How To Stop Your Cottonwood Tree From Shedding Cotton

OK, this is a longshot.  But we had some wind yesterday and I found this on my deck.  I'd never actually paid attention to these before.

These are the young pods that will eventually grow into the big cotton puffs that will make a huge mess over the deck and the yard and, for some, make breathing hard.  I took this picture yesterday and today the pods had already started opening in the kitchen.  (Those little balls are about the side of very big peas.)  Why not just look through the tree and cut all these off before they ever open and spread their cotton?


So I went out today with the tree trimmer and I realize that I couldn't find them in the tree, and probably, if I could, they are so high up that I could never reach them.  Cleaning them up after the fact is probably easier.  But if anyone has a trained monkey, it could work. 

BTW, one of my posts that still gets lots of hits is on uses cottonwood cotton.

U of Alaska Joins Ranks of Top Universities - US Investigates How They Handle Sexual Assault

Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Columbia, and Michigan were among 55 colleges and universities listed by the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights on May 1, 2014, as under investigation for possible violations for how they handle sexual violence and harassment complaints.

The University of Alaska system was not on that list.  But not to worry.  Alaskans are as bad as the rest of the country, maybe even worse, in how we handle sexual assault and violence and Wednesday, May 28, the University of Alaska system and four other institutions were added to the list.  From the Huffington Post:

Since releasing the [original] list, the department has launched Title IX investigations at the University of Alaska system, the University of Delaware, Elmira College in New York, the University of Akron in Ohio and Cisco Junior College in Texas. This brings the total number of schools with federal probes to 60.  [emphasis added]
The department did not elaborate on whether the five new inquiries are proactive investigations or come in response to specific complaints.

Alaska is frequently not taken seriously, so I'm pleased that the Department of Education does recognize that in this area our University does deserve their attention, even if we got listed almost a month later than the others.

NOTE:  For folks who read my sarcasm as making a joke out of this, I'd point out that humor is one of the ways folks deal with serious problems.   In no way do I mean to make light of this situation.  I'm sorry that the US Department of Education has enough cause to include Alaska on the list.  But, given that we have the highest rates of rape in the country,  those fighting sexual assault in Alaska should be glad the Department will look into this.  Even our governor, who generally is opposed to federal intervention in Alaska.  But our governor has pledged

"that Alaska would take every step necessary to stop the epidemic of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child sexual abuse in Alaska. "

I hope that means supporting a federal investigation that adds resources to help fight domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska. 

Maybe the Feds will review the dismissal of the complaint at UAF this year. The original issue of the student's name being published seems moot given she wanted it published, but how the University handled the case and the impact on the campus climate and students' feelings of safety should be reviewed.

If anyone wants information about those fighting intimate partner violence and sexual assault and/or need help, go to the website of ANDVSA (Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault)

Power Outage: Just Your House Or Whole Neighborhood?

At night, of course, you can just look out the window and see if the neighbors lights are out too.  But it’s summer in Alaska and we don’t have much night.  And the power went out in the middle of the morning. 

But as my wifi connection stopped, I realized I could check to see if any of the other 20 or so wifi signals that show up on my computer were there too.  Two were there for a little longer than the rest, then they disappeared too. 

Actually, it has been fairly windy, so I assumed it wasn’t just our house.  But the wifi signal check is something I hadn’t thought of before.  And now the outage is about two hours and my old Macbook battery is running low. 

So, I’ll post this when the power goes back on and I get reconnected to the wifi. 

It was out for just about three hours.  Got done a number of things that I've been trying to avoid. 

Gramping

My daughter and granddaughter came down to LA while we were visiting my mom there this past week.  Tuesday, while the mom and grandmother went for lunch, the grandfather and granddaughter went to the Santa Monica pier to check out the amusement park, the pier musicians, the magician, the fisherfolk, the merry-go-round, and the sea gulls and pelicans, the surf below, and other colorful distractions.  Then the mothers met up with us and we beached.

From the beginning I wondered about how well my granddaughter would recognize us since we live far away and don't see her weekly.  We did spend the first seven weeks with her - basically taken care of her during the day while our daughter recovered from being up much of the night.  I'm sure that played a role.  So, I've been googling things like "How do babies remember people?" to see what actual research there is.  This Baby Center post  supports my belief that the early daily contact probably worked:

"For infants, the degree of exposure really counts," says Lyuba Konopasek, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Weill Cornell Medical Center, based in New York City. If your child sees her grandparents once a week, she'll probably recognize them by the time she's 6 to 9 months old, but if she sees them daily, it may take only weeks.

Here are some other findings - but be warned.  It looks like we don't know a lot about this and the answers will be adjusted as more research is done.

1.  Babies remember more than adults think - though not necessarily consciously.

A recent Danish study tested babies at one year and then when they were three years old they were shown pictures of the two researchers - one whom they'd seen before and one they hadn't.  The three year olds spent more time looking at the image of the researcher they hadn't seen before.  They claim that it is normal for people to spend more time looking at new things than familiar ones and so this confirms the babies subconsciously remember the original researcher.

Another study showed 11 year-olds pictures of their friends when they were 3 and 4.  Most couldn't recognize them.  But a galvanic skin test showed that subconsciously they did remember.

2.  Different kinds of memory

This article says that first babies have procedural memory.  They can learn a sequence of actions - rolling over, using a spoon, riding a bicycle - and they can remember this for up to 2 years.  So perhaps they can't do it when they are first shown, but when they develop the needed motor skills, they can remember and do it. Reminders along the way help them remember. 
Then along comes semantic memory "which researchers define as knowledge about the world that extends beyond our bodies. Semantic memory allows us to make simple associations."

3.  Which senses work best?

Much of what I'm reading focuses on visual memory.  They test with visual cues.  But I'm guessing that audio is also important.  I'm pretty sure Z knows me both from visual and audio cues.  And I'd guess that smell plays an important role.  Here's a blog post that confirms the importance of smell with references to scientific research.

4.  Sign language can help babies communicate their needs sooner

My daughter taught Z sign language.  It's easier for babies to sign than to vocalize words.  So Z early on learned signs for things like milk, more, apple, hat, etc.  My guess is that this reduces frustration because babies can let parents know what they want specifically rather than crying and making the parents guess.  This video (which has a vested interest in our believing this) agrees with my conclusion. 


We did have a jolly good time.  And it's delightful seeing how much other people enjoy seeing babies.  When I thanked the magician on the pier for doing some tricks just for Z, he turned it around and thanked me for bringing her.  Babies are possibilities - still innocent, unselfconscious, and honest about how they feel.

Alaska Reporter Bob Tkacz Dies

Bob Tkacz was found dead Tuesday.  I met him briefly while I blogged about the legislature in 2010.   Here's Bob Tkacz's empty chair and desk in the press room of the Alaska Capitol Building from that time. 

I was blogging the legislature that session and dropped into the press room to check on the other folks who were covering the legislature.  Folks suggested that I apply for a press pass - which would allow me to get on the floor of the House and Senate chambers and allow me to ask questions at press conferences.  Bob, particularly, pushed that idea.  A blogger had recently been turned down for a pass.  While I was interested in the idea of a blogger getting a pass, I didn't see any great advantages - I could walk around at will and talk to folks except on the floors of the chambers - and wasn't sure how much extra work it would take to get.  The told me that such press passes hadn't been required before Palin was governor.  Then, apparently, there was concern that Outside media would cram the Capitol and that they'd need a way to control that.  That seems to have been an unnecessary fear.

I also was told to look up Bob's past, and found that earlier he'd been stabbed and been found at the bottom of the long outdoor stairs that go from near the City Museum down to Willoughby.  I looked it up, but didn't post about it in my post about meeting the press. 

Bot struck me as an interesting person who didn't sugar coat anything.  At only 61, he's gone way too soon.   A lot of Alaska legislative history that was stored in his brain is now now gone.  May he rest in peace. 

Mushroom Shaped Cloud Over Oregon

This was 12 minutes north of Crater Lake on Alaska Airlines from LA to Seattle almost 4pm PDT.  Actually, there were two of these clouds side by side.

 

The dark spots are dirt on the plane window.  I'm looking west.

This was the first one (southern) that we came to.

I couldn't find much about mushroom shaped clouds on line other than nuclear clouds.  There was an article in The Guardian that discussed non-nuclear mushroom shaped clouds.

However, mushroom clouds are not unique to atomic explosions. Any sufficiently powerful source of heat, such as a volcano or forest fire can produce one. The heat creates a powerful updraught, channelling dust and smoke from the ground into a narrow chimney, forming the stalk of the mushroom. This chimney continues to rise until it meets an obstruction in the form of a boundary layer in the atmosphere. The rising column then spreads out and forms the cap of the mushroom.

National Atlas has a map of potentially active volcanoes in Oregon, but I don't know that any created these.  

Wikipedia has a picture of a cumulusnimbus cloud which it calls an anvil cloud.  The stalk is a lot narrower than the two above. 
 
Wayne Flann Avalanche blog has a picture of a mushroom shaped cumulus cloud.

I expect that these two clouds would not have been as obvious, or even visible, from the ground.

BTW, here's a picture of Crater Lake which we passed 12 minutes before the clouds above. 

May In LA - Jacaranda Time

Trees lush with lavender flowers are one of the joys of Los Angeles.  I remember as a child I was always awed by how outrageously wonderful this color was for a tree.  And it still is.  And as you drive through LA this time of year, you can see them everywhere.

 

This one's from our walk to the Saturday market at Virginia St. Park in Santa Monica.  The sky's been greyish so I didn't take pictures of any whole trees.  I was also struck by these bright yellow flowers on another tree.  I asked a woman who was working in her yard who said she was told it was a golden medallion tree.

An October 2006 Pacific Horticulture article by Steve Brigham says these trees come from Brazil and have turned out to do well in Southern California.  The lady I talked to said they were terrible street trees.  They were fragile and branches broke off easily.  They were a mess to clean up after the flowers fall off, and later they have long dark pods that squirrels make a mess with.  She wasn't real happy about them being put in by the City on her street.  But the flowers are pretty spectacular.

The market had a nice array of fruits, vegetables, breads, dried fruit and nuts, honey, flowers, and more.

Fava beans

A bunch of three onions, including the big one, was $2.

The strawberries were sweet and delicious.  Not at all like the hard supermarket variety that are white inside.

Phillip King is still playing his natural style harp at the market.  He said he's just recorded a new CD.  Click the picture to get to Phillip's website for more information.



There's also a new library in the park.  I was worried it would mean that the Fairview library on Ocean Park - less than a mile away - would have to close.  It's the one I used to walk to as a kid and take piles of books home.  But I checked.  They will close for a couple of months - but only to remodel.  Then they'll be open again.

Having Daughters Makes Men More Liberal

There are several studies here that support this contention.  The most recent is February 14, 2014 paper, Identifying Judicial Empathy:  Does Having Daughters Cause Judges to Rule for Women's Issues?  by Adam Glynn and Maya Sen.

Abstract

In this paper, we ask whether personal relationships can affect the way that judges decide cases. To do so, we leverage the natural experiment of a child's gender to identify the effect of having daughters on the votes of judges. Using new data on the family lives of U.S. Courts of Appeals judges, we find that, conditional on the number of children a judge has, judges with daughters consistently vote in a more feminist fashion on gender issues than judges who have only sons. This result survives a number of robustness tests and appears to be driven primarily by Republican judges. More broadly, this result demonstrates that personal experiences influence how judges make decisions, and it is the first paper to show that empathy may indeed be a component in how judges decide cases.

This follows a 2008 study,  Daughters and Left-Wing Voting by  Andrew J. Oswald

and Nattavudh Powdthavee

What determines human beings’ political preferences? Using nationally representative longitudinal data, we show that having daughters makes people more likely to vote for left-wing political parties. Having sons leads people to favor right-wing parties. The paper checks that our result is not an artifact of family stopping-rules, discusses the predictions from a simple economic model, and tests for possible reverse causality.

 Oswald and Powdthavee reference two earlier studies.

Warner (1991) and Warner and Steel(1999) study American and Canadian mothers and fathers.  The authors’ key finding is that support for policies designed to address gender equity is greater among parents with daughters. This result emerges particularly strongly for fathers. Because parents invest a significant amount of themselves in their children, the authors argue, the anticipated and actual struggles that offspring face, and the public policies that tackle those, matter to those parents.

In the words of Warner and Steel (1999), “child rearing might provide a mechanism for social change whereby fathers' connection with their daughters undermines ...patriarchy”.

All this comes originally from a link to MetaFilter sent by a close relative.  The comments at MetaFilter offer lots of interesting follow up thoughts, particularly warnings that these are statistical predictions, and, of course, you will be able to find individual cases that don't seem to bear this out.  Someone pointed to Antonin Scalia who has four daughters.  But another pointed out that the study says the prediction doesn't work when there are more than five children. (Wikipedia says Scalia also has five sons.)

This makes sense in that when people know people in other conditions well, they are more likely to sympathize with their situation.  From a Harvard Magazine artilce on How Same-Sex Marriage Came to Be:

"Perhaps the most important was that the proportion of Americans who reported knowing someone gay increased from 25 percent in 1985 to 74 percent in 2000. Knowing gay people strongly predicts support for gay rights; a 2004 study found that 65 percent of those who reported knowing someone gay favored gay marriage or civil unions, versus just 35 percent of those who reported not knowing any gays."

 I couldn't find a citation in the article for the 2000 study, but here are some longitudinal data on the these questions from Gallup.

Food for thought.  Thanks to S

What's The Difference Between Memorial Day and Veterans Day ?

The Veterans Administration FAQ page answers the question this way:

A. Many people confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. While those who died are also remembered, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty.

Let's start with Memorial Day, since it's what is being celebrated today.  From another VA page:

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. . .

. . .  By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.
It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.

And now Veteran's Day.  Again, borrowing from the VA website:

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars. . .”

. . . In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day . . . 

. . . The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926 . . .

. . .An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars. . .

What happened to the part about being 'dedicated to world peace.'  Let's listen for that language next November. 

"But this is the purest of bullshit"

Mungo Park is writing in his journal about his reception in Segu where he first set European eyes on the Niger River.  He's just shown his notes to Johnson, his African assistant, who's been to England and is quite a remarkable man in his own right.  I'm on page 121 of T.C. Boyle's novel about Park, Water Music.  Johnson looks at Park's notes, which paint a much rosier picture of the events and their reception by the local chief, and responds:

"But this is the purest of bullshit," says Johnson, handing the slip of paper back to the explorer.  " A distortion and a lie.  About the only thing that's accurate is the seven-foot guards.  And the cash."

Mungo rides on in silence, something like a superior smirk tugging at his lip.  He and Johnson have just passed the last sagging hut along the road out of Segu. . .

The explorer twists in his saddle to look back at Johnson. "Exactly,"  he says, folding up the scrap of paper and working it under his hatband. [His journal consists of scraps of paper tucked under his hatband.]  "Can you imagine how unutterably dull it would be if I stuck strictly to bald bare facts - without a hint of embellishment?  The good citizens of London and Edinburgh don't want to read about misery and wretchedness and thirty-seven slaves disembowled, old boy - their lives are grim enough as it is.  No, they want a little glamor, a touch of the exotic and the out-of-the-way.  And what's the harm of giving it to them?"

Johnson weaves along on his ass, parting leaf and stem like a swimmer parting the waves.  He is shaking his head.  "But you're suppose to be an explorer.  The first white man to come in here and tell it like it is.  A myth-breaker, iconoclast, recorder of reality.  If you ain't absolutely rigorous, down to the tiniest detail, you're a sham, and I'm sorry to say it."  Johnson's voice is raised. .  . "A sham," he repeats.  "No better than Herodotus or Descelliers or any of them other armchair heroes that charted out the interior of Africa from behind the four walls of their book-lined studies."

"No Johnson, you're not being fair at all.  I'm giving them facts - of course.  About the geography, the culture, the flora and fauna.  Of course I am.  That's what I'm here for.  But to stick to facts and nothing but - why the English reading public wouldn't stand for it.  They can read Hansard if they want facts.  Or the Times obituaries.  When they read about Africa they want adventure, they want amaze.  They want stories like Bruce and Jobson gave them.  And that's what I intend to give them.  Stories."

This is about history.  It's also about news.  To what extent are both colored by the biases of the reporters?  Or, as in this case, by intentional 'embellishment'?  Why is Park concerned here about what the folks in London and Edinburgh want to hear?  Because  some of them are funding his expedition.

It's a reminder that what is happening with today's media is not new.  From The Free Press:

Too often, mainstream media companies and the think tanks they fund, defend the erosion of quality journalism by arguing: “We’re just giving the people what they want,” or “There is no demand for other kinds of news.” These folks usually describe accountability journalism and public affairs programming as “broccoli journalism,” calling up images of parents force-feeding their children vegetables, just because they are “good for them.”

The Free Press article goes on to say, citing a study of Philadelphia, the media are wrong:

“Simply put, people in Philadelphia are mad at the city’s dailies,” the authors of the report summarized. Citizens complained to the researchers that local coverage is “superficial,” lacking careful follow-up reporting and too often comes “days late.” Many local citizens could point to numerous key issues facing the city that were un- or under-reported. People clearly know what they want and the local commercial media doesn’t seem to be giving it to them.

They go on to cite a PEW study that says basically the same thing.

But Eric May, in a long and interesting piece at his website  traces the US media tilt toward the sensational over the important to a) corporate takeovers of formerly local media and b) the increased competition of cable.  News now had to keep its audience to make money but the audience had a lot more choices. Here's a short snippet:

So the efforts of the smart people at the stations were directed at ways to find and hold the viewers, especially for their one source of local programming revenue, the relatively inexpensive-to-produce news.

Audience research, which has been directed at entertainment program audiences was now focused on news audiences. How much news do you watch? Why do you watch? What stories do you remember? What do you want?

As the data was gathered and analyzed, stations became more and more aware of what viewers wanted. And they watched their own newscasts, and looked at their competitors, and looked at the ratings for both, trying to understand the patterns. What worked (higher ratings) and what didn't? 

What didn’t always show up in the audience research but almost always showed up in the ratings was that people would tune in to watch sensationalism and triviality- blood, murder, sex, cute animal stories- as one news anchor put it “tits, tots, and pets.”  [emphasis added]

I suspect May is closer to the mark.  Our amygdala reacts before our frontal lobe does. But also keep in mind who May is.  Again, from May's own website:

Eric May is an Emmy Award winning media consultant and internationally recognized expert in storytelling technique, visual language and expressing complex ideas clearly.

Eric works with news organizations, scientists and researchers, diplomats and development agencies worldwide helping them build their audiences, raise awareness of their initiatives, and tell their stories better.

He gets paid to tell news folks and others how to sell the stories. 



So, was Park wrong when he said, "The good citizens of London and Edinburgh don't want to read about misery and wretchedness and thirty-seven slaves disembowled"?

Maybe not.  While most of the good citizens he referenced, did indeed lead grim lives, and probably were just as anxious to hear about other people's misery as are people today,  I suspect that  the good citizens he was actually writing for were the educated and wealthy members of the African Association that were funding Park's explorations and didn't want to fund someone who was being so humbled by the locals. (See the opening lines of the book below.)

 TC Boyle is a prolific writer whose prose does not rely on cliches.  For example, Boyle opens the book:  

"At an age when most young Scotsmen were lifting skirts, plowing furrows and spreading seed, Mungo Park was displaying his bare buttocks to al-haj' Ali Ibn Fatoudi, Emir of Ludamar.   The year was 1795, George II was dabbling the walls of Windosr Castle with his own spittle, the Notables were botching things in France, Goya was deaf, De Quincey a depraved preadolescent."

[Note:  Park was the Emir's prisoner and wasn't voluntarily exposing himself.]

But Boyle doesn't live in 1795.  He lives in today's world and published this book in 1981.  As much as I like to take insights from history that enlighten today, it works much better if the writing was done at the time of the event.   When present writers highlight an issue in the past, one has to wonder how much that insight was apparent in the historical period and how much was the writer seeing those events with modern eyes.  For example, would an African, even one who'd spent time in England, say, in 1795, "this is the purest of bullshit"?  I don't know. 

By the way, Mungo Park is a real, and well known Scot.  You can read more about Park here.