Is Terrorism a Hate Crime?

People get upset over anti-American attacks, like the consulate attack and deaths in Libya.  There's something about terrorist attacks against Americans that adds, literally, insult to injury for most Americans.  Terrorist attacks take, collectively, a minor toll on American lives compared to many other causes of death we pay little attention to.  But they get media attention far out of proportion to their actual impact.  From the Cato Institute, for example:

Any violent crime is terrible, but terrorism is extremely rare in the United States. The risk that any given American will be killed by a terrorist is about the same as the chance that a randomly selected high school football player will one day be a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl. One's chance of being killed in a terrorist attack is many times less than one's chance of drowning in a bathtub or being killed by a fall from scaffolding or a ladder. We would not adopt the "if it saves one life'' theory to justify a ban on bathtubs, even though hundreds of lives would be saved each year. Accordingly, America should reject terrorism legislation that will probably not save any lives and that demands that Americans give up things far more important than bathtubs.

But emotionally, we are far more affected by terrorism than other causes of death.  We've been willing to compromise basic freedoms to prevent terrorism and punish terrorists  (ie, assassinations, habeas corpus violations, 'extraordinary rendition').   We've been intimidated by terrorists (or manipulated by politicians using terrorist attacks as an excuse) to spend huge amounts to invade the privacy of every airline passenger.  We've committed violence to our justice system to punish those we call terrorists.  The Obama administration's attempt to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a New York federal court instead of a military court, for example, caused sharp protests.  From the Carnegie Council:

The response of prominent members of the Bush administration and other leading Republicans to the announcement was swift, as they accused the Obama administration of failing to understand the danger of trying a terrorist on US soil. A secondary concern, expressed at Attorney General Holder's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 18, was that the trial would give the accused the chance to avoid conviction. The protections of a legal team and the vagaries of juries, it was argued, could result in a suspected terrorist escaping justice. 

There is no presumed innocence until proven guilty for terrorists here.  Somehow these crimes are different, are more heinous, are less deserving of the American justice system.
 
The Patriot Act was passed, in part to increase the penalties for terrorists.
From the Department of Justice website:

4. The Patriot Act increased the penalties for those who commit terrorist crimes. Americans are threatened as much by the terrorist who pays for a bomb as by the one who pushes the button. That's why the Patriot Act imposed tough new penalties on those who commit and support terrorist operations, both at home and abroad. In particular, the Act:

• Prohibits the harboring of terrorists. The Act created a new offense that prohibits knowingly harboring persons who have committed or are about to commit a variety of terrorist offenses, such as: destruction of aircraft; use of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons; use of weapons of mass destruction; bombing of government property; sabotage of nuclear facilities; and aircraft piracy. 
• Enhanced the inadequate maximum penalties for various crimes likely to be committed by terrorists: including arson, destruction of energy facilities, material support to terrorists and terrorist organizations, and destruction of national-defense materials. 
• Enhanced a number of conspiracy penalties, including for arson, killings in federal facilities, attacking communications systems, material support to terrorists, sabotage of nuclear facilities, and interference with flight crew members. Under previous law, many terrorism statutes did not specifically prohibit engaging in conspiracies to commit the underlying offenses. In such cases, the government could only bring prosecutions under the general federal conspiracy provision, which carries a maximum penalty of only five years in prison.
• Punishes terrorist attacks on mass transit systems. 
• Punishes bioterrorists.
• Eliminates the statutes of limitations for certain terrorism crimes and lengthens them for other terrorist crimes.

There is something different about a lone angry man shooting up a theater and a terrorist who does the same thing.  The latter apparently commits a crime that is even worse than the former.  It's murder plus. One difference seems to be intent.

Here's how the US Congress has defined terrorism 18 USC §2331 from Cornell Law:

As used in this chapter—

(1) the term “international terrorism” means activities that—

(A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;

(B) appear to be intended—

(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

(C) occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum;

These are acts as 1(A) tells us, that are already illegal and now are getting the extra label of terrorism added to them.  

The Justice Department defines Hate Crimes on its website :

Hate crime is the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability. The purveyors of hate use explosives, arson, weapons, vandalism, physical violence, and verbal threats of violence to instill fear in their victims, leaving them vulnerable to more attacks and feeling alienated, helpless, suspicious and fearful. Others may become frustrated and angry if they believe the local government and other groups in the community will not protect them. When perpetrators of hate are not prosecuted as criminals and their acts not publicly condemned, their crimes can weaken even those communities with the healthiest race relations. 

What the two acts - hate crimes and terrorism - seem to have in common are:

• Violence
• Intent to intimidate (and I think coerce plays a role in hate crimes too, though the word isn't used in the definition above.)

If you read white supremacist or white nationalist websites, there is also a clear  goal to change government policies related to race (usually separate the races to save whiteness)  and there is talk of inevitable civil war in the US.  I won't link to those sites, you'll have to find them on your own.

Given the similarity between terrorism and hate crimes, why is there opposition to hate crimes laws by people who support anti-terrorism laws?  

For instance a statement by House Majority leader Boehner (from CBS News):

All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance," he said. "The Democrats' 'thought crimes' legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others. Republicans believe that all lives are created equal, and should be defended with equal vigilance."

To be fair to Boehner, CBS contacted his office to see if he objected to all hate crime legislation or just adding gender and sexual orientation:

In an email, Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner "supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics."

It should be noted that the current law does not include gender, though the expanded legislation would cover gender as well as sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

"He does not support adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes," Smith continued.

Of course, religion is NOT an immutable  characteristic.  People choose to change religions all the time and while individual sexual acts may be choices, sexual orientation surely isn't.  But that's besides the point here.

Another legislator also saw the idea of hate crimes as creating "thought" crimes:

Rep. Tom Price, who heads the GOP conservative caucus, also complained last week that the expansion of hate crimes legislation amounted to "thought crimes," and he labeled the bill's passage – tied to a defense bill – an "absolute disgrace."

But contacted about his position on hate crimes legislation overall, Price took a different position than Boehner. According to Price communications director Brendan Buck, the congressman opposes all hate crimes protections, including existing ones.

"We believe all hate crimes legislation is unconstitutional and places one class of people above others," said Buck.

Intent, of course, is the basis for finding someone guilty of murder.  No one cries "thought police" there.  And despite the law, despite Boehner's assertion that "all lives are created equal, and should be defended with equal vigilance,"  the ACLU points out that some murder victims get less vigorous legal attention than others. 

While white victims account for approximately one-half of all murder victims, 80% of all Capital cases involve white victims. Furthermore, as of October 2002, 12 people have been executed where the defendant was white and the murder victim black, compared with 178 black defendants executed for murders with white victims.

The emotional attachment of the public and of officials affects how they react to events.

The hatred of a specific group of people makes a normal crime into a hate crime.  It's not  just about the criminal and victim, but about all people who share the targeted characteristic of the victim, whether it's race or religion or gender.

In terrorism, we have the same reaction - it isn't about what the victim did, but who the victim was - an American.  I'm an American, so I too could be randomly victimized if I'm traveling abroad.    The impact is wider and stronger because of the intent of the terrorist to use violence to intimidate anyone who is a member of the group American, just as in hate crimes.

Where's this all going?

I would hope that at least some of the readers can see where this is leading.  For some people - especially those who live in a society in which they are among the dominant population (ie a white male Christian in the US) and are never victimized because of their personal characteristics - it is hard to understand the effect of hate crimes on individuals within that group and on the group collectively.  (Though some people who call themselves Christians claim they are discriminated against.)

It seems to me that when the idea of America is attacked - as when the world trade center was destroyed - Americans react the same as members of traditionally victimized groups (racial and religious minorities, women, gays, etc.).

Even if they can't feel  what an African-American feels when seeing a Confederate flag, perhaps they can understand it's the same way they feel when they see video of planes crashing into the World Trade Center.  It doesn't diminish their feelings to know that the Confederate flag can cause the same feeling to many African-Americans.  It's like translating an emotional context from one culture to another. 

That, of course, assumes logic and consistency, and a real desire for the ideals of democracy and freedom.  There are many who are too fearful to be concerned about anyone else.  There are many whose goals are simply personal benefit and for whom American ideals are merely tools to use to get their own way. (Using American slogans to convince people to vote for them.)

And, there are some who, while emotionally impacted by crimes against the US, would advocate that terrorists deserve no more and no less punishment than those who commit similar crimes without an ideological or political motive.

But deep down, we're all humans who should be able to understand all this.   Even Clarence Thomas spoke up when the Supreme Court considered a cross-burning case and convinced his black robed colleagues that cross burnings were more than free speech, they were acts of intimidation.

Symbolic acts can intimidate and cause other real harm, beyond any direct physical harm to the victim. 

1 800 695 6950

I keep getting calls from this number.  When I pick up the phone, there is no response.  So when I see the number I don't pick it up.  But it's annoying.  Like when they called this morning at 8am.

I googled 1 800 695 6950.  

EveryCall identifies the number as coming from HBSC.  So does Mr.Number.

Here are a few comments on 800 Notes

• FYI replies to bg

  4 Jan 2010
  HSBC CREDIT DEPT
• 
  

  dave replies to bg

  13 Oct 2011
  It's HSBC credit... "Best Buy"
  There real good at harassing people!

DH

9 Dec 2009

Called my cell phone before 8:00 AM. Didn't answer since there was no caller ID other than the number and it was too early in the morning to deal with another telemarketer. Bad enough you get called by some of these clowns at all, much less at 7:30 AM!

martha replies to DH

13 Apr 2010

it is against the law for any creditors to call before 8 am and after 8 pm... you can tell them that you will report them . and to stop harrassing you.

• 
  

  Not Gonna Answer replies to martha

  4 Jan 2012
  Debt collector can call between the hours of 8am and 9pm. they get 13 hours to try to get ppl to answer their phones.

I don't have an HBSC credit card.  I don't owe Best Buy any money.

Callcenter has this comment:

These guys call me 12 to 13 times a day. If you answer there is a machine telling you to wait for someone to answer, if it goes to voice mail you get 2 minutes of the computer telling you to wait. Please tell me where these guys are at so I can go visit them. I called HSBC and they say this is a phishing site. When I call the number back directly and fight through the system I get somebody in the Phillipines who wants all my personal information.......Yeah right

From what I can tell, these websites don't tell you the owner of the number, but they take complaints about phone numbers and people commenting tend to identify the offender. 


So I looked up Do Not Call List.  We registered there a long time ago.  I wasn't sure about the website.  To check if I was registered they wanted my phone number and an email address to send back a confirmation.  But it was a .gov address which is good.  Nevertheless, I checked further and found an FCC website that talked about the Do Not Call List and confirmed the website address.

When I filled in the information (phone number and email)  to check if I was registered, I got an email thanking me for registering and I could complain after 31 days.  Whoa.  I didn't intend to register, I wanted to make sure I was still registered from before.

I looked back on the FCC website and it had a phone number to call.  You had to call from the phone you were checking about.  That said I'd registered sometime in 2007 or 2008.  It happened fast and I wasn't thinking and didn't write it down.

I went back to the Do Not Call List website and filed a complaint.  I meant to mention that their website link for checking if you are already registered didn't work right, but I forgot.  When I clicked the file a complaint link, it said it was already received, so I couldn't add anything.  

I can't verify that any of the information I found on any of the websites is accurate, I can just tell you what I did and what I found.  I'm not sure what I want to do next time the number calls.  Probably just let it ring.  They never leave a message. 

[UPDATE 10:30pm - they called again this afternoon after I posted this as I was about to walk out the door.  I answered and this time there was a person on the other end.  It turns out these people now do Costco credit.  Last month I didn't get my Costco bill on line and when I emailed them, they wrote back and apologized that none of the online bills had gone out.  (Because HBSC took over?) I called back yesterday to find out what the story was and settled the bill.  There was no way I should have had these jackals calling me at this point.  Now I have to figure out to whom I should complain about this at Costco.]

Crowded Bike Racks, More Downed Trees, and Flying Debris, Cason and Cage

Wasn't quite sure what to make of this sign.

 The bike rack in front of the UAA administration building was full, and even had a notice on where the nearest backup rack was.  Five years ago this never would have happened.

Drew Cason spoke tonight at the UAA bookstore on a project he did this semester - landscape value mapping in the University district.  Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) he mapped survey data to specific spots in the university area.  Cool project.


Tomorrow there will be a presentation in the same spot - upstairs in the campus bookstore, where they sell computer equipment - celebrating composer John Cage's 100th birthday.  Sean Licka from Art,  composer (and blogger) Phil Munger from Music, and Chris Sweeney, also Music, will be there to comment on Cage's music and life.

Cage is considered one of the great, if non-traditional, American musicians of the 20th Century.

3-5pm at the UAA bookstore - free admission and free parking

Thursday September 13, 2012

"I was disturbed both in my private life and in my public life as a composer. I could not accept the academic idea that the purpose of music was communication, because I noticed that when I conscientiously wrote something sad, people and critics were often apt to laugh. I determined to give up composition unless I could find a better reason for doing it than communication. I found this answer from Gira Sarabhai, an Indian singer and tabla player: The purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences. I also found in the writings of Ananda K. Coomaraswammy that the responsibility of the artist is to imitate nature in her manner of operation. I became less disturbed and went back to work." John Cage

Evening walk to Goose Lake Tuesday night.

And more downed trees. 

This one even took out the bottom of the chain link fence when it toppled over pulling up its roots and a good chunk of earth.  Saw a number like this one - the earth pulled up, not the fence.

Become An Arctic Oil Expert in Just Ten Minutes a Day

The Anchorage Daily News Tuesday reported that Shell has halted drilling on the Chukchi Sea.

Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said drilling was stopped as a precautionary measure in accordance with its ice management plan. (emphasis added)

This isn't hard, but it is complicated.  Just give me ten minutes a day scattered over the next months and you can dazzle your friends and enemies with your knowledge of Arctic oil drilling. (I'm hoping I will figure some of this out too by the end of this exercise.)  I'm going to give you info in small chunks.  If by the next big oil spill, your friends aren't amazed at your brilliance, you'll get double your money back.  No questions asked. 

Today we're going to look at some charts from the Ice Management Plan (IMP).  I know, who wants to read charts?  Trust me, it's easier this way.  I'm just asking for ten minutes.  Surely you spent (or will spend) more than ten minutes today doing something something frivolous.  Now's your chance to balance your karma.  And enhance your self-worth. 


So, what's "in accordance with its Ice Management Plan" (mentioned in the quote above) mean? 



Here's the chart explaining the alert levels for ice warnings:

[The "T' (TIME) acronyms are explained in the right column of the second chart.]

Screen Shot from Ice Management Plan p. 9

	IMP ACRONYMS FOR CHARTS	TIME
VMT	Vessel Management Team. This team is headed by the Drilling Vessel Master and includes the Shell Drilling Foreman, Rig Superintendent, Drilling Vessel IA and the Chief Engineer.	MT	Move-off Time. The time required to clear decks on the anchor handler recover all anchors conventionally and move off the drill site in an orderly fashion.
IMV	Ice management vessel. Any ice class vessel tasked with ice management duties in support of the drilling vessel. This includes the primary ice management vessel (IMV) and the ice class Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS)	ST	Secure Time. The time required to secure the well, disconnect the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) from the blowout preventer (BOP), recover and secure the riser.
SIWAC	Shell Ice and Weather Advisory Center located in Anchorage. The center develops forecasts from various sources, and disseminates same.	T-Time	Total Time. The sum of ST + MT.
IMV Master	Ice Management Vessel Master	HT	Hazard Time. The estimated time it will take for hazardous ice to reach the drill site.
PIC	Person In Charge
IA	Ice Advisor	COCP	Critical Operations Curtailment Plan
AHTS	Anchor handling tug supply	LMRP	Lower Marine Riser Package

HTML Tables

The next charts can be seen clearly if you click on them.  You can see the the originals at pages 11 and 12 of the Ice Management Plan (pdf). If you read closely, you'll see this is mainly about who has what responsibilities.  It doesn't tell us much about what they actually do to shut down the well head and secure

Click to see clearly

Click to see clearly

I had a lot of trouble figuring out what exactly they did.  I kept reading vague language  and  phrases like "Commences securing well in accordance with agreed upon plan, informs VMT of progress."  But where's the agreed upon plan?

Finally in Attachment 4, we get some detail.  Presumably these are the things that needed to be done to shut down the well.

Attachment 4 – Well suspension Options and Contingencies
In all the following well suspension scenarios, the assumption is that a determination has been made by the Shell Drilling Superintendent, the Shell Drilling Foreman, the Drilling Superintendent, the Drilling Vessel Master and the VMT that a hazard exists and the well should be suspended. The Shell Drilling Foreman and the Drilling Superintendent in conjunction with the Shell Drilling Engineer and the Shell Drilling Superintendent will have analyzed the trip time, borehole stability, well control issues, operational parameters, depth of hole, and time available to decide upon the contingency steps most appropriate for well securement, and a detailed procedure will have been worked up. The Shell Drilling Foreman then presents the procedure to the BOEMRE Field Representative aboard the drilling vessel for comment and concurrence.
Well Suspension Scenario 1 – Mechanical Plugging
1.    After determining that the well should be suspended under the assumptions described above, the Shell Drilling Foreman orders the Drilling Superintendent to stop all normal drilling operations and to commence circulating the hole.
2.    The driller completes circulating at minimum a full “bottoms up.”
3.    The drilling assembly is pulled out of the hole and a mechanical packer suitable to the last casing or liner size is made up on the bottom of the drill string.
4.    The packer is tripped in the hole, set approximately 200 ft above the last casing or liner shoe depth and pressure tested.
5.    Depending on actual water depth, sufficient pipe is pulled to enable having the end of the string 200 ft above the top of the packer when hung off in the wellhead via the hang-off sub (HOS).
6.    A full-opening safety valve and an inside blowout preventer (BOP) are made up in the top of the drill pipe, and one additional joint is added above these valves. The HOS is installed in the top of this joint. (The full opening safety valve is left in the open position.)
7.    The HOS assembly is run in the hole on drill pipe to land the HOS in the wellhead bowl.
8.    The proper hydraulic fluid volume to actuate the BOP stack is confirmed by the Subsea Engineer and the system operating pressure is checked. Pipe rams in the BOP are closed on the HOS profile. The drill pipe is backed out from the HOS and the landing string is pulled from the riser. The blind/shear rams are closed and locked above the HOS. BOP failsafe valves are all left in the closed position.
9.    The master bushings are removed and the riser spider is installed.
10.    The diverter handling tool is made up and the diverter assembly is laid down.
11.    The riser landing joint is made up into the slip joint inner barrel. The slip joint inner barrel is collapsed and the inner barrel is locked.
12.    BOP stack functions are blocked, and the LMRP connector is unlocked.
Shell Offshore Inc.    41    May 2011
Ice Management Plan    Beaufort Sea, Alaska
13.    The LMRP is pulled off the top of the BOP with the block motion compensator and riser tensioners.
14.    Once the Shell Drilling Foreman has ascertained that the LMRP is released from the BOP, he advises the Drilling Vessel Master that he is free to initiate (or continue) mooring recovery and departure procedures.
15.    The drill crew and Subsea Engineer pull the landing joint to surface. The landing joint, slip joint and riser are then layed down and the LMRP is secured on deck.
16.    The Drilling Vessel Master confirms with the IA that the Ice Alert Level has reached “red” status (ice hazard is due to arrive within 6 hours of completing anticipated mooring recovery time). The Drilling Vessel Master advises the Drilling Superintendent to have the Subsea Engineer shear guidelines loose from the top of the BOP guideposts and to retrieve the lines to surface.
17.    The drill floor and moonpool area are cleared and inspected in preparation for mobilizing the drilling vessel.
18.    All decisions and supporting facts are recorded on the Daily Report and issued to the BOEMRE, SIWAC, and the normal distribution list.

This is just scenario 1. There are four more scenarios with different possible events. Actually Scenario 1 isn't what happened because they only started drilling on Sunday.  According to this video on the Shell website, the first drill is a small (8.5" drill bit) that is a test to see that there are no obstructions or no unexpected pockets of gas. This drill is supposed to go 1300 feet down.  You can watch the video yourself.

And Sunday's ADN confirms this is a pilot drill.

By 6:30 a.m. Sunday, crews had drilled more than 300 feet into the ground for a narrow pilot hole that will eventually be about 1,400 feet deep, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said. It's used to check for unexpected natural gas pockets, oil or obstructions before a wider hole is drilled.

With the Alert Levels chart in mind, I would note that Shell began drilling, according to the ADN,  at 4:30am Sunday and stopped on Monday.  Let's assume they stopped after 4:30am Monday.  That would be more than 24 hours.  If an ice hazard is more than 24 hours away, according to the Alert Levels, they should continue as normal.  But less than 24 hours away, they need to assess risk.   It's reasonable then to assume that they knew about the ice before they started drilling.  Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith is quoted as saying the wind shifted.

"The winds suddenly shifted and as far as we could determine, the ice could potentially impact our operations at that point," he said. The ice came within roughly 15 miles of the prospect, he said. It is moving at about .5 knots, or one-half a nautical mile per hour, he said. Shell is tracking the ice through satellite and radar imagery, and on-site reconnaissance.

They knew there was an ice pack not far away when they started drilling.  And sometime soon after they began drilling, the ice pack shifted its direction towards the drilling site.  Within 12-24 hours of the ice hazard's expected arrival time, they should be initiating risk assessments and making contingency plans.

They are under the gun here because they started late and, unless their September 24 shut down time is extended by the Interior Department, they've got less than two weeks to drill this year.  So, presumably they took a calculated risk and started drilling on the assumption the ice wasn't going to come their way.  The ADN article quoted above says they got 300 feet in the first two hours, but none of the articles said how deep they got when they stopped drilling.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/09/10/2619205/shell-halts-chukchi-sea-drilling.html#storylink=cpy

OK, I admit, that was probably more than ten minutes if you did this seriously. But I won't put anything up on this tomorrow. If you go through this three times, I think things will start to make sense. Writing this all down helps me figure it out, so maybe to you'll need to take notes.

Finnish Education - Focused on High Quality Education For All

 KRISTI WETPHALEN, Council General of Finland in Los Angeles, was at UAA today.  She had a lunch meeting at the Institute for Social and Economic Education (ISER) titled FINLAND AND ALASKA: A CONVERSATION ABOUT ARCTIC POLICY.

Since I posted on Sea Ice a last Thursday, I've started poking around on the topic of Arctic oil drilling and thought maybe I could get some information at the lunch.  There were about 30 folks there, including the Lt. Governor who has had a long interest in the Arctic.

Basically it was an exploration meeting to find areas where Finland and Alaska could work together from oil exploration to tourism and northern architecture and design.

Then this evening Consul General Wetphalen showed a US made film by a Harvard professor Tony Wagner on Finnish education.  After publishing a book entitled The Global Achievement Gap, Wagner was invited by the Finland Board of Education to discuss with them the skills all students need today.  He says he accepted the invitation because Finland's schools are ranked number 1 in the world by many.  Film maker Bob Compton went along and the result is the film we saw tonight.  Here's a trailer which is the opening of the film and identifies the issues the film will discuss about Finnish education.

 The rest of the film follows Tony Wagner during his visit to Finnish schools and talks to Finnish students and educators about their education system.  You can watch the whole film here at videosift.com.  [I couldn't get the embed code to work. But I'll leave it in and maybe it will show up on some people's browsers.]
[It does work. Click the little image below. It has a Chinese language ad, but then the movie starts, in English, without the intro.]
You can watch the whole movie here.  I think every American who has an opinion on education should watch this to either get support for their ideas or to expand what they think is possible.
[On this website it didn't have the ad and kept the opening that's in the trailer above.]

Some key factors about the Finnish system that are touted in the film include:

1. Emphasis on teaching how to think rather than to memorize and repeat
1. Ratio of student talking/doing time v. teacher talking/doing target is 60% student to 40% teacher
2. National curriculum is not detailed, local schools and teachers have lots of leeway
3. No national exams (in the movie the emphasis on no exams was misleading and afterward I asked one of the Finns there and she said they have tests in individual classes, but no national standardized exams)
4. Students do lots of projects which where they must gather knowledge and make sense of it on their own  (with teacher oversight)
2. Emphasis on teacher education and the status of teachers
1. Entrance into university education programs is highly competitive - only 10% are accepted
2. Teacher education is highly collaborative and students get lots of teaching experience, are critiqued by their classmates and mentors
3. Trust in teachers and students 
1. This was mentioned as an important part.  By giving students responsibility for their own learning in many projects, they let students pursue projects that interest them within the topic area and without an authoritarian setup, students live up to the trust
2. Teachers are also trusted to do their work well (and since they pick the best to become teachers this seems to work well)
3. It took a long time to put this trust principle into practice

Finnish Consul (LA) Kristi Wetphalen and UAA Chancellor Case

Someone in the film said that they went to this radical change in their school system about 25 years ago, because they realized that with their small population and few other natural resources, they couldn't afford to waste any of their human resources.  

 They also have a very serious vocational education track, but it's structured to not be a dead end.  Those who graduate in this track, can come back and take the academic track or go to university later if they choose. 


I watched this as a retired professor who has found much of this on my own.  Where I practiced these principles, they tended to work.  I could also see that my vision of what could be done here was limited because of the restrictions I worked under -  a university system that didn't embrace these concepts and required things such as grades and limited resources particularly time.  But at least at the University level, I was trusted to teach the way I thought best and many if not most other faculty lived up to those expectations.

Often it was hard to get students who had been in a much more top down system for most of their educations to adjust to more freedom in class.  Often they wanted the teacher to tell them what to do and how to do it.  But good students responded well to this.  I think about my students in Beijing who went through a very high pressure, teacher oriented, rote learning system.  They very quickly embraced the greater freedom and participation options in my class.

I also saw this work at my daughter's optional school - Steller Secondary - in the Anchorage School District, where students and parents where very much involved in the education and the students simply stepped up and took much more responsibility for their education.  


There are a number of issues I can raise about how this might not work in the US.  But I have no doubt it would work in the classroom.  The problems will be political, from current teachers who don't want to change (but there would also be teachers who would embrace this), to parents who want more structure and discipline and narrowly defined curriculum, to politicians who want accountability through standardized testing, or who simply want public school money spent at private schools, to religious groups who do not want students whose new found thinking skills might be used to challenge their orthodoxy. 

But most Americans seem to think there are problems with our school system, they just disagree on what the problems are and how to fix them.  This video shows how one country fixed them.  What is significant is that this country is recognized through international testing happens to come out on top worldwide for overall educational quality. 

Mudflats, Rocks, Downed Trees, And More On Sunny Sunday on Seward Highway

It was too nice a day to stay home.

We drove down the Seward Highway.

Here are the railroad tracks looking south down Turnagain Arm.












Looking back toward Anchorage you could see the Alaska Range bright and clear in the distance. 

Our goal was a patch of rocky beach we like.  But it was pretty windy (I'd guess 20 to 30 mph) and J found a nice rock that blocked the wind and let her enjoy the sunshine while I walked down the beach.










The rocks go to the edge of the mudflats.  Here you can see a layer of mudflats, then the water, then the base of the mountains on the other side. 














 J didn't want to walk in the strong wind so we backtracked to McHugh Creek and took the path toward Potter.  Up there - on the other side of the Seward Highway and up a bit into the trees - there was no wind and it began to feel warm in the sun.

 But all those cottonwoods proved to be vulnerable to the winds we had last week.  (I'm assuming these were recent falls we came upon, though some - as you'll see - had been sawed to clear the trail.)

 It was a little messy, but we could negotiate the trail pretty easily here. 

















 The insides of the downed cottonwoods were pretty soft.  You could squeeze the pulp like a sponge almost. 

I liked the sun-like design where the chainsaw had cut the mature trees, with their ridged trunks.

While you could see the water through the trees for a lot of the trail, this was one of just a couple of spots where you got a view of Turnagain Arm and the Seward Highway below.

 This spider - well I assumed it was a spider, but I only see five of its eight legs - seemed to be enjoying the sun on the newly exposed cottonwood insides.  [Now that was a good case of transferring human feelings to animals.  Who knows what it was feeling out there?]

The body would have fit on a quarter easily.


In addition to cottonwoods, devil's club was everywhere and also some red baneberries. 

At first glance they look pretty similar, but the devil's club has much larger thorned leaves and their berries aren't translucent like the baneberries are.  Don't eat the baneberries!!


The US Forest Service has lots of information on baneberries:

NUTRITIONAL VALUE: Red baneberry's energy and protein value are rated as poor [21].  Red baneberry's name comes from a poisonous essential oil or glycoside (protoanemonin) found in all parts of the plant but most concentrated in the berries and root [43,72].  Symptoms of poisoning include gastroenteritis, stomach cramps, headache, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea and circulatory failure [72].

 But some bird species eat the berries and elk and other deer eat the foliage.

We hiked about 3 miles in (almost to the Potter Marsh end) but decided these two big cottonwoods across the trail was a good place to turn back. 

There were lots of people on the trail and lots of dogs.  We heard reports from hikers going to and back of four black bears sighted.  We didn't see them.  J wasn't very disappointed about that. 

We also saw this young agent of the devil's club.    Actually he zipped up the hood to show me that his sweatshirt turned into this neat Halloween costume. The eyes had a mesh covering he could see through.













These trees seemed to be dancing on the side of the trail.

Here's yet another fallen cottonwood, but it was high enough over the trail not to be a problem.


As we got near the McHugh Creek parking lot we passed a man in an electronic wheel chair making his way up the trail.  I'm not sure how far he would be able to get, but I was impressed he got that far. 


Finally, on the drive back home we stopped at Potter Marsh where we saw a pair of swans in the distance.  If I had a good telephoto, I'd show you.  This picture is much better than the one I got of the swans. 

The House of Sarah

This is a very short post.  

My daughter told me a story yesterday she'd never told before.  At her college there was one small dorm that only housed 60 people.  One year, the student in charge of assigning students to dorms assigned only students named Sarah to that dorm.

At first blush it sounds pretty funny, but when the Sarahs realized what had happened they were not pleased and the student who'd made the assignments lost her job.  Apparently she wasn't identified and got another student job.  I can imagine it made things fairly complicated.  And for some reason it was too late to make any changes without disturbing other students.

I imagine there were students in other dorms who would have traded roommates.  What would it have been like to be the only non-Sarah in the building?  I wonder if anyone ever followed up with that group later to see what their year was like and what lessons they learned from it.  This is a social experiment just waiting to be studied.

Assembly Work Session Hears Judge Hensley Again on Voting Problems

I went to the Assembly work session today with Judge Hensley, the consultant who investigated the problems with the April 3, 2012 Municipal election.

I got there twenty minutes late.  Actually, I thought this was going to be a two hour follow up on the earlier working group with Assembly attorney Julia Tucker.  So I was surprised to see Hensley and most of the Assembly there.  Hensley was finishing his report as I arrived and then took questions.  There was no amplification and the Judge spoke softly facing away from the audience.  Plus something (heating?) was making a lot of noise. The whole meeting took about 30 minutes.  You can listen to the Municipal recording of the meeting.  [You have to go to Archived Videos and Agendas.  Hensley's Report Worksession is at the top today, but will move down as new videos are added.  You can also try one of these:

MP3 Audio

MP4 Video

(there's only audio on the video)]

The written report and the supplemental can be found:


June 30, 2012 Report 
July 24, 2012 Report

You can see other documents relating to the April 3, 2012 election at the Municipal Clerk's election page.

Hensley's Report Overview:

He said his first question was to determine if someone tried to manipulate the outcome of this election.  The answer is no.

Second task, if no one intentionally tried, how did it happen?  Someone took their eye of the ball - leadership in the Clerk's office for sure and while the Assembly had the right to expect the Clerk to run the elections well, clearly the Assembly needs to keep some oversight.  


Basically felt that the key problem was the failure in ballot allocation in not realizing that turnout would not be like 2011 or 2010.

I don't really think that there was anything terribly significant said that you couldn't find by just reading the reports.  The audio is just 29 minutes so if you really want to know, you can listen to it. 

I didn't feel the Assembly was particularly deep in their questioning.  Flynn did ask about the variety of ballots (there have to be different ballots because there are so many small special service districts that have elections.)  Johnston asked about training for workers.  Traini, Drummond, and Jackson-Gray asked about the voting machines. 

New metal seal for ballot bags and voting machines

After the meeting I spoke with the Clerk and a staff person.  One change they have worked out already is to get more secure seals.  They are metal and it will be very clear if they are tampered with and they are numbered so people can't simply replace them with another tag.  (I believe someone said the old plastic ones were also numbered.)  They are also hoping to reconstitute the Technical board to hand count random ballots for at least three precincts. 

As Shell Is About to Drill, What Do We Know About Arctic Sea Ice?

Image from World Atlas

I'm treading on ground I know little about here, but one thing led to another.  Given the assurances BP gave us about safety in the Gulf, I think it behooves us to ask as many questions as we can about safety in the Chukchi Sea. There's a lot here and it's technical, but I dare you to go through it, even if you only skim.  And this post has also been influenced by power and internet outages.  So the present tense changes each time I start writing again.

This post began with an email from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Frontier Science website about their new Arctic Sea Ice videos.  I thought it relevant to see what Shell Oil had up on sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.  I was close to posting Tuesday night when I was having trouble with blogger and saved the post and reopened it to find most of the post gone.

A severe storm that's been predicted for Anchorage has just made its presence known through noisy wind slamming windows and mimicking airplanes flying over the house.  We're supposed to have 80 to 100 mile/hour winds.  I was sure that the electricity would go out before I finished this.  Now that I have to recreate much of it, I can only cross my fingers.  I've gotten candles out just in case.  In my heart of hearts, I know this will be a better post for being rewritten, but I'm still not happy. 

Here are two Frontier Science videos on Arctic ice.  The first is Modeling Arctic Ice:




and the second one on Bering Sea Ice Movements


Tuesday 10:26pm - the electricity just went out, but J had lit the candles already.  The wind is huffing and puffing and banging tree limbs against the house. 

So, I wanted to see what Shell Oil had about sea ice.  At the Alaska Press Club Conference in April I learned at one panel that included a Shell representative and other Arctic researchers, that Shell (and I think other corporations) had agreed to share their research findings in the Arctic and not keep them proprietary.  So if that has happened, then the Frontier Scientists should have access to it.

A Shell webpage on Oil spill prevention and response got me to a pdf of a report:  PREVENTING AND RESPONDING TO OIL SPILLS IN THE ALASKAN ARCTIC.   On page three it had a Prevention Toolkit.  The tools listed included:

• Redundancy - "Shell applies a multi-layered well control system designed to eliminate the possibility of a low probability, high impact event. If any one system or device fails, it should not lead to a blowout."     It suggests that there are different systems to notice problems so if one fails another will pick it up.  I'd note that in Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell wrote that airplane crashes happen when five or six backup systems go wrong at once.
• The Safety Case Approach - "As an example, Shell has used the “Safety Case” approach recommended by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling for all its contracted drilling rigs, globally, for many years."  That's odd, since the spill occurred in 2010 and the National Commission report came out in 2011.  How could they have used this approach for many years?  Maybe the approach was around and the Commission endorsed it in its report.  Ah, writing is so tricky.
• Safety Culture - "Since 90% or more of all incidents are caused by human error, a true culture of safety that permeates and guides all activities is perhaps the most important method of spill prevention"
  
• Blowout Preventer - "In the unlikely event that measures of early detection fail, mechanical barriers such as blowout preventers (BOP) can seal off the well."
• Ice Management - For the previous tools, I've just given an excerpt of each, but since this is the issue we started with, I should give you their whole explanation:

"Shell’s exploration activities will occur during a four-month period from mid-July through October, in predominantly open water conditions. However, to address the natural variability of ice conditions during thaw and freeze up, Shell has developed an Ice Management Plan (IMP) to ensure safe drilling operations and identify conditions that may put operations at risk.

Shell’s ice management system is a combination of ice monitoring, forecasting, and management techniques. Monitoring includes satellite-based Synthetic Aperture Radar, airborne and vessel reconnaissance. Forecasting incorporates data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Canadian Ice Service. Shell will use specialized software to integrate ice speed and direction data from the vessel’s radar, aerial reconnaissance, and satellite imagery in order to predict individual ice floe movement, allowing modification of ice management operations on a real-time basis. Shell has established strict protocols to be followed in the event of potential hazards. Ice management vessels can be used to deflect approaching ice around the rig and, if necessary, the rig can quickly stop drilling, secure the well, and move safely off-site."  [emphasis added.]

I wasn't paying close enough attention the first time and glazed over the Ice Management Plan (IMP) but I did see "strict protocols to be followed in the event of potential hazards" and googled that and got to "2010 Plan of Cooperation Camden Bay, Alaska" and this relevant paragraph:

"Shell has developed and will implement a Critical Operations and Curtailment Plan (COCP), which establishes protocols to be followed in the event potential hazards, including ice, are identified in the vicinity of the drilling operations (e.g., ice floes, inclement weather, etc.). Like the IMP, the COCP threat classifications are based on the time available to prepare the well and escape the location. The COCP also contains provisions for not initiating certain critical operations if there is insufficient time available before the arrival of the hazard at the drill site."

At this point I started questioning my obligations as a blogger.  How far am I supposed to go digging? Couldn't I just say my job was to start raising these issues and let someone else take the baton from here?

But how much trouble would it be to look up COCP and IMP?  It turns out, not much at all.  I found them easily.  But then writing up what I found was another issue altogether. That took time.  Time enough to lose most of what I wrote and then get disconnected from the internet by a windstorm taking out our electricity.  I just looked out the window.  It is really, really dark out.  The only lights I can see are a few car lights off in the distance.   I guess a severe storm is an appropriate context for writing about Chukchi Sea emergency oil drilling procedures.  I have an hour left on my laptop battery.


CRITICAL OPERATIONS AND CURTAILMENT PLAN (COCP)
Chukchi Sea, Alaska  (Total of 16 pages)

That's a mouthful, but if you actually think about it, it really says what it's about - a) critical operations and b) curtailment plan.  You'll see below.  It basically is about procedures.  It . . .

• Identifies Planned and Unplanned Critical Operations
• Identifies Circumstance/Conditions  Requiring Curtailment 
• Severe Weather Sea    
• Ice     
• Sea Spray .
• Unavailability of Materials, Personnel, and / or Equipment   
• Well Control

The first three are weather caused issues.  The fourth is about human caused issues.  The last one isn't real clear.  Here's what the COCP says about Well Control:

"Critical operations, other than efforts to restore primary well control, will not be undertaken during a well control event (e.g., drilling will cease pending circulation of a kick out of the hole and adjusting mud density to prevent further kicks from entering the wellbore). The curtailment of critical operations due to a well control event is the responsibility of the Shell Drilling Foreman."

I guess this means if something goes wrong with the well, they'll stop everything else, but I'm not sure. 

Then it goes into different kinds of Time.
There's ST or Secure Time which is how long it takes to secure the rig
There's MT or Move-Off Time - how long it takes to get people evacuated
There's  T-Tine or Total time, which combines ST and MT.
But there is also HT or Hazard Time, how long, in hours, before the hazard arrives.

My question was what if the Hazard Time is less than the T-Time?  That is, if the hazard is due to arrive before they have time to curtail and evacuate? It turns out that got answered in IMP below.*

Then there's the curtailment decision process which basically is about who makes the decisions and who gets told by whom.

And then there's training:

All personnel will be made aware of their roles and responsibilities described within this COCP and the IMP through a training program to be taught before the vessel is on site. All persons with a key position in the COCP will be provided a copy of this document, and training will be provided by Shell prior to deployment. This training will include a table-top exercise that will be carried out prior to initiating operations in the Chukchi Sea.

 Table-top exercise, according CSOOnline,

"is a great way to get business continuity plans off the written page without the interruption of a full-scale drill. Rather than actually simulating a disaster, the crisis management group gathers for three hours to talk through a simulated disaster.

Just talking is good up to a point.  I'd really like them to be doing some shipboard training in a storm. 

ICE MANAGEMENT PLAN (IMP)
(Total 50 pages)

Then I went looking for the Ice Management Plan (IMP). [Doesn't Shell know the definition of 'imp'?  Dictionary.com's first definition of 'imp' is:

"a little devil or demon; an evil spirit."]

Is that the acronym you'd want for your plan for managing ice [assuming humans can do more than respond to ice movements in the Arctic] to prevent oil spills?  Was it a Freudian slip?

Here's the overview from the the little devil's Table of Contents:

• VESSELS  COVERED BY IMP  
• SHELL ICE AND WEATHER ADVISORY CENTER
• ICE ALERT LEVELS AND PROCEDURES  
• ICE MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY  
• WELL SUSPENSION   
• MOORING SYSTEM RELEASE/RECOVERY MOVING ONTO OR RETURNING   TO THE DRILL SITE
• TRAINING

In more detail:

• Vessels - this is probably the most technical section that describes the ships and their capabilities.  For example:
  
  "The Kulluk has an Arctic Class IV hull design, is capable of drilling in up to 600 feet (ft) [182.9 meters (m)]) of water and is moored using a 12-point anchor system. The Kulluk mooring system consists of 12 Hepburn winches located on the outboard side of the main deck, Anchor wires lead off the bottom of each winch drum inboard for approximately 55 ft (16.8 m). The wire is then redirected by a sheave, down through a hawse pipe to an underwater, ice protected, swivel fairlead. The wire travels from the fairlead directly under the hull to the anchor system on the seafloor.
  
  The Kulluk is designed to maintain its location in drilling mode in moving ice with thickness up to 4 ft (1.2 m) without the aid of any active ice management. With the aid of IMVs, the Kulluk would be able to withstand more severe ice conditions. In more open water conditions, the Kulluk can maintain its drilling location during storm events with wave heights up to 18 ft (5.5 m) while drilling, and can withstand wave heights of up to 40 ft (12.2 m) when not drilling and disconnected (assuming a storm duration of 24 hours)."

• Shell Ice and Weather Advisory Center (SIWAC)   - Unit in Anchorage that monitors ice and weather conditions and gets the information out to the drilling rigs.
  
  
• Ice Alerts and Procedures    - Color coded chart from green to red (black is shut down.)  This gives a sense of how long it takes to shut down, because 24 hours notice is green.  Between 24 and 12 hours they initiate risk assessment.  Between 12 and 6 hours limited operations and begin to secure the well.  Under 6 hours the well should be shut down and anchor recovery should commence.
  
  *This section also answers the question I had above about what happens if the hazard time is greater than the total time to shut down:
  
  "Guidance Note: If T-Time becomes greater than HT at any time, well securement and drill site evacuation contingency plans will be implemented."
  There are also more detailed charts and description of who is responsible for doing what in the event of a shut down.

• Ice Management Philosophy   -  I don't know how to take their use of the word Philosophy here.  Is it an attempt to make this sound grander than it is?  If so it is good to know that Philosophy still has a noble image.  But I'd hardly call this a philosophy.  Particularly after reading McPhee's The Control of Nature, I'd call this more a religious doctrine of faith - We believe that if we have these procedures in place, God will not allow bad things to happen. Really, this is just a list of conditions of alleged readiness.  For example:
• "The IMVs will be capable IMVs, with the appropriate ice strengthening, and have been contracted to support the exploration campaign."
• "A systematic approach for risk mitigation is adopted by developing effective work processes.
  Development of effective ice management strategies based on available information (global and local)"
  
• Well Suspension Procedures  - Why is this not reassuring? 
  
  "As part of securing the well, well suspension procedures will be established. These procedures will supplement the detailed well securing procedures that will be contained within the Rig Operations Procedures and will be specific to securing the well in response to the threat of hazardous ice."
  OK, it's not quite that bad.  There is a more detailed table of things to do (p. 16) though I don't have the expertise to know how adequate it is.  


• Mooring System Recovery and Release  - Again, I don't have the expertise to evaluate this, but it is always disconcerting when one of the options - Running of Wires - in the cell for "Advantages" has the word 'none.'  If there are no advantages to that method, then why is it there? 
  
• Moving onto the Drill Site   -  Clarifies who decides when to return to the rig.
  
  
• Training -  Each ship will have a table top exercise and it has a list of people who will participate. 

Both the IMP and the COCP have what I'll call a "good judgment clause."

This is obviously a complicated affair.  These two plans - the CRITICAL OPERATIONS AND CURTAILMENT PLAN (COCP) and the ICE MANAGEMENT PLAN (IMP)  are more about gathering weather data, who makes decisions and who communicates with whom.  These are important things, but they don't really address the technical issues of ice flows in the Arctic and how to shut actually shut down the rig in an emergency.  Those are referred to, almost in passing, in what I'm calling the IMP's 'good judgement' clause. (p. 1)

"This plan is not a substitute for good judgment.

Guidance Note: This document is not intended to contain detailed procedures. Detailed procedures are contained within the vessel-specific operating manuals." [Emphasis added.]

So, the actual procedures for dealing with ice emergencies are yet somewhere else.  Perhaps they are so detailed that there is a justifiable reason for their not being here with these plans.  And presumably each vessel has different plans.  But those more detailed manuals would be critical for someone evaluating the adequacy of the plans.  And given the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, I don't think anyone is willing to just trust the assurances of the oil companies.  But the internet is still out at my house this morning - though the electricity came on around 7am, so I can't search for the operating manuals of the vessels.  (That's an excuse I'm happy to use to get this post done.  Maybe I'll do a follow up post.)

I would note that the Critical Operations and Curtailment Plan (COCP) also has a 'good judgment' clause:

"No contingency plan can adequately cover all conceivable situations and circumstances, nor is this plan intended to be a substitute for good judgment and experience in dealing with unexpected situations."

This is way more than I was expecting to do on this and I haven't even scratched the surface.  I hope it piques some people's curiosity and they try some links and go exploring further.  If you find anything interesting, please report back in the comments.

NOTE: It's 2:30pm Wednesday.  I'm at the dentist's office where there's wifi.   I need to review this, but I'm not sure the internet is working at home, so I'm scheduling it to post at 5pm. I think it's mostly ok. If our home internet isn't working and there are problems, I'll fix it later.
5:51 - I didn't have internet at home so now I'm at Loussac library working on this.

It wasn't until the end of this that I found the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) webpage with lots of links related to their permitting of Shell's 2012 Chukchi oil exploration.

2:35pm Thursday - I thought this went up Wednesday night, but it didn't.  OK, I'll hold it another day.