quarterly stock reports instead of five and ten years out.)  The intangible benefits of preventing interpersonal violence, keeping pregnant women from smoking, reading to toddlers, are hard to measure.  This is not simply about poor families either.  Neglect and violence cross economic lines.  But richer people have more cushion and when they do transgress, they can hide it better.

These aren't easy issues to articulate.  To me they seem self-evident.  But to some, I might as well be speaking Farsi.

In a Democracy, we are all culpable.  All of us are ultimately responsible for the decisions our politicians make. Blaming politicians is shirking our responsibility. We are the electors of the politicians. 

We can't just shove the work onto them and not oversee what they do.  In Iran people risked their lives to demonstrate for what they believed.

Can we interrupt our television viewing and internet surfing long enough to do our jobs as citizens?

Call (or text) your Municipal Assembly members. Ask them about the cuts. Ask them what they see as our options. Let them know you think PREVENTION programs that cost a tiny fraction of the Municipal budget and which will lose matching money from other sources SHOULD NOT be cut.

Then call three or five friends and convince them to do the same thing.

Note:  I was first alerted to this issue at the DELTA meetings I attended last Thursday and Friday and then I did some follow up questions.   If I've missed important information, well, this is a blog and you can post what I missed in the comments.

Drug Company Push Poll Against Begich Health Care Proposals

According to Sourcewatch: 

A push poll is where, using the guise of opinion polling, disinformation about a candidate or issue is planted in the minds of those being 'surveyed'. Push-polls are designed to shape, rather than measure, public opinion. 

We just had a phone call poll from "a representative of the drug companies" in which we were told that Sen. Begich is proposing a number of amendments to the health care reform bill which will add considerable costs.  We were then asked if we were opposed to any bill that will increase the price of prescription drugs. 

So, if you get a call like this, pay attention to how they are trying to shape your opinion.

Powerful Alaska Blogs

There are some powerful Alaska blogs out there. One of the most powerful is Peter Dunlap Shohl's Parkinson blog. Here's a bit from today's post. The whole thing is worth reading.

Paths to meaning, salvaging quality of life with PD

Parkinson's Disease is no walk in the park. Unless your park is home to a mysterious debilitating assailant who steals up to you and attempt to slowly rob you of your life. . .

There is financial pain. The meds are not cheap. And if you're lucky enough to have decent insurance where you work, guess what. Parkinson's is likely to take your job, too. The tentative financial security that most of us live with, or are trying to establish goes *poof* with Parkinson's.

It makes a person want to scream. Oh, sorry, more bad news, your voice also goes. Tell you what. Instead of screaming, just whisper loudly. What's that you say? Come again? Oh. Whispering isn't a satisfying substitute for screaming? Not for me either. The line forms here for a literal life of quiet desperation.

 

Much of the post is devoted to a list of eight tips for living with PD .   Well worth reading for everyone. 

This Post is Basically for Bloggers - I'm Testing Blogspot's "new" Editor

[I'm just fiddling around with the new editor. I suspect this will be of little interest to anyone but Blogspot bloggers. And not even to those who have already tried out the updated post editor]

I'm just going to play around here with the new editor.  Actually I'm not sure how new it is, but I just found it.   It's not all that different, but it does have this text background feature that wasn't on the old version.  

Adding pictures is completely different.  It allows you to set the size and location in the post, not in the add image window.  And if I make a mistake, there is now an automated strikeout option.

That was a jump break.  I'm not sure what that does, unless I have a format that just gives an intro to the post and a link to the rest. [I took the jump break out because the post ended here and there was no link for the reader to jump.  I'll have to find out what happened there.]

1. The add pictures function is no longer available in the edit html mode.  Let's see about lists.
2. These were always troublesome if you wanted to have sub headings
1. Ah, much easier.  All I had to do was push tab.
2. Now let's see how I get out of here.  

Just extra returns until you're out.  How about another picture.  When we got back last week, those pansies were still blooming nicely.   Wow, you can move the pictures around much easier now.  At least up and down.

But you also used to be able to click on a picture and then enlarge it precisely by pulling the corner.  I can't seem to do that here.  [Update: Yes, you can, just double click on the image.]  That's the driveway when we got home last week.  And there's still no snow in town, though the mountains are white. 

One problem I've always had is that if I have pictures on the left and right, they never look the way they will when it actually posts.  Let's see if this solves that. 

If you're using blogspot and haven't tried this new editor, you can get it by going to

1. Customize
2. Settings
3. Basic

Then scroll down to the bottom of the page to Global Settings:

One more things about the new Insert Image tool.  You can put the picture where you want it in the post.  It doesn't just go to the top.  That's something I've wanted for a long time.

I'm doing a presentation on blogging at the Apple User Group Wednesday night.  I can do this because most people, even there, seem to not really know what a blog is.  They've heard about it, but aren't sure what it is.  So I seem like an expert in comparison.  But I'm not sure it's a good thing or bad thing that I discovered this new editor just before I do that.  Oh well.

I realized while I was posting here that I haven't seen the Blogger Buzz website for a long time and that's why I didn't know about the new editor.  Well there's a lot I didn't know about.  It looks like they put the page break in automatically.  So probably this stuff I'm writing here below the page break won't be seen by people who don't do the jump.

And label clouds - I've seen them on people's blogs, but now I see how I can do that if I want. 

And  when I just put in the link for Blogger Buzz above, I found that you can test the link in the link window now.  And there's a way to automatically insert an email link.  You don't have to do the html to do that now.  Here's the link to Blogger's page on "the new post editor."

Google Hits and Misses September/October 2009

I started doing these posts to highlight unusual search terms that got someone to this blog. This evolved into an assessment of how well Google directed someone based on the search terms, but it still has a mix of the two.

Here are two new insights I've gleaned about google search seems to work that I've gotten from this month.

1. Google takes all the terms on 'one page.' On a blog that will depend on how the blogger has set the pages. In my case, a 'page' is a month unless the month has too many posts and runs out of space. I'm assuming this because Google finds terms from unrelated posts and either picks one post to send the searcher to, or the whole page. You can see some examples below where I show what the Google search page showed the searcher.

2. Image searches look at the words in the post as well as the tags on the image. Sometimes this works well, sometimes not.

3. Google is pretty good at figuring out mispellings.




Bulls-eye
karen language hello - This person didn't just get the words for hello in Karen written phonetically, this person got a video tape of a Karen villager in Northern Thailand teaching me how to say hello in Karen. I'd call that a bulls-eye. Now, whether the dialect of Karen spoken in Texas is the same dialect, I can't say.

michael palin book apple seed potato - got to a post on Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire. which discusses apples, seeds, and potatoes. I'm impressed how Google can sort through mispellings. Pollan is not related to Palin.

botany of desire - One of the interesting parts of following google hits, is getting a sense that something is happening related to one of the items on your blog. I started getting an increasing number of hits for Botany of Desire as publicity came out about the television show based on the book.

why are professional baseball diamonds different sizes - this person got to a post "Why are baseball diamonds different sizes?" and then to the link to the NPR interview that answered the question. I'd forgotten all about this post. I had to go check the answer too.

grilled sticky rice - And they got a picture of grilled sticky rice in the banana leaf wrapper and a loose recipe as related by the Chiang Mai shopowner.



mountain ask leaf - I'll give Google a bullseye for this one. I'm assuming that the searcher mistyped and so did Google, giving him a picture of mountain ash leaves.





Close
Do spittle bugs have teeth - They got to this post on spittle bugs which shows the spittle, but doesn't discuss teeth.


inside of a banana sketch different sections - This was an image search that got to a picture of cross section of an elephant toe banana.

classical music effects on ice crystals - This was an image search and they got a picture of ice crystals on our storm door at -10˚F (-23˚C). But no music.

used italian ice machine - got to picture of an old Thai ice scraping machine in a post from Chiang Mai. Who knows? Maybe it originally came from Italy.

can't seem to wake up at amrit vela - I can't seem to wake up at the Eiffel Tower in the morning. Sometimes these searches leave me scratching my head only to find I do have something on this that I've totally forgotten. This got to a post on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India where you can find out what amrit vela means. It does make sense after all. Well, actually, instead of giving the specific post, Google gave the whole archive page for October 2006. Again, some of the words come from other posts. So you have to scroll down to Oct. 25.
red & yellow flower pointed upwards indoor plants long stem - got to this picture of a red flower on the trail to Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, Thailand. BTW, Doi means mountain, Suthep is a type of angel.



snow leopard update blank screen - I got a lot of these, more for 'black' screen. With good reason. I have several posts on my snow leopard problem. Google first took most people to a post I wrote before I had the solution. When I saw this, I did put links in all the posts about the black screen to get them to the cure post. And only some people took that link. By October 10, it seemed that most of these were being sent to the post with the 'cure' at the end of the title. So Google can learn. The number of these searches also confirms that this is inherent in Snow Leopard.



A Stretch -

nice green birds for cage - This was a person from Canada. I can understand wanting to have a nice green bird around, but the idea of putting a bird into a cage for one's entertainment is a little disturbing. I recognize there's a difference between capturing a wild bird and putting it into a cage and getting one born in captivity. But people raise birds to sell only because there are people who want to put them in cages. This person got to a picture of picture of a bird of paradise in the Bird Park in Singapore. It's a very big cage and you can barely see the bird for all the greenery, but it's still in a cage. Sort of like being under house arrest.

rumor of birds in the house - More birds. Not sure what this means exactly, but it got to a post about a bird that flew into our bedroom window and other bird-house incidents.

kenny g is a jehovahs witness - Well, I have posts on Jehovah's witnesses and I have a post on Pat Metheny writing about Kenny G. But nothing that combines the two. There was a surprisingly large number of people googling Pat Metheny on Kenny G.

apple genius josh at apple store santa monica fired - Well, I did go to the Apple Store in Santa Monica and I did spend time at the genius bar, but I don't recall anyone named Josh. Google found all the words in scattered over four posts. The searcher simply got to my blog - not even a specific post.

parking garages hidden inside mountains pictures - This Austrian searcher got a picture of a parking garage in LA, not at all hidden in a mountain. It was way down on the page they got, but since it was an image search, they did get to choose from a page full of pictures.

famous people who were born in dangerous places - Don't know how helpful this was, but it was an interesting search. They got to Famous People Born in 1909.

what ethical obligations do you personally feel towards wolves and whales - Got to a post about an article written about Wales, Alaska. It talked about ethical obligations urban Alaskans have to understanding the history of rural Alaska among other things.



Probably Not Google's Fault

Sometimes searchers give Google a real challenge. What did these people want?

how to make the constitution 1500 papers in photoshop - Who knows what this person was after? Not me. Their search got several posts mashed into one and it linked them to one on a post where I photoshopped a picture I took while cross country skiing. But I put the blame here on the person searching - what was he looking for?

what can i grow that isn't agapanthus - lot's of things I'd venture. Can't blame Google for sending this to a post that mentions agapanthus. This is someone who needs to think about her search terms more carefully.

thyland people are eatting abortion child flash is it true - this query came from someone in India who got to a post on the ethics of publishing photos of children. Google combined Children, people's, flash, eating from several different places on the blog.

photo gull light cloudy sky new york city airport - Was this person looking for a specific picture or a picture with all those things? Since this was an image search the searcher presumably got lots of pictures to look at. But this one had no gull, was not New York City or even an airport. But It did have clouds and blue sky. The post it was in mentioned the Santa Monica Airport. I've started to notice - now that I can usually see the image search terms - that Google considers not only the terms in the photo file name, but also terms in the post as well.

does human nature exists in everyone - Now this is an interesting question. I've never directly addressed this question, but the searcher got directed to the post on why everyone should study philosophy.

how much wild salmon 28 weeks pregnant - What was this person looking for? How much she could eat at 28 weeks? How long salmon are pregnant? She got a post on the difference between wild, farmed, and hatchery salmon.

last year when it snowed for eight days complete sentence? - Not completely sure what the searcher wanted. Whether his words were a complete sentence? I'm guessing it was a school assignment and he had to complete the sentence. The google hit combined several posts and had the word snow. The post was about the president-elect breaking with tradition by using complete sentences when he talked.



You Missed This One Google


Most of these are Google trying too hard to come up with something. Google has trouble saying, "I can't find anything" and maybe that's ok. People find things they didn't know they were looking for.


mango 21 44000 - There's 44,000 in one post. mango in another. And 21 in the google search information. But I don't think this was what the German searcher was looking for.

What Do I know?: 44000 (NYE) at Alaska Women Against Palin ... - [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]

13 Sep 2008 ... That would be like having 44000 people rally in New York City, 20800 in LA, or 15350 in Chicago. ... I can see the mango and sticky rice, but I can't reach it. But I'll learn. ..... 21 hours ago ...
www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/.../44000-nye-at-alaska-women-against-
palin.html - Im Cache - Ähnlich

wat do they mean when they say the the duty of the beast in flesh by a split second - Maybe I should have a category of "Searcher goofed." Google found some posts that had some of words. But they weren't all one posts and ultimately I doubt they answered whatever question the searcher had. Here's what Google gave him that got him to this blog:

What Do I know?: January 2008

Jan 5, 2008 ... Yes, despite the flesh in the ADN promo article, it's fine for kids ...... 666, the Antichrist and the Mark of the Beast Who is the Antichrist .... Whatever they say is calculated. Truth is a strategic choice, ..... Just because one has the legal right to do something doesn't mean they should do it. ...
whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html - Cached - Similar -

I'm surprised they didn't find 'wat' too.


Should Google have some sort of minimum standard of words being together in a single post? While the bots can find the words really fast, it seems it still takes a human to say, "This is gibberish."

Or is this some sort of internet beach combing and people are just curious about what they might find? The collection of posts Google offered are all from one archived month. I think this is what I've seen before for what seems like random words collected from different posts. If that's accurate, then they have limited the searches to some identified 'page'. Thus they found a single 'page' that had the most words on it, though for a blog that means lots of generally unrelated posts. Perhaps it would be more meaningful on a regular website page. Perhaps they should have a filter for blogs.

what does moosegoose look like - Let me know if you find out. Google gave them a post titled "Moose, Goose Lake, UAA Science Building" I got another one about moosegoose as October ended.

molar tooth - The searcher got a picture (this was image search) of growing tamarind from seed. But it tells us a bit about how the image search works. In the text I mention that the seeds are about the size of a molar tooth. So Google is checking out the words in the text around the picture. This one clearly missed completely.


Does Google have a Sense of Humor?

money saving shopkeeper expert - This image search got to a picture labeled "Buddha Image Shopkeeper Chiang Mai." The picture is of a shop that sells Buddha Images.

Chinese Opera Comes to Anchorage

The first time I saw Chinese Opera was sometime in 1967 or 1968. I was teaching English at the Boys High School in Kamphaengphet, Thailand and the Chinese community had hired a group from Singapore to perform for some special occasion. There was a trailer that converted into a stage that was set up in a public area in town. The folding chairs were set out for the members of the Chinese community who sponsored the opera. The rest of the town could stand behind the chairs and watch. In a small town like that I got to visit backstage and meet with the actors. [I started this on Saturday and turned the house upside down trying to find some pictures of that first encounter with Chinese opera. In vain. But when I find them one day, I'll post them. This picture here is from UAA's website.]

Chinese opera is like asparagus. It's an acquired taste that requires small samples over time. I've had various opportunities over the years, to see bits and pieces of Chinese opera. Several more times in Thailand. Then when we lived in Hong Kong for a year, at the night market there were always small groups of actors/singers who would perform a scene or two on the street.


In China, Chinese opera was on television every night and once when I was there for a conference they took us to a performance for tourists. It was interesting because they explained things in English and they only showed short scenes. I'm sure the tourist agencies had discovered that most tourists couldn't last through too much Chinese opera. Besides the fact that it is all in a foreign language, the screechy singing and scratchy sounds of the stringed instruments, well, that's the part that takes getting used to.

Now it's a relatively familiar sound that brings back good memories.But I'm confident that at this performance they will give short glimpses of different operas with English explanations so that it should be easier for novices to understand what is happening.

So, come Tuesday, November 3, 2009

UAA's Wendy Williamson Auditorium
7pm (doors open at 6:30) Free!

Well, nothing is free. This is offered by the Confucius Institute at UAA. As I've said in an earlier post, this is sponsored by the Chinese government to promote Chinese language and culture around the world. And people speculate less savory agendas, but no more, I'm sure, than the US and other governments promote with their cultural outreach into other countries. If the Confucius Institute is merely a cultural exchange or a branch of the Chinese takeover of the world*, your taking this opportunity won't have much of an impact on their agenda, but you'll get to experience an art form that has been around for a thousand years or more. [*I'm mostly joking. Even if the worst fears about Confucius Institutes as outposts to monitor overseas Chinese is true, they will play only the tiniest role in China's increasingly important role in the world. And if you take the threat seriously, consider this an opportunity to get to know your enemy.]

The UAA website has a detailed description of the scenes they will be playing so I encourage you to visit that, even print out some of the descriptions before you go. If you take kids, and by all means do, letting them act out the scenes before you go would be great preparation. Let them watch some Chinese Opera videos on line (there are two below). The makeup and the costumes will be spectacular. I think kids can relate to the music better than adults who already have formed notions of what proper music is.

The first video looks like a Chinese television show about modern kids who are studying Chinese Opera. It's all in Chinese, but it shows practicing, putting on makeup, some performances. I think kids can relate to other kids even if it isn't in English. If they don't like this one, find another one and let them dance to the music and play one or two of the scenes described on the UAA website. They'll be a lot more interested when they see the real thing.






From the Illuminated Lantern, a site that reviews Asian movies, I've excerpted this description of the form of Chinese opera, but the whole piece, which is a description of the historic forms of Chinese opera is well worth a peek.

Although there are many different regional styles, they all share many similarities. Each have the same four role types: the female, the male, the painted-face, and the clown. Performances consist of singing, poetry, music, dance, and gesture. Emphasis is on costume and makeup rather than props or scenery. The operas often tell the same stories, though with various regional differences, such as alternate endings or additional characters. The information described within this article will, unless otherwise noted, pertain to Peking Opera specifically, and the regional operas more generally.

We can see four roles here in this description of one of the pieces to be presented Tuesday (from the UAA website.)

Autumn River 京剧《秋江》片段

This story happened during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Scholar Pan Bizheng is staying with his aunt at a Taoist temple when he falls in love with the Taoist nun Chen Miaochang. His aunt finds out and forces him to leave his love behind and go to Beijing to take the imperial examination. When Chen Miaochang learns that Pan is leaving, she runs to the bank of the Autumn River and hires an old fisherman to follow him. The two meet on the road, travel to Beijing and get married.
The role of Chen Miaochang is played by Hua Shan.

Clearly Scholar Pan is the male role and Taoist nun Chen is the female role. I'm guessing the old fisherman is the clown and that leaves the aunt as the painted face, but I'm just guessing.

Don't miss this. Bring the kids. Sit as close as you can or bring binoculars. And since it's free, if you tire quickly, you can leave without feeling you've lost your money. And you'll forever be able to say you've seen Chinese Opera live, and if you're lucky, you'll get hooked.

If you've never heard it before, it is a bit of a shock to Western ears, so check out this video of Teochew dialect opera (the kind I first heard in Thailand) so it will be a bit familiar when you come Tuesday night. This is from yeohts8192289 at Veoh, he's from Penang, Malaysia.