Carving Up Eagle River - If You Only Read One Redistricting Post This Is The One

Why?  Because I've outlined the very basics with a map, some numbers, and video to give you a sense what it's about and why you might want to let the Board members know about your district. If nothing else, watch the video.

This afternoon was the first meeting where the board got together with a computer and looked at the maps with the Census Data and the software for playing with the maps. The video below will show you the level of analysis going into this. 

The Objective

So here's the basic game they're playing.  They have a part of Alaska on the screen.  This is Eagle River - including Districts 17 and parts of 16, 18 and 32.  The board's job is to create 40 House Districts with each as near to 17,755 as possible.  There are other rules they must meet.  This earlier post covers other criteria. But let's just deal with the numbers now.

17,755 comes from dividing 2010 Census Alaska population of 710,200, by 40 House districts.

So they have the state on computers by Census districts down to 'blocks.'  The data base also has information on the political district boundaries, and race, as well as topographical information.

So, this afternoon, they wandered around the state by computer looking at different districts.  Below the maps are numbers.  I'm sorry this picture isn't as clear as it could be, but I think you can get the idea.

On the far left are the current district numbers.  (This map is for downtown Anchorage.)  Then comes the current population of that district.
Then the ideal of 17,755.
Then the deviation from the ideal number as a  % and then as a real number.

I think that's enough for you to understand what they were doing.  The were going through districts, say, District 20, and seeing that it had 18,540.  It's 4.42% above the ideal number, so they were trying to get rid of as many of the extra 785 people as possible.

The next district, 21, is about 8% below 17,155, and needs 1,452 people.

So they would look for the smallest blocks they could move in this computer program, and move them from District 20 to District 21. Then another chunk.  Each time the computer would recalculate the map and give new numbers.

That's how they spent the afternoon.  At least until I left at about 3:30 pm.   At first glance it was pretty casual and the only factor they were really looking at (in non-Native districts - that's another story I'll tell later) was numbers.

There are no board members from Anchorage,  and they moved chunks of districts willy-nilly to see how close they could get the numbers to 17,755 without any understanding of the which neighborhoods fit most closely together.  

I think this may be ok for today.  They were sort of test driving the software to see how this is going to work.   If they keep up like this in the next few days, it will be problematic, but if this is just test driving, then ok.

To get a sense of it, you can watch this video clip of them playing around with Eagle River. 




One interesting thing today is that Kodiak member Robert Brodie sort of took over the afternoon part of the meeting.  He's the one who objected the first meeting when Chair Torgerson suggested morning time for individual board members to work on their own plans.  Brodie wanted to do it as a group.  Well, today they did, but it was almost as though Brodie was doing it alone with everyone else watching him.  Except for Juneau member PeggyAnn McConnochie, the other members were pretty quiet.  So, the two real estate brokers were busy carving up real estate.

In the video you can hear that they don't understand the neighborhoods and which parts naturally fit together.  At the hearings last week, one of the issues that came out very clear was that both the Eagle River folks and the Muldoon folks want to be separated.  But since no one on the board is from Anchorage they really had no sense of what they were hearing.  No one - not even the staff - referred back to that testimony to say, "Well, clearly we should take out this part of Muldoon."

Instead, we get a comment like (paraphrased), "It's amusing to hear people who live ten miles apart say they have nothing in common, while we have [in some districts] people hundreds of miles apart."  While this is true, and I thought it myself when the Muldoon folks were complaining, at this point they need to split people out of Eagle River and people did tell them which ones to take out.  To her credit, McConnochie did mention the testimony, but she said it was conflicting.  I don't remember that it was. In any case splitting Muldoon from Eagle River seemed to be agreed to by all. 

But my eyes glazed over when Fairbanks people went street by street explaining how to divide things, so I understand their confusion.  But I did take notes and I could go back and see what that Fairbanks man said, and I have his name and could call him if I were on the board.  These folks didn't take a lot of notes.  They are waiting for the transcripts. 

It will be interesting to see the dynamics between Brodie and Torgerson as things proceed  One's a realtor who's chopping up real estate by the numbers.  The other is a former politician who I'm assuming sees each precinct as a living and breathing entity. Brodie seems very task oriented.  Torgerson doesn't seem to like to change things once they're set, but he does.

And they have ten more days to do this for the whole State of Alaska.  The draft plan is due on April 14, 30 days after they got the Census data.  Then there are 60 more days for people to present suggestions for changes.

By the way, they did add a lot of stuff to the website and Facebook today.

Alaska Redistricting Board - April 4 - Morning Session

The Board met from a bit after 10am and went into executive session at 11:15  to discuss
DOJ strategies for pre-clearance and potential litigation.
They came back at 12:25pm to add Barrow to list of Post-Plan stops and then adjourned until 1:30pm

Key decisions/topics:

• Lisa Handley of Washington DC has been chosen to help with pre-clearance work and they are waiting for her to sign the contract.  She did this last time and also prepped the committee preparing for redistricting this year.  
• Set up deadlines for post-plan public testimony (May 6) and submissions of plans written comment (May 13).  After that they will not be 'obligated' to review things submitted, but they may.  
• Discussed logistics of how they want to meet and discuss plans they create - in pairs or alone when not at the 2pm meetings.  Decided to start together and look at current map and discuss issues.
• Learned that the computer software isn't doing all the whizbang things they had hoped.  Their GIS person, Eric, said when he put in parameters it didn't do anything.
• Attorney White needs to check on the exact deadline for plan - at the same time they received it or at midnight?
• Legal Issues
• Military population - has to be counted where they are based.  But they will double check on non-resident military.  Wasn't significant number in 2001 but maybe it's more now.  Probably not an issue.
• Prisoner population - Randy Ruedrich has been pushing Board to count prison population at their homes not at prison to help with retrogression issues.  Census data will not be available in time to do this.
• Added Barrow to Post-Plan stops

Below are my running notes on the meeting.  As always, be warned, there are gaps, I missed words, but it should give you a general sense of the meeting until there are transcripts. 


Open meeting at 10:08am
All members present. 

Call to Order
Roll Call
Roll Call STaff
Approve Agenda
Chairman’s Report
- Name of Voting Rights , but haven’t signed contract yet.  It’s in her hands waiting to be signed.  It’s in the Governor’s office.  Someone did rfp, unsuccessful
Lisa Handley, Mrs. Handley was voting rights expert for 2001 efforts and I believe she did some work for the 1990s.  She’s excited.  Hopefully she’ll sign off.  Hoped to have her on teleconference today, but she has to sign. 
She’s out of DC area.  Lot of historical data from 2001.  Eric has put together most of what she needs as soon as she signs.
Brodie:  How many applied? 
2
Brodie:  Who was the committee?
??, Myself, Ron, and ??
Ron Miller:  her mentor Bronfman?, did it in 1991.
T:  We’re behind schedule a bit, she’s very familiar.  Not trying to simplify this, but hoping just have to update the files.
Ron Miller:  She was here last April to meet with Redistricting committee and she provided the needed data.  Let you know when Sean Henderson says the contract is signed. 
Executive Director’s Report:
Ron:  I’m bringing on new staff tomorrow to help Mary with travel.  A person I’ve worked with in the past, a good addition.
What do Board members need as we start intensive sessions. 
Eric is in the corner.  Dept. of Labor picks up his salary, does our computer work.
Person who’s helping Mary can stay up to three months. 

Discussion on Public Deadline for Post-Plan Period
Brodie:  question when we’ll have them ready.  If done before the 14th, can we just hold them.
Torgerson:  Not familiar.  Draft plan preparing now for release on 14th.  We cut off public input on March 31.  Now talking about Post-plan.  I’ve proposed that we end at our Statewide teleconference.  We are missing two board members on 8th and 14th, so second week of May we’ll have three Board members and continue drawing, but not taking any action.  May 6 date for statewide teleconference on draft plan.  Last board chastised for not picking a date. 
White:  Last time they just adopted the AFFR plan, submitted at last moment without any public comment.  Court said, maybe you want to set a time deadline for not accepting more plans.  Different from public input.  Give them a week after the public comment.  Say, not public testimony after 6th, not consider any additional plans after 13th.   Court said, let public know and have a deadline. 
Torgerson:  thinking about 16th because we’re going to be missing board members.
White:  There won’t be any more public hearings after May 6, so not an issue.  People will be revising plans as they hear public comments.  13 or 16 either is ok.  Public comment done on the 6th.  Last date to accept plans if you want to consider them - they can send in anything any time. 
Torgerson:  Our goal is to be wrapped up by June 3rd.  Staff needs time - about ten days - to print documents, seek pre-clearance and other things that need to be done.  Time line is only 3 weeks after 14th to draw plans.  Not the six week it may look like.  Unless there is a way to push back into those three weeks.  Need time to publish geographical data.  Ten days last time Michael?
White:  Have to write geographical descriptions, time to clean up plans, little editing, get it to publisher, etc. 
Torgerson:  Timeline for release to public.
White:  If set deadline as June 3rd soft, board would vote on or about that date - here’s our final plan subject to minor cleanup.  Then back from staff no later than 14th.  Last time voted 3-2.  2 submitted a minority report.  That gives an opportunity for that.

Need to provide staff at least ten days.  At least 7 to 10 days to wrap it up.

Torgerson:  4th is Saturday.  That leaves ten days.  Meet on 14 I’d guess to adopt resolution.
White:  You’ll have the actual final product, that you’ve approved.
Brodie:  Motion May 6 last day for testimony, May 10 last day for submission of written comments, after which Board is under no obligation to consider things.
Torgerson:  question about obligation
Brodie:  Only said that because if someone does submit something with good idea, we could consider, but don’t have to. 
White:  Set a date after which the Board has no obligation, but doesn’t want to preclude itself for considering.  Don’t want people to sue because we considered it, but then you did.  Bob’s motion is probably good, because setting last date board is obligated to consider info.
Seconded by McConnochie.
Repeating motion:  May 6 will be the deadline for public hearing and May 13 deadline for written public comments, plans.  I’m not sure how you put obligated in. 
Discussion: 
Passed unanimously. 
Torg:  6th is teleconference, we’ll be back at LIO.
I asked staff to split shift.  Taylor coming in around noon til 8 or 9 to do cleanups on plans we present.  Don’t need people working 12 hour days.  Eric and Jim will be assigned to members to help draw plans.  Hoping we get into discussion of how to go forward.  Do it in teams of two or individually.  Or global issues that need to be answered.  SEt 2pm every day as board meeting to discuss where we’re at.  Hopefully will have board draft plans to present.  Project on the wall, make presentations and show people thoughts.  How board things it should unfold.
Marie you’re gone on April 13. 
Yes.
Here all day 12th?   Yes
Good, to get draft plans out and get ready for hearing on 18th. 
Greene: Only day missing is 13th, will be here on 14th.
Torgerson:  Midnight on the 14th?
White:  That’s how I understand it, but I’ll check
Torgerson:  We may need the 14th, nice to have it in our back pocket if we need it. Staff may need it for cleaning up our boundaries.  Mr. White please check.
White:  9:45 on the 15th is when we got it? 
cc :  Official receipt from Census bureau.
White:  Never seen it that we would have to be done by 9:45am, I think midnight is good.
Torgerson:  General discussion - team approach, individual?  Taylor is cleanup hitter every night.  SEries of plans.  Southeast, maybe minority districts?  Some tweaking, Have Taylor tweak at night.  Maybe staff do their own plan, another set of eyes.  More possible if have Taylor do that, stagger his time, at night no phones.
McConnochie:  I’d like two days to complete my plan.  Can I use the computer to check all the Constitutional parameters in there and spit something out, I’d like to see what that is.
Taylor:  As far as we know it’s not possible.  The program shuts down .  Let me get ERic.

Torg:  Is the software capable of producing a plan for us if we put in the Voting Rights Act and other parameters?  It’s supposed to do something like that.
Eric:  There is something called Automated ?>>>>> that is supposed to work, but I can’t get it to work.  I’ll check with Fred.  I’ve left it on and it keeps running and running.  ONly parameters I could do is incumbent addresses.  Threshold of % of census group, I couldn’t do that. 

Torg:  Have you tried it regionally?
Eric:  I’ve tried the whole state.  But problem that it takes the whole statewide data and would divide that by the whole state.
Taylor:  Could you try a single borough?  Anchorage would be helpful.
Eric:  I’ll Try.
Brodie:  Thinking about how to kick start this.  We’ve all be doodling plans, I’ve made 5 or 6.  Fisherman came over to house.  I’d like to see us project the current districts now.  PeggyAnn may have some understanding of SE I don’t understand.  I don’t know if I’m dividing in the middle of  a neighborhood.  SE we have 2 or 3 ideas presented.  Is that the way we want to lean.  I’d like to see us altogether look at the same map at the same time.
Torgerson:  We did that in training.  Michaels thought everyone working on same plan at the same time very efficient.  I’m not comfortable, but we can do that.  I spent time trying to run district all the way to Arctic village to make a minority district.  It’s possible, but ugly.  Part of our 2pm meetings.  If we all take SE and come up with ideas of how to do it.  There are no right or wrong answers on how to do that.
PeggyAnn, you think you need a couple of days?  Bob’s suggestion to lay it out.  Some general thoughts.  Going to be a mess to record isn't?  Thinking about the poor transcriber. 
McConnochie:  That’s my preference, but I’ll do whatever everyone else wants to do. 
Torgerson:  We’ll meet at 2 today and start that way.
White:  You might consider having it right here in the room.  Don’t have to figure out who is talking.  If group discussion people talking ideas. 
Torgerson:  How did the minutes look last time?
White:  They did transcription off the tapes.  Lots of indiscernibles.  If you know who is doing it, bring them in once so they can get to know the voices.
Torgerson:  When talking in the group, people talking over each other.
White:  Sometimes just said board member.
Torgerson:  ARe we using just one transcriber?  We had four?
Miller:  Just one right now. 
Torgerson: If using one, that would work - having someone come in to learn who’s who.
Miller:  Last time members helped with the transcripts.  We have several transcribers
Torgerson have to keep in mind and once in a while say your name.  I don’t know how else to do it.  Idea of using six transcribers, is so they have time to get it done and up on the website. 
Taylor:  Bob suggested starting with plans submitted Thursday.  Do you want staff to prep those?
Brodie:  Today, just throw a map up and talk about how to approach this.  Maybe look at stuff submitted.  Just talk about it how to approach it. 
Torgerson:  Actual mapping situation, projector, anything else in mind?
Taylor;  no, laughing.
Miller:  You (Brodie) want to start with existing house districts?
Torgerson:  One question is whether SE is four or five districts.
In my experience half a dozen trouble spots.  You can create them by where you start drawing..  Be in work session when finish our board meeting.

Legal Issues:
White:  Yes, I want to go into exec. session to talk about various
Prisoner situation … Military is pretty clear, constitution requires.  Whether or not board should instruct staff to inquiries to know how many non-resident military there are for retrogression.  Last time said so small - 8900 - couldn’t have any affect on retrogression and didn’t have time to come up with data.  Have to count resident military.
Prisoner population.
Brodie:  Clarification:  Non-resident military and what other term.
White:  Military stationed in Alaska but do not consider themselves as residents. don’t vote here etc.  Census counts them.  Last time 8900 people.
Brodie:  You used another term, military stationed overseas at the time. 
White:  If overseas, you are counted at last US station, they will be counted.  Constitutional charge, - purpose not to discriminate whether you are or not in military.  State can’t not count military.
Torgerson:  Last time you said board asked for those numbers. 
White:  I’m waiting for voting rights expert before making that inquiry. 
Torgerson:  Not that important for our draft plan, or post plan. 
White:  It was pre-cleared in 1990 and 2001 when they did count non-resident military.  Only reason we should do it.  We may have more now and we should know.

Prisoner population:  Discussed with Catherine Clark McCully - Census Bureau.  In first of May they will release block quarter data - large institutional settings where people reside.  It just tells us the block quarter and how many, but no characteristic data attached to that data.  Race not released in first week of May.  In June it will roll out an F1 which will have those characteristics.  We had a request from Mr. Ruedrich that prisoners identified and reallocated to place of resident prior to incarceration.  My sense is we don’t have the authority to reallocate prisoners.  Constitution makes it clear we are to use unadjusted census data.  That would require us to use adjusted census data.  In any case, we won’t have the data to make those decisions. 
Ruedrich’s assertion that allocating natives back to home districts would help prevent retrogression.  But even if we had the data bay June, too late.  It would mean we’d change all the data across the state.  Census doesn’t provide with addresses, we’d have to go to DOC and ask them for all the addresses. 
Greene:  Any numbers floating, breakdowns, of Alaska Natives
White:  I think D of Labor might have some, we could check.  Not sure what DOC keeps.  John might now more than I.
Greene:  It was stated in the testimony.
Torgerson:  I did call DOC, need to check on legal part, before asking for a run - no names and addresses.  We could gut generic about where they are from.  Also confident it would take time for them to make that data.  If it is a Constitutional issue, that’s a high bar.  When we see Michael’s opinion, if a statutory change - get something through the legislature.
Brodie:  I don’t have a good idea of how many people were talking about.  IN paper talking about Wasilla prison.  1000.  If 50% that would be 500, and if spread out over 40 districts, it would be about 15 per district.
Torgerson:  We have 12 prisoners in Alaska.  Out of state we have no authority.  Instate are housed as close as possible to homes.  If from Nome, they try to house in Nome.  I’m not sure the allocation, because of regional assignments, it might not be great - maybe between 40 and 39.  The only one with a big impact would be Spring Creek - maybe 400-600,  That prison would have the most scattered population.  I can still make a call to see how much trouble it would be.
White:  I don’t think it would hurt to make that follow up.
Torgerson: I’m intrigue d by the possibility if it did make a difference to one of our six minority districts.
White:  This whole thing is part of a national gerrymandering movement.  Districts have 30 or 40% of their populations as prisoners.  4 states where this was addressed by statutes.  This is the first go around.  NY and Colorado say not reallocate???, Maryland has followed .  Have to work with software provider. All earmarked money for litigation because matter hasn’t been addressed in court.  Bottom Line:  I don’t think we have the authority anyway.
Taylor:  Only significant increase in Spring Creek.  Wouldn’t that be non-regressive.  Voting age population.  Don’t know if they have the right to vote.  We need to think what the Native groups think.  I don’t think we have the authority to consider it. 
Torgerson:  There are under 21 prisoner.  Used for revenue sharing.  Go into a community with 500 prisoners and allocate that out of there, then you are reducing their revenue sharing dollars.  Could impact their redistricting.  If we reallocated, they would be bound by our decisions on reallocation  If we start with prisoners where do we end up?  Do we go to Pioneer Homes, hospitals, long term care?  Where do we stop.
White:  Reallocation purely for redistricting.  Would have no impact on revenue sharing.  Would be limited solely to redrawing lines for election districts. 

White:  Litigation strategy regarding Dept. of Justice pre-clearance.
11:16 am  They went into executive session and

opened back at 12:25pm. 

Adjourned at 12:28 after adding Barrow to the Post- Plan hearings. 
To return at 1:30pm. 

I forgot my gadget to upload pictures,  Maybe I'll add them later.

Is the Alaska Redistricting Board Hiding?

[UPDATE April 4, 2011:  The staff was still nice to me after this post and they've corrected just about everything I've pointed out.  They've just been really busy and only needed someone to say something and they got right on it.]

How would a member of the public find out that there was an Alaska Redistricting Board meeting Monday, April 4, at 10am at their office at 411 Fourth Avenue Suite 302?

You could look on their website.  Here's what I found on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 10pm.  On their home page, labeled News and Updates:

double click to enlarge and make clear

The last update was March 18 and it's about the public hearings they held around the state March 20-30.  It does not include the March 31 teleconferenced hearing from Anchorage.


Let's check press releases:

double click to enlarge and make clear

Last press release is dated March 8, 2011.

How about public notices?

The most recent one is March 18, 2011 which takes you to the State of Alaska Public Notice Page notice of the Statewide hearings March 20-31. (Yes, this one includes the March 31 meeting.)  But nothing about the Monday meeting.

 How about the Calendar page?

Nothing is scheduled except the draft report being due on April 14.

The Photo page says, "coming soon."  The Frequently Asked Questions page is coming soon too.  If you are in the Calendar page (and only in the Calendar page) and you click on Media - the drop down window shows  Social Media as the fifth option. (It doesn't show from any other window besides the Calendar window.)  It looks like this:

 

But you do have an option to link to their Facebook page.  (And you can see from some of the other screenshots, you can get to Facebook from those too.)  If you go to the Facebook page, you get this:

Nothing here either.  Their FB Info page has the Board's address, Constitutional requirements for the Board,  and list of Board members.

Their Future Events page looks like this:

Their past events page lists all the various meetings they had around the state.

So, given the absence of anything on their website to tell the public that there is a meeting tomorrow, how could a member of the public know?

You could be subscribed to their email service as I am, but I haven't received an email about the Monday event.

If you were in the room when it was announced at the beginning and end of a seven hour meeting on Thursday, March 31, you could know.

Or if you asked the Chair as I did on video on March 20, you would know that announcements are on the State of Alaska Public Notice website.  But even if you know that, you have to find it.

I knew about the site and I knew about the meeting and I'm relatively google savvy, but it still took a few tries.

The first one is for Workplace Alaska, so I skipped it. (It turned out to be the best link.)  I skipped the court one for the same reason. (It turned out to be only for the Court system just as I thought Workplace Alaska would only be for Workplace Alaska.)  If the Governor's page had it, I didn't find it.  The Home, State of Alaska has a tab on top for notices.  If you click on that, and fill in the search window right, you get this:

And if you click on the dim Alaska Redistricting Board Meetings April 4-10, 2011 below the second yellow line you finally get this information:

Alaska Redistricting Board Meetings April 4-10, 2011

Category: Agency Meetings	Department: Redistricting Board
Publish Date: 03/31/2011 Event/Deadline Date:	Location: Statewide Coastal District: N/A

Body of Notice:

Public Notice
Alaska Redistricting Board
Board Meetings
April 4-10, 2011

Alaska Redistricting Board Offices
411 West 4th Avenue
Suite 302
Anchorage, Alaska 99501


The Alaska Redistricting Board announces it will hold Board meetings daily during the period April 4-10, 2011 in the Board Offices at 411 West 4th Avenue, Suite 302, Anchorage, Alaska 99501 to provide progress reports on the Board’s efforts in drawing legislative district boundaries following the 2010 U.S. census. The start times for each daily meeting appear below. All times are ADT.

The Board may also consider administrative and legal matters at the daily Board meetings. Discussions of legal matters may require executive sessions.

The Board meetings are public meetings and anyone needing special accommodations is requested to call (907) 269-7402.

Date Time

April 4, 2011 10:00 AM
April 5, 2011 2:00 PM
April 6, 2011 2:00 PM
April 7, 2011 2:00 PM
April 8, 2011 2:00 PM
April 9, 2011 2:00 PM
April 10, 2011 2:00 PM

Revision History:
03/31/2011 01:14:11 PM by schaight/01/State/Alaska/US
03/31/2011 01:16:27 PM by schaight/01/State/Alaska/US
$$WebClient [Anon]

Could It Be More Difficult?

I'm not sure that they could make it more difficult to find out that this meeting is happening and still be in compliance with the Public Notice Law.

If you simply go to the Alaska Redistricting Board's website there is no notice.

Worse, the website suggests there is no meeting.  The Calendar for April is blank.  The public notice page only takes you to a notice for last Thursday's meeting.  The Facebook future events page says "You have no upcoming events."

The last Board email I got (you can subscribe to get email notices from the Board) was dated March 31 and announced the March 31 meeting in Anchorage.

The board spent eleven days in a row - with one day off - traveling around the state holding seven hour meetings each day.  That means on some days, they had to get up at 4am to be at the airport in time to catch planes that got them to their hearings and then they caught planes back after the end of their meetings (7pm).  They've had a busy schedule.  I don't think they are trying to hide.  Furthermore, this is a very new, temporary organization that has to figure out how to do everything and then close shop in 90 days.

The staff members have been more than nice to me, getting me handouts, answering questions, etc.

But whatever the reason, if there is only the most obscure notice of meetings, the idea of public meetings is a sham.

Given the very political nature of this activity - that the outcome will affect who gets elected to the State Legislature for the next ten years, it behooves the board to make sure the public knows when it's meeting.  Yes, those groups that have a vested interest and a budget will find out when the Board is meeting.  And there's no assurance that public members would show up at any meetings even if there was an ad in the Anchorage Daily News each day.  But as it stands, the website gives every indication there are no meetings scheduled. 

When all this is done, I hope that someone assesses the things that fell through the cracks because of their high pressure schedule and in ten years when this is repeated, that the next group gets some advice on how to avoid falling into the same traps.  A key purpose of this post - and the others on the Board - is to help keep track so the next team has a record of what happened - not just from the Board's perspective, but from an outsider perspective.

How about a stove that let's you know something is burning?

I had plenty of time to think while cleaning out the burnt beans in this pot.

How about a stove that let's you know something is burning?  Or better yet, shuts off the burner if something is burning?  If that's too hard, how about a stove that shuts off burners after say, ten minutes, or 15, or whatever you set it for?  If you need it to cook for a long time you could set it for however long you wanted.  We have irons that automatically shut off, why not stoves?

Not only would that have prevented this burnt pot, but it would mean we wouldn't have to return home when someone says, "I don't remember if I turned off the stove?"

Maybe I was thinking about inventions because I'd read a blog post at cracked.com about seemingly absurd inventions:

• Dry water
• A pedal-powered wheel chair
• An ejection seat for helicopters
• A solar flashlight
• An inflatable anchor
• Goggles for dogs (doggles)

You can see why the author decided these were not gag gifts.  Of course, I always like situations where the ridiculous turns out to make sense.  They remind us we always need to keep open minds and not close off possibilities. 


Before posting this, I decided to check to see if such a stove exists.  I didn't find a stove, but I found a gadget you can connect to an electric stove (we have gas).  Apparently this product is aimed at  "those with dementia who still have good stove skills and judgment."  I think their marketing is way too limited, and stove manufacturers should offer this sort of feature.  Here's how it works:

Electric Stove

• works normally when person is in cooking area
• Automatic timer begins countdown when person leaves cooking area [it has a motion sensor]
• Stove turns off when preset time has elapsed
• Stove turns on again when sensor detects person or when dial is manually turned, depending on the model
• Assess person's cooking skills for safe usage

This is from Thecaringhome.org.

Lady Gaga Goes To Google

Let's say that I am aware of Lady Gaga, but I wouldn't recognize her singing on the radio was hers.  I know that she has more Facebook fans than Sarah Palin, and there were posters for her concert when we were in Berlin last year.  And there was some vague understanding that behind the look, she actually has a musical talent and lots of drive.  And that in Malaysia they've dubbed 'gay' out of her video. I didn't know much.

And so when a Lady Gaga at Google video came to my attention at YouTube, I decided to watch it.  She was there to be interviewed on stage before Google employees before her Oakland concert about two weeks ago.

I suspect some of my readers might be similarly culturally deprived, so here's the

link to the YouTube video.

At the end is her "Born this way" video.


What I got out of watching this 70 minute video was a person with a lot of talent who was something of a freak in her school environment, but worked really hard to make her creative visions come to life - the music, the lyrics, the clothing, the event.  But, as with all famous people blown up into superhuman proportion, she's just a person trying to figure out how to be herself in this world that wants us to fit the mold.

The show was kind of hokey, in a good way, as Gaga answered questions from the moderator - a Google employee - from fans via email and YouTube video, and from  Google employees, some dressed up in Gaga inspired costumes.  For all the glam, it was really very sweet.    But some of the comments [posted on YouTube about the video] were pretty mean spirited and a fair number were flagged as spam or as simply removed.

But they should have gotten her another chair.  She was constantly pulling down her hem.

Lead On! Empowering Youth to Make Changes in their Alaksa Communities

I did a short post about the Pathways (formerly DELTA) steering committee I went to (as a member first, blogger second) in Juneau last month, but I didn't get to follow up with more detail.

One of the things most of the people there noted - most have work connected with domestic violence programs - was being surprised at how much good work is going on around the state.  We hear about the levels of domestic violence, but not about all the people quietly (outside the media's eye) working to make things better.  Events like the Respect March the other day get media coverage, but not the day-to-day work small organizations around the state do.

This is all a preface to this video made from video of the Lead On! Conference head last October.  I promise it will make you feel good. Teens excited about being empowered to make a difference.

Lead On! is a committed group of youth and adults from across Alaska that are interested in positively impacting their communities. Lead On! youth and adults work on projects in their communities to promote non-violence and equality in communities.

Three of the people in the video - Lori Greengrass, Timi Tullis, and Linda Chamberlain are on the Pathways steering committee.  And Ati Nasiah attended the meeting as well.

From the LeadOn! site, here are four of the eleven projects the participants did over the year:

Shishmaref- Youth hunting and survival skills trip

Fourteen youth participated in a three day trip to promote the subsistence lifestyle of their people and share their local traditional hunting, harvesting, and safety practices.  This trip helped encourage youth to understand and appreciate and continue the subsistence way of life that is vital to the tradition and culture of Shishmaref.

Sitka- Respect Campaign 

Fifteen students from Mt. Edgecumbe and Sitka High Schools worked collaboratively to create the Sitka Youth Leadership Committee with the goal of promoting respect and building bridges amongst youth.  Students gave trainings on bullying prevention, held forums to discuss healthy relationships and created PSA’s and posters about respect.

Venetie- Traditional Dance Group

Thirty youth have come together with parents and Elder’s to bring back the traditional dances used to bring the Caribou to their people, which has been out of practice in Venetie for over 14 years.  This project helped unite the community of Venetie and the youth will perform their traditional dance at the gathering in Fort Yukon on July 18-20.

Anchorage-  Sexual Assault Awareness

.  .  .   The second project was working with Standing together Against Rape (STAR) and helping them revise their middle school sexual assault awareness presentation.  They helped create a presentation that was more youth friendly and interactive.

And an excerpt from what one participant says:

For me, LeadON! has been this incredible opportunity to actually gain the confidence I need to make positive changes. I’ve met people and made connections that have broadened my mind and pushed my life forward. I participated in workshops during the conference that were very, very far out of my comfort zone, and found myself actually enjoying being out of my “box”. I got to listen to speakers who were so powerful their messages still stick with me. I heard my peers tell stories about the rough parts of their own life, which made me brave enough to do the same.  Yes, it’s a lot for only a few days!    .  .   .

-          Meryl, Tenakee Springs

"those nights when you can't sleep,it might be because you're awake in someone else's dream film" - More Google Search Terms

It's been a while. Here are some more interesting search terms people used to get here.

samsui women - Google really screws up here.  I posted about a movie called Samsui Women - who had been brought to Singapore to do manual labor.  This searcher was in Singapore.  But Google took the searcher to a post on Ukrainian women.

"my year in germany "  -  How did this one (from Karlsruhe, Germany) get to "How To Pronounce Kalenchoe?" I checked. The comments on this post got into correct and incorrect pronunciation and grammar in general. And in my response, I wrote, "My year in Germany taught me things like why it's "I" or "me" in different cases. But years of teaching also taught me that the actual content is more important than fussing over minor typos. . ."

number of people that had a watch in 1910 - interesting question that wasn't answered here.  Searcher got to famous people born in 1910. 

how move on from ipv "intimate partner violence" and meet new guy - I hope she got some help from the post on a ipv prevention meeting.  Good luck!

how much pfd fund a month i'll get in alaska  - this came from someone in New Haven, Connecticut.  Was the person thinking the oil money dividend we all get each year was worth moving to Alaska for?  He got a page from last year at application time on the Fund . Remember, we all live in igloos, use dog sleds, it's dark all winter, and the one day of summer each year, we get devoured by giant mosquitoes.

those nights when you can't sleep,it might be bacause you're awake in someone else's dream film  -  Wow, that's an interesting thought!  Google guided this Russian image browser to this shot from a post on the movie Inception.  Which is relevant to being in other people's dreams.



how do they get the wires across mountains - This searcher got to a post entitled Man on Wire Raises Interesting Questions - about the movie on the man who walked from one of the World Trade Center towers to the other on a wire.  They got the wire across to the other building with a bow and arrow, but I don't think  they get them across mountains that way.


set up educatoin inside of ten states of south sudanese, then foreigners countries you could think off,or forget it. - A lot of Google searches sound a lot like classroom assignments. This one was a Yahoo search from Kansas City, MO and I like how he added on a bit of what he thought about this assignment.   It didn't say what page he got to here.


how to japanese gift wrap a football - There was nothing about footballs in the post on Japanese cloth gift wrapping, furoshiki.


does idaho exist - I do have a post on this and the importance of studying philosophy, but what struck me about this search is where it came from:

ISP         State of Nebraska / Office of the CIO

did sarah palin and frank prewitt ever work together?  - This got to the review on Prewitt's The Last Bridge to Nowhere.  I don't recall any stories of them working together. 



will my boyfriend in jail know i am corresponding with other inmates on corrlinks - I don't think corrlinks will tell him, but the other inmates might, especially when they want to push his buttons.  My post on email for federal prisoners didn't answer this question.

I think one could write a book of short stories just by creating a back story of google search terms.


oh my god he killed kenny g pat metheny -  I get a fair number of hits on variations of "Pat Metheny on Kenny G" but this is the most extreme to find the posts on this topic.


what famous people were born from illegal parents in american - I'm considering just what 'illegal parents' might mean. They stole the baby? They broke the mommy and daddy laws? Probably the searcher merely meant the parents were criminals. He got famous people born in 1909.

foot bones side
bones of the foot
foot bones  - Suddenly, one day (March 14) I was getting hits with these terms (about a dozen) and going to a post with an xray of my wife's heal fracture. The post has been up almost a year and only today have I noticed people getting there. I googled to see if it had just moved up on google. I went through about ten pages and then switched to google images and still nothing. Then I noticed it didn't say "google." It said "google.ie." That turns out to be google on internet explorer, but when I checked back, I was getting people from google.com as well. But I also found a post at PC world discussing a flaw in google.ie that allows 'politically motivated attacks." It wasn't clear what that meant, but I don't use ie so I'm not worried. Oh, yes, google takes them to "Life's Little Surprises." 
After more hits and more exploring, a picture of foot bones I borrowed for that post - and gave credit for - is high on the google image searches.  (The first person I noticed had clicked on a picture of  my wife's foot xray which I did take myself.)

Mental paradise -  I like those two words together.  I need to stop and think more about the concept.  The searcher found a picture of birds of paradise in the Singapore Bird Park and a page of Singapore posts.  But it must have been ok cause she spent 23 minutes here.

syllables in meandering - Never thought about it, but if you read this word, it would be logical to assume it is  "méan-der-ing" not what we actually say "me-án-der-ing."  Such a good word!  This searcher from India got to a page about Charles Dickens praising meandering at the beginning of David Copperfield. 

    if i give the fbi information does that make me guilty - Some searchers ask questions that make me wish I could call them up and talk to them.  There's obviously an interesting story here from this east coast query.  I don't think the person got the answer they were searching for in the post about the FBI 'whistle-blower' complaint.


things to hate about rafael nadal - There may be some perfectly good explanation for this search, but on the face of it, I find it troubling. Does one have to go looking for things to hate?   The search got to a story on Nadal's coach/uncle.

i know a little bit of this and that blog alaska - I love how the human mind sort of mushes things together and gets close.  If we assume that this blogger actually was trying to get here and was trying to remember the name of the blog, then she would have been conflating the title - What Do I Know? - with the tag line in the heading - this and that as things come up.  Or maybe that person was looking for something else altogether and google delivered her here.

my aunt's husband died we are estranged what to do - Oh Google, how could you do this?  This is where humans beat computer algorithms.  First, there's a talent to writing good search terms and this googler is asking a really open ended question. But evil google saw the words "estranged" and "husband" and took this person to a post entitled Woman Bites Off Estranged Husband's Penis. The aunt's husband is dead google, this isn't the answer.

Julie Kitka: "In democracies, respecting rights isn't a choice leaders make day by day, it's the reason why they govern." (Video)

Thursday afternoon, Julie Kitka, President of the Alaska Federation of Natives, testified before the Alaska Redistricting Board meeting in Anchorage.  Here's a video of her testimony.  She talked about the importance of Alaska Natives getting fair representation in the legislature. 



Sitting next to Kitka is Natalie Landreth, staff attorney Native American Rights Fund.

Afterward, there were questions. Board attorney Michael White asked her, about an issue that came up in Kotzebue:  whether each specific identity - such as Aleut, Yupik, Athabascan, etc. - needs its own separate representation or whether grouping 'Alaska Natives' would be acceptable in order to get large enough districts.


[I loaded this in YouTube because the Viddler connection kept breaking.]

April Fools: Chenault, Costello, Dick, Fairclough, Feige, Foster, Gatto, Hawker, Johansen, Johnson, Keller, Lynn, Millett, Munoz, Olson, Pruitt, Saddler, Stoltze, Thomas, Thompson, P. Wilson, T. Wilson

These are the Alaska House members who voted yesterday to give some of the largest corporations in the world about $2 billion a year in hopes the oil companies will invest more in Alaska oil production. The companies in turn had to guarantee. . .


nothing whatsover. They even said out loud they wouldn't promise anything.



As regular readers know, I rarely take a strong stand on an issue because generally I can see more than one side. Sometimes there are only two sides - the right one and the wrong one. It's hard to find any 'right' in the arguments for passage of HB 110. They are all literally incredible. Those who argue they don't want to lose their jobs or their children's future jobs (many who testified) failed to show the connection between giving these breaks to the oil companies and increased oil production in Alaska. Others worship at the Church of Capitalist Fundamentalism which preaches government is Satan and the market is the miracle cure for everything. They have forgotten (or never knew) that even gods of capitalism, like Milton Friedman, warned of capitalism's

Soon to be on endangered species list in Alaska

failures. Some have forgotten the Bill Allen story, or maybe they think that the reversal of fortune for the FBI and the Federal prosecutors means they have a free period to make deals with oil companies. This last group may be more crooks than fools. I'm sure there are other forms of delusion I'm overlooking.

I heard a rumor that an unnamed legislator slipped language into HB 110 that makes the rabbit's foot the state talisman.  Every Alaskan will be required to carry at least one at all times.

But let's also salute those who voted no (including two Republicans):

Austerman, Doogan, Edgmon, Gara, Gardner, Gruenberg, Guttenberg, Herron, Holmes, Joule, Kawasaki, Kerttula, Miller, Petersen, Seaton, Tuck.

Doing right is its own long-term reward. Thank you!

Should the Senate go along with this (reports are that they won't) the oil companies could possibly make some gesture that looks like the vote caused them to reinvest in Alaska. But they really don't have to and are arrogant enough not to. And if they do, just count the dollar benefit to Alaska against the dollars we would have given away. It won't be close. And will the yea votes and their supporters realize they were taken? Don't count on it. They'll find reasons to explain why 'conditions' changed and they weren't wrong.

Closing Few Folks Testify Before 7pm Adjournment

Bruce Schulte - District 28 (he was here last week)  The map on the wall works for me.  That's all.

Torgerson:  Thank you. 

Communities on tele
Fairbanks, Anchorage, Sitka, Haines, Cordova, Wasilla, Delta Junction, Valdez, Dillingham, Juneau,  Thank LIO offices around the state for hanging in to 7pm.  We'll recess we have 15 minutes.


6:53: Cordova Mayor

Thank you.  Jim Kallander., we want to remain in District 5 with other SE communities.  We understand that Valdez wants us to join them and we have no interest.  Don't want to be part of the pipeline communities.  We're happy where we are. 

White:  If Cordova can't be with SE, what would be your second choice?

Jim Kallander:  I'm not sure yet.  We've taken this stand.  This is my first time going through redistricting.  POlitically it seems pretty nasty to me.  People all over the state, feel like some illegitimate child being tossed around.  Give me some choices so I can talk to council and the community.  Thanks for all the work that you're doing. 

Torgerson:  We'll stand in recess.

7pm Adjourn.  Next meeting Monday at 10am - at Redistricting office.