Pet Shop Thoughts

My granddaughter and I took a picture to the shop to have the frame repaired and down the street was a pet store that said 'reptiles and birds.'  As a kid, I learned a lot about animals by going to the zoo with my parents.  It was a big deal for me to watch the animals and learn their names and the differences between different kinds of animals, to watch how they moved, to hear their sounds, to smell their smells. I was totally taken by them.   As an adult, I have problems with zoos, but I also recognize they give people an opportunity to connect with animals, and for many, like me, learn to understand emotionally and biologically their importance in the natural world.  And the zoo I went to was an old style zoo and you can see a picture of me there when I was little at this link.

So I entered the pet shop with mixed feelings, and the powerful smell - which I'm pretty sure was from the mice and rats for sale as snake food - didn't help.

A tangle of boas

All these little birds in little catches was disturbing, but fascinating to my granddaughter.  For ten dollars you can buy a female zebra finch.  And lock it in a cage.



















I looked up these Gouldian finches, just because their coloring is so remarkable.

Gouldian finch from Wikipedia:

"The Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae), also known as the Lady Gouldian finch, Gould's finch or the rainbow finch, is a colourful passerine bird endemic to Australia. There is strong evidence of a continuing decline, even at the best-known site near Katherine in the Northern Territory. Large numbers are bred in captivity, particularly in Australia. In the state of South Australia, National Parks & Wildlife Department permit returns in the late 1990s showed that over 13,000 Gouldian finches were being kept by aviculturists. If extrapolated to an Australia-wide figure this would result in a total of over 100,000 birds. In 1992, it was classified as "endangered in the wild" under IUCN's criteria C2ai. This was because the viable population size was estimated to be less than 2,500 mature individuals, no permanent subpopulation was known to contain more than 250 mature individuals, and that a continuing decline was observed in the number of mature individuals. It is currently subject to a conservation program.  .  .  . 

The number of Gouldian finches has decreased quite dramatically during the 20th century. Their habitat has been reduced or altered. Early research indicated a parasite called the air sac mite was responsible for the decline of the species. This is no longer considered to be a major factor. In general, Gouldian finches are susceptible to diseases and viral infections. Their beautiful colours mean that they are easily caught by predators. Fires are listed as the primary threat to the natural populations. The total number of Gouldian finches altogether is not low, however, because they are among the most popular pet birds, and are bred in captivity for the pet trade."

Zoos often justify keeping the animals in captivity because they preserve a species that is endangered in the wild.  I don't know enough to weigh the pros and cons.

There's a post at ladygouldianfinch.com about Ethics in Aviculture which portrays most breeders and brokers as good, decent folks, but does acknowledge there are problems.

"As time goes on and bird keepers gain experience, many decide to breed birds to help pay for (at least) the bird food. Bird breeding isn't a get-rich-quick scheme; so if you are thinking along those lines right now, stop. Most new to breeding are very excited about selling the babies and making a few bucks. So much so, that they have been known to pull chicks from their parents too early. This can often lead to the death of the chick shortly after being sold. If the breeder is a good one, he/she will admit fault and replace the dead bird(s) with more mature birds. If the breeder isn't so good he/she may accuse the bird buyer of making some grave mistake and killing the birds. This practice really bothers me but I see it happen now and then. Granted, anyone buying a bird for the fist time should do their homework first, and would, therefore, know that they weren't at fault, but alas this is rarely the case. In the end the bird(s) and the unsuspecting bird buyer suffers."

Then there are all the turtles.


Here's a discussion on a turtle forum about how some pet shops treat reptiles



At least this store publicized that it is illegal to sell turtles under 4 inches, though they don't mention that the reason is to prevent the spread of turtle salmonella and other health problems.

All the turtles in this tank were under four inches.  Presumably they are raising them to be above four inches, but what about the health issues of having them in the shop?










And then there were all the lizards.  I looked up Bearded Dragon and the first four or five pages of the search results were from businesses and groups promoting their sale and telling people how to care for them.  For example, TheBeardedDragon.org.  These, too, are from Australia.









I don't have pictures of the mice and rats or the tarantulas and various frogs.  But here are some goldfish from a tank that said 'feeder fish.'  This account of someone who worked for Petco talks about how these fish are sold to feed other animals like turtles.  This account goes much further, but it is on a PETA site, so keep that in mind.

"PETCO also sells live “feeder fish” for turtles and reptiles people keep as captive “pets.” These small goldfish are kept by the hundreds in huge, severely crowded tanks with no enrichment. The death toll was so high at the store I worked at that part of the closing procedure every day was to take out the dead “feeder fish” who had been sucked into a filter, wrap them in a plastic bag, and place them in the “dead” freezer, along with dead rats, mice, hamsters, birds, and other casualties."

There are lots of sites that promote exotic pets and give advice on how to care for them.  But there are also some sites that tell a different story.  For example:

The Dirty Side of the Exotic Animal Pet Trade which says, in part,

"The illegal trade in wildlife is second only to that of drugs in the United States, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). A former FWS chief of law enforcement said, “There is no stigma attached to being an animal smuggler. If you get caught illegally transporting animals on a first offense, it’s possible you won't even do jail time. You can’t say the same for running drugs.”

Animal Planet's Facts About The Exotic Pet Trade

Live Science's Owning Wild Animals:  Stats on Exotic Pets (Infographic)  lists four levels of state regulations and I'm pleased to say that Alaska is in the most restrictive category, though I'm not sure how restrictive that is.  Just better than the other three levels.  Here are the five worst states, according to Cap Times in Madison, Wisconsin,

"Wisconsin is one of just five states that allow residents to keep almost any animal they want as a pet. The others are Alabama, Nevada, North Carolina and South Carolina."

The Human Society asks "Should Wild Animals Be Kept as Pets?"

I don't know that there were any animals in the pet shop that had been captured in the wild.  I'm guessing most, if not all, were from breeders.  But there are other issues, including health, and introducing exotic animals into the local eco-system, which is, apparently, a particularly big problem in southern Florida, where the climate and terrain are hospitable to tropical reptiles..

I did mention some of these issues to my granddaughter, but I also let her absorb the beauty and wonder of the animals.

AIFF 2015: Saturday Best Of The Fest Schedule - It's All Good

Here's the schedule for tonight.  Everything is at the Alaska Experience Theater.

Hard choices.  In this case I've seen them all, and they're all worth watching.

From This Day Forward won the Audience Choice Award.   The filmmaker chronicles her father's transexual journey, beginning when the kids were little.  Making the film gave her the opportunity to ask questions she'd never asked and for the whole family to talk through things and come closer together.  A good film that helps us understand one family's experience of having a transgender family member.  This is a documentary. 7pm Alaska Experience Large

When The Ocean Met The Sky.   The father's will requires the three sons to go on a trek that replicates one their parents did long ago.  The sons don't get along well, but the will requires them all to participate or the inheritance goes to charity.  All three sons are likable and flawed and the film makers pull it off well, in large part due to the fine actors.   A solid film that I enjoyed. A feature.  7pm Alaska Experience Small

Brainwashing of My Father.  Another strong documentary.  This film actually isn't finished and the filmmaker asks for feedback.  This time the filmmaker's father changes radically, beginning when he had a long commute to work and started listening to conservative talk radio in the car.  The filmmaker also has cameos from many other people who lost their fathers to the far right cult of Limbaugh and Fox.  She also goes through the history of how conservative talk radio came to be and documents how wealthy conservatives plotted out the strategy to cultivate support.  I only saw the first hour - I was headed to another overlapping film - but it was well worth it.  If you've lost your dad to Fox News, this is the movie for you.  8:30 pm Alaska Experience  Large

Best of the Fest Shorts and Short Docs  - This is a terrific program.  Really well done films.  Definitely worth seeing.  It also includes my favorite film from this year's festival -Superjednostka.  This 20 minute Polish film worked for me because it was the perfect use of the medium of film.  The camera told the whole story of this huge Soviet era housing block - the building itself and some of the people who live inside it.  But most people will probably find other films more to their liking, like The Bravest/The Boldest  or  The One Minute Time Machine.  Or This House Is Innocent.  This is the reason for film festivals.  This would be my recommendation.  But all the others are good too.

AIFF 2015: Best of The Fest Friday Night Offerings

After the main part of the festival is over, the best films in key categories are shown again to give folks a chance to see them.  Here's the schedule for tonight (Friday, Dec. 18).  All the showings are at the AK Experience Theater - large or small.

This screenshot has no working links.  Original, here, gives details.

If you're interested in documentaries, you have to choose between one or the other.

Circus Without Borders is an uplifting story about acrobats in the Canadian Arctic who connect with acrobats in Guinea.  An enjoyable film about cooperation of people from distant lands who have a common bond.  It was the runner up in the documentary category.



It plays with the best short doc - which because of how things were scheduled I didn't get to see - that deals with the Canadian tar sands from a Native perspective.  It should be good.
7pm at AK Exp Large

Madina's Dream,  which was awarded best documentary, is  harder movie to watch, but with much more important information.  On the broadest level, it's about the consequences of the arms trade.  On a specific level, it shows us two views of the Nuba people of the south of Sudan.  One view is from the women and children in a refugee camp in the new country of South Sudan.  The other view is from their men who are still in Sudan fighting the Sudanese army who are taking over their traditional land.   7pm AK Exp Small








Orphans and Kingdoms  - Best feature winner.  Another I didn't get to see.  8:30 pm AK Experience Large.   Here's the trailer.







Also showing at 8:30pm  AK Experience small is top winner of the Alaska Made films - Heart of Alaska - a cross country trek with kids in Southcentral Alaska.


Enjoy.

Anchorage Seattle LA Plane Views

The landscapes always change and always are magnificent in different ways.

We've taken off over the icy inlet and are looking back at Anchorage at close to the shortest day of the year.  It's almost 11 am with a heavy cloud cover.

Our plane was delayed about 45 minutes for some mechanical issue.  We weren't concerned because we had 90 minutes between flights, but the lady behind us had only an hour to catch her flight Reykjavik and now was down to 15 minutes and we hadn't left yet.  And there was a group of people trying to catch a flight to Denver.



Here we're looking down at the pattern of snow and trees in the Pt. McKenzie area.  All these pictures are much sharper if you click on them.












And now, after seeing nothing below us but clouds all the way, we see the Olympic Range as we near Seattle.

We made a long southern loop over Tacoma and came back to land from the south.  Here's part of the Sound at about 3pm.

And no matter how many times you see Mt. Rainer, it's stunning.  Even on a cloudy day.

In the end, we made up time in the air, and I think everyone was ok, though we got to our connection as it was boarding.

And then we watched the sun set for a while as we neared LA.  That's part of the wing in the foreground.


Watching the world from the air makes me understand it much differently than I do when I'm on the ground.

Alaska Legislature Determined To Give Alaska The Record

The headline in this morning's Alaska Dispatch News front page:

"GOP legislators eye health, education for cuts"

 The headline in Section B:

"High school graduation rate among worst in US

With a new round of education budget cuts, maybe Alaska can get ahead of Washington DC, Nevada, and New Mexico and be at the very bottom.  Way to go legislators, always thinking of ways to make Alaska stand out.


I would put some caveats in this though.

First, graduation rate is a tricky measure because it's something the schools can manipulate.  Teachers are told to pass marginal students.  Graduation standards can be reduced.  It's a good thing to increase, but the best measures aren't ones school districts can control.

That said, I'm not too sure what having a high school diploma actually means these days.  Not having one has big consequences.  But does it represent something significant enough to justify the stigma (particularly ability to get a job) not having one imposes?  For the clear cut cases, sure.  But the student who just barely misses it?  Not so sure.  But then GED's are available for those who finally get there stuff together.

Two more points.  Money alone doesn't make a better school.  How the money is used is important.  We have a basic system and it's hard to tinker with.  When I taught 6th grade for a year, I concluded that I could teach a lot more to each kid if I had only five in class.  The results would be significant enough that setting up school so that each kid only had academics for ten weeks would be more effective than having a class of 30 for forty weeks.  I'm not proposing that, but I am saying ways to tinker with education delivery could greatly impact output.  But all things being equal, if more money means smaller classes (rather than more highly paid administrators) more money is better than less.

Finally, there is a national conservative effort to get public education money diverted to private schools.  Vouchers, for example.  One way to achieve their goal is to make public schools so bad, that the public gets totally fed up and supports diverting public money to private schools, including religious schools.  I'm sure that some of the Republicans wanting to cut the education budget consciously or unconsciously have this goal.

Information and Power - A Few Examples

My dissertation was on privacy and I concluded that the consequences of exposure is the critical issue and thus the privacy debates are basically about power.  It's about the power to keep others out of your physical space and the ability to prevent access to information about yourself.  My conclusion was that given changing technology, if someone really wants to know about you badly enough, they will be able to do.  There is no way to protect yourself from someone determined to get into your life.  The only protection, and it's certainly limited, is to have everyone equally vulnerable so that people don't invade others' info because they could have the same thing happen to them.  We are protected thus only by enlightened cooperation or observation of the Golden Rule.

Time has confirmed my predictions made back in the 1970s.

This all is a preface to some articles in the LA Times today that illustrate different aspects of this power to hold one's info and the power to get into someone's info.

• Malik’s Facebook clues Shooter sent two private notes sharing jihadist longings to Pakistani friends online, officials say.

Let's start with US security officials failing to find private Facebook messages written in 2012 and 2014 in Urdu by Malik.  It's a little scary to think that anyone thinks the FBI should have been able to find those messages.  It's just mind-boggling to think of the level of intrusion into private communications that security agencies would have to do to detect such messages.  

• Plumber sues over ‘jihad’ truck Texan is tormented after his business vehicle shows up in an image posted by rebels — in Syria.

This guy traded in his truck for a new one.  The dealer stopped him from scraping off the lettering with his company's name and phone number.  The dealer didn't want him to scratch the paint and assured him they'd do it.  But then his truck shows up as an ISIS vehicle on ISIS websites with weaponry in the back.  The picture quickly went viral resulting in hateful calls and emails.

• Mystery owner buys Las Vegas paper  Speculation on the sale is that a wealthy individual is looking for political influence.

Las Vegas' newspaper has been secretly bought.  The owner isn't being disclosed.  What does that mean for readers?  The article says this is unprecedented.   Unfortunately, most people aren't willing to cancel their subscriptions until the owner's identity is revealed.

• Trial of key rights lawyer in China prompts scuffle: Police violently shove away journalists and diplomats seeking to observe proceedings.

The Chinese government is trying a key human rights attorney.  He's blogged openly, but his trial is secret.  How many Chinese officials get away with corrupt behavior because criticism of the government is so strictly limited?

• A BROKEN PLEDGE Officials let China Shipping ignore emissions-cutting requirements

Here, LA Port officials, in response to protests of pollution, promised to require ships reduce emissions while in port, to turn off their engines and to plug in for power,   But the LA Times, through a public records act request, found out the port authorities gave the Chinese shippers permission to ignore the regulations.

• L.A. schools to reopen Wednesday; threat against schools was 'not credible,' officials say

Anonymous emails threaten terror at LA schools and the district decides to shut them all down.  Who sent the emails?  How can the officials know if they are real or not?  And how many school districts are going to get similar threats just to shut them down?  And how many times will it take for the districts to ignore the threat?  Think of the sense of power this gives a disgruntled school kid.


The movie Stink! which I saw at the Anchorage International Film Festival chronicled how corporations hide toxic chemicals in products by preventing the FDA and other agencies from even knowing what's in their products, let alone disclosing them to consumers.

Just keep your eyes open for examples of the power to hide or expose information and who wins and who loses.

No Kill, No Catch Mouse Trap And Other Maintenance Adventures

Living would be truly great if one didn't have to spend so much time just keeping things maintained.  But such isn't the case.  While the film festival was going on, we are also trying to maintain, and in some cases, even get ahead.

First issue was health.  Our granddaughter shared her cold/cough with us when we saw her over Thanksgiving.  It wasn't debilitating, but it sure was persistent.  You can tell how the news infiltrates our minds by the metaphor I started using.  My body is mostly back to normal, but there are still insurgents hiding, taking advantage of any weak points they can find.  Fortunately for you, the Film Festival kept me too busy to do a post on phlegm.

Last week we had the plumber out because the upstairs thermostat wasn't working.  He fixed that, but while he was here he noticed a leak in the new water heater that he installed in September.  (It's good to have the same guy come out.)  The good news is that it's tiny and not urgent so it doesn't have to be done immediately.  The better news is that it's still under warranty for parts AND labor.  It's good to have honest workers.  He could have overlooked it, but he didn't.

While I was cleaning things up (what I do instead of looking for something, which always leads to frustration because I never find it;  but if I clean up, I'll find other things and get something done even if I don't find what I was looking for), I found the notice we got from Subaru last July saying the passenger airbag on J's car needed to be replaced but they don't have the parts yet and will notify us when they do.  It's almost six months now.  What originally caught my attention was the part that said

". . .the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death."

So I called the number and asked why, almost six months later I hadn't gotten a new notice, that it's really a hassle not letting anyone sit in the passenger seat.   He got me a name and number of the local Subaru dealer.  The dealer set up an appointment for January (since it was going to take a week or more to get the part and we're headed out of town.)  But they called back later that day, and today J took her car in and got the new airbag.

I picked up some copies of Peter Dunlap-Shohl's My Degeneration at Blue.Holloman gallery at 36th and Arctic, and I'll do a post on that book before too long.  Peter's been blogging about his Parkinson's adventure for years now, rendering it something like a superhero comic book about fighting the forces of his disease.  You can see parts of it at his blog Off and On: The Alaska Parkinson's Rag  which I've had in my Alaska Blogs list on the right for a long time now.  It's a great book for anyone with Parkinson's and probably better for the people around them, who are trying to figure out what's going on.

I bought a mouse trap.  I'm calling it my No Kill - No Catch trap.  There's a very cute mouse who's moved in and runs around the living room and kitchen, and sometimes goes downstairs.  So far, I haven't had my camera handy when I've seen him and he moves pretty fast.

Every website about catching mice said to use peanut butter.  We only had almond butter and maybe that's too healthy.

The closest I've gotten to capturing him on the camera are footprints in the snow.  But I'm not really sure if these are mice or not or how he gets from outside to inside.  Maybe he opens the sliding glass door to let his friends in when we're out.

I've been trying to spend at least 30 minutes a day going through the boxes I throw things in to clean up when company's coming.  When they're in the boxes it seems easier to go through them and toss things or put other things where they belong.  My mom's house is a great incentive to clean up here.

And I'm looking forward to 2016 because I bought this planner that appealed to my current mood.

For each week, it's got a page with the following categories:

• Things I have to do but that can wait a day, or two, or three ...

• Small things I have to do before I can do the big things I have to do

• Things I absolutely have to do unless I absolutely don't want to do them

• Things people have been bugging me to do for a really long time

I'll let you know how it works out.

[Sorry for reposting - more Feedburner problems]

AIFF 2015: Special Directors' Award and Audience Award Winners UDATED with Pictures

Tan and Toyami at AIFF 2015 Gala Awards

Special Directors award to Shoji Toyami  and Shuichi Tan  of Magic Utopia.  

King Tan, and Toyami

Also involved with the film was King.

This was very much an artistic film with lots of abstract imagery.  A beautiful film that you won't see coming out of Hollywood.












Audience Award

This is one of the most coveted awards because it's the one the audience liked most.

Sharon Shattuck (l) listening to audience member

Winner   -   From This Day Forward

Below is a shot I got of director Sharon Shattuck at the Bear Tooth Tuesday night listening to one of the audience members after the showing of From This Day Forward.


This was a film about a family whose dad comes out as transgender when the kids were fairly young, made by one of the daughters, much later. It was a powerful film.

AIFF 2015: Documentary Winners UPDATE: Features

[I originally understood that all the docs were grouped together for one award, but at the ceremony, it turned out they had awards for short docs and for full length docs. I tried to note that quickly as the awards were being announced.]

Docs

Bihttoš          Winner  Short Docs

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers

Children of the Arctic  Honorable Mention  Docs

Nick Brandestini

Circus Without Borders   Runner Up  Docs

Susan Gray, Linda Matchan

Lost & Found

Nicolina Lanni, John Choi

Love Between the Covers

Laurie Kahn

Madina’s Dream   Winner Docs

Andrew Berends

Man in the Can

Noessa Higa

Superjednostka    Runner Up Short Docs

Teresa Czepiec

Nicholas Coles and Rich Curtner after Awards

The House is Innocent  Honorable Mention  Short Docs

Nicholas Coles

 The House Is Innocent is about a house in Sacramento whose owner murdered and buried several older folks whose social security she kept collecting. [I should have added that a couple bought the house and fixed it up, but left some signs indicating the history of the house.]  Rich Curtner, AIFF Board President, talked to film director Coles about an Anchorage house of a murderer that is now owned by someone involved with the film festival.

FEATURES

And The Circus Leaves Town   Runner Up

Mete Sozer

Creditors

Ben Cura

Jasmine     Honorable Mention

Dax Phelan

Magic Utopia    

Shoji Toyama, Shuichi Tan

Orphans & Kingdoms   Winner

Paolo Rotondo

The Descendants

Yaser Talebi

      

AIFF 2015: Made In Alaska Winners

Honorable Mention - We Are All Related Here

Runner Up -  Degrees North

Winner -  Heart of Alaska