What Do I know?

• Letter to Editor Makes Me Think About Facts, Emotions, People

  It seems to me that 'facts' are being tossed about very loosely these days.  By one definition, facts are those things that theoretically can be proven true or false, but they aren't necessarily true, no matter how often you repeat them.
  
  Emotion seems to allow (cause?) people, myself included,' [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 4:00pm EST
  

• AIFF 2009 - Documentaries in Competition

  "Films in Competition," according to the AIFF website, are "the official selections that are chosen by our prescreening committee to be entered into competition."  Documentaries are the film version of "non-fiction."
  
  
  There are eight Documentary films - 8 hours and 21 minutes of viewing - [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 3:00am EST
  

• November Challenge

  
  November is when my running schedule tends to go down the drain.  It's colder.  It's darker longer.  It snows.  The body hasn't quite adjusted to the new weather and ground cover.  And I seem to find lots of excuses to say 'mañana.'
  
  This year' [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 3:44pm EST
  

• AIFF 2009 - Rand Thornsley in His Office

  Rand is the President of the Anchorage International Film Festival Board and Festival Program Director.  I dropped in on him before watching "Still Walking" tonight at the Bear Tooth to see how he was doing two weeks before the festival begins.  He didn't know I was coming or that he' [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 9:17am EST
  

• AIFF 2009, Anchorage, Fat Bikes, and Blogging

  I try to remind people now and then that biking is a real alternative form of transportation, it's not just recreation.  Our infrastructure and city planning make it hard to do without a bigger vehicle sometimes, but biking is possible for a lot of our travel, even in the winter.
  [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 12:23am EST
  

• Pho Lena Anchorage

  
  Someone had recommended Lena Pho Restaurant on Minnesota almost at the corner of Benson, and we were in the neighborhood the other day, so we stopped in.  This used to be Chinese restaurant.
  
  It was bright, clean, and the food was good.  J had the [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 9:45am EST
  

• Suzi Yoonessi on Trying To Make An Authentic Alaska Film in Washington State

  I haven't counted all the films entered in the festival, but with the shorts, particularly, there are a lot.  I'm sure it will not be possible to see even half the films, even if you were attending an event from the first to last showing every day.  So I'm trying' [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 10:50am EST
  

• Carl Nesjar's Anchorage Ice Fountain

  
  
  I loved the concept of the ice fountain at Loussac Library when it was first proposed.  It's a fountain designed to work all year - in the winter creating interesting ice formations depending on the water flow and weather.  But for various reasons, it never' [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 1:35am EST
  

• Film Festival Scam? AIFF is NOT AIFF

  While working on the ANCHORAGE International Film Festival blog posts I came across another website that had me totally baffled for a bit.  (I added the black circle) The picture was great, but just totally different in style and content from the Anchorage International Film Festival.  Did [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 12:31pm EST
  

• AIFF 2009 - How to Find the Shorts - Dunlap Shohl's Frozen Shorts

  
  
  
  
  
  
  I picked up a hard copy of the Festival Schedule today.
  
  Later I noticed that Anchorage cartoonist and film maker, Peter Dunlap-Shohl, put up a new short animation on his blog Frozen Grin.  I thought I'd put it up' [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 1:15am EST
  

• Surfer Privacy or The World Bank Finally Articulates its Mission

  Should bloggers disclose the people coming to their sites?  I've gotten used to all the information Sitemeter gives me for each person visiting the site.  I've posted about it and on occasion posted a copy of an individual page.  No, it doesn't tell your name or your email address, but' [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 7:12pm EST
  

• Koun Franz on Compassion at Loussac

  Last night we went to a nearly full Marston Theater to hear Anchorage's Zen Buddhist Priest talk about compassion.  The only other time I'd heard Koun Franz talk was at Cyrano's two years ago where he was on a panel of clergy from different denominations discussing Mark Twain's The' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 12:11pm EST
  

• UC Tuition Hikes - Some Perspective

  From the Daily Nexus, UC Santa Barbara's student newspaper today:
  
  Council Adopts Tuition IncreaseBy Maane Khatchatourian / Staff Writer
  Published Thursday, November 19, 2009
  Issue 42 / Volume 90
  
  The UC Board of Regents finance committee approved a proposal that will push student fees to [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 12:52am EST
  

• Mischievous Technology Tricks

  Last night at a talk, I took three video clips. The first one was fine (well, fine for a small digital camera in a room with a thin sound system.) The second clip had a strong buzz, like the camera had a motor, which blocked what I was trying to [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 7:07pm EST
  

• Should Lincoln Have Let the South Go?

  Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
  
  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 1:58am EST
  

• Midtown Fire This Afternoon

  [Tea, skip this one.]
  
  I'd considered biking, but it was cold, sort of far to go, and I needed to pick up a shoe at the shoe repair afterward.
  
  
  
  So I was driving down 36th around 3:20 when I saw smoke' [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 3:40pm EST
  

• AIFF 2009 - Features in Competition

  [Updated November 24]
  The Festival awards will go to those that have been selected to be 'in competition.' (For clarification of the Festival terminology go to this post from last year.)   There are five features in competition - a total of 7 hours and 53 minutes.  They are [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 11:06am EST
  

• Peter Kott - Oral Arguments on Motion Seeking Release from Convictions

  
  9:00 AM
  3:07-CR-00056-01-JWS
  Judge Sedwick
  Anchorage Courtroom 2
  
  USA
  vs. PETER KOTT
  
  (Peter Koski)
  (Margaret Simonian)
  
  (M. Kendall Day)
  (Sheryl Gordon McCloud)
  
  (Marc Elliot Levin)
  
  (Kevin R. Gingras)
  
  (James M. Trusty)
  [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 6:27pm EST
  

• Flame and Citron - Left Me Speechless

  Really, I have nothing to say.  I've linked to two reviews below, but talking about the movie just trivializes it.  The reviews don't tell you much more than the reviewers' knowledge of film history and the technical side of the movie.
  
  It was like a strong' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 1:28am EST
  

• Why Isn't Obama Making His Decision on Afghanistan?

   The Asia Times Online reported on Nov. 6  a possible reason why Obama hasn't made his final decision on Afghanistan.  It the report is accurate, perhaps he was awaiting the results of various negotiations.  Then there was Fort Hood and now he's in China.  Just a possibility. 
  [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 1:09am EST
  

• Watching for Meteors

  I posted about the Perseids in August and that is getting people here looking for information on the Leonid meteor shower which is peaking at 13:00 Universal time.
  
  This isn't an astronomy blog but since people are getting here because of the previous post, let me offer directions to' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 6:55pm EST
  

• AAIF - Shorts in Competition

  "In Competition" means that the initial reviewers picked these films from the other shorts to compete for awards in the Festival.  I'm going to try to get all the films in competition in each category listed in separate posts.  There are about 17 other shorts (besides the animated shorts) in' [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 1:44pm EST
  

• Alaska Pacific University President Search Finalists

  APU announced this morning:
  
  The five finalists to be the 9th President of Alaska Pacific University and the dates of their campus visit are:
  Dr. Betsy Vogel Boze, former Campus Dean and CEO Kent State University at Stark, North Canton, OH Monday & Tuesday November 16th & 17th
  [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 7:39am EST
  

• The Snow Knows

  
  The snow knows who's been by.
  [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 12:48am EST
  

• Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF) 2009 Starts December 4

  The Anchorage International  Film Festival starts in a couple of weeks.  I'll be blogging it again, though this time I'm starting a little bit sooner so I can be a bit more prepared than last time.  (Maybe being prepared isn't an advantage here, not sure.) As we get' [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 2:13am EST
  

• How Old Would You Be If You Were Born in 1909?

  I get this Google search question several times a month, but I got these two inquiries just today:
  
  "how old would you be if you were born in 1909"
  
  "how old would u be if your born in 1909"
  
  Arithmetic is largely a matter of learning 'tricks' [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 10:33pm EST
  

• Tiny Black Bugs - Fruit Flies or Fungus Gnats?

  
  In lieu of a dog or cat, we have various insects living at our house. Most prominent lately have been these tiny black flying things. But they're too small and too active to really get a decent picture. But this week I found one floating in' [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 12:48pm EST
  

• KSKA Celebrates Bede Trantina's 30th Year

  
  
  Shortly after we came to radio station KSKA first began to broadcast All Things Considered and other NPR programs and that's when I first met Bede Trantina.  Anchorage has changed a lot in those 30 plus years, but every Friday for most of that time,' [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:09am EST
  

• Seth Kantner Speaks at UAA

  
  
  
  
  We got to the Arts building a bit early and Room 150 filled up pretty well.  He came on stage after a brief introduction and started to read.  Then he moved from the podium and talked until someone shouted out that he couldn't' [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 12:00pm EST
  

• November 13, 2009

  
  According to Wikipedia, this is the third Friday the 13th this year.  The next one will be August 2010. [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 7:00am EST
  

• Alaska Pacific University President Search Nearing Finish Line

  [UPDATE  Nov. 16: Finalists have been announced. Click on link.]
  
  The search schedule puts the final 3-5 candidates coming to Anchorage in November/December so an announcement about those finalists should be made any day now.
  
  
  September/October 2009
  Recruiting continues. In late October, initial [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 8:30pm EST
  

• Seth Kantner Talks Tonight at UAA at 7pm

  [Update: newer post after the talk.]
  
  
  Seth Kantner's Ordinary Wolves is a remarkable book.  I thought I wrote a post about it, but apparently not.  I haven't read his new book Shopping for Porcupine.
  
  7pm at the Arts Building* 150 
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 1:28pm EST
  

• Foraker Focus Group

  
  
  
  I got to the Mountain View building about ten minutes early.  (Yes, they did move into the part of town that probably has a higher percentage of clients of the non-profits they serve, putting their money and their jobs where their mouth is.)  [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 12:55am EST
  

• Exxon's Iraq Oil Contract From Different Perspectives

  The name of this blog is What Do I Know? in part to call attention to the fact that we know things, often the same things, differently.  The stories in our heads cause us to focus on different facts in the same situation and interpret the same situation differently.  And [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:49pm EST
  

• Wind, then Snow

  
  
  The weather maker was busy today.
  
  
  
  
  
  Then the sun showed up too.
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 1:59pm EST
  

• Crude - The Movie

  
  
  
  We saw the movie Crude: The Real Price of Petroleum last night at the Bear Tooth Theater Pub.  It starts out with the woman in the picture singing a song of the death that oil meant to her Equadorian environment - death to [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 9:18pm EST
  

• Blind Spot in the Progressive Vision in Afghanistan

  In a post last Friday about the resignation letter of an American State Department  employee in Afghanistan, I listed helping Afghan women as one of the goals of our presence in Afghanistan. 
  
  In a piece in Countercurrents, Cage Wagenvoort  looks at American policy in Afghanistan and [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 1:53pm EST
  

• Selling Memberships to the Municipality of Anchorage

   The Mayor says we're in a bind financially and he has to make difficult choices.  Maybe he just needs to be more creative in finding ways to fund the government services we take for granted. 
  
  Both public and private organizations offer memberships.  You can be a member of' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• First Snow

  
  I just noticed that it was snowing outside.  November 8 is a bit late for the first snow.  And it's beautiful. ' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:49pm EST
  

• Anchorage Diwali Celebration 2009

  
  Members of Anchorage's Indian community and guests celebrated Diwali Saturday night at Northwood Elementary School.
  The word दीपावली(Dipavali) literally translates as a row of lamps in Sanskrit[1]. It is traditional for adherents of Diwali-celebrating faiths to light small clay lamps (or Deep' [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 2:00am EST
  

• Unemployment Coverage Proves Conservative Bias of the Media

  An AP story that runs in today's Anchorage Daily News says, in part:
  The jobless rate rocketed to 10.2 percent in October, the highest since early 1983, dealing a psychological blow to Americans as they prepare holiday shopping lists.
  This story and others on this topic that I've read [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 1:37pm EST
  

• Would You Give $50 to Restore Someone's Eyesight?

  The Seva Foundation catalogue arrived the other day.  For a donation of $50 you  pay for
  "one cataract surgery with a vision-correcting lens implant, post-operative care and medications."
  You can buy another sweater or a ticket to the opera or a dinner out or you can buy someone [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 2:55am EST
  

• "I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan" - Asking the Basic Policy Questions

  Policies, say like what the US should do in Afghanistan, can be looked at from many different perspectives. But it seems to me there are two basic questions we need to answer.
  
  
  What purposes can we serve by being there?
  There seem to be quite a few we [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 11:17am EST
  

• "...located on a busy street in the heart of downtown."

  Which of the following would you call a 'busy street?'
  
  A.   
  
  
  B.
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Or  C (from Google Maps Street Level)?
  
  
  
  Why do [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 2:42am EST
  

•   and how to display HTML code: Notes from an HTML 'need-to-know-only' non-geek

  In a previous post I copied a lot of text from a US government RFA (Request for Applications).  While trying to get it to look right, I noticed in the Edit HTML mode that it had paragraphs made up of  only "&;nbsp".
  
  I would call myself a 'need-to-know' html [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 12:00pm EST
  

• Implementation of Policy - The Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative

  American foreign policy may be debated in Congress - often in ideological colors - but what really matters is what actually happens.  I came across these two requests for applications (RFA) that give a glimpse of the implementation phase of policy.  I have no idea of the context of these [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 7:47am EST
  

• Musical Instruments of Peking Opera - Short Video Tour

  
  I have way too much video from last night's Peking Opera presentation by National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts and sponsored by the University of Alaska Anchorage's Confucius Institute. So I'm going to offer more than one post of the evening. The performance was more' [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 11:39am EST
  

• L'ethnologue Claude Lévi-Strauss est mort

  French is not a language I ever attempted seriously, but even I can understand this headline. Last year for Claude Lévi-Strauss' 100th birthday I did a series of posts about him and his works. (I even learned how to type the accent mark on my Mac keyboard -option 'e'' [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 7:21am EST
  

• Thinking About How Budget Cuts Are Made

  
  
  [This is a long post.  I wish I could make these points succinctly, but the issues are complex.  So bear with me.  At least scroll down and look at the headlines.  And gain enough knowledge that you could follow my advice at the bottom and call your [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 12:45pm EST
  

• Drug Company Push Poll Against Begich Health Care Proposals

  According to Sourcewatch: 
  A push poll is where, using the guise of opinion polling, disinformation about a candidate or issue is planted in the minds of those being 'surveyed'. Push-polls are designed to shape, rather than measure, public opinion. 
  
  We just had a phone call [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 8:28am EST