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As the NPYM Tech Clerk (IT Committee), I've been looking at the issue of name badges across the full spectrum of Unicode character sets.  Given our regional personnel are schooled in the Anglo alphabet, I'm using Last, First for collation, using the A-Z phonetic alphabet, but then allowing any glyphs in Full Name.

For example if your name is Лэрри Фэргуссон (fake Russian pseudonym) then you can have that on your name badge, but the Friend fishing it out for you is going by phonetics.  Л is an El sound (L) and Ф we all recognize from Phi, as an F sound.  So in finding the nametag, a Last = "F", First = "L" search algorithm is used.

My original vision was of R2DToo / Dignity Village as field-testing campuses for such as Institute for Integral Design's lean-to prototypes, made of a pan deck material and solar paneled, better than simply corrugated metal, already a staple in refugee world.

Other refugee camp / disaster relief shelter solutions would likewise get a dress rehearsal in these pre-deployment testing zones, with MVPs flying in to PDX to get the tour.

R2DToo aka Right to Survive, is already a refugee camp, in downtown Portland (W Burnside).  Dignity Village is close to PDX (Portland Airport) and to a prison.

These are not new ideas, as far as these blogs are concerned, i.e. I've been suggesting prototyping disaster relief solutions in disaster relief villages for quite awhile.

R2DToo is "North Campus" vs. PSU as "South Campus" in terms of Portlandia geography.  Most people refer to North and South Park Blocks as parallel concepts.

Speaking of PSU, Linsdsey is eagerly awaiting her transcript from FSU (Florida State University, where Dawn also went) which should come by snail-mail to Blue House.  I'll scan it and send it to Nepal as PDF or JPG, and she can share those documents with her language-teaching university.

With enough bona fides demonstrating her intention to be a full time student, she'll get that student visa, less restrictive than the tourist one.  She's been pursing getting such an upgrade all through the many earthquakes and resulting devastation.

Institute for Integral Design is Glenn's idea.  Last time AFSC was planning to move, from E Burnside to somewhere else, he nursed the hope of NGOs banding together for a building on Hawthorne, by now a furniture outlet.

I knew it was a long shot, and AFSC ended up moving to ElderPlace / Providence, an admin building on Belmont across from Horse Brass.

Just as Philadelphia was choosing to pull the plug on its Portland Peace Program sponsorship, I suggested the Pauling House campus for a gift shop ala Laughing Horse Books, replacing the vacating Anthology Books.

That was a long shot again.  A high end tattoo and piercing studio moved to fill the void.  ElderPlace stays landlord for the AFSC office, home to an industrial strength photocopier, though that's clearly a back office.

E Burnside had a receptionist and was friendly to walk-ins in the old days, before AFSC became a ghost of its former self.

However, Stark Street Meeting (SSM) has a PSCC (Peace Committee) so the idea of needing non-Latin-1 nametags for some Portland AFSC meetup (co-hosting) is not as far fetched as one may imagine.

They've co-hosted / co-sponsored events before, and could again.

If NPYM, in the meantime, has helped make the nametag situation more cosmopolitan, then kudos to Quakers for being catholic (open minded) in that regard.

Mad Max: Fury Road (movie review)

A Mad Max movie is like one of those human subject experiments one may never run, not just for ethical reasons but think of the expense.  Science fiction screen play takes over and we do anthropology in a simulator.  The players throw out their hypotheses, as to how humans would cope, and we in the audience, the spectators, engage and endorse somewhat to the extent we empathize with the characters and their motivations.  Do we understand this reality?  Does it ring true in some way?

In a Mad Max, the virtual reality is horrific in that most technology has been removed except the gas guzzlers.  You get an oil refinery, a bullet factory, lots of vehicles driving around shooting each other, lots of road rage, and that's about it, a very simple simulation.

The humans form into pyramid hierarchies that apex in some "strongman" archetype (like a Saddam or Qaddafi).  The leader clique controls the water supply and the rabble get all religious about what this means.  Unionization, forming into agribusiness co-ops, let alone revolution and wealth redistribution, is not in the cards, as peoples religious tendencies are turned against them.  That part rings true enough.

Furiosa, the protagonist (Max might be her alter ego), is tired of how women are treated in this domain and remembers a better place.  She has made her way up in the ranks in this almost entirely male hierarchy, as one of them, but she was a kidnap victim from the start and these are not her people.

She's always felt alienated and decides its time to right the balance.  She's going to seize the day and get the women to that greener place, a place in her memory from before the kidnapping.

Max reins her in at a critical juncture, talking practicality and reality and saying we need to face our original fears and not forever run from our deeper selves.  Not that it's quite so psychological in that way.  All the metaphors are geographic in this invisible landscape, this teenage wasteland.

The drones or fan-boys who love the strongman at the top, don't have much use for children or women except as tools of their pyramid.  Harvesting milk and feeding infants has been outsourced.  There are no "fathers" per se.  However, in the emerging relationship between one of the breeders that Furiosa is rescuing, and a fan-boy, we see that human nature still retains a latent ability to form male-female bonds.

I caught this movie on my birthday thanks to Melody, a good friend and experienced world traveler.  We talked about Belize and the Mennonites there.  I was going on about Amish Mafia on the Discovery channel (I've only watched previews so far) and wondering what a Quaker Mafia would look like.  We went to Yard House on 5th both before and after the film, at the Regal in Fox Tower, which had devoted a majority of its cinemas to Mad Max viewings, including a 3D option.

Melody, who reads a lot, wished the narrative had veered off the action track and explored this virtual world a little more, giving us a richer context, perhaps with back stories and flashbacks (ka-ching!).  The twelve hour version probably has that (smile).  I agreed.  This was like a whirlwind tour through Narnia wherein we only have time for one battle and a quick interview with Aslan, then its back home, tour over, so many questions still unanswered.  Melody thought the funniest touch was the fan-boy rock star, with drummer backup (all very portable), a fitting signature of this psycho-wasteland.

Be Unusual. It's OK.

I'd not worry about some fixed universal true meaning of "game" in Plato's World of Ideas.

Being of "language game" (LW) and "World Game" (RBF) heritage, I'll obviously come with my own spin, but so does everyone "mean" (i.e. "spin") in some way.

Are maths "really" but language games? But what is "language" here? "Forms of life" said LW. So it just keeps on going. One spin after a next.

Follow what beaten tracks you will, or go off beat. Many games to play that way too. Be unusual. It's OK.

Kirby


From this Reply-Tree at math-teach

Avengers: Age of Ultron (movie review)

I'm very far from being a deep Marvel or DC comics scholar.  MAD was more my beat.  These X-Men, Fantastic Four and Avengers were familiar to me, Hulk especially, but that hardly counts when it comes to fandom.

We all find our angle if willing though, and I'm in love with the Natasha character (I love Lucy, one could say, or call her Her) and find her being "Hulk whisperer" appealing.  Captain America is a brooding philosopher, so ironic given his outfit.  "Maybe he's right and we are monsters" he mulls aloud, in the midst of a pitched battle with their eternal foe.

Ultron is brilliant, as is the spawn of Ultron and Jarvis, but let me not give away the whole plot.  You'll wanna see it.

I love the way comic book writers can just suddenly supply details.  The classic rural farm, so like the one in Interstellar in some ways, shades of Furious 7...  Superman was here.  A family from nowhere.  The Avengers express surprise, just as do our avid readers, the fans...

Anyway, our family has been Joss Whedon buffs for awhile now.  If only Nietzsche had had Whedon instead of Wagner to look up to, we might not have had Hitler.  We wouldn't have needed the big falling out and misunderstanding and we could all have been happy Egoists together -- or at least that's how it's seeming now.

Really funny and quirky is how Thor, son of Odin, is on stage from another mythology, pre Marvel, yet accepted as one more Avenger, one of the Elders thereof.  Such a tip of the hat to mythologists, one writing crew to another, to welcome Thor aboard, among the immortals.

We're more suspicious of Tony Stark and his defense contractor reflexes.  Ultron is prepared to use that to split the Avengers and therefore win.

But lets remember the Avengers themselves have a supporting cast.  After the CIA blew it in the last episode, under the milk-drinking evildoer Robert Redford, the aircraft carrying quad-copter is back, ready to evacuate the Eastern Europeans from their Dracula, ur Ultronic Lord.  Good to see us being friendly with those folks instead of using them for target practice.

The Hulk is becoming more brooding and Natasha is ready to admit there might not be a viable child of such outliers, but the relationship is real nonetheless, already complete in the immortal chrono-log of another might-have-been Universe (aren't they all a tad fiction?).

Axing Staff in West Region

After repeated assurances that a move would not mean a downsize, thereby garnering our support as a Committee, the West Region management team:  (A)  downsized our Office and (B) dissolved our committee.  After we worked our butts off to move out of the old office, friendly to walk-ins.

The staffer that worked hardest to accomplish the move is the one for the chopping block, most ironically.  And walk-ins?  No one knows where the new place even is (hint:  near Red Square and Movie Madness).  We've gentrified ourselves out of the picture.

So why do Quakers allow such evil in their name?  Well, for one thing, they don't know what's going on.  Regional Executive Committee is devoid of Oregonians so it was easy for the unrepresented state to have its Office axed, despite promises and lies.

These people hardly ever meet and most Quakers don't know what a listserv is and therefore expect the world to plod along as slowly as they do, with Business Meetings only monthly (guffaw), or less.  Organizational memory leaks away in conference calls, nothing recorded.  What a mess.

Nothing really gets done at this pace and our numbers are understandably dwindling.

Also, Quakers are losing their enthusiasm for Peace Work and prefer the blanket comfort of being against Climate Change, as if the Biosphere had ever not been changing, and yes, thanks to humans in large degree.

Such a nice safe discourse, the suburbs compared to inner city struggles with Racism and other cancers of the soul, such as Affluenza and "nuclear superiority" (oxymoronic in the extreme).

So sweet and antiseptic, to be against "oil trains" while gassing up at the nearest pump (oil is cheap this summer and USAers are guzzling like mad).  Who in the Pacific Northwest wants to ruin nature?  Talk about playing it safe!

Given a combination of ignorance and apathy, it's no wonder the back office blood suckers are able to ax the talented while keeping jobs for themselves.  Capitalism gets away with so much profitable crime, is right up there with organized religion on that score.

The relocated Office is in a building prominently marked for sale by the way.  Did our earlier landlord kick us out?  No.  Were our co-tenants begging us to stay?  Yes.  Glowing promises of a better tomorrow are what suckered our Committee into stepping off a cliff, score one for the West Region management team.

Even when the bottom line was starting to look good, they pick on Portland, as if we had nothing to do with things getting better.  I say we did, and we will continue the Peace Program in Portland, with or without Quaker support.  The Unitarians have proved reliable.

Things look pretty bleak for the AFSC though, just as it was turning one hundred years old.  Rufus Jones was a cool dude but couldn't predict everything, not even Hari Seldon could.

Will we recover by 2017?  Not necessarily.  They're pretty stuck in their ways in Philadelphia, I'm able to report, having been to quite a few meetings there.  Actual people want to talk Doctrine of Discovery and show up prepared to do so.  But these privileged Corporation folk just want to preach to the choir and pretend our West Region will just go away.  That's the east coasters for ya.

Don't expect too many miracles from people who know nothing much beyond Windows (we have some stellar staff, but are way top heavy in admin, judging from experience on the ground, not from abstract financials).

Quakers: What Do We Offer?

A Quaker Meeting is less a "church" than a "business" as the original Friends had greater trust in the honesty of bookkeeping and plain speech when the "hireling priests" were not in the picture.  Church was a corrupt institution in the eyes of these early Children of the Light.

The purpose of Quaker business is socially responsible, i.e. if Corporations are People, then a Meeting has to live up to some high standards, unlike a Corporation of the purely money-making variety (these latter tend to have many pathologies and short half-lives in any case).

Through participation in the business of Quakers, members of the public reconnect with a way to get work done as equals and by consensus.

Equality does not mean we're all clones of one another, or are striving to be.  Rather, we respect one another as athletes in a Metaphysical Olympics of sorts, with some high achievers outrunning or outgunning the rest of us.

I say "outgunning" in a tongue-in-cheek fashion as Quakers pride themselves on keeping their weapons "inward" i.e. the invisible / ephemeral world of warring memes is where Quakerism builds its open bastion and takes up its mission.

Our mission is not to convert the world to Quakerism or Christianity.  Diversity is welcomed and treasured.  Religions come and go.  The best religions are likely still to come.

Our mission is to provide those already convinced of Quakerism's effectiveness and its value in their lives with opportunities for structured practice, meaning Meetings for Worship for Business and work on Committees at the very least.

The Peace and Social Concerns Committee is one of the most important, as that committee is about putting Quaker values and teachings into practice, bringing healing justice into the world.  PSCC is where Friends practice their skills with the Sword of Compassion (another meaning of "jihad" in fact).

As a non-profit Corporation, your Meeting has officers in the eyes of the state, but it also has roles, likewise public facing.  Quakerism is a role playing "game" though to say "game" does not imply we're not serious.

The good order of Friends promotes transparency, not just carrying private fantasies around in our heads about who has what role.  The clerks, rewarded not by coins but by a deeper experience of their Faith & Practice, facilitate and record, as the Committees go about their business.  We know who they are and what job descriptions they follow.

Indeed, the slate is one of the Meeting's most important public-facing documents, as it puts in writing what Business Meeting has approved, of Nominating's recommendations.  Any Monthly Meeting wishing to be taken seriously has an up to date slate, easily available as a matter of public record.

Sometimes people ask about Membership as in "do I need to become a member to participate in Quakerism?"

The short answer is "no" and indeed one is encouraged to work on committees in a "try before you buy" mode.  "Convincement" comes through practice, not through "leap before you look" mindless / reflexive behavior.   Skeptics are most welcome.

The long answer is: membership provides a way to be public and out of the closet about one's Quakerism.  Some cannot afford this luxury and need to keep their affiliation hidden, but for those willing to brand themselves Members, that institution is alive and well.

Contact your Oversight Committee for more details on how to apply.

Old Dog Coaching

I had several great hours with lithe and slinky greyhounds, Rhys and Rusty.  Gorgeous dogs, working class, bruised from years on the track.  They deserve this retirement, cared for by truly kind humans.

My Sarah, an old dog, was also getting lucky, as Deke didn't just keep her fed, he kept her on her feet and moving.  I'm guessing he added months if not a year or more to her constitution.  She tripped on her long toenails today though.  I need to get her to the clipper, aiming for this Saturday. I've done it myself but I prefer to let someone do it who does it often.

Tomorrow is the May Day March and Rally, which the unions are sponsoring, as well as individuals.  We're working hard to pull it together.  Management sometimes doesn't lift a finger when it comes to standing up for those who actually do the work, the unsung heroes.  A lot of people just sit around and "own", a more passivist approach.  Taking the credit is sometimes easier than doing the job.

We don't all share the same culture, even company-wise.  If your company is cruel, don't conclude they're all cruel in exactly the same way.

Taking care of other humans is a full time job.  Then there's being taken care of.  I'm suggesting it's a two way street, and there's no omniscient eye available to any human that shows all the bookkeeping.  For all our talk of transparency, Universe is what it is in that sense.  Is there really "dark matter"?  We're somewhat in the dark about what exactly that might be.

Humility means recognizing one's ignorance is right there in one's face, not far off in some distant "we'll get there someday" sense.  We're there right now, right up against it.  Facing one's own ignorance is always a possibility, and does not require judgements or conclusions.  What's more interesting is the darkness itself, leaving aside all the monkey chatter about what's so.

Against the Grain

Most of the teachers / learners here still use letter grades.  They're spreading this ideology of A-F via distance learning tools.

I'm glad other points of view are out there (such as Scott Gray's), as to how learning is best encouraged and rewarded.

Getting it right, even if it takes multiple attempts, is better than getting a C with no chance to redo.  I share Scott's views in many dimensions ("dimension" is a buzz word around here).

I'm a little sad to see edu domains "polluting" cyber-space with such a stale brand of academic experience.

At least they have some competition from the com and mil sectors, not to mention gov.  I hope South Africa doesn't clamp down on companies with more imagination.

Sometimes I say "I need to do some grading" but what I'm doing is providing a gradient, some steepness.  Powering up a gradient is a way to build strength.  Think of a gym.

So I use the term loosely.  I haven't handed out a letter grade in three years.  Learning works better this way.

On the more positive side, I like what Michigan is doing to redesign high school to make it more of a blend of on-line and off-line work-study in a more office-like setting.  Nexus Academy is the trailblazer here.

Michigan still uses letter grades though.

Garden of Eden

As I was explaining to Heather, the original conception behind the Climatron was to provide what J. Baldwin would prototype using argon gas-filled pillows:  a Garden of Eden dome.

These were later developed on a larger scale in Cornwall.

The homestead inside a dome, in some ways a cell nucleus, could have "flimsier" construction materials, though sometimes soundproofing is important.

A spiral staircase or elevator might connect the floors, but rain and wind would not be a factor, as the dome would be a shield against the elements, providing habitat for permaculture, aquaculture, whatever forms of horticulture.

Perhaps it's a Quaker-founded brewery, like Boswell's in Richmond, Indiana, with some of the ingredients right there in the dome with the tanks.  Or the fermentation tanks could be in another facility, with caretakers living amidst the greenery.

So many permutations might be tried.  So many experiments waiting to happen.

However, architects are not exploring these possibilities much in 2015.

Could we still build domes like the Climatron today?  Perhaps in the Orient.

The Garden of Eden dome concept has become  disconnected in the popular mind from Old Man River City (OMR).  School children are not taught American history. 

What is Terrorism?

I'm auditing an Earlham College class with my daughter, led by Ferit Güven, professor of philosophy.  They've been boning up on recent history, with Edward W. Said's The Question of Palestine up for discussion.

Said is interested in what he calls Orientalism, a discourse shaped by the colonial past.  But then the US view of "terroism" is colored not just by the crusades, but by the so-called "conquest" of North America by an heir apparent to the British Empire (with the "imperial presidency" a consequence).

Key supporters of the War on Terror themselves see GWOT as an Indian war. Take, for example, the right-wing intellectuals Robert Kaplan and Max Boot who, although not members of the administration, also advocate a tough military stance against terrorists. In a Wall Street Journal article, "Indian Country," Kaplan notes that "an overlooked truth about the war on terrorism" is that "the American military is back to the days of fighting the Indians."

I'm plowing through An Infinity of Nations using Kindle software, tapping into a critique of conquistador type storytelling, which the Spanish were also good at.  I always think of Aguirre at the end of that Werner Herzog movie, exulting in his conquest of Mesa-America.

I was going to question Said's thesis on this basis:  that colonization of the Western Hemisphere is by definition not an Orientalist project.  But then I remember:  Columbus thought he might be in India.  Europeans called the people here "Indians".  So in that sense, "the Orient" includes the Americas.  Poetic justice.  "Welcome to the Orient" I say from my desk-chair in Indiana.

President Andrew Jackson, whose "unapologetic flexing of military might" has been compared to George W. Bush's modus operandi, noted in his "Case for the Removal [of Indians] Act" (December 8, 1830): "What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute, . . . and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion?"

Us vs. them is, of course, a feature of all wars, but the starkness of this dichotomy -- seen by GWOT supporters as a struggle between the civilized world and a global jihad -- is as strikingly apparent in the War on Terror as it was in the Indian Wars.

I'm interspersing my post with John Brown's essay on the web Our Indian Wars Are Not Over Yet.

Clearly the militarized wall along the US-Mexico border has much in common with the wall in the Middle East.  A lot of the same technologies and psychologies are operative in both cases.  Israel and DC have a special relationship based on mutual wall building.

How does Orientalism, which converges ISIS, Al Qaeda... Hamas into a single hydra-headed beast, relate to the Cold War and another wall, now removed, plus the psychological "Iron Curtain"?  Eastern Europe, Russia... to some extent the Byzantine / Ottoman matrix forms a backdrop.

Britain inherits from Rome more than from Constantinople.  Going back to the Crusades, we need to remember Christendom forked.  Did crusaders come from Eastern Europe at all?

Christian7777 writes, on OrthodoxChristianity.net:

I know that they were victims of it, like with the Sack of Constantinople in 1204. But I'm wondering if the Orthodox had at any point in time participated in The Crusades, as in helping the Catholics fight the Muslim invaders. According to Wikipedia (which I understand is not necessarily the most accurate source of information), "The Crusades were originally launched in response to a call from the leaders of the Byzantine Empire for help to fight the expansion into Anatolia of Muslim Seljuk Turks", so I figure that at some point in time, the Orthodox were participants. Were they ever? I'm just curious.

 Then, answering his own question:

I did more research, and found out that the Byzantine Empire was involved in the First Crusade and the Second Crusade. The Fourth Crusade is where things went downhill between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church due to the Sack of Constantinople; it's very unfortunate that the attack occurred, especially because the Catholics and the Orthodox Christians were fighting together at the beginning.

Looking at nationalism as under-girded by organized religion, I can see where Said is coming from.  Fuller's thesis (hypothesis) was that supranational corporations, as distinct from organized religions, were inheriting the wealth of nations, as the concept of "sovereignty" gave way to a more unified Spaceship Earth (or Earth Inc.).

One might say Fuller anticipated the triumph of secularism but what is secularism exactly?  Isn't secularism more about the enforced co-existence of religions than their abolition?

The notion of a Liberal Orient i.e. a time when Islam was uber-friendly to religious minorities under its care, is largely romantic science fiction, contrary to fact.  However it may also be a kind of foreshadowing.  Progressive branches within the world religions already have their Parliament, seeking a rollback of any Doctrine of Discovery.

A secular Orient that (A) includes the Americas and (B) embraces STEM as not a threat to "interfaith" psychologies, has the potential to seem like Fuller's Grunch of Giants, also science fiction of a kind. The completion of East-meets-West, i.e. the blending of the hemispheres (globalization) is what the Spaceship Earth meme attempts to summarize.  Is that really so terrifying?

Business News

Today was a milestone in many respects.  Washington High School, which had been an art colony HQS, mostly abandoned, has finally morphed into offices plus a theater venue with ample bars to handle crowds.  We didn't get into the theater for picture-taking but did ride the elevator to the well appointed rooftop venue.

William, an Iraq War vet with subsequent experience in Afghanistan, joined Glenn (at one time a code cracker for the NSA), myself, and Steve Holden for lunch at Barley Mill, outside table (sunny warm day), then toured the remodeled school.

The remodel takes a page from McMenamins (Barley Mill was the first) in making no secret of the building's original purpose as a public school.  Museum cases and wall art are devoted to conveying that theme.  That the school's name was Washington is what gives Revolution Hall (the theater) its name.

Another transition was that of the symbolic (and quite literal) Chair of Computer Science, a fixture in Steve's apartment and successor to the Michael Jennings version.  Fortunately it comes apart into two pieces and could be transported by car to my place (just a few blocks away).  William is good at carrying things.  Steve is leaving Portland in about two weeks time, with future visits planned.

William met me as a student of Python while still in Afghanistan, later branching more into SQL which he now does for a living.  I've been putting a lot of emphasis on SQL in my curriculum writing as the majority or record-keeping is done using it.  As a Technology Clerk (IT Committee) for regional Quakers, I see SQL as having religious significance, Quakerism being a lot about record-keeping (including journaling).

Steve has a somewhat sardonic thing he says about concluding his Portland chapter:  "legal weed, Pycon in Portland, my work is done."

Steve got the ball rolling on having Pycons, in addition to EuroPython, in the early days in DC, an institution which has snowballed and has now been taken over by the PSF (Python Software Foundation).  The most recent North American Pycon, just concluded, was in Montreal with over three thousand in attendance.  That's fairly large number for a Pycon, even more than in Santa Clara.

As for weed becoming legal, the inertia behind that was less of Steve's doing.

Carol Urner, my mom, flew from LAX to EWR today.  She turns 86 tomorrow, somewhere over the Atlantic.

Wanderers 2015.4.15

Tax day!

Terry Bristol, ISEPP president, is doing a test talk regarding two ballot initiatives he's planning to back:  $20 minimum wage; 5 weeks paid vacation.

The paid vacation policy feeds the travel and tourist industry big time i.e. it actually increases GDP, per the French model, not to mention living standards.

The $15 minimum wage is already a well-established lobby, so Terry is just one step ahead.

Lew Scholl is here.  His mom, like mine, came to Quakerism while in college, likewise at the University of Washington.  My parents were going to YWCA meetups where students spoke in earnest about ethical questions then facing them.  Vietnam was cranking up.  Civil Defense.  Atom bombs.

I filed awhile ago and got my refund already.  Given I have a daughter in college, I'm motivated to get my taxes done early so I can file a FASFA with nailed numbers.  FASFA is a form used by colleges to compute financial aid amounts.  I go through H&R Block.

My taxes this year were approximately the same as last year's.

ISEPP is a public policy think tank, an NGO.  I've served on its board for a few terms (an unpaid position, though with some perks).  Dawn Wicca and Associates, when still a partnership, was ISEPP's bookkeeper (Dawn died in 2007).  You'll find lots more history buried in these blogs.

Unicode Musings

Lindsey is keyboarding in Devanagari some of the time however the situation with plug-ins is my Gmail is so far not decoding it as such.

I'm getting nonsense, not surprising on a first experiment.

Another thing that's confused me:  Trashigang or Tashigang?  I'd always said "Tashigang" and seeing "Trashigang" on Google and Facebook had me thinking either I was wrong or some typo was propagating.

Turns out:  both spellings are considered correct, Facebook says so.

Glad to have that cleared up.

I'm packing for a trip and looking forward to trying the new cider bar that just opened on Hawthorne where the essences and oils shop used to be, a bead shop before that if memory serves.

:: tashigang or trashigang? ::

Chain of Command

A lot of people are confused about how a succession of US presidents, nominally commanders in chief, can say publicly they hope to close Gitmo, only to have Gitmo stay open.  Are we not looking at a treasonous level of insubordination?

Plans to spin-off Gitmo, give it back to the Cubans, have already been drawn up, with dates and everything.  Those running the place may be held back for interviews, which could lead to future jobs.  The prisoners need a place to detox and reconnect with family.  Those running Gitmo will have no responsibilities over prisoners ever again is the hope.  They have failed to obey the president and are dropping in rank by the day.

Having Gitmo on one's resume in any way adds to the stench of one's portfolio.  Those connected to Gitmo have something shameful on their record that I recommend hiding.  This was the Nazi Chapter, when Neocons were out of control and behaved contrary to democratic values.  After a president says he wants to close the place, continuing to obey orders is a Nuremberg thing.  A Hall of Shame is being prepared in the historical record.

OLPC + OPPA

OLPC = One Laptop Per Child
OPPA = One Palmtop Per Adult

A palmtop is another name for a laptop computer so small it fits in the palm of your hand, a smartphone in other words, but perhaps with the cell feature turned off.

OLPC pioneered making laptops so inexpensive that even children, among the least privileged in our societies, might get one, not just their teachers and the administrators.

What OPPA means in 2015 is a $15 Coolpad, an Andoid, that one may use to play music, take pictures, and use free Wifi from any hotspot, no need to sign up for any plan.

Put it in airplane mode to make the battery last longer and then turn on the Wifi only.  This isn't your phone.  It's your palmtop.

If you're careful, you don't even need to let Google know this phone has been switched on, though you'll be asked many times if you wish to create a Google account (you may already have one, and still choose to keep this phone more anonymous).

I recommend paying more and getting an SD card for it, adding gigs of storage.  More room for more music, like Philip Glass and Pink Floyd.

Related Reading:
STEM Lesson Plan
Kirby on YouTube (2009)
Invading Florida
More Autobio

Arresting Power (movie review)

Arresting Power is a locally produced film about police cruelty.  A few example cases get a closer look, such as the murder of Jim Jim.  Most of the victims are young black men.

The film excavates a lot of interesting history, reminding us of the fact that being a black person in Oregon was in itself criminal until 2001.  Seriously.  That bit was written into the Constitution by a bunch of low EQ hicks who thought of themselves as brave pioneers of a new state. 

Not every pioneer behind the design of this state was such a moron.

Then the morons decided to criminalize all the behaviors and ethnicities they didn't want to deal with (sound familiar?) and repurposed the slavery patrol vigilante groups, already popular back east, to give us today's police forces (shades of KKK + NRA per the South Park analysis).

OK, that's a bit of a caricature but films have only so much time to set the context and a lot of the viewpoint here is classic Black Panther, which I appreciate, coming from a Laughing Horse background.

A police system is complicated and multi-dimensional.  Professionals inside the system are well aware of the "bad cop" problem.  One reason we have a lot of bad cops, more than we need, is the lack of any credible safety net.  We all pay a price in lower living standards.

Quitting one's job before one is fired would be much more likely if retraining and exciting work, perhaps involving adrenalin rushes, were offered.  

Obvious points:  cops with anger management issues should not have to keep mentally ill from aggravating the public.  Different trainings and more recognized kinds of badge, not necessarily reporting to the same chief, might be effective. People who might be "on drugs" and/or "off their meds" are in a whole different category from those carrying lethal weapons (as police are).

911 needs to learn how to dispatch teams with different types of expertise.  When all you have is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail.

A lot of the Q&A was about overhauling the system, which currently satisfies no one, police included.

People not good at their jobs, and some police are not, need a way to move on without bringing things to a head.

Peace and Social Concerns Committee (PSCC) no longer concerns itself with already successful organizing efforts per the Seifert Format, and is now pitching its services mostly to activists who need special Quaker expertise. 

The Truthers are getting special help for example.  Given what they're up against, I can understand why.

The cop watch culture in Portland, in contrast, is highly evolved and therefore not especially in need of "Quaker therapy" (like est?).  PSCC was not a sponsor of this event.  Occupy Elder Caucus was the primary organizer with AFSC a co-organizer, providing the projection equipment. 

The AFSC, with independent management, appreciates not having its hands tied by the newly restrictive policies Multnomah Monthly has applied to its own PSCC as a condition for reinstatement (Nominating was refusing to nominate until this possibly crippling new model could be forced through by the Business Meeting's ad hoc group). 

Mireaya (Portland staff) is answering a question right now.  She's outwardly too young to be Elder Caucus but like the Gathering of Western Young Friends, the group self identifies.

So, how do we fire bad cops?  Moving them to "desk jobs" is not necessarily helping.  A lot of them get bored and chafe under the sense of being punished.  Real criminals go to jail.

Dan Handleman worries the subculture of violence porn now popular in the US military will spread, reversing civil values in favor of mayhem as the new norm.  CBS will up the violence level with snuff films as viewers cheer?   Sounds a lot like Fallujah.

How does one fire "bad soldiers"?  How does one de-fund "bad wars"?  These were the deep questions the audience was considering.  Sending the bad apples to kill each other in faraway places only works for so long.  Will Mars become a next prison colony, the one way trip the Americas used to be (and Australia)?

While on the topic, lets look at the question of "bad Quakers" maybe?  Given housecleaning was a focus, I think that question deserves some real thought. I'd be a hypocrite if I acted like only the police have a bad apple problem.  Every group seems to have that.

We used to "disown" our slavers but that comes across as archaic in today's culture.  Mostly one just works around 'em (those slower to catch on), hoping they'll either find another sect, or work on developing their skills.

Phone apps are becoming important.  You can watch a cop do her or his job and upload the clip directly to ACLU.

Equinox Redux

I started my day with a short bench press at the gym on the sitting up machine, just 90 pounds to keep the blood going, then on to an IT meeting with an interested party.

Lew and Ek were in the same building (no, not the meetinghouse) presumably talking over Property Committee business (Lew had some blueprints).

My meeting was about ways to keep Bluetooth going even if the Internet goes down, among other things.  My Razr has succumbed to "smartphone Alzheimer's" so much of what I learned was for the next incarnation.

Tonight was our Equinox Festival at the Linus Pauling House, still ongoing.

I came home to do some doggie care and tackle some business, having enjoyed my fill of good food and great company.  Nirel showing up with the little dog reminded me I needed to take care of Sarah.

We did get our walk in today, Sarah and I, a practice underlined (as in emphasized) by Lindsey when she was here, visiting from Nepal for three months.

Weird atmospherics have been kind to ham radio operators lately, especially those ten million or so who know Morse Code.  Jeff has been bouncing signal from distant corners of the globe.

Thanks to Nirel for bringing a dog.  By tradition, I uphold the ethos on nonhuman Wanderers in our midst ("we" being the hominids, not always friendly to our fellow travelers, even when they mean us no harm).

WQM Men's Group 2015

We came close to maxing out Big Bear Camp facilities this year.  I slept in my car out of choice, not having done so before and wanting to experiment.  Henry, who slept outside the first night, said he could hear me snoring, even through all that glass and metal, which must have vibrated considerably.

During one of the breakout sessions, I practiced sermonizing, based on a Bible passage wherein Jesus has a conversation with the devil where they compare notes on God and holy writ.  Having studied Lucifer's psyche at Princeton, in the form of Paradise Lost, by Milton, I remarked that "the devil within" was likewise a manifestation of the Inner Light, given a fallen angel would also have "Intel Inside" (God within).  Jesus obviously knew this and conversed with angels on a regular basis, not always in an adversarial role.

I like what angels add to Christianity, especially skeptical angels with a strong misanthropic streak, known as "devils" in the jargon, but angels nonetheless.  Not that I'm pushing the literal existence of daemonic beings.  Their figurative existence is quite sufficient.  I figure the ego is likewise metaphoric i.e. the Buddhist doctrine of "no self" means that a self refuting the existence of daemons (or "ghosts") is a lot like the pot calling the kettle black.

Tom and I discussed his being a peer advocate for Mr. Chasse, as they both had similar diagnoses and had to work their respective ways through half way house chapters.  Tom, originally an Irish Catholic from Coos Bay, had gotten caught up in Lyndon LaRouche's political party at the height of its power.  He tells many interesting stories from that era.

Although Joe shared with the group that the main melodrama at Multnomah Meeting these days had to do with complying with insurance guidelines and doing background checks on a minimum of two child care personnel, I told Tom I thought the disposition of the Dove Puppets in coming weeks would likely have more impact on the reputation of Portland's unprogrammed Friends in the long run.  May Day Coalition has written Peace and Social Concerns wondering if we'll see Friends, and their puppets, on May Day.  Or is protesting climate change more the extent of Quaker brand activism these days?  Maybe May Day is too scary?  Not for AFSC at least.

Speaking of which, we enjoyed the presence of programmed Friends in our midst (programmed = Pastoral).  Like the Women's Theological Conference, which Joe has been jealous of (not me), we're sometimes involved in closing circuits, or switch-boarding, across lineages.  I learned a lot about ongoing controversies in West Hills Friends Church, plus was glad to see Henry again, nowadays with Camus Friends Church in Washington State.  I hope to pay both a visit one of these days.

Those of us into IT had some discussions using that jargon.  Quakers have a reputation for being meticulous about record-keeping, which is in tension with our Luddite tendencies, which latter I associate with our shedding of responsibilities over the decades since our peak in power in the late 1700s.  Had we kept our hand on the tiller, we'd have our act more together in cyberspace by now.

Getting our IT back into focus might galvanize us in other ways that increase our ability to make a difference in the world.  Time will tell.  As NPYM's first technology clerk (a co-clerk of the IT committee), I suppose I may over-indulge myself with such hopes and dreams for a more tech-savvy future.

AFSC APC Meetup (meeting notes)

Left clockwise:  Joanne, Kelly, Christopher, Marielle, Cecil, Anna, Mireaya

Not pictured: Kirby (photographer), Leslie & Pedro (on Blackberry device)

Check in included reports from our circle.  I took pictures.  Lots is going on, with immigration law especially.

How does the Board get input from volunteers?  YMAs (Yearly Meeting Appointees) at a higher level, but lets have Executive Committees come up with some ideas.

This group:  unusual in having a cohesive group with across-the-board oversight.  Dividing it more, while inviting individuals to join multiple "subcommittees" (PACs), if still wanting multiple commitments, is the next schema.

I had Alien Boy, the DVD, to flash around, before returning it.  That's overlapping with oversight of civil authorities, police and so on, by citizen bodies.  Portland has a few of those bodies.  Christoper, just turned 20, is on one.

Activists want a front row seat on training, community policing or whatever.

Program Advisory Committees will be more per program, with staffers calling the shots.  An overall APC is not required.  PACs are more focused (our PACs are not Political Action Committees in the conventional Washington, DC sense).

Joanne was clear that interlocking issues (e.g. militarism + migrant rights) would mean a lot of blurring of the boundaries, between this and that initiative.

Two of us patched in by phone.  Anna, a new mother, was here in Portland.

We probably won't meet as this large a group, with this many characters, in the next chapter.  We'll join "away teams" with staff when destiny calls.  Staff will be more like casting directors, picking which circus animals they need, depending on the mission (the task) at hand.

Volunteers don't boss staff, but sometimes they represent organizational memory.  There's ongoing dynamics with volunteers.  No one particular structure is magically going to solve every problem.

Mireaya has a clear vision of where she's taking her program.  She's cutting edge and needing fresh blood, one might say.  Shaking off dead weight, in program committees, shedding skin, is part of what's happening.  Marielle (regional staff) just said "fresh blood" so I feel OK with this metaphor.

Our APC doesn't consider itself deadweight but we understand the Regional Executive Committee has regional responsibilities and West Region is ready to experiment with a new design.

Staff expressed sincere appreciation for our work together so far.  The move from E Burnside (which was literally a near death experience for Mireaya) to here, marks a new beginning in other dimensions as well.

Chappie (movie review)

I enjoyed this movie in many dimensions at The Bagdad, now first run, with better sound and picture.  I'm privileged.  I even wolfed down beer and pizza, on my way to Lucky Strike later, for dessert.

Chappie is all about USA meets RSA, and wow what a synergy.  You'll see a little Microsoft in the warehouse (did you catch it?) but for the most part RSA is Ubuntu country, and it shows.  They're light years ahead with their prototypes.  Even the dumb old Moose is able to negotiate some tight corners once a human bad guy pilot sits at the console, drone-style, and takes cowardly action.

This isn't a subtle interpretation or anything.  The mom wears a USA flag, the RSA flag is on Chappie, and the two flags appear jointly in a great many shots.  One of mommie's best friends is named The American by Chappie's mom.  The parents both have JoBurg haircuts, known around the world as "the JoBurg look" (I've actually never been to JoBurg, just Cape Town and Bloemfontaine and stuff -- when a family HQS was in Lesotho).

Chappie's creator is a bit classist and doesn't like that Chappie wants to "be cool" like his mom.  Chappie comes to understand the problem of mortality drives us all and joins in the craziness, misdirected into thinking he's not really hurting people with those Bruce Lee maneuvers, as his compassion circuits are hard-wired.  In the end, he ends up saving more lives than he wastes, if we count the movie-going audience and its sensibilities, which I do.

Having consciousness go "by wire" from A to B is so philosophically problematic as to make this a comedy on steroids.  I laughed and cried with my beer and had a generally great time at The Bagdad.

Yarrow's Birthday

Meeting on Grand Avenue

I joined Bridge City Friends for singing and worship this morning.  I joked that I have a beautiful internal voice that sings along, right on key, even if I'm the only one who hears it.  Such is the nature of internal voices.

Given this was the first First Day (Sunday) of the month, a query was read from Faith & Practice about participation in the life of the meeting.  Do we make strangers welcome in our midst?  Or, as I would put it, do we serve the general public thereby earning our 501(c)(3)?  We're not a church, lets remember, even though we're treated as such.  We can't use "needing to tithe to pay our pastors" as an excuse for having an untaxed income.

During worship I shared how Quakerism, seen as a role playing game (like a board game but more immersive) is definitely a great public service.  People come to our playground of counter-balanced committees and learn what it means to run a business with no one person in control, given we're not organized in a pyramid apexing in pastors so much as in a geodesic sphere, well rounded.  We have a structure for learning and exploring self government, with real money and real property.

As I wrote to a SMADster recently:

I think of Quakerism as a "jungle gym" (lots of puns) in that we offer the public a rather unique infrastructure:  a watchworks of inter-balanced committees, with State of Society Report, committee reports, lots of infrastructure.  As a software engineer, I stand back sometimes and muse about what "shrink wrapped Quakerism" (with open source versions) might look like.  Quakers!  The Game:  sustains a nonprofit business, up to and including sound systems, air conditioning, heating, telephony.  Lots of silence expected.  No voting, but lots of communicating.

Multnomah is such a gym, and we the public go there to work out. 

At the rise of meeting, Timothy Travis mentioned he was on Nominating Committee and gearing up to fill out next year's slate.  I asked him if Peace and Social Concerns Committee was being restored.  He said they're thinking about it.

I mentioned that Multnomah's Nominating Committee was in hot water for having inappropriately sourced a proposal to drop ours (nominators should not be in the business of proposing to drop the very roles they're charged with filling, as they also have the power to simply refuse to nominate, their strategy from June to January, making any "proposal" more an "announcement" as in "done deal" -- Oversight never agreed to this strategy).

In Bridge City's case, the Business Meeting approved reducing the slate to a single Coordinator.  Our Business Meeting roundly rejected that idea, both because we're a much bigger meeting, more of a flagship, and because of where it was coming from (an inappropriate committee).

We like to steer newcomers towards Peace and Social Concerns as a hallmark Quaker institution.  It's what the general public expects of us:  to be walking our talk, practicing Quakerism, speaking truth to power and all that.

In terms of role playing, PSCC is one of our most important committees, one could say the raison d'être for all the others.  It's where the rubber meets the road.

it was at the June 22 Meeting for Business
that we stood up to the "shelvers"
(those eager to shelve PSCC)

Running from Crazy (movie review)

I was never a big Hemingway buff and I don't admire bull fighting as a sport.  However, the Hemingway grandchildren are generous in sharing their story and lives with us and I join Oprah in thanking them for sincere public service.  I was reminded of Prodigal Sons which features a grandson of another famous celebrity, the actor Orson Welles.

Is the problem with the English language?  The word "suicide" is freighted with so much assumption, as to what the surrounding language game must be.  If we decide to have corporate personhood, a kind of legal puppet show, then why not give corporations a perfectly honorable way to go.  Call it dissolution or self erasing if you like, but people will hear those as euphemisms after awhile and find avoidance of the S word distasteful.  Fine, but don't force the humiliation card.  That's the issue.

Oregon as a state recognizes honorable suicide.  Just getting the information that so and so chose to take his or her own life, nothing else said, does not give me the right, or the need, to judge X.  It's OK to not judge.  Too many people don't learn that in time.  When you get information, don't assume you're called upon for an opinion.  How refreshing to not have one sometimes. It's not always a case of trying to get life insurance or remorse for committing a murder, and even then the devil is in the details.

I watched a retrospective on Sex Ed films around the same time and heard a lot of women express the abject fear they inherited from adults around normal physiological functioning, such as a women's period.  Moms would "freak out".  We need to stop freaking out about suicide.  Let many voices have the floor.  Don't be control freaking the script.

I was also reminded of confusions about "race".  There's no single gene that constitutes anyone's "race".  Sure, patterns appear everywhere you look, but they're not super simple patterns.  The idea that some ancestor took it into his head to commit suicide is not evidence of any specific biotum getting passed down in the cells.  Protestant predestination dogmas hijacking genetics just to scare children is what that sounds like to me.  Too many such prophesies are self-fulfilling.  "Race" as a concept is not there to help science.  It's the tool of control freaks, another way of playing Facebook or one of those.  Let people opt out if it seems too stupid, like FarmVille.

Look how Interfaith Holy Landers, various species of Godder, gang up against "atheists" (whoever doesn't believe as they do) in favor of some Apocalypse scenario.  Planetary suicide would be just fine with them, as long as it involves lots of crosses and gnashing of teeth and other special effects ala God of the Bible (a subdivision of Hollywood Enterprises).  Talk about faux!  If you've been hanging out with Holy Landers and feel suicidal sometimes, don't blame yourself.  Find the eject button and escape from that cult!  Deprogram.  Get help.

Quakers Heart Beer

:: Quakers heart beer ::

Food Chains (movie review)

As a former resident of Florida, I appreciated the portrayal of Publix as uber-powerful, but are there really no Safeways?  When it's a monopoly, you have a lot less leverage with consumers than when there's a Kroger's or New Seasons within the same or similar radius, with comparable prices.  The thing about big boxes like Wal*Mart as they count on becoming the only big box in town.  Niche markets have a harder go of it.

But lets not mistake the Publix Empire for the whole Fifty States.  As this documentary makes clear, one does have leverage, through Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS).  Companies such as Taco Bell and Whole Foods got on board.  There's no reason those techniques have to be confined to any one neck of the woods.  Most these chains are global these days, so where to apply pressure is anybody's guess (meaning one might not predict where the serious change artists will find one).

When it's a monopoly, don't think of hunger strikes as a first option maybe?  The wild card here, and what makes the Coalition of Immokalee Workers special, is precisely this movie, which is shown in India and Russia just as poignantly, as oppression of the peasantry is hardly a new story.  North Americans did not invent slavery either, and to their credit, their rhetoric remains largely against it, even though it's still widely practiced in various guises.

The movie shows how criminalizing a population (making them "illegal" as in "undocumented") is then a license to exploit.  USAers needs the cheap labor, but it has to be really cheap, as in completely unsustainably cheap.

Until people start seeing that poverty in their midst is poverty nonetheless, they'll turn a blind eye.  That slum in California known as wine country, wreaks of malign neglect.  But they're working on it.

I'm working on it too.  The ecovillages I'm storyboarding are not just fancy resort party towns for the rich and famous.  They're geared for those with dirty jobs in hard places, maybe working for academic credit as a farm worker, truck driver, baggage handler or whatever.

Not in some condescending character building way, but because if you're going to be an authority an agriculture, transportation, or airport management, or hospitality, it helps if you've played a few roles.  More than a few.  Just doing spring break over and over is not that great on your resume.

If you're new to the history, you'll pick up some great archival shots of Robert F. Kennedy and Cesar E. Chavez, with more background as to the historical context for their meetup.

Anaconda: A Fat Python for You

Steve Holden has been talking up Anaconda for months, but until I saw his short and sweet video about what it's good for, I have to say I was a bit slow on the uptake, even for me.

Sidebar:  "anaconda" as a word has been used to mean "constrictors" as a generic category, somewhat like "iterators" in Python, not a type or class per see, but supporting an interface or protocol.  However in modern usage the "anaconda" is more a specific species of snake, a constrictor, found in South America and zoos.  Not sure if they've made it to Florida yet.

In our Python ecosystem, Anaconda is like a "fat snake" already stuffed with 3rd party goodies.  A lot of the big name stars of the Python namespace you might have heard about.

Yes, it's somewhat "quick and dirty" to establish a giant outpost in storage with all this stuff, but that's the beauty of free software:  you can blow it away.  Save it to a memory stick.  Check into it again later.  Anyway, watch Steve's video if curious, and check his blog post.

A Night at the Planetarium

:: mt. hood community college ::

Mount Hood Community College invested in the Microsoft WorldWide Telescope solution some time ago, but last night was my first opportunity to see the new system in action.  The projectors were mounted around the bowl's periphery and had to meet at the seams, a lot like constellations meet, in that carved up sphere that looks seriously gerrymandered.

Remember the twelve houses of the zodiac form a minority of "most famous" constellations thanks to horoscopes and like that.  In fact, the complete sphere needed carving (see Divided Spheres) and the patch quilt projected by Microsoft includes such as Fornax and Sculptor, which we explored in some depth given the focus of tonight's presentation:  other galaxies, including satellites of our own.

We're already feeling Andromeda's love for us as she rushes thirstily towards the Milky Way, only about twenty five disk diameters hence, a short run across a field.  We'll embrace in a coming epoch, in about four billion years according to official projections.  She'll have swallowed up some nearer sisters before then.  Our own Magellanic satellites are likewise spiraling inward.  Universe may be expanding, but the local group is pulling together it seems.

Hoping to beat rush hour traffic, I migrated to Troutdale early in the day.  The check engine light is on again but the air flow meter seems to be working well enough.  For an old Nissan, she's doing great.  I camped out at Edgefield, sipping a single glass of Pinot Noir (theirs) while I tended my fish ladder, eager students making leaps and bounds in their understanding of the Python computer language.  I then relocated to a coffee shop closer to the evening venue, where I continued using WiFi.

Two astronomers joined me at the Thai place.  Bob was excited by shewanella, the new life form discovered in some lake, a bacterium that snarfs electrons through tentacles.  I need to Google that.  Brenda supports all the sciences at MHCC (that's her work), not just the astronomers, but she's an astronomer at heart, having built her own telescope and made stargazing a permanent hobby.  She gave us a tour of the equipment lab adjoining the Planetarium, which doubles as a server room for the WorldWide Telescope solution.

:: brenda wyse and bob mcgown ::

Trash TV

I stayed up watching trash TV last night, catching up on some Criminal Mind shows.  A lot of the better series have been diluted into soft snuff flicks, quite macabre.  The one last night was about serial killers but nothing so witty as Dexter, just raw ugliness targeted mainly at aging couch potatoes who might be interested in buying jewelry and vitamins, plus more exotic drugs (ask your doctor).

In one of the other plots, a seriously badass killer bank robber lady, pretty, manages to get us thinking of Chad and Libya as she careens through the streets in a stolen government vehicle, her boyfriend gone sour on the military having been chewed up and spit out or whatever.

The FBI has to hunt them down.  The soured-on-military guy is a known species the FBI profiles, another brand of throwaway.

When a medic is killed in the line of duty by the badass, a black fire truck guy, a first responder, the elite FBI group scarcely misses a beat, as rescuing the boyfriend and marrying him is what this really is all about (gotta leave time for the dancing at the end).

By that time, the plot is certainly ready to kill off another black guy whose life doesn't matter to the storytelling.  TV is good at throwing away lots of cast without generating loose ends, especially when each story is in a different city.

The idea of huge stadiums of people watching this fun house mirror version of reality, is somewhat disturbing.  We know that's the real horror show, all those couch zombies just lying there, staring at this stuff, getting programmed in the Matrix -- but the truth is a bit too scary sometimes.

Better to focus on attention seeking serial killers and all those bad scary people in Libya and Yemen and like that.  That's what sells jewelry, not some mirror mirror on the wall (that's in another room of the house).

Expanding Radius

One might expect a veiled allusion to my girth here, as my volume, as in weight, has been a blogged concern.  However, since dropping most milk intake and picking up in Glenn's footsteps on a daily walk, I've shed about thirty and don't worry about my sheer bulk quite as much.

No, I was thinking about how Division is so up and coming and my center of gravity, if we add and average, is dividing more between Oasis and Atlas, both pizza joints, whereas before it was only Oasis.  Today I'm heading to Atlas to use the wifi and get some work done.

These three arterials, Belmont, Hawthorne and Division, run down the "mountain" (big hill, small volcano) Mt. Tabor and define an inner east side some call Asylum District, out of deference to Dr. Hawthorne's subcontracted institution (1862-1883) before Salem got serious and built the one in "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" -- or was that next in the series?

Since then, there's been another one I think.  So is the famous one a McMenamins?

You'll find this is a city of reflections as Asylum District mirrors The Pearl in terms of what franchises and outlets you'll find.  You'll think there's one of something, then cross the river, and find its twin.  Some "chains" are only two stores.  Economies of scale suggest doing things that way.

My co-worker and I have wifi jobs meaning we telecommute for the most part, although sometimes we fly places and have meetings, for days at a time.  That's maybe an unfamiliar pattern to most boomers (I'm a late boomer) but many start ups work this way.  We're not a start up so much as a satellite, a small operation within a larger enterprise.

Dinner Parties

:: steve and diana ::

Steve Holden, expecting to leave Portland in the near future, is throwing dinner parties.

Tonight I'm with a most favorite Diana, who tends a nearby bar.

She's done Las Vegas and is extremely professional, off the scale people skills.

Two nights before:  Melody and Brenda.

So yes, I'm benefiting from Steve's wanting to maximize the value of his remaining time here.

:: brenda ::

:: melody ::

Presentations and Groups

I missed the last ISEPP lecture.  However I've remained active in ISEPP management at least insofar as I've helped with a likely transition to a Google Group with overlapping calendars, for managing the conference room.

I need to call Don back (we were just on the phone), to find out if we have the Wanderers stuff scheduled.  I don't think I saw our schedule last I checked.

I've joined the May Day Coalition's fundraising subcommittee this year.  IT workers of the world do not get as much respect as they deserve, for often meeting a 99% operational standard.  I'm happy to join in solidarity with these unions and after the last meeting (where I was note taker) I snagged maydaypdx.org (with a little help from an LLC).

I did make a Thirsters talk recently, on Sierra Leone, and what a particular group is doing to catalyze healing.  The State Department is privy to a lot of this same information.  We learned about the impact of ebola, hopes and dreams for the region.  I'd been under the impression Sri Lanka was the topic owing to a mistake in one of the circulars.  I would have gone anyway as I was looking forward to having a few minutes with Barbara, driving her home.

I could go on and on about Sierra Leone.  Lets just say I'm glad a lot of good people are doing their best.  We've trained really hard around potential conflicts so our disaster relief skills as a species are severely wanting, anyone can tell you that.

For NPYM Quakers I created MMM-PSC and MMM-EEG and quickly gave the latter away, as it's unbecoming of a Friend to appear too greedy.  Owning just the former is sufficient for my practice at this time.  MMM-SMAD would be for some other Friend to establish.  I fully appreciate that some Friends may not wish to choose a Google service.

Selma (movie review)

MLK Day is tomorrow, a national holiday. Yay.

I've just launched a new listserv named MMM-PSC for use within the meeting, others invited to join, and since it's a Google Group, I'm learning more about the calendar feature.  I'm to set up another Google Group for Pauling House, which will also need to use that feature.  So far so good.

I put down the 3:05 showing of Selma at Regal Lloyd 10, as a first test event for the community calendar. Then I hopped in the Nissan and high tailed it to the show.

I'd use this film to talk about "reflex-conditioning" and the need for "upgrading".  Christians pray for "divine grace" which means upgrades from God, the ultimate in Cloud Services.  But when push comes to shove, falling back on old reflexes seems easiest, and Alabama becomes a scene from Walking Dead, with white people really scary.  I mean zombie scary.

You have to empathize with the president, needing to work with these "people" (they have the right to vote).

The religious people in funny clothes show up after it's already too late, on cue, and Dr. King does the religious thing and prevents super duper violence.  Those nut case zombies had something up their sleeve for sure.

Later, with US Army protection, they make it to Montgomery.  The Army always gets drafted into protecting lost causes it seems, "tricked" by the Constitution or a Federal treaty into doing the right thing.

Great acting, well researched.  Not like I was there or anything (in Selma, myself).

If you want to understand my timeline, my parents were Chicago-based activists who wanted to live in a "mixed" neighborhood and not be gentrification agents when moving to Portland.

Dad was somewhat disgusted with US culture (too militaristic) and yearned for a more ethical sense of professionalism i.e. planning for "developing" (so-called "third world") nations.  So when Dr. King was murdered, we were already out of the country.

Nixon started bombing Cambodia soon after that, the White House going through another "episode" (picture an epileptic seizure, known as "governance" on the east coast).

Hey, the new Terminator film looks fun.

I want to say (and it's true):  the audience applauded sincerely at the conclusion of this film and I found myself filled with admiration for the cast, and of course for the true heroes this film hopes to faithfully render for newcomers.

Thank you for a great re-enactment of a terrible chapter in the North American territories, when the "freed" slaves still had an uphill battle to get any recognition for their status as full citizens and competent governors.

In 2015, with a so-called "Negro" (black) president, we're manifestly a long way down the road, but still have a long way to go.  Racism is a deeply rooted meme virus.  We should have black presidents from now on maybe, but with more women butting in.  It's not up to me, just I wouldn't mind that outcome.  Native Americans have dual citizenship so vote in both local and Federal elections.

Launch Party!

:: new Quaker listservs on the radar ::

Another Boycott?

Why submit to taking the SAT when Pearson holds back our American Heritage?

More context @ Math Forum.

AFSC knows a lot about BDS campaigns, I should consult with them.

Tetra-volumes:  a New England Transcendentalist idea.

If you don't know about tetra-volumes you're maybe illiterate regarding American Literature?

Through no fault of your own perhaps.

Meeting a Plane

I'm at Beaches again, meeting a plane.  I was here a few days ago, meeting Lindsey's from Florida.  Now I'm meeting Steve's.  Other near and dear are flying today.  I had Patrick and Spencer over.  Patrick brought a locally famous fresh hops beer, Sticky Hands, and I supplied fried chicken.

Mostly I've been blitzing for work, given the seasonal sale and all.  The PSF is wondering why we make people log in at the web site (python.org).  Other serious language web sites aren't so encumbered.  I think it was a case of "we might need it someday".  Open governance is messy, but more democratic than you might think, especially for a benevolent dictatorship.

Speaking of ministerial matters, the next Edu-Summit (Pycon Education Summit) is fast approaching.  Given Pycon is coming to Portland in 2016, I'm not sure my bid to attend will get the serious attention it deserves.  I don't actually have much insight into home office deliberations, given I'm a telecommuter.

I am monitoring Tara on Facebook, just back in Indy from Nicaragua, with Sadie.  Her away team was studying coffee crop issues, biological in nature.  The team was computer science oriented, however they also needed someone with serious skills around lab equipment.  They had some expensive gear which Tara was helping to order when here over Thanksgiving break.  I remember printing a manual.

Lindsey's Florida visit went about as expected.  She's moving towards "third culture" status slowly but surely, a status I've held for awhile now.  Her sangha in Portland is strong and supportive.  Lower48 nuclear families tend to be launch pads for such alien spawn (as in "funny looking ETs"), as seen in American Dad.

Speaking of my multi-cultural upbringing, I was fortunate to attend a Thirsters session on Bhutan the other night.  I'll make a slide show of the slides, plus some from today.   That was Thursday night, just before meeting Lindsey's plane.  Tonight is Saturday, two days later.

Seattle is scoring well against some other NFL team (Cowboys) on Fox.  It's 31 to 17 with 2:25 left in the 4th.  OSU's Ducks creamed Florida State the other day.  You can read all about it if you go Google.

Celebrating Decades of Terrible TV