People have been getting to a December 2008 post titled Can You Crack FBI's Code? today. Enough to make me wonder if they had put up a new code.
And they have, only this one isn't a game. But I guess the success of the gamers (someone sent me the answer to the code nine minutes after I posted it) has spurred the FBI to post a real code that they can't figure out. There were two coded pieces of paper in the pocket of a murder victim in 1999. Here's the first note:
You can go to the FBI's site to see the whole story and the other note, and to let them know what it says. I went to the link of the person who solved the 2008 code so quickly and left a message. Maybe he can do this one in 20 minutes.
An article at Alaska Dispatch reports on a study that compares a population of obese Alaska Natives on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta with a similar sized population in the Lower 48. It found the Alaskans had lower rates of adult-onset diabetes and heart disease.
A diet of Alaska salmon rich in Omega-3 fatty acids appears to protect Yup'ik people from diabetes and heart disease -- even when the individuals in question have become obese, according to a recent study that examined eating habits and health in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta region.
Scientists found that Yup'ik people in general consume about 20 times more of the complex fish oils every year than do people in the Lower 48 states, a subsistence-driven cuisine that may actually shield them from many health problems blamed on obesity, junk food and inactivity.
Y-K residents show similar levels of obesity as the overall U.S. population, yet experience far lower prevalence of the adult-onset diabetes linked to poor diet and weight issues -- about 3.3 percent versus about 7.7 percent.
Associations of obesity with triglycerides and C-reactive protein are attenuated in adults with high red blood cell eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids.
But, take this with a grain of salt (no, that's not good for your heart either) since, as the article points out, experts in the past have argued whether something is or isn't good for people to eat.
Alaska public health officials and national diet gurus sometimes clashed in the 2000s, with previous federal guidelines cautioning people against eating too much fish due to potential exposure to mercury, and Alaskan experts urging as much salmon as the plate might hold.
I don't believe there are simple one-to-one cause and effect relationships in health. Many factors come to play. I would imagine that the differences in rural Alaskan life and urban Lower 48 life include a lot of other factors that may be part of the health differences. Maybe the researchers considered all that.
And there's also a discussion in the article about whether eating wild game in general is healthier than the beef Americans consume.
A final note: the article mentions they consulted with local elders before doing the study.
With the support and consultation of village elders, the scientists tested and interviewed 1,003 adults and teenagers spread among 10 southwest Alaska communities between 2003 and 2006 in pursuit of a public health mystery: How were certain people who ate the high-fat diets of traditional subsistence foods able to remain so healthy despite being overweight? [emphasis added]
The Alaska Native Science Commission has a protocol for researchers doing research on Alaska Natives that requires such community involvement in how the research is conducted to protect communities from the of exploitation of past research. For example, the principles include:
The community must be involved as a full partner in all aspects of the research. Continuous consultation and collaboration should characterize the partnership.
The strengths and culture of the community, including community researchers and staff as well as material resources, must be respected and utilized whenever possible.
Written permission must be obtained from the partners before beginning the research projects.
Permission from all individuals participating must be obtained prior to collecting personal information.
The confidentiality of all individuals must be respected. If necessary, the community involved may choose to remain anonymous when reporting the results.
All research results, analyses and interpretations must first be reviewed by the partners to ensure accuracy and avoid misunderstanding.
All data collected belongs to the community and must be returned to the community.
The partners must all be involved in making decisions about the publication and the distribution of all or parts of the research results.
The community must agree to the release of information.
One thing just leads to another. This started out about salmon and health, but everything is interconnected.
StumbleUpon led me to 100 Best First Lines From Novels . Are they really the best? That's a fruitless debate. But they're a good challenge to any writer - even bloggers - to think about how they put words together. OK, now that I've totally blown my own first line here, let's start over again.
His fingers curled up and stopped typing after reading the 100 Best Fist Lines.
It won't win any awards, but it's better than the actual first line of this post. (Fist was a typo, but seemed to fit. I keep losing letters from it. i . . .)
There are lots of good first lines, but this one spoke to me loudest as I went through the list.
41. The moment one learns English, complications set in.
20. Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.
I read #20 last year.
28. Mother died today.
38. All this happened, more or less
45. I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.
54. A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.
63. The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up
66. "To be born again," sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, "first you have to die.
Some are pretty easy to figure out:
5. Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.
14. You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler.
So, fellow bloggers. After you write that first line of your next post, go back and figure out what your point is and how you can say it brilliantly.
I know I sound like a broken record (is there a more technologically current metaphor for this?), but maybe if you hear it enough, you'll start humming along. The Alaska Redistricting Board is meeting today in Kotzebue and tomorrow in Bethel.
The Kotzebue meeting is two hours shorter than all the others. Based on what was said at the meetings I attended, this is due to flight schedules. And given all the down time the board had in Anchorage, and based on the online feed, in Juneau, I'm guessing it's ok. But it might cut out people who would otherwise have come after work.
Anyway, note that the meeting is from 1pm today until 6pm. Don't worry about being there at 1 pm. They are taking testimony whenever people show up.
From the email I got (you can subscribe at their website - they moved it to the top of the right hand column)
The Alaska Redistricting Board will conduct a public hearing on Tuesday, March 29 at the Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly Chambers in Kotzebue, AK.
The Kotzebue district is actually very close to having the ideal population of 17,755 (new Alaska Census population divided by 40 House districts) and may not see any changes. Kotzebue's District 40, as you can see on the chart is just 239 people below that ideal. The 1.35% deviation is well within the acceptable range.
District
2010 Total Pop
2010 # Deviation
2010 % Deviation
Current Rep
Party
Location
40
17,516
-239
-1.35% ☯ ⬇
Regie Joule
(D)
Kotzebue
39
15,642
-2,113
-11.90% ⬇
Neal Foster
(D)
Nome
T Senate
33,158
-2,352
-6.62%⬇
Donald Olsen
(D)
Golovin
37
15,199
-2,556
-14.40% ⬇
Bryce Edgmon
(D)
Dillingham
38
16,055
-1,700
-9.57% ⬇
Bob Herron
(D)
Bethel
6
14,285
-3,520
-19.83%⬇ ⬇
Alan Dick
R
Stoney River
But, Nome's District 39 is down 2,113 below the ideal, not at all within range. Districts 39 and 40 make up Senate District T which is almost 7% below the ideal. So something will have to be done to get these numbers closer to the ideals. (The Senate magic number is (I'm assuming it's just double the house number) 35,510.)
And then there is District 6 which wanders across half the state and is way low and borders all the districts relevant to the Kotzebue and Bethel meetings. Look at the map. How will these other two affect District 39? All good questions to ask at the meeting. As I've said in previous posts, there will probably be lots of dead time between people testifying so there will be a chance to talk one-on-one to the board members.
This is also board member Marie Greene's home town and on the video I did with her last week in Anchorage she said that the leadership in her area is already aware of the meeting and perhaps they're ready to engage the board the whole time they are there. I don't know.
Tomorrow is Bethel's turn.
District 38 is 9% below the ideal and Bethel's Senate District teammate District 37 is down 14% so these two districts are going to be a real challenge for the Board. Especially because of the Federal Voting Rights Act that does not allow 'retrogression' for Alaska Native representation. That's discussed somewhat in this previous post on the criteria the board will use to redraw its lines.
Bethel Public Hearing Advisory
The Alaska Redistricting Board will conduct a public hearing on Wednesday, March 30 at the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center in Bethel, AK.
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2011
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location: Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center
420 Chief Eddie Hoffman Hwy
Bethel, AK 99559
Some questions to ask at the meeting:
Where will you get extra people needed to make Rep. Foster (2,113), Rep. Edgmon (2,556) and Rep. Herron's (1,700) districts ok?
Will District 40, which is numerically fine now, be affected by the neighboring districts which are not?
How will all this affect the Senate seats?
What are your guidelines for deciding where to draw the lines?
Will Alaska Natives lose representation in the legislature?
How does the Federal Voting Rights Act apply to redrawing the lines in all these Districts?
Engage them in conversation about all their criteria for drawing the lines and how they impact the Northwest area districts.
Tell them what communities are most like yours and which ones are not ("socio-economic integration" is one of the criteria)
Ask them to show you how to figure out the numbers in the areas around you so you can help come up with a plan that best fits not only Kotzebue and Bethel, but also works for the neighboring districts.
Thursday will be the statewide public hearing by teleconference through LIO offices around the state and online. People can also attend Thursday's meeting at the LIO office in Anchorage. This will be the last chance for people and groups to present their own redistricting plans to the board. I don't know if people have already done that at the meetings outside of Anchorage that were not teleconferenced. My guess is that people are waiting for the 31st because the gives them the most time to tweak their plans.
I went to the first Business of Clean Energy Conference in 2009 as a blogger but last year I was out of town. Now I'm getting emails announcing the conference will be April 28-29 this year. Governor Ritter heads an impressive list of Outside speakers coming, including Jes B. Christensen, Managing Director, Danish Board of District Heating. It's worth clicking the link.
I really thought I'd posted this video at the time of the conference, but I can only find a draft of the video with Caitlin Higgins (the Executive Director of the Alaska Conservation Alliance.) It was also about the time my son was hit by a car so maybe I was a bit distracted. So here it is now.
There were a number of organizations sharing their messages in the lobby.
There's a quote up on their registration page:
'I think really the focus on energy (in Alaska) started with the discussion that took place at this conference,'
Gene Therriault, former energy policy advisor for Alaska.
Think about it. Therriault was energy policy adviser for Alaska and he thinks the focus on energy (in Alaska) began at the Business of Clean Energy Conference! Let's assume he was talking about Clean Energy and not oil which has been a hot topic in Alaska for 40 years. The first Business of Clean Energy Conference was in 2009. So I'm guessing what this means is, the first time he was aware of clean energy was two years ago. I guess for some Republicans, you have to attach the word Business to a topic before they can get comfortable with it. I can see why the conference would want to be associated with starting the discussion on a topic, but I'm not sure why they want to imply that clean energy wasn't on the agenda in Alaska until 2009. But, perhaps, for the business crowd it wasn't.
As I recall, the hook for the business crowd was that clean energy also meant saving money, and this year with $4 a gallon gas back in town, I would imagine it might be of interest to more businesses.
Last summer I met Spanish blogger, architect, artist, and amazing children's book author, Tomás Serrano. We connected after he left a comment on a post on Exit Glacier. We spent a morning with him and his family before they headed to Chicago and back to Spain. And he left a copy ofSalfón el limpiador de tejados.
Now, his most recent blog post at Waldo Walkiria World - under Blogs of Friends or Acqauintences on the right - announces that Salfón can be read online.
It's at a website called Magic Blox - Your Kid's Digital Book Library. The site has that bursting plastic blocks exclamation point and stars look, and you can only read a few pages without buying a library card. But each of his pages is a work of art worth looking at. And, if you have kids, the library card sounds pretty reasonable - much less than buying just one of the books.
The book is in Spanish, but the illustrations are in human.
By the way, Tomás hinted that one of his cartoons has won a major prize, but he doesn't know for sure until the winners are announced in April. I'll let you know, or you can go directly to his blog. Maybe we can get him back to Alaska - his family seemed to be having a great time last summer and realizing how little they got to see.
The Redistricting Board (See Alaska Redistricting Tab above for more information) takes public testimony at a hearing in Fairbanks. As I type, the meeting has already begun.
Fairbanks City Hall, 2nd Floor
Why should you go? Because they are redrawing the lines for the State House and Senate districts, based on the new Census data that just came out. The ideal size for a district is
17,755
(State's new population divided by 40 House Districts)
In the chart below I've listed the Fairbanks area districts - starting with the ones most over 17,755 to those most below. I've also added two districts that run nearby Fairbanks and which need more people.
District
2010 Total Pop
2010 # Deviation
2010 % Deviation
Current Rep
Party
Location
11
21,692
+3,937
+22.17% ⬆⬆
Tammie Wilson
R
Fairbanks
7
20,982
+3,227
+18.18% ⬆
Bob Miller
D
Fairbanks
8
19,960
+2,205
+12.42% ⬆
David Guttenberg
D
Fairbanks
10
16,548
-1,207
-6.80%⬇
Steve Thompson
R
Fairbanks
9
16,149
-1,606
-9.05% ⬇
Scott Kawasaki
D
Fairbanks
12
14,811
-2,944
-16.58% ⬇
Eric Feige
R
Chickaloon
6
14,285
-3,520
-19.83%⬇ ⬇
Alan Dick
R
Stoney River
All the districts listed are either too big or too small to remain as they are. The most allowable deviance from the largest to the smallest district in the state is 10% (-5% - +5%). But that is the maximum and they would like most districts - especially urban districts - to be within 2% of the magic 17,755.
So there will be changes. Where will they draw the lines? That's why you need to go to the meeting. To let them know what makes sense to have "socio-economic integration" (one of their mandated criteria.) You can see all their criteria here.
The hearings have already started. But they last until 7 pm and if it is like the Anchorage meeting, there will be a few people showing up to testify on and off throughout the period. So the board will be there with time on their hands. And you can talk to individual board members during the breaks. They'll have maps of the Fairbanks districts and you can show them what makes sense and what doesn't.
I know, you are probably saying you know nothing about this so how can you testify? Well, there will probably be a lot of down time - if Anchorage is any guide - and so you can talk to the board members and let them show you the maps and informally talk about your districts.
You can ask them questions like:
Where will you get extra 1,600 people needed to make Rep. Kawasaki's district ok?
Who will you take out of Tammie Wilson's district to make it work?
Ask them what their parameters are?
Ask them how the Federal Voting Rights Act will apply to redrawing the lines in Districts 6 and 12.
Engage them in conversation about all their criteria for drawing the lines and how they impact the Fairbanks area districts.
Tell them what communities are most like yours and which ones are not ("socio-economic integration" is one of the criteria)
Ask them to show you how to figure out the numbers in the areas around you so you can help come up with a plan that best fits not only Fairbanks and North Pole, but also works for the neighboring districts.
Jim Holm and 3 other members during Anchorage break
Fairbanks folks have former Representative Jim Holm as their representative on the board. Does he hold any resentment for Kawasaki for beating him in 2006? Will he try to make that district friendlier to Republicans next time? I'm just throwing out questions here. I have no idea. That would be against the rules for redistricting. But how can you prove motivation? So, you need to go and let the board know what makes sense from your perspective.
Here's the email announcement (you can sign up to get on their email list on their homepage - lower right):
March 27, 2011
Fairbanks Public Hearing Advisory
Anchorage, AK - The Alaska Redistricting Board will conduct a public hearing on Monday, March 28 at the Fairbanks City Hall Chambers in Fairbanks, AK.
Date: Monday, March 28, 2011
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location: Fairbanks City Hall, 800 Cushman Street, 2nd Floor, Fairbanks, AK 99701
As indicated in the amended public hearing notice published on March 21, 2011, the Alaska Redistricting Board may conduct a brief Board meeting at the beginning of any pre-plan public hearing to discuss administrative matters.
Such a Board meeting will take place at 12:00 p.m. prior to the start of Monday's public hearing. The purpose of the Board meeting is to consider adoption of a schedule for public hearings to be held after the Board releases proposed Redistricting plan(s).
If you plan to attend and are in need of assistance, please contact Board staff by telephone at (907) 269-7402 or email at info@akredistricting.org.
The Alaska Redistricting Board is responsible for redrawing Alaska's legislative election districts every ten years after the federal Census. For more information about the redistricting process in Alaska, please visit http://www.akredistricting.org.
###
CONTACT:
Alaska Redistricting Board
411 W. 4th Avenue, Suite 302
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 269-7499
Email: info@akredistricting.org
A March 23, 2011 LA Times article says that the FDA is planning to require theaters to disclose the nutritional value of their snacks, including popcorn. And the theater owners aren't happy.
Some highlights of the article:
Lots of Calories
A 2009 survey based on laboratory tests commissioned by the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington found that a large popcorn serving contained as much as 1,460 calories — which is the equivalent of eating nearly three McDonald's Big Macs.
The center's survey of the nation's three biggest chains found that a large popcorn at Regal packed 60 grams of saturated fat and 1,200 calories (260 calories more with butter topping), and the equivalent size at AMC theaters had 1,030 calories and 57 grams of saturated fat. A large popcorn at Cinemark, which uses canola oil, had 910 calories and 4 grams of fat.
Lots of Profits
As David Ownby, the chief financial officer of Regal Entertainment Group, the nation's largest theater circuit, recently said at an investor presentation, "We sell a bucket of popcorn for about $6. Our cost in that $6 bucket of popcorn is about 15 cents or 20 cents. So if that cost doubles, it doesn't really hurt me that much."
Lots of Denial
They argue that the proposed rules are an unwarranted intrusion into their business because people visit theaters to consume movies, not food.
"We're not restaurants where people go to eat and satisfy themselves," Gary Klein, the theater trade group's general counsel, said. "It's dinner and a movie, not dinner at a movie."
Except that:
Theater operators . . . generate up to one-third of their revenue from selling popcorn, sodas and other snacks.
According to the article such disclosures are already required in California and New York City.
But theater executives contend that such disclosures should be voluntary and that they're only selling customers what they want.
"The average person goes to the theater four times a year," Klein said. "I don't think they care."
Corporations have incentives to resist giving out information that would allow people to make better choices if that might impact their bottom line. Same as the oil companies aren't promising anyone in Alaska that the $2 billion tax reductions will lead to more investment in Alaska. Trust us, we're here to take your money. And we don't care what happens to you.
UPDATE April 2, 2011: The New York Times reports that proposed rules exempt theaters from disclosure:
The federal government on Friday released proposed rules requiring chain restaurants and other businesses that serve food to post calorie counts on menus and menu boards. But after objections from theater chains, the rules give a pass to those box-office snacks — even though a large popcorn and soda can contain as many calories as a typical person needs in a day.
The new disclosure rules also exempt alcoholic beverages served in restaurants, including beer, wine and high-calorie mixed drinks like margaritas and daiquiris.
The Food and Drug Administration said it would accept consumer and industry feedback on the rules before finishing them, hopefully by the end of this year. They are expected to go into effect some time next year, said Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods at the F.D.A.
. . . imagine that same camera also snaps a photo of your car when you are driving at or under the speed limit. For your safe driving, you are entered into a lottery to win a portion of the money from fines paid by speeders.
That idea was tested in Sweden with great success. It's an example of "gamification," considered the next wave of social engagement and Internet technology.
This was something I learned teaching sixth grade. Kids want attention. If they don't know how to get positive attention, they'll settle for negative attention. So if you focus on the kids who are behaving well, that's the attention that others will mimic. (Even for those who are problematic, you can focus on them in those times when they aren't acting out.) And those same principles work here. We do what we are rewarded for.
So, for a long time I've thought we should use techniques similar to the speeding lottery to encourage other behaviors we want people to do. Here are two examples:
1. Income Tax Lottery: Your lottery ticket is your income tax form. There need to be lots of winners here - maybe one big win nationally, one smaller win per state, and lots of
little wins. There might even be fewer and less lucrative prizes for people who file late. I'm sure this would increase the number of filers, and the cost of the prizes would be less than the increase in tax revenues.
2. Voting Lottery: Your voting stub is your lottery ticket. Now, I must admit, I'm not completely sure about encouraging people to vote with a cash incentive. Maybe there are people who know so little about the candidates that they shouldn't vote. But my gut feeling is that lots of people have so little faith in elections that, while they're informed, they just don't vote. But it's clear that these people, if they voted, could transform the US.
The other word they used to describe this is 'gamification.' Here's a post from the gamification blog that talks about using games to make citizen participation more interesting. When I was a graduate student, we had these huge role playing games that took all day and mimicked city government. These were done without computers so they were kind of cumbersome. But people were often given roles opposite to the ones they actually play. Officials played business owners and vice versa. People had to create budgets and city priorities. It's my understanding that things like SimCity evolved from these kinds of games.
Government is one of the most exciting games around and if it got the same sort of attention that sports gets, and people understood who all the players were and the rules, then people would get much more involved. The challenge of getting people to see their common interests, learn to work with and eventually trust others, is what civilization and the most noble aspects of humanity are all about.
We just need a little imagination and the ability to be playful with ideas we take for granted.
