Bike Ride To Rocky Beach

 Biked over to Manitou Beach today.  

Downtown Seattle in the distance

Here's that picture again, cropped.  All of a sudden, all the gulls in the area took flight.  

Click on image to enlarge

TJ Leaves; Rich Russian Penis Vocabulary; AIFF 2022 Calls For Film Submissions; Housing Shortage Though People Leaving; Helping Ukraine

There are so many things to talk about.  This post is just going to give you a glimpse of a few and you can check out the links yourself.  

Redistricting Board Changes

TJ Presley resigned as Deputy director of the Alaska Redistricting Board to become Bill Walker's campaign manager.  According to Executive Director Peter Torkelson, TJ gave several weeks notice and his resignation was effective February 16, 2022.  I'd note that TJ and Peter worked closely together and were responsible for the website and the Board's efforts to insure as much public input as possible to the Board.  Unfortunately, they were not responsible for whether the Board listened to the public's input, and as Judge Matthews noted in his decision, they clearly did not in the Eagle River pairings nor in the Skagway house districts.  

"Not To Be Penis-Like"... Explaining the Brilliance and Insanity of the Russian Language

This blog post by Russian-American Slava Malamud, begins with a comparison of English airport customs signs and the equivalent signs in Russian.

"When you arrive at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow (did you notice how Russian passengers applauded the pilot for landing the plane without killing anyone?) and survive the passport control by the openly hostile female junior lieutenant of the Border and Customs Service, you are immediately greeted by two signs. One of them says the following:

“TOVAROV, PODLEZHASHCHIKH OBYAZATEL’NOMU TAMOZHENNOMU DEKLARIROVANIYU, NYET.”

Can you say all of this ten times fast? Or, really, fuck it, just say it one time slow.

Luckily, there is the second sign. It is the accurate, literal English translation of the above. It says:

'NOTHING TO DECLARE.'”

While Malamud tells us that English is far more efficient than Russian, he also says:

 But, as already hinted above, one area in which English can never compare to us is in relaying emotions and nuances of feelings. This is a task that Russian, with its myriad of suffixes, its glut of diminutives, its gender sensitivity and its poetic verbosity is uniquely suited to, leaving the directness and punctuality of English at a loss.

Wanna see how this works?

So, let’s consider the phrase “Yob tvoyu mat, kak zhe khuyovo-to, blya!”, uttered by pretty much every Russian male upon waking up hung over. It’s seven words, plus an emphasis word “to” (pronounced “toh”), which carry almost zero relevant information, while expressing rich layers of emotion that English is not equipped to relay. 

This phrase contains three profanities, all of them of carnal nature (the only type of profanities that exist in Russian).

The link will take you into a world you never knew existed.  (Unless you're a native Russian speaker or close to it.)  

Anchorage International Film Festival

If you know film makers, encourage them to send their best work to our festival.

The day is FINALLY here! Calling all filmmakers and screenplay writers: you can now send your film/screenplay to Anchorage International Film Festival to be considered for the 2022 program! We can not wait to watch and read all the new, exciting works , and equally share the joy here displayed by one of the wonderful filmmakers attending the festival last year (and having a blast, it looks like), Pat McGee

Spread the word to any and all filmmakers you know, all the scr…

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Housing Shortage Along With Loss of Population

I'm sure there's a good explanation for this and if it weren't after 5pm on Friday, I'd make some phone calls to see if I could find it.  Today we had this story in the ADN:

Average home price tops $420K amid ‘scary’ low inventory

Bill Popp quoted:

"Just over 3,600 single-family homes sold last year, an increase from 2020, when sales topped 3,200 and were the highest in at least 12 years.

A key factor is the limited number of houses on the market, realtors say, as residential construction has slowed in recent years.

The industry built fewer homes than expected last year. Popp said residential construction fell 7% compared to 2020, amid rising costs and shortages of material and labor during the pandemic."

But in late January Mr. Popp was lamenting declining population in Anchorage.  

Anchorage’s declining population creates strains on local economy

 "Anchorage lost a total of 1,550 residents from April 2020 to July 2021, eliminating part of the adult working-age population in the city. Anchorage has been decreasing in population, Popp said, since 2016.

I can think of a number of explanations, but it would be nice if the reporter of this most recent story had asked Popup to explain the apparent contradiction.  If we have 1500 fewer people, why don't we have more available housing?  Is this about people wanting to move out of apartments into new houses?  Is it about investors buying up houses and using them as rental units or B&Bs, while they wait for their investments to gain in value?  There's a lot more to this story than just having Mr. Popp's limited explanation.  

Helping Ukraine

And if you feel helpless as you watch the destruction of Ukraine, there are ways to help.  It's always hazardous to send money to online 'charities' especially when there is an emergency and scammers pop up all over waiting to take advantage of your generosity.  But for left leaning folks, you might give these Obama Foundation Leader* recommendations a look.  But try to double check nevertheless. 

How You Can Help the People of Ukraine - From the Obama Foundation - a list of organizations that their fellows in the field recommend for donations.  With links.  Just do it.  If $10 is all you can give, remember 1000 people giving that is $10,000.  

*What's an Obama Foundation leader?

The Leaders program launched in Africa in 2018, expanded to Asia Pacific in 2019, and inaugurated a virtual program in Europe in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Obama Foundation Leaders hail from a wide variety of nations and territories, work across public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and address a full range of social impact issues.

The Leaders program offers practical skill building for social change, leadership coaching, discussion of critical issues, and small group support.

Obama Leaders also participate in various virtual experiences and special events, including one-on-one conversations with experienced mentors in the Foundation’s global network.

Last Post Repaired - Now It's Just the Leash Laws

[ UpdateMarch 3,2022  11:30pm -Whoops. I meant to only put up the part about the leash law enforcement.  Not these other notes that weren't finished.  But I somehow copied them to here as well.  I'm going to edit them out of this one and put them up in the next post.  Sorry. ]

The top of the sign says, "Leash Laws Strictly Enforced."  I looked around,  There wasn't anyone in sight and I couldn't help but think:  "By whom?"  

I'm all for leash laws.  It made me think about how people ask/tell other people what to do.  I'm guessing this was written by a very rule oriented person.  The kind who is a stickler for all the rules to be followed.  They tell us about the rule with a threat.  

Now if there was an enforcement officer in this park most of the time, I could better accept the sign.  But when you put up threatening signs that don't have much in the way of teeth, it erodes people's obedience.  

In this situation, "Please keep your dog on a leash" would probably be more effective.  

So, are my instincts here correct?  Or is this just my opinion and not backed up with evidence?  I do ask myself these questions when I blog.  And so I tried to find someone who had studied this and had more concrete evidence. 

The National Canine Research Center does address the issue, sort of.

"Effective Policies clearly describe the standards of Responsible Pet Ownership practices expected by the community from all dog owners. They also outline behaviors that the community will not tolerate from dog owners.

Which Policies are Effective?

Laws that govern responsible pet ownership, including: licensing, vaccination, and leash / confinement laws are effective.

For example: Calgary, Alberta enacted a Responsible Pet Ownership By-law in 2006 that focused on community-wide support for basic responsible pet ownership behaviors, including humane care (providing proper diet, veterinary care, socialization and training), humane custody (licensing and permanent ID), and humane control (following leash laws and now allowing a pet to become a threat or a nuisance). Through defined goals, support, public education, and incentives, Calgary achieved an unparalleled level of compliance, as well as record lows in total reported dog bites through 2012."

Education and getting voluntary cooperation rather than threats of "strict enforcement" is the focus.

Dornbossigns thinks educational signs are better too. 

"While fines can certainly deter people from leaving dog poop behind, they might not always be the answer. As we’ve seen in Chicago, community involvement may be an even better solution as it calls on people’s sense of duty and responsibility to keep their areas safe and clean. Signs are an excellent way to communicate this message and serve as a gentle reminder to clean up after your pets."

They seem to prize humor over threats.  But this comes from a company that makes and sells signs, so it needs more research.  But if it's a successful company, it would try to sell the most effective signs, and these are in line what the National Canine Research Center recommends.  

 

People Who Want To Be Themselves VS People Who Are Hiding As "Normal"

This was not at all on my agenda for today.  But then I saw  this Guardian article:

". . . Kids like Seph bring into sharp focus what it means to be male, female or something else. There is still widespread belief that minors with gender dysphoria – the clinical term for the distress caused by a mismatch between a person’s sense of their gender and their birth-assigned sex – should not be encouraged to transition. At least eight states have proposed bills that would criminalize doctors who prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to trans adolescents.

On one side of the debate are people who think Seph’s gender dysphoria will fade by adulthood. On the other are the vast majority of mental health professionals who study gender dysphoria insisting that affirming a child in whatever way they express their gender is beneficial to their mental health. . . ."

Here's my proposal on this topic, a different way to think about those opposing transgender rights.  Well, it's not really that different from what lots of people have already said.  

On the one side we have transgender human beings.  People whose physical signs of gender are either ambiguous or are in conflict with their mental sense of themselves.  (And probably a number of other variations of a theme.)  Their desire to dress, walk, adorn themselves, and the activities they want to participate in, with the people they want to be with, all that and more, doesn't match society's norms of how they should do those things.  

On the other side we have 'normal' people who find transgender human beings wanting to be themselves, a horrible, terrible thing.  Why?  The constitution says nothing about how people should dress and act.  It does say people have the right to pursue happiness.  Why interfere with another's pursuit of happiness?

We do have limits on pursuit of happiness - mainly when those pursuits do harm to other people.  But what harm do transgender folks living their lives honestly do to others?

I'd offer two interrelated reasons:

1.  It violates their world view.  People may like to change their cars or their clothing, but they don't want to change their fundamental views of the world.  Changing cars still confirms driving.  Changing clothes still confirms wearing clothes.  But changing genders violates people's fundamental binary belief system - male/female, good/bad, black/white, true/false.  A bright student of mine who was also raised Fundamentalist, told the class that he opposed homosexuality because it was wrong in the eyes of his church.  When challenged by other classmates, he finally said:  "The word of God is infallible.  It's a whole package.  If it's wrong about homosexuals, then the whole package falls apart."  

If transgender people are allowed to be themselves openly and society is more accepting of them, then their own world view is challenged.  Worse, their children get to see challenges to that world view.  

2.  It violates their personal view. 

 Let me tell you about another student.  He looked good, dressed well, spoke well.  But his papers didn't work.  I don't remember exactly what was wrong, just that I marked them up a lot, pointing our lack of supporting details and that what he was saying didn't sound authentic.  Things like that.  

He made an appointment to see me.  He told me he'd had a difficult childhood - again, I don't remember the details.  But he said he carefully watched the 'successful' people and remade himself in their likeness - the way he dressed, the way he walked, the way he talked.  Everything.  Until he passed for 'normal' and 'successful.'  My comments on his paper were, he said, pulling all that apart, exposing the boy he was running away from.  And after talking to his therapist, he was dropping the class.  He wasn't ready to face that or to have someone else (me) see that.  I told him I was sorry, but that I trusted his and his therapist's judgment.  

I think there are a lot of people living like that in the world.  They are disguised as 'successful' people - that is people who look and act like society's norms would have us look and act.  We have so many people hidden behind facades.  

For some of them, maybe many, people who defy society's norms because they are too oppressive are threatening.  They threaten their world view and they challenge their personal view.  That was true of gay people.  It was true of women who wanted to be more than a housewife.  Of African-Americans who wanted to be treated the same way white people are treated.  

Some closeted gays have been outed for being more anti-guy than the norm.  People have said they did this to hide their own internal struggles with their sexuality.  

But people can be hiding from lots of sources poor self-images - abusive childhoods where they were never good enough for their parents.  Or they grew up in poverty whose tendrils still pull down their self image. Or they weren't thin enough, tall enough, pretty enough, smart enough, articulate enough, or 'enough' in any of the countless ways our society tells us we have to be.  

"According to the latest annual statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, nearly $16.7 billion was spent on cosmetic procedures in the U.S. in 2020. (From Baylor College of Medicine)"

A July 2019 Business Insider article reports 

"The beauty industry is growing faster than ever before. Today it's valued at an estimated $532 billion and counting," 

Another 2019 Business Insider article  says:

"The U.S. weight loss market is now worth a record $72 billion, but the number of dieters has fallen, due to the growth of the size acceptance and body positivity movement."

We could add the money spent at gyms and in therapy and any other kinds of businesses that make money off of people's poor self-image, businesses aimed at making people 'normal.'  

That's not to say there aren't legitimate reasons any of these activities.  But a certain percentage of people who pursue these things would just be better off in a society more tolerant of differences.

And for those who can't make themselves look successful, there's alcohol and drugs to dull or even to escape reality for a while.  

REMI reports that people in the US spent $253.8 Billion on alcohol in 2018. But it's important to remember that about one-third of adults don't drink at all, and many drink relatively little..  Others very moderately.  I'm having trouble finding numbers that divide total expenditures on alcohol among different types of drinkers.  But there is:

"In 2019, 25.8 percent of people ages 18 and older (29.7 percent of men in this age group and 22.2 percent of women in this age group4) reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month,4 and 6.3 percent (8.3 percent of men in this age group and 4.5 percent of women in this age group5) reported that they engaged in heavy alcohol use in the past month.5"

And then there's the amount paid for illegal drugs - about $146 billion in 2016.

Basically, there are lots of signs that Americans are not happy.  I would suggest that many, if not most, are living lives, in Thoreau's words, of quiet desperation*.  Seeking to survive not just the physical world, but the social and political world.  

I'd suggest that those most desperate to 'fit' are those who are most inclined to attack those who are true to themselves.  Honest, open people threaten them.  They also make them conscious of the fake lives they are living.  I can't prove this, but I throw it out as something to consider and study.  

We should all be striving for a society where all people have not only 'the right' to pursue happiness, but the actual opportunity to do so.  

And, of course, there are the scavengers of the GOP who are always looking for fears to exploit in the next election.  

After I did the first draft, we went to the Bainbridge Art Museum and I saw these two words juxtaposed in one of the exhibits and it seemed meant for this post.  

*Iddo Landau takes exception to the broadness of Thoreau's comment, but does acknowledge, too, a number of points I make in this post.

It's Hard Not To Focus On Ukraine - Two Good Videos

 We're all caught up in the real life drama of Ukraine, in a way relatively few people were during the impeachment hearings when Trump's phone call with Zelensky was discussed in detail.  When Trump held up Javelin missiles until Zelensky promised to dig up dirt on Biden's son.  

There is so much to say.  And so much has been said.  Really, Republicans, when are you going to figure out how you to quit Trump?  The man who calls Putin a genius.  That truly sums Trump up - it's all about winning or losing.  There's no morality involved.  If you can take it and get away with it, it's all good.  

This first video is a bit of very slick marketing.  But all I'm reading and seeing these last couple of days suggests it's the right message - of people fighting for the survival of their country.  Not to destroy it. This is February 2022, not January 6, 2021.                          

This second one is to give you a smile.  And let's hope that Zelensky is alive and well to show us what a good dancer he still is next month and next year.  

so apparently Zelenskyy won the Ukrainian version of Dancing with the Stars in 2006 and the tape is even better than whatever you're imagining pic.twitter.com/L1gnKD2ISr

— Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) February 27, 2022

" . . .time made truth of what appeared to be"

A young girl, in 1921 Ireland, disappears.  Some of her clothing was found at the beach near her home. After much searching, there is no body found, just the evidence left on the beach.  

"As the surface of the seashore rocks was pitted by the waves and gathered limpets that further disguised what lay beneath, so time made truth of what appeared to be.  The days that passed, in becoming weeks, still did not disturb the surface an assumption had created.  The weather of a beautiful summer continued with neither sign nor hint that credence had been misplaced.  The single sandal found among the rocks became a sodden image of death; and as the keening on the pier at Kilauran traditionally marked distress brought by the sea, so silenced did at Lahardane*."

William Trevor,
The Story of Lucy Gault

But the reader knows better than the other characters in the book.  The clothing and that sandal were snatched by a 
dog while the girl was, in the author's  word, 'bathing' in the ocean.  In fact the girl is angry at her parents because they have decided they must leave the only home she knows.  They haven't told her the reason they are leaving - an attack on their house by young Irishmen with petrol cans.  Other large rural homes have also been attacked and other land owners have left.  

But my attention today is this phrase "time made truth of what appeared to be."  Read it a couple of times.  What appeared to be.  The incidents in the book took place in 1921.  

Today truths don't accidentally lead us astray.  They are meticulously created to lead us astray, to divide and conquer.  Fox News repeats them over and over until time makes truth of what appears to be.  Even to the extent that other media repeat the claims. They are designed to trigger our fears, to weaken us.  And we know that Russia plays a role in this exercise that most of the Republican Party is afraid to confront.  Few GOP politicians have the ability or the courage to challenge the lies the party is using in an attempt to fool enough voters into voting for the GOP.   

As I watch Ukrainians face the aggression of Russia, I see a courage that we see rarely in the US these days.  As I see the videos of Russian people protesting the war, I see a courage much greater than is required of most white Americans when they protest.  And when I see President Zelensky vow to stay in Kiev and lead the opposition to Russia, I see a courage that, for instance, my junior Senator doesn't come near to having.  He won't even risk an election five years off, to publicly voice opposition to, say, to vote to impeach the man who called for an insurrection to overturn the election.

*I've looked up Lahardane.  Such a place exists, it's on the ocean in the book, but not on maps.

 

Ukraine President Zelensky's Speech

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy gave a speech today, starting out in Ukrainian and then switching to Russian to address the people of Russia.  You can read a translation of the whole speech at Lawfareblog. 

Below is part of the speech after he switched to Russian:

" . . . [Zelenskyy switches from Ukrainian to Russian.] And further in Russian. Today, I initiated a phone call with the president of the Russian Federation. The result was silence. Although there should really be silence in the Donbas.

This is why I want to appeal today to all the citizens of Russia. Not as president. I am appealing to Russian citizens as a citizen of Ukraine. 

We are separated by more than 2,000 kilometers of a shared border. Today, your forces stand along that border, almost 200,000 soldiers and thousands of military vehicles. Your leadership approved their step forward into the territory of another country. And this step could become the beginning of a large war on the European continent. 

Today, the whole world talks about what could happen any day now. A reason could arise at any moment. Any provocation. Any spark. A spark, which could burn down everything. You are told that this flame will bring liberation to the people of Ukraine. But the Ukrainian people are free. We remember our past, and we are building our future ourselves. Building, not destroying, as you are told every day on the television. Ukraine in your news and Ukraine in real life are two completely different countries. And the main difference is that ours is real. 

You are told that we are Nazis. But how can a people who gave more than eight million lives for the victory over Nazism support Nazism? How could I be a Nazi? Tell that to my grandfather, who went through the entire war in the infantry of the Soviet Army and died as a colonel in independent Ukraine.

You are told that we hate Russian culture. How is it possible to hate culture? Any culture? Neighbors always enrich one another culturally. However, this does not make them a single entity. This does not dissolve us in you. We are different. But this is not a reason to be enemies.

We want to define and build our history ourselves. Peacefully. Calmly. Honestly.

You are told that I will order an attack on the Donbas, to shoot and bomb without questions. Although there are questions, and very simple ones. Shoot at whom? Bomb what? Donetsk, where I have been dozens of times? Where I have seen people’s eyes and faces? Artyom street, where I walked with friends? Donbas Arena, where I rooted with the locals for our Ukrainian guys at the Euro [the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship]? Sherbakova Park, where we drank together when our guys lost? Luhansk? The home where my best friend’s mother lives? The place where my best friend’s father is buried? 

Note that I am speaking right now in Russian, but no one in Russia knows what I am speaking about. These names, these streets, these last names, these events—this is all alien to you. Unfamiliar. This is our land. This is our history. What will you fight for? And with whom?. . . "

Before becoming president of Ukraine, Zelinsky was a comedian who starred in a television show, Servant of the People, about a high school teacher who gets elected president of Ukraine.  It was on Netflix when he first became president, but I can't find it there now.  Here's a You Tube preview of Season 2:

Here's a blog post I did on Zelensky in 2019.

1000 Years Of Joys And Sorrows - Ai Weiwei/ Japan Invades China 1937

As Russia moves into Ukraine, it seems that Ai Weiwei's description of the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 seems an appropriate reading.  Not just for the people of Ukraine, but for the people
of the world.  If Putin is able to 'take' Ukraine, what's next?  And what does this foretell about future relations between Europe, Russia, and the US, not to mention China, and the rest of the world?  

In July 1937.  Ai Weiwei's father Ai Qing was a young poet who had started getting noticed.  Three months earlier, the wife had their first baby on the day the Japanese began their invasion of China.  They are trying to keep ahead of the Japanese army and have arrived at Hangzhou.  Hangzhou is a little west of Shanghai and is known for its beautiful West Lake which is now a World Heritage Site.

Ai Weiwei writes:  

"The West Lake was unchanged, hazy and indistinct.  It seemed to him that the locals were drifting through life, still clinging to an illusory notion of leisure.  The onset of war had failed to shock Hangzhou;  while the fate of the nation hung in the balance, people simply continue with their routines. 'I cannot pretend to love Hangzhou," Father would soon confess.  'Like so many cities in China, it is crammed with narrow-minded, selfish residents,  with complacent and vulgar office workers, low-level officials accustomed to currying favor, and cultural types who make a hobby of hyping things up. They commonly think of themselves as living in unparalleled happiness, as though lounging in their mother's lap.'  He would write these words at the end of the year, when news came to him that Hangzhou had fallen, after he and his family had escaped to Wuhan." (p. 51)

Sound familiar?  

Ai Qing, who had moved his family further west, was once again faced with an advancing army.  This is surely happening right now in parts of Ukraine.

"When they arrived at Jinhua Railway Station at eight o'clock in the morning, wounded soldiers, freshly evacuated from battlefield, lay strewn along the platform.  One of the soldiers, a faint gray light shining in his eyes, told Father that hospitals in the area were no longer taking in casualties.  Some had covered themselves with straw for warmth, while others threw straw in a heap and set fire to it to warm up inside dirty bedrolls.  The fight had disrupted the normal train schedule, and in the confusion it was unclear whether rail service would even continue.  Ticket sales had been halted, and if a train came in everyone simply piled in,whether they had tickets or not."(pp 51-52)

Later, he writes about poetry and democracy.  Ideas to contemplate as those in power aim to abolish truth with mistruths.  

"'Poetry today ought to be a bold experiment in the democratic spirit,' he declared, ' and the future of poetry is inseparable from the future of democratic politics.  A constitution matters even more to poets than to others, because only when the right to expression guaranteed can one give voice to the hopes of people at large, and only then is progress possible.  To suppress the voices of the people is the cruelest form of violence.'  Eighty years later, his faith in poetry's freedom's ambassador has yet to find vindication in China."

For those of you unfamiliar with Ai Weiwei, he's probably modern China's best known artist, though he's living in exile now.  Here's a short bio.

I haven't seen much of Ai Weiwei's art in person.  But I did see this tree at an exhibition of modern Chinese artists at the Louis Vuitton museum in Paris five or six years ago. The link describes it somewhat.  

The Trevor Noah interview below doesn't tell you much about his art or life, but it's worth watching as we deal with an increasingly oppressive takeover of the Republican party.   

I have to add, reading a good book is so much more satisfying that scanning Twitter or other online collections of alarmism and distraction.