Without The Rain, There'd Be No Flowers

How is it that when it's flowers, you can post explicit photos and no one objects?  A tulip.

Narcissus with a visitor.

It's a lot easier to the let the leaves and petals catch the raindrops and then shoot them.

Who First Said, "What Do I Know?"

While searching for a post on my blog, I got this tidbit from google:

One of the most important figures of the Renaissance was Michel de Montaigne. The writer not only gets the credit for popularizing the essay, but for being the father of Modern Skepticism, coining the phrase "What do I know?".

 Something you'd think the caretaker of this blog would  know.  Well, I'll take it with a grain of salt.  It could be true, to the extent that anyone can be said to coin a term.  And I'm sure he would have said (written?) it in French. 


So, what do I know?  It seems this blog has taken me on an eclectic journey and I've come to know a lot of seemingly unrelated topics.  I'd like to think they are all connected, at least by the overall theme of the blog - how do we know what we know?  Below I've grabbed the search terms from a recent Sitemeter page.  I think it shows the varied topics that I've somehow gotten to.  (There are 25 hits per page on Sitemeter and I've left out those that didn't have explicit search terms.)   I noticed doing this that a couple of the links went to useless redirect pages.  You can check the Sitemeter listings at the sitemeter logo in the right hand column, down the list a ways.  To see how much detailed information each visitor leaves, click on the number of any hit.

   mark twain jr high school

   tube11

    cat litter technology   

    foot bones  

    elephants eating   

    "seven months, ten days in cap... by david rohde article review   

    calories oatmeal   

    low calorie oatmeal   

    the penthouse club seattle, wa  (This one had the word penthouse, but apparently it was the picture that distracted him)

    alaska state song   

    if you can't sleep at night it...you're awake in someones dream   (This goes to a redirect page,  but another person seeking this got the right page.)

    warren buffett chain e-mail

    picture of fungus gnats   

    define speaking through the chair   

    who were celebrities in the 1910's  (another redirect page, here's where it should have gone)

    hoffmann von fallersleben-helgoland anselm kiefer   

    nayeem mahbub  

Supreme Court Chooses Amended Proclamation Plan, With Original, Not New, SEast Districts

The Supreme Court issued an order today in response to the Redistricting Board

"It is ordered:

1.  The Amended Proclamation Plan adopted by the Redistricting Board on April 5, 2012, including the Southeast Alaska districts as configured in the plan of that date, shall serve as the redistricting plan for the 2012 elections."

So, after ordering the Board to reconfigure Southeast Alaska to only consider the state constitution and not the Voting Rights Act at all, the Board met and worked hard to comply, though they all said they were not pleased with the result.    Now the Supreme Court is telling them to just use the Amended Proclamation Plan with the Southeast districts as they were on April 5.

The reasoning?  The court was concerned about the numerous objections they got over the Southeast Alaska districts and that the Department of Justice wouldn't find the plan in compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

"The court has accepted the Southeast districts as configured in the plan of April 5, 2012 rather than the reconfiguration submitted by the Redistricting Board to the court on May 14, 2012 because of the numerous objections to the reconfigured districts that this court has received.  While the reconfigured districts may comply with the redistricting criteria of article VI. section 6 of the Alaska Constitution, there is a risk that the United States Department of Justice would decline to pre-clear them under the Voting Rights Act.  Notice of the failure of the Department of Justice to pre-clear the new districts would come so late in the 2012 election cycle that a great disruption to the election process would result.  In order to avoid this possibility, the court will not require the use of the May 15, 2012 reconfigured districts for the 2012 elections." 

Two of the judges dissented - Winfree and Stowers - who thought the May 15 districts should have been adopted.

The board also acknowledged the work they put the Board through to get the new districts and commended them for all the work they did.

Politically, this means that Republican Native Representative Bill Thomas will NOT be running against another incumbent and that Republican Representatives Peggy Wilson and Kyle Johansen will be in the same district. 

[UPDATE 9:00pm:  If I'm not thoroughly confused now, this is the map that will be used for the August 2012 primaries and the November 2012 election. ]

Potty Press

As various media are wondering how to survive the development of online media, here's a communication medium I hadn't seen before - the Potty Press.  The message tells parents it's illegal to serve allow underage folks to drink alcohol in their homes.  This is, as best I can tell, a project of the CMCA:

Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol, or CMCA are a community organizing effort designed to change policies and practices of major community institutions in ways that reduce access to alcohol by teenagers by using environmental strategies.

Environmental strategies are focused on changing aspects of the environment that contribute to the use of alcohol and other drugs. Specifically, environmental strategies aim to decrease the social and health consequences of substance abuse by limiting access to substances and changing social norms that are accepting and permissive of substance abuse.

And Volunteers of America Alaska:

Volunteers of America Alaska is a national faith-based nonprofit providing a ministry of services dedicated to the relief of human suffering and the advancement of social justice. Founded in 1896 by Christian social reformers, Maud and Ballington Booth, we continue to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities. We began providing residential substance abuse treatment for adolescents in Alaska in 1981. Our services have grown to include programs to meet needs of children, adolescents, families and the senior community. 

 I'm not sure what the relationship with Alaska Red Ribbon Coalition entails, but they have their logo on the website too:

The Red Ribbon Coalition is funded by the Office of National Drug Control Policy's Drug Free Communities program. Our long-term goal is to reduce substance abuse among youth in Anchorage. The Coalition contributes to the community by strengthening collaborations and supporting the city's prevention efforts. SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework is the model used to assist the Coalition in implementing prevention work. This includes on-going assessments of the community, capacity building, planning & implementation of activities, and evaluation of our efforts. 

And the Office of National Drug Control Policy?  They're the War on Drugs folks:

The Office of National Drug Control Policy was established by the National Narcotics Leadership Act of 1988 (21 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.), effective January 29, 1989, reauthorized through the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1988 (21 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), and again reauthorized through the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (21 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
The Office of National Drug Control Policy assists the President in establishing policies, priorities, and objectives in the National Drug Control Strategy. It also provides budget, program, and policy recommendations on the efforts of National Drug Control Program agencies.

I really have not figured out what I think of all this.  I had no idea where these photos would lead me.  Maybe someone else reading this can tell me what it means.  

Capitalists and Other Psychopaths

That's the title of a recent NYTimes article.  Here are a couple of excerpts:

THERE is an ongoing debate in this country about the rich: who they are, what their social role may be, whether they are good or bad. Well, consider the following. A 2010 study found that 4 percent of a sample of corporate managers met a clinical threshold for being labeled psychopaths, compared with 1 percent for the population at large. (However, the sample was not representative, as the study’s authors have noted.) Another study concluded that the rich are more likely to lie, cheat and break the law. . .

The only thing that puzzles me about these claims is that anyone would find them surprising. Wall Street is capitalism in its purest form, and capitalism is predicated on bad behavior. This should hardly be news.  . . .

In other words, Enron, BP, Goldman, Philip Morris, G.E., Merck, etc., etc. Accounting fraud, tax evasion, toxic dumping, product safety violations, bid rigging, overbilling, perjury. The Walmart bribery scandal, the News Corp. hacking scandal — just open up the business section on an average day. Shafting your workers, hurting your customers, destroying the land. Leaving the public to pick up the tab. These aren’t anomalies; this is how the system works: you get away with what you can and try to weasel out when you get caught.

Read the rest of William Deresiewicz piece,  "Capitalists and Other Psychopaths" at the New York Times.


It's not either/or; not  either complete capitalism or complete socialism.  There are useful aspects of the individualism and competition of capitalism and the altruistic community impulses of the more communal systems.  Each benefits different members of society differently.  Though I would guess there are certain folks who will find their way to privileged positions no matter where they lived.  The psychopaths probably.  And surely we see prime examples in both systems. 

And today is a great time for psychopaths - people who knowingly and with no remorse lie and bully the weak and underprivileged (whether it's talk show hosts or Fox "News" casters) and who champion people people who kill and maim (American military, football players). 

Click here to see common traits for diagnosing psychopaths (also called sociopaths)

A key question for humans in the world today is how to create a system which blends the best of various systems (I don't want to assume that capitalism and socialism are the only possibilities) and minimize the negative aspects of them.

Zeitoun Part 2 - I had no idea where this book was headed

I put Zeitoun down after the last post and did some other things. 

Eventually I picked it back up later in the day.  Armed men (it turned out there was a woman too) were breaking into the front door at Zeitoun's rental property in flooded New Orleans just as he was to call his wife from this one working phone.  He called each day at noon. 

NSWFM, if you're about to read the book, just stop reading this post now. 

The next 20 pages focus on Kathy Zeitoun, in Arizona with the kids, and Ahmad Zeton, the brother in Spain as Kathy begins to fall apart when her husband doesn't call for the next week.  She imagines all the ways he could have died.  And finally, when she's thinking about funerals and life insurance and her future with four fatherless kids, a phone call comes.  And the story takes a turn I never saw coming. 

We then get a harrowing account of the US justice system gone terribly wrong.  I'll stop there.  If you think the Obama administration has problems, go back to Katrina and remind yourself about life under Bush.  This is not a pretty story.  But it's one that Americans need to know. 

In the aftermath of the recent flawed Anchorage election, I hear people telling of other people saying they won't vote any more.  There's no point. 

In the face of adversity, we have a choice to give up or stand up.  About 60% of Anchorage's registered voters did not go to the polls. (35% did vote, but since the voter registration rolls are purged so slowly, many on them really are no longer residents or alive, so I've cut out 5% and it could be more.)  If those just 40% more went to vote, the people who are not slave to a party label, people who are unhappy with the state of affairs and who pay just a bit of attention to the candidates, life in the US could be moved back into a positive direction. 

Dave Eggers, the author of Zeiton, is donating the proceeds of the book to the Zeitoun Foundation which has been set up a number of organizations working to

"aid  in the rebuilding of New Orleans and to promote respect for human rights in the United States and around the world."

Charity Navigator and Guide Star do not seem to list the Zeitoun Foundation.  

The other Eggers book I've read is A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius a book that bothered me.   While I found it interesting, I really didn't want to read anything else by the author.  It left a bad taste in my mouth.  I think I avoided this book because of that. But he's told the Zeitouns'  story well.

I've Been Canoeing Through Katrina Flooded New Orleans . . .

 . . . with Abdulrahmen Zeitoun, who stayed behind while his wife and four kids drove to her sister's place in Baton Rouge.  Born in Syria, Zeitoun made it to the US as a sailor and met Kathy, who had converted to Islam before she met Zeitoun, and married and settled in New Orleans where they started a house painting business and eventually bought rental properties.

As Katrina neared, his shipping captain brother in Spain, who'd been following the Florida storm online, kept calling him telling him to get out.  At first it was good that he stayed.  He was able to move some of their possessions to the second floor, saving books and the TV and the DVD, food from the refrigerator, and family photos. and the kids' games.  He had long ago bought a used canoe and now used it to explore the neighborhood, locating and getting help for stranded neighbors.

Meanwhile his wife, after her sister's place gets too crowded, packs up and drives to her best friend's place in Phoenix.  By now Zeitoun's cell phone battery is dead, but there is a working phone at one of his rental properties on Claiborne Street and he calls every day at noon. 

The water that at first was fresh and clear is now oily and contaminated with who knows what plus floating debris including one dead body.  The military in town are proving less than helpful, treating him like a looter and potential danger.  He keeps resisting pleas from his brother and his wife to get out.  He's been placed here by God to help the people and dogs trapped in their houses that he's been feeding.  He's ok.  The violence they see and hear about on the news is downtown, not near him.   Then he returns to the Claiborne house with the phone and sees a strange boat tied to the porch.  Some guy named Ronnie saw the phone box above the waterline and had come to use the phone.  His friend, Nasser, whom he'd found with his canoe one day and is now was staying with him said he thought Ronnie was ok.  They discover that the water is running in the bathroom and they take showers.  It's nine days after Katrina first hit.  Seven days since Zeitoun woke up to discover the levees had broken and everything had flooded.  Zeitoun comes out of the shower and is about to call his wife when he hears Nasser talking to people outside.

"Zeitoun!"  Nasser called.
"What?"  Zeitoun said.
"Come Here,"  Nasser said.  "These guys want to know if we need water."
Zeitoun assumed it was more men like himself and Nasser  - people with boats who were roaming around, trying to help.
When he put the phone down and looked toward the front porch, he saw a group of men, all of them armed, bursting into the house.  Zeitoun hung up the phone and walked toward the door.

So, with the help of writer Dave Eggers,  I've been elsewhere all morning.  I stopped here, on page 180 of Zeitoun.   It took 20 pages or so before I got sucked completely into this book for my next book club meeting a week from tomorrow.  I decided this time I wanted to finish the book before the afternoon of the meeting.   That won't be a problem.

So this is my way of keeping the blog moving as I also try to do other things I need to get done. 

Anchorage to Mongolia, Mexico, and ???

Anchorage's returned Peace Corps Volunteers had a potluck to send off three Alaskans on their coming Peace Corps assignments.  


Michael Bardwell is headed for Mongolia at the end of the month.  He'll be teaching English there.

Becky Roberts is headed for Mexico.  I didn't know there were volunteers in Mexico, but she said the program started two [7 or 8 - see comment below] years ago and she'll be in group 13.








Jay Stariwat isn't sure yet where he is going, probably sub-Saharan Africa or the Caribbean.


The Peace Corps is very different today than when I went to Thailand (and got my first glimpse of Alaska during a 7 hour stopover).  We were farther away then - letters took at least a week or two to get home.  And the same for the answer to get back.  Volunteers today mostly have internet access.  But security concerns have put a lot more restrictions on volunteers who nowadays have to get permission to leave their towns and are not allowed to ride on motorcycles at all.  But as I wrote not too long ago, Peace Corps volunteers can impact many people they come into contact with in positive ways, and often they are not even aware of their influence. 

Michael, Becky, and Jay, it was a great pleasure to meet the three of you tonight and I wish you great adventures, lots of new friends, lots of patience, and good health.  I think I mentioned River Town by Peter Hessler to Michael because he's headed to Mongolia, and River Town is a fictionalized account of a PCV in China.  A very well done book that conveys his experiences in depth and insight. 

What's Happening With The Anchorage Election?

Recount Tally sheet Mayor's Race

A friend emailed me to ask what was going on since there wasn't much in the newspapers.  I was an observer the afternoon of May 10 and I've been trying to put together a post describing what it was like.  A brief preview

• Observers were given total access to watch the account, take pictures, take video, ask questions (if it didn't disturb actual counting) and the counters were patient and thorough in answering questions.
• Some counters were better than others.
• There hasn't been a recount in a long time and those were for individual close races, not for the whole thing.  This one has only been for 15 precincts.  That means that except for very brief descriptions in the Municipal Code, there are not guidelines for how to do this.
• Thus, a lot of what going on was learning by doing.  Different pairs of counters used different techniques.

City Hall Room 155 - Hand Counting Ballots

Inside "the Vault"

I had the feeling that while some security measures were in place, there were a lot of points where there process was vulnerable.   It felt like Alaska in the old days when everyone knew each other and people didn't lock their doors. I don't think anyone exploited the weaknesses this time, but the recount gives the Muni an opportunity to figure out how to lock all the doors and windows for next time.  Voting machines are too vulnerable to hacking.    The 'vault' (that's what they called it) where they stored the ballots, was actually just a small room on the ground floor with windows along the outer walls.  Using the word 'vault' was probably not a good idea because it conjures up an image of a windowless metal chamber with a giant lock on it. 

Since the Muni has posted a preliminary report  which identifies some sizable gaps in a couple of precincts between the voting machine count and the recount.  Not enough to change any race, but enough to raise questions that need to be addressed.  Some of the precincts were recounted a second time because of discrepancies between the voting machine count and the recount numbers.  

I was told that the newly elected school board candidates have had their swearing in postponed once again.  It won't happen this Monday and the following Monday is Memorial Day.

The Clerk's office is going to hold a press conference on Monday morning.  

Black Diebold bag with Service High ballots

Mel at Bent Alaska has been doing the very best job on the election and you can see her post on the recount that is much more detailed than mine.

LFSGUD

Blue sky, fluffy clouds, snowy capped Chugach, as the temps moved back up into the 60s.

  

The thalictrum (Meadow Rue) is just awakening.