The Curmudgeon Speaks

The Wall Street Journal has generated content based on the documents the whistleblower has offered. Reporters have done the work of reviewing these documents and offering summaries. Here are links to two such summaries – one in text and the other a series of podcast episodes. The full podcast series is unique to Spotify so you may not be able to find it with your favorite podcatcher.

Podcast

Facebook files

Facebook has some obvious problems and now frequently draws the attention of politicians and news sources describing how Facebook spreads tainted information and stokes negative emotions. There are things any user can do to limit personal damage. The first would be to be aware that Facebook feeds our personal biases to increase our engagement and time spent in order to show us more ads. In other words, we are complicit in the damage that Facebook does, but awareness offers the opportunity to limit the damage.

I have recommended my personal strategies before, but here is a quick review. First, I limit my purpose for using Facebook. My focus is on political discussion. Yours might be on sharing with family. Mixing the two is probably not a good idea. There are plenty of social media services you can use for other purposes. Second, understand that Facebook learns your biases from your actions – what you post, like, comment. I try to respond rarely and do so mostly by providing comments. The easy, mindless likes give away too much information for little value. Avoid all of those silly requests for input such as identifying a dog name that does not contain an A. Third, I friend quality news sources and not just people. If you use Facebook to keep up with the happenings in the world, it is probably best to do more than tap into the biases of your friends. Select some solid news sources to broaden your perspective (e.g., New York Times). In the search box where you might occasionally search for people, enter the names of news sources you trust. Friend these sources. Finally, I don’t block people no matter how much they irritate me. Inane comments are a reminder that Facebook is not about factual information and it is helpful to be constantly reminded.

You can limit the damage done by the Facebook algorithm. Switch your feed to “Most recent” so you get the input from all of your sources arranged by time and this will eliminate the prioritization of the news feed by the algorithm. You may have to search a bit, but “Most Recent” should appear somewhere in the left side column (on a computer) of the Facebook display.

Here is an interesting hack you might explore. There is a way to arrange the Newsfeed on the fly. Use this link to connect to Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr instead of your normal link. You should be able to evaluate whether you are seeing a chronological list rather than an algorithmically controlled list by the dates/times associated with the posts in your feed.

Mask mandates have resulted in contentious interactions among parents often boiling over at school board meetings. Video from news stations has portrayed physical confrontations as parents attack administrators and other parents claiming their children have a right not to wear a mask.

The “side” being most aggressive in this battle kind of surprised me. I thought it most logical parents seeing masks as a way to protect their kids would be most demanding. I have long thought that resistance to a mask mandate given the scientific data on the value of masks would eventually result in legal action taken against organizations unwilling to require this protection. This story from NPR describes how Wisconsin parents with some assistance are now taking action in the way I predicted.

For those of us lucky enough to live in a northern state, the mention of Fall colors generates a consistent response. The phrase brings up images of colorful leaves decorating beautiful hillsides. I was at the Minneapolis Farmers’ Market yesterday and realized there was an equally colorful option.

I saw this guys for three straight days working in the same trail head parking lot. You can’t see it very well in this image, but his jeep is equipped with solar panels and a satellite antenna. I finally decided I needed to have a conversation.

“Is that a satellite antenna on your roof”, I asked.”It is for Star Link”, he responded.”I have seen you working here for three days”, I said. “I am guessing you are a writer or a programmer”.”Software engineer”, he said.

I have heard both job titles and I am not certain how they are different.

I asked whether he had worked remotely for long and he said that this has been the case for a while. I said I had heard about people who lived the digital nomad life style, but he was the first I had met. He said he likes the combination. He said he is based in Colorado, but was working his way across the country to Maryland to visit friends. I asked whether he worked as an independent or for a company and he replied that he was employed by a company that let him work in this way.

He looks like my stereotype of a programmer. When I asked about his vehicle he said that it was has “latest build”. What a programmer thing to say.

Another of the cool experiences you have on the road.

Four Seasons

I am a fan of a location that allows you to experience all four seasons. The same temps and same look year round just seems boring. This is not to say that some seasons are not more enjoyable than others. If you have four seasons, you have winter and winter in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin get long, cold, and dark. I do cheat a bit and bug out towards the end of January to spend a couple of months in Hawaii. I see this as the reward for growing old and being able to take such liberties.

Fall is my favorite. The temps are cool and the air seems pure without the higher humidity of summer. These are perfect conditions for me as heat and I are not on good terms. This is the season of harvests and brilliant color. I enjoy taking photos of the leaves even though they likely look about the same as last year. Great colors against blue skies and reflected in still ponds and lakes. Others agree. A friend of ours wanted to schedule a business trip to Duluth/Superior last weekend and was unable to book a motel/hotel room in the area – too many tourists wanting to take in the peak of leaf season.

We are camping this week in order to explore the same area. Campgrounds are full despite most parks shutting off the water to campsites and closing toilets. Camping without hookups would not be my preference, but we are self-contained and can deal with most inconveniences. This will be the last trip of the season and it will be time to get the camper winterized. 

I am cross-posting this to my travel blog [https://grabetravels.blogspot.com) because I am traveling We are camped for a few days at Copper Falls State park which is fairly close to our lake home in Wisconsin. Various leaf photos are likely to follow as well as whatever else we can find. Just sitting around the fire this evening reading Wolfman written by our friend Stan Trollip. 

We had an interesting weekend with our friend Stanley Trollip. Stanley was a colleague of mine at UND and we worked together in getting UND to develop a graduate program in Instructional Design. Stan is one of the most interesting people I know and he seems capable of so many different things having moved through multiple careers. In my own retirement, I continue doing many of the same things I have always done with my hobbies related to my interests in education and educational technology.

In contrast, Stan, who is originally from South Africa, has taken up writing crime fiction. He has a series of books with colleague Michael Sears set in the south of Africa. The pair writes as Michael Stanley.

Like rock musicians, writers evidently have a strong urge to do things on their own. Stan has just finished a solo effort – Wolfman. This book is a crime novel set in Northern Minnesota.

Stan was visiting us at our northern Wisconsin cabin and we decided to visit independent bookstores in the region to see if they would stock his book. The idea came from a Duluth Herald article (you are probably blocked) reviewing works by regional authors.

I don’t write fiction and I had never thought about the strategies of promotion that apply. I have watched Stan do book talks at bookstores, but visiting bookstores was something different. The strategy seemed to work pretty well. One store had read the review and already had books on order. One store bought a couple of books from Stan (signed). The other store was being staffed by someone without the authority to make purchases. Independent book store folks think way different from the mindset of academic publishers.

What is appropriate in teaching history has become controversial and now that I have spent some time listening to politicians discuss the matter confusing. This resource from FutureEd addresses the controversy regarding the teaching of concepts such as racism and sexism as part of the history of the U.S.. The FutureEd resource is helpful in framing the issue, but I think for those interested it is of great value to examine the laws proposed in different states.

I spend my formative years in Iowa and because the bills on these matters from Iowa appear on the FutureEd list I spent some time with one of the Iowa bills.

Iowa legislation – the following wording is taken from the bill, but based on the video of the discussion is vague. You should watch the video (linked from the presentation of the bill) because the back and forth between Democrats and Republicans appear to say you can teach these things, but not in a way according to the Republican speaker that involves scapegoating. The concept of scapegoating is really the key to understanding exactly what is being demanded.

f. Prohibit the use of curriculum that teaches the topics of sexism, slavery, racial oppression, racial segregation, or racial discrimination, including topics relating to the enactment and enforcement of laws resulting in sexism, racial oppression, segregation, and discrimination.

Scapegoating is defined in the following way

^Race or sex scapegoating” means assigning fault, blame,
or bias to a race or sex, or to members of a race or sex
because of their race or sex, or claiming that, consciously or
unconsciously, and by virtue of persons’ race or sex, members
of any race are inherently racist or are inherently inclined to
oppress others, or that members of a sex are inherently sexist
or inclined to oppress others.

So you are a history teacher, what does it mean that you can teach that racism and sexism are historical facts, but you cannot assign fault or blame? The reality of these practices should argue that the practices are evil and happened (or happen) and were the result of human behavior. As a consequence, I would find it difficult not to attribute blame or fault to the individuals perpetrating such behavior.

I came across this ABC news story identifying potential legal exposure stemming from mask mandates and the legal responsibility for providing a safe environment. Schools are in a very difficult situation with some states attempting to legally prevent schools from imposing a mandate. Districts that have decided to oppose antimask positions have been threatened with loss of revenue from the state. Whatever side of this issue citizens take, it seems obvious to me that schools are very vulnerable to suits whether it be the denial or individual rights or the failure to adequately protect students. If this starts happening, I would predict a strong move to distance learning as a remedy.

If it is safe, we hope to take one of those river cruises through part of Europe in a few months. My wife found a list of book recommendations for those taking this trip and I thought I should read one. The book I ordered from Amazon arrived today.

I knew the book was not a recent publication and I did think the price for a hardcover being half the price of the ebook version was kind of weird, but I did not expect a used book.

The book was in good shape and not marked up so I am not really bothered by receiving a book someone else has read. Here is what does bother me (see following image).

Inside the front cover I found this stamp. My daugher has one of those front lawn micro libraries that she purchases books for. I have at least one other relative that does the same thing. Of course, I don’t know how this used book came to be sold through Amazon, but the idea that someone may have taken a free book and then sold it through Amazon I find very disturbing. Those folks who take books for this purpose are similar to those folks who roam the aisles of second-hand stores seeing if there is a profit to be made in reselling goods given for free to such outlets bothers me a great deal. I don’t give used stuff to such outlets for this purpose and hope that those who need inexpensive resources can make use of inexpensive appliances or a free or cheap book.